EP.151 Sometimes Things Like This Aren’t So Bad
“Uh….”
It took a few seconds to realize something was going wrong.
The Saintess, her smile completely gone, staring at him after Baron Jonathan’s words.
Wait. Oh, please. Father. Read the room, please!
Why are you suddenly bringing up marriage with the Princess at this timing!
When your son introduces a woman and asks what you think of her, you should realize!!
The Saintess already knows that the Princess has been openly pushing for marriage.
Since she knows, the damage shouldn’t be too severe.
But it’s a different story when Baron Jonathan is the one saying it.
This is bad. The timing couldn’t possibly be worse.
He desperately turns his gaze toward the Saintess, clinging to a sliver of hope.
You know how it happens sometimes? When someone doesn’t hear something even though it was meant to be heard.
He earnestly hopes that will happen to him this time.
Doesn’t that happen quite often in romance fantasy novels!
‘…Ah.’
But immediately after, Kyle abandoned hope.
The look in the Saintess’s eyes as she stared straight at him.
Seeing that, a sigh escapes involuntarily.
“…”
The Saintess’s face, which always wore a warm smile, was visibly hardened.
Anyone could tell it meant ‘What did you just say? If you don’t want to die, say that again.’
It’s only because she’s the Saintess that there weren’t any swear words in between.
If it wasn’t the Saintess, there would have been at least three expletives in there.
‘No, seriously….’
He looks at his father standing beside him with reproachful eyes.
It should be obvious what to say and what not to say just by looking.
Baron Jonathan doesn’t even seem to realize what he did wrong.
Kyle vaguely recalled what his mother had once said.
“Your father? Well. He’s strong. Really strong. But occasionally, he can be a bit dense.”
She had said it with a smile, so he thought it was just a joke.
In fact, Baron Jonathan had rarely shown any signs of being dense.
So he thought it was just one of those things mothers say for no reason, but….
“The first time she brought up marriage, and when she visited again. In the end, it was always about that. Kyle, she said she would definitely marry you.”
Oh, Father. Please. Are you doing this on purpose?
Why do you keep talking even when I’m giving you signals to stop!
“Father. That matter about the Princess, perhaps we could discuss it later by letter….”
“Please continue, Baron Jonathan.”
The one who suddenly interrupted was none other than the Saintess.
Her face was quite coldly set, different from usual.
Kyle flinches at the chilliness emanating from her eyes.
“Come to think of it, the Princess visited Baron Jonathan’s territory several times, didn’t she?”
“That’s correct.”
“Tell me. I’m curious. What exactly did the Princess say when she came?”
At the Saintess’s words, Kyle looked at his father with desperate eyes, pleading frantically.
Father. Please. Just keep it brief and simple, and end it there.
There’s no need to go into detail, you shouldn’t do that.
“She first brought up marriage not too long ago.”
It was a hopeless wish.
“I see.”
“She seemed to have made up her mind even then. And during her next visit, she said she would be more proactive, so she asked for permission for marriage. Probably….”
The Baron, focused only on his own words, oblivious to his son’s feelings.
Thanks to that, the Saintess was muttering, ‘I see. Ah. So that’s what happened.’
Kyle could only let out a soulless laugh, ‘Hahaha,’ while standing next to Baron Jonathan.
“Baron Jonathan. Then what do you think about that marriage?”
“Well….”
Baron Jonathan let out a contemplative sigh.
“If it’s difficult to answer, what do you think about the Princess?”
At the Saintess’s changed question, the Baron stroked his chin and answered.
“I think she’s good.”
“…You think she’s good.”
“Yes. She’s strong enough to deserve that description. Her disposition is also martial. Above all, she has excellent physical balance. She enjoys exercise, training, and combat too.”
So to summarize, that ‘good’ was only in terms of ‘Jonathan standards.’
It had nothing to do with her being good as a daughter-in-law or him approving as a father-in-law.
But that distinction didn’t seem to register with the Saintess.
Only that word ‘good’ kept ringing in her ears, it seemed.
“When are we going?!”
“Let’s go quickly! We’ve finished warming up!!”
If only they had spoken up a little sooner.
The children urge them to hurry up, just slightly too late.
“Right. Let’s go. Kyle. I’ll be going now. See you at home during the break.”
Baron Jonathan coolly turns around without even waiting for Kyle’s response.
Then he departs from the military camp at incredible speed with the children.
Still completely oblivious to what he had done.
Papapapa!!-
Even that speed was probably him trying to match the children’s pace.
If he really ran with all his might, wouldn’t it create a sonic boom?
“…”
The Jonathan group becoming distant dots in just a few minutes.
Kyle was staring blankly at that when he turned his head, feeling the coldness beside him.
‘…This is really bad.’
When someone who rarely gets angry finally does, that’s the scariest thing.
And when someone who hardly ever gets upset finally does, it’s incredibly severe.
The Saintess getting angry, and even becoming upset? This was something unimaginable.
Many people, including Kyle, would probably react with “No way, that’s impossible.”
But the Saintess is human too, so you can’t say such things would never happen.
And the fact that this moment happened to come now was a great tragedy for Kyle.
He hurriedly turns his head to look at Old Man Neil.
Given his perceptiveness and experience, maybe he would find some way to save him.
That was the hope with which he looked at him, and sure enough, the old man was experienced.
“I should go finish preparing for my return to the Empire. Ho ho ho!”
With those words, Old Man Neil vanished from the spot in an instant.
It was as if he was saying, ‘Troublesome times are ahead, young master. Fight through it on your own!’
‘You wicked Jonathan! Creating this mess and running away!!’
It’s frustrating, but what can he do? What’s done is done.
And when you think about it, this is his karma too.
Kyle hesitates for a moment before turning back to the Saintess.
“…”
The Saintess still said nothing. And her smile hadn’t returned either.
She just stared at the ground silently with a coldly frozen face.
Think, Kyle. Think. How to get through this.
First, let’s identify the important points – this isn’t the first time the Saintess has heard about this.
The Princess has already clung to him several times in front of the Saintess.
In other words, this wasn’t something completely unexpected for her.
‘Then why is she giving off such a gloomy aura?’
He diverts all the blood from his muscles to his brain.
Think, think, think, no matter how much he thinks, he can’t find the answer.
No matter how much he thinks about it, he can’t figure out what part made her so angry!
“Um, Saintess.”
He calls out to the Saintess, trying to at least gauge her mood.
The Saintess glances at Kyle and parts her lips.
“You should prepare.”
“Pardon?”
“For the return. We each need to go back to where we belong.”
With those words, the Saintess turned and began walking away.
*
*crunch crunch*
The Saintess returned to her tent without a word.
Priscilla, who followed behind her, was also silent.
“Has there been any progress with the marriage talks with the Fifth Princess?”
“The Fifth Princess came by recently and expressed her intentions. Said she would definitely marry you.”
When those words came from Baron Jonathan’s mouth.
Something felt like it dropped with a ‘thud’ in her chest.
She already knew that the Fifth Princess, Yurika, had her sights set on Kyle.
She had seen it firsthand, and wasn’t that why these feelings had grown?
She thought it wouldn’t affect her. She was certain it wouldn’t.
“I think it’s good.”
But when she heard those words from none other than Kyle’s father.
And when she heard that his father viewed it quite positively.
‘Why is this happening? Why does my heart feel so uncomfortable?’
It was an emotion she’d never felt before. Something she couldn’t understand at all.
That’s why she ended up being cold to Kyle without meaning to.
Even while regretting it, the words “I’m sorry” or “It’s nothing” wouldn’t come out.
‘Princess…’
The Fifth Princess, Yurika. She is certainly a good friend.
Although she’s very different from herself, and there are parts that are slightly hard to understand.
She’s not an evil person, nor does she speak or act with malicious intent.
Unlike herself, she’s uninhibited, strong, and physically robust.
The Saintess had always envied that strength immensely.
Perhaps that was why she was able to become friends with the Princess.
But it’s precisely because of this that her chest feels tight thinking she’s being pushed aside.
Does she want to take even more when she already has everything?
“Saintess. We will depart during the morning.”
“Yes.”
“We’ll probably use the teleportation magic circle again.”
“Yes.”
“I wonder if Brother Kyle will come with us.”
“Yes.”
An obvious low pressure. Priscilla couldn’t possibly miss it.
And she couldn’t possibly miss the reason for it either.
‘This must be her first time. Everything right now. That’s why it must feel unfamiliar too.’
Whether it’s feeling pleased when Baron Jonathan speaks well of someone.
Or becoming dejected when the Baron approves of another woman as Kyle’s marriage partner.
For the Saintess, since all of these are first-time experiences, it’s natural that she doesn’t know how to handle them.
“I’ll step out for a moment. Please continue with your preparations.”
“Yes.”
So Commander Priscilla quietly left the tent.
And met with someone to have a conversation.
“…So, let’s try to cheer up the Saintess while we travel to the Church together.”
“Isn’t that what Brother Kyle was planning to do?”
“I’d like to, but I have no idea what to do…”
Kyle was scratching his head, thinking hard.
Just how could he improve the Saintess’s mood?
The only things he’s good at are exercise and physical work.
‘…I don’t know. I’ll just have to do what I usually do.’
Right. Trying something unfamiliar often leads to backlash.
Maybe if he sticks to what he’s good at, something will work out.
“My perfect attendance is already broken anyway, so one more absence should be fine.”
It was something that would make the Academy professors faint if they heard it.