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Chapter 39
“Get off the bed right now, Franz.”
Aleksei ordered him with a deep frown, but—
“If Lord Aleksei wants it, I’ll graciously give it up.”
Far from obeying, Franz only grinned.
He called him “my lord” and all that, but the way he acted was exactly how a friend would.
…Maybe even a little condescending.
“So, what’ll it be?”
“Fine. I’ll use—”
The words then move aside never fully made it out of Aleksei’s mouth.
If he took the bed, Franz and Angelina would have to sleep on the floor.
Together.
The moment the word together crossed his mind, the rest of his sentence vanished as if by magic.
“Forget it. You take the bed.”
Aleksei set down the sword at his waist and sat on the floor.
“Franz is the only one benefiting here.”
Angelina sat beside him and added her own complaint. Franz quickly tossed them a blanket.
“At least spread this out before you sleep.”
The two glared at the shameless man on the bed while laying the blanket over the hard wooden floor. It was a little better that way.
The room was cramped, but there was enough space for the two of them to lie down. The problem was how to position themselves.
Aleksei sat leaning against the wall. Angelina stared at him in disbelief.
That was it?
“You’re going to stay like that?”
“Yeah.”
“All night?”
“This is comfortable.”
There was only one reason he stubbornly insisted on sitting there with such a ridiculous excuse.
Pride.
He simply couldn’t bring himself to lie down on a filthy floor people had trampled all over.
“You weren’t like this on the deserted island.”
They had only built a wooden fence there; it had practically been outdoors.
“There… you made it.”
“……”
So he had endured lying down there out of consideration for her hard work?
Aleksei pulled part of the blanket from beneath himself and pushed it toward her.
“You lie down.”
Angelina shoved the blanket back with her foot and sat down in the exact same posture as Aleksei.
“Why are you doing that too?”
“I think this’ll be more comfortable for me too.”
“Suit yourself.”
“Tomorrow…”
“Let’s think about tomorrow tomorrow.”
Franz cut Aleksei off.
“How do you know what I was going to say?”
“You were going to talk about tomorrow’s plans, weren’t you?”
“……”
“Let’s just sleep for now. You look exhausted.”
“I’m fine.”
“I wasn’t talking about you, Lord Aleksei.”
Aleksei turned his head and was startled. Angelina’s eyes were already half closed.
“Yeah, Alek. Plans and all that can wait till tomorrow.”
Angelina yawned repeatedly before resting the back of her head against the wall and closing her eyes.
Unlike the other two, Aleksei couldn’t fall asleep.
Putting off tomorrow’s plans until tomorrow was extremely difficult for him.
With an exhausted mind, he forced himself to think.
Tomorrow we’ll head into town… buy horses… stop by the general store… before that I need to think about what we’ll need…
His chain of thoughts continued endlessly until, at some point, it abruptly snapped.
And Aleksei helplessly drifted into sleep.
It was in the middle of the night.
A strange sound woke Aleksei from his sleep.
What is that?
Squeak. Squeak.
The sound was unfamiliar, but he knew exactly what it was.
“What’s wrong?”
Angelina woke at the movement.
“There’s a mouse.”
“A mouse? That happens. There were plenty in my house too.”
“In your house too?”
Oops.
She had meant her house from her previous life.
Still, she had seen mice in this life as well. A few times she’d watched maids shrieking while swinging brooms around. After they bought rat poison and set it everywhere, those scenes disappeared.
While lost in memory, Angelina returned to reality when she realized Aleksei looked no different from those maids.
“Are you scared of mice, or do you just hate them?”
“Obviously I hate them.”
Watching Aleksei sharpen all his senses trying to locate the mouse was incredibly amusing.
“What are you talking about in the middle of the night?”
“Th-there’s a mouse.”
“Oh. A mouse…”
When even Franz reacted indifferently, Aleksei suddenly felt very alone.
“You two are okay with this?”
“I think you’re the weird one here.”
“I’m not weird, I just hate—ugh!”
Another squeak sounded, this time much closer, and Aleksei jumped in fright.
It was pure survival instinct.
Escaping in panic would have been fine.
The problem was that his chosen refuge happened to be on top of Angelina’s legs.
Aleksei couldn’t even bring himself to look at her. He was too stunned to realize he should get off her lap.
After a brief silence, he slowly lifted his eyes.
First he saw tightly pressed lips trying not to laugh, and above them, eyes glittering with mischief.
“I just… got startled.”
Aleksei stammered, painfully aware of how red his face had become.
“So you are scared.”
“…Did it leave?”
Fear completely crushed his embarrassment.
His dignity was already ruined; avoiding the mouse mattered more.
“I think it’s still here.”
“Eek!”
The future emperor had climbed onto a woman’s lap because of a single mouse.
And he’d even made a strange squealing noise.
The people who praised him as the perfect crown prince really needed to see this side of him. Angelina found that deeply regrettable.
“Want me to catch it?”
“You can catch it?”
“I could just shoot it.”
“Hey, it’s only a mouse. If you’re going to catch it, do it with your hands.”
Franz chimed in with unhelpful advice.
“It’s way too fast for that.”
Perhaps sensing the murderous intent in the room, the mouse suddenly bolted.
“You really think you can hit something that fast?”
“Maybe? Want to find out?”
“If you don’t want to spend all our travel money paying for repairs to the inn, please restrain yourself.”
Even during their joking, Aleksei remained frozen stiff. He had no room to appreciate humor right now.
“So are you catching it or not?”
Angelina stood and rolled up her sleeves.
“Aleksei’s scared, so of course I have to catch it.”
The mouse was caught fifteen minutes later.
After repeatedly hiding and mocking Angelina, it finally tried to relocate—only to be struck dead instantly by the broom she swung.
Aleksei was horrified.
Partly because the mouse was the size of his palm.
And partly because she had beaten such a thing to death with brute force.
If you live in a house full of mice, you’ll end up like this too.
Though unless Aleksei somehow got to live a second life as well, that would never happen.
Franz, who had provided absolutely no help during the hunt, perhaps felt guilty enough to carry away the corpse himself.
“I disposed of it properly.”
Whether he buried it or threw it away, no one asked.
After that little commotion, the rest of the dawn passed peacefully.
When that peaceful dawn ended and Angelina woke up, she realized she was resting on something hard.
And covered with a blanket too.
When did I lie down?
Still… this feels nice.
Half-asleep, Angelina hugged the “pillow” she’d been resting on.
The pillow twitched.
Huh…?
Sensing something strange, Angelina’s eyes flew open.
What is this?
It was covered in fabric, but it was long… and at the end of that long shape were shoes…
“Ahhh!”
Angelina shot upright. She heard movement both in front of and behind her.
“What happened?”
“Did another mouse appear?”
“N-no. I just had a weird dream.”
“What kind of dream makes you scream like that?”
A dream where I used your thigh as a pillow and hugged it while sleeping.
“I don’t remember.”
“Must’ve been a terrible dream.”
Franz stretched lazily a moment later.
“Since we’re all awake, let’s start the meeting.”
“I’m hungry. Let’s eat breakfast first.”
Aleksei’s face looked perfectly normal as always. That reassured Angelina, though she still found it difficult to meet his eyes directly.
She’d thought it was a pillow made of horse muscles, but it had actually been a man’s leg.
And not just any man’s—Aleksei Werner’s!
Still, it was probably better than sleeping on Franz’s thigh—
Wait, what am I even thinking?!
“Angel?”
“Y-yeah?”
“Your face is red. Do you have a fever?”
The moment Aleksei’s hand touched her forehead—
“No fever.”
All the heat had gathered in her heart instead, making it hard for Angelina to breathe.
“It must’ve gotten cold at dawn.”
She hurriedly made an excuse.
“I thought you’d be fine since you had a blanket on. Was it still cold?”
“You were the warmest one sleeping there, actually.”
“The one who laid me down was Aleksei?”
“Yeah.”
“And the one who covered me with the blanket too?”
“Of course.”
That utterly indifferent expression left Angelina speechless.
But then she remembered she’d dirtied her own hands catching a mouse for him. For Aleksei Werner!
So what if she used his thigh as a pillow?
Even if his leg went numb from bad circulation or something…
Being able to shake off awkward feelings quickly was one of her strengths.
“Then do it again next time.”
“……”
The problem was that she always overdid things.
What kind of nonsense did I just say?!
Slapping her own lips repeatedly, Angelina fled toward the dining hall.
Breakfast was similar to what they’d eaten at the Red Moon Inn.
Hard bread and lukewarm potato soup.
At least there was no mold this time.
After roughly satisfying their hunger, the three gathered back in the room.
Aleksei dragged a small table to the center.
Then he spread out a map.
On the map were drawings that seemed to represent locations, unreadable symbols, and diamond-shaped markings.
