ISMCFC 08

Episode 08

“What are you thinking about? Aren’t you hungry?”

Hares asked curiously as he pushed a plate with a sandwich on it toward me.

I shook my head, then casually began pouring out my thoughts.

“Actually, I was starving. My clothes were so tight at the ball that I could barely drink anything without worrying about feeling dizzy.”

“Exactly. Why did you insist on wearing something like that today? Honestly, I almost told you to go change, but I thought that would be crossing the line, so I kept my mouth shut.”

“……”

For a moment, I couldn’t find the words. My lips simply moved soundlessly.

That was one of Hares’s defining traits.

He was generally indifferent, yet surprisingly considerate.

In some matters, he was more perceptive than anyone else, but when it came to most things, he was completely oblivious. More accurately, he simply didn’t care enough to notice.

I wore it because I wanted to look pretty for you!

In the end, though, I couldn’t bring myself to say it. I merely let out a small sigh and obediently sat down beside him.

Hares knew exactly what kind of sandwiches I liked.

Bread toasted in butter until it was just shy of turning golden brown, with cheese, egg, and thinly sliced apples tucked inside. That was my favorite.

I didn’t like bacon or ham in my sandwiches. I preferred to have just one sausage on the side instead.

Looking down at the sandwich prepared perfectly to suit my tastes, I asked for no particular reason,

“You really do treat this place like your own home, don’t you? You haven’t been here in ages. How did you manage to find all the ingredients?”

“Your house hasn’t changed much. Greta, the woman who works in the kitchen, is still here, so why would they have moved where they keep the ingredients?”

Hares said this casually before taking a big bite of his sandwich.

Every time he moved, the muscles in his arms shifted smoothly.

It was a little… undeniably sexy, so I discreetly looked away.

His freshly showered body carried the same scent as mine. And on top of that, we were spending a hot summer night together, with everyone else fast asleep.

If we were anyone else, people would have seen our relationship differently.

I was glad of this familiar closeness, yet at the same time, it filled me with despair.

The pajamas I was wearing tonight were made of fabric that naturally hugged the contours of my body.

They weren’t particularly revealing or provocative, but from the side, they showed off every curve of my figure. Surely anyone sitting beside me would have no choice but to notice!

…Or so I thought.

Judging by how little attention Hares paid me, it seemed that even this wasn’t enough to make him the slightest bit flustered.

After all, the only thing he said once he’d finished his sandwich was something perfectly ordinary.

“Hey, they’re saying it’s going to rain all night. Let’s close all the windows before we go to bed.”

“Betty has already closed all the windows in the other rooms. We just need to close the ones in the family room before we leave.”

“Your house really never changes. My place is so noisy and chaotic with so many people living there. Recently, some of my mother’s relatives have been staying with us, too. The kids are driving me absolutely crazy.”

I let out a little laugh at Hares’s grumbling.

As if you have anything to complain about.

Besides, even though he complained like this, Hares was always good at playing with the children. He even put up with his relatives’ unpleasant remarks.

I told him,

“You should be grateful. If you lived in a house as empty as mine, you’d go insane. Actually, you wouldn’t just lose your mind. You’d go completely mad.”

“Then come live at our place. Why do you insist on living alone? You know, you’re surprisingly distant with us. It’s hurtful.”

I didn’t answer Hares. So he continued,

“Honestly, my mother and sister practically raised you from the time you were little.”

“That’s not true! Though I’ll never be able to repay your mother’s kindness, no matter how long I live.”

There he goes, subtly trying to squeeze me into the family category again.

I was really done with the role of his little sister.

Of course, I knew why Hares said things like that.

My parents were home for only a few days to a month each year.

They were nobles who were, rather unusually, obsessed with their research.

I didn’t know whether their research was more important to them than their daughter, but at least that was how things seemed.

They had been away from home almost constantly ever since I was five or six.

As a result, I had practically lived at Hares’s house until I reached puberty.

But when puberty came, there was one thing I learned the hard way.

No matter how often we called ourselves family, we weren’t actually related.

I couldn’t act too spoiled around them or lean on them with all my might as though they were my real family.

I had to learn that from then on.

Of course, Hares’s family had never made me feel unwelcome or given me any reason to think that way.

It was simply that, at some point, I couldn’t help but become aware of the difference.

No matter how close we were, and no matter how much we felt like family, we weren’t family.

Even so, I couldn’t deny that they were still the people who had saved my life.

“…They’re truly wonderful people. To me, at least. But I’m all grown up now, so I should at least learn how to live on my own.”

“You’re all grown up? You’re short, and everything else about you is small, too…”

“What exactly is that supposed to mean? Do you want to die?”

“My mother keeps asking me to bring you over. She says she’s going to make sure you get properly nourished this time. Apparently, you’re much too skinny.”

Hares’s mother, Duchess Iriselle, was always fussing over whether I was eating enough whenever she saw me. Even though I wasn’t particularly thin for my height, she always looked after me with the same meticulous care she would give her own daughter.

Then Hares glanced at me before mumbling,

“…And if you ever really don’t want to be alone, you can just come stay at our place. We’ve got plenty of rooms.”

“Do you know how loose-lipped the servants in your house are? Unless I’m actually going to become your family’s daughter-in-law, I can’t exactly live there.”

“Then become my wife.”

Hares said it so casually, as though it were no big deal.

At those words, my heart suddenly dropped with a thud.

“…What?”

“If you can’t find anyone to marry, I’ll just close my eyes and marry you out of loyalty. How about when we’re thirty?”

“Have you lost your mind?”

“It’s a marriage based entirely on friendship, so let’s not do anything to each other. Just imagining anything beyond that makes me want to throw up.”

“……”

Suddenly, it felt as though something had gotten stuck in my throat. I could barely breathe.

It was as if the sandwich I’d just eaten had all tangled together and lodged itself there.

You always make my heart race ahead of yours. You say things like that as though they’re nothing, and you make me hope for something.

But…

In the end, they’re all just jokes.

We were so close that he could say all sorts of things without giving them a second thought.

He wouldn’t make jokes like that with other women because they might misunderstand him.

But he thought I could never look at him that way.

So he probably just considered those remarks harmless jokes and said them for fun.

“I’m sleepy. I’m going to bed.”

“Already? I even brought cards so we could play all night!”

“Look at the time! When I come back from a ball, I need to go to bed right away so I can get back into my usual schedule the next day. I have plans tomorrow. I need to take care of my skin, too.”

“Hah. So you want to look pretty for that man, huh? Is that why you’re worried about getting a blemish if you stay up late?”

Despite grumbling, Hares nodded as well.

“Let’s close all the windows and go to bed. You can sleep in the guest room you always use.”

“No. I want to sleep in the room next to yours tonight. If my appointment is early in the morning, you’ll sneak out while I’m asleep, won’t you?”

You absolutely cannot sleep in the room next to mine!

I’ll be tempted to close my eyes and pounce on you in the middle of the night!

“My appointment is at two in the afternoon, so just go to sleep.”

“Oh, really?”

Hares nodded, looking as though the possibility of me lying to him had never even crossed his mind. He got up first.

It seemed he was going to get ready for bed, just as I’d suggested.

I got up and followed him, too.

I was trailing right behind him as he headed toward the windows to close them when—

A flash of white light suddenly streaked across the window in front of us.

The world went white for an instant, and my shoulders jerked in surprise.

“Aaaah!”

“Hey! Are you alr—”

My startled body instinctively leaped into the arms of the person I felt safest with.

Before Hares could even open his arms to catch me, I had already thrown myself at him and wrapped mine around the back of his neck.

“……!”

I sensed that he was startled by something, but before I could make sense of it, an ear-splitting sound followed.

BOOM! RUMBLE! CRASH!

“Aaaah!”

The window had been open, so the noise was as loud as a series of fireworks exploding right beside us.

I clung even tighter to the back of Hares’s neck.

“…Hey, wait. Hold on. Ah…”

Hares seemed somewhat uncomfortable, but I wasn’t in a state to pay attention to him.

Soon, a refreshing shhhhh sound came from outside the window.

Then cold droplets of water bounced through the open window and reached me.

“Haa… haa…”

As the sound gradually faded, my embarrassment began to return. Along with it came all those things like social decorum, bashfulness, and shame.

“Um…”

Only then did I hear Hares’s voice and lift my head.

He looked somewhat awkward. Perhaps even embarrassed.

“Why is your face… Your ears are a little red. Were you that startled, too?”

At my question, Hares let out a quiet sigh.

“It’s not that… Hah.”

“Then what is it?”

“…I’m worried about how you’ll react if I say this.”

He was moving his lips, hesitating as though he couldn’t quite bring himself to speak.

What kind of prank is he planning now?

Growing annoyed, I furrowed my brows and asked,

“What?”

When I pressed him so directly, Hares seemed to realize he couldn’t keep his mouth shut any longer. A faintly resigned look crossed his face.

And, true to his usual straightforward nature, he gave me an utterly unfiltered answer.

“You’re not wearing anything underneath, so I can feel everything against the back of my hand right now.”

Only then did my eyes widen. I stammered out an apology almost automatically, my head growing hot as everything suddenly became a blur.

“S-sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize, but… well…”

Hares subtly avoided my gaze as I looked up at him, the area around his eyes turning red.

“Well…”

“……”

“Could you… move your arms a little?”

Of course, Hares had hugged me from behind plenty of times before. But those hugs had never brought him into contact with any particularly sensitive parts of my body.

This time, however, even I couldn’t deny what was happening.

I could clearly feel my breasts pressing firmly against the back of Hares’s hand and his forearm.