Chapter 12: Something Sweet

I stand on my toes and look towards the racetrack. I can see the students of the Knight course preparing for their training. There were those who pulled the horses and those who attached harnesses.
I try to look closer.

"Not here … "
I murmur.
“What is?"
Cornelia speaks, tilting her neck. I didn’t notice her approaching.
"Eh! Cornelia-sama! No, it's just that I haven’t seen Adele recently!!"

Cornelia reassures me warmly.
"Oh, just like Julius?"
She smiles.
"Julius and Adele are very busy, aren't they?"

I sigh.

It's been two days since I fainted in the library.
I’d been looking for Adele casually at first but more actively these days, yet I still couldn't meet with him.

Cornelia continues.
"Every time the Knights of the Empire stop by in a neighboring town, they’re rushed to greet and escort the surrounding area as representatives of this school."

Yes, I've noticed that since last year when the two started competing for the top in the highest grade of the Knight course.
Chief of the Knight course, representative of the academy. And to protect the pride of the former Principality.
The expectations placed on them are very high.

"Moreover, Imperial students are overwhelmingly favored in the results of the Knights courses … It's very distressing to everyone in the Principality."
"That can’t be true! Those two have the ability to succeed even with such a handicap and still have a lot of abilities! This isn’t an Imperial only school!"
I held both her hands as I went on my rant, Cornelia looked a bit troubled.

Well, I've heard rumors, but is it true? Even in our civilian courses, there were situations where we felt a sense of inferiority to those born from the Empire. But in the knight course, which is said to have the stars of the academy, it would be seen more obviously.

Under such circumstances, how much effort is required of Adele, who has been defending the top position for the past year …
All to be a knight suitable to protect Cornelia …
My head began hurting so I shook my head to get rid of it.


After school that day.
I held a small parcel as I exited through the back door, heading to where I could see the men's dormitory.
Inside the package is a small baked confectionery. Since my last afternoon class was an off hour, I went back to the girls' dormitory and asked the maid of the catering staff to allow me to make it in the corner of the kitchen.

After the death of the Principality, aristocratic daughters started to enter their kitchens at home, but I wasn't very good at it.

I ran freely in the fields after successfully making the soft baked goods that Cornelia taught me.
Adele once had a bite at a tea party held at Cornelia's mansion a long time ago, he muttered that it was delicious. I’ve wanted to hear similar words from him since.
Hugging the still warm bag tightly, I took deep breaths so that I wouldn't miss Adele among the boys going in and out of the dormitory.

"What are you doing in such a place, Countess?"
A ridiculous, disgusting voice spoke from behind. I sigh and look back slowly.
Two male students in Knight course uniforms stand at formation behind a very specific student.
He is a particularly warlike student of the Empire, a young man named Dirk, who has a father in the executive branch of the Empire that controls this region.

At the age of 11, those three were the ones involved with Cornelia.
After that incident, they started to resent us, finding opportunities, and coming up with more pranks.
The Imperial injustice was exemplified when they were enrolled in the Knight course …

I silently give a bow and try to leave.

"If you’re looking for Adele Berger, then I think you would have seen him in class today, but … were you unable to meet?"
He spat his words at my back and I stopped unintentionally.
Dirk slowly approaches me, perhaps because he was satisfied with my reaction.

"It's weird ... you guys got together, right? Maybe … he’s avoiding you?"
Dirk smiles as if it was a hilarious joke, and tries to look at my averting eyes.
I hug the paper bag tightly.
"I often hear, when someone is paired with a person they don't like they gradually avoid them after the first night. It seems that you didn't fit each other in the first place, and it's no wonder. I laughed so hard when I heard you two were paired. "

"What about it?"
I look straight back at Dirk as if to shake that abominable voice.
"If Adele is avoiding me, I wouldn't go around asking you for the reason. I'll hear it from his own mouth, so mind your own business."
After all, I'm not the kind of person who can lose to you.
"How long will you keep saying things a child would say? ... Isn't it embarrassing?"

"You……"
Dirk's raw white skin became a deep red.

He knocked down the package from my hand.
The pastries peeked out from the paper. Then one of the lackeys tramples it.
"What are you doing !! Do you think you’re protecting people from some poor food!?"
Dirk grabs my wrist as I was trying to pick it up.

"You’ve always been really cheeky … "
He pushes his face closer to mine.
"I can always ruin you … "

What do you mean? I carefully look back at Dirk.
Dirk's gaze slowly … leers down my body.

"I used to think that you were just a country bumpkin, but when I think of how you’re the woman Adele Berger embraced ... I can't help but be interested."
Terror grew in me, and my back began to ache.

"What kind of face would he make if your body was hurt … "
"Sorry to disappoint, but Adele wouldn’t care about that!"
At that moment, Dirk's body rose ... a blow from behind Don!!! He falls on his back.
In surprise, I raise my eyes.

"Adele ...!"
There, the person who grabbed Dirk by the neck and pulled him away from me … Adele stood expressionless.

"What are you doing, Adele Berger! A private duel is forbidden!"
"A duel?-"
Adele laughs through his nose.
"-A duel is something equals do. I just shook off the flies that were bothering my partner … is there something wrong?"
He waves Dirk away and grabs my hand.
"Let's go."
"Wait, Adele!"
I hurriedly bent over at the feet of one of the lackeys, picked up the package to my chest, and began walking behind Adele.

"Wait, Adele!"
I chase after him.
Is he angry?　

"--- if injured, won’t do anything."
"Huh?"
The air is buzzing and I can't hear his voice well.

"What did you my by even if your body is scratched, I wouldn't be upset."
Adele stops and looks me up.
"Do you think of me like that?"

“Don’t you know me?”
My pride shined.
"How many abrasions and cuts have I had since I was little? I wonder if you, who’s been fighting and playing with me since childhood, knows this. I even broke my right little finger. I can handle myself, somewhat, from skinny little Dirk. "

Adele looks at me slyly. Then he sighs an exasperated breath.
" … Are you really saying--"
His line of sight stops on the bag I’m holding to my chest.
"-What is that?"

Adele asks, in suspicion. I can’t ... the crushed wrapping was too embarrassing to show.
"Ah, um. Nothing. Just a … this is … ”
From one look you can see that the contents are bad. Some sand may have fallen in.

To show him the sweets in this state- and what kind of face am I to show when I tell him these were the same recipe from Cornelia?
"……nothing"
Adele was one step closer to me, I hid the wrap behind me.
"Smells sweet. "

He reaches for my back and easily takes away the bag.
"Ah! Stop it !!"
I reached out in a hurry, but our height was too different and I couldn't reach it.
Adele opens the package. Sure enough, some of the pastries were crushed and didn’t retain their original shape.
In such a miserable situation, I turned red.

"No! Before, they were a little more ... It was a little better, but ... Of course, mine aren’t even close to the ones made by Cornelia-sama ..."
While talking, I can feel myself shrink more and more.
Adele would probably laugh, someone like me acting delicate and making sweets … going too far, and doing something that wasn't my usual style... Yeah, what if he gets sick?

I raise my head when I hear the sound of the paper being undone.
Adele was about to eat a crushed pastry.
"!! No, Adele! Maybe there's sand ... !!"

"It’s good."
With a serious face, he chews and licks the powder on his thumb, and Adel drops the rest into his mouth.
"I have never eaten such delicious sweets"

Adele ……
Adele's words made my heart melt … and fluffy … I was almost crying and turned away to hide it.

"I was thinking about how tired I was earlier … and how something sweet would be good to have... But I couldn't meet with you, so maybe ... I wondered if I was being avoided ..."
Oh, I'm stupid. After all, I don't care about words from someone like Dirk.
Pathetic. The worst.

"But I may have been tired after all ... Thank you for eating, I’ll head back first … "
Ton, Adele touches the tree just behind me.
While I was surprised to be caught between Adele and a tree, his other hand lifted my chin lightly ...
Adele's lips gently cover my lips.
A slightly sweet, sugary taste.

Releasing our lips for a moment, his very serious eyes look into my eyes. The beating of my heart started to pound in my ears.
Before I could say anything, Adele locks our lips again.

"Hmm…"
His tongue softly pushes my lips open and comes in.
Then he gently pulls my mouth.
While kissing, he changes the angle.
It's kind, but … polite and slow as if trying to eat me from my mouth.
"Huh ..."
He slowly releases our lips.
My legs tremble, I can't stand, and he looks down at me, who was about to sit down, and sensually licks his lips ... Adele breathes heavily.

"... I want to eat something sweeter"
Then he picks me up, we leave for the dormitory … and go straight through the corridors leading to the "special room for mating".

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