69 – Southern Hunting Tournament (8)

Elena watched Damian’s back as he ran into the woods and didn’t leave until he disappeared completely in the shadows of the forest.

Is it because of the regret of the short meeting? Steps do not fall easily.

The thought that if she hadn’t been up late, we could have had a longer conversation filled her head. However, Elena knew very well that since it had already passed, it would be foolish to continue dwelling on it.

I close my eyes and focus on my mind, putting the regret behind me for a while.

In front of her eyes, which should not have been visible, there was something emitting a warm light like the sun. Upon confirming this, Elena let go of her stiff expression and let out a sigh of relief.

“thank god….”

Even though he didn’t use any magic, he felt Damian’s presence very clearly, as if he was standing next to him right now.

That said, the crystal handed over to him was doing its job normally. It was the first time she used power in this way, so Elena was worried that she might not be able to play her role properly, but now she seems to be able to put her mind at ease.

It was the crystal that caused the lateness, but if the crystal didn’t work normally, things would have been complicated. After all, the crystal was the most important key to Elena’s plan. This was the best she could do now, unable to move like in the time of Merrohim due to the presence of Noel and Orcus.

‘I’m glad I could deliver this…’

Above all, it was the key to the plan and at the same time it was a very important thing to protect Damian from any danger.

Somehow, the current Damian was growing stronger at a faster rate than Elena remembered. She didn’t know what motivated her, but at the current rate, Reinhardt, one of the strongest swordsmen she remembers, and Damian might reach the level of transcendence before him.

But unless it comes true right now. It was difficult for Elena to stop worrying about Damian.

Would she be able to send him into the woods without any protection when she knew exactly what was going to happen next? It was for that reason that I handed him the crystal that would normally have been ordered by a blue bird to drop in the forest.

“Hey hey hey hey…”

After the tension was relieved, a sense of exhaustion came to her belatedly, as if all strength was drained from her body.

Since the energy was drained from reconstituting the crystal all night, even though the mind was fine outside the human limit, the body was not. Even if you take a wrong step, you are on the verge of falling. Fortunately, Hailey noticed this and hurried to stand beside Elena and support her.

“miss!!”

“Ah… thank you Hailey…”

Haley called Elena by name as soon as she grabbed her arm.

Elena, who was about to say thank you, felt something strange about Haley’s calling and stopped talking. At first, I thought he was calling because he was worried that he might collapse, but Haley didn’t look like she was worried about people at all.

Rather, it seemed that he was expecting something to be said.

This wasn’t the first time Elena had seen Hailey in this mood. Since she always waited for Elena with that kind of look in her eyes while she was living at Count Krause’s house, or after spending time alone with Damian, Elena quickly got a sense of what she wanted to hear from him.

When I looked around at the stares I felt from all sides, there were not one or two with eyes like Hailey.

Before Damian left, what he did to Elena certainly caught the attention of the people around him.

The act of kissing the back of the hand was not something that would attract people’s attention. As it is one of the actions that participants often do to a lady with a heart before participating in a competition, similar things must have happened elsewhere now.

However, the reason why so many people’s attention was focused was because the subjects were simply Damian and Elena.

The background of the two families, Kraus and Edelweiss, may have played a part, but the decisive factor was the appearance of Damian and Elena, who were so outstanding that they drew people’s attention in one place.

At the age when they were just about to be recognized as adults, some adults sent eyes that the two of them were young, and it was a very chaotic situation in many ways between Elena and the children who seemed to be her age.

There were children who showed similar reactions to Hailey, but apart from that, I felt a lot of gazes filled with emotions such as jealousy and pity.

However, Elena did not have time to react to the emotions that were pouring over her. It was because as soon as Haley’s mouth opened, even more words than this poured out of her mouth.

“Lady! Congratulations!! It seems like just yesterday that you had a hard time just holding hands, but now you’ve developed enough to lightly kiss your hand! To be honest, I was worried that the two of you seem a little distant after going camping this time… Thankfully This, too, was nothing but rain!”

“Hey, Hailey!! Okay, so be quiet!!”

“Oh, and I couldn’t see it well because I was far away…lady! When did you prepare such a present again?! It’s too much. If you told me, of course I would have helped you!!”

“I understand, ah… stop it…”

Haley’s words bring out the emotions that I had barely pushed into a corner of my heart.

To the girl who had been agonizing about what kind of face she would have to stand in front of Damian just a few hours ago, Haley’s words were like exploding her calm mind again. Above all, the more Haley’s words continued, the more people’s eyes focused on her, making Elena’s face hot.

It’s been a long time since Elena stopped caring about how other people looked at her, but on this subject she was an exception. And because he knew that fact, Haley was teasing him so persistently.

Elena squeezed her hat tightly until she reached a place out of sight of the others, and Haley followed Elena and didn’t stop moving her mouth.

***

After seeing him off, I went back to my room to tidy up my clothes.

It was a bit unreasonable to stand in front of others in the current attire, as the schedule did not become empty just because I did not participate in the competition.

Those attending as spectators, like me, have two options: wait in the banquet hall of the castle, or remain quiet in the room. In fact, for me, these options didn’t mean much. As long as I became a member of Krauss, attending the meeting at the banquet hall was indispensable to me.

She put down the hat she was wearing and sat down in front of the mirror to start tidying up her messy hair.

“Oh my gosh…”

When I left my room in the morning, I was so distracted that I just glanced at it, but now, sitting in front of the mirror and looking at my reflection, I realized that it was more messed up than I had imagined.

Her face was fine because she washed her face before leaving, but the problem was her hair.

I didn’t want to show my messy hair, so I pushed my hair up into a hat, and it became poison. What do you do when you lower your hat? I was going to show him anyway when I finally met him. I guess I should have gone out without a hat, even if it was a bit messy.

Looking at the messy hair, thinking that I showed it to him as it is, I couldn’t help but feel my face burning. What if you think of yourself as an ill-tempered woman? I was worried about that, but even for a while, thinking about my actions when I was with him, I realized that I didn’t have to worry about this.

“Maybe you already think so.”

A voice close to resignation came out of his mouth.

How many times had he wiped the cream off his mouth every time he ate refreshments?

It was undeniable that I was addicted to that excitement at first and then deliberately buried it in my mouth halfway through. What can I do to feel good? In fact, it was also true that when I stood in front of him, my heart was shaken and I became clumsy.

When I finished tidying up my tousled hair, this time I saw the image of the messy room reflected in the mirror. After seeing this, I have a clear picture in my head of what happened here this morning.

I let out a sigh as I looked at the messy room.

Although it was a mistake caused by a slight accident, I was confused because I felt like I had become a clumsy girl who couldn’t tidy up a room properly.

Hailey wasn’t allowed in the room, so I left the room alone, moving my fingers around. If he had come in with Hailey earlier, he would have finished tidying up the room while he was tidying up his hair without having to go through all this trouble, but he still wasn’t angry enough to do that.

“Haley too!! What if you say that in a place where everyone is…”

Actually, I wasn’t even angry. I was just ashamed.

It was a normal thing for Haley to ask such a question, so I hoped it would be ignored this time, but the eyes of those people were like… a little more emotional than usual. I knew, of course, that Haley had deliberately said that in public just to see me embarrassed.

First of all, what Haley said was something that others would not have any problems with.

It’s just that I’m ashamed of being the party.

“You may come in now.”

As soon as I said that it was okay to come in after tidying up, Haley rushed towards me as if she had been waiting.

Hailey, who stood in front of me, looked at my face with her mouth closed, showing that she was reflecting now, unlike before, when she was talking excitedly. Apparently, I’ve never reacted like this before, so he really thinks I’m pissed off.

“Um…lady..sorry!! I-I didn’t mean to do that on purpose!! Ah, no, that’s not it, I’m glad that the lady and Gongja-nim got closer…”

Hailey’s eyes trembled as she spoke, and nothing had changed from when I found out that Wilhelm had broken and ate his prized sword sheath. As I looked at her without saying anything, Hailey kept saying she was sorry, and I listened to her silently before opening my mouth carefully.

“…not anymore, right?”

“Yes! I’ll tease you..!! No, I’ll only talk about it when we’re alone. Just like before.”

It seems like my true heart just came out. Well, I guess it will be like this.

When Haley gave me a very reflective look, I nodded in agreement.

“…Okay. I’ll forgive you. I’m ashamed to say that in front of people.

“Ah, yes. I’ll take care of myself from now on!”

Hayley, who seemed to notice that I was feeling all down, immediately replied with a mischievous smile and impersonation of a well-disciplined soldier.

Because I really can’t.

Haley laughed and I responded with a small smile.

“Well then, now that we’ve finished the preparations, shall we go to the banquet hall? Would Alphonse go first?”

“Yes. Uncle Hans and Master Alphonse told us in advance that they would go first.”

Father said he would wait for him outside with the knights, so the only ones attending the banquet hall were me and Alphonse, who had not been able to participate in the tournament due to their younger age. He didn’t say anything about staying indoors and not going outside, but it seemed that he was considering to mingle with his peers as the attendance rate of children from other noble families was high at this tournament.

I’d rather wait for him outside…

It wasn’t that I didn’t have the heart to make friends at all, but I’m still a bit reluctant to meet up with someone I haven’t had a relationship with in the past. But like he did last time in Merohim, I also needed a chance to make myself known in the South, so I decided to follow Sir Arthur’s suggestion.

As we walked toward the banquet hall, Hailey glanced at me, as if she had thought of something funny, and started laughing quietly.

“…? Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. hehehe. Then, shall we hurry to the banquet hall? Everyone will be waiting for the lady!”

And, as usual, it must be a silly thought. It was only after I entered the banquet hall that I understood the reason for Hailey’s laughter.

The number of people in the banquet hall now consisted of some of the people who were seeing off those participating in the tournament from outside. And, of course, those who were with me and he were also present.

As soon as I opened the door and went inside, the same gazes I had felt from outside were directed at me. When people’s eyes are focused on one place, there is bound to be a strange sense of pressure in the atmosphere. I’m used to this, so it didn’t happen that I was weighed down by their atmosphere, but as soon as I felt their gaze, I let out a small sigh.

In many ways, I feel like I’m going to get very tired.