Rishe wasn’t a competitive person. She knew that there were many great people in the world and that she couldn’t compare to.

However, there was only one person that she sometimes felt a bit of rivalry with, Arnold – the man she absolutely was unable to beat.

That was the case one day.

During a chat, the topic of Arnold’s sword came up, and Rishe asked to borrow it.

She didn’t unsheath it but just held it in the courtyard and gave him her honest opinion.

“Your Highness’s sword is a bit difficult for me to handle…”

She looked down while returning the sword, and Arnold replied while receiving it.

“That’s only right. We have differences in strength and hand size in the first place.”

“M… I don’t deny muscle strength, but my hands are relatively large, right?”

The hand size didn’t determine anything, but Rishe somehow felt like arguing.

“When I was at school, mine was bigger than other girls.”

As she spoke, she raised her right hand to her chest level and turned her palm toward Arnold.

She then met his gaze, and after a moment, Arnold raised an eyebrow.

“What’s with that waiting look?”

“I’m waiting for Your Highness to do the same.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to compare our hand sizes…”

As she explained, the wrinkles between his eyebrows dipped deeper and deeper.

“I don’t think we need to compare.”

“That may be true. But don’t you want to prove it in the end?”

“…”

Arnold sighed, but eventually did the same as Rishe with his black gloved hand.

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

“All right, get on with it.”

Rishe immediately touched his hand and aligned their wrists first.

The fingertips of her right hand didn’t even reach the first joint of Arnold’s fingers.

“They’re incomparable…”

“I can see that.”

“But I didn’t realize how different they were until we put them together.”

Even Rishe knew that Arnold’s hand was big. However, she realized it again in this way.

How should I put it?

Rishe examined their hands, palms overlapping, and said.

“…It’s a man’s hand, isn’t it?”

“…”

Silence filled the courtyard.

She found herself talking about the obvious and felt somewhat embarrassed.

She averted her gaze, but their hands remained in place.

“Oh, well, it’s not that I haven’t thought so before. My hand seems completely hidden, um…”

“…Hmm.”

“!!”

Arnold bent his fingers loosely.

Arnold wrapped his hand around her weak, unprotected hand, and she looked up at him in amazement.

“I see.”

Arnold remarked with a pretty irritating smile and provocative look.

“…A woman’s hand, eh?”

“… !!”

At that moment, her cheeks instantly burned.

Perhaps…

Wrapped in each other’s hands was perhaps embarrassing to both of them.

When Rishe hurriedly untangled her hand, Arnold snorted with that same irritating look. She knew he was making fun of her, but she couldn’t complain because she started it.

“If you want a sword, let me make you one that suits you. You don’t have to force yourself to handle the same sword as that of a man.”

“…Okay.”

Arnold returned to the main topic and started walking, so Rishe followed him and stepped out of the courtyard.

He touched her through his gloves, but it felt scorching hot.

She wondered about it and looked at her right hand again.