Reactions that were completely in line with my expectations erupted inside the duchy.
First of all, in the case of His Excellency Johannes and Duchess Claudia, they looked at the scale less Adilun and made a puzzled expression.
While holding Adilun by the shoulder, His Excellency Johannes also said that it was really fortunate that it went well and she was not in pain anymore.
In particular, His Excellency Johannes was quite pleased because Adilun looked so much like Duchess Claudia in her youth.
The reactions of the servants and maids of the duchy were not much different either.
The knights began to tear up as they watched Adilun without her scales.
In the end, everyone in the Duchy was happy that Adilun had escaped from being called a monster, and Sir Johannes gave additional compensation to those who had assisted Adilun and held a dinner party for the Duchy.
The servants of the castle rejoiced while eating rare and high-quality food, and Adilun also laughed with them.
"It is a nice day. Isn't it?"
"I know, right."
There were also many funny scenes. The knights drank and made all kinds of bets, but there were also scenes where servants and maids looked happy while chatting and eating.
In the end, it wasn't long before a mess broke out, but the Duke, who was already in a high mood, rather encouraged the mess by placing money on their bets as if it was okay. Adilun was no different. She was not helping out in the mess and drinking wine nonstop.
I tried to stop her as much as possible and told His Excellency Johannes, but His Excellency Johannes also gave permission to drink on a day like today, and because of that, Adilun ended up getting drunk.
Even she, who had never drunk alcohol, must have been happy about today's work to the extent that she even enjoyed drinking.
"Adilun. Are you okay?"
"Ah, um. Swimming. Yes. Swimming is okay, it's okay."
Seeing her gibberish and her staggering smirk at her faltering steps, it seemed that she was already drunk.
"This... You're really drunk."
"Nah, I'm not drunk! See. I can walk well!"
It was too unstable to walk for her. Eventually, she hit the side of her head with a thud in the hallway of the palace.
"Ouch!"
Apparently, she hit her horn, but the horn was not damaged. They looked pretty solid.
"Haa.."
I let out a deep sigh and tried to hold her hand, which was holding her head against the wall.
"No!"
"Yes? Let go!"
"Nooooo..."
She suddenly started rejecting my hand. On the contrary, she suddenly grabbed my hand, which was reaching out to her own, and bit it.
"Ouch! Why are you like this!"
"Hehe. I hate it."
"Yes? What do you mean?"
"You look so pretty!"
'What kind of nonsense is this again?' I thought to myself.
"What are you talking about again? You look more pretty."
"I used to look like a monster, but you look prettier than me, to the point of hating me! Especially dancing! When you dance with Princess Lobelia!" Adilun said.
She says she always hated her monstrous appearance, and her self-esteem fell to the bottom, especially because I insulted her externally.
This was something I'd heard before, so I just hung my head in disdain to see her.
She goes on to say, the way I danced with Princess Lobelia suited me so well, she said she hated that too. The fact that the reactions around us were different from when she danced with me also seemed to ignore her efforts.
I thought I was just about to be killed.
"I'm sorry."
When I said I was sorry, she shook her head in amazement and smiled bashfully.
"Yes. That was before and it's fine now. I'm prettier now hehe."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. So from now on, be good! Because there is still some time left… …"
"I will keep that in mind. Adilun."
The time she spoke of must be a promise she made with me.
About 8 months were left now.
Anyway, I grabbed Adilun's hand again. This time she also took my hand obediently, but there was a problem.
"What?"
Her leg was loose. So I quickly took her body into my arms.
"Adilun!"
"Eh."
"Is it okay?"
"Hehe. Yes. it's okay."
Perhaps she didn't even know that she had almost fallen, she smiled at me as she suddenly hugged me.
"Physis."
"Yes?"
"I have no strength in my legs."
"I see."
"Hug me."
"Yeah?"
"Just hug me like a princess from a story!"
"Oh… …"
It seemed that she could not even predict what kind of flow the alternative actions would lead to.
"Hug me!"
"Okay, okay."
Supporting her back and the inside of her knees, I lifted her up like a so-called princess. It seemed to me that this was much more comfortable than supporting her for nothing.
"Wow!"
She put her arm around my neck and smiled brightly and as if she wasn't used to the momentary sensation of her body floating.
In an instant, my heart beat loudly.
"Let's go to the bedroom now!"
Because of that, I couldn't help but raise my voice in bewilderment.
"No. I want to see the garden!"
"Then you could catch a cold again."
"I will not!"
She seemed unwilling to give up her stubbornness at all.
However, if we went out to the place where the snow wind blew like this, it was certain that the cold would come back, so I put her down for a while and wrapped her in my coat.
And when I picked her up again, Adilun showed a satisfied expression. I resigned myself and decided to do as she wished.
It was the first time I had ever seen her behave like this anyway, so I thought it would be better to just accept it.
But, considering all the mental pain she must have suffered, it might have been the first time she had been able to relax like this.
"Where shall we go like this?"
"Hey, let's go to the Winter Garden. Yey!"
With her in my arms, I went out into the winter garden: a garden that Duchess Claudia took care of with great attention, and it was a place where Adilun visited whenever her feelings were complicated.
Even in winter, colorful flowers were blooming in that place.
I had often seen her stop by the Winter Garden while living in Rodenov.
'Anyway, why did she suddenly want to come here?' Thinking that I asked her.
"The winter garden… …Why did you ask to come here?"
"It's just because the winter garden view at night is pretty… … . And I have something I want to say to you."
She mumbled.
"To me?"
"Yesssss."
"What do you want to say?"
"Earlier… …When I asked how about my face… … . You didn't answer properly."
'I should have answered correctly then. That you are more beautiful than anyone else.'
However, that alone didn't seem to be enough for her.
"I answered clearly."
"You didn't!"
She spoke to me in a voice full of anguish.
"You didn't… … . I, I always imagined that. My scales will come off one day… … If I become prettier than Princess Lobelia, to the point where your eyes will widen, then I'll show off to you… … Imagine that. Then you can't get your head around my face anymore. You, who just called me a disgusting monster."
Yes. Imaginations and desires. The two things which all humans have.
She was also a normal human girl.
Sometimes she was sad, sometimes she was happy, and sometimes she fantasized about strutting on someone who had been mean to her.
How harsh and painful were the words I said to such a person would have been. Moreover, to her at the time, that was my sincerity, so it must have hurt her even more.
But now… …Yes. now.
Maybe my sincerity could heal her wounds a little.
"You are beautiful. Not empty words… … You are much more than Princess Lobelia."
"Really?"
"Yes. I'm not lying. I have even danced with Princess Lobelia before, right? So I can tell that you are much more beautiful."
"You... hmmm. Y-you're not going to tell me that I'm an ugly monster anymore, are you?"
"Never. It won't happen. You are more beautiful than anyone else."
"Really? Can I trust you?"
"Yes. There will be no ifs. Haven't you always said that lately?"
"Hehe. Thank you. Please get me off now."
She smiled lightly and asked me to put her down.
With both feet on the ground, she took off her shoes and stepped into the middle of the winter garden. The garden was made up of very well-kept grass, so walking barefoot wouldn't hurt. She wandered freely in the garden, and beckoned to me.
"Physis, take off your shoes and come here!"
"Alright."
Why did she look extra pretty when she was behaving this way?
I also followed her instructions, took off my shoes, and even my socks, and went barefoot to the middle of the garden.
In front of me, she abruptly stretched out her hand.
"Dance with me. Just like you danced with Princess Lobelia on National Foundation Day. No… … More nicer than that. Didn't I just say I had a funny imagination? This is an extension of that; I wanted to dance a more beautiful dance than the one you danced with Princess Lobelia back then."
Under the soft moonlight, dark blue hair resembling the night sky shines.
The bluish-white horn boasts an elegant figure with just that, and now it had completely shed and regained its original shape…
…She, who was more beautiful than anyone else, invited me to dance.
'How can I refuse...'
I held her hand as if possessed.
Bare feet gently we walked through the garden. Music? We didn't need those things. Just the sound of the wind blowing under the moonlight was enough. Cold or something... it didn't matter now.
Our eyes met as we held hands.
The sharp eyes gently bent and smiled lightly, making me an idiot in an instant. How could an impression that looked so sharp change so mildly?
And that was not all. Why did she look so pretty when I see herself in those drunken, slightly hazy eyes?
Something thrilling began to flow from the place where we held hands. It was a feeling I had never felt before in my life.
'What should I call this?'
'Hallucinations.'
'Yes. I could call it hallucinations.'
A silent dance without music unfolds in the winter garden. Bare feet intertwined, and each other's breath intertwined.
Because she was drunk, she sometimes stepped on my foot, it was as light as if a feather had stepped on it. Her playful smile, whenever she stepped on my foot, was so mesmerizing that I couldn't take my eyes off her.
My heart beats, and under the moonlight I finally realized.
That... I was in love with this girl.
The reason I wanted her to be happy, the reason I wanted her to smile… … All of which could be explained by my crush on her.
What filled me up was that I wanted to make her mine… …A somewhat selfish desire.
I realized;
Now that this feeling was irreversible. The fact that this desire will grow bigger and bigger.
And if I let this selfish desire go in the wrong direction… …I could make her unhappy...
I smiled at her, hiding that storm of emotion inside me in the calm but cool wind of the garden.