Chapter 21
“Letier.”
“Yes…”
“Letier…”
“Yes, it’s me…”
Letier glanced at the man sitting next to her with a tired face.
He was looking at her with a slightly relaxed expression on his face.
The top button of the shirt, which had been undone before I knew it, seemed to have risen in heat.
Letier tried to look into his eyes, holding back the gaze that kept going down the nape of his neck.
“Letier…”
“How many times are you going to call me?”
Letier grumbled in a disapproving voice.
Dante rested his chin on one arm on the table and continued to mutter Letier’s name.
Perhaps from the strong drink, both eyes and ears were burning red.
“Letier.”
“If you call me one more time, I’ll just leave. I think my ears will bleed.”
Dante smiled at her words.
It was not funny, but the innocent smile as if he had heard a new funny joke.
“Was he a man who could make a face like this?”
Letier stared blankly at his relaxed face.
She realized that even the strongest of men could change like that when alcohol was involved.
The raw material is truly amazing.
“What’s wrong with him, miss, wasn’t he fine a moment ago?”
Raphael came out of the kitchen and came closer to the bar table, looking at Dante with a surprised look on his face.
It was also the first time he had ever seen Dante drunk like this.
“Ah, he drank the Nitiria liquor that was on the table. Isn’t that what people shouldn’t drink?”
“Yes? Nitiria? No, why… Isn’t that an anesthetic drink for big monsters?”
“Therefore… he swallowed it before I could read it properly.”
“This is a liquor that is too strong in our store and never sold to customers! I only use it occasionally to wipe the table, but it seems that he mistook it for alcohol and drank it. Oh my…”
Raphael clicked his tongue and shook his head, then picked up a piece of paper on the table and scribbled something on it.
“Miss, do you know where this person lives?”
“No…”
“Then I will try to contact someone I know and come to pick him up right away.”
“Oh yeah? thank you.”
Raphael wrote down the note without hesitation, then turned and walked to the window of the store.
Opening the window, he spoke to a large bird resting there.
“Chow, Sharon! Were you resting well?”
The bird, called Sharon, swung around to greet Raphael, waving its beak.
He meticulously tied a small piece of paper to Sharon’s leg as he lunged at him flapping his wings.
“Is it from the West?”
“You’re right! He’s a pretty smart guy after all. Sharon, come on!”
The shopkeeper patted Sharon on the butt.
Sharon shook his head vigorously once, then slowly waved his wide-open wings up and down.
Shaking his wings a few times as if stretching them, Sharon jumped off the balcony and flew across the night sky.
Sharon, flying at high speed, quickly disappeared from sight.
“Miss, leave him alone and go inside first. Or would you like me to move you to a more comfortable seat?”
“Oh, it’s okay. I’ll wait with you until someone who knows Reuter comes to pick him up.”
“All right.”
Reuter?
The store owner tilted his head, then turned around and went into the kitchen.
He thought lightly that he had heard wrong, or that the young lady was just misunderstanding something.
Letier turned toward Dante, who was still staring at him, fumbling with his thoughts.
“Get a grip on yourself.”
“Letier.”
“……”
Don’t talk.
Letier glared at Dante, who was still reciting her name, then turned her head the other way.
Since Sharon had just left, it seemed like we would have to wait a bit longer for the person who was said to be coming.
“Oh right!”
Letier, who had been staring at the window where Sharon had flown out, suddenly opened her eyes wide.
Come to think of it, I felt like I should contact Lucy or Ephron myself.
To think I was away from Ziggler and disappeared without a word and then stayed out late at night like this.
How can you forget so completely?
“Hey, over there! I have a favor to ask…”
Letier raised his hand to call for Raphael.
Dante, beside her, stared at her slightly raised hand, then opened his mouth.
“I want to hold your hand.”
“If you happen to have any bird left… What?”
Letier doubted her ears and turned around to the seat next to her.
What is this man talking about now?
“I want to hold your hand.”
“… It’s the first time I’ve seen such a drinking habit.”
“Hold my hand.”
Dante lifted his hand and held it out to her.
He was so brazen, so shameless.
“Why me?”
Letier bluntly sighed.
“Hold my hand.”
“Ugh…”
It was clear that if she did not obediently extend her hand now, he would be muttering until her ears would bleed to hold his hand for the rest of the time.
Letier had no choice but to place her hand on top of Dante’s large hand.
“Is that okay?”
Dante wrapped Letier’s little white hand and rubbed the back of her hand slowly with his thumb.
“It’s feels good.”
He murmured with a satisfied smile.
Facing that figure, Letier stared at that face for a while as if possessed.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the relaxed smile that appeared on his flawless handsome face.
He’s a really strange man, so why do I keep falling into this man’s rhythm….
Letier felt a strange emotion and moistened her dry lips.
Why is my stomach burning like this?
“Miss, did you call for me?”
At that time, Raphael came out of the kitchen, rubbing his wet hands on his apron.
“Ah, yes! Do you have any birds left? I think I need to send one to the imperial palace urgently…”
“Yes? The imperial palace…?”
Raphael looked at Letier and Dante alternately with a puzzled expression.
If it’s the imperial family, it’s where Sharon just flew…
“Uh, yeah. I’ve been staying at the imperial residence.”
“You’re staying at the Imperial Palace?”
He still didn’t understand.
Traditionally, it was better not to ask too many questions about things related to the imperial family.
“Oh, what should I do? The one that just flew away is the only one I have. However, if the imperial family is the place to send the telegram, then you don’t have to worry too much.”
“Really?”
“Yes! Oh, would you like to drink some of this while you wait? It’s a new menu developed this time, but I don’t know if it will suit your tastes.”
Letier looked down at the pink drink the shopkeeper gave out.
The liquid shining under the light was really beautiful.
“It’s pretty…”
Just then, a gruff voice came from another table.
“Hey! Give me more snacks here! With well-roasted lamb!”
“All right!”
After receiving the customer’s order, Raphael busily went back into the kitchen.
Letier looked down at her drink glass, then turned her head to Dante, who was still stroking her hand.
“How long are you going to stay like that?”
“Letier.”
“… Ha, are you starting again?”
“Why are your hands so soft?”
It was something I had heard somewhere.
Letier tilted her head and opened her mouth.
“Are my hands that soft? Everyone says they’re soft.”
“Not me.”
“Huh?”
“Did you hold hands with someone other than me?”
Dante’s expression hardened in an instant.
The relaxed face and beautiful smile of a moment ago had disappeared, leaving only a cold expression somewhere.
“That is…”
Letier opened her mouth.
Dante’s eyes were looking straight through her.
Letier quietly met his red eyes.
It was a mysterious color that you would fall into without even realizing it if you looked at it.
Letier forced her mouth open, which she could not easily open.
“… Isn’t that obvious, are you stupid?”
“What?”
“How old am I? Who am I holding hands with? At least I must have held Ephron’s hand 100 times to help me get off the carriage! Let go of this! I have to drink.”
Letier made a loud noise to erase the awkward feelings.
However, Dante ignored Letier’s words and intertwined his fingers with each of her fingers.
“You can hold the glass with one hand.”
“Okay, let’s not talk.”
Letier raised the glass with her free hand and took a sip.
Dante put on a satisfied smile once more, and sat down to stare at Letier, who grumbled.
“Letier.”
“Why again!”
“Today will be the last.”
At the calm voice, Letier turned her lhead.
“What?”
“Meeting with you like this.”
“… Is this a refusal of my offer?”
Dante smiled and shook his head.
He smiled really well today…
He was smiling happily, but Letier felt something bitter.
“It was an interesting proposal, princess. But I must decline.”
“Why?”
“I have other things to do, and I won’t be in the capital for a while.”
It was one of the few truths he’d ever told her.
He wouldn’t be unmasked for a while, and he wouldn’t be showing his face to her.
He knew he would see her again if he went back to the palace and called for her, but somehow he wished he hadn’t.
“Is this related to those incidents?”
“That’s right.”
“But….”
Letier raised her clear purple eyes and looked at Dante.
Dante waited patiently for her mouth to open.
“… But write to me sometimes. You know the address.”
“Hahaha.”
How can you be so naive?
Dante burst into laughter and tightened the hand holding Letier, pulling her toward him.
He buried his lips in the back of her hand.
“I will do as you command, Princess.”
