I Became the Childhood Friend of the Northern Duchess – Chapter 59

Edgar dragged his two legs and trudged out of the main house toward the backyard.

Normally, he would have gone to meet Silvia with Ariel, but things didn’t go as planned.

The reason, of course, was the incident that just happened at the training grounds.

Although it was a mistake, when he suddenly kissed her, Ariel yelled at Edgar, telling him not to follow her.

Under normal circumstances, Edgar would have followed to apologize, but today, the blunder he made was so significant that he couldn’t even muster the courage to do so.

Even now, the image of his childhood friend, with her face flushed red and unable to say a word, was vividly imprinted in his mind.

‘What a mess.’

Edgar sighed deeply, feeling weighed down by the earth, and hastened his steps.

Setting aside the mistake, he couldn’t find the courage to face Ariel again.

Despite their usual friendship, he couldn’t dare to harbor feelings for someone like Ariel.

Recently, Ariel’s behavior had become oddly open, making things even more awkward. And now, through the earlier accident, Edgar felt his own feelings start to ignite.

At this rate, he wouldn’t even be able to use the excuse of being childhood friends anymore.

“Oh, Edgar! Why do you look so worn out today?”

When Edgar arrived in the backyard, Leonel, who had been out for a walk, waved at him cheerfully.

And right beside him, as expected, stood Enya, her hands neatly clasped, wearing a gentle smile.

“Um, I… had a bit of work.”

“What kind of work? Are you worried about something?”

“No, thanks for your concern, Enya.”

Edgar forced a smile to reassure both of them, but his expression was lacking.

The two exchanged glances, sensing there was something going on, but seeing that he didn’t want to talk, they didn’t pry further.

“By the way, weren’t you supposed to meet the princess’s friend today?”

Leonel expressed surprise, recalling the brief schedule Edgar shared with him yesterday.

“I thought it would be fine to skip it. I just came out for a breather.”

After stepping out to gather his thoughts, Edgar now faced the sight of the two of them, who had apparently become lovers, and let out yet another sigh.

Suddenly, he worried about whether being around this couple would make his heart feel even more chaotic.

“Really? I heard you were always with the princess. That’s unusual.”

“Well, sometimes there are days like this.”

Shrugging, Edgar noticed Creed walking toward them from behind and greeted him.

Creed raised his hand in his typical manner, acknowledging the greeting, and looked at Edgar with an expression that seemed to wonder what was up.

“Silvia’s here. I let them be for a bit and stepped out.”

“Is that so? Since you’re here, why not have a spar with Leonel?”

“A spar?”

Edgar tilted his head at Creed’s sudden suggestion.

While the two had sparred a few times before, it was always more beneficial to train with a great mentor like Creed.

Still, if Creed was making such a request, there must be a reason behind it.

As Edgar unconsciously shifted his gaze to Leonel, he flashed a broad smile, as if admitting to being the culprit.

“I just wanted to spar with you after a long time. Is that alright, Edgar?”

“You? That’s surprising.”

“Before I become the leader of the knights, I thought my goal should be you.”

Upon hearing Leonel’s bold declaration, Edgar smiled as if he understood for the first time.

Leonel had often mentioned that his aim was to reach the position of the knight commander, the peak of knighthood, and so, for him, Edgar must be the first rival to conquer.

This realization was quite shocking for Edgar.

He knew Leonel saw the knight commander’s post as his ultimate goal but had never heard that he considered Edgar a stepping stone toward that goal.

“Leonel always said he wanted to get strong as quickly as Edgar.”

“Really? That’s embarrassing. I’m not the kind of person to be thought of like that.”

As Enya jumped in to validate this point, Edgar scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

He still felt a sense of inadequacy about himself, so it was both pleasing and embarrassing to hear such things.

Additionally, it felt even weirder coming from a friend who was the same age and not just a younger sibling.

“Alright then, let’s have a proper match after a long time.”

“…”

As Creed handed Edgar one of the wooden swords he had brought, he wore a combative smile, revealing his teeth.

Leonel tightened his grip around the wooden sword in anticipation of the duel.

Creed’s earlier words echoed in his mind when he mentioned that if he wanted to win, he’d have to fight as if his life depended on it.

For someone with grand ambition like Leonel, those were heavy words.

It meant that even if he fought with all his might, he would struggle to match Edgar’s current strength.

Though initially skeptical, facing Edgar in person made him realize the truth of those words.

So, no matter what, he would strive to win at least once.

Leonel adjusted his expectations lower and charged toward Edgar, who had given up the first move.

* * * * * * *

After finishing his spar with Leonel, Edgar returned to the castle.

Thanks to sweating it out, he felt as if his mind had cleared up a bit.

He couldn’t keep avoiding it, so meeting Ariel became the most urgent task at hand.

Just then, Shuri was approaching from the opposite direction, so he raised his hand lightly to greet her and asked.

“Oh, Shuri. Where’s Ariel?”

“She’s still with Miss Silvia.”

“Really? She’s taking quite a while.”

Edgar had expected their conversation would be brief since he had heard Silvia planned to stay for two days, which made her delay surprising.

‘Or maybe she still doesn’t want to see me.’

Thinking it wasn’t entirely impossible, a shadow fell over Edgar’s face.

Having gone through such an incident, it was only natural for Ariel to need some time to gather her thoughts before facing him again.

Edgar reassured himself that there was no need to rush, and helped carry the load Shuri was holding.

“Y-you really don’t need to help, you know…”

“Since Ariel isn’t here, I’d just be wasting time. By the way, your titles keep changing back and forth.”

“Ehheh… It feels too much to call you ‘Mr. Edgar’ now.”

Shuri stuck out her tongue awkwardly while giving a sheepish smile.

After removing the burden between the Robeheim family, Edgar had inadvertently earned Yulken’s favor within the castle.

Of course, Yulken didn’t announce this in front of many people, but it was evident to those who had the sense to notice, including the vassals within the castle.

That’s why Shuri, despite having referred to him as ‘Mr. Edgar’ out of respect for Ariel before, found it harder to maintain that title as time passed.

While she thought about reverting to the old title of ‘Young Master,’ Helene subtly suggested one day that ‘Young Master’ felt a bit stiff and maybe ‘boy’ would be better.

Shuri, not dull enough to miss that hint, accepted it, leading to her current way of addressing him.

“Call me however you feel comfortable. Just don’t use ‘Young Master’ out of consideration for me. This tone you’re using sounds just right.”

“Yes, I’ll do that. The lady said that you don’t like being treated too formally, so it’s better to be a bit more casual with you.”

“Ariel said that too?”

Edgar’s eyes widened in surprise upon hearing something new.

Shuri nodded earnestly with a pure expression, cautiously bringing up one of Ariel’s hidden sides.

“You might not know, but the lady talks a lot about you.”

“I thought she would only complain.”

“Pfft, sometimes you can be so naive, Young Master.”

Of course, the mistress wasn’t completely free of gossip about him.

But whenever she spoke ill of him, she always ended on a note that would defend him, making his criticisms sound a bit softer as she talked.

‘Would it be wrong for me to help a little?’

Sharing personal details about her mistress in such a way would be unfit for a vassal, but maybe putting herself out there to help her future wouldn’t be too much of a sin.

With that thought, Shuri cleared her throat and began to delicately share the private conversations she had with Ariel.

“She always talks about you. For example, she mentions what you bought her today or what you said to her. Really, all sorts of trivial details in detail.”

“…Is that so?”

Edgar felt himself blush as he scratched his cheek and diverted his gaze.

He knew Ariel wasn’t very honest, but hearing the truth directly in person felt quite surreal.

While he wanted to hear more about it just as it was, he felt guilty to listen to such things in the absence of the person involved.

“But, where do I need to take this?”

“Oh, we’re almost there. It’s just right ahead.”

Eventually, when he subtly changed the topic, fortunately, Shuri responded well.

Pointing toward the hallway leading to the reception room, she replied, and Edgar internally cheered, trying to act calm as he walked ahead.

Bang!

Chaos ensued immediately after.

“D-don’t follow me!”

“A-a Ariel! No, look out! Look ahead!”

Suddenly, the door to the reception room burst open, and Ariel came rushing out towards the two.

Silvia, who tried to stop her too late, was unable to intervene as Ariel had already collided right into Edgar.

Thud.

Ariel, unable to slow down, crashed straight into Edgar, causing him and the items Shuri was carrying to tumble to the floor.

“Ugh… Ariel, are you alright?”

“…”

Even in this situation, Ariel didn’t say a word, let alone apologize.

Actually, to be precise, she couldn’t say anything.

As she laid spread-eagle on top of him, feeling her heartbeat against his chest, she suddenly jolted up, surprised.

“Hey, are you okay? Did you hit hard?”

“I-I’ll get a doctor!”

After an awkward gulp, Ariel continued to stare blankly at Edgar, remaining silent.

Edgar, startled, worried that she might have hit her head, reached out and gently touched her forehead.

Shuri hurried down the stairs to fetch a doctor, while Silvia merely stood there, watching the scene unfold.

“Hah, Hah…”

Meanwhile, Ariel couldn’t respond to Edgar’s concerned question.

She felt as if something deep within her was wriggling and slowly rising from her chest up to her throat, possibly due to the candy she had just eaten.

‘I want to say it, I want to say it.’

Ariel, sweating coldly, fought hard against that urge but gradually felt her limits approaching.

‘What will happen if I say this?’

Even if she conveyed her true feelings, she didn’t want to do it this way.

At the very least, she wanted to express her feelings to him in her own way, without relying on any external forces.

But once she uttered those thoughts, no matter how dense he was, he would surely understand.

What should she do then? What could be a way to break through this situation?

In a short span of time, while racing through her thoughts, her eyes suddenly widened like lanterns.

There was just one method.

“Ed, I’m fine, so… just listen to me.”

“Really? But you’re sweating like this.”

“Y-yeah. I’m really fine…”

In truth, she was not fine. But she somehow managed to utter a lie.

And realizing that she could still spin a tale after having eaten that candy, Ariel wasted no time and started to explain the situation to him.

“I just ate a weird candy that Silvia gave me.”

“A candy?”

Edgar knew Silvia brought weird items all the time, but he couldn’t understand what that had to do with the current situation.

To provide further explanation, Ariel held back the truth fighting to come out desperately while continuing to explain.

“Yeah, so… I keep saying things I don’t want to… Understand? What I’m saying from now on isn’t my intention.”

“Oh, uh…”

“As long as you understand. So…”

When Edgar nodded along like a broken puppet, affirming her words, Ariel’s gaze sharpened.

It was as if the last shackle binding her reason had finally broken free.

And then, feeling a surge of energy, Ariel laid herself flat back on Edgar’s body, bringing her mouth close to his ear.

Now it was okay. She had set everything in place to ensure she could escape whenever needed.

That was not her true feelings. It was merely a lie brought on by the effect of the candy.

So it was fine to say it several times.

“I love you, Ed…”

She could share those words with him now.