Chapter 39

Estelle was angry that Iris and Theo ended up spending time alone together, but if anyone were to ask whether Theo considered this a date, the answer was, of course, no.

“Ah, this seems like a good price. Let’s go with this.”

Theo was moving with the sole purpose of shopping for necessities. He carried a sense of duty, believing he needed to bring Iris and Estelle closer together, so he made an extra effort to avoid any improper or suggestive behavior.

“Oh, yes! Sir Theo, you’re not only frugal but always so amazing, no matter when I see you.”

Naturally, if someone were to ask whether Iris felt the same way, the answer was, again, no.

Somehow, this turned into what looks like a date between just the two of us…!

Even though it was obvious to anyone that this wasn’t a date but simply a shopping trip, everything about the situation made her heart race with excitement.

“No, well, I suppose you could say this is one of the virtues necessary to live as a commoner.”

When Iris offered her praise, Theo responded by saying that every commoner naturally possessed such skills. But even so, Iris knew better.

Not everyone took such abilities for granted.

Although Iris, as the Crown Princess, lacked much experience with the world, her curiosity had always been greater than most. Once, during her childhood, she had even secretly run away for a day to explore the outside world and had interacted with commoners before.

“Sir Theo, you’re always so humble.”

“Am I? Well, maybe it’s because I’m not used to receiving compliments.”

When Theo mentioned he wasn’t accustomed to being praised, Iris tilted her head in curiosity.

Theo’s parents had been strict and tough, but they had always made sure to acknowledge and praise him when he did well.

It was puzzling to Iris that Theo, who had grown up in such a household, claimed he wasn’t used to receiving compliments.

But for Theo, who had been in this body for less than a year, it was only normal.

Before coming into this body, he had been an orphan and no one had been around to praise him even if he did something well.

The words had slipped out unconsciously, but even Theo himself didn’t realize how much they reflected his past.

“Well, anyway, I think we’re done shopping. We’ve bought everything we need, so let’s go pick up Estelle, shall we?”

Theo spoke with a smile.

“Yes, that sounds good.”

Iris responded as if she didn’t mind, but she couldn’t shake a lingering sense of disappointment.

It was only natural. Moments like these, where she got to spend time alone with Theo, were incredibly rare.

Most of the time, the three of them—Theo, Estelle, and herself—stuck together. While Theo occasionally had moments to himself, it was practically unheard of for him to spend time with just one of them.

Even now, the chance for the two of them to shop alone had been nothing more than a coincidence.

“Sir Theo, have you… ever considered dating?”

Curious about what Theo might be thinking, especially since he seemed so indifferent despite the way they expressed themselves, Iris cautiously asked what was on her mind.

“Dating, huh? Well, I don’t think it’s the right time for me yet.”

Not the right time.

They had just turned twenty, the perfect age to dream of dating someone and spending time together.

Most people at the Academy likely shared those dreams. Even among the nobility, the Academy’s free-spirited atmosphere often led to relationships that blossomed into marriage. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for those who had attended the Academy to marry someone they had met there.

Unlike other nobles or members of the imperial family, who mostly entered into arranged marriages, those who had gone through the Academy were instilled with a sense of equality. This made such relationships even more common among them.

“Well, I have a lot to do right now, and… how should I put it? Hmm, there’s Iris and Estelle too. I guess you could say I don’t have time to feel lonely.”

The part about having a lot to do perfectly expressed Theo’s feelings.

For him, saving the world was the top priority, far more important than romance, marriage, or even his personal life at the moment.

And to achieve that, he needed to strengthen the bond between Iris and Estelle, which naturally left him with no shortage of tasks to accomplish.

At the same time, his comment about not feeling lonely because of the two of them was also sincere.

He had initially thought that spending time with the two would be exhausting and filled with constant tension, but he couldn’t deny that he had come to genuinely enjoy those moments more than he had expected.

Come to think of it, being with those two always seems to involve one incident or another. I’ve never really had the time to feel lonely in the first place.

But Iris who wasn’t aware of Theo’s true thoughts found his words quite shocking.

So what he’s saying is… we don’t even cross his mind as potential romantic partners.

He wasn’t interested in romance, and thanks to the two of them, he didn’t even have time to feel lonely.

It was inevitable for Iris to feel shaken by Theo’s words, which sounded as though his feelings for her and Estelle were purely those of friendship…nothing more, nothing less.

…But I like him.

From the moment she first met Theo, she had been strangely drawn to him. The feelings she now harbored for him were, without a doubt, romantic.

“Oh, there’s Estelle! Estelle! Over here!”

As they spoke, Theo spotted Estelle and called out to her enthusiastically. With the two of them becoming three once again, Iris had to make every effort to conceal her emotions.

***

Hmm… How should I put this?

Ever since that conversation with Iris earlier, when it was just the two of us at the mart, something about her seemed off.

“Iris, are you okay?”

“…….”

“Iris?”

“Yes? Oh, yes…! I’m fine…!”

She kept spacing out, lost in deep thought, and her expression was unusually blank.

“Iris, don’t make things awkward for everyone. If you have something to say, just say it.”

Even Estelle’s blunt remark, which could have come across as harsh, didn’t seem to faze her.

“Oh, sorry. It’s not that I have anything in particular to say.”

Surprisingly, she brushed it off with a vague response.

“Estelle, don’t you think something’s strange with Iris?”

In the end, feeling too unsettled by the situation, I turned to Estelle and asked about Iris’s behavior.

If it had been the usual Estelle, she would have responded to my words by saying something like, “Iris is always strange. The only one who’s not strange is me.” and then gone on to criticize Iris.

“…So, is something wrong? Did something happen?”

But now, even Estelle seemed concerned about Iris’s condition, as if her current state was something entirely unfamiliar.

“…No, I don’t think anything particular happened.”

Still, it wasn’t as though Iris and I had experienced anything unusual or had any particularly meaningful conversation.

We talked like we usually did, the same as always. The topic of romance did come up, but I didn’t think it was anything special.

“The only slightly unusual topic might have been the talk about romance, I suppose…”

“Romance? You talked about romance? Just the two of you?”

“Ah, yes. We did.”

I mentioned it simply because it was the only thing that felt slightly out of the ordinary, but Estelle seemed shocked and raised her voice abruptly.

Of course, even with Estelle yelling like that, Iris remained as unresponsive as ever.

“What exactly did you two talk about…?!”

Suddenly, Estelle’s expression also turned uneasy, and I began to suspect something.

Ah, could it be that?

After all, this is the “Yuri Mode”. Wasn’t Iris always destined to end up with Estelle at some point?

If she thought I was interfering in that dynamic, then her sudden anxiety might make sense.

“It wasn’t anything major. Iris just asked if I had any thoughts about dating, and I said no, that’s all.”

So I explained the simple and uneventful conversation to Estelle in brief.

“Ah, so Sir Theo… you don’t have any thoughts about dating at all?”

Suddenly, Estelle asked a question that was quite similar to what Iris had asked me before.

“Well, you know, I have a lot of things to do.”

“And what kind of things are those?”

The difference in my conversation with Estelle, though, was that unlike Iris, Estelle didn’t hesitate to press further.

“Uh… just various things. For starters, I need to do well on the academy exams, and, um… I’d like to improve my skills in swordsmanship and magic too.”

Of course, the most important task was to make sure the two of them ended up together to avoid the bad ending and save the world.

But I couldn’t exactly say that outright, so I just picked a few plausible things that were right in front of me and listed them off.

“Those are all things you can still do while dating someone, don’t you think?”

“Ah, so Estelle, are you saying you’d like me to date someone?”

I had thought that, considering how closely the two of them stuck to me and relied on me, they wouldn’t care about my love life at all.

So was it that she just assumed I had no interest in romance and was worried I wouldn’t ever be able to date?

“Yes, of course!”

Oh, so that’s it.

Well, well, isn’t that thoughtful of her?

Even for close friends, isn’t she worrying a little too much about me?

“Well, someday I’ll date too, right? Once I’ve taken care of all the things right in front of me, I’ll definitely try dating and even getting married. It’s not like I don’t want to do those things at all.”

There’s just so much going on right now that I can’t think about it immediately.

It’s not like I’m incapable. Of course, I want to date a pretty and lovely person and eventually get married. Isn’t that a perfectly normal thing to want?

“Then, even if not now, does that mean there’s a chance?”

“A chance? What kind of chance?”

“I mean, a chance for Sir Theo to date…? Is that the right way to put it?”

“Of course, there’s a chance…? Well, it’s not really something I get to decide, I guess…”

Wait, a chance for me to date…?

That’s kind of harsh, isn’t it? Come on now…

Sure, I’ve never dated anyone in my past life, and no one has seriously approached me in this one either, but still…

Oh, wait. Right. Ha, life really is like that, huh?

Yeah, they say it takes two hands to clap, after all.

Maybe there’s no one who wants me…? Damn it…