Chapter 35

“Jadwiga also wants to play~!”

The boys can hear Jadwiga’s excited voice from the woman’s bath next door from some time ago.

“It sounds fun next door.”

William says while washing out the bubbles on his head.

“You’re right.”

Just a few hours after the prince’s love sprouted, he takes a bath separated by a wall, but the other party is just an 11-year-old girl. The scene of Jadwiga playing in the hot springs floats to mind and makes the brothers smile. Edward also soaks in hot water with a soft expression.

“Wait- Jadwi! It’s ticklish!”

Just hearing Emma’s voice makes my heart leaps.

I have never experienced this until now. I have attended tea parties and high society gatherings many times, and I have also danced with girls I personally find pretty in close contact. Even so, my heart clumsily throbs as if it had begun beating for the first time today.

“Okaa-shama!! Emma-chan, smooth!”

I by no means prick up my ears and listen deliberately. It just the voice of Jadwiga in high spirits really passes through. Furthermore, when Emma becomes the topic, my senses automatically turn towards it.

Emma… smooth?

“Eh? Let me touch a little!”

I can hear my somewhat excited mother’s voice.

“Wai- there! Don’t!”

I can hear Emma’s noticeably loud and flustered voice.

…there …exactly where?

My heart starts running wildly with just this. My heart beats so fast as if I just finished running a long distance at full speed, and the sound of my heart echoes from inside my body that it’s noisy. Emma… where exactly is there!?

“Emma-chan. What is this smoothness!? I’ve wanted to touch it all this time, even after thinking about the hot spring… What is this smoothness!?”

Emma… smooth. I’ve wanted to touch it all this time. Emma… smooth.

The information from mother is turning round and round inside my head. Do George and William not hear it? They are somehow happily talking about today’s dinner.

“Ro-chan! Let’s keep our voice down a little! Hyaa!! Wait, that spot… Stop, hiin, don’t!”

I shouldn’t think about a mere 11-year-old girl… How should I say it. A very… very erotic voice can be heard from behind this one wall.

Like I said, where exactly is there!? Where on earth is mother touching?

The inside of my head is about to be dominated by a wicked imagination.

In the first place, ‘Hyaa‘ or ‘Hiin‘ is too cute, isn’t it?

Where is she touched to raise such a voice!? Where… What the heck am I thinking—

……no, forget it! Forget! The conversations just now, all of it, forget it!

………

………

Emma is smooth, I’ve wanted to touch it all this time, ‘Hyaa,’ ‘Hiin,‘ must not…

Remembering Emma’s smile from several hours ago, the throbbing got more intense, and blood rushes up to my face.

*blub blub* Eventually, the prince dives (sinks?) into the hot water and was rescued by George and William tens of seconds later.

Nevertheless, the prince got out of the bath earlier than the women’s bath, cooled his flushed face, and was relieved that his throbbing became much better while firmly forbidding George and William to speak about his previous disgraceful behavior.

The two’s lukewarm gaze hurts, but they have promised to keep silent.

However, the moment I saw Emma’s warm and smooth cheeks after taking a bath, the wicked imagination I should’ve suppressed resurfaces like *whoosh*.

“Your Highness? Your face is red. Are you alright? Are you flushed?”

Emma looks into the prince’s face worriedly.

That said, the prince is a little taller, so she ends up looking at the prince with upturned eyes at a superb angle. Her wet hair tucked behind her ears, her moist green eyes look straight at the prince worriedly. *ba-dump* his heart jumps.

“I-I’m alright. No problem.”

Seeing Emma laughing softly after saying that, I actually feel that even though it’s frustrating, embarrassing, or pathetic, I like her after all.

In this short time, my heart has been repeatedly rising and falling with Emma as the center. I ended up wanting to do anything for this smile.

Despite all that…

Far from the monsters, I gathered Valerie territory’s hunters after issuing the evacuation order.

I volunteered to guide them to the occurence point of the local barrier hazard. Mother and all the hunters opposed it, but I force my way by saying that I will only walk them to a safe place and come back.

Later I will regret my this time’s self that has no sense of danger.

The monster that came out from the local barrier hazard doesn’t look strong at all compared to the ones in the book I flipped through yesterday.

So to speak, it’s just a puddle. William called it a slime, but a puddle is a puddle.

I was overwhelmed by the fighting stance that the three siblings took the moment they saw the monster and reluctantly followed their words, but I also have confidence in swordplay.

When I was in the royal capital, I was given basic training by a strong knight every day without missing. And although the gathered hunters looked trained, they are somewhat slender and feel more unreliable compared to the knights in the royal capital.

‘Isn’t the equipment too exaggerated for a monster of that level?’ It is all heavy equipment, and the number of shields and swords they bring is more than the number of people here.

I borrow a sword from the hunters and hurry to the three siblings’ place.

When I saw George and William’s figures from afar, I thought of returning, but Emma wasn’t there.

The hunters said, ‘Please return now’ so many times, but I can’t move forward until I confirm Emma’s condition.

When I get closer to a distance where I can almost see them, I see the shadow of Emma being carried by George.

I have goosebumps instantly. What happened? Did something… to Emma?

After that, I move without thinking.

“It’s here!! Hurry up!!”

I urge the hunters and runs towards Emma in a daze.

William stops me halfway, but I shake him off and single-mindedly run.

“Emma!? What happened? Emma! Emma!?”

Emma loses her consciousness, and the right half of her body is bloody.

Is she… alive? The one holding Emma, George’s arms and clothes are stained in red, and a not-small amount of blood scattered over a wide area on the ground that seems to have melted.

Which means all of this blood, is Emma’s…?

“Prince! The slime is coming! Dodge!”

At the same time with George’s shout, the puddle charges at us at an unbelievable speed.

I use force without thinking. As a result of repeated practice when I was sword training every day, I reflexively cut the puddle that heads towards George.

Without much response, the monster splits in two.

“Why would you!!”

I could hear William’s scream and George’s tongue clicking, and like protecting me, George comes in front of me. The puddle that split in two didn’t receive any damage, became two, and started moving towards here.

“Wha—! It won’t die even if you cut it?”

I realize that I have made a mistake.

The sword that cut the puddle is melting around the edge.

From there, the other half of the puddle that I cut aims at me and attacks insistently. The hunters have been strenuously protecting me, but the shields that I thought were too many melted instantly every time it receives an attack, and only a little is left.

Undoubtedly, I have made the situation worse by cutting the puddle.

Even though I heard William’s restraint and the hunters’ voice, why didn’t I follow them that time? If only I could turn back that time.

I push aside my regrets. The puddle’s attacks are fast, and on top of that, hunters’ equipment that I thought was too heavy, like armors, have melted easily. Without even the time to at least say my remorse and apologize, I have to desperately escape from just a single puddle.

George, who is holding Emma, continues to evade the attacks from two puddles. It’s hard to even keep up with his speed with my eyes, and I can hear the hunters’ surprised voices. It just, every time George moves, Emma’s blood scatters.

Even though I want to save Emma, I can’t do anything. Because we here are in a more disadvantageous situation than George, who has been dealing with two. If we use up the shields, neither the hunters nor I will have any way to defend the attack.

We are cornered……

Two puddles shoot a water gun towards George at the same time. I thought that the small one can’t shoot, but it looks like I’m wrong.

The slime on our side finally stops shooting water guns and changes to body blows. The water gun has regularity, and it seems that after 5 shots, it wouldn’t shoot for a while.

If the attacks are just body blows, I can relax my guard for a while. When I look towards George, he looks like he lost his balance and is kneeling.

He has to stand up quickly, or it will be dangerous. He will be the water gun’s target.

“George!! Uwahh!!!”

I shout at George right away, but a sudden gust blows at the same time that makes me cover my head.

When I thought it would blow like swoosh, it suddenly stopped. ‘What was that…’ when I look around the area, I doubt my own eyes.

That sudden gust was the appearance of a new monster.

It’s a beast-like monster with a large body different from the puddle.

The monster is right behind George, who has lost his balance and been unable to move, and with rough breathing, it lifts its forefoot like wanting to attack.

George has been focusing on the two puddles and doesn’t notice the monster behind him.

That scene is enough to give despair to the prince and the hunters.

Rather than being cornered, it’s more like a desperate situation.

“George! Behind you! I beg you, run!!”

The prince’s sorrowful cry probably doesn’t make it.