CH 92

She had been told to come right away, but Luke probably didn’t want her walking in donning her armor. Seira went up to her room with a deep sigh. How could the Duke’s heir teach her how to relax her muscles? She wondered if there was any motive.

Seira was pretending to be Ian, her older brother. It would be suspicious if she, known as a man, was reluctant to go to the Small Duke’s room.

‘You didn’t notice something, did you? No way… I don’t think so.’

Seira hurriedly took off her armor and left the room. She should have polished her armor instead of leaving it as it is, but she couldn’t keep Luke waiting. Seira completed training at the same time every day, so Luke would be waiting for her.

With the help of a servant, Seira arrived in front of Luke’s room. She carefully knocked on the door.

Knock knock…

“…come in.”

When Seira came in, Luke, who was sitting by the window, put down the book and came down from the window sill.

“You’re here.”

“I came as soon as my training was over…… My sweat smells terrible.…. so, is it okay if I wash up?”

Luke looked at Seira without answering. The appearance of sweaty hair sticking to her skin strangely attracted his eye.

“It’s not a big deal, it’ll be over soon. Come here and sit.”

Luke pointed at the carpet on the floor. Seira was relieved he didn’t order her to sit on a bed.

As instructed, she walked to the middle of the room and sat down on the carpet. When Luke approached and sat next to Seira, she looked at him with wary eyes.

“You’ve been training in armor every day, so you must have bruised yourself, right?”

“Uh… If I soak it in hot water, it’ll heal quickly! There’s nothing to worry about!”

Seira spoke hastily, afraid he would fetch her a healer. If the healer arrived and asked her to take off her clothes, her identity would be exposed.

“Really?”

Luke stretched Seira’s arms and rubbed the area where muscles were likely to knot up. When Seira shrank in pain, Luke adjusted his strength.

“You have a lot of knots and muscles clumping up.”

“That’s not knots, it’s muscle mass— arm strengthening……. Argh!

When he focused on massaging the lumped part, a scream erupted out of her mouth. Luke smiled and gently released Seira’s arm, who had become teary due to pain.

“Isn’t that too much pain for not-a-knot?”

“Ugh… I-I’m just surprised…… It’s because I’m aching……. Huek!

Seira’s sound effects increased while accompanying his action of pressing down on her knots again. Luke chuckled, let go of her left arm, and went over to her right arm.

Rather, the frequently used arms had less muscle clumps.

“Ugnh… You don’t have to…… no… Hmm…….”

“Are you not able to maintain your body because you don’t have an attendant? As a son of a nobleman, I would ask my servant to do this……. Do you still have no thoughts of being served by a servant?”

“Yes, um… Argh! Cough Ha!…….”

Seira’s body was firm and resilient. It was a different feeling from the soft and supple bodies of ordinary girls. But as expected…… Hers was unlike the firm body of the man, Luke became convinced.

“Now I’ll do your legs.”

“N-no! I don’t need legs!”

Luke gently stepped down. He couldn’t forcefully touch her legs when he was already convinced that the baron was a woman.

“Then now… Why don’t you tell me why you came all the way to the capital and dressed up as a man? Lady Seira Hestia?”

At Luke’s words, Seira’s face turned pale.

“W-What are you talking about…….”

“If not, would you like to take off your top? I apologize if I made a mistake.”

“…….”

Seira, turning white, lowered her gaze while grabbing the front of her shirt. The gesture itself seemed to be enough evidence.

Luke sighed deeply. It was simple enough to figure this out but inside his stomach boiled and he felt pathetic.

“Fortunately, it’s only myself and the Empress who noticed. I don’t know what made you do this, but…… You dressed up as a man in front of his Majesty, so if your identity is discovered later, it will become a big deal.”

“Was the Empress disappointed with me?”

It was a woman’s voice that asked, not Seira’s artificially deeper voice. Feeling a shiver run through his nerves, Luke avoided her gaze.

“She wasn’t disappointed.”

Rather, she seemed to be worried that Luke would be angry with Seira when she was caught.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to cause trouble! It’s just that the knights from the capital don’t notice me at all.….”

Seira told the story of how she took off Ian’s clothes and dressed her fainted brother in her own clothes in order to save him. She fought off the assassins sent by their uncle. Sir Gerrard and his party arrived and saved them just in time and did not recognize that Seira disguised as a man.….