The Squire on a White Horse

Now that she mentioned it, I thought back.

He still seemed to be so busy that I felt dizzy just looking at him, but when the time came, he was still there for me to talk to. I thought back to the distance between us, but I couldn’t really understand it.

“Until now, Mr. Arliss has been right behind me to catch me whenever I fell down. But recently, a little after the engagement, we’ve become a bit more distant… and it’s become further! Do you know why?!”

Clenching her fists in front of her chest, Aishe shouted.

“It’s because he’s begun to consider My Lady as a woman!”

Her voice rang in my ears. I deliberately held my ears, but she was too excited to stop.

“I’m sure that serious man had never looked at you with such passion before, but now that you’re engaged and we’re going to be husband and wife, he’s going to look at you as a woman!”

“Aishe, I feel a bit feverish.”

I huffed and put my hand over my mouth, interrupting the exclamation that seemed to be still going on.

“Oh, I’m sorry… I got carried away.”

I looked at Aishe, who was smiling in a deliberate manner, and rested my cheek on my propped up knee.

If she was right and he saw me as a woman, he should have reacted more like this.

“But he doesn’t even change his expression at all. He doesn’t even move his eyebrows when I get that close to him during dance practice.”

“That’s how a grown man should look.”

“…It’s so frustrating.”

To vent my frustration, I picked up my teddy bear, which was still on my bedside table with a sullen look on its face.

I thought about it as I rubbed that belly to my heart’s content.

If he really saw me as a woman, was he as confused and embarrassed as I am under that cool smile?

No, I couldn’t imagine it at all.

As I adjusted the slightly distorted shape of the teddy bear, I regained my composure. It was not my intention to add to his busy schedule.

I held out the teddy bear to Aishe.

“Aishe, give this to Stanley. He’ll miss it , so I’ll lend it to him for a little while, and he’ll think of it as me.”

Aishe chuckled and accepted the gift.

“Tell him I’m well enough to joke about this.”

“Yes, My Lady.”

“Please.”

Aishe pulled the covers over me as I laid down on the bed again and said, “Good night.”

I rolled over and closed my eyes to take a nap, though I didn’t feel very sleepy. I heard Aishe’s voice from the hallway say, “Master Arliss.” I raised my eyelids and looked at the door. I wondered if Stanley was really wandering around in front of this room all the time.

The only thing I could hear clearly was the voice calling my name, but I couldn’t really hear the two of them talking to each other, and it soon became quiet. The teddy bear was probably safely in his hands.

I wondered if Stanley would sleep with the stuffed animal under his pillow.

The thought made me smile a little, and I curled up under the covers and laughed for a while.