Side Story - Chapter 14

“Are you ready?”

Ver asked Prillance. She’s dressed comfortably and facing Ver from the corner of the room.

“Yes.”

“I won’t go easy on you.”

Ver said with a stern face to Prillance, who nodded grimly.

His and her wooden sword clashed.  Prillance with her two hands grasping the wooden sword, she struggled to hold off the wooden sword from Ver’s relentless attack. Of course, she couldn’t even do it ten times. She fell down numerous times.

But with each fall, Prillance stood up quickly.

She didn’t want to be weak again. The feeling of fear being at Ralph’s hands and the fear from running away was still vivid.

It was a slow, different fear from the one with Roman, who she knew was the male lead. Ralph’s threat, which was not even in the character’s description, was such an intense experience.

So Prillance asked Ver to teach her. It was a punishment for herself, and it was necessary for herself.

With a clang, the wooden sword in her hand fell to the ground. For that moment, she could only recall the memory of that time, her body tensed naturally, unable to take Ver’s attack.

 “I’m sorry, again…”

Prillance’s wrist was tingling and her hands trembled weakly from holding the wooden sword.

“That’s enough for today.”

When Ver announced the end of the class, a heavy sigh broke out from Prillance. A small tremor was felt at the sound of the sigh.

Prillance was taking the class at a different level than when she was learning self-defense before.

But she didn’t say no once. She held out bravely. For some reason, Verv seemed to understand how Prillance was feeling.

A servant quickly handed out a fresh towel. Ver laid down the wooden sword, gently grabbed the trembling right wrist of Prillance, and put a towel on it. With one hand, the towel was fixed so that it wouldn’t fall off, and with the other hand, he gently returned her wrist.

Every training session, Prillance’s trembling hands felt like they needed support.

So Ver took her hand first, because he wanted to.

Prillance glanced at Ver’s face.

Recently, Ver was often with a stiff expression. Especially when he was training with her. But last year, he was always cheerful.

“It’s just going to get even worse if you train too hard.”

Even if she’s been building up her stamina little by little with him, her strength still remains the same.

Prilllance nodded only,

 “I heard you are going on a trip.”

 Ver put the cold towel, then the warm towel.

“The Young Lady had directly requested it.”

There was still a curiosity on Ver’s face while saying that. In fact, he wanted to ask again and again.

“Why, did you?”

 Baron Jenette, whom Prillance was meeting, was the man to be the custodian of Minnipi, and upon meeting him, she was asked to follow the Minnipi.．

“I want to see it for myself.”

 Prillance replied as he watched Ver loosen her wrists with a warm towel.．

“Sometimes what you see is not natural.”

Ralph’s words hovered in her ears. He said things about Minnipi, but Prillance didn’t hear the words for some reason, so she eventually decided to go in person.

“I heard it’s pretty.”

She added. She wanted to look like an aristocratic young lady who was curious about vacation spots to Ver.

Maybe it’s just for that simple reason, but I think I’ll have to find it out by myself.

Just as I thought so, Ver didn’t ask any more questions after the somewhat off-beat conversation.

“I’ll be with you as an escort. “

At Ver’s words, Prillance’s body hardened slightly. The gesture was felt to him too.

“If you don’t like it, you can’t do it”

The disappointment was evident in Ver’s voice. It was the result of a complex feeling of sadness and regret for not reaching out to him as she struggles to overcome something. With his own emotions alone, he used to come up casually even though he thought he shouldn’t feel this way.

“No, it’s not like that…”

Prillance looked up at him. When Ver’s eyes met up with hers, he lowered his gaze rapidly and muttered softly.

“I thought you might be upset.”

Whenever I met his firm face, I used to comfort myself that I couldn’t help it even though I was already tired of it. And ….

“I thought it might be uncomfortable because it’s related to your family.”

His presence was more comforting to her than anyone else. Of course, she wouldn’t have hated it.

However, since it was the estate of the Grant family, there could have been bad memories.

Furthermore, it was a place where the incidents that her family could have handed over will be brought to light. If it wasn’t just for that, she would have asked him to go with him right away.

“Lady Weiand.”

At Ver’s call, Prillance looked up at him again. Her face, which made eye contact with cheeks flushed from the heat while training, was full of worries.

“Nothing comes before the Young Lady to me. So don’t worry.”

The moment I heard Prillance’s words and the worries in her eyes, all of his sadness was blown away.

“More than anything else, I want to go with the Young Lady.”

The reward for his occasional rise in emotion was sitting next to him, and he was confident that he would press again and again.

Though he thought so, he didn’t realize he was feeling better.

“Me too!…All right.”

It was Prillance who couldn’t hide her fondness for Ver’s smile.

“…Please take good care of me.”

Ver’s hand, which grabbed the towel, was more powerful. To avoid reaching out to Prillance, who had a lovely face, he had to hold anything.

And Prillance’s small wrist that was being held also felt a small heat.