The Hero is Standing in My Way - Chapter 37

Chapter 37

 

“If not for me this time too, you wouldn’t have said anything to me until we parted ways, right?” Siegfried asked, looking very upset. His eyes looked a little red because of the flames burning nearby.

 

I couldn’t possibly deny it. I was more concerned about him now than before, and I was still trying to get over it.

 

“Why aren’t you talking?”

 

“It seems that Your Highness already knows about everything.”

 

How on earth am I supposed to talk with this Siegfried? Seeing him smiling sadly made my heart tighten.

 

“But I was working hard nevertheless, so take a good look at me.”

 

“Your Highness is pretty.”

 

“I’m not talking about my face.”

 

“Then what…?” I tilted my head.

 

I think that you can already conquer the world with that face, so what more do you want? 

 

Siegfried bit his lip, then bent down and poked his head at me. His soft hair fluttered. He knew very well how to attack me, so I touched his hair without an ounce of hesitation. It was soft and warm because we were near the fire. I want to crumple it and put it inside my pocket everyday to fiddle with it.

 

“You’re like a puppy…..”

 

“So you’re cursing me with your mouth.”

 

“I’m not cursing you, but complimenting you.”

 

“Mm-hmm.”

 

“I’m really complimenting you.”

 

“Male puppy?”

 

“Yes, male.”

 

“So that’s how you see me.”

 

I don’t know why, but he seemed to be satisfied with himself. I touched Siegfried’s hair to my heart’s content and lowered my hand.

 

“So you wanted to ask me to stroke your hair?”

 

“Of course not. What do you think of me? I came to ask for your opinion. How do you like me to show off my wealth?”

 

“I don’t know what answer you want, but it’s definitely not like buying Killian with money like the from the first time.”

 

I was serious.

 

“Read some romance novels or something next time. You’ll see that men there don’t come out like that.”

 

“Then how do you do it?”

 

“That’s for Your Highness to figure out yourself. Like, when are you going to fall in love and when will you get married.”

 

I wasn’t Siegfried’s nanny, and I didn’t need to give details like that.

 

He looked strangely gloomy again for some reason. Seeing him like that, it seemed like our cold war, which didn’t seem to be a cold war at all, had long since come to an end.

 

He opened his lips as if he would like to ask me for more explanation, but he just sighed when he saw Abbysion walking towards us.

 

“Ariel, Corte grapes are here.”

 

“I’ve only been waiting for this day, for real.”

 

Now that I looked around, I saw the villagers rushing around the table. They were putting grapes into the silver plates from the wooden boxes.

 

“Your Highness, let’s go eat grapes.”

 

I hurriedly grabbed Siegfried’s arm and urged him. I wanted to show him how delicious Corte grapes are.

 

“Hurry up, Abbysion.”

 

“I already ate a bunch.”

 

“What? Such a sneaky…!”

 

I grabbed Abbysion’s collar and shook him. No wonder his lips are a little reddish…! 

 

“If it were me, I would eat at least one at a time like this, Ariel.”

 

Abbysion smiled as he put me down, who was almost clinging to him. It was sly of him who ate it first before me.

 

“I didn’t think you’d be sneaky towards your younger sister, and you ate it alone?”

 

“There’s nothing I can do. I helped move sacks from the farm to here.”

 

“I could have helped too!”

 

“How can I take you in the dark at night?”

 

Don’t make cowardly excuses. I didn’t know that Abbysion was as obsessed with the grapes as I was.

 

“Go and eat. I brought one bunch to your room knowing this, so eat that later.”

 

“I love you oppa!”

 

“Only at these times you’re so….” Abbysion shook his head at me, but my eyes were already glued at the table.

 

Would you believe that there’s grapes selling for 500erks per bunch? It was right in front of me. This fruit was worth the prize since the farm was small and it had complicated planting cultivation.

 

I took Siegfried and quickly walked to the table.

 

“Was that a great fruit?”

 

Siegfried, who witnessed the quarrel between me and Abbysion, folded his eyebrows as if he did not understand.

 

“Our conversation was more important than this, and you just cut it off as you liked.”

 

Apparently, he didn’t like the fact that Abbysion intervened in the middle.

 

I left Siegfried alone to grunt. The party was already hugging their own plates.

 

Can’t he tell just by looking at the reactions of the people around? Even Count Paresa didn’t notice I was nearby as if he had forgotten the wounds in his heart.

 

The Count closed his eyes and savored the taste of the grapes. I hoped that he cleaned the juice dropping down on his chin because it was simply beautiful.

 

I put one of the two plates in front of Siegfried. Amidst all of this, it was very considerate of me to take care of a lamb that doesn’t know anything.

 

Perhaps this year was a bountiful year, that’s why the grapes on the plate were bigger than last year’s small ones. The surface of the reddish grapes shone brightly. I took one and put it in my mouth. That moment I chewed the grapes that was rolling inside my mouth,

 

“Wow.”

 

How can this be sweeter than last year? I put my hands on both my cheeks and let out a silent scream of happiness. This was a pretty decent reaction for me, and some of the knights over the table were ever weeping. Well, that’s a bit of overreaction. It surely tastes like heaven, but jot enough to pray to God.

 

“Please have a drink, Your Highness. You will never eat grapes as delicious as this no matter where you go on the Empire.”

 

I said, eating three grapes at once. As I tucked my cheeks into plump cheeks, Siegfried looked at me and smirked. Siegfried looked at me and smiled helplessly as he saw me making my cheeks plump.

 

“Just eat all of mine.”

 

“That’s true love.”

 

“You just know it now.”

 

“Eyy ~.”

 

He was like this because he hadn’t eaten the grapes yet. I quickly took one and put it in Siegfried’s mouth. He looked startled for a moment, before his eyes grew wide. It tickled my heart to see that he liked the grapes I gave him very much.

 

Gently chewing the grapes, Siegfried muttered in admiration, “… You’re right, it’s delicious.

 

“It’s delicious, right? Now do you understand why I did that?”

 

“Yes.” Siegfried nodded quietly.

 

Then I looked down at my almost empty plate.

 

“Did you use space travel magic?”

 

“Yes, I moved it to my stomach.”

 

“That’s good, then move this too.”

 

Siegfried pushed his plate toward me.

 

“You eat all of that.”

 

“Huh?”

 

I opened my lips blankly as if a halo shone on him for a moment.

 

“What kind of reaction is that?”

 

Siegfried clenched his chin and raised the corners of his lips. It’s not funny if you joke about eating.

 

“Did you just swallow and not chew it, Your Highness?”

 

“No, I chewed it thoroughly.”

 

“But what is this?”

 

“True love?”

 

“….”

 

He slowly tilted his head to the side. I put my hands together and covered my mouth. A tearful voice came out naturally.

 

“I think I’m going to fall for it a little now.”

 

“….”

 

Siegfried’s facial muscles twitched slightly. I corrected my words as quickly as possible.

 

“I’m just joking. I will eat it well.”

 

“Wait a minute before you eat.”

 

Siegfried reached out to me. Startled, I wrapped the plate and hugged it.

 

“You can’t give it to me and also take it away.”

 

“It’s not like that.” Siegfried sighed. His eyes looking down at the plate seemed to say, ‘This is nothing special though..’.

 

“Are you jealous of grapes?”

 

“….a little.”

 

“The grapes won.”

 

“I want to take it away and burn it.”

 

“Your Highness is very cool! You’re also handsome!”

 

“Not really.”

 

I complimented him very often so that he didn’t seem to be surprised anymore. Siegfried smirked and shook his head.

 

“You don’t want to come back now, do you? Please be honest.”

 

“No.”

 

“I also don’t want to be greedy. But well, maybe I am.”

 

“I told you it’s not.”

 

Siegfried ruffled his hair angrily and got up.

 

“Eat at your heart’s content.”

 

“I want to, but there’s a lot of people this year…..” I muttered as if I was disappointed.

 

Siegfried clicked his tongue and called in one of the innkeepers.

 

I soon lost interest in Siegfried and started eating grapes again. He whispered something into the innkeeper’s ear and glanced at me. The staff opened their eyes wide as if surprised and quickly nodded their heads. Siegfried sat back down on his chair as the innkeeper left almost running.

 

“You really like it. You can’t even see me, right?”

 

“Yes.”

 

I almost emptied the second plate before long. It would be enough if I could eat more, but I’m quite satisfied with it. I wiped my lips and let out a happy sigh. Siegfried stared at me.

 

“You’re very kind.”

 

“I’m sorry, but I ate up every single one.”

 

I smiled as I pushed the plate away, but Siegfried shook his head saying that it wasn’t like that. Then suddenly, he lowered his upper body, and in a brief moment, something rough touched my lower lip and then went away.

 

“It looks like you didn’t clean it on purpose.”

 

He blinked his eyes softly and smiled.

 

…Did Siegfried just wipe my lower lip with his thumb? I blinked my eyes blankly.

 

“Tasty.” He said, still leaning towards me. He then stuck out his tongue and licked the dirt off his thumb.

 

His appearance overlapped that of that adult Siegfried I had seen on my siren hallucination a few days ago. My face instantly became hot as if on fire.

 

(T/N: Can’t imagine a 15-year-old doing that, but okay [bunny thinking how to get a bf])