The Hero is Standing in My Way - Chapter 9

Somehow I had a strong conviction that the owner of that hair must be someone I know.

They were real bad guys, right? My feelings weren’t wrong either.

“Yes?”

As if hearing my voice, the men turned their heads at once. I hid my body behind a tree, hidden from their sight. My heart pounded from the intense anxiety I felt. The men took a step back, saying that it must be a merchant passing through the forest.

I repressed my fears, following them making sure I didn’t make any noise. It looks like the men still didn’t know I was following them. I hid behind a tree and looked at the storage room where the men went.

Do I even need to bring the knights now? However, I was afraid to go back and forth through the festival streets. There was also a way to go around, but it seemed like it would take too much time.

I clearly saw it. Black hair. It was obviously Siegfried’s. Since he’s the male lead, he won’t be in any immediate danger, but people kept seeing him as someone who had lost his mind.

“Brother said he was coming soon, so our role ends here.” someone said.

The moment I was thinking about what to do, the men opened the door and came out.

They chatted with excitement over what had just been done.

“Now, Brother will take care of what’s left, so let’s go and have a drink and play.”

“Let’s do it. I have to flirt with women.”

I think women will be avoiding you, I thought. I was waiting for the guys to move away from where I am hiding. Before long, the men walked away and looked like small black dots until they were out of view.

I sneakily walked up to the warehouse, but the door was locked.

“I’ve got it right.” I muttered as I knocked on the lock. I don’t know how many locks it had. I finally understood why they were talking near the storage room for a long time. The lock took a lot of time because it was complicated.

By the way, does a person called, ‘Brother’, have all the keys to these locks? Or maybe he hid the key somewhere? I wandered around the storage room to search for a key to open the entrance.

Then I noticed that there was a window on the back of the storage room that seemed to be wide enough for a person to go back and forth. It was also made of glass. Looks like I need to sing to break this. [1]

To an extent, no one would say, ‘Hey, come in here. Or would they?’ I decided that it was unreasonable to go back to retrieve the knights. I thought of a simple solution to resolve the situation.

Fortunately, I always wear a dagger on my thigh for unexpected situations like these. I broke the long door with the handle of the dagger.

Clink clank.

I called for Siegfried before entering the doorway, “… Your Highness, the Prince?”

I wandered around countless flour sacks, searching for Siegfried. Then I finally found someone familiar lying down in a corner, it was him. Siegfried had his arms tied tightly with ropes and his eyes shut with a gag in his mouth.

I squatted in front of Siegfried and called out to him. “Your Highness, the Prince?”

His long eyelashes that were exposed in the moonlight fluttered, but the rest of his body was unresponsive.

Did you faint?

That means this situation was really serious. He was too big for me to go around.

“Your Highness, open your eyes,” I pleaded, “otherwise, I have no choice but to slap you. It’s the best way to wake up. Forgive my rudeness….”

“… Eup.”

Aish. Honestly, I wanted to hit his cheek once. I regretted warning him beforehand and struck a bag of flour with my fist. The fumes spread out like smoke.

At the same time, Siegfried slowly opened his eyes. His purple eyes opened and was able to focus.

“Eup, eup.”

“Right. You’re gagged.“

The muffled noises coming out from his mouth brought me back to attention. I quickly removed the gag from his mouth and threw it elsewhere.

Siegfried took a breath in and looked up at me.

“What the hell is this……?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you. What are you doing here?”

“I remember coming out with Millard… … Oh, sweets. I ate the sweets he bought and suddenly became dizzy.”

“Seeing that you lost your consciousness, did you wake up in this place?”

Siegfried nodded softly.

No, I can’t do it for this person.

“Your Highness the Prince, this is too much. When I asked to go with you, you refused.”

“……”

“If you like men…”

Come to think of it, there was definitely romance in the novel. Nevertheless, this was the reason why the female protagonist didn’t remember.

“Stop the bullshit and let it go, or get lost.”

Siegfried twisted his two wrists, which were tightly bound in dozens of layers of rope.

I bent my knees, sat in front of him, and started cutting the rope.

“Please be honest. It’s okay.” I reassured him.

“What’s okay?”

Siegfried asked as if he had not grasped my intentions.

I glanced at him once and concentrated on cutting the rope again.

“Everyone has different sexual taste.”

“…”

“But I don‘t understand why you chose Millard, I would have chosen Abbysion. Honestly, Abbysion is handsome.”

“I don’t like men,” he said flatly.

“Then why did you come with Millard…?” I asked.

I still wasn’t convinced he didn’t like men, so I asked without any doubt in my tone. Siegfried made the impression of being frustrated.

“You.”

But he only said that and shut up again. Siegfried quickly lowered his eyes, as if he was trying to avoid my gaze.

I looked closely at his face while his eyes were turned downward and noticed his long eyelashes. They were so long that I was almost jealous. His eyebrows didn’t seem to be organized at first glance, but his eyebrows were dark and neat. If I looked even closer, his hair looked so soft… I want to pull it.

By the way, why was he talking to me here?

“Me?”

“Yes, you…” he mumbled.

I couldn’t hear Siegfried clearly because he slurred the end of his words.

“Now, who’s frustrated?” I said with annoyance.

“I, what‘s next?”

“Won’t tell you.”

“Then, I won’t finish unbinding you either.”

“Now isn’t the time….”

“No, but, Your Highness, won’t even tell me.”

I’ll leave you here and go away.

Siegfried should also learn how it makes people more curious when he stops talking halfway.

I stopped trying to undo the hinds on his wrists. Then, Siegfried leaned his head back as if he had surrendered.

“You…… only asked once.“ he defended.

“I asked you something.”

So what did I do?

I listened to him with excitement and made fun of his hands again.

Siegfried looked at me tilting his head and rolling his eyes at me.

“I didn’t think I was going to the festival.”

“…… Ah.”

A sudden idea came to mind and I could finally grasp the context of the situation.

Why are you talking about something this important without saying anything before? Perhaps you feel embarrassed?

There were plenty of possibilities. Siegfried hurriedly averted his gaze, trying to turn away from me. His ears were bright red but were slightly hidden by his disorganized, black hair.

“You’re very coy, Your Highness.” I teased.

“You mean I waited for you to ask twice. No, wait a minute. I remembered it. So did you think of me like that?”

No wonder! You hesitated so much earlier.

I burst into laughter.

“You have a surprisingly cute side.”

“Do not laugh.”

“This is your first festival, right? So, were you curious? By the way, you turned down my invitation earlier because you’re embarrassed that I’d say I came with the grace of the prince?”

“… Noisy.”

“And now, you’re ashamed that you’re hearing it from me now? Yes? I beg your pardon? Cut the rope quickly and go off? How could you say that to me…”

“W-when did I…” he stammered.

Siegfried raised his head and upper body. Even though he was young, he was a hand span taller than me. Perhaps that’s why I looked up at him a little while sitting with each other’s knees touching each other.

“Now you’re looking at me.” I said, as I stared at him.