Reus’s heartbeat resonated heavily in his chest. The loud throbbing sound flowing into her ears slowly lifted Roel’s eyelids as she dozed off unknowingly.

Even though he was just looking at it, his heart, beating out of sync, gradually amplified its sound.

Roel, who had been blinking quietly, slowly raised her head while still keeping her face pressed against Reus’s body. However, perhaps due to the effects of alcohol, she couldn’t properly control her neck, making her movements appear very unstable.

Just as her head was about to fall back, Reus, who had been frozen still, quickly extended his hand to support the woman’s head.

Roel, whose head ended up resting on his palm, stared blankly into space for a moment before gently narrowing her eyes. Then she let out a deflated laugh.

“I’m dizzy…”

At those words, Reus immediately straightened her head, and Roel’s face touched his chest again.

“Reus…”

“…”

“It’s too noisy… My ears are ringing.”

Seemingly irritated by the heartbeat sound that kept interrupting her oncoming drowsiness, Roel complained weakly and nuzzled her head. Eventually, cracks appeared in Reus’s outwardly composed face, and soon the tips of his ears turned red.

While the flow was similar to their first night, the situation they were in was quite different. More precisely, unlike then when it was just annoying, this current situation was torment in a different sense.

At that moment, Roel, her eyes flickering, lifted her arms and wrapped them around Reus’s neck.

“Reus, hold me.”

Her tone was completely devoid of seduction. Reus knew it was a sincere request, but somehow it sounded troublesome, causing him to tightly close his eyes.

“…”

“I’m so… so sleepy.”

As she finished speaking, Roel’s legs seemed to lose strength, and she started to slide down. Reus quickly caught and lifted her up.

After turning everyone else’s insides out, Roel was now quietly leaning on his shoulder, fighting sleep. Watching this scene silently, Reus eventually let out a small laugh.

“Even if we’re in a contractual relationship, aren’t you trusting me too much?”

“…Huh?”

At his tone that held a slight hint of resentment, Roel raised her head again to stare at Reus. Just like before, her head was about to fall back, but Reus quickly supported her head.

Her limp body swayed carelessly, following his slightly unsteady gait.

Roel, who had been staring blankly into space, finally repeated what Reus had said.

“Trust? …It’s okay to trust.”

“Who? Me?”

“No, me.”

“You say it’s okay to trust you.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Though her replies suddenly became short, Reus let out a small laugh as if finding it cute.

“Why?”

“Oh, because… it’s okay to trust.”

“So what’s the reason for that?”

“Umm, the reason is… I’m sleepy.”

Reus burst into a slightly bigger laugh at her incoherent answer. As his body shook with laughter, Roel frowned a beat late.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Why, is it annoying again?”

“Mm… no.”

“Is that a yes or a no?”

Roel, her eyes already half-glazed over and unable to steady herself, swaying this way and that, stared intently at Reus’s face to an uncomfortable degree, then soon let out a ‘puhehe’ laugh.

It was a laugh without clear meaning, but Reus momentarily stopped walking, captivated by her radiant face that made even the onlooker want to smile along. But suddenly, Roel abruptly stopped laughing.

“Hey, you know.”

“…”

“You know.”

At her tone that seemed to demand a response, Reus snapped back to attention. The man who had said he had no hobby of humoring drunk people promptly gave an answer.

“Yes, I’m listening.”

“So, I… I definitely heard…”

Roel, who had been mumbling something quietly, soon narrowed her eyes as if displeased.

“So, my melon ice cream…”

“…”

“I think I heard there was some… Right, there is.”

He wondered why that ice cream talk wasn’t coming up. But unlike before, it didn’t irritate him. He just felt a bit relieved that no one else had seen her like this.

Unable to hold back his laughter any longer, Reus lowered his head and gently pressed his forehead against Roel’s.

“Roel.”

“Mm.”

But knowing all too well that this was all he could do, Reus slightly contorted his face as if in pain.

“Ah, I’m sleepy… I need to eat ice cream and sleep, quickly…”

While someone was seriously conflicted, Roel was still only looking for that melon ice cream. Reus, who had barely managed to calm his heart, resumed walking.

Just as he was about to lay the woman down on the bed.

“Ah, no. I’m not sleeping.”

While he was off guard, Roel clung to him tightly. This caused Reus’s body to stiffen.

“Roel, just a moment—”

“I said I’m not sleeping. I won’t sleep.”

Because of Roel trying not to lie down on the bed like last time, Reus had to break out in a cold sweat for quite a while.

“Please, stay still…”

“Ah, no…”

Every time the woman moved, a sweet scent kept wafting. Last time he thought it was the strong smell of perfume, but it seemed this fragrance was the woman’s natural scent.

Realizing this fact, a groan involuntarily escaped Reus’s lips.

How far was she trying to test his patience?

He tried desperately to detach himself for the woman’s sake, not his own. But Reus, who usually worried that Roel might break if she even walked, couldn’t properly grab her arms and had to lie down on the bed with their bodies pressed tightly together, just like that day.

“Hey… You, liar… There’s no ice cream…”

Even in this situation, Roel kept looking for ice cream, and kept hugging him as if he were a pillow.

“Haa…”

Reus let out a very long sigh. It seemed that tonight would be quite a long night, just like that day.

* * *

Her eyes flew open with a chilling sensation. And soon, memories of yesterday started to come back bit by bit.

‘I’m sure I said I’d control it.’

At some point, the intoxication suddenly hit hard and her memory cut off. The last thing she vaguely remembered was Theron appearing as the door opened.

But even that memory was blurry, and she couldn’t remember well what she had said or how she had acted.

‘What if I made a mistake with Theron too?’

It was clear that she had made a mistake with Reus. Judging by his very tired face that she glimpsed, there was no room for doubt.

She tightly closed her eyes and slowly unwrapped her arms from around Reus’s neck.

It seemed that when drunk, besides looking for ice cream, she also had a habit of clinging onto something.

‘I didn’t do this in my past life, when did I develop this drunk habit?’

It was fortunate that Reus felt nothing from contact with her. If the situation had been reversed, she probably would have…

‘I should apologize properly first.’

Though she decided that, when she opened her eyes and looked at Reus’s face again, her mouth automatically closed. He looked not just tired but almost haggard, as if he had been tormented all through the early morning.

“I’m… sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

When he just smiled like that and said it was okay without saying anything else, it made her feel even more sorry.

“I, I won’t…”

“Roel, it’s better not to make promises you can’t keep.”

“…”

“Last time, didn’t you promise not to worry me and then not come because you caught a cold?”

“…”

It wasn’t wrong, but why bring it up now…

But there wasn’t much a guilty person could say. She quietly listened to Reus’s ongoing nagging.

But he kept talking so much that it seemed like he had been waiting for her to make a mistake. As my expression gradually turned to one of resentment as I listened, Reus countered with a face that said if I had done well in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened.

Once again, there was nothing I could say.

* * *

The remaining two days passed by very quickly. And before I knew it, the day Helen had promised to show me the swordsmanship tournament in person had arrived.

I was very curious as to why the tournament held in the Kingdom of Leveren was particularly famous, when surely every country would have swordsmanship tournaments.

‘Didn’t they say the tournament is held four times a year?’

The arena was well-maintained as the tournaments were frequent, but it wasn’t very large in size.

‘I guess that will make it easier to see the knights better.’

I let out a small sigh as I realized why they had deliberately made it small.

At that moment, the murmuring of the crowd gradually changed to cheers as the two knights who would start the tournament walked into the arena.

One male knight and one female knight each headed to their respective positions.

Leveren was uniquely a country with quite a high ratio of female knights. Perhaps because of this, unlike me who found it unfamiliar to see female knights in swordsmanship tournaments, the other spectators didn’t seem to mind at all.

‘Aside from the heat, it seems like a really good country to live in in many ways.’

Soon, with the sound of a small cannon, the first competition began.

Unlike Helen’s words that it wasn’t such a serious tournament, the two knights gave their all in the match. And the subsequent duels between other knights were not much different from the swordsmanship tournaments I was familiar with.

“This seems more serious than I thought?”

“Mm-hmm, I guess they have to keep up appearances at least.”

“Pardon?”

“The matches held at the very beginning are usually taken on by the most outstanding knights from the royal knight order.”

Isn’t it usually the case that the more skilled people compete towards the end? No wonder it seemed too fierce and competitive from the start.

Though I had some doubts about this unusual progression, I continued watching the matches for now.

A winner had already emerged after just six knights had competed against each other. Helen pointed out the name. The winner was Knight Sir Ansley.

“Is this how it ends?”

I had never directly watched a swordsmanship tournament in the Assilite Empire, but I heard that it usually runs quite late even after dividing the time into morning and afternoon sessions.

Of course, Assilite is said to have a larger territory and population than the Kingdom of Leveren, but today’s tournament seemed to end too quickly.

As I looked around, not understanding what was going on, Helen said,

“Ah, no. Up until now was just a formal procedure, the real thing starts from now on.”