TCBCVF 118

~Chapter 118~

Before he knew it, his lips were tightly sealed like a clam.

“So… I…”

Dietrich, who had never felt nervous even in front of the Emperor, could feel his neck stiffen with tension.

Laritte didn’t rush him.

She simply looked at him with a clear gaze, silently watching him.

At that moment.

“I like you.”

Dietrich suddenly blurted it out.

He couldn’t hold it in any longer.

Like snow silently piling up.

Before he knew it, the feelings had accumulated quietly in his heart.

It was impossible to suppress them any longer.

In front of his late-blooming first love, Dietrich became as inexperienced as a ten-year-old boy, before his parents had passed away.

“Actually… I wanted to confess more smoothly.”

The usually calm Dietrich blushed all the way to the tips of his ears and stammered.

“I didn’t think I’d say it so suddenly, but…”

“……”

But Laritte remained silent.

She didn’t say a word.

Why isn’t she saying anything?

Dietrich felt his heart sink.

If Lady Ansie just wanted to keep things as they were, and I went ahead and jumped the gun?

…What if my confession ruins the close relationship we have now?

Dietrich, unsure of what to do, glanced around nervously.

“Lady Ansie?”

Then, in a soft voice, Laritte spoke.

“…It feels like a dream.”

It was a voice as soft as the spring breeze.

Laritte muttered absentmindedly, but quickly snapped back to reality.

“Ah.”

Her face turned bright red.

What on earth did I just say?!

Unable to overcome her embarrassment, Laritte quickly lowered her head.

“D-Don’t look at me.”

From beneath her lowered head, a trembling voice escaped.

“My face is probably a mess right now…”

Her neck, visible from her bowed head, was completely red.

It felt as if red paint would smear if she touched it.

Dietrich, staring at her, couldn’t help but speak up.

“T-the thing you just said…”

Dietrich suddenly bit his lower lip.

I shouldn’t sound like I’m pressuring her to answer.

A sudden worry crossed his mind.

Dietrich quickly added,

“No, take your time to think about it. You don’t have to answer right away. I…”

“No, there’s no need to think about it.”

A firm voice interrupted.

Laritte took a big breath and quickly lifted her head.

As she had said, her face was still a mess.

Her face was even redder than a ripe apple, and her eyes were glistening, as if she might start crying at any moment.

“Does that mean… you want to be my lover…?”

Laritte, gripping the hem of her dress, asked decisively.

“Is that what I can think?”

Lover.

Dietrich repeated the word in his mind.

A short two-syllable word, yet it sounded the sweetest thing in the world.

He nodded without hesitation.

“Yes.”

At his answer, Laritte’s face lit up with a smile.

A smile brighter than the afternoon summer sun.

After a moment of biting her lips, Laritte finally couldn’t hold it in any longer and blurted out,

“…I’m happy.”

Dietrich stared at her smile.

It was so beautiful, he felt he could stare at it forever.

But even in the midst of that joy, one thing bothered him.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to confess so suddenly…”

Dietrich muttered with a guilty look on his face.

He felt bad about confessing so impulsively, without being able to give her a more beautiful and meaningful experience.

Laritte shook her head.

“It’s not like that.”

She had always lived with the awareness of the original story.

Dietrich was supposed to be the male protagonist who would end up with Seraphina in this world.

She had tried to suppress the feelings that were growing uncontrollably in her heart.

But Dietrich had chosen Laritte, defying the original story.

Now, she didn’t care about the original or Seraphina.

…Just that alone made her feel like she had won the world.

Laritte smiled again.

But then, at that moment…

“Lady Ansie.”

“Yes?”

“I’d like to ask you something.”

At that moment, a small crack appeared in Laritte’s smile.

Dietrich’s face wore an oddly dissatisfied expression.

“Really…”

After hesitating for a moment, Dietrich opened his mouth with a grumpy look.

“…Do you like Eva more than me?”

What?

That was such an unexpected question.

For a moment, Laritte, who had been swept up in the waves of emotion, looked at him, confused.

“Eva brags so much about me. She says she’s my best friend, and I’m just her best friend’s brother.”

Looking at Laritte’s bewildered face, Dietrich started complaining, almost as if he were telling on Eva.

“Well… I like both of you.”

Laritte looked flustered and stumbled over her words.

“How can I choose? Eva is my best friend, and the Duke is…”

At that moment.

She couldn’t finish her sentence.

“The Duke is… The Duke is…”

Laritte’s lips kept moving, but in the end, she squeezed her eyes shut.

Then, she covered her face with her hands and muttered softly, like the sound of a mosquito.

“…You’re my lover.”

Her ears were bright red.

Dietrich, watching her quietly, couldn’t hold back any longer.

Seeing Laritte, who was so cute and flustered, made him feel so happy.

The fact that this lovely woman was his lover still felt surreal to him.

…The joy of it was just too much to handle.

“Haha!”

Dietrich laughed out loud, and Laritte immediately glared at him.

“Are you teasing me?!”

“Tease you? Of course not. It’s just…”

Dietrich’s smile grew even wider.

“I just really like the word ‘lover.’”

“……”

Laritte’s cheeks flushed even more, as if she had suddenly raised her voice.

At the same time, Dietrich bent down and gently touched his forehead to Laritte’s.

His blue eyes looked at her fondly.

“I’ll try harder.”

“Try harder, what…?”

“Well, up until now, Eva got to know Lady Ansie first, so there wasn’t much I could do.”

Dietrich shrugged lightly.

“But from now on, you’ll always have to tell me I’m the best.”

“Pardon?”

“Because I’m Lady Ansie’s lover.”

“……”

At his playful words, Laritte was left speechless.

Her lips were moving, but she couldn’t say anything, and then, she lowered her eyes in embarrassment.

“Really…”

Dietrich chuckled and pulled Laritte into his arms.

Laritte buried her face in his chest.

The newly-formed couple was looked down upon by the statue of the goddess with a loving gaze.