Chapter 25: The Commander's Son Loves His Fiancée

Meals with Alice are much more delicious than usual, but the conversation with Rinse from earlier is in the corner of my head and somewhat hinders the enjoyment. Alice asked before she could turn her head around.

"Arth. What are you thinking, Is there a problem?"

"... did it look like that?"

"Yes. I feel like your face looks darker than usual. If there's anything I can do, please tell me. I'll do anything for Arth."

I feel tears, gratitude, and love from the bottom of my heart for Alice smiling like that, but it's my mistake at the point where I made her worry like this. I don't want to bring work into my private life. Well, this time it's easy to feel depressed just because of the content, but... even so, the dedication line of doing anything is quite nice. When I was told by Alice that she would do anything, my bad imagination accelerated, but after I had put an end to those evil thoughts, I smiled at Alice and said,

"Thank you Alice, but you must never say that you would do anything but me."

"why is that?"

Hmm, what should I say? I hesitated quite a bit about whether I should imbue this angel with bad things, but I decided to tell Alice for her safety.

"Because if a beautiful girl like Alice says she'll do anything, a man will feel evil."

"Is that so?"

"Oh. Alice is cute."

"Cute...Is that so?"

Alice, who was doing her best to hide her smirking expression, became quite fascinated, but after a while, Alice asked me with an upturned eye if it had calmed down.

"Is that the case with Arth as well?"

"Is that so obvious?"

"Um... do you think you're evil? No, do you think of girls other than me?"

"I would not direct such thoughts to anyone other than Alice."

I reluctantly said no. Just thinking about other girl makes me nauseous. Do you look at someone other than Alice as a woman, or do you lust for flies? Impossible. For me, women other than Alice don't feel anything more than insects. No matter how cute she is, no matter how sexy she is, I can't understand those feelings at all. In the first place, there is almost no meaning to me other than Alice. That's why it's unlikely that I'll pay much attention to anyone other than Alice. Well, later on, if it's for Alice's sake or if it's necessary for honor, I'll build a friendly relationship with her, and I'll take care of her no matter how much she hates me, but if I don't, I won't be interested in her.

Alice looked at me for a while at my immediate words, but her cheeks gradually turned red as we stared at each other. Her reaction was so cute that Alice let it go for a while and enjoyed it.

"Hmm, I understand. I believe you."

"Are you sure? I don't mind if you keep looking at me like this."

"Eh, Arth is sneaky..."

"Alice is so cute that I end up acting like that."

"You don't need to be sneaky... because you're Arth"

I was genuinely fascinated by Alice, who said with a smile after saying that, and then I sighed inwardly. After all, touching Alice calms me down. It's like the discomfort I've had up until a little while ago is purified... I really want to cherish this kind of time with Alice after finishing various things as soon as possible.

"So, what was Arth thinking earlier?"

After a while, when Alice asked me again, I thought for a while before asking a light question.

"Alice. What do you think of your ex-fiancée?"

"Prince Mace? Nothing in particular."

"Really?"

"Yes. It was certainly a shock at first but when you defend me I was happy."

"I see... about Maria's incident?"

"Yes. I don't hold a grudge."

Those words make me freeze for a moment. First love? No way Alice knew about me from the beginning... It's true that I've been friends with Mace since I was little, and there were many times when we got along well... Huh? really?

"That's why I'm on good terms with Maria now."

"I-I see... Alice is really kind."

"is that so?"

"I think it's really amazing that you don't have any ill feelings toward the prince or Maria who did that, but... you can't blame yourself."

"It's okay. That won't happen if Arth is by my side."

Somehow, recently Alice seems to be mentally stronger than before, but is this also proof that she's becoming more dependent on me? Judging from the way she spoke just now, it doesn't seem like the prince is interested in the fragment anymore, so I think so, but I'm happy about that, and I have a slightly dangerous self-awareness. Well, I have no intention of doing anything about it. Dependable! Rather, I want Alice to specialize in Yandere more. In the end, it would be even better if my affection rose to the level of thinking about confining me. It was a day when I admired Alice like that.