Things I can't Say out Loud

Get married…?

Jillian twitched and waved her hands as a faint blush was on her face. "Don't drag me in your dreams! Besides, why would I marry you? I'll just be very pretty and get a rich husband in the future!" She jumped down from the tree, landing like a cat on the ground. "That's way faster than trying to earn the king's favor!"

Miel frowned as he watched her leave the tree. He jumped down as well and walked with the girl. "That's unfair. Why do I have to work hard while you can just grow up?"

"No, no, I have to be pretty growing up! That means I can't be skinny or sickly or a walking face filled with pocks!" Jillian pouted as she puffed her cheek and poked them with her fingers. "That would be very hard to do while we live in the streets!"

"You're right..." Miel sighed after realizing the problem.

They then entered an alley and ran into what seemed to be a hidden small door. They easily went through the space that might only fit a child. Perhaps, soon, they wouldn't be able to make use of this path.

The two children arrived at a place where there were an old lady and a bunch of toddlers. The old lady was cooking food which was only mainly soup. Miel and Jillian came around to help out in distributing the bowls for everyone. The old lady then chuckled. "Miel, Jillian… you've returned. Did the knights bring something interesting?"

"They all came back alive! They're so awesome—!" "Same old boring parade."

The two children spoke at the same time, but both didn't have the same feelings towards the parade. Miel only moved on to continue his task while insisting on his dream. "Don't worry, Granny! I will become a soldier when I turn sixteen! Then, I will be a hero so the king will knight me! After that, we'll be able to live happily!"

The old lady only smiled, but her eyes were filled with pain. "Yes, be a hero, Miel… perhaps, by then… he will cast his gaze upon you..."

…

Artie woke up with a bad headache from the wine she drank carelessly. She then reached out to massage her forehead, only to feel that she was already stripped down naked and fitted into another sleeping gown. However, it was her own sleeping gown. '...where did they get this?'

She then turned to the side and found Larkin asleep. It seemed that she was sleeping on his bed again, and so the strange dream had surged. However, this time, it was from a past that she had no knowledge about… only an inkling that Miel and Jillian shared a part of their lives… living in the streets of the capital.

She remained awake and stared at the canopy of the bed. She couldn't help but imagine how bad Miel's life was before Larkin had found him. Moreover, when Miel became the seneschal, almost everyone was insulting him for being a street child. "That would mean that he didn't become a hero after all… also… Jillian was an assassin. Could it be that… Miel had also come from the same profession and group as she did?"

Artie hummed. She recalled how Miel was able to kill people with just a single blade dropping from his sleeves. Perhaps under those long robes of a seneschal lied a body filled with scars and straps to fit his unseen weapons. That ice and sternness of his glares must have been testaments to his previous life.

"...Miel was an assassin? It must have been a hard transition from that to a seneschal..."

She then closed her eyes and turned towards Larkin to cuddle him from the side. "Sigh, this story mode is quite strange. If Miel wouldn't be so important to the main story, I wouldn't be getting all of these side quests. I wonder what will happen to him in the future..."

Larkin then opened his eyes and used his hand closest to her to touch her face. "Nonetheless, let me know."

Artie's eyes widened in shock. Even if she didn't gasp out loud, she had been screaming inside her head. How was she going to explain things to him?! Then again, she realized that she didn't have to speak about it. She could just press on just like how Larkin would forcibly push away everything else and treat something as the only thing that mattered in the conversation.

"...there are things that I can't say out loud, but if you watch me very carefully, you will find out more..." Artie relieved her tensed soul and smiled as she tried to find comfort in cuddling Larkin's body underneath the weighted blanket. It's just that she didn't think she'd be overturned like a turtle again.

"Let me remind you, Artie..." Larkin moved to pin Artie underneath him again, but his eyes were nothing close to teeming with lasciviousness by then. He was clearly warning her. "Our relationship is a very separate matter… from the affairs of the land… and from the safety of my children. So… even if I find you to be the most attractive, I will not hesitate to behead you should you hide things from me that would put Miel's life at stake..."

The angel had question marks on her face as a response. She didn't mean to say that she would be… "Larkin Ellis! That's my baby boy, too! Even if he's not mine, he's going to be!" She grabbed Larkin's face, which shocked him, and pushed him off a little. "You need to calm down! I'm on your side! If I have to fight demons just to save Miel, I'd do it! No need to be so overprotective like I'm scheming to get… oh..."

Artie actually complained like she was indeed playing a game. However, as she got quite far, she suddenly remembered something. She pulled her hand off of Larkin's face and bit her finger… "She must have done the same thing… said the same promises… made you believe in the same words of a loyal wife…

"Larkin, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad..." Artie brought her eyes back to Larkin's frowning face again. "...the previous archduchess… I have forgotten that she had taken your children away from you and had made it impossible for you to reclaim them as your own again. I'm sorry for judging your defenses too quickly. You have all the rights to suspect me… but please…

"Trust me when I say I'm not going to just sit back and watch if any one of them gets into trouble. I would save Miel and his sisters if they are in danger; I would do the same for the knights, too. Moreover… I definitely won't stay still if the victim is you." Artie finally smiled as if reassuring him. "So sleep tight. I will barge in and drag you out once I feel like something bad is going to Miel, okay?"

It was Larkin's turn to stare. He didn't know how to react as no one was quick to apologize after maligning him. In the end, he only did what was he thought could derail the conversation. In the end, he only leaned down and planted a kiss on Artie's lips.