Together “Because I love you, I will never lose to the Ancient Witch.”
『Congratulations! Liselotte has gone from a tsundere to a tsungire![1]』
『I wonder if this could really be called progress… Actually, maybe this is the Ancient Witch"s attack on her heart taking on some really weird shape…? Well, it"s true that Rize-tan definitely seems a bit more gire right now.』
As Endow sounded like he was making an impossible to understand joke and Coebayashay somehow made even less sense, I was completely lost.
This is strange.
Yesterday, when Finne sat on the same couch where Liselotte was sitting now, with Baldur standing behind her, I had talked with them about how worried I was that Liselotte was always running away from me. After that, I was determined to chase her even more.
So, why was Liselotte suddenly swearing such an oath to me with such a deadly serious face?
“Thank… you…?”
Even though I was utterly confused, I managed to squeeze out words of grat.i.tude somehow, at which Liselotte looks satisfied with a sharp nod.
“Yes, I will never lose to such a base thing. No, in fact, I feel that when I think of you, there"s nothing I could lose to.
I only realized last night, but it seems that if my feelings are strong enough, I"m able to interact with that thing in the darkness. How much I love His Highness, how wonderful a person you are… should it take two or three nights, or even forever, I"m sure that those feelings I have for you can let me prevail over that. ”
With burning anger behind those eyes and a conversely cold rage on her tongue, Liselotte smiled with a sigh.
“Whenever I think of Your Highness, Prince Siegward, I can"t help but feel a sense of warmth and joy. In order to stand next to your side, I"ll do anything. So, in that sense, I should be the one to thank you.”
She continued to speak with a smile, whereas all I could do was listen to her words with an inscrutable face.
“Therefore, I shall be fine. Because of how much I love you, I will be fine. I am sure over the past few days, I must have caused Finne and Baldur no end of worry, but I no longer fear that witch… Your Highness, recently, were you also trying to show your concern in your own way?”
『Mmmmmm!? What"s with this sudden turn of the tide…!?』
『Because Liselotte has such an idealized view of Sieg, it seems that she has applied some sort of deeper meaning to what he was trying to do over these past few days? When in truth, he was just bitter and jealous about Fabian-kyun being recognized by her as something like a little brother. And Sieg is usually way too calm and cool, it was surprising.』
As much as I hated to admit it, what Coebayashay said was the truth, but Liselotte, who couldn"t hear the voice of the G.o.ddess, just smiled weakly and sadly, saying ‘I understand now," as if accepting some deep pain.
“You no longer need to concern yourself over me anymore. So long as you continue to exist, that"s more than enough for me. That alone is all I need to continue to keep supporting and loving you selfishly. To keep on living.”
Then, Liselotte stopped talking, letting go of a long-held breath with a sigh.
Even if it doesn"t solve our misunderstandings, I"m still glad to hear her say that she loves me in such a straight forward way. It was still strange to think that the girl who was often so curt and distant with me really thought of me in such a way.
No, my instincts are screaming at me right now that if I miss this opportunity, I"ll never again be able to hear her be so honest with her feelings.
She"s been talking about how much she loves me as if it"s just a natural thing, but if it wasn"t for the G.o.ds of Play-by-Play and Colour Commentary, I would never have thought of it at all.
As her face looked like it was about to burst into tears at any moment, I finally opened my mouth.
“Liselotte.”
As I called her name out to stop her before she did, she looked up at me like she was in a daze.
“You"re overrating me far too much.”
With those words, I walked over to the sofa and sat next to her.
“Your Highness…? What are you…!?”
When Liselotte reflexively tried to pull away from me, I pulled her into a hug to stop her escaping and spoke slowly.
“Hey, Liselotte? I love you dearly as well, you know?”
“Please don"t play games with me! Even if you don"t show me pity like this, I will never lose to that Ancient Witch and I will carry out my duties as the future Queen without fail!!”
Not being believed like that was painful.
As Liselotte yelled angrily, trying to pull herself out of my grip, I kept going.
“Liselotte… Liese.”
When I said that nickname, she suddenly stopped struggling.
“You know, I"ve wanted to call you Liese for a long time? Every time you let Baldur call you that, I felt incredibly jealous. In fact, I"m still jealous about how close that kid Fabian Ortenburg has gotten to you, and I"m not happy about how dear even your sister, Miss Finne, is to you.”
As I hugged Liselotte close, or rather kept clinging on to her like my life depended on it, I told her how I felt.
“As you can see, I"m honestly more of a shameless person than you think. But because of my position, and the people around me, when it comes to the things I love and the things I hate, I"ve always had trouble expressing them… But, still…”
But, still, I want you to believe me. As expected, complaining like this really is uncool, isn"t it? But Coebayashay was saying before that I was ‘too" cool, wasn"t she?
“I… I too… when it came to Finne and Artur Richter… I was jealous.”
As I fretted, suddenly Liselotte"s quiet voice snuck into my ears.
“You"re… always so kind to everyone, but especially when it came to Finne who was so sweet and kind… I was envious. And I was jealous of Artur Richter, who was able to talk so freely with you.”
“…We"re the same, then.”
As I spoke softly, her trembling hands wrapped their way around my back.
“Your Highness, do you truly feel the same way that I do? That you truly love me in the same way that I love you… is it really okay for me to so selfishly believe that?”
Her voice was even weaker now as her hands touched me, her body trembling in my embrace.
As I squeezed her even tighter, I answered.
“I want you to be selfish. I want you to believe it… because I love you. I"m so happy that you"re my fiancée.”
When I said that, Liselotte began to tremble even more.
“I always wanted to be loved by you… That dream, I always, always… I always kept hoping, ever since I met you…”
As she said those words, obvious choked with tears that I couldn"t quite see, I suddenly remembered those words her father had said, about her ‘dream".
Ahh, jeez, Liselotte really is impossibly cute. My fiancée is the cutest. The cutest in the world.
Just as I was about to melt into a puddle at her cuteness, Liselotte suddenly pressed her face into my chest and held me still with an unbelievable amount of strength.
“…W-what should I do…?”
As she said something I didn"t understand, I tilted my head ponderously.
“I… I"m too ashamed right now, so for you to see my face would be… so, for now, I can"t let you go.”
…You"re not more embarra.s.sed about just how tightly you"re hugging me right now?
Do I point that out and get to behold Liselotte"s beautifully embarra.s.sed face? Or do I hold my tongue and enjoy this hug for a while longer?
As I weighed up that terrible choice in my mind, I could hear the G.o.ds cheering loudly from wherever they were.
[1] A tsungire is what you get when a tsundere ‘snaps" (hence the ‘gire").