Immediately after mother left the house, I crawled closer to Nervia-san.
When Nervia-san who was still in the middle of having lunch realized that, she let out a 「Ngu ! ? 」sound like she was choking.
Hmm, since she is still eating, then maybe it is better not to bother her yet.
While waiting for Nervia-san to finish her food, I continued to stare upwards at her from the floor.
Maybe Nervia-san is bothered by my gaze, she always glances over here every 3 seconds, and strangely, she was sweating.
Soon after she finished eating, it looked like she was confused as to what do with the dishes.
Actually, it would be okay not to do anything about it… Well, for a princess who has been living in the imperial capital, she probably doesn’t understand something like washing dishes in a poor village.
Before long, I began to make my move toward Nervia-san.
「Uu~, uu~! 」
「Eh, eh!? What is wrong!? Is there anything that’s making you uncomfortable, princess!?」
... I am not a princess. [1]
I was moaning while presenting both of my hands to Nervia-san, making a gesture which implied「Hug ! 」to her. [2]
Though I was straightly looking into her eyes, she gave a reply after restlessly looking around, saying 「Eh, me!?」. No, who else is there besides you.
「 U~h! 」
「Aaaah! I understand, sorry! Please don"t be angry!」
While Nervia-san was panicking to the extent that it’s pitiable, she stood up from her seat and stretched her hands out towards me.
... But, just before she touched me, she murmured「Ah 」and then retracted her hands.
「I-it might hurt if I still have my gloves on.... and the sword is dangerous too… b-but if I take them off…」
「Uu~!!」 [3]
「Uwah! Forgive me, I will immediately take them off!!」
Nervia-San"s promptly removed her gloves, her elbow guards, her breastplate and also her sword, changing into her casual clothes with much clattering.
She didn"t wear anything except black underwear beneath her armour… [4]
... Eh, what enormous b.r.e.a.s.t.s she has there!! [5]
「Uh, Umm, Sefi... chan...? I am sorry, pardon me okay...?」
Nervia-san, with that somewhat frightened att.i.tude, softly lifted me up and then gently carried me.
She carefully handled me like gla.s.sware, so serious so that she wouldn’t commit any mistake; it looks like she is revealing her true character.
I showed her my extraordinary smile which has been labelled as an angelic one by all of the villagers. []
And then,
「C… cute…」
Nervia-san spontaneously leaked that murmur out, then sat down on the chair, trembling.
While carefully handling me, she timidly and gently caressed my head.
In response to that, I grasped Nervia-san’s hand, slowly pulled it towards my chest, and then tightly hugged it.
It seemed that my actions had a favorable response; Nervia-san expression became much more relaxed.
As Nervia-san gently embraced me, she looked like she wanted to cry, just a bit.
「Sefi-chan is cute, Mashia-san too, even the villagers are kind too... I had expected it to be all bad, but thank goodness it’s not…」
“Expected it to be bad”…?
As my curiosity arose, I looked up at Nervia-san’s face.
There, Nervia-san continued with a voice that that sounded like it was suppressing something.
「...... Sefi--chan is really a smart child. ..... Compared to you… because, I am not a good child… Sob… because of that… they, drove me out…」
I couldn"t hear the words at the very end.
I didn"t know whether it was because she couldn’t bear it anymore in the middle of that sentence, but in the end, she started to sob and cry.
… I see, somehow I feel that I can understand her circ.u.mstances.
The robber suppression is just a cover story. Even the imperial capital doesn’t think that the robber will ever come out in this village.
In another words, they used that story to sugarcoat "driving off a troublesome person.”
I don"t know the reason why, or whether Nervia-san had been branded useless by the imperial capital, it’s military order, or her own household, but it is certain she had been removed to this remote place.
Maybe she failed some exams, left bad military conduct records, or made a big mistake.
Anyway, it means that she has no place in the imperial capital anymore.
The reason is, in the first place, this robber suppression is impossible.
The rumour started 2 weeks ago, but absolutely nothing had happened.
The suppression of robbers whose existence itself is questionable, is like telling someone to catch a tiger inside a picture.
It is natural to say that it has the obvious meaning of「don"t come back, ever.」.
Besides, if by chance that the robber really did appear, what can she do alone?
If she had the strength to take care the robbers, I am sure that they won’t send her to this kind of place.
If she cannot defeat the robber this time, I am sure that she will be demoted to even harsher location than this.
「Uh , sob, em, em berry zorry… Ueeeeen…! 」[7]
I already understand her circ.u.mstances even though I had just heard a little bit of it. There is no way she didn"t understand this, especially her since she is the one related to this.
That must be why this girl became this servile. Afraid and scared, always with a look which seemed like it will burst into tears any moment now.
Now, at last, the feelings that she had been enduring burst out like a ruptured dam.
「Don"t cry, Onee-chan」
As I called her with soft voice, Nervia-san who was crying, became perplexed and looked around.
Then, slowly, she brought back her gaze onto me and let out a hiccup, 「hic 」.
After all, I understand her circ.u.mstances somewhat, and also, I don’t think she’s a bad person.
There’s no need to hide my ident.i.ty.
In addition… If I kept concealing my ident.i.ty, I couldn’t cheer her up.
「It is okay. Everything is okay , Onee~ chan」
I stretched up my body as much as I can and wrapped her head with my hands in order to hug her.
Nervia-san who was stunned for a while, before long, raised her voice once more and started to cry.
Being hugged by Nervia-san with all of her might hurts a bit, but it is nothing if compared to the pain that she has borne all this time. If it just this much I will happily accept it.
I kept caressing her head while waiting for her to stop crying and continued uttering the words that will encourage her.
[1] (TL: but you"re a trap)
[2] (ED : What a smooth move you have there, If only I can do that too)
[3] ( TL : UNDRESS ! UNDRESS ! UNDRESS ! ) (ED : if she undresses, this novel will be considered R-18 and might be taken down, won’t’ it? I don’t mind it though, so… Undress! Undress!)
[4] (ED : when 3 words removed, she will be… *Mutsulini-style nosebleed*)
[5] (ED : If only I could meet this girl IRL, I’ll make her meet a baby and you all know what she will do next)
[6] (ED : pepsodent smile?)
[7] (TLC: Them words covered in snot and tears.)