Chapter 2 – The most important work for a butler is to embarrass his beloved princess
“…Mmm, ~~~~~~~~”Lying on the bed, Princess Krell hugged her pillow with all her might and let out an inarticulate scream, writhing in agony. She’s breathing slowly in a three-beat rhythm to try to alleviate the pain, but that’s a breathing method pregnant women use to mitigate pain. Of course, Princess Krell is definitely not in labor. So I’d appreciate it if she stopped. I stared fixedly at my master twisting in pain on the bed, searing that sight into my eyes and memory, and called out to her.“How is it, Princess Krell?”“How… can you say that… and…”Looking at me with a bright red face and a teardrop floating on her eyelashes, the princess’s expression grabbed my heart. Her usually graceful face, shining like a diamond freshly cut, is now like a withered flower from the unbearable pain.Cute. Cute. Cute. It’s important so I’ll say it three times.“Sto—Roth! It hurts! Please forgive me already!”“Princess Krell, I’m not satisfied yet.”“Why do you need to be satisfied!?”“…”“You obviously enjoy bullying me!?”“There’s no such thing.” “That long pause says otherwise! Also-“Princess Krell threw the freshly laundered white pillow she’d been hugging at my face and screamed, nearly wailing.“Why am I being given a foot massage the moment we get home!!”I caught the incoming pillow and removed my hands from the princess’s feet. Why, you ask…“That’s because Princess Krell forgot something a magician should remember, as I taught previously.”“I-I didn’t say I forgot!”“That distraction was clear. Or are you saying, Princess Krell, that you properly remembered and took my teachings to heart? If so, what exactly did those words you uttered before the distraction mean?”***
/*/*/*/***“…Ugh.”When pressed, Princess Krell groaned slightly. It seems she made a guguu sound. Seeing that, I sighed.“Please don’t tell obvious lies. It hurts me a little… as your servant to have lies told by my important master.”As I smoothed out the wrinkles in the pillow and averted my eyes from Princess Krell, I feigned hurt with a sad voice. Right on cue, Princess Krell waved both hands in a fluster.“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt Roth at all!”“Yes, I’m aware?”When I instantly dispelled the tragic air from earlier and spoke, the princess gaped wordlessly for a few seconds, then puffed out her cheeks.“Geez! You’ve always teased me since long ago, but recently it’s especially awful!”“My apologies. However, since Princess Krell gives such good reactions, I can’t help it.” “It’s not I can’t help it! Think about my feelings too!”“…Does it make you happy?”“It doesn’t make me happy! That’s why you get carried away with reactions like this…”“I don’t intend to get carried away, but I do want to tease you. In other words, it’s Princess Krell’s fault. Apologize. Go on.”“W-h-y m-e!?”
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Princess Krell snarled in a wary dog-like voice. While she intends it as threatening, with her cute and beautiful angelic appearance, she looks no more than a puppy. I want to hug her and pat her saying there, there. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you for life.
A few seconds later, Princess Krell stopped threatening (regrettably) and reached for her right foot.“Anyway, where did you learn to give foot massages?”“It’s a butler’s hobby.” “I’ve never heard of such a butler.”“What a coincidence, neither have I.”As I stood up from my kneeling position, I returned the thrown pillow to its original spot and took out the notebook where I jotted down various notes at the Magical Museum. Of course, different notes than what I gave the director. Reluctantly, our pleasant lovey-dovey playtime ends here. With three hours until dinner, I should advance the talk about the etoile magical key theft notice case for now. I moved to the bedside where Princess Krell sat and started talking while standing.“About the etoile magical key mentioned in the notice… there’s nothing more we can do.”“You mean to wait until the stated date comes without doing anything?”“That’s how it is.”What we can do now is just make arrangements and increase security in preparation for the date. All of that is the museum director’s job as the person in charge. We’re merely advising, responding to the question of how to prevent the etoile magical key from being stolen. Anything beyond that, they’ll have to somehow take care of themselves. Well, we did say we’d participate in security that day, so we are getting deeply involved but… Basically we’ll stay hands off and play a minimal support role. If we did everything, it wouldn’t help them grow. But… Princess Krell looks unhappy. It seems my master doesn’t like that.“Despite an imperial treasure being targeted, is it alright for me as royalty to do nothing?”“Even if you say that, there truly is nothing to be done. I fully understand your desire as royalty to contribute some power, but doing nothing is the greatest cooperation we can provide right now. If we who know nothing about the scene interfere poorly, we’ll just get in the way.”“That may be so but… it’s vexing. To not be able to do anything.”Clenching her fist in frustration, Princess Krell heaved a shallow sigh. Since we’ve been together a fairly long time, I anticipated she’d react this way. Princess Krell has an exceptionally strong sense of justice and responsibility. She especially can’t forgive doing nothing when she has power as both a magician and royalty. She wants to help, to do what she can. Such feelings are oozing from her expression but… there’s no outlet to vent her pent up emotions. After all, we truly can do nothing right now.Oh well. I should let her vent now.I sat on the edge of the bed, looked at Princess Krell, and patted my lap.“Um… Roth?”“Right now, relaxing and calming your heart is more important than keeping tense. Come, this way.”“If I want to relax, I’ll drink tea and sit on the sofa…”“Understood. Then I’ll prepare it right awa-“As I started to lift my hips to prepare the tea, Princess Krell grabbed my left wrist.“I-I’m not saying I don’t want it…”“You’re not honest. But I love that part of you too.”“So don’t say you love me so lightly.”Despite her complaint, Princess Krell rested her head on my lap and breathed a sigh of relief. From our long relationship, I learned that when she’s worried, letting her use my lap as a pillow drastically relaxes her and settles her heart. It’s mutually beneficial for me too since I get to be close with my beloved woman. Truly a win-win. It’s outstanding and should be left for posterity. While thinking that, Princess Krell suddenly glanced sideways and murmured faintly.“Once I can’t function without Roth anymore… what will you do?”“I feel like that’s already the case now but… of course, it’s decided.”While stroking her glossy hair, I smiled at my mouth and told her. “The goal is three.”“The conversation is jumping way too far ahead?”“My apologies. First is passionate se-““What are you trying to say before a woman!”Princess Krell briskly covered my mouth with her hand. I don’t think it’s particularly strange. Everyone knows it as general knowledge regardless of gender, and moreover, the people who do it are the ones who spun history.But I don’t want to do anything Princess Krell is seriously averse to. I’ll withdraw here obediently. “Well, there’s not a chance in a billion I’d abandon you, so don’t worry. If anything, recently there are times I worry you’ll abandon me.”“Huh, why…”“Because recently I’m aware I tease you too much.”“Then show more restraint…”After saying that, Princess Krell slid her hand to my cheek.“There’s absolutely no way I’d abandon Roth. The current me exists because you were with me. My present happiness is entirely something you granted me. Abandoning an important person, never.”“Will you marry me? Right now.”“That escalated too fast!”No good. Swept up in emotion, I accidentally proposed. I decided proposals should be at a more romantic place and situation. “My apologies. I will choose the time and place again.”“…I’ve been thinking this for a while but,”Prefacing that, Princess Krell narrowed her eyes a little, hand still on my cheek, and said.“Do Roth’s words really contain your feelings?”“Huh?”At the unexpected question, I felt surprise, bafflement, and slight anger. However, instantly returning to normal with my innate emotion suppression skill, I asked Princess Krell in return.“Why do you ask that?”“…Because Roth says things like loving me or confessing without any embarrassment at all. But, um… I think when you really love someone, saying those words is very embarrassing. Even wanting to say them, it’s hard to put into words, you know… There’s frustration not being able to say it…”Princess Krell looked away from me and muttered in barely comprehensible voice.Hmm, I see. In short, Princess Krell feels confessing words of love to your beloved requires courage, and my love that whispers loving words without any embarrassment must be fake. Even though I say it about twenty three times daily, and have been for some time, she still reacts this way… She’ll turn eighteen this year, so I hope she develops some immunity soon. It’s an age where getting married would be nothing unusual in general society.However, that doesn’t mean I’ll stop.I let out a small sigh and spoke up.“With all due respect, Princess cler, are you beyond help in terms of being a complete airhead?”“That’s quite rude.”“Which is why I said ‘with all due respect.'”“Isn’t there a limit…? And?”Encouraged, I continued.“I understand your point, Princess Krell. The value of words of love lies in their rarity. It takes courage to verbalize one’s feelings when one truly loves. Many people share this opinion. However, not everyone feels the same way.”Please consider joining my Ko-Fi membership. By becoming a member, you’ll also gain access to 3-10+ additional chapters of all of the novels from this site translated into English. Last but not least your support will also assist me in upholding the translation quality and speed. For more information, please follow the link.
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