So ti had passed since Kena had brought the Goza into the room, and Astard was gradually sobering up thanks to rc taking his drink.
“Hahaha. Estert beca a young girl! Hahahaha!”
“……”
Gradually…
“Good grief. I told you already. My na is rc. There are other people in the house as well, so call rc, would you!”
“You get angry at the strangest of things… Fine. rc, could you pass the Goza.”
Since a few minutes ago, Astard had gradually reverted to a more courteous tone, indicating that his drunkenness was fading. But, since he didn’t appear to realize that his hood had co off when he laughed so stupidly, it would take him so ti to regain his equilibrium.
“Here you go… No. Actually wait.”
rc abruptly stopped herself as she was about to hand Astard the plate with the Goza, a knife, and a fork.
In this situation, allowing Astard to use a fork, much alone a knife, seed risky. Of course, one would not typically be wounded by such an action, but in this inebriated state, one never knew what could occur.
So rc decided to peel the Goza for him.
“Argh… This is so annoying! If we were in a restaurant they would have peeled them for us…”
If the Goza were offered as dessert, the consur was supposed to peel it themselves, just as rc had done this morning. However, the Goza were pre-peeled at bars and taverns where they were given as appetizers.
The rationale for this was to prevent drunks from using knives. On the other hand, so restaurants served the Goza with the skin on in order to prevent custors from becoming too inebriated by requiring them to use knives. Such locations, though, were few and far between.
Kena may very well have assud rc wasn’t inebriated after chatting with her through the Magic Stone, which is why she had delivered the Goza without peeling them and instead focused on bringing them as quickly as possible.
This was generally the correct course of action. After all, rc was in fact not drunk. If there was a downside, it would be that rc was absolutely awful at peeling Goza.
“Urgh… You little! Don’t you run around!”
“Hahahaha! J-Just what are you doing? Are you playing? No, wait. It’s you who’s being played with! Ahahaha! Hilarious.”
Astard smiled heartily as he pointed at rc, who was attempting to peel a Goza.
“Who do you think I’m peeling these for?!”
“Ahahaha! I-I apologize… But you really are clumsy. To think that you can’t even peel a Goza… Wait…”
“What’s wrong?”
Astard withdrew the sneer that had been on his face, as though he’d realized sothing from his own words. Not only that, but his eyes widened as if he had witnessed sothing extraordinary, and he gasped and gazed at rc.
“What’s with that face? Is there sothing stuck on my face?”
Astard let out a loud sigh that he had been holding once rc set down the knife and fork and inquired.
“I see… So that’s it… Hahaha… So that’s it…”
“Huh? What are you going on about? Did you drink too much? I think you should go to bed.”
rc beca concerned about Astard as he mumbled that while looking down and stepped up to attempt to persuade him to go to bed.
“Iriem said it.”
“……?!”
rc sat back down with a perplexed expression as the words unexpectedly tumbled out of Astard’s mouth.
His voice was far too clear for soone who was obviously inebriated.
“She told when we disbanded the party that she was returning to the Kingdom of Aratan to see her brother. Thinking that this would be my final chance I decided to tell her how I felt.”
“I see…”
Astard’s unexpected love talk piqued rc’s interest, so she chose to listen to his story.
Astard looked up, but his eyes were drawn to the ceiling rather than rc. Astard’s eyes narrowed as if he were gazing back to that ti. He then proceeded to recount his and Iriem’s brief conversation.
{I-Iriem. Is there soone waiting for you back ho?}
{There is. My younger brother, my sole relative, will surely be waiting for .}
{W-What about a lover, o-or maybe a fiancé?}
{Fufufu, there is no one like that waiting for .}
{T-Then, is there soone you’re interested in, or soone you l-l-l-like?}
{What? Soone I like?}
{I-If you don’t… then I-I}
{I suppose there is one. Yes, one.}
{……}
{Huh? Is there sothing wrong, Astard?}
{N-No, it’s nothing. B-By the way, what is that person like? For you to think of him in that light, he must be a wonderful person. Haha! Hahaha…}
{Fufu! He’s quite hopeless when compared to you, Astard. He’s preachy, a sore loser, and completely helpless… Fufu!}
{Is there sothing wrong?}
{No, it’s nothing. Co to think of it, that person can’t even peel a single Goza…}
“The Saintess said that?” rc inquired, her voice hoarse, while Astard kept his gaze fixed on the ceiling.
“I-I was a huge fool.” Astard returned his gaze to rc, his moistened eyes fixed on her, and cried out in a shaky voice, “You liked her as well didn’t you. I can tell that much from your reaction just now…”
“…?! What? Don’t be stupid. You know I’m not a fan of small breasts.” It’s sothing rc had always told Astard. Estert had always given the sa answer to Astard when asked how he felt about Iriem.
Estert had always told Astard that there was no need for him to hold back, since was drawn to won with large breasts, and would never look at Iriem in that light. However, Estert had known…
He’d known those words were not really ant to convince Astard. They had been designed to help him persuade himself.
Estert had used those words to convince himself that he didn’t like Iriem in order to deny that he had been helplessly attracted to a woman over ten years younger than him.
“I knew. I knew that you liked her, and yet!”
“Astard…”
“W-Why did you hold yourself back…”
“Astard…”
“She loved you as well!”
“……”
It was easy to understand how agonizing it was for Astard to confess that the person he loved was interested in soone else. rc couldn’t say anything, though, since she knew how Astard felt1.
“… Iriem… I miss you! It doesn’t matter if you don’t like . It makes no difference if you are in love with soone else. All that matters to is that you’re well… Be alive, please!”
Astard collapsed face down on the table and sobbed, his voice stifled like a child’s. rc stood up and patted his back, unable to bear seeing him like that. However, she couldn’t say anything. While Astard fell asleep with tears in his eyes, rc remained silent.
Robinxen: Oof. This author writes so twists.
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