It was a very obscure and vague expression, and what I said was about Claudia.

I could have talked to the children of the Sil tribe, but their daily life with them was too far from that of the aristocracy to seem appropriate to let the boy in front of them speak and listen.

Ratka and others are worse off in terms of how far away they are. There has never been a moment when the emotion between that and me could be called 'friendship'. There's no way we can talk about it.

Then only Elise and Paul will be the children around me.... If you widen your age a little, Claudia and then Camill fit in.

Kamil may have been the closest thing to a friend if not more than until he broke up. He put me up and down in time and in some cases, but I think when we were alone, the position was equal.

But I didn't feel very good about telling someone I didn't know about my memory with him.

Looking back in the first place, I never told anyone what happened with Camille. There were no signs of boiling at all, either, that I would tell someone.

Paul is a soldier in the Leading Army, not so close to each other, and Elise is sick and weak, and so far there is no interaction other than talking or exchanging letters.

Then the only thing we can talk about is Claudia.

I can't even say that she is a 10-year-old lady, and she keeps it at home as my playmate... I cut it out, but when I talked to her, I realized that this was not uncomfortable at all.

She and I are ten years apart. But even if I think about it, I want you to see it. Speaking of Claudia's behavior, he is such a person that the sun swings as many spears as he pleases, lets whomever he wants in his archery go out with him, rides his horse and runs around as he pleases, and jumps out of the window frame. I'm not bothering anyone else, I'm not throwing out what needs to be done, but if I do, she's running out of age.

Speaking of naive words and deeds in that sense without talking about Claudia being a person at all, for some reason she seemed like a child younger than herself.

"You're a very healthy young lady, your playmate..."

The boy who was turning to the listener also said so with half a laugh, so he must have thought of a girl my age or a little younger about Claudia, too.

I ended up just talking a little bit about puffiness and Claudia, and the person came to pick me up after I had completely changed my mind. Unlike me, she is terribly good at changing her mind. Coming with a neat look to ease the tension, she was a dazzling knight herself, and quite a boy looked up at Claudia with a surprised look.

I don't think the boy either, I can't believe this Rin Knight was the 'pretty healthy lady' that talked about it until earlier.

"Are you a new, knight, that you're here for protection? Much for that... somehow, it's penetrating..."

"Skills are missing one in our territory. They've been aiming for knights all along."

"Huh, right"

The boy snorts. I wondered if there was such a thing as Piercing Loch in Claudia, but I remembered that her standing behavior was entirely that of a samurai, and that I had never felt that she was feminine even when I thought of her particular suppleness as a cat. That may indeed be some sort of penetration.

"Well... I'm glad you made a wish..."

Boosh, and a small whining word. Hate my ears picked that up with a voice that nobody seemed to want me to hear. I look at the boy's face glimpsely on the side without knowing its intentions, and regret it. I wish I hadn't looked.

That's apparently the same for Claudia, much better than a regular person, who looked at the boy only for a moment with a suspicious face, and immediately fixed his gaze back towards me.

"... is it time to go back"

I speak to Claudia so as to deceive, and rise off the bench.

When the boy looks up like he's angry, he's glad to talk, then again, and he speaks up. Returning a proper greeting to it too, I left the garden in a hurry with Claudia.

"... you looked terrible, that boy"

Make sure there's no one around, and Claudia looks small. The gaze was directed towards the garden that had just fallen out.

Sure, he looked terrible.

A disgusting face, like a paint of despair. How dare that heart whine with such a look that it was a good wish, with the seemingly obstinate birth of entering a monastery before enrolling in the House of Lords, while behaving like it was probably something of a status.

"I guess he has a situation, too"

If I put it that way, Claudia skewed her face as if she didn't have enough water, and still snorted.

Things are for everyone. Like Claudia, who knew it would hardly come true, but wanted to be a knight.

She was lucky. Because there are parents who gave me respite until I was twenty years old, and me and the Earl of Teresia who need that presence, and I stand here today dressed as a knight.

I'm sure he just wasn't. And like him, the 'who wasn't' is so common that it can't be counted.

"... there's nothing I can do"

I have a people. I can't afford to do anything about him that's only on the edge.

"I know, Lord Eliza. I know."

Claudia nodded, saying so many times. Her eyes were staring sincerely at me.

Really, she's a strangely clever, weird, clumsy person. Just for a moment, Claudia tried to be more serious about someone she didn't even speak to, such as me.

I hope one day that beautiful heart will not be offended by malice.

─ Yes, I wish I could protect you.

"... yes, I forgot to tell you"

"Hmm?"

Yes, there was something I had to tell her. Leaning her neck, for a woman, she takes a broken hand and wraps it with both hands.

"Congratulations, Lord Claudia. Until now, you've really helped me a lot. Thanks, and keep it up."

As my knight, I kept it in my chest without being able to say after all.