17 — A Walk, Not a Date!

Pied de la Montjuc, the town that served as the hub of the main Fisalis duchy, was commonly referred to as just Le Pied. We had passed through the town on our way to the villa, and the wonderful sights I had seen on those streets very much appealed to my feminine sensibilities.

Just after we arrived at the villa, I said “Mr. Fisalis! I’d like to go see the town later.”

It had taken us half a day to get to the duchy from the capital. Since we’d arrived at the villa before evening, even though we’d taken our time getting there, I was hoping we could have a look around the town.

“You mean today? Right now?” Mr. Fisalis was surprised. Clearly, he hadn’t been expecting such a short-notice request from me.

“Yeah. It doesn’t have to be now, if that won’t work. I was just thinking that we still had some time today.”

“We only just got here; surely you must be tired? We had to put up with the rocking in the carriage for quite a long time. How about tomorrow? I don’t have anything in particular planned for then, so that would be a perfect time.”

“You mean it!? That sounds good to me. Could we make it a walk and go on foot?”

Since I specifically want to explore, I don’t want to ride in a carriage. We could walk along, peeking down narrow alleys and popping into any shops that catch our eye—it’s that carefree wandering that makes going on walks fun! Going straight to every single corner flower shop and cafe by carriage would be a really dull excursion.

“Going for a walk...? You mean like, a date?”

“It’s a walk; that’s all.”

“...What do you think of the young madam’s proposal, Fennel?” Mr. Fisalis asked, glancing over at Rohtas and Fennel as he thought it over.

“...The town has been experiencing a slight increase in reports of public disorder lately, so I would advise against it,” Fennel replied, after some hesitation.

But when we drove through town today, everything looked so peaceful! What could possibly be going on?

Mr. Fisalis’ eyebrows rose in surprise at Fennel’s reply.

“Has it gotten that bad?”

“No, it’s not a lost cause quite yet, but it’s certainly gotten worse.”

“I see... If that’s the case, I ought to go see the state of things for myself. I’ll inspect the place as we stroll. We should be able to handle that much, right?”

Fennel nodded in response. “...I suppose so.”

He must be talking about taking guards and whatnot. Mr. Fisalis may be an active-duty knight, but he’s still a VIP, so we can’t afford to let him get hurt! Not to mention this town isn’t like the capital.

What’s that? No, the capital is very safe! Back when I lived with my parents, I’d go shopping by myself all the time. And Mr. Fisalis and I never took guards with us when we went out together.

Fennel’s talking it over now with Mr. Fisalis and Rohtas; it looks like he’s on board, too.

“So, you want to walk there?” Mr. Fisalis approved of my suggestion with a bright smile.

“Yes! Thank you!” Yay!

Once the men arrived at an agreement, Fennel showed us to our room.

You heard that right. Our room.

“Madam prepared this room, figuring it would be used eventually,” Fennel said, leading us to what they had apparently been calling the “Honeymoon Suite.”

Yup, it’s specifically for the two of us. Personally, I had optimistically assumed we’d be staying in two separate rooms.

For a split second, I considered asking for separate rooms anyway, just like our arrangement at the manor, but I decided not to. After all, that was the manor, so it made sense to do that there. I couldn’t just impose my will on the servants here when they didn’t know our little situation!

So I pretended there was no problem and said, “What a lovely room! I’ll have to thank Mother Fisalis next time I see her!” I deserve an acting award.

Fortunately, the bedroom and sitting room were separate, so we decided that Mr. Fisalis would get changed in the sitting room and I would use the bedroom.

What, no—of course I wasn’t going to let there be any gray areas! We got into our usual argument over who’d sleep where, so we settled on sharing the bed, but with a clear boundary line in place. Naturally, I regretted not bringing Mr. Fish, but there was no use crying over it. Our line of demarcation for our time there consisted of a pillow and a sofa cushion. Fortunately, there was still plenty of room on each side for both of us.

The next day:

I returned to our room after breakfast to get ready for our outing. I went into the bedroom and selected the most unassuming outfit that Stellaria had packed for me.

“How about this?” It was a simple smock dress made of off-white fabric, accented with a cute white lace collar. It wasn’t a complicated design, but the silhouette was quite refined. All of Madame’s designs are very flattering.

“Oh yes, that looks good. You can wear these shoes with it—I think flats would work best. I’ll pull your hair back into something loose, like the girls in town wear. We can tie it back with a large bow,” Stellaria said as she efficiently helped me get ready for my walk around town. We did my usual “no makeup” look, but with a small town twist.

Getting ready was extremely easy, since we didn’t have to put much thought into it. Mr. Fisalis was reclining on the sofa when I exited the bedroom, reading over some document or other and ready to go. He was wearing the casual outfit that his maids (not me) had picked out for him. And, yes, his shirt was left untucked.

His is a very uncomplicated outfit, too, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t super classy anyway. No matter what he wears, nothing can conceal the inborn elegance that basically seeps from his pores.

Jeez, I really do look like a “townie” compared to him. Then again, maybe even “townie” is a stretch, considering my whole presence just screams “commoner.” Ugh, even just the thought makes me depressed.

Whatever, this’ll do for now. I’ll just ignore it.

Mr. Fisalis set the papers down on the table when he saw me and said, “You look lovely today! I’m looking forward to our date.” The supernova-like radiance of his smile left me reeling.

Once again, I’ve been blown over. And of course he’s calling this a date.

“Sorry to keep you waiting! I’m ready, so let’s get going,” I urged him, pretending I hadn’t heard all that stuff about a date.

And so, the servants bade us farewell and we left the villa. There were no bodyguards to be seen anywhere, however.

“Mr. Fisalis? What happened to the bodyguards?” I asked as I looked this way and that.

“Oh, it’s nothing you need to worry about. Let’s go,” he said, holding out his hand.

Huh? Why is he doing this?

I stared at it, confused as to what he wanted me to do. At this, Mr. Fisalis smiled wryly before taking my hand in his.

“Uhwha!?” Wasn’t expecting that!

Seeing what must have been the very stupid expression I was wearing, Mr. Fisalis chuckled. “We’re finally on a date. Sometimes people do this on dates.”

No, I-I don’t want to do this, not even “sometimes”!

“...This is way too embarrassing.”

“Trust me, everyone does this when they’re in town.”

When I tried raising my hand, he didn’t loosen his grip on it, let alone let me go—he just let his hand be raised, still wrapped around mine. He was grinning ear to ear when I looked up from our clasped hands back at him.

“By ‘everyone,’ you mean that you’ve... seen people doing this?”

“Have I? Hmmm, I wonder. Oh well, time’s a-wasting, as they say. Let’s go!”

You were just pretending that you saw people doing this! You most certainly did not see everyone holding hands!

Ugh, and now the servants are giving us that look that screams, “I’m embarrassed just watching this!” Don’t look at me with those fake smiles... This must be what they had in mind when they made that saying, “He who runs away lives to fight another day!” I’ve got to split, and fast!

I looked over my shoulder and called to the servants, “We’ll see you later!”

“Have a wonderful time!” they cheerfully called back.

I waved at them as I pulled Mr. Fisalis down the road toward town.

The servants all standing by the door went out of view once we had gone a little way down the gently sloping hill.

“So we’re going to walk like this today?” I asked Mr. Fisalis as I stared at our entwined hands.

“Of course we are. Oh, that reminds me. Since we don’t know who we may run into here, make sure you don’t get separated from me.”

“Really? But this is so embarrassing.”

“It is? Huh, I’m not embarrassed at all,” he quipped back.

Why, you... Did you leave your sense of shame back in the capital?