PMZ 032 – Exchange

“You know… Alice said she’s going to be a commoner.”
After some time, I was called by the Duke again, and I was told such a story in his office.
“Become a commoner? Isn’t it impossible?”
“I think so too.”
The Duke leaned back in his chair with a chuckle.
“Actually, I was about to tell her that she can take a vacation in our villa since she doesn’t have to get married anymore, but I’m afraid that she will think that was too lenient, so… I plan to scare her with something harsh first then offer her that option, I never guess that she will offer herself to become a commoner.
Naturally, I wouldn’t let her do such a dangerous thing, but if you could stick to her for the time being, it’s another story.”
My heartbeat rises as I realize what the Duke is about to say.
But no, there’s no way such convenient reality exists.
“Alice is going to live in the city to do some ‘social studies’ for a while, and I’d like to assign you as her chaperone.”
“I’ll do it.”
The Duke laughed out loud when I replied immediately in front of him.
“I was hoping you would say that. I’m glad to hear it; I will pay you at your asking price.”
“Thank you. But I don’t need any reward. I owe you all a debt of gratitude.”
“That won’t do. I want you to do this seriously, so you will get paid.
And you need to guard her until your sister’s wedding, or until she says she wants to go home.
I’m sure she’ll say she wants to go home soon, but I think the longest would be around a year.
And if after a year she still won’t come home, I will personally persuade her to…, but I guess it’s hard to guard her all year long?
I’m sure I’ll be able to find one more person in addition to you to take shift guarding her.”
“Unnecessary.”
‘All year long’ at that word, my heart began to trembles with the good fortune that I’ve been hoping for.
“You serious?”
“Yes, I can assure her safety even when I’m asleep. If anyone approaches us with malicious intent, I will react immediately. There’s no problem.”
“I see. Well, I’ll let you know when we have the date and place ready.”
“I understand.”
“I don’t mind if you take Alice as your wife, you know?”
That joke again. I don’t like that kind of teasing, so I looked at the Duke’s face and fully intended to tell him to stop.
But I was shocked.
His eyes are sharp, and his mouth is in the form of a smile, but he’s not actually smiling at all.
—It was not a joke?
“…are you serious?”
“I’m not much of a joker.”
“oh, is that so…”
So this is the real face of world-renowned Duke. Usually, he gives off an air of kind and meek person, but it all changes when he became serious.
“It still depends on her feelings.”
“There’s that too.”
With a huff, the Duke crossed his palms, softening his eyes.
That’s the end of this conversation.
Then 100 gold coins came out as an advance payment for this job—a tremendous amount of money.
More will be given if I passed the two months mark.
When I told him it was too much, he handed it to me in a pushy way, saying, “I want you to let her do what she wants to do.”
I reluctantly accepted it, and before leaving, I went to see my sister and her husband (to-be), and these two also made the same request as the Duke.
“Alice says she will live in the city; I want you to protect her… and of course, it won’t be free.
Right now, I’m making a new magic powered carriage. I will give it to you when it is finished.”
Then he shows me what looks like a blueprint.
…interesting. I want it, but I already received the rewards from the Duke. … though even without rewards, this is the kind of job that I would take voluntarily.
“The Duke has already given the payment to me, so you don’t need to. Besides, I’m planning to escort her even without any rewards.
Since this is a new magic tool, I think it’s best for the Duke’s family to use it first.
I’ll buy this one myself when it’s on sale.”
“Is that so…? But the one in the market will be different than this one, as I need to add some ideas and improvement; also there would be a different model to choose from.
Alice has come up with this idea, and I’m going to name this one [Alice].”
“I’ll buy it now.”
I gave him all the gold coins given to me by the Duke on the spot and gave him another 100 extra.
My sister burst out laughing, but I think this is as cheap as it gets.
“Lav, you need to mind your etiquette. Lady Alice won’t laugh like that, wouldn’t she?”
“ahaha… Uhm, honored brother? You’ve changed. You almost like a different person.”
“I don’t think that’s true.”
I think it’s much weirder for Lav to call me like with that much honorific.
But I don’t dare to say anything about it because it would be a necessary change for herself.

About a month later, I really started living with the young lady.
Perhaps because I couldn’t gauge the distance between us, I almost about to ask her to marry me on the spot when she called me “Hayato-san,” but I decided to stop. The remaining sanity in me told me that it was too soon no matter how you twist it.
I’m not going to end up like my sister and her husband. No, if I’m not, I’ll be faster than them. I will break their record.
For the apparent reason, that doesn’t seem like a good idea.
Young Lady — Alice, surprisingly, leads a very frugal life; she does all the things herself, she also cooks and cleans.
Of course, I’m doing the same thing, but then I noticed that she was making tea for me, and she didn’t do look reluctant at all, even though she now living without her servants, all I can think is…. Are you really a former noble? There are moments when I think, “I don’t know anymore,” but her gestures and words are (mostly) polite and beautiful, and when she goes out on the street, it’s clear that her presence is stood out.
Her hair, her skin, all of her being looks radiant. In those moments, you can’t help but notice that she’s someone who comes from a noble’s society.
She’s cute and fun to talk to, and I really like her.
I’m getting more and more in love with her every day.
But whenever we go out in the street, and I saw her radiance, I think it would be better to send her back to the noble’s society.
People had their place to belong to, and this is not the place for her.
No matter how much you are interested in adventurers and I can see your qualities to become a good one, it’s all will end in about one year. Because of that, I’d like to let her do everything she wants to do in this one year.
With that in mind, I took her on a monster hunt.
A lot was going on, but while I felt a little better after beating up her ex-fiancée or something, after that, I noticed that Alice’s clothes got dirty, and I suggested that she change her clothes.
Only Then I noticed it seemed like she only had clothes of good quality clothes that you wouldn’t see in a city street.
I thought that I could at least put a robe on top of it so it wouldn’t get dirty; that was all I want. But I don’t know anything about girls’ clothes, so I left her to sis Carlos and opened a book in the backyard at random.
About the book… there’s something is strange about its content.
Why does a man’s heart flutter when he saw another man? Why do you hug each other and taking your clothes off?
It took me quite a while before I realized that the book is sis Carlos’s hobby. By that time, the image was already engraved in my head.
This was the downside of speed reading. After holding my head for a while, I took another book, trying to forget the former ……they were all such books.
Sis… please don’t show this kind of book to other people…
I was just about to open the door to complain when I heard a voice calling me.
In an instant, the engraving in my head was blown away.
Alice’s outfit is something outrageous.
A girl who has never shown her legs before is revealing more than just her legs.
“No, sis, you can’t do this. This is fine if we’re at home, but it’s no good to wear this outside.”
Saying that I bought it along with the robe because it was too good to dismiss it.
—What am I doing?
I return home in self-loathing and take a shower.
I have to send Alice back to the noble’s society someday.
If I let her wear an outfit like that, she won’t be able to go back.
When I left the bathroom, I found that Alice had already changed her clothes. It’s a familiar female swordsman’s outfit to what Lav used to wear.
But why does she not button it completely?
And how can I feel lust when the outfit is the same as what my sister used to wear!
I felt regretful about what came back to bite me after paying too much attention, so I tried to calm my head while looking down.
I think it means a lot to a girl to change what she wears to something different.
And this time, unlike in the store, Alice chose to wear it herself.
It’s a standard cloth that can’t be described as high quality compared to what I’ve seen so far, and a swordsman’s outfit that a normal girl wouldn’t choose, because for them “the prettier, the better”.
I’m sure that’s because I said, “You should learn how to use a sword too.” What I meant was: it should be enough to be able to use it to protect herself in case of an emergency, but apparently, Alice didn’t think so.
How serious are you? Are you seriously trying to live as a commoner? If Alice herself has decided to, should I keep restrain myself?
From that day on, her card, made of her ginkgo tree wood, was placed in my pocket.