WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 75: To the Princess, To the Knight. (2)
──────
Late in the predawn hours.
Carmilla stormed into my bedroom.
“Viktor.”
Had she just taken a bath?
The girl stood there in nothing but a wet shirt.
Water dripped from the ends of her silver hair.
“...Princess?”
I immediately realized something was wrong with her.
This was Carmilla, who was usually embarrassed to show even her forearms.
Yet there she was, dressed so boldly.
Something had clearly gone terribly wrong.
Sliiide, clench!
“Gah...!”
Sure enough.
The moment our eyes met, the princess used Bloodcraft.
Red ropes bound my limbs, leaving me unable to move.
I ended up pinned to the bed.
“Stay still.”
A cold warning.
Carmilla slowly approached, then sat over me as though straddling me.
Her shirt was thin, and wet besides. The sensation against me was somewhat improper.
The girl lowered her head as if she didn't care.
The unbuttoned shirt hung loose.
Beyond that flimsy fabric, pale skin and soft curves flickered into view.
“...”
As Carmilla's face drew closer, her distinctive, heady scent hit me.
Beneath her pale neck, curves that shouldn't have been visible were exposed.
Naked... no, half-naked would be more accurate.
At least the very tips were still hidden by the cloth.
“Princess, why all of a sudden...?”
“I said stay still.”
Her hair spilled down.
Our bodies pressed together, their warmth slowly mingling.
I didn't resist, just as the princess had ordered.
I only looked up at her in silence.
Soft, lukewarm, and indecently intimate.
Even so, no lewd thoughts came to mind.
“Sniff...”
Because she was crying.
“Hhk, sniff...”
Watery trails ran down her snow-white cheeks.
Drip, drip. The princess was shedding tears.
A falling drop landed on my cheek too.
For some reason, the girl looked like she might shatter at any moment.
“...”
I held my breath.
I let the dark red ropes press against my arms and legs.
“Ugh, sniff...”
Her pupils looked as though they had been battered by waves, on the verge of shipwreck.
Those red eyes looked down at me.
Complicated emotions rippled across them like light on water.
I waited.
Until Carmilla swallowed her sobs and parted her tightly bitten lips.
“...”
I didn't rush her or ask any questions.
I simply waited, as if telling her to speak.
The girl's fist clenched.
Without thinking, the ropes tightened until my body ached.
“...Viktor.”
A snow-white hand settled over my neck.
“You too...”
A long silence.
At the end of her fading sobs came one fragile question.
“Will you leave me too...?”
“...”
Her posture looked as though she were strangling me.
Perhaps she couldn't bring herself to use any strength, because she only held the pose awkwardly.
Even with those slender fingers wrapped around my neck, I didn't resist.
I lay there quietly, as though I had no intention of pushing her away.
“Answer me.”
At my silence, the girl's brows drew together.
Her eyes brimmed with more tears, more desperation.
But no matter how I looked at her, that expression was closer to pleading than anger.
I stayed silent.
‘...She noticed.’
The words rolled around in my mouth.
They were about the first lie I had told her.
-My name is Viktor.
-By order of the late king, I am the knight assigned to protect the princess.
When had she noticed?
Where had I slipped up?
Had my act not been perfect?
‘No...’
This was bound to happen someday.
She was innocent, but she wasn't foolish.
It had only happened earlier than I expected.
“...”
“...”
Silence settled between us for a brief moment.
Carmilla had noticed my lie.
And I had noticed that Carmilla had noticed.
We both knew, yet neither of us spoke of it directly.
“Didn't I ask you something?”
“...”
“Answer me.”
“...”
Carmilla didn't point it out either.
She only asked whether I would leave her, never questioning me about the lie.
Maybe she thought that if she called out that lie, everything between us would fall apart.
The girl's shoulders trembled.
Tears fell like raindrops.
Carmilla spoke as though trying to maintain her dignity.
“Do you too... intend to betray me?”
Her tone was sharp, but it quickly dissolved into tears.
Even the Bloodcraft binding my hands and feet had loosened.
Regardless, her red eyes remained fixed on my clown mask.
“Were all the things you said to me, all the time you spent with me... lies? Will you laugh at me and leave?”
“...”
“I told you to answer me.”
“...”
Jersian.
The betrayal of the retainer she had trusted and relied on for half her life.
‘No... Calling it betrayal is strange too.’
That man had never once been on her side.
Carmilla had been thoroughly deceived from the very beginning.
I couldn't even begin to imagine it.
What she had thought, or what she had felt.
“...”
“Please, answer me...”
Carmilla.
The girl's face was a complete mess from crying.
Her shirt hung over her like a shattered eggshell. Beyond it, her pale skin and wandering eyes looked as though they could be torn apart by the faintest breeze.
A thin sheen of tears.
Those trembling red eyes looked down at me.
They were pleading with me.
“Princess.”
I slowly reached out.
By then, the ropes that had bound my limbs hung limp and powerless.
Rustle.
I gathered her silver hair, which had fallen loose in disarray.
Then I placed my palm against her white cheek.
Her small face fit entirely in my hand.
“...”
“...”
For a moment, the world seemed to slow to a stop.
My fingertips were soaked in lukewarm warmth.
Her body was cool, but the tears flowing down her face were hot.
‘Even a vampire's tears are warm.’
With that pointless thought, I wiped away the moisture.
Carefully,
gently,
tenderly,
I tidied up the girl's disheveled appearance.
Then, in a calm voice, I gave her my answer.
“Didn't I tell you?”
“...”
“That I would always remain by your side?”
“Liar...”
“I meant it.”
“You liar.”
“Princess.”
“Bad retainer.”
“I won't leave you.”
“Bad retainer, sniff... Bad, hhk...”
“I, at least, will never betray you.”
Princess.
Princess.
My pitiful princess.
“Because I am your retainer.”
“Ugh, sniff...”
I hoped I could give you a happy ending.
Setting aside that shallow prayer, I wrapped my arms around her waist.
Flump.
The girl collapsed limply into my embrace.
Carmilla didn't resist.
She only buried her face in my chest and sobbed.
Each time I patted her pitiful back, I felt her breathing tremble faintly.
“I still belong to you, Princess.”
An answer delivered one sincere word at a time.
Had my voice comforted you?
Even as she sobbed, Carmilla clutched my sleeve tightly.
“Viktor...”
“Yes.”
“Viktor, Viktor...”
“Yes, Princess. I'm here.”
“Viktor, at least, don't abandon me.”
“I won't.”
“Don't leave me behind in this deep mire.”
“Mire or bottomless abyss, I'll walk wherever you go, Princess.”
“If you must betray me... then poison me instead.”
“...”
“Don't make me suffer like this again.”
“Then I suppose you'll live a long time, Princess.”
If I was going to betray her, she wanted me to kill her instead.
How much had she thought about this alone?
How much had it eaten away at her?
‘Carmilla Blandir.’
A loner.
The last princess of the Blandir dynasty.
I held the sniffling child close.
I patted her delicate back.
“I won't leave until you personally order me to.”
“Just stay. Even if I order you to leave, ugh... don't leave...”
“Understood. I'll stick by you until the end.”
“Bad retainer, sniff... Making me worry...”
“...”
The tears continued.
Until she finally fell asleep from exhaustion, I held her the whole time.
It was a night that weighed heavily on one corner of my heart in more ways than one.
* * *
Morning arrived after that somewhat chaotic predawn ordeal.
Carmilla woke to sunlight tickling her eyes.
She was still dressed in nothing but that shirt, almost naked.
Worse, she was lying with her head on my arm instead of a pillow.
“...”
Still not fully aware of the situation, the girl blinked sleepily.
Lying beside her, I gave her a light greeting.
We were close enough for our breaths to mingle.
My clown mask reflected in her hazy red eyes.
“Princess.”
“...?”
“Are you awake?”
“...Mweh?”
A brief silence.
Carmilla slowly took in her appearance.
A few seconds later, heat rushed into her pale face.
“V-V-V-Viktor...?!”
Her reaction was deeply satisfying.
Even though I had woken early, I hadn't gotten up first.
I didn't want to wake Carmilla while she slept on my arm.
After what had happened at dawn, I also thought it might be best to stay where she could see me for the day.
“Sniff... No matter what, to pounce on your retainer like that.”
“W-What are you talking about?! P-P-Pounce...!”
“Are you pretending you don't know now?”
“I-I had no such intention at all...!”
Carmilla covered herself with the blanket.
When I pretended to cry, the girl's panic deepened.
After making me suffer like that yesterday, I was legally allowed to tease her a little.
“Now you're playing dumb too? You won't even take responsibility, sniff...”
“Nothing happened! Although I was dressed in a v-very embarrassing way...!”
“So you are aware of it.”
“I wasn't in my right mind yesterday!”
“There it is! The classic line from a bad man's one-night stand!”
“I don't know what a one-night stand is, but it wasn't like that...!”
Her face was heated to the point of bursting.
Thanks to that, the awkwardness that might have lingered after last night seemed to wash away.
Right. Things like this were supposed to be laughed off.
If you didn't take them lightly, they would become a weight in your daily life for a long time.
“It was only a joke.”
“B-Be quiet...! There is no retainer more disloyal than you!”
“But yesterday, the princess was certainly quite bold...”
“Sh-Shameless! Stop talking about yesterday...!”
“So you do know it was shameless.”
“Ugh, urghhh...”
Her face was burning hot.
Her eyes wandered with nowhere to go.
Just the cute reaction I had expected.
“Ahem.”
Of course, she looked like she would sulk if I teased her any more, so I decided to let it go there.
I reached toward Carmilla, buried in the blankets.
Wriggler was wrapped around my wrist like a bracelet.
I sent a signal to the squirming little thing.
“Start. Coat.”
Flap.
Wriggler spread wide and transformed into a coat.
I draped it over the girl's shoulders.
“Use this to cover yourself.”
“Ugh...”
“You need to cherish your body. You shouldn't casually show it to strange men.”
“I know that! You're the f-first person to see me like this...!”
“Even I am not allowed from now on. Understood?”
“O-Okay...”
Her lips moved hesitantly.
She answered while clutching the edge of the coat tightly.
“...Thank you.”
“Don't mention it.”
After that, the mood settled down.
Carmilla scurried out of the room and got dressed elsewhere.
Then, for some reason, she came back into my room and lay down beside me again...
“Oh? You're back?”
“I'll stay beside you.”
“Why?”
“Because that disloyal retainer might run away.”
Unlike her usual obedient self, she spoke in an uncharacteristically prickly tone.
Her slender fingers were clenched tightly around my clothes.
At first, I thought she was just being a little sulky, but I saw her eyes trembling ever so slightly.
-Will you leave me too...?
Was she still anxious?
Though she pretended to be fine, those wavering red eyes were quite pitiful.
I had no choice but to let her do as she wished.
“...”
“...”
We lay in bed all morning.
It was the weekend, so there was no reason to go out.
We spent the time side by side without doing anything in particular.
Maybe because we had just dealt with one major event, this boring everyday life felt precious.
‘Lunar Eclipse, the New Kingdom... How nice would it be if things could just stay peaceful like this?’
The hands of the clock had already reached noon.
I thought it was about time to get up.
I planned to go outside the academy that afternoon.
Just as I raised my head, Carmilla's fingers poked at my cheek.
More precisely, the cheek of my mask.
“Viktor.”
“Did you call for me?”
“Well... I was just thinking that I don't believe you've ever shown me what you look like without the mask.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
“It is.”
That made even me pause for a moment.
We had already lived together for over two months, yet I had never shown her my face even once.
I wasn't particularly fond of my bare face, but it wasn't as though I could never show it to anyone.
‘What is this...?’
Maybe it was a habit I had formed early on.
My body was so fragile that after I got the mask, I wore it all the time.
‘...Or maybe I subconsciously didn't want to show it to her.’
Anyway.
Now that she had pointed it out, there was no reason not to take it off.
And if it was Carmilla, I didn't think she would be particularly surprised by it.
“Would you like to see?”
I asked lightly.
At that, Carmilla's eyes shone with surprise.
“I-Is that all right?”
“Why wouldn't it be?”
“I thought you wore it because you had some personal reason...”
“It's not like that, so it's fine.”
I tilted my head toward Carmilla, meaning for her to take it off herself.
The girl hesitated for a moment before reaching out.
Tap. Her slender fingers touched the clown mask.
“Then, I'll take it off...”
The girl slowly removed the mask.
My bare face was fully revealed.
Then, the next moment.
“...Huh?”
Carmilla's eyes met mine.
After seeing my face, the girl's eyes trembled in surprise.
Footnotes:
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