Massage

Kaisel didn't like this mysterious incident at all.

Even if the ending was good, it didn't change the fact that someone without any authority had been running the knight order as they pleased.

He wanted to let his subordinates handle it themselves, but this time that was difficult.

“Chief Chamberlain. Why was this report brought before me?”

Normally, a report like this would almost never be sent straight to the emperor's office.

Noble young ladies had gone missing and then been rescued.

It was certainly not something to dismiss lightly, but handling it was the knight order's and public security office's job.

They would confirm the victims' identities, hand them back to their families, and punish the criminals.

Once all of that had been sorted out, only a final report would have been placed on the emperor's desk.

Yet the chief chamberlain had submitted a mysterious report that still hadn't been resolved.

It couldn't have been just to play Twenty Questions with the emperor.

In other words, there had to be a reason for it.

“So you already have a suspect.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Aurora?”

“I wouldn't dare say for certain, but that is what I suspect.”

Kaisel sighed, thinking, As expected.

The spark that ignited this incident was Aurora's novel.

The noble young ladies who, after reading the novel and being moved by it, sneaked out without permission and were caught.

The unidentified rescuer who saved them.

The imperial crest that led the patrol.

Because Aurora would have done the same.

A person the young ladies would willingly help keep hidden.

The circumstances surrounding the incident were too blatantly pointing in one direction.

It was the First Princess, Aurora.

“Is there any basis for that?”

“There is no solid proof.”

“Then it's only circumstantial evidence.”

“Regrettably, yes.”

The chief chamberlain answered with his head bowed.

Even the chamberlain knew how dangerous it was to dare suspect a princess.

So he had brought it here without making the judgment himself.

Because investigating the princess's movements required the emperor's permission.

“So you're saying Aurora went out in secret without telling me. Is that right?”

“Based on the circumstances, it is hard to rule out that possibility.”

“That child?”

Kaisel's eyes narrowed.

If it were only that the princess had gone outside the imperial palace, it wouldn't be something to reprimand her harshly for.

Since it had long been common for royalty to conceal their identities and personally gauge the empire's public sentiment.

In fact, in some cases, it was even encouraged.

Kaisel himself had often done so as crown prince.

He'd once slipped out of the imperial palace, evaded the guard knights, and roamed the capital's back alleys with only Aslan.

He'd been caught by the former empress and lectured for days more than once or twice.

So he had no intention of making the secret outing itself the issue.

The problem was.

'She went out in secret and didn't say a single word to me? Our Aurora?'

If he asked as emperor, it was an unauthorized outing.

If he asked as a father, it was disappointment and worry.

Unlike Aither and the other children, Aurora had absolutely no talent for martial arts.

She couldn't wield a sword.

She couldn't use magic either.

She was more the kind of child who belonged at a desk writing—though she couldn't even do that—or drinking tea with the empress and chatting about this and that.

That Aurora had gone alone into a criminal organization's hideout and subdued dozens of its members?

Ridiculous.

Utterly dangerous.

She might sometimes get lost in a novel, but not to that extent.

That meant she'd gone with someone who could keep her safe.

“But if she'd taken a guard knight with her, a report would have been filed.”

If the princess's escort had moved, especially outside the imperial palace, there was no way no one would have noticed.

They were the emperor's knights before they were Aurora's escort.

Someone who wasn't the emperor's knight.

Someone who wasn't even a servant of the imperial household.

Someone who stayed by Aurora's side, possessed overwhelming strength, and obeyed his mistress's orders before the emperor's command.

There was only one.

“Again. That slave again.”

Leon.

That was the name that came to the emperor's mind.

He had forbidden her from writing until things calmed down, and the two of them had secretly slipped out of the imperial palace to handle the matter.

“The mistress went into a criminal syndicate's den without saying a word to her father, and the slave not only failed to stop her but joined in and smashed it to pieces before coming back. What a remarkable master-slave pair.”

“…….”

“At least they're safe.”

More than the emperor's coldness, those words were soaked with a father's sincerity.

Kaisel closed his eyes for a long while, then opened them.

“Where is Aurora now?”

“She has been confirmed to be in the Princess's Palace. However, she said she wasn't feeling well this morning and is resting in her room.”

“Of course. There's no way she'd be fine.”

She's a child who has lived without exercise.

There probably weren't many noble ladies who liked exercise in the first place, but Aurora was especially distant from anything involving physical exertion.

A child like that had spent the whole day running around the capital and even gone into a criminal hideout; no wonder her body wasn't all right.

In the end, Kaisel set the report down and stood.

“I'll go to the Princess's Palace.”

“In person, Your Majesty?”

“You said she isn't feeling well, didn't you? As her father, I can't call a sick child over here like this.”

It would be more reassuring to see whether Aurora was all right.

More than anything else.

He also needed to see the face of that slave who had dared lure his obedient daughter into a criminal den.

***

“Ughhh…….”

Princess's Palace.

More precisely, Aurora's bedroom.

Aurora, who had slipped out in secret, had returned to her room the night before.

When she opened her eyes, apparently having dozed off in Leon's arms, the familiar ceiling was overhead. It was already morning, but since she'd come back safely, wasn't that enough?

No, calling it a safe return was a stretch; she felt awful.

“It hurts…….”

Aurora, sprawled on the bed, muttered weakly.

“My legs don't feel like my legs anymore…….”

Leon, who had been leaning against the window, turned to look at Aurora.

Aurora was stretched out on the bed in her nightclothes.

A princess in nightclothes in front of a slave, no less.

She should have been embarrassed, but she was the kind of person who knew no shame at all.

'Come to think of it, if she had any shame at all, she wouldn't have claimed the slave's writing as her own.'

He kept that thought to himself, fearing the fallout.

“That's only natural, after running around like that yesterday. You didn't do any exercise at all.”

“Why do you have to talk about my misery so coldly?”

“This isn't misery. It's muscle soreness.”

“If it's a princess's muscle soreness, then it's misery.”

Aurora tried to shift position, but then grimaced hard.

Even the slightest movement made both her calves and thighs scream.

The muscles she'd never once used in her life had started demanding attention in a single day.

“Leon.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think I can walk again?”

“You can, right now.”

“Really?”

“If you're willing to bear the pain.”

“Nooo…….”

Aurora buried her face in the pillow again.

After lying still like that for quite some time, she quietly lifted only her head.

The look she gave Leon, who was standing neatly beside the bed, was strangely earnest.

“Leon.”

“No.”

“I haven't even said anything yet.”

“It's all written on your face.”

“Then that's even easier. You understand without me having to say it.”

Aurora carefully stretched out her leg.

“Massage me.”

Leon remained silent for a moment.

“Me?”

“Who else is there besides you?”

“You can call a maid.”

“If a maid comes, she'll ask where I went yesterday. She'll ask why my legs are like this. Then things will turn into a bigger issue, won't they?”

“That's true, but…….”

Leon looked at Aurora's leg with a reluctant expression.

Aurora seized the moment and put on a more pitiful face.

“I really worked hard yesterday.”

“…….”

“I even saved people.”

“…….”

“I was scared, but I held out.”

“…….”

“I was an excellent princess, wasn't I?”

Leon let out a short sigh.

“Even so, are you really asking a slave—and a man, no less—to massage your leg?”

“Massage is something normal, isn't it? If not that, Leon, are you maybe seeing me as a woman? I'm your friend's older sister, remember?”

Aurora's eyes curved mischievously, as if she'd caught a fun new angle.

“That's not the issue. There's no room for leniency here. If even one thing goes wrong, I'll lose my head.”

“Aw, don't be such a drama queen. What could go wrong? It's just you and me here. No one can come in without my permission.”

“Hmm…….”

“Leon, you're less manly than you look. Want me to teach you, big sis?”

Leon stared straight at Aurora.

It was a blatant provocation.

The moment he reacted to those words, he lost.

But backing down here would be a problem in its own way.

Aurora would absolutely keep bringing this up. It was obvious she'd tease him about it for ages.

“Don't say anything different later.”

“What different thing?”

“Like claiming a slave dared touch a princess's leg and then acting like the victim later. I'll get really mad.”

“Come on, I have a conscience too. I absolutely won't do that, so don't worry and just massage me.”

Aurora flicked the tip of her foot.

That meant hurry up.

Leon, whose sighs had grown noticeably more frequent lately, let out yet another one and sat on the edge of the bed.

Aurora lifted the hem of her nightgown slightly. Beneath it, a bare leg was revealed.

A slender ankle.

A calf with a soft curve.

Her skin, pale as though it had never once been properly kissed by sunlight, looked soft enough just to see.

Soft enough to make one wonder if it was even okay to touch.

Leon glanced at Aurora from the corner of his eye.

For some reason, Aurora was looking back at him with a smug, playful smile.

If he hesitated here, it would only make things more awkward.

Deciding that, Leon slid a hand beneath Aurora's ankle.

The touch was almost unnervingly light.

Her ankle was so thin and delicate it looked as if it would break if he used even a little too much force.

Leon deliberately relaxed his strength.

He checked the stiff spots first. His fingertips carefully pressed along the side of her calf.

“Ugh!”

Aurora reacted at once.

“It hurts...!”

“Yes.”

“I said it hurts, you know?”

“I see.”

Ignoring Aurora's complaints, Leon steadfastly pressed into the knotted spots.

“Shouldn't you stop when I say it hurts?”

“Doctors tell you to say when it hurts. They don't ask so they can stop; they ask to find out where it hurts. That's what makes treatment effective.”

“That's even worse! Ugh!”

Aurora shuddered all over.

“You're really knotted up.”

Kneading her leg, Leon continued the massage, controlling his force.

The playful mood from earlier vanished without a trace. Aurora wriggled under the unfamiliar pain.

Each time Leon pressed the inside of her calf with his fingers, her whole body jolted and her toes curled on their own.

But as time passed, the nature of the pain began to change strangely.

The tingling, raging muscles gradually loosened, and the sensation of blood flowing back into her stiff legs spread.

It hurt, but it felt good.

It felt good, but it hurt in a way that was almost unfair.

“Mmm…….”

Aurora kept making pained sounds with her face buried in the pillow.

“How is it?”

“……It feels good.”

Leon's hands were far more skilled than she'd expected.

He knew, in an almost uncanny way, exactly where the knots were and where to press to make the tension ease.

Aurora turned her head slightly.

“Why are you so good at this?”

“I used to do it often.”

“Often?”

“When I was a trainee knight, my body would be a mess after training. We'd loosen each other up then.”

“Oh, with the guys?”

“With a girl.”

“…….”

Aurora's eyes darkened oddly.

She wasn't particularly angry.

There was no reason she should be.

Who Leon had massaged in the past had nothing to do with her.

In any case, by then it was something that happened before they'd even met.

And yet, strangely, she didn't like it.

Not even Leon's skilled touch.

Or that he was massaging her leg with such an indifferent expression.

What Aurora had expected was a scene straight out of a romantic comedy, with Leon flailing around in embarrassment.

But Leon calmly pressing her leg somehow irritated her pride.

'I'm the older sister. I'm a princess.'

Was that why?

Aurora's mischievousness swelled and swelled inside her. She wanted to fluster Leon.

Right as Leon's finger pressed firmly into the inside of her calf.

“Aahn~♥︎”

A sultry moan echoed through the room.

Suddenly.

Leon's hand stopped.

Aurora silently clenched a tiny fist of victory.

Leon, who had remained calm even in front of the leader of that monstrous organization, had frozen at nothing more than a single moan.

That fact made Aurora prouder than anything else in the world.

“What's wrong, Leon? Your hand stopped?”

Aurora lifted her head slightly and looked back. Leon had stepped away from the bed and was standing there like a stone statue.

Even that expressionless face had cracked. His pupils wavered just a little—really just a little.

“Why? Did you suddenly get embarrassed?”

“…….”

“Heh, you can't even meet my eyes now?”

A childish sense of triumph bubbled up warmly in her chest. The corners of her mouth rose before she could stop them.

“But what have you been staring at so intently since earlier? Look over here…….”

Aurora turned her head to follow Leon's gaze.

Toward the direction of the room's door.

For some reason, the door was open.

Someone had come in without even asking permission from Aurora, the owner of the room.

That ill-mannered person was.

“Aurora?”

“……Ah.”

Emperor Kaisel Argenvalt.