Thus, only Ariella and Nobert remained in the spacious reception room.
“…You have great trust in your escort knight.”
Ariella realized that Nobert had been watching her all along when a low voice echoed in her ears.
She had been so preoccupied with the image of David punching Adam repeatedly that she had momentarily forgotten his presence.
She felt embarrassed for showing personal matters, but she thought it would be alright if it was Nobert. She smiled awkwardly and nodded.
“It’s because Sir Adam is a good person. I was lucky.”
“I wonder. Finding someone truly worth following is more difficult than you think. Most knights end their lives without ever finding a lord to whom they can devote their hearts. In that sense, it seems that you are not the only one who is lucky.”
Nobert slowly stood up and moved towards Ariella.
“I’m glad. That there is someone by your side who will do his best to protect you.”
He sat on the edge of the sofa where Adam had been sitting just a moment ago and smiled slightly, curving the corners of his lips.
Seeing him say that he was glad, Ariella suddenly had a question.
‘Is he… not jealous?’
Now that she thought about it, it probably didn’t look good to treat Adam in front of him, who had said he loved her.
If it were another man, it wouldn’t be strange for him to be furious, asking how she could touch another man’s face.
But Nobert’s face in her view was no different from usual. Rather, he even had a smile on his face as if he was relieved.
Well, Nobert doesn’t seem like the type to be jealous over something like this.
Ariella thought so, but she felt a subtle sense of disappointment.
“By the way, Ariella.”
Then, Nobert suddenly reached out his hand towards her.
“Here. I’m hurt too.”
Surprised, she looked and saw a palm with a piece of flesh torn off and blood dripping down.
“Oh my! How long has it been like this?!”
“I think I got hurt when I hit that guy earlier.”
It was strange that blood was still flowing so much, considering that. It looked like a fresh wound, but Ariella was too surprised to notice this.
“You should have said something sooner! Why were you just standing there until now…! Just a moment, I’ll call the physician again!”
As she hurriedly stood up, Nobert strongly pulled on her sleeve.
“No, you do it.”
“…Pardon?”
“I also prefer to avoid unnecessary contact. I want to be treated by you.”
Wouldn’t you?
Ariella froze as he whispered in a low voice.
Only after the situation had progressed this far did she notice the differences she had never seen before.
Eyebrows that were more distorted than usual, a body that was tense as if suppressing rising emotions, and a voice that had become subtly rough…
This was jealousy.
Nobert was jealous of Adam.
“Pfft!”
She burst out laughing without realizing it. Ariella quickly raised her hand to cover her mouth, but she couldn’t stop the laughter that continued to flow out.
Nobert’s thick eyebrows slanted as she suddenly laughed.
“I’m sorry. I just… I just had a funny thought.”
“…It’s alright. I like seeing you laugh, even if I don’t know why.”
The laughter disappeared at the answer given in a nonchalant voice. Instead, her face flushed.
Ahem, ahem. Ariella cleared her throat awkwardly and sat back down.
“Give me your hand. I’ll treat it for you.”
She quickly grabbed a new gauze handkerchief and soaked it in clean water to hide her embarrassment.
It would be much better to be treated by a physician than by her, but judging from his attitude, he didn’t seem like he would ever change his mind.
Ariella wiped away the blood flowing from his palm and carefully disinfected the wound with alcohol.
Until then, she wasn’t very nervous. She was just thinking about what Nobert had said earlier, and she thought it was cute that he was jealous.
However, the moment the finger with the sticky ointment touched his palm, she realized that the atmosphere flowing between her and Nobert had changed.
Was this ointment this sticky before? Was the feeling of skin touching this embarrassing when applying the medicine…?
Things that didn’t bother me when treating Adam’s face were strangely nerve-wracking.
Nobert’s hands were very large. Calluses were embedded in various places on his palms, giving them a somewhat rough and rugged feel, while his fingers were long and beautiful to look at.
