My Desertion Would Be Faster Than Heros' Obsession-Chapter 2Vol .

After the awkward meal, we began preparing for bed.

"Oh, right. I need to write a letter to Ishina."

Come to think of it, Ishina had asked me to write to him right after I got discharged and let him know where I was. Since I hadn’t decided where to settle yet, I could just head to the capital tomorrow and send it out.

‘And I need to contact Winter too.’

Winter had given me the key to his house's bank vault, a truly grand gesture from him. I definitely needed to meet him and handle this key, but... when would that be?

‘Oh, I have Winter’s address!’

Once I find a place to live tomorrow, I can send him a letter to that address!

As I felt satisfied organizing all the places I needed to send letters to, Aquila leaned toward me and tilted his head.

"Salvia, should we sleep now?"

"Ah, oh! I guess I'm getting sleepy."

His words made me realize how tired I was, and I yawned lazily.

"Yeah, your eyes were half-closed earlier, and your fingers were moving slower too."

As expected, Aquila knew me better than I knew myself.

"Shall we sleep?"

"Yeah, sure."

I answered casually without thinking, but then I suddenly realized something, and I raised my voice.

"Wait! When you say 'sleep,' you're talking about a family-friendly version, right? Because my life is still PG-rated!"

"...What does that even mean?"

"Well, it's kind of... um, never mind, you get what I mean, right?"

I definitely didn’t want my life to shift from PG to R-rated all of a sudden. Especially since I still hadn’t gotten used to the romance genre.

As I kept glaring at him, not letting go of my tension, Aquila, with his usual calm demeanor, stretched out his arm, turned off the room light, and spoke.

"Got it."

The room immediately darkened.

"If you don't like it, we won't."

"...Well, it's not that I don't like it, it's just that I'm not fully prepared, I guess..."

"I know you don’t mind. Do you think I don’t know you?"

"...Hey! Saying it like that makes me sound weird!"

I almost grabbed Aquila by the collar, but I quickly withdrew my hand that had reached out into the air.

Now that I thought about it, grabbing someone by the collar in bed was not a good idea. Phew, that was almost a cliché!

After shifting a little to get comfortable and preparing for sleep, Aquila called my name again.

"Salvia."

"Yeah?"

"I bet you'll be ready in three months."

"......"

I couldn't help but feel that his words might be true, so I kept quiet. The guy knew me too well.

***

The next morning, we decided to go shopping for clothes. Sleeping in military uniforms was incredibly uncomfortable.

When we walked into the shop still in our uniforms, the shopkeeper looked shocked but quickly turned away from us.

"Salvia, do you want anything?"

"Anything? ...Oh, yes."

Since coming to this world, the only clothes I had worn were those boring military uniforms.

It was quite unfair that after reincarnating into a romance fantasy world, all I wore was a military uniform.

I liked pretty things. Dresses especially!

Even though I couldn’t afford a dress for attending a noble party, I was planning on getting a dress that was comfortable enough for movement.

"What color should I get?"

"Salvia, you...?"

Aquila looked at the dresses with shorter hems, carefully considering them before pulling one out.

"I think white would suit you well."

A white dress was draped below my face, and for a moment, Aquila seemed to hold his breath.

"Why?"

"...It's just that I haven't seen you wear white clothes until now."

...Why is he speaking more like a romance novel male lead?

It must be the Border Defense Army’s fault. I was sure that everything holding back his male lead potential was their doing.

As Aquila said, the white dress really did make my face shine, probably because of my hair color. I now realized that dark blue clothes never suited me.

"Salvia, you're beautiful."

This was when Aquila said that while holding up a pink dress to me.

Though I got more than I needed, I ended up buying a few dresses in white and pink that were comfortable for movement.

Next up was choosing clothes for Aquila.

"I don't think black would be the right choice."

After I held up a black outfit under his face, I quickly snatched it back.

Of course, he still looked handsome in black, but his sharp eyes made it seem a little... intense.

"This looks a bit scary."

I felt like he would be a pretty terrifying type of male lead in a romance novel. But Aquila wasn’t like that.

He might look like a scary assassin, but in reality, he was sensitive and often broke mentally... and, well, he couldn’t function without me.

After trying on several clothes, I realized that silver-grey suited him best.

Until now, I hadn’t had the freedom to choose anything other than navy military uniforms, so I hadn’t realized that we each had colors that suited us!

I felt a bit upset that I was only figuring this out now.

As I gazed blankly into the air, I thought:

‘Right, normally, this is the kind of thing we should have been able to do...’

Choosing food, choosing clothes... these simple things. We hadn't been able to enjoy these normal things until now.

"Salvia?"

When Aquila called my name while I was lost in thought, I silently reached out my hand. He, too, silently took my hand without saying anything.

"You know, from now on, these things will feel normal."

"Yeah."

I glanced at the clothes in my hand and thought:

‘The first clothes I’ve bought were ones I picked out with Aquila.’

We were really doing everything for ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) the first time together.

Aquila truly kept his promise to me.

And so, in this moment, I really loved this world.

***

"Aquila, what will you do when we get to the capital? After we buy a house, I mean."

In the rattling carriage, I asked, and Aquila slowly blinked before answering.

"...I like anything as long as it's with you, Salvia."

"Really? I’ve got something in mind."

I don’t think I’ve ever told Aquila this much about my plans.

It was because I made these plans alone during my time in the Snowy Mountain Battalion. This was something I concluded after a lot of thinking. It took me a long time to come up with it.

Plus, this plan was too risky to put into a letter, so I hadn’t told Aquila about it. During the two years we were apart, we must have missed out on a lot about each other. It was time to learn those things again.

In other words, Aquila needed to hear about my revolution plan.

"Aquila, I’m going to change the country."

Despite how surprising my words might sound, Aquila just sat there, calmly looking at me. His composed reaction threw me off a little, but I continued with what I wanted to say.

"Because I found out the truth that the country has been hiding. How they’ve been using us."

"I see."

"Yeah. I want to inform the other Arkon and work together to change the country."

"I see."

"...Why are you so calm?"

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

How can he maintain this level of composure? I stared at him in disbelief, and Aquila nonchalantly replied.

"I can predict how you'll act, and as long as it’s something you’re doing, I’m fine with it."

"Me too..."

We slipped back into a soft atmosphere... wait a minute. This wasn’t the time for that.

"I think I might have to meet the emperor directly."

"Yeah, I’ll be with you."

"And to achieve that, I’m planning to join the special forces for dark magic search."

"...What?"

Aquila finally reacted, startled by my words. He looked at me, as if trying to figure out if I was serious.

Of course, I could guess why Aquila reacted this way.

"Yeah, and April will probably be there too."

"Ah, I see."

"You said you’d like anything I do, right?"

"Yeah, anything’s fine."

But Aquila’s voice was definitely trembling more than before.

It was so funny that I laughed lightly. Normally, I’d have teased him about his male lead potential, but...

‘I already confirmed his male lead status with my own eyes...’

So I decided not to mess with him anymore.

***

As the carriage neared the capital, the landscape outside began to change.

People were bustling in the streets, imperial officials heading toward the imperial palace, and large, extravagant buildings were being constructed all over the city.

It was a far cry from the rural villages we had passed through. A city packed with people, a bustling shopping district.

It was the perfect view for a grand empire like Adolph’s.

I was so amazed that I gaped, staring at the scene outside.

‘Yeah, this is what a romance fantasy looks like...’

The empire in a romance fantasy world is supposed to look like this! Not the military scenes in the mountains!

While I was deeply moved, observing the unfamiliar city, Aquila seemed unfazed as usual. Though his expression was always hard to read, this time it looked like he was genuinely indifferent.

"Aren’t you amazed?"

I asked him, and he answered in a tone that suggested it wasn’t a big deal.

"I lived in the capital when I was a child."

"Ah, I see."

Now that I think about it, he had mentioned that he learned to read and write from his parents. His hometown must have been the capital.

...I didn’t ask about his parents' past. I already had a general idea of it from the original novel.

Just then, the coachman’s shout signaled that we had arrived at Biotun, and the carriage came to a stop. To break the awkwardness, I quickly got off the carriage.

"Let’s go, Aquila!"

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I called out to him with my hand outstretched, like a knight, and for the first time, Aquila smiled widely at me.

"...Alright."