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“Are you awake?”

As I woke up in the early morning, close to dawn, the familiar sight greeted my eyes.

Next to me, Selian, who had crawled under the covers, greeted me with a morning salutation.

Even though this bed was vastly larger than my dormitory bed, Selian was still snuggled up close to me.

“…Good morning.”

We always wished each other a good night before parting ways to our rooms, so how on earth did she end up in my blanket?

When I first woke up at Selian’s mansion, I was startled to see those bright blue eyes staring at me, leaping from my bed in shock.

Only after realizing that the owner of those eyes was Selian did I finally manage to sigh in relief and ask how she ended up in my bed.

According to Selian, she had gone to the bathroom in her sleep and somehow wandered into my room.

When I asked why she didn’t just use her personal bathroom, she said she didn’t know.

And it wasn’t just a one-time occurrence; it happened every night after that.

On the second night, I locked my door in hopes to deter her.

However, the next morning, as soon as I opened the door, Selian toppled over from leaning against it, looking up at me with dark circles under her eyes.

It seemed she had again come to my room after going to the bathroom, but since the door was locked, she ended up sleeping in the hallway.

Even if I was her employer, it didn’t seem fitting for the daughter of a marquis to be found sleeping in a corridor, so I left the door open just in case her sleepwalking behavior surfaced again.

After that, she started crawling into my bed every day.

At first, I was surprised, but after a few days of repeating this, I became good at hiding my shock despite feeling my heart race inside.

But now I was starting to wonder if my perceptions were off.

In the past, when Yuli had burrowed into my blanket during tutoring, or now with Selian, I had been oblivious, too busy dreaming away.

I contemplated whether I had become too complacent, but for now, I decided that it was because I trusted both of them.

“You’re up early again today.”

In fact, I had never woken up first. Every morning, when I opened my eyes, Selian was already there, watching over me.

I always told her to just wake me up if I was still sleeping, yet she would simply acknowledge me without actually doing so—just staring at me instead.

There was no way she had been awake for many minutes or hours before me; it could only have been a few minutes at most.

Of course, if it was every day, it would be quite remarkable, but that’s how our biological rhythms worked. Just as I always woke up at this hour, she just happened to rise a bit earlier.

“Hehe, I wasn’t awake for long either.”

I pulled back the covers and got out of bed, heading toward the dress room, with Selian following suit as she rose.

I tossed aside the pajamas I had worn all night and changed into comfortable everyday clothes. Selian also changed out of her slightly embarrassing pajamas into regular clothes.

Why was Selian changing clothes in my room, not hers, you ask?

Well, she had somehow left a few of her outfits in my dress room without me knowing. I think it started right after I gave up on locking the door.

Honestly, I figured it was better than having maids walking around the mansion early in the morning in revealing pajamas, so I just went with it.

After that, Selian and I followed a routine that didn’t differ much from the previous day.

We trained with some sparring, had breakfast, took a brief digestion break, then resumed training.

Naturally, it wasn’t solely about training, so we typically wrapped up our session between 10 and 11 AM and had lunch.

After that, it was all playtime.

We would go shopping in the commercial district, take long walks outside the castle, enjoy some light tea in the garden, or sit at a table in our room and quietly read books.

Except for times when we went to the bathroom or washed up, we were practically attached at the hip.

One thing I learned from spending time with Selian was that she absolutely loved to shower or bathe.

No matter how slowly I took my time, it took me at most 30 minutes, whereas Selian’s minimum was an hour, and at times like last time, even over two hours.

From a woman’s perspective, I must seem odd. Really, I just don’t understand women.

Today, after spending all day laughing and playing with Selian, night had fallen.

Since she would inevitably crawl into my bed tonight anyway and I had already given up on stopping her, I decided to just sleep together as it was our last night.

While Selian washed up in her room, I, having finished my shower, started simply packing my things while waiting for her.

I divided the clothes hanging in the dress room into two bags and gradually filled the third bag with the items I had brought when I first left for the academy.

Of course, I hadn’t brought much stuff from the academy. The bulky items were mostly clothing: uniforms, workout clothes, casual wear, simple t-shirts, and underwear.

“Huh? Did I really only bring six pairs of underwear?”

Of course, it wasn’t a big deal since I’d be washing them regularly, but I remembered packing seven pairs, considering I’d be staying in a mansion for a week.

But right now, I only had six pairs in my bag. I wondered if it had been the same when I left Anne’s mansion, but I didn’t recall paying attention back then.

Just to be sure, I checked the laundry basket in the changing room but found it empty. I had already washed the underwear I’d put in the basket today.

Unless my underwear were distinguishable enough for me to remember each one, I had bought many that looked similar, so I had no idea which pair was missing.

“Huh? What’s this bag doing here?”

“It’s the last day today! Instead of rushing to pack tomorrow, I thought I’d pack a little now.”

“Oh… has it already been a week? Is there a problem?”

Noticing that I was taking items out of the bag and putting them back in, Selian asked.

“It’s just that I thought I brought seven pairs of underwear but can only find six.”

“R-really?”

“I checked the laundry basket, but it’s not there. Where could it have gone? Hmmm…”

“Hah, just take another good look. It must be around here somewhere. There’s no way someone would take it.”

“Right? Who would be a pervert like that?”

Who would take men’s underwear? Oh, wait, I’m a woman right now, so that’s different.

“Cough! Cough!”

“Huh? Are you okay, Sel?”

“Cough… I-it’s fine. I just… choked on something… cough!”

“Just wait a moment. I’ll get you some water.”

Even though this was Selian’s mansion, this room was also mine. I went to the living room to grab a cup of water for Selian instead of making her get up while she coughed.

“Here you go. Huh? You seem to be sweating. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“It’s just… it’s hot! Why is it so hot? Did the temperature control device break?”

Is it because I’ve just been in this room? I don’t really feel hot at all.

But Selian, appearing genuinely hot, gulped down the cup of water I had brought her in one go.

“By the way, seriously, where did it go?”

No matter how much I looked, I couldn’t find the underwear.

“Hmmm… Did I misremember something?”

Considering I had looked this much and still couldn’t see them, it was entirely possible.

“Could it be? Or… Ah! Don’t forget to count the one you’re wearing! It should total seven!”

Oh… I hadn’t thought about that. If I count that, then it makes seven.

“Ah, I guess that’s it. How could I forget something like this?”

“Y-yeah, it happens. Nobody can remember everything. It’s just a pair of underwear, so don’t stress over it.”

“Right. That settles—ah!”

Since I had already packed all the other items, I simply put back the things I had taken out looking for the nonexistent underwear, completing my packing.

“Phew…”

Was it finally the end of her coughing fit? I could hear Selian shaking out a sigh.

“By the way, this comfortable lifestyle is coming to an end today.”

“I didn’t even realize it was already the last day. Time really flies.”

“Yeah, it really does. It feels like just the other day we were on break.”

If I had stayed alone in the dorm instead of visiting the mansions of Yuli and Anne for a week, time would have felt at least twice as long.

“How did you find living in the mansion?”

“Of course, it was great. While the dorm is good, you have people here who help in many ways. I don’t have to worry about school regulations or penalties.”

“Then why not stay just one more week?”

“Huh?”

As I expressed my reluctance, Selian suggested I stay longer.

Sure, it was comfortable here, but for her family, it would probably be a nuisance having me around too long.

“No, it’s okay. You don’t have to bother with that.”

Thus, I declined Selian’s suggestion. If it were just with Selian, it would be different, but more than that, I thought her family wouldn’t feel entirely comfortable with me around.

“Do you have something urgent to return to the academy for? There’s still plenty of holiday left…”

Of course, I had other plans, but none of them were urgent. As she said, there was still more than a month before school started.

“I just want to spend more time with El. Is that not okay?”

Selian looked up at me with slightly raised eyebrows. Meeting her gaze made it hard for me to voice a refusal.

“Should I…?”

“Hehe. Shouldn’t we unpack this bag then?”

Selian excitedly grabbed my clothes bag and headed into the dress room.

Well, is that really okay? Since this was Selian’s mansion, the last of my time here, and going to the guild hideout wouldn’t take too long.

That said, it did make me wonder if I had prematurely said that today was the last day.

 

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