Chapter 55
“……Um, this. That is to say.”
‘Am I doomed?’
Diligently choosing words to make an excuse, Irene reached out her arm without realizing it herself. At that moment, Idris sprang up abruptly and stepped backward. Letting out a loud scream that did not suit his large frame was a bonus.
“Your arm! Lower your arm! Right now!”
Retreating a few steps further, Idris was blatantly terrified. It was a reaction entirely as if he had seen a monster. In fact, just as Irene, who had done nothing but submerge herself, was about to feel a little wronged, Idris contorted his facial expression even more.
“Just what in the world in the dead of night…….”
He could not continue his words. His gaze whipped to the side as if he could not bear to look. His blue gaze began to subtly avoid her. Roughly disheveling his fine hair, he let out a sigh, approached, took off the black outer coat he was wearing, and held it out.
Startled, Irene struck away the clothes he held with her hand. Along with a splashing sound, water splattered in all directions.
“What are you doing! The clothes will get wet.”
“Ahh! Please! Please do not move that arm!”
Whether he was significantly panicked, Idris even spat out a manner of speech he did not normally use. The lakeside briefly became noisy in an instant with the sounds of the two people clamoring with their respective arguments.
Faced with her moving her body even more in refusal, the more he held out the clothes for her to wear, Idris eventually gave up and pulled his hand back.
Seeing Idris desperately averting his gaze, Irene approached the shore.
Supporting her body by placing both arms on the grass, she suddenly smiled brightly.
“Is it something to be that surprised about?”
“No, does this look like something I would not be surprised at?”
Idris snapped in a tone that was incredibly absurd. Turning his head as far as possible with the momentum of almost snapping his neck, he let out a sigh once again and rubbed his face with dry hands.
Feeling pure curiosity before any other impressions, Irene tilted her head.
“But does the Empire not have a quite high degree of upper body exposure for dresses? Are you not accustomed to it? In the first place, this much would be a level visible just by wearing an off-the-shoulder dress.”
“Do you sincerely think that and this situation are the same? That has everything underneath covered by clothes, does it not! You have taken everything off right now, have you not?”
Idris tore at his hair as if he would go crazy and lose his mind.
A laugh eventually burst out at the reaction that was beyond extreme, as if he would jump up and down. It is at most the line of the arms, shoulders, and collarbone, so why is he making such a fuss? If anyone saw, they would think the entire body was exposed.
Lightly brushing back her bangs that had become heavy from being completely wet, she smoothly tilted her head to the right and curved her eyes.
“I will not move anymore, so do not worry.”
“…….”
“In the first place, I am completely attached to the shore now, so it is fine. The front side will not be visible even if you try hard to look, you know?”
“How can you say such words……! And I do not do such things!”
Are those words to be that disgusted by?
Looking at Idris’s ears that had flushed bright red, Irene tilted her head in confusion.
From her perspective, it was not particularly embarrassing or anything of the sort. It was swimming she had done as frequently as eating meals for the past few years, so there was nothing that would greatly change just because there was one person’s gaze. In the first place, it was daily routine in the sea to meet eyes with fishes, monsters, and humans whose lives had departed, so why now?
‘More than anything, only my shoulders were visible, so is there anything to be embarrassed about.’
Meanwhile, Idris was chewing over Irene’s words asking if it was not just about an off-the-shoulder dress. Thinking it was not a wrong statement, he barely regained his composure and finally met eyes with Irene. His face flared up hotly upon seeing the clearly exposed white skin and cleavage. However, he struggled to try to become calm.
“……In the dead of night, are you not cold?”
“It is a disqualification as a Northerner to be cold from merely this. It is a perfectly good temperature, so do not worry.”
Idris was inwardly appalled. That damn Orihen, Orihen, Orihen. She just always talks about her own country at the end of every sentence.
“Just why did you go in? A bath? Swimming?”
“Ahaha! One does not take a bath like this. It is the latter.”
It was a relief. She had been agonizing over what to say, but to think he would throw an excuse on his own.
‘It seems he did not see how long I was submerged after all, right?’
Idris soon shook his head with a thoroughly exhausted face. Wearing an expression of being unable to understand, he slowly stepped backward and distanced himself.
“To swim in the dead of night, you enjoy a peculiar hobby……. I respect it. Anyway, I will be taking my leave now. Please come inside after playing enjoyably.”
Play. The moment she heard those words, Irene’s eyes sparkled.
“Mr. Idris, Mr. Idris. Wait a moment!”
Idris, who had been trying to run away naturally, and yet blatantly on the other hand, stopped at her words. He opened his mouth reluctantly.
“……What is the matter?”
“Please come here for just a moment.”
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