This felt like cheating. How could I possibly say no when he asked so cutely? Was it even allowed for the male lead to be this adorable?

“Should, should we do that then?”

“You might not feel pain now, but it could get worse later. Please let me know immediately if it starts to hurt.”

Enfrise gently lifted my arm.

From the thorough observations I made soon after I found myself in this body, I realized Chaperil had beautiful arms. Although they were quite slender, they were quite scary. Ah, was this why he was so overprotective?

It felt as though it could snap with a bit too much pressure. Yet, the human body was a marvel. It was more resilient than one might think.

“….”

As Enfrise carefully looked just below the elbow without applying much pressure, he pressed slightly harder at one spot.

Suddenly, without realizing it…

“Ah!”

I exclaimed.

Instantly, Enfrise stopped his hand, and I looked up at him with wide eyes. His expression melted into a smile when he saw my face.

No, this man…?

I was in pain, but he was smiling?!

“It seems like muscle pain if that area hurts.”

His eyes narrow slightly, displaying his displeasure. I understand that he was relieved it wasn’t a serious injury, though laughing when I was in pain?!

Ah. I yelled out, and he laughed!

My expression remained unamused, and a look of anxiety crept over Enfrise’s face.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

“No… it’s not that bad.”

“Is there pain anywhere else?”

“No, just there.”

“….”

Unable to discern the reason behind my expression, he looked at me with a pitiful face. When he looked at me with such beautiful eyes—!

“I was upset because I yelled in pain, and you laughed.”

I had to say it, right?

…The more I thought about it, the weaker I seemed when it came to Enfrise.

He didn’t force anything on me, didn’t hit or insult me, so why did I keep watching what I said around him? Enfrise might act that way because he cared too much. But for me, it wasn’t the same. Even with my friends, I didn’t cause conflicts, though I didn’t watch every word I said either. I always spoke my mind.

Ah, that must be it. My confinement life depended on this man.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way…”

“I know. You were just relieved because I wasn’t badly hurt. Even though I knew that, it still felt a bit strange.”

“No, actually…”

Huh? He meant that wasn’t why?

“I’m sorry. When you screamed and looked at me in shock… you looked so cute, I couldn’t help but smile.”

….

Was this guy getting under my skin? Occasionally, he really made my heart skip a beat.

I was at a loss for words. Maybe Enfrise felt the same way earlier. I’d be more careful from now on.

“I’ll massage gently, so please tell me if it hurts again. We need to be careful, especially if it might have affected your tendons or bones.”

“…Yes.”

When I nodded quietly, Enfrise smiled before gently massaging around the sore spot without touching it directly. It wasn’t very painful, but I could feel a slight tension. Worried that any grimace might concern him, I distracted myself by looking towards the lake.

By the way, I haven’t seen Sherry around.

“Where is Sherry?”

“Sherry is… patrolling the area. It also has a guard function.”

“Hmm…”

So it could have functions like that. Then, maybe…

“About Frii.”

“Yes.”

“Does it have any functions other than notifications?”

“Yes.”

…Really?

When that little thing jumped at the intruder, I figured something was up. It must have some protective function.

“It also has a rat-catching feature. Sometimes, it escapes the room and catches rats around the house.”

“….”

That wasn’t a function… that was just weasel instincts, right?

“Not that, I mean…”

“There’s nothing else. I brought it just for notification purposes, so you can contact me when you need to.”

Hmm, I was somewhat relieved that Enfrise hadn’t been making Frii do this and that. He must be respecting my words. But lately, things between us haven’t been too bad.

“But didn’t Frii attack the intruder?”

“That must have been the animal acting on its own. Weasels tend to attack animals larger than themselves, like rabbits, for example.”

No, rabbits were similar in size, but humans were on a completely different level!

“….”

So, that wasn’t really a feature? I was thinking of asking if it could be disabled. I wasn’t sure if that was possible.

Just in case.

Even though Enfrise would protect me, there could be another incident when it was just Frii and me. What if it attacked again? If it didn’t end as it did this time…

“…Well, Grand Duke.”

“Yes?”

“Is it possible to add more features?”

“It is possible.”

“Something like… self-defense capabilities, something to better protect itself.”

Enfrise nodded thoughtfully after a moment.

“You’re concerned because of what happened last time.”

“Yes… I mean, I trust the Grand Duke will protect me! And I want to believe it won’t happen again! But you never know with these things.”

It was always too late once something was lost.

Watching the leads in novels, I’ve wondered why they didn’t prepare in advance. Of course, for the story to be thrilling and cathartic, events need to unfold with tension. That was the fun of creative works, but maybe I got too emotionally involved?

They were all beautiful, handsome, smart, skilled in martial arts….

In addition, they sort everything out amongst themselves, these male and female leads. When they didn’t predict and address the cause, it left me feeling frustrated alone.

Naturally, I’ve cheered in admiration when leads were proactive and handled everything adeptly. I respected that every author wrote differently. I wouldn’t trust myself to write like that. It was easy to talk about it, but doing it was another thing.

Still.

I’d rather do something than just trust that Enfrise would handle everything. To prevent it from happening again. To take some action.

Because I was foolish and often failed to predict properly.

“Sure… you’re right. No matter how hard I try, there are things I might not be able to stop. If I had it my way, you would have already….”

He pauses suddenly, cutting off his words.

I thought I knew somehow… what he was thinking right now.

Certainly, Enfrise was a bit… What could I say? He had a dishonest personality. He acted on grand moral principles but then caught himself harboring a bit of selfishness, which he readily exposed… he was the type that sunk into thinking he was a bad person.

Right now, he might be thinking something like that.

Like, maybe he was secretly hoping that this confinement continued, even though he wanted me to be free. He might worry that his own conflicted desires could be slowing things down.

“You know, Grand Duke.”

“Yes?”

“I believe there’s no such thing as perfection in this world.”

Did such a thing even exist?

Something everyone universally loved or universally hated—absolute 1s or perfect 0s—I doubt it, whether it was about emotions or anything else.

“Every person has their flaws, just as every flawed person has their virtues. What one person sees as a strength, another might view as a weakness.”

Even cockroaches fell under this rule. Everyone might think they were disgusting, but I had a friend who’d casually remark, ‘If you look closely, they’re kind of cute.’

Still, it made me think.

Personally, I’ve always liked kelp noodles. I actually preferred it over sashimi. Grandma probably scooped the sashimi onto my brother’s plate with her chopsticks to make sure he ate well, but that just made it easier for me to get to the kelp noodles underneath.

I liked its crunchy and chewy texture.

Once, when I went to a sashimi restaurant with friends, they were all shocked when they saw me going for the kelp noodles under the sashimi. One friend tried to heap more sashimi on my plate, but I kept picking at the kelp.

— “Why are you eating that?!”

— “You should be eating sashimi, not that!”

— “It’s our treat today! Eat as much as you want!”

It took a lot of explaining to convince them that I genuinely enjoyed the kelp noodle. Some didn’t even know it was edible and thought it was just decoration. What I liked to eat could be just a garnish to someone else.

Certainly, life was just like that. Thinking this way, I could understand my friend’s point of view.

“Grand Duke… do you think it’s selfish to want to stay with me for a long time?”

“Uht… well, that’s not—”

“I said before, didn’t I? I’d be happy to stay with you forever. That was true. So, am I also being selfish?”

It was definitely selfish. However, if Enfrise and my interests aligned, could it simply be dismissed as selfishness?

“You can… think that way. Your intentions aren’t impure like mine.”

“Impure intentions?”

Though I couldn’t say it, I really enjoyed this life. The laziness, the idleness every day.

And.

“I enjoyed staying with the Grand Duke that I don’t want to leave.”

‘…The time I spent with you.’

I was even worse than Enfrise. I was exploiting his love for Chaperil, benefitting as someone who was not Chaperil.

“What’s wrong with being a bit selfish? It’s just a thought. You haven’t actually done anything bad to me, right?”

Well, you did something to the original Chaperil. Even if it was to save her, doing it without explanation was wrong.

“…You are…”

As I chuckled, Enfrise tried to say something but was interrupted.

“Ppiriri—! Ppippik! Ppiririri—Ppi!”

It was the sound of Sherry’s cry.

__