A Captive Prince Awaiting Execution Falls In Love With A Young Lady - Episode 2

Four years later.

“Ah… It’s already this late…”

After the groan, there was a sound as if something fell to the floor.

Sirius stops the movement of the painting knife and peeks over the canvas.

There.

As usual, or rather.

Every day, there is Judith, who is now in a state that resembles a religious ritual.

The posture of lying face down on the intricately woven rug was exactly like the prostration of a pagan. The way they flailed their legs from there resembled a dog paddle still unable to breathe.

The thick book she is holding with her outstretched hand is probably her recent favorite travelogue from another country.

Judith, bathed in the evening sunlight pouring through the window, looked like that.

“Hurry up and go home. Isn’t Mr. Sanders from the first floor about to come up?”

Sanders is her maid and bodyguard.

Sirius readjusted himself on the stool and turned his gaze back to the canvas.

I want to apply a bit more paint. However, I want to avoid mixing colors, so I’ll aim for the edge.

Taking the oil paint from the palette held in his left hand with a painting knife, he carefully placed it on the canvas. The scraping sound was pleasing to his ears.

“I don’t want to. I don’t want to go home today.”

“Today, or rather in Judith’s case, today too, right?”

“It’s different. I don’t want to go home today more than I did yesterday.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Why won’t you listen to my reasons?!”

“Okay, okay. You’re so selfish. Why?”

“Mrs. Simpson is coming! I’m going to be lectured again about manners, etiquette, and how to eat properly! Oh! By the way, I haven’t practiced the dance!”

The end of the sentence was muddied by the sound of Judith’s feet thrashing about. Not only that, but the floor vibrated along with it, so Sirius looked up at the ceiling. This kind of detailed work was impossible.

Sirius placed the palette on the table and then set the painting knife on top of it.

I glanced at the turpentine and old cloth, but a fine vibration and a voice that sounded nothing like a 16-year-old court noble lady filled the room with a “VAAAAAAAHHHHHH,” so I sighed. I’ll do the detailed tidying up later.

I stood up from the stool, quickly removed the leather apron, and looked at my hands. They were clean. In fact, I hadn’t made much progress today to even get them dirty. I still wanted to continue working.

As she crossed the campus and moved to the center of the room, Judith finally lifted her face.

“Can I stay here a little longer?”

As usual, lying face down, she shows a charming smile.

That’s why Sirius smiled brightly too.

“Don’t.”

“Why! That’s terrible, Sirius! You can say such cruel things because you don’t know how annoying Mrs. Simpson is!”

“Even if you’re not Mrs. Simpson, I want to say it too. You’re technically a countess, you know? And at that age. It’s just unbelievable to throw a tantrum like that.”

Placing her hands on her hips and looking down with a somewhat reproachful air, Judith, with a sulky expression, straightened her body and sat back down, but she was sitting cross-legged.

Well, since the skirt part is long, you can’t see her bare legs, and besides, she wears boots all year round, so it’s not really an issue.

“Hurry up and go to the first floor, Judith. Mr. Sanders is waiting for you.”

“This place feels really comfortable, you know?”

“Of course. Most of the things in this room are your personal belongings that you brought here.”

With a sigh, Sirius looks around the room.

When Sirius came for the first time.

There was only a simple bed in this room. I don’t think there was even a table and chairs. I remember eating with a plate on the floor.

The windows were fitted with iron bars, and the door was just a board nailed on.

Now, there is a rug on the floor, the bed has a canopy, and the iron bars have been removed from the windows.

Bookshelves are placed, shelves are lined up, flowers are arranged, and numerous ceramic animal figurines are displayed.

“It’s kind of turned into a girl’s room.”

“This rug is nice too, isn’t it?”

“If you like it that much, take it home. I don’t need it.”

“Why would you say something like that?!”

“Yeah, really. Especially that, take it home.”

What Sirius pointed to was a scarecrow propped up in the corner of the room.

They crossed the sticks to form a cross, tied straw to it to represent the head and torso, and used the horizontal bars of the cross to represent the arms. A wooden sword was tied to the right hand.

Judith is using it for spear training.

“He’s here, that guy! Ijet-kun!”

“If you have enough affection to give it a name, then take it home with you. And if you’re going to train it, do it at your own mansion.”

“I’ll do it at home, and I’ll do it here too!”

“There have been times when I’ve almost screamed when I wake up in the middle of the night. Like when I’m concentrating on drawing and suddenly fall to the floor, I seriously thought my heart would stop.”

“That’s mine! I’m taking care of it, so don’t throw it away!”

“Then put on some new clothes for her. You pushed her too hard and her clothes got torn… It’s even scarier because straw is coming out from inside.”

“Uh… Sirius, you’re so particular.”

“No, you’re too careless. Anyway, hurry up and go home.”

“Oh! I forgot that the lady who takes care of Sirius asked me to pass on a message!”

“Really? You just remembered now?”

“It’s not a lie! It’s true. You know…”

“Yeah”

“About the meals, there’s a bakery that delivers here and is cheaper than the one we’ve been using, so I’m going to switch to them.”

“Wow”

“If you don’t like the taste, let me know and I’ll change it back.”

“Understood. Well then, we have no more business here. Come on, let’s go home. Stand up.”

“Rock-paper-scissors!”

“What is that?”

“If we play rock-paper-scissors and I lose, I’ll go home.”

“Okay, okay. Then, rock-paper-scissors.”

“Here you go! … Ah”

“Come on, go home.”

“Actually, it was a best-of-three match!”

“Ah, come on! Rock-paper-scissors!”

“Here you go! ……..”

“If I win twice out of three matches, then it’s over, right? Well, let’s go home…”

“I don’t want to go home today!”

“Hey, don’t say things like that in front of men, Judith.”

“Why?”

“Because it will be misunderstood. See?”

Sirius grabbed Judith’s wrists without a word and lifted her up.

With an unexpected lightness, she got up.

“Ahh… Do I really have to meet Mrs. Simpson…?”

It seems that even though he was still grumbling, he decided to go home.

Judith picked up the book and put it on the shelf.

“If Judith behaves herself, there shouldn’t be any problem, right?”

“That’s the big problem.”

Sirius burst out laughing at Judith’s serious answer. After Judith laughed too, she pointed at the window.

“Look. The sunset is beautiful again today.”

“Really, that’s true.”

“I knew it was the right decision to tell Father to remove the iron bars.”

“I never thought they would remove the iron bars, though.”

Sirius shrugs and gives a wry smile.

That day.

The girl who suddenly appeared was there again the next day, and when she removed the iron bars with the tools she had, I was astonished.

For a moment, I thought they were telling me to jump out of the window without bars and die.

She said it cheerfully.

“After all, this one is more wonderful.”

And.

“I’ll come again tomorrow, Sirius.”

Judith said that, just like on that day.

And every day, just like that.

Now, they opened the door, which was painted and even decorated with some incomprehensible fabric, and quickly left.