Chapter 53: The Last Day

“Did you wake up?”

In the early morning, close to dawn, I woke up and saw the now familiar sight.

Celian, who had entered my blanket and was lying next to me, greeted me good morning as she had just woken up.

Despite the fact that the bed was much larger than the one in the dormitory, Celian was still lying close to me.

“Good morning.”

We always wished each other a good night’s sleep and went to our separate rooms, so how did she end up in my blanket?

When I first woke up in Celian’s mansion, I was startled when I opened my eyes to meet her blue eyes staring back at me.

I jumped out of bed in panic.

Only after realizing that the owner of those eyes was Celian did I finally breathe a sigh of relief and asked her how she ended up in my bed.

According to Celian, she had gone to the bathroom in the middle of the night and, half asleep, ended up in my room.

When I asked her why she hadn’t gone to her own bathroom or returned to her own room, she said she didn’t know.

It wasn’t just the first night, though; this happened every night after that.

On the second night, I tried locking the door to see if it would prevent this from happening.

The next morning, as I opened the door, Celian, who had been leaning against the door, fell to the floor.

With dark circles under her eyes, she looked up at me groggily.

It seemed that, just like the previous night, she had gone to the bathroom and, finding my door locked, ended up falling asleep in the hallway.

Though Celian was the daughter of a marquis, I didn’t think it was good for her to be sleeping in the hallway, so I decided to leave the door open just in case, so she could come in quietly if her sleepwalking habits took over.

Since then, she had been sneaking into my blanket every morning.

At first, I was startled, but after several days of this happening, even though I was surprised, I managed not to show it.

But by now, I started to wonder if my senses were wrong.

Whether it was Yuri, who had snuck into my blanket back during my tutoring days, or Celian now, I never seemed to notice them coming in, lost in my dreams.

Maybe I had become complacent, but I figured I trusted both of them enough to let it slide.

“You’re up early again today.”

Celian had always woken up before me. Every day when I woke up, Celian was already awake and watching me.

Even though I had told her to just wake me up, she would always say, “I’ll let you sleep,” and instead, she would quietly watch me without waking me up.

There was no way she could be awake for hours before me, so I figured it was just a few minutes, but still, it was impressive that she managed to wake up just a bit earlier than me every day.

“Well, I haven’t been awake for long either.”

I threw the blanket off and got out of bed to head to the dressing room. Celian followed me as usual.

After removing the pajamas I had worn throughout the night, I changed into comfortable everyday clothes.

Celian also changed out of her pajamas, which she was too embarrassed to leave on.

Why was Celian changing clothes in my room, not her own?

Celian had, unbeknownst to me, placed a few of her clothes in my dressing room.

I think she started doing this the day after I gave up on locking the door.

Well, I figured it was better than having her walk around the mansion in revealing pajamas and having the servants see her.

The rest of the morning routine between Celian and me was no different from the previous day.

I woke up in the morning, did some training combined with sparring, then had breakfast and a short digestion time before starting the training again.

Of course, I don’t train all the time, so by around 10 to 11 a.m., the day’s training schedule is usually finished, and I have lunch.

After that, it’s all free time.

I sometimes go shopping in the commercial district with Celian, take long walks outside the castle, have simple tea time in the garden, or quietly read books at a table in my room.

Except when I need to use the bathroom or take a bath, we’re together 24 hours a day.

One thing I’ve learned by being with Celian this much is that she really enjoys showering or bathing.

No matter how slowly I wash, it only takes me 30 minutes at most, but Celian’s minimum time is an hour, and sometimes, like last time, it’s over two hours.

From a woman’s perspective, I must be the odd one out. I really don’t understand women.

Today, I was playing and laughing with Celian all day, and before I knew it, night had fallen.

Since I knew Celian would sneak into my bed in the middle of the night and I had already given up trying to stop her, I decided to just sleep together since it was the last night.

While Celian was washing up in her room, I, having finished my shower earlier, started packing my things as I waited for her.

I split the clothes hanging in the dressing room into two bags, and in the third bag, I placed the things I had brought when I first left for the academy.

I hadn’t brought much with me when I left the academy. The only bulky items were clothes: the school uniform, sportswear, casual clothes, a few simple T-shirts, and underwear.

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

Of course, since I’d be doing laundry every so often, it didn’t matter much, but I was planning to stay in the mansion for a week, so I thought I’d packed seven pairs, one for each day.

But now, I only found six pairs of underwear in my bag. I wondered if this had happened when I left Anne’s mansion, but I didn’t remember paying much attention back then.

Just to be sure, I checked the laundry basket in the changing room, but it was empty. The underwear I had put in the laundry basket earlier had already been washed and placed back in my bag.

Unless my underwear was so uniquely designed that I could remember each one, most of them looked similar since I’d bought them in bulk, so I didn’t know which pair was missing.

“Huh? What’s this bag?”

“Today is the last day, right? Rather than rushing to pack everything tomorrow, I thought I’d start packing in advance.”

“Ah… is it already a week? Is something wrong?”

Celian, seeing me taking things out and putting them back into the bag, asked.

“It’s just that I thought I brought seven pairs of underwear when I left the academy, but I only see six.

Do you know where the seventh pair went?”

“Really?”

“There’s nothing in the laundry basket either. Where did it go? Hmmm…”

“Well, just look carefully. It must be somewhere. Who would take someone else’s underwear?”

“Right? I’m not a pervert, after all.”

Who would take a man’s underwear… Oh, wait, I’m a woman now, so that’s not quite right.

“Cough! Cough!”

“Are you okay, Celian?”

“Cough… I’m fine… I just… had a little cough… cough!”

“Hold on a sec. I’ll bring you some water.”

Even though this mansion belongs to Celian, this room is mine too.

I left Celian, who was coughing, and went to the living room to bring her a cup of water.

“Here you go. Hmm? You’re sweating too. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Well… it’s just… hot! Why is it so hot? Did the temperature control system break or something?”

Is it because I’ve been staying in my room all this time?

I don’t really feel hot myself.

But Celian, who was truly feeling hot, fanned herself with a hand fan and quickly emptied the cup of water I had brought her.

“By the way, where could it have gone?”

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

“Hmm… Could I be remembering it wrong?”

After searching this much, it seemed very likely that I might have just made a mistake.

“Well, isn’t that possible? Or… Ah! Maybe it’s seven if you count the one you’re wearing now?”

Oh… I hadn’t thought of that. If I count the one Celian was wearing, it makes sense that there are seven.

“Ah, that must be it. Why did I forget something like this?”

“Well, that happens, right? Nobody can remember everything. It’s just underwear, so don’t stress about it too much.”

“Yeah. Then it’s all good… all done!”

Since I had already packed everything else, I just put the things I had taken out back into the bag, finishing the packing.

“Phew…”

Celian’s breathing seemed to calm down now that the coughing had subsided.

“By the way, this comfortable life ends today.”

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

“Yeah, time really passes quickly. It feels like the break just started yesterday.”

If I had stayed alone in the dorm, not visiting Yuri, Anne, and Celian’s homes and staying a week at each, I would’ve felt like time was passing much slower.

“How did you like living in the mansion?”

“Of course, I liked it. The dorm is good too, but here there are people who help out, so you don’t have to worry about school rules or demerits.”

“Then how about staying just one more week?”

“Huh?”

When I expressed my regret that today was the last day, Celian suggested I stay a bit longer.

It’s more comfortable for me to stay here, but for the other people living in the mansion, Celian’s family, it would probably be an inconvenience.

“No, it’s okay. You don’t have to go out of your way to accommodate me.”

So, I rejected Celian’s suggestion. It would be fine if it were just Celian and me, but I felt her family, no matter how much they liked me, would feel uncomfortable having me stay longer.

“Do you have something urgent that you need to go back to the academy for? There’s still plenty of time before school starts.”

Of course, I did have other plans, but they weren’t urgent. As Celian said, there was still over a month before the school year began.

“I just wanted to stay with El a bit longer. Is that okay?”

Celian looked up at me with slightly raised eyes.

Seeing her eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to refuse her request.

“Should I…?

“Fufu. Then should I unpack this bag?”

Celian, excited, grabbed my clothes bag and headed into the dressing room.

Well, it’s not a big deal, is it? After all, this is Celian’s mansion, and it’s the last place I’m staying, so going to the guild hideout won’t take much time.

Now that I think about it, today isn’t even the last day, so I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have said I’d sleep with her.