The three of us finally returned from the ruins and arrived home.
Since none of us had told Yukito-san about what we did today, I decided to go straight to his room.
About what we found in the ruins and everything else, I planned to tell him.
As for the reason why we didn't invite him, he surely knew why. So I thought there was no need to talk about that.
Knock, knock.
I stood in front of his door with both of my hands clasped together in front of my body.
...
Knock, knock.
...
Knock, knock.
U-ehm… I had already knocked on his door three times, yet there was no response from inside. Only silence accompanied me as I knocked on this door.
Was Yukito-san sleeping? But in the middle of the day like this, he never lies down on his bed and starts dreaming.
Could it be… that Yukito-san is in danger? This is bad, I have to check on him! If something happens to him, I would have to take responsibility.
Click.
I held the doorknob to open the door, and it turned out that the door wasn't locked.
So, I could open and close this door as much as I wanted.
I didn't open it very wide, only as wide as my body, because I wanted to enter the room.
"Yukito-san, I'm home…"
Uwh, it felt like I was at my own home and Yukito-san was waiting for my return.
Heh…
There was no one inside this room.
There were only items like beds and a wardrobe. Could it be that I entered the wrong room? That shouldn't be the case.
The sheets on both beds in this room were messy, which meant that this was indeed Yukito-san and Luke's room.
Ah right, I have to look for him. Earlier, when the three of us had just returned from the ruins, I met someone who worked in this place while heading up to this floor.
I asked them a few things, and they said that the princess hadn't gone out today. In fact, they hadn't seen her since morning.
If that was the case, it meant that the princess was definitely still inside this house, and since Yukito-san's duty was to accompany and build a relationship with Iris, he wouldn't have gone out either.
If he did go out, Iris would surely notice and ask him to accompany her for the whole day.
I could guess this because of what happened during that dinner.
I didn't know whether she did that because she truly wanted to be with Yukito-san or just wanted to tease me.
But I felt that if it was the princess herself who wanted to have a relationship with Yukito-san, the feelings she held were no small thing.
Whether it was merely a formal romantic relationship, or something more than that, I didn't know which one it was.
—
I walked out of Yukito-san's room and closed the door. Alright, for now I have to look for him.
And since I was worried about his condition, my reason for searching for him could be said to be more than just my usual curiosity.
I opened each room on this floor one by one, the ones where I thought Yukito-san might be inside.
"Yukito-san?" "Are you in here?"
"Excuse me…" "Yukito-san, I'm back…"
I couldn't find him in the several rooms on the second floor, so I had to search on another floor.
——
Hah… he wasn't on the first or third floor either. That meant there was only one last room I hadn't entered before.
Because at this hour, I thought it was impossible for Yukito-san to be in that room.
Usually, in this house, we eat lunch between one or two o'clock, depending on whether the cooking is finished or not.
If he wasn't in the dining room or the kitchen, that meant he had gone out of this house without the princess knowing.
Or maybe the princess knew about it and allowed it? Alright, I should go in first.
Click.
"Excuse me… is anyone here?" I said in a soft voice, something I had already said several times today.
I was slightly surprised when I saw what was inside the dining room. I did indeed find Yukito-san here, but…
He looked like he was about to fall asleep on the table, perhaps like someone whose consciousness was about to fade and pass out.
His body looked extremely weak, as if he had just finished doing some heavy, exhausting activity.
From the kitchen, I could also hear the sound of someone still cooking. That was probably Forn-san preparing lunch.
Naturally, I immediately felt worried and slightly panicked when I saw Yukito-san's condition like this. Maybe he suddenly fell ill or something.
It could be that he had been affected by something, causing his current weakness.
I hurried over to him and slowly crouched down.
"Yukito-san… Yukito-san…" I said in a very soft voice so as not to disturb him, in case he wanted some peace for a while.
I used my right hand to touch his shoulder, which was slightly larger than my hand.
When I looked more closely, male bodies really are larger than female bodies.
Even just his back looked bigger than me and seemed harder.
Yukito-san still didn't respond to my call, and instead looked completely undisturbed by me.
Suddenly, Forn-san came out of the kitchen and saw me holding Yukito-san's shoulder.
I looked toward him as he walked over to us.
"Um… what happened to him?" I asked Forn-san.
Since Forn-san had just come out of the kitchen, he surely knew the reason why Yukito-san was like this.
"Ah… about that…" was the response he gave.
—
After that, Forn-san told me what had happened to Yukito-san today while the others and I were away visiting the ruins.
Yukito-san became like this because of the princess's cooking.
When the three of us went out this morning, the princess asked Yukito-san to help her today.
That help was Yukito-san using his mouth to taste the new dishes the princess made.
Yukito-san had eaten her cooking dozens of times, and not all of her new dishes were suitable to be served to many people.
Because he ate too much, that was what caused Yukito-san to end up like this.
"In short, he's fine. He's probably just asleep from eating too much," Forn-san said.
"Alright, I should check on Iris again. I'm worried her new dish might be worse than the previous ones."
He turned around and hurried back into the kitchen.
From what he said, I felt I could guess just how bad the princess's new cooking was.
I looked at Yukito-san again, and this time he truly looked like someone who was sleeping.
If he slept here, he might catch a cold. I had to do something.
——
Drag, drag.
I went back to Yukito-san's room to take the blanket from his bed.
Then I hurried back to the dining room and covered Yukito-san's back with the blanket I had taken earlier.
"There, this should be more comfortable…" I muttered.
Rather than letting Yukito-san catch a cold or something later, it was better for me to do this for him.
Alright, now all that's left is for me to go to the kitchen and see more directly what that child and that adult are doing.
"Excuse me, is there anything I can help wi—"
My gaze immediately landed on a bowl on the table that contained some soup.
The soup was a deep purple color, looking like a concoction used for healing—or perhaps poison.
"Oh, Hime-san. How does that chicken broth soup look? It looks delicious, doesn't it?" the princess asked, having noticed my presence.
Forn-san also looked at me, and I could see a bit of sweat on his face.
"D-don't worry about it! Iris often makes pois— delicious food like that! I'll cook another additional menu so you all won't get bored," Forn-san said as he lit the fire to cook.
…Did Forn-san just almost say that the soup was poison? I knew why he almost said that word.
And… it seemed that he always responded to the princess by saying that her cooking, which looked like some kind of potion, tasted good.
I-it seems I'd better sit near Yukito-san and wait for Forn-san to finish cooking.