Chapter 2.9

After dinner with Roman, which passed by without worries, there was no significant change in her life.

She exercised little by little along with Ver, who told her he would help build up her stamina. Seeing as he was training her intensively, his memories from the ball’s incident must have left a strong impression.

“I think it will be good to learn self-defense.”

Today he proposed a new exercise.

“It is a move which even relatively weak women can use to defend themselves.”

Prillance thought about the self-defense techniques she had seen on TV. She vaguely remembered that if a pervert ever hugs her from behind, she should hit his stomach with her elbow.

“Please excuse my actions for a moment.”

As Prillance was lost in thought, Ver briefly asked for her understanding and clasped her wrist.

It felt more manly because he had rough hands due to his sword training. She was surprised by the sudden contact. But unlike her, Ver calmly continued, while thinking that her wrist was very thin.

“Most of the time, it is not easy to shake someone off if they hold your arms like this.”

At Ver’s words, she tried to shake off her hands. However, his hand didn’t come off easily. Moreover, when Prillance grabbed her other wrist with her free hand, his grip on her further strengthened.

“Stretch out your palms, raise your hands, and finally drop your hands forcefully to hit them with that rebound.”

Ver’s hand, which demonstrated the actions, was lightly pulled off her. However, it was still not easy even when Prillance tried to do it.

“When you raise your wrist, just think of it as pushing your arm down sideways.”

She practiced being caught and removing that hold over and over again. The result was better than it was at the beginning. For the first time, she disentangled his hold by herself.

“Wow! Did you see that?“

“You did well.”

Ver replied with a gentle smile as he saw her who was as happy as a child with a small achievement.

“The art of self-defense is a skill. It can also be applied to the shoulders and arms.”

“I’ll do my best!”

Prillance replied vigorously. Ver grasped her with both of his arms. Now that she had learned how to pull out when he held her hand, she was practicing pulling it out when he held both her arm and shoulder.

Her previous success gave her confidence, so she bravely stepped up to the challenge.

Ver saw her shaking hard with her captured arms. She had a cute, serious expression that contrasted with the movement of her hand trying to escape. The corners of his mouth went up.

“Oh?”

At that moment, Ver’s body faltered. It was because Prillance, whom he thought he could hold out, pushed as hard as she could out of his hands. And the timing was when he was distracted by her.

She reached out and grabbed his clothes to try and catch him as he was about to fall. But the fragile Prillance was also drawn by the same force and fell together with him.

Thud.

“Are you alright?”

When she opened her eyes, she saw his broad chest first. Then her eyes met with Ver’s which were also looking at her. When they fell together, Ver embraced Prillance so that she wouldn’t get hurt.

“Are you alright? Ah..!”

Surprised, Prillance tried to get up quickly. But her hand trying to touch the ground floundered in the air instead. Because of that, she fell down on Ver, who was already raised halfway.

Prior to reaching him, Prillance narrowly touched the ground.

“…!”

Fortunately, the thought that she would fall again was only for a moment.

Their faces were close to each other.

When Ver looked up, the sun shone behind Prillance. And her slightly illuminated lovely brown eyes were looking at him.

As Prillance got closer, Ver saw her slightly disheveled hair and her slightly open lips, and her unique scent stimulated his sense of smell.

Prillance couldn’t take her eyes off him either. Unlike his beautiful eyes, his muscles were slightly visible under his tightly pressed lips and firm jawline. The usual soft face and unusual appearance caught her eye.

Soon she saw the grass on his shoulder.

Realizing the situation, only then did Prillance quickly get up.

“Are you alright?”

When the worried Prillance asked again, he finally got up.

“…Is the Lady alright?”

“Yes. I should be asking the Viscount instead, are you hurt anywhere?”

Prillance looked anxiously at Ver. Feeling sorry, she brushed off the grass on his body.

Ver naturally felt nervous as he saw her brushing off the grass around his shoulders, arms, and back.

“I’m sorry. I was a little overzealous.”

But to her, the situation seemed natural.

“…I am fine. At that time, my mind was preoccupied with something else.”

Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be hurt either. Even though she had roughly brushed everything off, she still felt sorry and kept brushing his clothes.

“I’m really fine.”

Suddenly, a warm wind blew and Prillance’s hair fluttered. Only then did his eyes see the grass stuck at the end of her long hair.

It must have gotten stuck after she fell on him earlier. He reached out to her hair.

“The Lady also has something on her hair.”

As Ver took the grass off, Prillance, who was hardened by tension, exhaled a little. Ver felt it as well. The contact was not as natural as it seemed.

“We can stop here for today.”

He smiled furtively. Well, it wasn’t bad.

Prillance and Ver turned around. In their ears, they heard small palpitations start to beat in their hearts.