Hokuou Kizoku to Moukinzuma no Yukiguni Karigurashi

Additional Chapter 98: Ritzhard Getting Called Out by Women.

Author:

Requested Chapter.

The period is while they are staying at Sieg’s family’s place before Arno is born.

Today I was going out.

However, my feet were heavy.

Because I was going out to meet beautiful women.

Furthermore, I felt guilty for hiding it from Sieg.

I still had time before I had to go, so I spent some time with my wife.

“So you are to meet with your friends today?”

“Ah, yes.”

I unconsciously averted my gaze from Sieg and stared up at the ceiling.

“Ritz.”

“Yes?”

“Really?”

“T-Truly!”

I was trying to behave as natural as possible, but my voice shook from Sieg’s questions.

The other party asked me to keep this affair an absolute secret.

“……Today,”

“Yes.”

“You’re looking more handsome than usual?”

“Since I didn’t have the opportunity to wear the clothes grandfather gifted to me.”

“……”

If one is dressing nicer than usual, it does raise suspicions.

Sieg’s sharp gaze pierced me like a dagger.

I started feeling restless, so I stood up from the chair and headed for the window.

I took out a pocket watch from my pocket and opened it.

There was still some time until the departure time. I have to wait in this room for a while.

The sky was clear today. There was not a speck of cloud on the clear blue sky.

Nice weather, when I murmured that with a hand on the window sill, my body was suddenly pushed from behind. My forehead banged into the glass window.

“—— Uwa!”

“……”

It seems like Sieg approached while erasing her presence and silencing her footsteps. I didn’t notice at all.

And then she suppressed me from behind.

She tightly twisted my arm to my neck and another hand was tightly grasping my wrist, which was being held at my back.

Since the key points were properly pressed and her weight was on me, I could not move at all. She is indeed from the military. She’s used to restraining people.

“S-Sieglinde-san, what might it me?”

The baby inside will be surprised, or so I said to calm her in a roundabout way.

However, Sieg did not reply.

When I calmed down and felt it again, her belly was not pressed against me. I sighed in relief that so stress was going to the baby.

Usually, I would be excited if we were making body contact like this, but figuratively speaking, this is ‘the arresting of a suspect acting strangely’. Not a pleasing position at all.

“Sieg-san, I, have to go now.”

I have to buy flowers or something to gain the favour of the other party.

Even if I went out early, I can easily kill time in the city.

“I-I’ll be returning home, as soon as possible, so,”

“……Sister-in-law told me, that,”

“Yes?”

She spoke out in a frightening voice so I got chills all over my body.

Just what might it be, when I asked that, she said something absurd.

“That half of the men have affairs during their wives’ pregnancies.”

”!?”

That, where’s the information from!? Where’s the investigation from!? I ended up shouting that.

Indeed, I am going out to meet a beautiful woman, but I’m not having an affairing. Even if I told her that clearly, Sieg’s grip did not loosen.

I told her that she was the best in the world, but her grip only strengthened.

It hurt a bit, so I ended up yelping, “Hie!” At that moment, the hold loosened.

“……”

“……”

Was there ever a moment in my life where I was afraid of turning around?

While I was frozen up, she called my name in a low voice so I turned around.

After seeing her face, I shouted, “Hie!” once more.

Sieg was in tears. Her eyes were brimming with tears, that even a blink would cause them to flood out.

Such a frail expression, I never saw it before.

I felt a shock as though I was smashed in the back of my head.

“I-I’m sorry!”

I apologised properly in a loud voice and prostrated on the floor, letting my forehead touch the floor.

Then, I explained the details about the person I am meeting today as well as how that came to be.

◇◇◇

I talked after we regained composure and sat down side by side.

The person I am meeting today is Sieg’s cousin, Hildegard von Hertling.

The other day, her marriage was decided.

A few days ago, a letter arrived from her. She asked me to meet her and let her complain.

“Sorry. I thought that it would be nice if your cousin saw me as a well-to-do person, so I was more focused on dressing up than usual.”

“……So that was why.”

In addition, she told me to not tell Sieg. She was bothered that she might be disliked by Sieg if she said that.

Sieg stopped moving while staring at the ground.

I don’t know what I should do in these situations.

I could only feel sorry.

As we were doing that, it was time for me to go out. However, I agonised whether it was alright for me to go out now.

Just in case, I stopped by once more.

“Er~m, Sieg-san, I have to go now.”

“I’ll go too.”

“Eh!?”

“Where are you meeting her?”

“Ah, well……”

“Where?”

“Th-The town café.”

Surprisingly, Sieg said, “my cousin is beautiful so I don’t want to let you meet her alone.”

Even though I told her that she is an unmarried woman accompanied by a maid, she did not let go of my hand.

It’s probably just me getting verbally bashed up by her cousin.

I don’t have a shred of worry.

Rather, if Sieg comes along, the other party will be returning home still frustrated.

So it would be good for Sieg to wait at home.

“Sieg.”

”……”

When I said that I will return soon while caressing her hand, she let my hand go.

Since it felt bad to just leave like this, I approached her to give her a goodbye kiss.

Before my lips could touch her cheek, the docile Sieg brushed me away.

I was shocked that I was still hated even though I was being considerate, but she wasn’t outright rejecting me.

The moment I whispered words of love into her ear, her cheeks were dyed red. Sieg with her eyes tightly closed is the cutest. I kissed her lips.

I went out even as I felt sad. The footsteps were heavy after all.

The cousin was already at the designated café.

She was an attractive beauty, so I could tell from far away. She had three maids accompanying her.

“Ah, hello~ Good afternoon.”

I trotted into the store and quickly greeted the cousin while taking off my hat.

I wanted to meet you, when I said that in a frail voice, she glared at me.

“Sit down.”

“Yes, thank you.”

I sat down while smiling slightly.

I ordered fruit juice from the waiter who came to receive the order. Then, “You’re ordering that when you’re a gentleman,” she said in a denouncing tone.

What is a gentleman’s drink, I pondered seriously.

The gaze from the front was not the only gaze piercing me.

From above, the gazes of the three maids standing behind the cousin were headed at me. Could it be, that they are also ladies admiring Sieg-sama. It was a little scary, so I couldn’t confirm.

I quenched the thirst from the fruit juice the waiter brought, and then moved onto the main topic.

“So, what might you want?”

“I heard that Sieglinde-oneesama became pregnant. Is that true?”

“Ah, erm, yes, fortunately.”

Sieg, she gets called oneesama. Unexpected. I also felt like calling her ‘oneesama’.

From imagining her playing with her cousin, I felt much more relaxed.

Maybe because I was grinning too much, she got angry. All I could do was to apologise.

“I cannot forgive you……!”

I felt a fear I never felt before from the beauty trembling in fury.

I lowered my head that my forehead almost hit the table, and waited for her to calm down.

“What part of oneesama did you come to like?”

“!”

“Don’t you dare say that you just liked her appearance.”

Of course, I fell in love at first sight.

The moment I saw Sieg, “She’s the one. I found her!” was the thought I got, and my body moved naturally.

Would that mean I proposed to her because I liked her appearance? I’m not sure.

However, I can say for sure.

“I…… I love everything about Sieg.”

I revealed all of my heart, which I did not even show to her, to the cousin.

I got embarrassed in the middle, that I ended up stammering a bit, but I could get it through.

“……and that’s how it is.”

“……”

The cousin had her fan open, covering half of her face, so I couldn’t tell her expression.

However, I didn’t feel the piercing glares anymore, so does that mean I am forgiven?

“Ah, erm, other than that, any other questions?”

“……ries.”

“Pardon?”

“Let me hear stories about oneesama.”

“!”

She told me that she wanted to know how Sieg has been doing recently.

I gladly recounted how she was in the remote land.

How Sieg captivated the women of the village, how she greeted Emmerich with a roundhouse kick, how she stopped a rampaging reindeer, how she shot an elk that was far away with great gun skills, I told her such stories.

The cousin listened with a gleeful expression.

“That’s nice. Oneesama found a relaxed life in a foreign land without having to restrain herself.”

She told me,

Sieg would not be able to be a nobleman’s wife since she did not receive any education as a lady.

Even if she was doing well, the cousin was worried that Sieg would have been holding it in every day.

“I had definitely thought that she was living a hard life in a foreign land…… However, that was my mistake.”

All along, she was afraid of meeting Sieg, she murmured.

Apparently she was worried that Sieg would have withered away in the harsh environment of living in a foreign country.

In addition, she pestered her father to learn how Sieg came to marry. She was worried that Sieg might have got herself into an unwanted marriage because of her.

The cousin smiled after hearing how Sieg was living. I also felt relieved, too.

After that, I listened to Sieg’s exploits during her years of military service, that we lost tract of time. In the end, we were just worried about the person we liked.

I came to when the sun started setting.

“Uwa!”

“What might it be?”

“Well, truth be told……”

I confessed that I was caught red-handed by Sieg right before I came.

“My, that’s some big trouble!”

After saying that, the cousin Hildegard-san followed me to the house.

Upon seeing Sieg’s face, she started crying.

She said that she did not have the courage to go meet her in a trembling voice.

Also, she apologised for today.

Sieg gently embraced Hildegard-san and patted her head. I felt moved by the sisterly love.

After the storm passed, I apologised to Sieg once more.

“Sieg, erm, I’m sorry.”

“No, I got what’s going on.”

“……Yes.”

Sieg also said that she was sorry for suspecting me.

“Hildegard is a beauty, so,”

She was uneasy that I would be distracted.

I brushed up her alluring red hair on her cheek and whispered into her ear.

“……No other women than Sieg comes into my sight though.”

I continually stared at Sieg looking downwards in embarrassment.

Like so, I was able to safely survive the problem of Sieg and her cousin.

Also, this was a story of the day when I resolved to never make Sieg cry again.