I needed to laugh a little, but not too much—a suppressed, spontaneous laugh. That was the key. I wracked my brain, but the tension made it hard to think straight.
As I watched Edwin’s reaction with growing panic, he turned his head away, ignoring me.
He had never avoided my gaze, even when he was angry, so my heart sank.
‘He must be really mad this time. What do I do?’
My heart pounded so hard I could barely breathe.
Then, “Pfft.”
I heard an unexpected sound from Edwin. I stared at him in confusion, only to see that his sharp eyes had softened into a smile.
“Pfft, haha.”
Edwin couldn’t hold back his laughter, so he removed his hand from his mouth and shook with laughter.
“Ed?” I called his name, bewildered by the situation.
He cupped my face with his large hand and rested his forehead against mine. His eyes, now crinkled with laughter, were brimming with amusement.
“You’re cute.”
I blinked slowly, caught off guard by his unexpected words. Trying to understand Edwin’s mind was often harder than solving the seven greatest math problems of the world, but this time, I was utterly lost.
“Do I have to laugh again?” I asked cautiously, sensing that Edwin was in a good mood.
“Can you laugh exactly the same way?” he asked, tilting his head slightly. When I hesitated and shook my head, he chuckled even more.
By this point, it was clear that Edwin had been teasing me.
“Were you teasing me?” I asked a question I wouldn’t have dared ask in the past, but now I had the contract. I placed my hand over the pocket where I kept the contract tucked into my skirt. Just that action made me feel more at ease.
During this trip, I learned from hard experience to keep the contract on me at all times. Edwin, noticing my hand in my pocket, seemed to know what was inside and let out a long, playful smile.
“I never teased you.”
“Then why do you keep laughing at me?” I asked.
“Because you’re cute.”
He smiled brightly. I was teetering between being flustered and feeling annoyed.
“Why did you make me laugh earlier, then?”
“Because it was cute, too.”
Every conversation ended with “cute.” It felt pointless to argue further, so I pouted and kept my mouth shut.
Edwin turned me to face him. “It was the first time I’ve seen you laugh so adorably.”
He lightly touched my lips, and I couldn’t help but feel ticklish, my lips twitching upward in response.
“The way your lips moved so subtly when you laughed was just too cute.”
Edwin tried to mimic my earlier laugh by pulling up the corners of my lips.
“It’s strange, isn’t it? When other people laugh like that, I hate it so much. But when you laugh, it’s cute.”
His gaze turned cold as if imagining someone else laughing that way, but then his expression softened once again.
“I wanted to see you laugh like that again, but it wasn’t quite the same. How can I make you laugh like that again?”
He furrowed his smooth brow as if contemplating a very serious matter. Fearing we might spend the entire day stuck on this subject, I gently massaged his frown away.
“You’ll have plenty of chances to see it again. We’re going to be together from now on, aren’t we?”
I smiled brightly, and Edwin shuddered slightly before pulling me into a tight embrace, his face buried in my neck.
His warm breath tickled my skin, causing me to tense up.
“Don’t ever laugh like that in front of anyone else. I’ll want to kill them.”
His whispered words, spoken through clenched teeth, sent a chill down my spine. I sighed inwardly, wondering how things had escalated like this, and remained still in his arms until he calmed down.
After a while, the sound of horse hooves was replaced by the chatter of people outside the window. I glanced out to see more elaborate buildings coming into view.
Edwin must have calmed down as he finally lifted his head. “Next time, you’d better show me that laugh again,” he said, placing a soft kiss on my forehead.
I nodded, and Edwin turned me toward the window, hugging me from behind.
“The capital is flashy, I’ll give it that,” he muttered.
“We must be in the city centre now,” I remarked, noting the difference in scenery. The buildings were taller, some three stories or more, and the people’s clothing was far more extravagant than in the areas we had passed earlier.
As I watched the passing scenery with interest, a long line of people caught my eye.
“Look at that. There are so many people,” I said.
Edwin glanced out the window and lightly tapped the carriage wall, slowing it down.
“Are you curious?”
“I just think it’s interesting. I’ve never seen such a long line. I wonder what it’s for?”
Even during the Pellisena Festival, I hadn’t seen a line that long. Maybe it was for food or decorations? I was curious about what made people in this world so excited.
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