20 Puppy Love

Raisa seemed to calm down somewhat by the end of the carriage ride, though it still seemed she was somewhat insecure about how people looked at her. Regardless, that was to be expected.

It wasn't like some pep talk was just going to suddenly make her change.

Upon stepping off the carriage though, I stopped thinking about those things and marveled at the place displayed in front of me.

It was... unnecessarily huge.

I knew that in reality, things like castles and noble manors weren't actually that huge during medieval times on Earth. Of course, it wasn't like they were small, but people usually thought they were bigger than they actually were.

My manor seemed to affirm this, as it was essentially the size of a few normal houses put together.

On the other hand, the one in front of me seemed to be the product of the modern person's imagination.

...Shit, was Raisa actually a big shot?

I weakly lifted a finger and pointed at the place.

"Isn't that, like, a little big?"

Raisa tilted her head to the side with a somewhat curious expression.

"I suppose, but it's not even as large as the other archduke's manors."

My eyebrow twitched when I heard that.

"...Wait, you're saying your family has the title of archduke?"

Raisa gave a small nod.

"Yes, one of the three archdukes in this kingdom. Isn't that common knowledge among nobles?"

Fuck. And here I thought I was the big shot. Why the hell was I acting all high and mighty before? This... is just a tad bit awkward.

"...Am I supposed to call you some title, like Royal Highness or something?"

Raisa hurriedly waved her hands.

"No, no! Of course not! Nobody does!"

"Your Royal Highness, are we to take proper preparations?"

A maid had come up and said those words. I looked at her, while she looked back at me, trying her best to prevent her face from twitching, while failing miserably.

While blushing rather intensely, she flailed her arms at the maid aggressively.

"Yes, do it! But read the mood next time!"

The maid seemed startled, but not in a way that showed she was scared of Raisa.

"E-Eh? Your Royal Highness, did you not tell me to ask you this every time you came off the carriage?"

Raisa forcefully pushed her away.

"Shut up! Shut up! Just go away!"

The maid stumbled away but still gave one concerned look over her shoulder as she hurried off.

She looked back at me, still flustered, and had no idea what to say.

I raised a finger.

"Um, it sounds like I'm supposed to call you Royal Highness."

Raisa held her head down in anguish before grabbing onto my hand and pulling me closer. There was a rather forced smile on her face.

"Just call me Raisa, ok? Please."

I blinked a few times, wondering why that was such a big deal to her. Shouldn't she be used to it by now if all the servants always called her that?

Well, it's none of my business. Not that I cared enough to find out in the first place.

"Alright, Raisa..."

She calmed down somewhat, but still looked a little jittery. Raisa grabbed onto my hand and then pulled me along.

"Come on!"

I stumbled after her, but just a few moments after bringing me closer, she suddenly froze up.

"Um, er... wouldn't you like to admire the garden first?"

I looked at her for a few moments. Didn't she call me bad at lying before? What was this display? You couldn't be more suspicious...

Regardless, I decided to entertain her.

"Sure."

We walked around the manor, making our way over to a garden. I must say it wasn't like the ones I was used to because despite it only being a garden there were high walls around it and even guards by the entrance to it.

Upon entering, I was greeted by the sight of rows and rows of flowers, orderly placed around the place. It did look quite pretty, though it also felt just a little too robotic, like being as efficient as possible.

While dragging me along, she began explaining all of the different flowers in the garden, with their names and what they represented. Apparently, they were supposed to be used as gifts to other nobles and the type of flower would also hold some sort of message.

It sounded kinda complicated, begging the question of why you couldn't just say the words instead of needing a particular flower to communicate.

After introducing all the flowers, Raisa just stood there awkwardly, occasionally looking at me before fumbling about.

"Um... so... um, we can also..."

I cleared my throat and waved my hand in front of her face a few times.

"Um... are you ok?"

Raisa jumped before letting out a laugh and scratching the back of her head.

"Ah! Yeah, sorry. I-I swear I'm usually not like this! Sorry for not having more flowers to show you!"

...That was a weird thing to apologize for.

I raised my hand to stop her.

"Um, I think you're overreacting a little bit. You need to stall for time for whatever you're doing, right?"

Raisa flinched.

"E-Eh? Well... m-maybe."

I leaned against a nearby wall and gestured for her to come over.

"Then we can just talk."

Though surprised, Raisa went over and similarly leaned on the wall.

"A-Ah, what am I supposed to talk about?"

I tapped my chin a few times.

"Well, you said earlier that you wouldn't normally be like this. What do you think is making you like this?"

Raisa's eyes widened slightly. She then stopped and began thinking to herself.

"I may be feeling under the weather. My body is not acting like it is normally. F-For some reason my heart is beating so quickly."

...Ah, shit. It appears the so-called puppy love has come over Raisa, and the target of it is me. Unless I'm just being unimaginably cocky and misunderstanding the situation, of course.

If only it was Minori... I mean uh, never mind.

Seeing as she understands absolutely nothing about what she's going through shows that it's probably her first love.

That was kinda surprising to me considering her age. Regardless, when it came to first loves, it was usually more random than anything else. There was very often no rhyme or reason, so I wasn't going to get all full of myself and think she liked me because I was amazing or something like that.

Generally speaking, puppy love was more annoying compared to anything else. And that was for both parties. One side would get dragged into the antics of the one in puppy love, while the person themselves would waste all their time on pointless things, before realizing they never actually liked the person that much.

How could I stop this?

I tapped my chin a few times.

"I suppose maybe your state now is because you are under the weather. Oh, by the way, I heard of something that a person called the 'mere exposure effect'. Apparently, just spending time around someone else can make you feel romantic feelings for them, but they aren't actually because you love the person."

Raisa nodded a few times.

"Ah, I see."

Then, she took a step ever so slightly closer to me. She also leaned a little forward, trying to get into my field of vision.

This...

I didn't tell you this so that you could try to seduce me! I said it to help you realize your own damn love is fake!

I felt a headache coming on.

With my fist next to my mouth, I coughed rather violently in an attempt to get her attention.

"I think that is a rather annoying effect, after all, it makes you fall in love with people that you don't actually care about."

Raisa nodded once more.

"A-Ah."

She then hurriedly ducked back, getting out of my field of vision before stepping away. But after a few moments, she ended up taking a step closer anyway.

I...

It seems I have underestimated how much puppy love clouds one's judgment. Now that I think about it, trying to snip puppy love in the bud probably wasn't going to work considering how intense it is.

Ah, well. It will wear off in time. At the very least I get to have a girl's affection for a bit.

It was probably a bad thing her first experience with love was this late in life, but I suppose better late than never. Once she gets over it, she'll probably be mature enough to handle real things.

I scratched the side of my head before sighing.

"Well anyway, how is school? You get everything in those lessons?"

I couldn't help but feel like an incredibly disconnected parent desperately trying to relate to their child. Thankfully, Raisa didn't seem to notice how cringe my words were.

"O-Oh, it's not too bad so far. I've been studying so much for the entrance exams that this feels much slower than before. Thankfully I got a perfect score."

Her eyes suddenly lit up. She interlocked her fingers and held her hands up in front of her.

"Ah, does that mean you're willing to teach me the things I don't know?"

A tired feeling assaulted my mind when she said that. I could tell Raisa was definitely just going to pretend to not understand everything and make me go through it with her.

"No teaching! I already told you that!"

Raisa let out a sheepish giggle before backing off.

"Ah, yeah, right! Sorry, I forgot!"

I tilted my head to the side before asking another question.

"Why did you want to get a perfect score for the entrance exam?"

Raisa was originally smiling, but it gradually relaxed to a neutral expression after my question. It took her a few seconds to gather her words. She ended up sighing before her explanation.

"It's because the magic talent of our family has been deteriorating for quite some time. I heard many years ago that we had the strongest magic power of the nobles, and wanting to keep it that way, many relationships were contained within the family."

Damn. She really just spoke of incest so lightly. Though, I guess incest isn't too big of a deal during these times. Still, I couldn't help but internally recoil from disgust.

Raisa grabbed onto her arm and looked down at the ground.

"But despite all of that, for some reason, the magic talent of our family has deteriorated greatly. As time passed, it has been getting harder for us to bear children."

My eyelid twitched. Wasn't that one of the consequences of incest? Should I tell her?

...I'll just hold off. Telling her with her puppy love state might make her get the wrong idea.

Raisa slowly shook her head.

"My magic talent has been the lowest yet, so I couldn't make it to Class S. But I still wanted to prove myself and become a strong mage. Making it to Class A at least was a bare requirement for that."

I gave a small nod.

"I see."

Raisa turned to me with curiosity.

"Ah, now that I think about it you must be in a similar position. You must also want to become a powerful mage, so you studied really hard!"

She had a smile on her face, seemingly pleased with the conclusion she came to. As for me, I felt a little lost. She had indeed hit the nail on the head, the only problem was that the person she was referring to was actually gone and replaced with me instead.

In the end, I only remained there in silence.

Raisa hopped over to my front and raised a hand high in the air.

"Hey, hey, let's do a high five in hopes that we both become powerful mages!"

A bitter smile formed on my face. I should probably high-five that hand to maintain my character, but I didn't really want to go that far to pretend to be someone else.

So I just left her hanging.

Raisa blinked a few times before puffing up her cheeks.

"Hey! You're supposed to hit the palm of my hand with yours!"

I tilted my head to the side and held it up with my fist. What kind of excuse could I make up? Hmm, well-

"I know, I know. It's just... I'm second-guessing my desire for power."