"Threatening me?"
While Shade was chatting with Angelina, the middle-aged nobleman in a cowboy hat—who was actually a count and had originally been leading the second group—suddenly slowed down. Then, while kissing his female companion on horseback, he turned toward the slope by the roadside. Their hands had even begun wandering to indescribable places.
Shade had no idea what they would do next, because he had already passed them and inexplicably moved up another place.
"I knew it. Elder Sister must have caught some leverage on you and threatened you with it, right? Like—"
The little princess sitting in front of Shade continued, then pinched her throat and altered her voice:
"Knight, you wouldn't want your cat to suddenly disappear, would you?"
She tried hard to imitate Leisha's voice, and Shade no longer knew which part of this was more shocking.
He only heard laughter and teasing from the others behind him, followed by the count's curses from beneath the slope, growing fainter with distance:
"Compared to this damned race, aren't young ladies more interesting? Go ride your horses! Don't send anyone looking for me later!"
Perhaps most people would agree with him.
Seeing that Shade said nothing, Angelina continued:
"How could a gentleman as upright, kind, honest, and brave as you suddenly fall for Elder Sister Leisha? She doesn't have that kind of charm."
She had probably underestimated Leisha's charm. And since she certainly did not know the secret between Leisha and Dorothy, she could not have guessed that Shade and Leisha's story went far beyond what she had seen. Moreover, whenever she saw Shade and Leisha together, Leisha always appeared relatively "dominant," which was why Angelina had developed this misconception.
Shade wanted to clear up the misunderstanding, but the dirt road ahead was extremely difficult to travel. The