It Seems Like I Fell into a Reverse Harem Game - Chapter 9-4

Volume 2 Chapter 9.4

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in the room from before. Even after our fight, he’d brought me back to the room and even laid me down onto the mattress.

I sat up, my hair and clothes disheveled. The early morning sun was just beginning to peek into the room. For a second, I blankly wondered why the light was so blinding. Then I remembered that I’d more or less torn off one of the curtains.

I was debating whether I should hang it back up when the door burst open.

I hadn’t been able to hear it before, but the sound of children drifted into the room now. When I lifted my head, I saw Sieger standing at the doorway in an apron.

Our eyes met, and we were both momentarily speechless.

Sieger broke the silence, breathing out a sigh before entering the room. He took a thermometer out of his apron pocket and crouched down next to me.

“Say, ‘ah’.”

“What did you just-”

I opened my mouth to speak, and Sieger stuck the thermometer between my lips.

“Close.”

I reluctantly closed my mouth. Sieger checked my temperature, then stood up quickly.

“About what happened…”

“Come eat.”

Then, just like that, he left. Outside the room, a child let out a wail. I imagined that they had tripped and fallen. I heard Sieger begin to lecture someone.

I stood up shakily. When Sieger had said to “come eat,” I had realized I was starving.

As soon as I stepped outside the room, several children covered in dirt bolted in my direction. Because the hallway was narrow, I quickly raised my arms to let them through, and the children dashed past me. One of the children, however, barreled into me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I awkwardly returned the child’s hug, but she merely burst into giggles and scurried away.

It was a girl. But last I saw, there were only two boys. The number of kids had increased while I wasn’t looking.

I walked out slowly and saw Sieger placing dishes on the table. He raised his head to glance at me before turning his back.

I felt sheepish, hollow, and grateful all at once. I was just about to say something when it happened. There was the unforgettable patter of those tiny feet, before the girl from before collided into me from behind.

When I turned to look, the girl giggled as before and scampered away. The children huddled around the table. Their hands were the only part of them that were clean. They followed Sieger’s hands with their eyes. They must have washed their hands in the bathroom…

Once Sieger began ladling soup into the bowls, I discreetly slipped into the only empty seat left.

When I did, one of the boys stared up at me. It was the boy who had told me not to go out because it was dangerous. He said,

“But that’s Sieger’s spot?”

“…”

The boy seated next to him, just a handbreadth shorter, repeated after him like a parrot,

“Sieger! It’s Sieger’s spot! Ow!”

It looked like the girl who had bumped into me had kicked the boy’s shin under the table. The girl met my eyes and grinned at me. There was another kid next to her who looked just like her, despite being unusually unexpressive.

“Then-”

“Just stay in your seat.”

Sieger’s voice cut in from behind. He put a hand on my chair and placed the dish before me. The soup smelled amazing.

“Then what about you?”

I lifted my head, and he glanced at me. But he didn’t respond.

He went into the other room and dragged out a desk chair. He set the chair at the table across from me, sat down, and began eating.

Maybe it was because mealtimes had been so extravagant up for me until this point, but it was an unfamiliar sight. Crowding around a table to have a meal together felt like a long-forgotten memory.

“If you don’t want to eat…”

Sieger leaned over to take my dish, but I gripped it with both hands. When our eyes met, I gave a firm shake of my head.

There was a bad taste in my mouth as I checked that Sieger had sat back in his seat. And then I decided to leave the thinking for after I’d eaten.

***

Sieger finished his morning patrol, and was relieved by the next shift. He was still the only sentry with the title of knight, and the other sentries were uncomfortable around him. Of course, he himself had no motivation to alleviate that discomfort.

Sieger had felt a tugging sensation at the back of his head the entire time he was patrolling. It was why he was in a rotten mood. This was made worse by the fact that he knew the source of that feeling which caused him to keep turning around.

That princess. He had left the princess and the kids together.

The palace was as peaceful as always, even though the princess wasn’t in the tower. He didn’t know what he had done wrong to be saddled with the princess. Sieger could only let out a sigh.

He had told the neighbors to peek over the wall now and again, so he didn’t expect anything terrible to happen. But he couldn’t help but increase his walking pace anyway.

He had just entered the alleyway his gate opened into when he heard a familiar sobbing. Sieger gritted his teeth and broke into a run.

He regretted trusting the princess. He hated himself for it. That was when he saw it.

“…”

When he barged in through the gate, he witnessed a sight he could have never predicted.

“What… is going on here?”

A shovel and piles of dirt were tossed haphazardly around the yard, while the princess was crouched in a shallow hole in the ground.

The youngest was plopped in front of her and sobbing in earnest, but all four of the children were in tears as they threw straw on top of the princess.

The princess didn’t seem to think anything of it. She only tried to dissuade them when the children attempted to pour something edible, sheep’s milk, on top of her.

“…What exactly is going on?”

“The miss is going to die soon! Uwaaah.”

The boy ran into Sieger’s arms. Sieger picked the child up out of habit and turned around to look at the princess in incredulity.

“What does that mean?”

The princess looked up at him and shrugged her shoulders.

“As you can see. I was playing with them.”

***

This was the full story. Though it wasn’t much of a story.

I was lying near the window, lifelessly looking out at the front yard.

I didn’t know what to do anymore.

My fever came and went throughout the day.

I had discovered something. My senses had dulled and I couldn’t feel pain. I couldn’t tell when I dropped things or bumped into them as if I had been injected with anesthetic all over my body.

So I decided to not do anything and stay lying down. Now and then I would see the children playing in the yard through the window.

At that moment, the girl who had tackled me plopped down by my side. She stared at me intently.

“Hi?”

“My name is Sia.”

“I see.”

“And this is my little sister. We were born on the same day.”

“I see.”

I had deduced that was the case since they looked so alike.

“Did you come here to marry Sieger?”

“…”

It felt like the conversation had skipped ahead a few steps, but I answered steadily,

“No.”

“Then… did Sieger pick you up like us?”

“Pick me up?”

“Yes.”

I swayed as I sat up.

“Sieger’s not your brother by blood?”

“Yes. Me and Nua have blond hair. Sieger has curly hair.”

Her comparison seemed a little off, but I understood.

“Does Sieger treat you well?”

“Yes. That’s why I’ve been so happy lately.”

“Lately?”

“I thought he abandoned us. We slept over at the next door neighbor’s house every day. Sieger only came at night sometimes. But now he comes every day. He even makes us breakfast.”

In other words, he had been forced to say his farewells because of the leash put on him by the princess. I was in awe of how he still managed to climb over the palace walls every night in spite of that.

Then, I lost interest and lied back down. But Sia only scooted closer to me. Not wanting to deal with her, I pretended to be asleep.

“Are you alone too?”

“…”

But my eyes opened when I heard those words. I quietly looked up at Sia. Her beautiful blond hair and clear eyes reminded me of him. I suddenly felt like tearing up, and I clapped my hand over my eyes.

“We were all alone, but now we’re not.”

Sia placed her tiny hand over the hand I had over my eyes.

“So you’re not alone either. Sieger will protect us.”

“…Protect us?”

I lowered my hand from my eyes and grasped Sia’s.

“Yes.”

Her eyes didn’t contain a hint of doubt. And at that moment, the older of the boys sneaked up on her and pulled her hair.

“Ow!”

Sia’s angelic face instantly morphed into a scowl and she began yanking on the boy’s hair. Now the little boy who followed the older around everywhere began to cry.

When I had come to my senses, I was trapped in the middle of a jostle of children. Fearing that I would get stepped on and crushed, I quickly stood up. The room flipped upside down.

I hit my knee on something and collapsed to the floor in an unsightly pile. The children froze and opened their eyes wide. I sat back up, embarrassed by those frightened looks.

The older boy placed a hand on my knee and leaned in. Then, like he was telling me some great secret, he whispered,

“Are you Sieger’s bride?”

I had thought he was going to ask me if I was okay. I replied,

“No.”

“Then, is your time limited?”

“Limited?”

That was possible. He wasn’t completely off the mark.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Really?”

“This lady said she’s going to die,”

The boy shouted and ran outside with the younger one right on his tail. There was a large racket, after which he stuck his head back in the house. Brandishing a shovel, he said,

“We’ll bury you in the front yard!”

It was such a threatening sentence, but he said it so cheerfully.

“Are you going to die?”

I was about to refute it, but decided it would be too tiresome.

“Everyone dies someday.”

Sia looked at me with new conviction and dashed out of the house, Nua’s hand in hers.

Before I knew it, I was alone again. Just as I was about to lie back down, the youngest boy ran over to me and threw a flower at my face. It was obviously from the yard, probably picked just moments ago. The flower fluttered in the air and landed on my neck.

“…Thanks.”

“Shune.”

“…”

“Shune!”

“Is that your name?”

The child nodded his head energetically. Blinking, I said again,

“Thanks, Shune.”

Shune crawled on top of my belly.

And that’s how things progressed to the point that Sieger witnessed.

It wasn’t like I hadn’t thought of stopping them. But the children’s excitement gave me pause. They looked like they had just found something to entertain them for a while.

They went from door to door in the alleyway to find sheep’s milk to bury with the corpse, found straw to keep me warm, and diligently dug a hole that came up to my ankles, until their faces were red from exertion.

I decided to play along if it meant I had some use left.

I crouched in the pitifully shallow hole, and Sia sat down opposite me, sheep’s milk in hand.

“What’s your name, miss?”

I had one. But I had forgotten it.

And so I hesitated for a while before responding,

“Ria.”

Sia blinked her eyes and laughed.

“Your name kind of rhymes with ours. It’s like we’re sisters.”

At last, the funeral ceremony learned from secondhand experience commenced. They didn’t seem to care all that much that I wasn’t dead yet.

The children began to tear up.

They walked in circles around me. Periodically, they would pull up weeds from the yard, wet them in the sheep’s milk, and throw them at me. They also threw straw. Finally, they got into it and began crying.

At that point, I was honestly a little taken aback. But I couldn’t just back out. And so, I stayed sitting.

Shune in particular sobbed like it was the end of the world. I happened to see his tear- and snot-stained face from the front and couldn’t take my eyes off because of how cute he was.

Then, I became curious and asked him,

“Are you that sad about me dying even though you don’t know who I am?”

Shune didn’t seem the slightest bit interested in what I had to say. I rest my chin on my knees and mumbled,

“How sweet.”

That was when Sieger barged in.

Sieger looked like he didn’t even want to know.

He strode over and pulled me up, before rubbing the children’s faces dry with his hands. The children bawled that it hurt but Sieger pretended not to hear them.

He was quick to sort out the situation. He seemed used to it, putting away what needed to be put away, and throwing away what needed to be thrown away.

The hole was filled up with a couple shovels. I stood there blankly until he grabbed my hand and put me away into the room. He definitely gave me a look like I was something to be put away.

Soon, the four children were put away into the room as well.

Sieger came in last and narrowed his eyes at us. He had the half-full pot of sheep’s milk in his hand.

“Don’t move. And don’t make any more trouble, got it?”

“She said she’s going to die!”

Sieger gave the child a very stern look, the first I had seen.

“She’s not going to die.”

He glanced in my direction, then left the room.

And how can you be so sure?

After that, Sieger left the house again, saying he would go buy something to eat. I could assume that he had rushed here, and hadn’t had time to get groceries. He must have been quite nervous about leaving me alone with the children.

And maybe, he wasn’t anymore.

***

As soon as Sieger left the house, he ran into the grandpa from next door. Cane in hand, the old man hobbled over to Sieger and grasped his arm.

“What’s the matter?”

“Shut your piehole for a second and come over here!”

Without knowing the reason why, Sieger found himself being pulled into a secluded part of the alleyway. The old man tugged Sieger’s ear close, like he had some grand secret to tell, and whispered,

“That young woman… who is she?”

Sieger was a little taken back.

“What are you talking about?:

“I was just wondering… if she’s sick.”

“Sick? Did she faint again during the day?”

“No, not that.”

The old man responded like Sieger was hard of hearing and shook his cane.

“Is her head… is her head sick?”

“What?”

“I peeked over the fence today because you asked me to keep an eye on the kids…and there was a beautiful young woman… with a certain air about her… anyway, I saw her sitting on the landing of the stairs absentmindedly.”

“So?”

“So I ended up staring at her. I didn’t even realize I was doing it.”

“…So?”

“Then our eyes met. And she got up, all shaky like, and you know the sacks we use when we shell chestnuts? She picked that up from the floor, dusted it off, and put it on her head.”

Sieger covered his eyes with one hand.

“And she put out her hands like she couldn’t see what was in front of her – well, of course she couldn’t – walked to the landing, and plopped herself right back down. Oh, she did almost trip over a rock and lose her balance… She was very… strange…”

“I got it. Don’t worry about that woman.”

“How can I not? You’ve finally taken in a full-grown adult. And you can’t even move somewhere nicer because you have to feed the kids-“

“Like I said, it’s not like that.”

“Her head is like, that, right? I’m right, aren’t I? But… is she maybe the daughter of someone high up or-“

“Gramps.”

“What?”

“Don’t let my warning go out one ear. You don’t want to be caught up in this.”

“Caught up in what?”

The old man looked like he wanted further explanation, but Sieger kept silent. Instead, he said he had to go buy something, said his farewells, and turned around.

A little while later, as he was entering the gate to his house with the groceries, he saw the children hanging off of the wall in a line. The neighbors were probably having meat for dinner. He could smell it from over here.

Sieger glanced down at the food he had bought and clicked his tongue. He told himself he would buy them a whole pile of meat as soon as he got his pay. He was about to head in when he noticed that there was one missing.

“Where’s the woman?”

“The miss? I don’t know!”

“Ansi. Stop smelling the meat and get down here.”

Unable to detect the slightest hint of lightheartedness in Sieger’s tone, Ansi obediently jumped down. The remaining three also scampered up to Sieger because of the shift in the mood.

“When did she disappear?”

“She was with us until just a moment ago…”

“The miss said she had to go somewhere real quick.”

“Where?”

Sia shrugged her shoulders.

“She said she would be quick. She didn’t say anything else.”

If she had gone just like that… He had been relieved of a burden.

But why did it feel like his stomach was turning inside out?

She never acted according to his wishes. From the start, there was no way that he would be able to catch her, even if he reached out his hand to do so.

Since when had he started to pay attention to the woman? Sieger looked down at the object in his hand. A blue veil. The color of her eyes.

He had thought she would need something to hide her face… That’s why he bought it.

“What are you doing there?”

Sieger was caught off guard because he had been so deep in thought. When he turned around, he saw the woman. She had the curtain stylishly wrapped around her and was holding an armful of something.

“You weren’t scolding the children, were you?”

“Where were you?”

“You say that like I live here,”

The princess said as she calmly walked over.

“I bought meat.”

“…Meat?”

“Do you not know what meat is?”

“Wow! It’s meat!”

In an instant, the children bolted for the princess like an outgoing tide.

“All of that is meat?”

“The kids were stuck to the wall like vines, positively drooling, but the people next door only stared at them and wouldn’t cut them off a slice. So…”

“Why?”

Seeing the veil Sieger was absentmindedly holding in his hand, the princess grinned and whipped off the curtain she was wearing.

“This is…”

Sieger tried to hide the veil behind his back, but the princess caught the end of it before he could.

The blue veil slipped out of his hands, and was draped over the princess’s head. The veil fluttered along some invisible line, and behind it, the princess blinked her eyes.

Then she smiled.

Sieger gazed at the woman who stood quietly before him with a veil over her head. Veils… were what brides wore at their weddings.

“Why’d you get it?”

“…”

“Instead of asking that, this is what I should say.”

“…”

“Thanks.”

Sia hung onto the princess’s dress and said,

“You look like a bride at her wedding.”

The princess didn’t deny it. And Sieger hated that she didn’t.