The space under the bed was hardly roomy. To avoid giving himself away, Bell kept his body aligned with the bedframe and lay sideways on the floor.
He propped his cheek in one hand and watched the room.
His view was limited to the head of the bed, and he could not move, but Bell still saw Riveria close the door after entering, then walk straight to the edge of the bed.
Under the glow of the Magic Stone lamp, the black pantyhose on her slender legs gave off a faint sheen, like scattered starlight dusted over black velvet, accentuating Riveria-sama's fair, delicate feet.
"Riveria-sama, I can only use it while evading for now, but I can use Concurrent Chanting!"
Lefiya happily reported her progress.
She had been standing respectfully by the bed, but Riveria patted the spot beside her, gesturing for Lefiya to sit.
A moment later, Lefiya, wearing white stockings, bashfully sat down beside Riveria.
"Is that so? Sacrificing offense and defense for Concurrent Chanting... Did Bell Cranel teach you that?"
Riveria immediately understood what kind of training the two of them had been doing.
Unlike her own teaching approach, achieving quick results in just half a day was indeed the sort of training only that boy would think of.
The moment Lefiya heard Bell's name, she flinched instinctively.
She quickly recovered and said nervously, "Riveria-sama! It's not his fault. I'll definitely keep working hard!"
Lefiya's current Concurrent Chanting was still extremely crude and half-baked. The boy had chosen this unorthodox method to take care of her feelings and give her confidence.
For some mages, that might have been enough to make them complacent, sending them farther down a path of shallow understanding. Even if her current path was not entirely correct, Lefiya did not want the boy to shoulder the blame for it.
"If you understand that much, then there's no problem."
Riveria's tone was gentle. "If anything, I've been too strict all this time. I should learn from Bell Cranel and get better at using both the stick and the carrot."
Riveria believed that, with Lefiya's aptitude, she would certainly master true Concurrent Chanting one day. Precisely because of that, she had always pushed her education forward without holding anything back.
But Riveria had overlooked one thing. The process would take a great deal of time, and without any short-term reward in sight, Lefiya would inevitably lose confidence. The boy had given Lefiya exactly what she needed most, while also making her promise not to grow arrogant and to keep moving forward with patience.
Neither side was wrong. It was simply that the changes and influence brought by Lefiya's encounter with that boy had gone beyond Riveria's expectations. That was all.
"No, without Riveria-sama's guidance all this time, I probably wouldn't even be able to control clusters of Magic Power properly!"
Lefiya hurriedly replied.
"Hehe, you really have grown."
Riveria's smile was sincere.
Outside Lefiya's line of sight, she lightly raised herself onto her toes and slipped off her right boot. Her toes slowly stretched beneath the pantyhose, their faint outline like a crescent moon submerged in the night.
"....."
Bell instantly realized something was very wrong.
Riveria had always been dignified and elegant. She would never do something so improper.
And if there was any variable here, it could only be him, hiding under the bed.
Just as Bell hesitated over whether he should hurry out and confess, Riveria made her move.
"So, I suppose this proves the saying that a girl in love has limitless potential, doesn't it?"
Riveria spoke as if teasing her.
"N-no, that's not it?! Bell Cranel and I aren't in that kind of relationship!"
Lefiya protested shyly.
Although Bell could not see her expression, he could easily imagine that the golden-haired elf's face must be bright red.
Lefiya seemed to realize something belatedly. She lifted both feet and sat curled up on the bed.
"Is that so? But Lefiya looks very happy when she's with him."
Riveria had no intention of letting the subject go.
The black pantyhose clung to her skin as her foot hovered in the air. The patterns above rippled like water, searching for a place to land in the endless darkness beneath the bed.
"Th-that's because Bell Cranel is a little special..."
Lefiya had wanted to deny it outright, but when she thought of the boy right under the bed, she hesitated. If she bashfully denied everything, it would surely hurt him a little.
At the very least, when the two of them spent time together, joy really did well up in her heart. That was something Lefiya did not want to deny.
"Lefiya, what would you do if... that boy confessed his feelings to you right now?"
As her mentor in magic, Riveria's question went a little too far, but her soft, gentle tone made it feel less like an interrogation and more like two girls of the same age casually gossiping, relaxed and comforting.
The instant her words fell, the foot wrapped in pantyhose also gently touched down. Like the small tip of a brush dipped in ink, it playfully stepped onto Bell's thigh.
Bell offered no resistance.
There was no doubt about it. His hiding place under the bed had already been exposed.
Riveria was different from the others. She was neither careless nor exhausted from training. In front of a Level 6 Adventurer, Bell's breathing alone was enough to reveal his presence.
He was not especially surprised by that fact. Instead, he was curious about Riveria's actions and her question.
What was this self-proclaimed domineering elf princess thinking, pulling such a prank?
"I... I..."
Lefiya was momentarily at a loss for words.
A confession?
From Bell Cranel?
He was right under the bed!
Lefiya's thoughts tangled into a mess. That question alone was enough to burn away all her composure, let alone the fact that Bell was right there.
"Lefiya, think of it more simply. If the boy were standing in front of you and telling you he loved you, how would you feel?"
Riveria guided her thoughts.
In contrast to her gentle tone, her actions beneath the bed were like those of a lively, mischievous princess, stepping freely on the boy's thigh as if warning him not to make a sound.
"Um..."
Lefiya pressed her lips together.
She did have feelings for the boy, but they had not reached the point where she could accept a romantic relationship. At least in Lefiya's eyes, she could not honestly accept a confession and allow her relationship with Bell to undergo such a fundamental change.
At the same time, Lefiya could not bring herself to reject him either.
In her heart, the boy truly was someone very important. If a confession created distance between them, or even caused them to part ways, she would definitely be devastated.
And so, Lefiya could only arrive at an ambiguous answer.
"I-if that really happened... I-I'd be very troubled."