“……Uhh.”

“………Umu”

The usual living room. The usual sofa.

Allen and Charlotte sat side-by-side, just like always.

But unlike usual, they weren’t drinking tea or chatting. They were just sitting there, frozen.

They’d both tried to say something, but the words never came. They couldn’t even look each other in the eye. After a while, all that remained was an awkward, pointless exchange of hesitant starts and silence.

In a silence that was close to torture—-

“CUT! CUT! Cuuuuuutt!”

A voice rang out with ridiculous energy.

Heavy footsteps thundered in it was, of course, Dorothea. She stomped her feet and launched into a rant.

“I said flirt! Flirt! What’s with this dead silence?! Even total strangers talk more than this!”

“Even if you say that… ”

“Y-yes…”

The two of them exchanged an awkward glance.

Nearby, basking in a sunny spot, Luu slept on her favorite blanket. She gave them an annoyed glance, then closed her eyes and went right back to dreaming. Allen envied her with all his heart.

Dorothea crossed her arms and groaned.

“You’d probably do better if you stopped overthinking it and just acted normal. It’s not like I’m asking you to kiss in front of me.”

“K-K-Kiss…?!”

Charlotte instantly froze.

Allen took visible damage from the word too, though he somehow managed to keep his composure.

“I mean, Dorothea. I think you’ve got the wrong idea here…”

He slowly raised his hand and carefully chose his words.

“We’re not… ou know, in that kind of…relationship.”

“Haaah?”

Dorothea frowned in exaggerated disbelief.

She stared at them hard… then clapped her hands as if everything made sense.

“Ah, I see. One of those situations. The classic slow-burn rom-com with mutual unrequited love, huh?”

“S-Slow-burn…?”

“Don’t worry about it. That’s industry lingo. Honestly, that’s a delicious material too.”

Grinning, Dorothea scribbled something in her notepad.

She looked way too pleased with herself, and Allen had a very bad feeling about all this.

Charlotte tilted her head curiously.

“Dorothea… you’re really a novelist?”

“Sure am! I used to be pretty popular, actually.”

She puffed out her chest proudly.

Allen stroked his chin, something clicking in his memory.

“Come to think of it… there were a ton of romance novels left behind by the previous tenant. Were those yours?”

“It’s probably a book I wrote. Well, it was fun back then.”

Dorothea narrowed her eyes, gaze drifting to some far-off memory.

She was impressed by human literature and left her elf village all on her own.

The first manuscript she wrote was lucky enough to catch the eye of a publisher and she released her debut work.

She had since continued to produce numerous works since then.

After reminiscing about her career, her expression darkened slightly.

“But then I hit a mega slump. Couldn’t write a single word, even with the deadline breathing down my neck… so I locked myself in that basement. Haven’t left since. Good times.”

“Don’t tell me… you hid for thirty years just to avoid your deadline?!”

Even putting it kindly, that was garbage-tier behavior.

Allen gave her a withering glare, but Dorothea didn’t seem to care in the slightest.

“My editor was terrifying, okay? If I’d handed in a blank manuscript, I’d be sleeping with the fishes by now!”

“Honestly, I’d prefer it if you had disappeared into the ocean…”

“Haha! Allen-shi, what a jokester! Cracking jokes with that scary face!”

“…”

Dorothea laughed heartily. Allen was deeply annoyed, but with the house situation still unresolved, he was able to swallow his words.