"I'm beat…" said Hinako as she stretched her arms inside the comfy front passenger seat of the car. I sighed in agreement while driving the purple car I stole into the empty road. 

Hinako's eyes were filled with tiredness as she yawned. I simply focused on driving while occasionally glancing at Hinako. She observed the scenery of a metropolitan city with amazement as she gave an occasional exclamation of bewilderment. 

"Where are we going?" asked Hinako. 

Without saying anything, I only gave a simple pointing at Hinako's stained clothes and mine from the swordfish attack. Hinako nodded in understanding. 

"I see, I love bathing in this world!" Hinako exclaimed. 

I shot an approving look at Hinako, "after bathing, we need to get you some clothes."

Hinako's eyes were simmering with loveable bright radiance followed by a cheerful smile. I steered the purple car with a swaying heart after seeing Hinako's smile. However, I kept my focus and searched for the nearest public spring bath with the help of GPS. 

It took us only eighteen minutes to reach our destination. We immediately left the car as Hinako hurried herself towards the communal spring bath. Since no one was around, we entered the bath house without much thought. 

Hinako looked around with a grinning smile as she stared at me, as if she was visiting a theme park. I led Hinako towards the changing room. 

"Your body is so smooth, Sayoko. I want to lick it."

I pretended to ignore her remark as I wore a bathing suit as Hinako followed my pace. Her bathing suit was barely hiding the two giant watermelons on her voluptuous body. I could see Hinako's cheek reddened for a moment, before she let her excited expression take over. 

Traditionally, we would enter the spring bath naked, but for some reason, I felt too conscious of my body to do that today. Even though we've already took bath naked together before

We entered the bathing site as Hinako eagerly tried to put her feet down towards the water with a childish expression. However, I stopped her before she could dip her toe in. 

"Let's properly wash our body first, okay?" I reminded Hinako. She stared at me with a displeased face as she walked towards my direction. 

Hinako grabbed a bucket filled with water as she dumped water into her body with an uncomfortable expression. The debris and green blood from the swordfish we faced were washed away with ease by the water. 

After only washing herself twice, Hinako rushed towards the open bathtub once more as she dipped her toe with a comforting and satisfactory expression

"It's hot!" Hinako exclaimed, as she sank her foot into the large bathtub with a somewhat lewd expression. Her bathing suit slowly drenched as it touched the hot water while Hinako sighed in satisfaction. 

I followed her as I let my body enter the hot water inside the big open bathtub. The sun was shining its light without mercy towards us as we enjoyed the comfy temperature of hot water. 

"Fuwah…" I relaxed my entire body without concern as I let out a weird sound. For some reason, Hinako saw me with a somewhat weird glance. 

We simply sat in the open bathtub for a couple of minutes with the sound of wind accompanying us. A couple of birds could be seen flying from above without any care of the world as they let a harmonious chirp. 

Hinako's gaze was fixed towards me as she took a dive inside the water, submerging her mouth while her eyes were above the water, observing me. 

"Hey, Sayoko. Do you love me?" Hinako , out of the blue. 

Without hesitation, I answered, "Of course! I mean, you're cute, smart with magic, adorable, have a lewd body. You're just so lovely!" 

Hinako submerged herself after hearing my compliments. I was able to see an embarrassed Hinako before she dived into the water. I couldn't help but feel a little guilt creeping up towards my heart. 

"Umm… Hinako?" I asked. 

At first, I thought she was just teasing me by asking that question bluntly. However, her tomato cheek made me feel embarrassed, I didn't expect that. 

Hinako finally came back to the surface with a dizzy look and reddened face. The hot temperature must've caused her nausea. However, just before I could even say anything, Hinako smiled with an adorable innocent look. 

"Well then, let's get married!" Hinako exclaimed loudly. 

A giant splash from the bathtub was visible after I fell from being surprised by Hinako's words. I couldn't help but hide my flabbergasted and shy expression. I glanced at Hinako as she looked at me with a teasing smile. 

I pouted at her sudden teasing look as she grinned even more. I sighed at what just happened while sitting down and enjoying the calm atmosphere of the public bathtub. 

Hinako sat beside me, "You see, usually I always started with that line as a conversation starter."

"Don't just casually ask everyone to marry you!" I screamed, creating laughter from Hinako.

Hinako composed herself before continuing, "Not that, I meant the line of whether you love me or not."

I was puzzled by her explanation. Hinako looked at me with a silent look before continuing once more. 

"Naturally, as a Princess, I found a ton of diplomatic marriage requests from other nobles and kingdoms. It was my duty as a Princess. Whenever a prince from another kingdom would want to marry me, I'd always ask that question. Based on their answers, and my intuition, I would have an understanding of their entire personality. With that, I would know whether I wanted to marry that person or not."

I listened to Hinako with a focused expression. Seeing that, Hinako smiled.

"That's why, I want to marry you."