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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Swish.
The sound of pouring water could be heard through the thin plywood door.
As a bonus, hazy steam flowed out through the gaps of the door, which was so thin that it couldn’t even properly block the sound.
And while blankly staring at that series of sights, Eileen thought,
Where am I, and who am I again?
Time cruelly passed by even while she was lost in thought.
No matter how much she denied reality and turned her eyes away from the truth she faced, what was already happening wouldn’t disappear.
“…Sigh.”
That’s right.
She was putting the finishing touches on her date with Rudrick.
In the same room with only one bed at that.
From now on, whether they liked it or not, the two of them were destined to sleep together on that bed.
Just as you can’t reroll the dice once it has been thrown, as the old expression goes, the dice had already been cast.
If a shred of reason remained, even if Rudrick had indicated his consent, saying it was an unavoidable situation, it would have been proper to step up and say she would rather sleep outside, enduring the cold wind and morning dew.
However, Rudrick’s words, “I’m really okay with it, you know…?” became the final blow.
It was enough to make her let go of the thread of reason she had been barely holding onto.
‘Have a good night.’
The image of the inn owner whistling and giggling momentarily flashed through her mind.
Perhaps there were more rooms available, but the inn owner had guessed their relationship and played a nasty prank.
But that wasn’t the point right now.
“Eileen, do you want to wash up too? I’m done.”
Rudrick, who had opened the door of the bathroom in the room and came out, spoke while roughly drying his wet hair with a towel.
As if in consideration of her reason which was hanging by a thread, he wasn’t wearing just a thin piece of cloth or a towel, but had properly changed into sleepwear inside the bathroom before coming out.
“…I should probably wash up now too.”
“The hot water here is really good, you know?”
“…Is that so? That’s a relief.”
Rudrick’s words were spoken casually as if he didn’t know or care about her anxious heart, without attaching any particular meaning to the current situation.
There was a strange charm in the sight of him casually sitting on the bed and drying his hair with a towel that would captivate the gaze of any woman.
As if she had been bewitched, Eileen, who had been sneaking glances and taking in Rudrick’s appearance, soon came to her senses and went into the bathroom to wash up.
Swish.
The clothes she was wearing slid down like a shell, quickly revealing her jade-like naked body.
Of course, it was natural for one sex to appeal to the other with their body.
It could be their voice or overall appearance, a wide spectrum of criteria.
Among them, breasts were one of the means to appeal one’s charms to the opposite sex.
Just as women were biologically attracted to men’s flat chests that were different from their own, men also tended to prefer women with large breasts.
‘…But I think mine are quite big.’
A fact she learned by chance from overhearing the lewd jokes of her subordinates.
Eileen’s gaze, which had been pouring hot water, blankly turned downward.
Indeed, as she thought, they were larger than the average size.
Quietly comparing them to other rivals in her mind, excluding Lassiel, who was exceptionally large, Eileen herself had the biggest ones.
Swish.
The corners of her mouth slightly rose.
As she felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction and poured water again, a thought suddenly occurred to her.
“Wait a minute…”
With a doubtful expression, Eileen pondered.
The current situation was something she had seen a lot somewhere.
It was too embarrassing to directly describe in words, but it was a situation she had often seen somewhere.
And Rudrick’s words…
“Consent…?”
At least according to the common sense she knew, it was close to the meaning of consent.
Only hot water poured down on Eileen’s pale skin as she belatedly realized.
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“Then I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“…What?”
By the time Rudrick had roughly finished drying his hair with a towel, Eileen had also finished washing up and came out.
To be honest, it was hard to find a place to look as she came out wearing thin clothes over her underwear.
But since I was a bit embarrassed to sleep in the same bed, I took the initiative first, and Eileen, who had a slight blush on her face from just taking a shower, raised her eyes.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you just said. I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“Let’s just decide fairly by luck.”
“Rudrick, I’d like to grant your request’s as much as possible, but that request just now is difficult. It would be a laughing matter for a lady to make a gentleman sleep on the floor.”
“…But I’d feel a bit uncomfortable if I sleep on the bed while Eileen sleeps on the floor.”
“It’s simple. You don’t need to feel uncomfortable, do you?”
Indeed, Eileen was a formidable opponent.
A heated argument ensued without either side yielding an inch.
Since I felt a bit bad about comfortably sleeping on the bed alone while being indebted, I tried persuading her several times, but Eileen’s attitude was adamant.
To be more specific…
“…Why don’t you just give up?”
“…No matter how many times you ask, my answer will be the same. I can’t let you sleep on the floor.”
The argument lasted for nearly five minutes.
After repeating the same words like parrots, going around in circles, I couldn’t hold out any longer and proposed a compromise.
“Then let’s both sleep on the bed. It’s a double bed anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
“…!”
As soon as I finished speaking, Eileen made a shocked expression. And then she started glancing around as if checking the situation.
When I tilted my head with a puzzled look, wondering why she was acting like that, Eileen blushed shyly and asked,
“Even so, sleeping together in the same bed is a bit…”
“Then you sleep on the bed alone, Eileen.”
“…That won’t do.”
“See?”
Having reached a dramatic conclusion, I lay down on the bed first and turned off the magic stone lamp.
The room instantly became dark as there was no sleep mode function like the one in my room.
After hesitating for a moment, Eileen followed me and lay down on the bed from the other side of the darkness.
Since it was originally a double bed, the space was quite wide, so there was no chance of our skin touching.
It was a spacious bed where unintentional physical contact could be avoided as long as we didn’t toss and turn while sleeping.
As I pulled the blanket up to my chest and closed my eyes to try to sleep, all sorts of miscellaneous thoughts that usually come to mind before going to bed started to surface.
Starting from being dragged out of the Imperial Palace by Lassiel today, to spending time with Eileen until just now, and even lying down like this with the lights off to try to sleep.
And then, I belatedly realized a major problem with my actions.
This is a world with reversed gender roles.
Although I had adapted and gotten used to it over the past twenty years of living, it was a world that didn’t have a big impact on me until I came to the capital since I had spent most of my life in a small territory.
And in this world, I was in the female position of my previous life.
Eileen was in the male position.
Not in terms of actual gender, but the gender roles required by society.
Then the series of words I had casually said to Eileen without much thought…
‘Isn’t it similar to a woman agreeing when a man suggests going on an overnight trip together…?’
To put it more politely, that’s what it was, and to put it bluntly, there was a high possibility of it being interpreted as permission to sleep together in the same bed.
Still, mood is important for people, and whether in my previous life or in this world, most people don’t directly say, “Let’s have a go at it tonight!” but express it euphemistically.
‘I’m screwed.’
The moment I realized that fact, my hair stood on end and I got goosebumps.
Perhaps a big snowball might roll in due to my thoughtless actions.
In fact, as a man, there’s no harm in spending a night with a beauty like Eileen, even if I think about it.
No, there is something harmful.
It wasn’t difficult to imagine a future where I’m wearing a black men’s suit, arm in arm with Eileen, marching down the wedding aisle.
Needless to say, it’s the househusband ending.
‘…If I fall asleep, I’m screwed. If Eileen misunderstands, I’ll have to shout, “I really don’t like this, you can’t do it, don’t do it!”‘
With the determination to avoid that future at all costs, I opened my eyes wide and tried to chase away the sleepiness that was trying to come over me.
Flinch.
As I slightly pulled down the blanket and opened my eyes, Eileen, who was also lying next to me, flinched.
Even small movements of each other could be transmitted through the blanket as vibrations, and even a casual sigh could reach the other person’s breath, that’s how close the distance was.
I was trying my best to fight off the sleepiness and endure until morning, but Eileen, who was lying next to me, tossed and turned.
From lying on her back, Eileen’s gaze quickly turned towards me as she changed to a position facing my direction.
I hurriedly pretended to close my eyes, but I could feel her gaze staring at me through my skin.
‘…No, I didn’t mean it that way when I suggested sleeping together.’
I tried to make a belated excuse inwardly that she couldn’t possibly hear, but the night was just beginning.
The price of not being able to predict the repercussions of my meaningless actions came in the form of being deprived of sleep.
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