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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Thanks to that, both Eileen and Rudrick spent the night almost sleepless and barely fell asleep at dawn.
Rudrick endured as much as he could, but his limit was around three or four hours.
It wasn’t as easy as it sounded to stay tense all night without doing anything, even being conscious of breathing or moving his fingers.
Although Rudrick fell asleep like that, Eileen wasn’t weak enough to suffer from poor condition the next day just from staying up one night, so she was enduring it well.
After realizing that Rudrick had fallen asleep, the tightly maintained tension loosened and she quickly became drowsy, but that was only for a moment.
“…Eek.”
Eileen let out a weak gasp.
Rudrick, who had fallen into a light sleep, tossed and turned and lay on his side.
To be more precise, in a position where he was completely face-to-face with her.
Rudrick was lying completely defenseless at a distance close enough to touch if she just reached out her hand.
The person she liked was right in front of her.
Defenseless in his sleeping state at a distance close enough for their breaths to touch. And in the same bed at that.
“I didn’t expect it to become a reality in this way…”
Eileen muttered softly.
She had imagined that it would be a sight she would see every day if she eventually married Rudrick, but she never thought she would experience it in this form before getting married.
Slowly recalling her memories, she didn’t remember having such an experience in the past before the regression.
Although Rudrick had a slightly defenseless side to him, to the point where he tended to “leak” as they say these days, at least such an explicit experience was a first for her, both before and after the regression.
“…Wait, it’s not exactly the first time, is it?”
Eileen, who had been reminiscing about the past, sighed and then tilted her head.
It seemed like she had a similar experience before the regression, even if it wasn’t to this extent.
To be more specific, there was an experience where she had somehow managed to obtain a limited edition of a novel that Rudrick said he wanted and gave it to him as a gift, and he had exclaimed, “As expected, there’s no one but Eileen!” and hugged her tightly, making her flustered.
Or the time when she had given Rudrick, who was about to be dragged to a magic academic seminar, some other task to get him out of it, and he had massaged her shoulders with a beaming smile, saying it was a reward.
“…”
Although this was the first time for such an explicit experience, it wasn’t the first or second time for similar experiences.
At the same time, a sense of inexplicable resentment slightly raised its head in her heart.
‘He’s not making fun of anyone…’
Just then, the moonlight seeping through the window brightly illuminated Rudrick’s face.
Distinct features and overall thin and delicate lines.
She didn’t understand what Rudrick frequently referred to as “DiCaprio’s Titanic era,” and she scolded him every time, telling him to stop talking nonsense.
But still, it was a face that was a bit lacking to be described as a sculpted handsome man.
However, to Eileen, Rudrick’s face looked more handsome than any other good-looking man in the world.
There might be more than a few handsome men in the world, but there was only one Rudrick Weiss with such an overflowing unique charm.
And the man who captivated five women with that charm, made them lose their hearts without realizing it, and was so selfish that it made her teeth chatter, was also only Rudrick Weiss.
When her thoughts reached this point, the small resentment Eileen had harbored turned into a feeling of rebellion.
Perhaps that was why.
Flinch.
Eileen impulsively reached out her arm and wrapped it around Rudrick’s shoulder.
Rudrick flinched, and even Eileen, who had lifted her arm, flinched, but fortunately, he didn’t wake up from his sleep.
She could feel the warm heat from the arm wrapped around his shoulder.
‘I wish this moment would last forever.’
Eileen unconsciously thought to the extent that just by reaching out her arm and embracing him, an indescribable sense of fulfillment and happiness ignited her heart.
Enough to act a little more boldly.
‘…He’s sleeping anyway, so I won’t get caught.’
Smooch.
Once she made up her mind, there was no hesitation in her actions.
The bold Eileen of now could daringly do what the usual her would have blushed just from imagining, as if she was under some kind of spell.
Eileen, who had kissed the sleeping Rudrick’s cheek, finally closed her eyes with a satisfied expression.
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“…I’m tired.”
Not getting proper sleep made my body ache.
Thanks to that, when I took a quick glance in the mirror, I had faint dark circles under my eyes.
At most, I think I slept for about three hours.
For me, who needed to sleep at least seven hours every single day or else I would feel thorns in my mouth, three hours of sleep was too harsh.
On the other hand, Eileen…
“Ahem.”
Eileen, whose gaze met mine, gave a small fake cough and then slightly blushed.
In contrast to me, who was staggering around like a zombie, she looked perfectly fine.
I realized anew that it wasn’t for nothing that she was called the Black Lion of the Empire and the strongest swordswoman of the North.
Anyway, excluding me, the actual person involved, they had discussed among themselves and arbitrarily decided, and according to their mutual agreement, the promise was only one day each.
Thanks to that, as soon as we left the inn, we ran into Lassiel.
“…Admiral, why were you waiting here?”
“Well, I had someone investigate. I received intelligence that you had entered here.”
“…”
“I’m joking, so don’t make that face, ahahaha. It’s because Your Grace has been frequenting this place since our academy days. Of course I knew.”
The unchanged and typical extroverted friendliness.
I would have a hard time keeping up with it even if I died and came back to life.
Lassiel, who had casually responded as if to say she had ruined the mood from the morning, turned to me this time.
“So, boy, did that person do anything weird to you last night? Did you properly say, ‘I don’t like it, you can’t, don’t do it!’ as I taught you?”
Flinch.
And as soon as Lassiel finished her playful words, Eileen flinched.
Well, I couldn’t endure it and fell asleep halfway through…
If you flinch like someone who has something to hide, it makes it seem like I was subjected to something weird while I was sleeping without knowing.
“Oho…”
And Lassiel, who wouldn’t miss her prey, narrowed her eyes and started sending silent pressure towards Eileen.
A gesture and gaze as if to say, if you really did something weird, confess before it’s too late.
“Not really…?”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
When I stepped in to smooth things over before it was too late, Lassiel asked again.
Even if it happened after I fell asleep, at least before that, I hadn’t been subjected to or done anything weird…
When I nodded my head, the atmosphere seemed to settle down.
And so, the handover was somehow completed, and Eileen looked at me with longing eyes until the very end, promising to see me again later and left.
As soon as Eileen left, Lassiel giggled.
“Hehe… Good. Now that the hindrance is gone, shall we spend some time alone together?”
“…Yes?”
Judging only by the context, there was nothing wrong with it, but the problem was that the person saying those words in front of me was Lassiel.
Dark brown skin tanned by the sun, and natural blonde hair, although the detail of the roots being black couldn’t be fully captured.
Combined with her usual teasing behavior, she was the very embodiment of a delinquent blonde.
In fact, among the five, she was one of the people I didn’t have much contact with, like Princess Elena, and it was true that I felt somewhat uncomfortable due to her unique appearance.
We had an awkward relationship, but I mustered up the courage to ask.
“So, what are we going to do now?”
I had already done everything that could be done in the capital with Eileen yesterday, and a suitable destination hadn’t been decided yet.
And as if she had been waiting for that question, Lassiel answered immediately.
“Sightseeing the sea.”
“What?”
“You’ll know once we go there.”
And Lassiel naturally took my hand and led me to the teleportation magic circle installed in the capital.
In the blink of an eye, a dazzling flash of light obscured my vision, and as the light dissipated, salty wind and scorching sunlight greeted me, almost instantaneously.
Before I could come to my senses from the sudden occurrence, Lassiel bent down to match my eye level and pointed to the sea far away.
“Look, that’s the home port where our naval fleet is stationed. And it’s the southernmost part of the empire, as well as the southernmost part of the continent.”
“…Then how far is this place from the capital?”
“Well, even if you ride a carriage without stopping, it would take about a month, wouldn’t it?”
Hearing Lassiel’s answer, I looked around with a blank expression.
As I stepped down from the magic circle, an exotic scenery greeted me.
The surrounding buildings and people’s attire had an overall Arabian vibe.
At the same time, Lassiel, who familiarly took my hand and started leading me, opened her mouth.
“Rudrick, I’ve always wanted to bring you here at least once.”
“Me…?”
“Actually, I’ve never brought you here before. This is the first time ever.”
A fleeting look of regret passed through Lassiel’s eyes as she answered, and then she made an effort to show a bright expression, exited the alley, looked at the sea, and spoke.
“There’s no particularly grand meaning, it’s just that I’ve seen this scenery so many times that I’m sick of it. I wanted to show it to you at least once.”
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Meaningful, good. Now waiting