episode_0277

* * *

I just accepted her body, dumbfounded.

I managed to avoid falling. Today, with the vain thought of praising myself, I lowered my head and watched Irene’s movements.

‘What’s going on…?’

Because she suddenly hugged me, I momentarily wondered if something bad had happened, so I asked her a question.

“Irene, did something happen?”

“No.”

“Did something go wrong?”

“It was okay. There was no problem. I… …was fine.”

“But why… … .”

“… … .”

Instead of answering, he buries himself in me again and mutters.

I missed you, I missed you… … .

At first, I was surprised because I was suddenly hugged… …

But as time goes by, it’s not hard to realize that the person I should be embracing is this woman right in front of me.

“I missed you too, Irene.”

I lightly ran my hand through her red hair.

At the same time, you feel a sense of stability rising from your fingertips.

I’ve come to where I’m supposed to be. Where I’m supposed to be is, of course, by this woman’s side.

If I had to pick the first person I would marry… … it wasn’t just my feeling that Irene always came to mind first.

Naturally, her body scent penetrates my nose.

Serpina, who always gave off a strong yuzu scent, as if she was using perfume, and Reika, whose skin still had the sweet scent of her favorite cake.

And Irene’s body odor is… … the most raw of all. Something like the smell of sweat and a woman’s scent mixed together.

Since she always does things that involve using her body, it’s inevitable that her body scent will be stronger.

It’s funny. More than any of the scents of the women I’m intimately involved with, this primal body scent stimulates something in me more powerfully.

It wasn’t just the body. Even though she was wearing armor, her oppressive size of breasts could never be hidden. It would be a lie if I said I didn’t feel anything whenever I looked at her.

‘… … .’

……no.

It would be rude to her to harbor such worries just because it’s been a long time since we last met.

I desperately emptied my mind of all the complicated thoughts.

It’ll be okay to think about this later.

I wanted to keep holding her in my arms and feeling her body heat, but now was not the time.

As calmly and slowly as possible… …I slowly let her go and asked.

“What about your lord?”

“I hope you’re doing well. We talked about a lot of things together. You looked happy because only good things happened while you were away.”

“A story?”

“Yeah.”

Although I was a bit nervous, I didn’t bother to ask too many questions because Irene probably had her own privacy.

Instead, I brought up the story behind it.

“Did something good happen?”

“Swen, don’t you know that Yuuri claimed the rumors about the lord were true?”

“I know. That’s why I came all the way there.”

“While working at the relief camp, my reputation for the lord greatly improved.”

‘……phew.’

I let out a sigh of relief inside.

It seemed like everything went as I expected.

At the point where the prediction of 100 intelligence was said to be ‘unhelpful’, it was a given that Serpina’s evaluation would rise―

After all, there is nothing more enjoyable than hearing news of success directly.

So, after exchanging a few words of small talk with her.

“I want to talk more, but I have a lot to do.”

“Yeah, I know. I don’t mean to bother you. And, there… … .”

Only then did Irene turn her head to Reika, who was next to her, and speak.

“… … Sorry. Something… … Uh, yeah. I should have said hello first… … .”

“Oh, no. It’s okay… … ! Hehe… … .”

“Still.”

And this time, he hugged Reika lightly.

“I missed you so much, Reika.”

“Ah… … .”

Reika closes her eyes tightly and strokes Airen’s back, speaking to the child as if soothing her.

“Me too. I missed you, Irene. How have you been?”

“How have you been… … .”

“Like.”

Now that I think about it, while Reika and I were gone, Airen must have been spending time alone in that large mansion.

Even though he wasn’t completely alone because he had servants, he must have felt very lonely without the people he used to talk to every day.

I waited calmly for their story to end.

“Well, see you later. Reika… … Swen, you too.”

“Yes! See you later, Irene. Let’s have some delicious food together tonight!”

“Go in. I’ll go in early.”

So, leaving Airen behind, I followed Irian into the palace.

How many steps did you walk?

“Um… … .”

“Huh?”

Ms. Reika suddenly spoke to me.

“This may be a bit random, but I think… … Irene looks the happiest when she’s by Swen’s side… … !”

“… … Is that so?”

“Yes! You’ve become so… so… so… feminine. You’re usually such a strict and cold person… … but you become like that in front of Swen.”

I was embarrassed and didn’t answer because Reika was chattering like a teenage girl.

“… … Me too.”

“?”

“Me too… …I want to be happy with you two, the three of us.”

‘… … !’

I turned my head in surprise and looked at Reika who was following me.

If it were her usual self, I thought she would have lowered her head and mumbled, saying she didn’t know what to do, but-

Ms. Reika was looking at me with her clear, unwavering pink eyes.

“… … Seriously, this is it.”

“Ms. Reika… … ?”

……what?

Something, both Airen and Reika… … Today in particular, something, it’s hard to explain in words… … It’s that kind of feeling.

Especially, I should say that Reika-san felt like she had become a completely different person after kissing me.

Just as I was choosing the words to reply, a man’s voice was heard from behind me.

“There you are, Swen.”

“… … General Irian?”

The person who called me was Irian.

Naturally, I found myself feeling relieved that my conversation with Reika had ended.

“I was looking for you. I didn’t see you at the banquet hall.”

“Sorry, I had to take a moment to say hello to General Irene… … .”

“No, I don’t mean to criticize you. I have something to tell you.”

“Are you talking to me?”

Irian nodded slowly.

“It seems the lord is looking for you urgently. He asked me to tell him to come to the annex.”

If it’s a separate building… …is it the space where you drank with her and such?

I don’t know why you are looking for me, but isn’t it the duty of a subject to go see your lord when he calls?

“I will explain at the banquet hall, so you go to where your lord is.”

“Ah, I… … .”

“All, have a nice day… … Swen.”

The person I heard this time was Reika, who had been talking to me just a moment ago.

She looked at me with a bright smile and said.

“I’ll go first… … Don’t worry… … It’s okay! I can do it alone… … ”

Now, he was pretty good at talking in front of me, but I was still worried whether he would be able to do well alone at that banquet hall.

Well, she was a hero who had accomplished great feats this time, so they wouldn’t treat her indiscriminately.

Here, should we trust the Bookworm and General Irian?

“Okay, then, excuse me.”

After briefly greeting Irian and Reika, I headed to the annex where Serpina was waiting.

* * *

‘It looks like you’ve cleaned up already.’

Every time I come here, I feel that the garden is really nicely kept.

As far as I know, there aren’t any servants coming and going here. It must all be managed by Serpina.

Maintaining a garden of this size while not neglecting her duties as a monarch must be an incredibly tiring task… … But she managed to do many things well with her small body.

When I opened the door and went in, Serpina was standing there looking out the window.

“Sir, I heard you were looking for him.”

“… … .”

Serpina, instead of turning her head this way… …looked out the window and spoke to me in a slightly watery tone.

“Come this way, Swen.”

As I approached her as she said―

“… … !!”

… … When I came to my senses, I realized that I was once again held tightly in the arms of a woman.

The scent of yuzu citrus tickled my nose, infiltrating me so fiercely that it threatened to erase all the body odor I had just felt.

‘Today is a bit of a strange day.’

Just when I was starting to think that perhaps this was a day when women in particular were entangled, Serpina spoke to me quickly as if she wasn’t giving me time to think.

“… … Swen.”

“Yes… … .”

Her body and voice tremble slightly.

I hugged her tightly, hoping that she would at least calm down physically.

“Didn’t you want to see the leisure… … ?”

I wanted to see you just a moment ago. Now I don’t want to see you, do I?

I could barely contain my laughter as I could feel the stark difference between the two people through simple words.

“I missed you, my lord.”

“… … Is that so.”

There wasn’t much to say after that, but I didn’t rush her and just calmly stroked her back.

How much time has passed?

Finally, Serpina began to open her mouth little by little.

“Thanks to you… …for the first time, I was able to see that there were people in the Central Continent who didn’t hate Yeo. Just by doing as you said… …I was able to defeat Yuuri.”

“Because sincerity is supposed to get through.”

okay.

Sincerity gets through.

All of this was accomplished, after all, because she did not hesitate to take on the stigma of being the only one who wanted to ‘save as many of the people of the central region as possible.’

This event meant a lot, if only to show her that the world didn’t just hate her.

How lonely would it be to live a life where you feel every moment that everyone hates you?

I was willing to give my arms to her, who had walked through an unimaginably lonely tunnel.

“I missed you, Swen.”

“Yes.”

“Every time I lay in bed trying to fall asleep, I thought about you.”

“Yes.”

“The more so… …the heart of a woman, not a monarch, yearned for you. From head to toe, everything. Everything about her wanted everything about you.”

“… … Yes?”

I look at her face in surprise, feeling that the mood of the conversation is becoming… …uncontrollable.

Serpina’s golden eyes were trembling.

Before she could even think about what to say to him, Serpina.

“Even just once, it’s okay. Even just one moment is okay. I won’t beg you to be with me for the rest of my life. So. Just for today――”

――Come and become a man in this body.

It was a woman, Serpina, not the monarch Serpina, who was whispering to me.