A Conversation Between Bodies (2)

The moment their eyes met.

Alec’s face turned bright red, but his gaze met Yona’s and then slowly moved downward.

Yona just quietly observed Alec.

She knew well where Alec’s gaze was directed.

It wasn’t that she was ashamed of showing her body.

It was because of the social notion that it shouldn’t be shown.

After all, her body was female, and women shouldn’t casually expose their bodies.

Especially for a beauty like Yona, this social reason was even more applicable.

So Yona didn’t scream or hurriedly cover herself.

In this room, there were only Rubina, Alec, and herself, and since Rubina was deeply asleep, it was essentially just Alec and her.

And honestly, she thought, what’s the problem with Alec seeing her body…

“…Why?”

After a long silence, Yona was the first to speak.

She thought that since Alec had come to her room at this hour, he must have some business, and she hoped he would just say it quickly and leave.

“…This, honestly, I think it’s self-defense.”

Alec said this and turned around.

Yona thought he was about to leave, but then she heard the click of a metal lock.

Now that the only exit, the door, was locked, there was no way for anyone from outside to enter this room.

In other words, there was also no way to leave this room.

“What do you mean… Ah.”

Self-defense? What was he talking about?

Yona was about to ask but closed her mouth as she saw Alec approaching her.

The considerable distance between them quickly narrowed as Alec advanced.

The moment Alec stood in front of her, Yona felt his strong hands gripping her shoulders and closed her mouth.

“I can’t always control myself unconditionally.”

Yona wondered what Alec was talking about.

What did he mean?

What was he controlling?

But Yona’s words didn’t make it out of her mouth.

As her vision spun, she found herself looking up at the silk canopy of the bed.

The soft feeling of the blanket on her back.

Only then did Yona realize she had been laid down on the bed.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ve been holding back for a long time, Yona.”

Only then could Yona understand.

She could understand what Alec was saying.

“Hey, you know I used to be a man.”

“So, are you still a man now?”

At those words, Yona closed her mouth.

Yona lying on the bed, and Alec overlapping her body, looking down at her.

In Alec’s eyes, an indescribable desire was overflowing.

Yes-

That look.

Yona had felt it many times before.

A look she could feel wherever she went.

Lecherous, disgusting, dark, sticky, slimy.

All those desires represented by sexual desire, gathered together to form a pitch-black poison.

That look was now in Alec’s eyes.

And that look was directed at the current Yona.

Slowly- no, her heart started pounding.

Heat slowly began to rise to her face.

Yona struggled greatly to steady her gradually quickening breath without Alec noticing.

Should she push Alec away?

Should she curse at him to get out?

But that would hurt him.

This baldy is more sensitive than he looks.

Then should she accept it?

But that doesn’t feel right either.

The deliberation was long, but the decision was quick.

Alec is worth it.

“…Alright, do it. I’ll let you, like a man.”

At the thought of permission, an undisguisable joy appeared on Alec’s face.

Three years, exactly two and a half years, but roughly three.

Wasn’t it affection built up over those three years?

The moment had finally come to fulfill that affection.

Alec’s gaze slowly moved downward, looking directly at Yona’s chest.

He had touched them once before, but this was the first time seeing them with his eyes.

It was difficult to express it in any other way than simply overwhelming.

Even lying down, the weight and mass of Yona’s breasts maintained their proper shape, like upside-down rice bowls, without sagging.

And at the tip, the quivering fruit- is not visible.

The nipple buried in the pale pink areola was hiding itself so well it couldn’t be seen properly.

Alec took a deep breath to calm his naturally roughening breathing.

Calm, he needed to be calm.

The long-awaited desire was finally about to be fulfilled.

Alec slowly moved his hand towards Yona’s chest.

Just before his fingers touched-

“But.”

Alec’s hand stopped abruptly, and his gaze turned to Yona.

Lying down, Yona was looking down at Alec with just her eyes.

Alec, who had been looking down at Yona’s breasts, raised his head to look up at her, and Yona was looking down at him.

“…From the moment this ends, you and I are over. We go back to being nothing, not even comrades.”

It was an ice-cold statement.

Those words, filled with coldness, made Alec’s excitement rapidly subside.

And even after hearing such words, Alec wasn’t cold-hearted enough to go through with it to the end.

Alec was sitting at the bedside, scratching his cheek with an embarrassed expression.

Yona, who had long since changed into her underwear and clothes, was sitting in the dressing table chair right in front of the bedside, drying her long hair as it fluttered.

“If that’s what was agreed upon, I guess I have no choice.”

After listening silently to Alec’s story for a while, Yona asked, holding a leather tie in her mouth.

He had just explained to Yona the content agreed upon with Kairoc and James.

After listening to it all silently, Yona was about to tie her hair with the leather tie she had been holding in her mouth, but she dropped it on the floor.

“Looks like you came to call me while I was washing up.”

Receiving the leather tie that Alec quickly picked up, Yona first pulled back her front hair, then the side hair, and finally tied all the back hair together, binding it tightly with the leather tie.

“So I thought you were sleeping or washing up. I was going to talk to you tomorrow if there was no answer this time too.”

“Well, anyway, baldy, you got to see something good.”

“What?”

At those words, Yona spun around in the dressing table chair to face Alec directly.

As Alec took a deep breath and tensed up, Yona showed a mischievous smile.

“Thanks to that, you alone got a good view, didn’t you, kid? Right?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“Why didn’t you go all the way?”

Yona was genuinely curious.

If he had taken her there, could Yona have resisted – thinking about it, she probably couldn’t have.

Alec’s strength far surpasses Yona’s.

It’s not a difference that Yona’s resistance could overcome.

So Yona had just resigned herself.

It was a body that would soon return to its original state anyway, she could have endured the disgusting discomfort and nauseating repulsion of giving her body to a man and somehow gotten through it.

But it didn’t feel right to give in so easily.

So Yona had tried to be as cold as possible, saying that if he went all the way, their comradeship would end here.

If he had gone all the way even then – well, what could she do?

It would have been difficult to reach the mage community alone anyway, and she would have had to stick with Alec whether she liked it or not, so it was just an empty threat from Yona.

But Alec had stopped there.

It was fortunate, but also strange, so Yona couldn’t help but be curious.

“We’ve been together for years, right? Rather than throwing all that away for this… well… there’ll be another chance someday.”

“What do you mean ‘this’? What are you saying now, you baldy?”

Yona hit Alec’s head again with a smack.

Honestly, her heart was still pounding and hadn’t calmed down yet.

When she was pushed down by Alec, when Alec was looking down at her, that inescapable-

Although it had some similarities to the violence by Neri, it was clearly different, a strange feeling.

Because of that, Yona could still clearly hear her heartbeat in her ears.

A sound that Alec should absolutely not hear.

“…Don’t you remember losing your breast-touching voucher last time because of this? You’re surprisingly thick-headed.”

To change the subject, Yona reached out and tapped Alec’s bald head.

Alec’s bald head, where she could feel his warm body temperature directly.

Perhaps because he had become so accustomed to it, Alec didn’t show much reaction to Yona’s actions.

“By the way, is it true that you shave your head on purpose?”

It was something Alec had said to that damn guard.

She didn’t think it could be true, but Yona asked Alec just in case.

“You told that Neri or Nevi or whatever his name was, that you shave your head on purpose. Is that true?”

“It’s true.”

“Huh, really?”

“I’m telling you it’s true. I shave it myself whenever it grows even a little. My father, my grandfather, no one in my family is bald, how could I be bald?”

“Hmm…”

Well, if he says so.

She decided to believe him.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’ve made such a positive decision. With the saint who has reached the end of her training here, and Yona, who coordinates the battlefield, joining us. It’s so reassuring.”

That afternoon.

At Yona’s words agreeing to take on the escort duty, Ceres expressed her joy with exaggerated gestures.

Yona couldn’t control the involuntary twitching of her mouth at Ceres’s words.

If Alec hadn’t been poking her from the side, she might have been grinning from ear to ear.

“So, about that…”

“Yes, please speak.”

“Um, that girl, Rubina. We’d like to take her along to the Inpula Church Territory.”

She might try to reduce the gold coins because of this condition.

Yona thought that if it was just for herself, she would be fine with any reduction, but if it affected the compensation of others, that would be something to reconsider.

“Oh, please do. By all means. I love children very, very much anyway. I’m glad it seems like it will be an enjoyable journey!”

Ceres’s ready acceptance actually surprised Yona’s group, making them both happy and confused.

They wondered if it was a decision that could be made so quickly, considering it meant one more mouth to feed.

“Although we’ve met before, there are some new faces, so please take care of us. I’m Ludvik, holding the title of hero.”

“…I’m Bigrin.”

Ludvik bowed, still wearing his refreshingly cool smile.

Yona returned Ludvik’s greeting halfheartedly, wondering how she could give a good kick to Bigrin’s behind, who was clearly showing her displeasure with pouting lips next to him.

“…Please take care of us. I’m Yona.”

“I’m Alec.”

“Kairoc.”

“James here.”

And that afternoon, as the land-side drawbridge of the Grand Duchy of Capatia opened, a carriage adorned with lavish decorations and its escort left the castle.