Ch.117Chapter 117: An Unexpected Invitation (1)

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Screech-!!

Hurriedly opening the door to the lodging where Kal was staying.

And with even faster movements, as Lillian Siz Proxian rushed outside, only one thought dominated her mind.

“…Why?”

Why had she suddenly left Kal’s room?

Lillian Siz, who had stopped her hurried movements after leaving the room, slowly recalled the situation she had just experienced.

Although the Subjugation Festival had become unprecedentedly peaceful thanks to the snow completely halting movement in the demon realm.

A sweet holiday that came after continuously fulfilling her duties as the successor to a noble family.

She had simply wanted to spend that precious time with someone dear to her, so after waking up and having breakfast, she had entered his room as if entranced.

And in her fiancé’s room, she had seen it.

Her fiancé with nothing covering his upper body.

Unlike herself, whose natural softness remained despite repeated training.

The moment she saw Kal’s physique—straight, taut muscles firmly set in place, evident at a single glance.

Her mind had literally gone blank.

She was so flustered that she had barely managed to toss out a single word of apology before fleeing from his room.

Why had she been so flustered?

She had experienced something similar not too long ago.

A few weeks ago, when they were at the Cradle.

After having a nightmare—still terrifying to recall—where her precious fiancé had turned to ashes and disappeared.

When she had rushed to his room, wanting to confirm he was safe.

Even though she had seen Kal with his upper body fully exposed like this.

Lillian Siz realized that she was incomparably more flustered now than she had been then.

With that realization, her questioning began.

Why was she so flustered?

“Hmm…”

Was it because she felt deeply embarrassed for having acted improperly toward someone precious to her?

No, that wasn’t it. As mentioned earlier, when she experienced a similar situation a few weeks ago.

She had entered Kal’s room without knocking, much earlier in the day, and encountered a similar situation.

It would be more accurate to say she had faced an even more stimulating situation then.

As soon as she entered the room, confirming that her dream of her fiancé turning to ashes wasn’t real.

She had been so relieved that she unconsciously approached her fiancé and embraced him tightly.

Even though her flustered fiancé had briefly pushed her away and put on clothes to cover his upper body.

Thus, the first potential answer to her self-posed question ended as incorrect.

However, while normally one would continue pondering and derive the next possible answer after one was proven wrong.

Rather than continuing thoughts related to why she had been flustered,

“…He must have been very surprised.”

Lillian Siz instead grew increasingly apologetic toward her fiancé, who must have been quite shocked by her behavior that had greatly deviated from proper etiquette.

Since it had just happened, she could still vividly recall it.

How her fiancé, upon seeing her sudden entrance, had suppressed even the widening of his eyes and deliberately maintained a calm expression while greeting her evenly.

Though he feigned composure, she could easily discern her fiancé’s small but immensely considerate gesture hidden within—trying not to make her uncomfortable.

“Phew…”

She exhaled, trying to release the heat from her face that showed no signs of cooling down.

“…It’s hot.”

The heat accumulated in her body was too intense to be dispelled with just one sigh.

The warmth in her hot breath, which formed white vapor, was tremendous—so much that she wished she had a mirror to see what state she was in.

Though she wanted to walk around outside the fortress and let the cold air cool her burning face,

“…I should wait here.”

Lillian Siz chose to stay put to complete what she had yet to do.

“If I wander too far, Kal won’t be able to find me.”

She wanted to ensure that her fiancé, who would soon hurriedly emerge from the lodging to look for her, wouldn’t waste time searching.

“When he comes out, I’ll apologize properly…”

She also firmly resolved to apologize more sincerely than the brief words she had uttered earlier.

As she held this thought in her mind, the embarrassing moment for which she intended to apologize to her fiancé resurfaced in Lillian Siz’s mind.

Her fiancé’s physique, with muscles even better trained than when she had seen them weeks ago.

When she first encountered it just now, she had only felt embarrassment and rushed to leave.

But now, recalling that situation again,

“Hee…?!”

Lillian Siz was startled when a disheveled laugh unexpectedly escaped her lips.

“Hup!”

She hastily covered her mouth.

Only then did she realize, from the touch of her hand on her face, that an impossibly immense heat had risen to her face.

The honest emotion she had felt after escaping that embarrassing moment was now reaching her unfiltered.

“…I like it.”

…She should apologize, but.

For a moment, she wanted to feel again the sensation that had begun with that embarrassment earlier.

Recalling her fiancé’s physique, Lillian Siz stood there blankly, not even conscious of why she was behaving this way.

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Thanks to hurriedly changing clothes and rushing outside.

I was able to find Siz quickly since she hadn’t gone far from the lodging.

While I felt relieved at finding her quickly.

“Uh… heh… hee…”

The sight of Siz—showing that such sounds could come from such a pretty face—made me considerably flustered.

At first, I thought it best to act naturally as usual.

But that would be impossible, as the fire on her face hadn’t subsided, and on top of that,

“Ka…Kal’s upper body…like it…”

It was nearly impossible to properly calm Siz as she continuously muttered things that made me think, “What is this?” just from hearing them.

So I decided to keep my distance and consider what to say to her.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately,

Despite not being very far away, Siz hadn’t noticed I was nearby.

It was enough time to prepare for a natural conversation with her, brief though it might be.

So I continued pondering, racking my brain.

The subject of my contemplation was what good method there might be to return her to normal before she discovered me.

As I continued this difficult deliberation,

[That young lady is quite frustrating. Having properly feasted her eyes once, she should just proudly admit it instead of making such nonsensical sounds and suffering…]

Paphnir’s voice came to me, reciting dizzying content in a nonchalant tone.

I’m not joking.

If I had had food or drink in my mouth, I would have choked right there—his words were that disturbing to my mind and body.

Judging by his grumbling tone, it was clear he would continue to torment my mind with endless comments if I left him be.

‘…What nonsense are you saying?’

I tried to stop Paphnir’s words with a deliberately calm voice.

[Why? Can’t you see that Proxian lady’s expression? That’s not simply an apologetic look—it’s the face of someone slightly entranced after witnessing a magnificent sight.]

I could only firmly close my mouth, unable to find words to counter Paphnir’s statement, which was delivered in a calm yet weighty manner.

[It will resolve itself with time, so don’t worry too much.]

Paphnir’s voice, telling me not to worry while adding strange asides suggesting I should leave things be, was making my head spin.

But if I followed his advice and did nothing, I couldn’t guarantee what might happen later.

“Hwooop…”

After organizing my thoughts with one deep breath,

I approached where Siz was still standing with a flushed expression, immersed in happy fantasies(?).

Though I tried to move carefully without making any presence known,

Thanks to the snow that had fallen continuously and piled up neatly on the ground,

Crunch

With each step I took, the sound of treading on snow was clearly audible.

“Eh…heh… hmm?”

Siz, who had been continuously engaged in strange fantasies, completely stopped moving.

The strange sounds flowing from her lips,

The pleasant sounds close to nasal moans,

And her expression—though still flushed—with slightly upturned corners of her mouth indicating pleasure,

All completely stopped when I entered her field of vision.

Oh, one thing didn’t stop.

“…Hiccup!”

A hiccup burst out as she was so startled, disrupting her frozen expression.

Well, I should speak quickly to ease her embarrassment.

I needed to make it clear that I hadn’t heard any of the words she had been muttering earlier.

“Siz.”

First, I called to Siz in a gentle voice.

“Ka…Kal?”

She answered my call with a voice thoroughly tinged with embarrassment.

Her appearance, showing even more embarrassment than when she had seen my exposed upper body in the lodging, was extremely cute.

But knowing that mentioning how cute it was would only add fuel to the fire of her embarrassment,

“I’m sorry. I got too relaxed on our day off and wasn’t properly dressed. Were you surprised?”

Instead, I spoke first, expressing my apology to reassure her.

“…”

In Siz’s expression as she silently looked at me, there seemed to be a sense of dismay at having unguardedly revealed such a disheveled appearance just moments ago.

“…Ugh.”

She was subtly melting down in a way difficult to express in words, while making small whimpering sounds.

“…I’m sorry for entering suddenly without knocking.”

Seeing Siz apologize to me in a voice as quiet as an ant crawling, not forgetting her manners,

“It’s okay.”

I put all the warmth I could into this brief response.

A very simple scene unfolded—the person who did wrong apologized, and the person receiving the apology forgave them by saying it was okay.

But like what happened toward the end of my eighteenth birthday, the second one I experienced after regressing,

I was immensely grateful for this current scene where both you, who apologized, and I, who accepted the apology, were both fine.

The irreversible path we had walked before my regression—you, pouring out one-sided resentment, and I, who had done so much wrong that I couldn’t even make excuses—

“By the way, when I was trying to get closer earlier, I heard you saying something was good. What were you talking abou—”

“Waaah!! No! It’s nothing! I didn’t say anything!”

“I’m pretty sure I heard—”

“No! I really didn’t say anything!”

Now we’ve returned to a relationship where we can have actual conversations like this, apologize quickly when we’ve done something wrong, and accept those apologies just as quickly.

Not much time has passed since my regression.

It’s been barely three months—a very short time if you think about it.

But spending this brief time, I feel that this moment is the happiest of all the time I’ve lived.

I wish this time could continue forever.

【Oh? You want it to continue forever?】

…If only the most malicious voice I can remember hadn’t immediately resonated in my mind in response to my wish.

I would have wanted to make that wish all day long.