Ch.181Chapter 181: Daily Life (2)

#

“I’ll be right there, so please wait a moment.”

Lilianshiz gazed endlessly at Karl’s back as he left to get dressed.

His well-developed back muscles, which perfectly embodied the aesthetics of moderation—neither excessive nor lacking—

Didn’t give her the luxury of looking elsewhere.

*Gulp*

As her gaze naturally fixed on him, Lilianshiz unconsciously swallowed hard.

Not only was she swallowing, but her face was also flushed with a crimson glow that could only be described as being on fire, beyond mere blushing.

Though her face was turning red, she was visibly struggling to maintain a composed expression.

*Bang-!!*

The sound of the dressing room door closing in Karl’s room echoed throughout the space, as he had rushed in without time for etiquette.

“…Hnnng.”

With that, Lilianshiz’s attempt at maintaining a composed expression disappeared without a trace, like sugar dissolving in moisture.

It wasn’t just her composed expression that vanished.

Even her hands, which had been trying to remain still, were now rubbing her face.

Rubbing her already flushed face would clearly make it hotter rather than cooling it down.

But it was an instinctive action taken because she felt she might collapse from overwhelming embarrassment if she didn’t gather her wits through internally generated heat rather than external warmth.

Her somewhat rough hands, earned through years of sword training despite her universally acknowledged beautiful appearance,

*Swish swish*

The stronger the friction as they brushed against her cheeks, the more calmness returned to her heart.

“Phew…”

As if to represent this newfound calmness, a soft sigh escaped Lilianshiz’s lips.

The emotion conveyed in this brief, concise sigh—much shorter than her earlier prolonged moan of uncontrollable embarrassment—changed sequentially.

At first, it expressed relief at having barely escaped an embarrassing situation.

But as time passed, that relief transformed into a regret that even she found difficult to understand.

Regret? Why?

The sudden emergence of this feeling of regret stopped all of Lilianshiz’s movements as she was lightly rubbing her cheeks to compose herself.

She couldn’t understand why such an emotion was surfacing in her mind.

“…Why?”

With her arms crossed after lowering her hands from her cheeks,

Lilianshiz closed her eyes slowly and sank into thought.

In that posture, she was clearly trying to resolve the fundamental question of why she felt this strange, unfamiliar regret

When looking at the precious person who always gave her incomparable gratitude and apology.

Thus, Lilianshiz’s mind continued to turn as she connected one thought to another.

To a time slightly before the recent awkward and embarrassing situation,

Which was also the starting point of everything that happened today.

That is, shortly after dawn,

When she had carefully visited the room where Karl would be sleeping to check on his condition.

#

Today, Lilianshiz greeted the morning just like any other day.

The only difference was the place where she welcomed this morning.

It wasn’t the Cradle where she would be busy with a tight academic schedule the moment she opened her eyes,

Nor Night Haven where she would feel the harsh winter air the instant she woke up,

Nor was it by the window of a constantly moving train.

It was morning at the Ranos Duchy, where she had experienced some of the most precious happy moments of her life.

The Ranos Duchy was a special place for her.

It was where a young girl who had lost her mother and suffered a deep wound in her heart

Met a certain boy who breathed warm comfort into that heart,

And where she came to know love.

There were two special elements that announced morning at the Ranos Duchy, as she remembered:

One was the warm morning sunlight, considered among the finest in the central continent except for the northern regions where seasons were somewhat blurred,

*Chirp-! Chirp chirp-!!*

And the energy of birds singing vigorously, riding on that morning sunlight.

Lilianshiz’s sharp hearing, as she tossed in bed, picked up the birdsong coming from outside the window.

“Mmmmm…”

A soft moan escaped her lips as her consciousness, which had been submerged in sleep, began to surface.

For someone who loved sleeping in, there was no harder moment than just after waking up.

If she had been at the Cradle or Night Haven,

She would have certainly forced herself up and shaken off fatigue without anyone having to wake her.

But now, since she wasn’t under pressure from tight academic schedules or situations like the Subjugation Festival,

She could have indulged in sleeping in a little and taking it easy.

“…!!”

However, Lilianshiz, who was about to burrow under the blanket to escape the birdsong in her ears, suddenly raised her upper body as if remembering something.

What had she recalled that made her, a lover of morning sleep, bolt upright?

“…”

Though her lips didn’t open to directly reveal what it was,

Her slightly flushed expression full of anticipation and

“…Karl.”

The word that eventually came from her slowly opening lips made it easy to understand.

“I wonder if he’s sleeping well?”

It was concern for her one and only fiancé, Karl.

Just when she thought he had returned home to rest his tired body after the Subjugation Festival,

He had received an unexpected notification to undergo a trial at the Sword Mound.

She naturally recalled Karl’s back view as he had been swinging his sword at the training ground until just before going to bed, looking up at the sky.

Lilianshiz had seen it.

She had watched her fiancé from a hidden spot in the corner of the training ground that only she knew about, trying not to burden him.

While she was relieved that he seemed more energetic and enthusiastic than usual,

She couldn’t help but worry about the subtle melancholy she had glimpsed in Karl’s expression from afar.

As her consciousness became clearer after waking up, the image of Karl from yesterday kept replaying in her mind.

“…What time is it?”

Concerned about Karl due to these recurring images, Lilianshiz turned her head toward the wall clock.

Since this was the room always assigned to her whenever she visited the duchy,

She could easily locate the wall clock even though she wasn’t fully awake.

After checking the time with her eyes, Lilianshiz said in a low voice,

“…Karl must be up by now.”

Then,

“Nnngh…!”

She slowly stretched.

Though she was still a bit sleepy, the desire to comfort Karl after seeing his melancholy expression last night had gotten her out of bed.

Lilianshiz, who had barely escaped the enchantment called a bed, looked disheveled to anyone who might see her.

When she was at the Cradle, she would force herself to wake up early to avoid showing such an appearance to her fiancé.

She felt the irony of presenting such an appearance elsewhere too, not just at the Cradle.

“But I like it…”

Yet such irony would dissipate like fog at the mere thought of Karl’s face lighting up upon seeing her enter his room.

“I should get ready quickly.”

Lilianshiz’s body, gradually shaking off her dishevelment, began to move busily.

Though it wasn’t a long journey to see the person she adored so much,

She needed to prepare thoroughly for that encounter.

Until then, Lilianshiz had only imagined Karl welcoming her happily when she entered his room.

No matter how tired his body was, even if he slept in by his standards,

Karl, her most precious fiancé, always woke up before her,

Either coming to wake her up or focusing on training and taking care of his body as part of his daily routine.

By now, he would have already finished such preparations.

So she needed to go now.

She wanted to be a source of strength for him as he faced the upcoming trial that would soon burden him.

Lilianshiz recalled.

Though her life hadn’t been particularly long,

She remembered how her fiancé had always been there to support her gently and give her strength whenever she was sad or struggling.

And from there, she also recalled.

The image of Karl expressing gratitude to her after she had been his strength.

A gentle smile formed on Lilianshiz’s face as she arranged her clothes while thinking of this.

“If I go and say a few words to him and stay with him, Karl will like it too…”

She whispered to herself in a tiny voice.

After some time had passed,

Lilianshiz, now ready to visit Karl’s room, began to take slow steps.

Though her footsteps were calm,

Lilianshiz’s heart, imagining how happy Karl would be to see her enter the room…

“…Hehee.”

Was so filled with happiness that she couldn’t help but let out a light laugh.

That was until she knocked on Karl’s door and received no response.

#

*Knock knock-!!*

She had already knocked three times, but there was no response from Karl on the other side of the door.

She had confirmed through her ki sense that he was in the room.

But there was no reaction to the knocking sound that he would normally hear clearly.

Feeling puzzled, Lilianshiz knocked on the door a little louder than before.

-….

When there was still no sign from beyond the door,

Sensing something unusual, Lilianshiz’s hand, instead of continuing to knock,

Carefully turned the doorknob.

*Creak-!!*

With the sound of hinges turning smoothly, the entrance door slowly opened.

“…Ka-ah…!!”

Lilianshiz, who had urgently squeezed through the gap before the door fully opened, saw it.

Her fiancé sleeping defenseless on the bed.

She wasn’t completely flustered at seeing his vulnerable state, as she had unexpectedly seen it quite often lately.

But there was something about Karl that disturbed her composure.

Namely…

*Gulp*

Karl’s exposed upper body, which made Lilianshiz swallow hard the moment she saw it.

The actions of Lilianshiz who witnessed that moment and

Lilianshiz who sat carefully on the bed with her eyes closed recalling that moment overlapped despite the difference in time.

*Whoosh*

A brilliant flame rose on her face.

The only difference was:

“Hnnnng…”

The intensity of the flame rising on her face now was much greater than when she had blushed in her recollection.

“Haaang…”

Lilianshiz’s hands, filled with embarrassment, now covered her face.

Though no one was watching her in the quiet room,

It was an almost instinctive action taken because she felt that if anyone saw her like this, she couldn’t guarantee what would happen to her.

…If she was this affected just by seeing his upper body, she might actually faint with her eyes open when their wedding night came—a mischievous joke she couldn’t refute.

The sight of Lilianshiz not knowing what to do on the bed was clearly the epitome of a virgin’s innocence to anyone who saw it.

“…Hard but feels good…”

…Scratch that comment about virgin innocence.

What exactly had happened in that brief time when she entered Karl’s room?

“Hnnnng…hehe…”

Alternating between embarrassment and mindless laughter, another scene was replaying in Lilianshiz’s mind.

It was the sight of Karl’s chest rising and falling with each gentle breath

*Inhale- Exhale-*

As he slept so soundly that he wouldn’t notice if someone carried him away, with his upper body completely exposed.

…Bang-!!

A sound like an explosion seemed to come from within Lilianshiz’s heart.

Momentarily worried that an actual explosion had occurred, Lilianshiz opened her eyes wide and turned her head toward the window.

“…Nothing there?”

From the window, she could only hear the sound of birds’ wings still chirping, though with diminished vigor.

“…What was that?”

While she was wondering about the situation, having heard something that sounded like it exploded right next to her,

*Bang-!!*

When she detected the explosive sound again,

“…”

Lilianshiz’s expression contorted with embarrassment and confusion.

*Whoosh*

Her face, which she had barely managed to cool down, caught fire again.

That was it.

The explosive sound that had startled her while she was in meditation, albeit somewhat impure meditation:

*Bang-!!*

“Haaang…”

It was the sound effect bursting from her mind after seeing such a stimulating scene that she couldn’t handle.

“…”

Feeling that covering her face with both hands wasn’t enough, Lilianshiz bowed her head deeply.

She was intent on extinguishing the flames rising on her face, not wanting to show an embarrassing appearance to her fiancé who would soon arrive after changing clothes.

But regardless of her efforts, her mind mercilessly replayed another scene from earlier:

-Ju…just a little should be…be fine, right?

The scene was the moment when she had extended her right hand and touched Karl’s sleeping body while speaking in a very cautious voice.

“Hwaaa…”

Finally pushed to her limit, Lilianshiz’s mind gave up on composure and chose the most extreme but quickest effective method:

*Thud-!!*

That method was fainting.

Though everything seemed to end abruptly without proper closure,

Thanks to the thoughts organized in Lilianshiz’s mind as she was losing consciousness, one gain could be salvaged:

She had discovered the identity of the regret that had briefly surfaced in her mind.

It was the deep regret of not being able to savor the warmth emanating from his body a little longer before Karl opened his eyes.

“…Shiz?”

When Karl, who had changed his clothes and entered, saw Lilianshiz almost collapsed on the bed and hurriedly tried to wake her up in panic,

“Hard but feels good…”

Only somewhat dangerous words unconsciously spilled from Lilianshiz’s lips, who had already lost her grip on reason and consciousness.

“…???”

It was only natural that Karl’s expression subtly changed upon hearing this.

In the morning, a time when everyone should be busy preparing for a good day,

Karl and Lilianshiz had begun their day stained with embarrassment and awkwardness.

But neither in the expression of Karl as he tried to wake the fainted Lilianshiz,

Nor in the expression of Lilianshiz as she barely regained consciousness at Karl’s call,

Was there any shadow cast.

Because no matter how embarrassing the situation they faced,

They knew it could be resolved by looking into each other’s eyes and talking things through slowly.

“Haaang…”

…Though in Lilianshiz’s case, it seems she might need a bit more time.