Ch.80Knight’s Haven (Complete)

As the curtain closed, the room instantly darkened. Since the sun hadn’t set yet, no candles had been lit.

So Kain couldn’t tell how flushed Lily had become, or how her eyes trembled. He didn’t know that she was pressing her chest firmly with her hand to suppress her hiccups. He only heard her rough breathing.

Lily lay down beside Kain. She pulled the blanket over both their bodies. Though it was a summer blanket and thin, it was made of good fabric with what felt like goose or duck down inside, quite fluffy, and it made a pleasantly crisp sound as if it had been dried in the sun all day.

“I really love this scent,” Lily said, her voice slightly cracking. Only then did Kain realize how nervous she was. He knew that while she pretended to be fatal, when the moment came, she would be flustered, embarrassed, and not know what to do. So Kain answered gently.

“Which one?”

“The scent of blankets dried well in the sunlight. When you breathe it in quietly, you can feel that pleasant popping sensation. That pleasant warmth, that coziness, that tenderness.”

Lily’s hand fumbled as she caressed Kain’s chest.

“Just like when I hold you in my arms.”

Though Kain was properly dressed like Lily, he couldn’t push her away or resist because he was wrapped tightly in the blanket.

When Kain didn’t resist, Lily grew bolder. She turned toward Kain and draped her right leg over his body. She slipped her left arm under his neck and wrapped her right arm around his waist.

“Does it tickle?”

“No.”

“How about now?”

Lily pulled Kain closer. Their eyes met briefly, then she gently bit his earlobe between her lips. Kain hunched his shoulders.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t touch my body.”

“I’m touching you with my lips, not my hands, so it doesn’t count, does it?”

As if displeased with his response, her lips pressed against his again. Her tongue intertwined with his hesitantly. Her leg stroked his lower body while her arms held him tight so he couldn’t escape.

“Hah… huh…”

Lily panted. She kept smacking her lips as if she had eaten something delicious.

“What should I do now?”

Then she kept rubbing her body against Kain’s. Slowly. Like riding a small boat on a lake.

“What do you mean, what should you do?”

“I’m so happy right now, but I don’t know what to do. It’s so hot. I’m thirsty. I’m parched. I want to drink.”

With a soft sound, Lily covered Kain’s neck with her mouth. She licked his neck with her tongue, carefully covering it so as not to leave teeth marks. Kain burst into laughter at the tingling sensation.

“You should drink water, not me.”

“You know what I’m thirsty and hungry for, don’t you? You’re mean.”

“I’m mean?”

“Well, is there anyone else here?”

Kain closed his eyes at the pleasant rocking. Her skin was warm and soft. He simply surrendered his body. After all, he couldn’t escape now anyway.

“You don’t know how anxious I was. I even wondered if I lacked charm as a woman. But… that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“How would you know that?”

“Even now.”

Through the clothes and blanket, Kain could feel Lily’s hand fumbling around his lower abdomen.

Kain blushed. He considered saying, “That’s something I can’t control,” but fortunately, Lily provided the answer for him, sparing him from having to make an embarrassing excuse.

“Because you keep pulling your hips back whenever I hold you like this.”

Hands caressing his cheeks and neck, another long kiss. Her tongue intertwining, panting, digging in.

“You don’t dislike me, do you?”

“How could I dislike you?”

“But you don’t love me either.”

“Because I shouldn’t.”

“Yet you neither push me away nor reject me… that drives me crazy. You say ‘no, no,’ but… you’re mean.”

“Why again?”

“Because you keep making me fall for you. You keep saying ‘no, go away’ with your words, but your body… your body keeps saying something else. Even now… So I’ve decided.”

“What?”

“I’m going to do as I please. Because I want to be happy. So I won’t let go of you, and I won’t lose you. Because the shadow always shows me you. But the scenery you see… it’s not me, is it?”

Lily put her ear to Kain’s neck. As if trying to determine whether he was lying. If it were a lie, the artery in his neck would beat rapidly.

“That’s right. It’s not.”

Fortunately, Lily didn’t ask what he saw instead. She instinctively realized it was a thorny question. Large, beautiful roses have large, sharp thorns.

“I’m sorry. I… I don’t want to see any more of those frightening things. Just seeing them tears my mind to shreds.

In Emmaus too. If it hadn’t been for that whistle sound, I wouldn’t have come to my senses. ‘He’s alive. He’s right there, alive.’ Hearing those words, I was able to get up. It was the same at Masada. If you hadn’t called me a whetstone, I wouldn’t have been able to wake up.

I worried. What should I do? I want to protect you. I want to keep you safe… I know it’s presumptuous concern. So I thought of it.

To become strong. Strong enough to break me. So strong that I wouldn’t need to worry anymore. And strong enough to kneel before the Knight of the Scabbard.”

It was just as Kain had guessed. At least, the last part.

“I was so happy and glad that you recognized it earlier.”

“Knowing that, you still struck me like that?”

“There’s one more thing I’m sorry about.”

Lily said playfully, cupping Kain’s cheek with her hand. When Kain’s lips protruded, she sucked them in with her own lips.

“Actually, I was confident I wouldn’t lose. Because I’ve been watching all along, seeing what tricks you use, what techniques you employ.”

“You cheated?”

“Cheated? It’s interest. And… if you’re so unhappy about it, you should have beaten me.”

Lily pulled her body upward. She gently rested her chest on Kain’s collarbone and rubbed her body up and down. As Kain’s waist kept pulling back, she tightly gripped his lower body with both legs.

“That technique. You shouldn’t let your movement be blocked. You get caught tight like this. You need to keep escaping. Moving. Looking for openings. But when you’re caught like this. Do you know what to do?”

“Target the upper body?”

“No. You need to create an opening. It’s not about upper or lower body. You need to attack the undefended part, the open side. And as I did, you can open what’s closed. Earlier, I forced it open. By striking down hard.”

“I see.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Kain bent his waist. As if trying to get up. Surprised, Lily momentarily leaned back. Kain buried his face in Lily’s chest.

“Eek!”

Startled, Lily squeezed her legs tighter. Their lower bodies pressed together embarrassingly close. It was noticeable even through the wrapped blanket and trouser hems.

“Hee… hiccup! W-what should I…”

Kain chuckled before finally bursting into laughter. Lily, who had been making a tearful face, playfully hit Kain’s chest.

“Don’t laugh!”

“Isn’t this what you meant?”

“I said don’t laugh!”

“Is it 1-0 now?”

“I hate you, really!”

Lily buried Kain’s face in her chest. Kain kept rubbing his face against her chest. A sound like “hnngh” escaped before Lily pulled her body back. She trembled as if she’d fallen into cold water. Hiccups were a bonus.

“I hate you…”

But she giggled too. Though her body was trembling and tingling with excitement as if struck by lightning, Lily was happy. Because she was lying in the same bed, under the same blanket, with the person she loved, even playing around.

So Lily approached again and embraced Kain.

“It would have been better if you weren’t a knight.”

“Why?”

“Then you could forget about knights’ oaths. The oath not to undress, the oath not to do any lewd acts.”

“But I’m alive thanks to you.”

“You know what?” Lily kissed Kain again. “I never wanted to be a knight. Not for a single moment.”

“But you became the strongest knight.”

Lily took a moment to catch her breath. She sighed softly, then kissed him again.

“It’s a painful story. I’ll tell you later. I just… want to say that I feel like I’ve regained my life. You’re the only one in the world who sees me as I am, as a person.”

“You are a person.”

“I know. But no one else saw me that way. No one… gave me a nickname. No one played jokes on me. I was always… the daughter and bloodline and knight of a family I couldn’t handle.”

Kain recalled the numerous scars on Lily’s back. They couldn’t have come from training. There’s no training that involves being hit on the back. Then they might be traces of punishment.

“But not anymore. Because now I have someone I want to protect as a knight should. When I first protected you at the monastery… for the first time, I was happy to be a knight. Because I became a knight because I didn’t want to die, didn’t want to be beaten, didn’t want to be ignored.”

Kain recalled that unfortunate apprentice knight. The knight who was eventually devoured by the shadow, who was mistreated by the lord of the Mercy Knights. The young child who whispered that he wanted to become a knight because he thought he would be beaten less.

Lily might have seen her past self in him. That’s why she actively stepped forward to help.

Kain really wanted to hold Lily tight. But he couldn’t because his body was wrapped up. So instead, he extended his head. Lily understood Kain’s intention. Another long, lingering kiss followed.

“Break me. Then even if I’m gripped by fear, I can proudly say, ‘He is strong. Strong enough to defeat me.'”

“You’re already strong.”

“No. No, I’m not. I couldn’t overcome my fear. You did. Maria receives protection from a very special… power. But you overcame it with will alone. I couldn’t do that. No one could.”

Lily exhaled a long sigh.

“A knight needs a castle. A castle to protect. A fortress to rest in. I won’t return to Valhalla, to the White Blood. Be my castle, my home, my tower. I’ll protect you, so protect me. I won’t disappoint you. You can answer… later… for now, just accept me.”

Not even the night breeze would know how many laughs and jokes, kisses and embraces, entanglements and more entanglements there were.

The two talked until quite late. Lily happily fell asleep first. In the moonlight shining through the curtains, Lily looked as comfortable as a knight returning home, and beautiful enough to possess.

That’s why Kain carefully contemplated one fear.

What if the shadow showed him Lily? What if he became afraid of losing Lily? What should he do then?

‘I need to end this quickly. To do that, I’ll need to win.’

Maria hadn’t bound his body too tightly. He could move his arms and legs somewhat flexibly. It was probably consideration so he wouldn’t accidentally bend his joints or move his body while sleeping.

Thanks to that, he had become like a living doll or cushion, but looking at the sleeping Lily, Kain thought this wasn’t all bad.

‘Still, I don’t want to lose.’

He fell asleep, determined to win tomorrow.

The next day, Lily woke up to the loud sound of rain hitting the window. It was pouring.

‘We won’t be able to do it by the lake then.’

Lily looked down at the still sleeping Kain. Maria’s leather straps were clearly visible. She swallowed hard. Could she pretend they had come undone while he was tossing in his sleep…?

Knock knock.

Someone knocked on the door. Lily wrapped a robe around herself. When she opened the door, the mansion’s butler was standing there with a letter. It was from an art dealer.

She couldn’t understand why a letter would come from an art dealer, but she vaguely guessed it had something to do with Kain. Lily gratefully accepted it and closed the door.

She was about to wake Kain, but then smiled, thinking of an old story. The story of a knight who awakens a sleeping lover with a kiss.

She tucked her hair behind her ear and kissed him.

To her home, her tower, her castle. For a long, long time.