Just a little more…

Just a little more…

I let out a small sigh as I looked at Sien, who was drooping like a rain-soaked puppy.

In the original novel, he was a character as solid as steel, perfect in everything, with firm beliefs that never wavered in any situation.

‘The guy in front of me now is more like cotton on the verge of melting than steel.’

Cotton that’s so mushy it can’t even maintain its own shape.

I was at a loss for what to do, given the huge discrepancy between the Sien I knew and the Sien before me now.

From outside, maids rushed in and covered Sien with a blanket.

I thought that scene looked similar to a shivering dog covered with a blanket, and I fell into contemplation.

‘So, what would be the best thing to do?’

… Although I said I understood, I was actually quite flustered and didn’t know what to do.

From my perspective, it was as if Sien had suddenly appeared and asked for a chance while whimpering.

‘On top of that, I don’t even know well what happened in the past.’

So I couldn’t rashly do anything.

I was already overwhelmed just thinking about the Heaven God Cult and Rumi, and now with Sien added to the mix, my head felt like it was about to explode.

Trying hard to suppress another sigh, I spoke to the maids around me.

“I have something to discuss with Sien, so please leave.”

At those words, the maids bowed politely and quickly left the room.

– Thud

The silence that began with the sound of the door closing.

I slowly opened my mouth towards Sien, who was holding onto the blanket and watching me cautiously.

“What do you want?”

At first, I thought about soothing her as she wished.

But if I did that, it would create a sense of dissonance with how Deren usually behaves.

To avoid giving her any unnecessary feelings of disconnect, I had to act like the usual Deren.

So, I asked Sien while showing the same demeanor I usually show to others.

Sien, gripping the blanket tightly, speaks to me in a voice that seems to be shrinking away.

“… I want to enjoy the rights as a fiancée.”

Rights as a fiancée? I’m not sure exactly what that means.

I stared at Sien, indicating that she should explain in more detail.

She curls up even more and speaks to me in a shrinking voice.

“… I’m very sorry to say this, but if I don’t, I feel like I’ll regret it for the rest of my life, so I’ll take the liberty of saying it despite the rudeness.”

Judging by her grand way of speaking, it seems she wants to set quite a difficult condition.

I nodded, deciding to refuse immediately if this wasn’t acceptable.

Sien takes a deep breath and tells me.

“I want… I want to hold hands.”

“……”

I’m taken aback as it’s a much simpler request than I expected.

I thought I almost broke my expressionless act for a moment, and slowly extended my hand.

“……?”

As I held out my hand, Sien looked up at me with a puzzled expression.

Then, as if she understood my intention, she looked around startled, and eventually placed her hand on mine with an expression full of embarrassment.

‘It’s cold.’

I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been standing outside for a long time or if I’m nervous.

Sien’s hands were excessively cold, so I grabbed them without thinking.

“… Ah.”

Startled by my action, Sien’s shoulders jerked, and she looked at me and my hand alternately with a face that had turned bright red.

‘Was this too much?’

I unconsciously grabbed her hand since it was raised.

This action seems to have been too stimulating for Sien.

As I looked at Sien, who didn’t know what to do, I thought it would be better to let go of her hand and slowly loosened my grip.

“Ah, no.”

This time, Sien firmly grasped my hand and spoke to me in a stammering voice.

“Just a little more… I’d like you to hold it a little longer.”

Since it wasn’t a difficult request, I nodded and held her hand again.

Sien smiled slowly, looking embarrassed yet relieved.

“… Thank you.”

Seeing her smile so naturally, I felt strangely embarrassed.

As I thought about how I didn’t know how to deal with someone who confronts emotions so honestly, I turned my gaze away.

Seeing this, Sien grasped my hand even tighter, showing her determination not to let go.

*

After that, we just held hands for about ten minutes without saying anything.

To me, it seemed like a meaningless action, but for Sien, it apparently wasn’t.

Unlike before, she spoke to me with a face full of life.

“Lord Deren, thank you so much. I will never forget this kindness!”

“… I see.”

She looked at me with a bright smile blooming on her face, truly happy, and then quickly left after saying, ‘I apologize for any inconvenience.’

I watched her retreating figure and sighed, slowly turning my gaze away.

‘It’s full of things to worry about.’

I never expected even Sien to act like this.

After letting out a light sigh, thinking that I now had more to worry about.

For now, I decided to be satisfied that things had ended well and headed to school.

* * * * *

“There will be a group practical assessment coming up soon. Please refer to the upcoming announcement for details.”

The professor’s voice echoed through the classroom.

I looked at my hand while listening to that voice.

‘The scent won’t go away.’

Perhaps because I had been holding her hand for 10 minutes earlier.

Sien’s unique floral scent kept lingering on my hand, and I sighed as I looked at it.

‘It’s not that I dislike it, but it keeps bothering me.’

As I was thinking about why it was making my mind so complicated.

Suddenly, I noticed Rumi staring at me intently from afar.

‘… What is she doing?’

I couldn’t understand why she was glaring at me like that.

I thought about reacting to this, but lacking the mental capacity, I pretended not to notice.

Rumi stared at me throughout the entire class as if I were her mortal enemy, refusing to take her eyes off me.

‘Well, it’s understandable. I tried to rape her and then said hurtful things repeatedly.’

Thinking that I could understand why she disliked me so much, I was jotting down class-related notes in my magic book when.

Delia, sitting next to me, whispered in a low voice.

“Are you going to do that again today?”

She must be referring to the corpse-selling business.

Since I had to repeat this until I collected at least 10,000 coins, I nodded, and Delia crossed her arms and said to me.

“I’ve been thinking about it at home. The key to this operation is to receive and deliver as many corpses as possible, right?”

To be precise, it’s about getting corpses or people that offer a lot of coins.

Finding it difficult to explain this in detail, I just nodded.

Delia smiled confidently and said to me.

“Then why don’t we collect a large number of corpses at once and push them all in together? I think that would dramatically reduce the time.”

Hearing this, I silently looked at Delia and shook my head.

“That would draw too much attention, which would be counterproductive.”

After all, we’re not dealing with objects, but human corpses.

Doing something like that could cause unnecessary problems and headaches, so I rejected her suggestion.

She smiled brightly and offered a new proposal.

“That’s not a big problem. I have a way.”

“A way? What is it?”

“It’s a free funeral service.”

Free funeral service? I looked at her, wondering what she meant.

She took out the magic book from her arms and explained.

“I checked briefly yesterday, and it seems there are quite a number of corpses rolling around on the streets in the slums and outskirts.”

It was the result of various disasters that struck worldwide along with the Demon King’s invasion.

I nodded, remembering that it had been mentioned in the novel, and Delia continued.

“I was thinking we could collect those bodies and take them away under the pretext of providing free funeral services.”

As I was considering that it could be a good method if managed well,

She quickly added a few more points.

“The advantage of this plan is that since the bodies rolling on the ground have no relatives or acquaintances to hold funerals for them, there’s no one to question it.”

Above all, her logic was that it would appear as an act of goodwill to third parties, potentially bringing great prestige to the Lercier Family.

“Moreover, since the bodies aren’t disappearing, if we’re careful with transportation, there won’t be any suspicion. And if the corpses disappear, hygiene and the environment will improve, so I think the citizens will be quite pleased.”

It was a pretty good proposal as long as we weren’t caught, so I nodded and said,

“I’ll consider it.”

“Yes, and regarding the funeral costs, I looked into it, and it seems we can claim some from the Imperial Family. It might be good to make the most of this.”

I wasn’t too worried about the cost since I was planning to use the family’s money, not my own.

Considering it might be a good method to keep in mind, I nodded.

Delia looked at me with an expression of accomplishment.

“Hey, if you liked it, could you give me a praise sticker or something?”

Wondering if the concept of stickers existed here too, I silently stared at Delia.

She speaks to me with an awkward smile.

“It’s like… if you collect about ten, I’ll help with magic modifications. I thought it would be nice to receive them. Take it or leave it.”

Hearing that, I chuckled and told her I’d think about it, as it seemed like a good idea.