The Sun and the Moon

They remain alone in the dim dark curtain, seemingly concealing yet not quite.

“It’s kind of hot,” Io says, loosening her dress to a precarious point and running her fingers through her neatly tied hair as she licks her lips, gazing at Scarl.

“Io.”

Io, seemingly ready to grant anything, approaches him, her eyes filled with a drunken allure, as if trying to seduce the man.

“How do I look?”

The thrill of possibly being seen by others through the thin fabric.

As if imitating a scene from a scandalous novel, Io stealthily approaches Scarl like a cat.

“It suits you well.”

The man’s uninspired reply was all she got.

It was a compliment Io had heard countless times during the banquet today. She often heard it because she usually dressed well.

However.

As the speaker changed, her heart began to pound rapidly.

The pulsating blood began to circulate quickly, rushing to her face and turning Io’s skin red, but Scarl was too exhausted to notice.

“…Really?”

Scarl concluded with his signature expressionless face.

“Yes.”

She wished he would express himself a little more, the heartless man.

Regardless of Io’s feelings, Scarl sat down, crossed his arms, and blinked slowly.

Even in Scarl’s tired eyes, Io’s figure was beautiful, though he only said it as a platitude. However, even for him, who had reached the level of transcendent, there was a limit.

“I’ll… go rest first.”

At his slow farewell, Io first felt a pang of disappointment.

“Ah…”

“Is there a problem?”

The lingering feelings Io had felt quickly subsided as she carefully examined Scarl’s complexion.

Scarl’s eyes were already dark, and his skin was rough.

Yet, the fact that he still left these words behind was perhaps the only attachment Io had to Scarl.

“Understood. My Hero.”

My Hero.

“What did you say…”

“Please, go and rest.”

It was a bold act to interrupt him, but Scarl decided not to look back and leave any lingering feelings. So, as Scarl was about to exit through the door the sisters had left through, he paused with his hand on the doorknob at Io’s last words, but then pushed it open and left.

That night.

Io wasn’t the only cat who became audacious with the fish left alone.

Eventually, it became a full night, and it was Nyx’s time, the goddess of night and instinct.

As the banquet neared its end, most of the participants were drunk. Some were sprawled out in the banquet hall, unable to return to their lodgings, while others left before showing their unsightly sides to others.

Alcohol, celebration, and the positive emotions of victory easily swept away the bars of reason in people’s minds, and true to its name as the time of instinct, young bodies shared primal Love with partners they met that day in lush outdoor spaces or beds.

As Scarl was exhausted from the battle and sound asleep, two cat burglars entered his room.

How tired he must have been, as Scarl, snoring softly, was defenseless against the sisters’ surprising infiltration skills. And Flare saw Scarl sleeping in bed for the first time.

“This is just like when he was d― Sorry. Luna.”

Flare’s longest memory of Scarl was none other than him lying still in a coffin, preserved, just like now, so she made a joke, but quickly apologized at Luna’s scornful gaze.

“Be quiet.”

“What does it matter? If Professor wanted to know, he would have noticed before we came in.”

Luna quickly silenced Flare, whose voice was filled with a slight excitement.

“Shhh.”

The octave that was creeping up from her parched lips subsided at her cold sister’s gesture.

“Okay.”

Luna and Flare nodded, looking at each other.

Originally, cat burglars steal something.

These two came tonight to claim a part of Scarl’s bed.

Sleeping together.

Ssshhh―

As the rise and fall of Scarl’s chest, following his shallow breathing, clearly showed that he was alive, Flare unknowingly felt a surge of emotion and dabbed at her eyes.

Seeing her younger sister showing such an intense reaction again, Luna calmed her down.

“Calm down.”

She knew what her sister was moved by, but it wasn’t appropriate for the situation.

Luna and Flare naturally slipped into the right and left sides of Scarl’s bed.

“Umm…”

Taking advantage of Scarl’s brief stirring, the two quickly settled into comfortable positions.

With the movements of a Hero optimized for In-fighting with demons, Luna buried her face in Scarl’s upper arm.

A sloppy, wanton smile that she could never show her sister spread across her lips, and Luna, intoxicated by Scarl’s sweet scent that she had longed for, wore a languid expression.

Scarl woke up to the two’s movements.

Even without opening his eyes, Scarl recognized Flare and Luna by their familiar scents and was flustered, and the two also noticed that Scarl was awake.

“Meow.”

“Meee-ow.”

What happened after that is only known to the three of them.

The next day, as soon as dawn broke, the head of the Haimon family stopped Scarl from leaving immediately.

“Please. What will become of my reputation if I let you go like this, son-in-law?”

As the banquet was hosted by his daughter and future son-in-law, the head of the family did not personally attend the banquet on the first day, which was yesterday.

“Please leave out the ‘son-in-law’ part.”

“Oh, come on. At least for the sake of our Io… ahem. Io?”

While the head of the Haimon family and Scarl were having a private conversation, Io entered.

One hand was clutching her head, and her face was contorted, but as soon as she saw Scarl, she immediately put on her usual beautiful facade as if nothing had happened.

Thump, thump, thump, thump

A strong scent of alcohol wafted from Io’s mouth as she approached, but Scarl didn’t mind it and looked into Io’s eyes.

“Are you already leaving― no. Are you going to run away like this?”

Tears welled up in her jewel-like eyes.

Io, with the maturity of a woman of age and ripened physically, the decadence from the previous day’s overdrinking, the silk pajamas that seemed to reveal her curves without fail, and even the slightly angry frown, was a woman who knew exactly what her weapons were, as natural as a scene from a movie.

“From what?”

Scarl’s voice sounded sharper than yesterday, but Io began to recite the words she had prepared last night to persuade him, not yielding.

“The citizens are looking forward to Scarl’s next move.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

Her ambitious plan was thwarted by Scarl’s steadfastness and sank.

“…If you leave like this, I’ll tell everyone everything that happened inside?!”

At the end, she bit her tongue slightly, as if ashamed of having cut off the niceties and revealed her true feelings.

Scarl inwardly chuckled at Io, who kept threatening to turn him into a bomb and explode.

‘Seriously.’

“For one day, then. I understand.”

“Yay!”

The head of the Haimon family sighed as he watched his daughter, who was happy even though she was being dragged around without resistance.

“Ahem. Ahem. Io?”

“Oh my. Were you here too, Father?”

Io, with a brazen face as if she really didn’t know even though she had just greeted him and entered, subtly stuck close to Scarl’s side.

“That’s why daughters are…”

And so, Scarl and the two sisters stayed for another night.

“You’re just going to make us train again if we go back anyway, Professor. Give us a break too.”

“That’s good. My back was hurting…”

Even on the second day, the banquet was held even more grandly.

Those who acted on impulse quickly attended yesterday’s banquet, but the gifts presented by those who were calculating and arrived late were effective. And this news gradually grew and quickly spread throughout the empire.

Even nobles who were not invited to the banquet came to spy on the Hero’s face and the political moves that the Haimon family would make in the future, and the festival held in Haimon gradually grew into something more.

The confident and relaxed appearance of the head of the Haimon family made those who attended on the second day quickly realize that the Haimon family’s fortunes were not declining at all, and that Haimon had sided with the sword called the Hero, who was a blemish on the imperial family, and they liked the fact that they quickly realized the future political moves of the Second Princess and the changes in the power structure.

Merchants brought jewels, gold, and rare foods as tributes, praising the achievements of Haimon and the Heroes.

The head of the Haimon family released most of these at the banquet. It was a pity that Haimon Castle, which was a shelter during wartime, was destroyed, but the main reason was that there were no major casualties and that the Haimon city, which was in charge of the economy, was not affected at all. The merchants hoped that Haimon’s position would expand further and wanted to build ties with them.

Thanks to this, expensive seafood that is hard to see inland, rare wines and cheeses were served at the banquet, and famous bards and orchestras sang and played, greatly enhancing the atmosphere.

The head of the family and the family’s key figures have been surrounded by a dozen people for a long time, constantly talking. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before the people of the Haimon family, who were the hosts, became completely drunk.

On the other hand, the fact that fewer people came to Scarl and the Heroes, who were the main characters of yesterday’s banquet and the victors of the actual battle, and Io’s side, was clearly a consideration of the Haimon family.

Nevertheless, they drank more alcohol than yesterday.

Scarl was fine, but Luna and Flare seemed to be immune to such things and were knocked out far beyond their alcohol tolerance and went to their assigned rooms, and only Io was guarding the seat next to Scarl.

“Scaaaarl.”

The eyes of Io, whose fair skin, typical of white people, had disappeared and turned as red as a ripe apple, were blurred and unfocused.