Episode 2 – Growing Up

Grace SIDE

,Huu……,

I shook the blood off the dagger, wiped the blood from my face, and frowned slightly at the throbbing pain in my shoulder, even though it had recovered, as I walked out from among the corpses.

At that moment, the kid ran up to me and shouted.

,Grace!! Watch out!!,

My wariness skyrocketed at his words, and I hurriedly turned around to see the last pre-goblin staggering with its guts hanging out from its torn stomach, thrusting a spear at me with eyes full of hatred.

,Ah…. I’m fucked….,

As I stared at the spear aiming straight for my heart, I unconsciously threw the arm holding the dagger forward and tried to dodge to the side, but the spear was already rapidly approaching from about an arm’s length away.

I contorted my face and could only hope to move my body as much as possible to avoid dying instantly from shock. And then I felt something push me and hot blood splattered on my face. I realized that Ian had pushed me and taken the spear for me when I saw him collapsing with the spear stabbed into his side.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The sight of Ian slowly collapsing overlapped with the image of my grandfather collapsing at the hands of the robber. My heart started racing uncontrollably. My hands trembled. It felt like the memory from that time was plunging me back into despair.

Panicked by the sight, I desperately ran to him. I used all the remaining healing abilities in rapid succession. At that moment, I didn’t think about the consequences. For some reason, I just kept using my healing abilities, feeling hot tears welling up.

,Please…… don’t die….. please…… don’t leave me….. please…… don’t leave me alone….,

And I instinctively realized. I realized that I had already accepted Ian into my heart for the first time, excluding my family from my past and present lives, and I felt a belated regret filling my heart. Overwhelmed with grief and despair, I could only regret.

The spear stuck in his side slowly began to come out, and his body began to recover. But he didn’t regain consciousness. At the sight, my heart raced like crazy, and I brought my trembling hand to his nose, feeling a faint breath.

Only then could I breathe a sigh of relief. My trembling body seemed to calm down quickly as I hugged Ian tightly, feeling his warm body temperature.

It’s different from that time. It’s different from that time when I could only helplessly watch the light that illuminated my otherwise dark and powerless life fade away.

I can protect him. That fact drove away the grief and despair that had settled deeply in my heart.

I looked affectionately at Ian, who had saved my life, pulled the dagger from the goblin’s body, and then picked Ian up in a princess carry and moved to find a safe place.

How long had I been wandering around? I was lucky enough to find a cave. There was even a small stream in front, so I gathered dry branches and manipulated magic to light a small fire inside the cave. After confirming that the cave was getting warmer, I went outside and washed the blood off my body in the stream.

I squeezed the water out of my silvery-blue hair, which was glistening with moisture, and then shook it out and moved closer to the fire to warm up.

Feeling the warm fire, I squatted down and calmly watched the kid, who was fast asleep with his cheek resting on his thigh.

In the past, I thought he was like me when I saw him getting beaten. But……. I was wrong. He’s better than me. At least, I was sure that he wasn’t the kid who could only cry when Grandpa passed away…..

He had such a beautiful face that you could mistake him for a girl at first glance, and he was so skinny. I just wondered how he could run up to me so quickly with that body.

,…………..,

For the first time, I felt grateful to my grandfather and the parents who gave birth to me in this world, excluding my family. The flames of the bonfire turned my face red. I felt embarrassed for some reason and buried my face in my thighs.

,Yeah……. when he wakes up…… I have to say thank you….,

I unknowingly fell asleep on a day that was somehow incredibly tiring.

* * *

I opened my eyes slightly at the sound of someone shouting. Then, Ian’s beautiful face was right in front of my eyes. I was startled for a moment and tried to back away, but I couldn’t escape from Ian’s arms, which were tightly hugging me.

After blushing for a moment, I carefully examined his face. He had a sharp nose, flawless white skin, long eyelashes, and cherry-red lips.

The faint breath coming from his lips was tickling my face. I chewed on my lip, feeling like my heart was beating wildly.

And then I realized that this situation was like a pure love scene in the introduction of an NTR novel. At the same time, I realized one thing. My wildly beating heart, my blushing face, and his beautiful face……

,Ah….. do I like this guy?,

As the vaguely outlined thought took on a clear form, I felt my face turning red as if it would explode. I unknowingly swallowed hard, and for some reason, I couldn’t take my eyes off his cherry-like lips.

At that moment, I acted impulsively on the feeling that was boiling up from deep inside my heart. I slowly approached Ian with a hot breath and hazy, moist eyes. And I covered Ian’s soft lips with my own.

The soft lips of Ian, the faint smell of sweat, and the faint smell of blood stimulated my nose. I tried to open the gap between his hot lips with my tongue. But his lips, which were closed tighter than I thought, didn’t open easily.

Unable to overcome my frustration, I kept knocking on his lips with my tongue, suffering from an unknown thirst, and opened my eyes. And I saw it. Him, with his eyes wide open…. The moment I saw that, I felt an unbearable shame filling my heart.

,Ugh!!! What the hell are you doing! Grace!!,

I took my lips off slightly and pretended to be asleep again, naturally closing my eyes with my face flushed as if it would explode.

,Grace….,

I ignored him. It was the first time I had felt such intense embarrassment and shame, including my past life.

,Grace….?,

I ignored Ian’s words with my face flushed red and lowered my head slightly. At that moment, I felt his touch on my chin. His touch on my chin was warm. I instinctively knew what he was going to do.

Thump thump thump

Barely holding on to my trembling heart, as if I didn’t know what to do, I trembled my closed eyes, filled with anticipation and excitement. I could feel his hot breath nearby. His touch was slightly trembling, as if he was nervous too.

And…… his soft and moist lips touched mine. After giving me a few butterfly kisses, he knocked on my lips with his tongue. When I opened the door slightly, his lips slowly entered my mouth like a snake.

Chureop♥ Jjoop♥ Jjok♥ Chureop♥

,Ian…… Ian……! I love you….. I love you…… forever…… I’ll never let you go…….. Heueut♥,

His tongue and my tongue intertwined and tangled with each other. At some point, the inside of the cave was filled with the sound of each other’s tongues intertwining and exchanging saliva. The sound was so stimulating that I rubbed my thighs, feeling a tingling sensation in my pussy. Everything about Ian made my heart race.

Then, I heard someone shouting in the distance.

,Grace~~~!!! Where are you~~~!! Ian~~~!! Answer if you can hear me!!,

The sound awakened our minds. We were both suddenly wide awake and dropped our tongues from each other’s mouths. A silver thread made of saliva stretched out long and then broke. I blushed at the sight and hurriedly got up and said.

,L… let’s go quickly. I think the adults are looking for us,

,U… un,

And I stroked my lips and took a languid breath. The taste of my first kiss was incredibly sweet.

As we walked awkwardly, Ian carefully wrapped his hand around mine.

Startled, I soon didn’t refuse Ian’s hand and blushed, interlocking our fingers and walking together.

Ian’s hand….. was very warm.

* * *

When I returned home, I couldn’t lift my head out of guilt when I saw my father and mother scolding me with eyes full of worry and sadness.

After being confined to my room for 7 days, I was lost in thought.

I was once again realizing that I was hopelessly weak. What if…… Ian hadn’t pushed me? What if….. Ian hadn’t thrown the stone? What if…… what if……

But…. more than anything, what was hard to bear was that I had left everything to chance and hadn’t even thought about what would happen to Ian if I lost. The fact that Ian could have died after I died. I don’t want to experience someone dying because of me…… not after Grandpa. Even if I don’t know him….

Looking back on the battle at that time, I realized that I had fought terribly. I had a feeling that if I acted with a mindset of leaving everything to chance and giving up if it didn’t work, I wouldn’t be able to survive even a few days outside and would die.

It was that terrible of a battle. I thought hard. How could I become stronger? I thought I still had a chance, being only 14 years old.

I couldn’t deny that I had been living too complacently and self-satisfied.

And I made a resolution.