episode_0011

Chirp chirp

I opened my eyes to the sound of birds singing.

“Ugh…”

My head hurt.

“Did I drink too much…?”

Come to think of it, I had been drinking like a madman.

But what else was I supposed to do?

The otherworldly beer blessed by the God of Alcohol was so delicious it practically felt like a revelation.

How could I resist?

…And just thinking about it made me crave another drink.

Sigh

“If the beer was this good… the other drinks must be amazing too…”

Given that Prophecy RPG was a world with a God of Alcohol, there was no shortage of unique drinks.

“The wine must be great… I wanna try mead too… or monster-infused liquor… or even the elves’ brews…”

At this rate, I could probably make a whole travel show about drinking my way through the world.

…I was chuckling to myself when—

Squish

“……?”

Something soft pressed against me.

“Hehe…”

“Love you, Master…”

A gentle sensation enveloped my body.

“Uh… huh?”

Startled, I turned my head.

And there she was.

Lia, clinging to me with a dazed smile on her face.

Now, up to this point, it was fine.

Sure, sharing a bed with a woman was already a problem in itself.

But even then, I could still find a way to explain it away.

However.

There was another issue.

‘Why is she naked?!’

That was the problem.

Lia, lying next to me, was completely naked.

‘What the hell?’

‘What happened last night?’

I desperately racked my brain.

The orc meat dish was delicious, the beer was amazing, so I kept chugging.

Lia kept chugging too.

And then…

Hmm…

‘No memory?’

I was screwed.

I got drunk and did something stupid.

We both got wasted and ended up in bed together.

We must’ve had a passionate night—

‘Wait.’

I was still wearing pants.

I had taken off my top, but my lower half was still fully clothed.

‘Did I not do anything?’

If we’d done something lewd, my pants would’ve been off too.

The fact that I was still wearing them meant…

We hadn’t done anything.

‘No traces either.’

If we’d done anything, there’d be evidence.

A lingering scent, sticky sensations, something uncomfortable would’ve remained.

But there was nothing.

No traces at all.

Proof that we hadn’t gone that far.

‘Haa…’

‘Thank god…’

Sure, sleeping naked with Lia was already a disaster, but if all we did was sleep, I could still salvage this.

…Just as I thought that and tried to get dressed—

“……”

Lia tightened her grip on me.

“You’re awake.”

“Hehe…”

“What do you mean hehe?!”

“If you’re awake, put some clothes on!”

“Whyyy?”

“What do you mean why?!”

“A grown woman shouldn’t be showing her naked body to a man!”

“Why not a man?”

“……?”

“Master is my husband.”

“???”

“Mom said so.”

“It’s okay to show your body to family.”

Lia grinned.

“So it’s fine with Master.”

“??????”

My mind went blank for a second.

What?

Since when was I her husband?

When did we even get married?

‘Don’t tell me…’

‘Did I drunkenly spout some nonsense about getting married?’

So I asked her.

“Mom said so.”

“If you sleep together in the same bed, you become husband and wife, and then you have a baby.”

Lia beamed as she spoke.

“Master.”

“Do you think our baby will be a boy or a girl?”

“……”

I took a moment to process.

‘So…’

‘She’s calling me her husband just because we slept in the same bed?’

Goddess of Light, Selena.

What kind of sex education did you give your daughter?!

…I sighed and spoke seriously.

“Lia.”

“Yeah?”

“Just sleeping in the same bed doesn’t make you husband and wife.”

“Wha… it doesn’t?!”

“Nope.”

“It doesn’t.”

“But… but…”

“Mom said…”

“What exactly did she say?”

“If you find a man you really like, just drag him to bed first…”

“Then leave the rest to him…”

“Once you wake up, you’ll be husband and wife… and you’ll have a baby…”

It wasn’t entirely wrong.

In Prophecy RPG, marriage was pretty straightforward.

If two people confirmed their love for each other,

and then shared physical intimacy in bed—that was it.

By morning, they’d be husband and wife.

That was the wedding.

‘Nobles tend to make a big show of it, but…’

Commoners didn’t have that luxury.

After spending the first night together, they’d consider themselves married.

So,

by this world’s standards, what we did was practically a wedding.

Except.

We skipped the most important part.

…As soon as I said that, Lia blinked and asked:

“The most important part?…”

“Yeah.”

“Wh… what is it?…”

“Huh?…”

Wait.

You want me to explain this?

‘Lia’s an adult, so it’s fine, right?’

I hesitated for a moment.

‘Well…’

‘Might as well just say it.’

What was sex education for, anyway?

It was about teaching proper intimacy.

So I explained everything.

Assuming she was completely clueless, I carefully walked her through it step by step.

“Get the gist of it?”

“Yeah!”

“And you understand we’re not husband and wife?”

“Yeah!”

“Good.”

“Then let’s just get dressed—”

“If we didn’t do the important part, that’s why we’re not married!”

“So if we do it, then we will be!”

Lia clung to me as she declared:

“Hey!”

“I just explained what that means!”

“Yeah!”

“So let’s do it!”

“Do what, you crazy woman?!”

“I told you, marriage and sex are things you think carefully about before doing!”

“I did think carefully!”

“If you thought carefully, you wouldn’t do it!”

“No!”

“Master would be a great dad!”

“No way! Not happening! Get off me!”

“Master!”

“Let’s make a baby!”

Wow.

The anti-sexual-assault chant from Korean sex ed classes isn’t working.

So I tried a different spell.

“Goddess of Light, Selena!”

“Your precious daughter is about to assault an innocent man!”

“Help! SOS! Mayday!”

“Mom would cheer me on!”

“She taught me that if I’m sure he’s a good man, I should go for it!”

Ah.

So that’s what Mom taught her.

Right.

If the Goddess of Light said so, who was I to argue?

…Just as I thought that,

I spotted a flaw in Lia’s logic.

“Lia.”

“Yeah!”

“Your mom said this, right?”

‘If you find a man you really like, just drag him to bed first.’

“Yeah!”

I could roughly guess what happened last night.

Lia, drunk, dragged me to a private room,

and we slept together under the assumption that we were getting married.

Well…

I’d think about that part later.

The important thing was this:

“And then she said this, right?”

‘After dragging him to bed, leave the rest to the man.’

“Ah!”

Lia froze.

“Master!”

“Here!”

“I’ll leave the rest to you!”

Lia spread her arms with a bright smile.

So I did as I pleased.

“Put some damn clothes on, you lunatic!”

I threw her clothes at her.

We stepped out fully dressed.

“Sniff…”

“Master rejected me…”

“Lia.”

“This is rejection.”

“Whhyyyyy…”

“Marriage is something you do with someone you truly love.”

“You don’t love me.”

“I doooooo…”

“I really like Master…”

“Liking someone and loving them are different.”

“Different?”

“Yeah.”

“Very different.”

Lia didn’t love me.

She just wanted to be with me,

to play together.

She hadn’t proposed marriage out of love,

but as a way of saying, ‘Let’s hang out.’

…I explained all this.

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“If you think friends and boyfriends are the same, you’re already out of the running.”

“They’re both friends, though.”

“They’re not the same.”

“How are they different?”

“You’ll understand the difference when you meet someone you truly love.”

“But I really like Master?”

Lia hugged my waist as she spoke.

I looked her in the eye.

“Lia.”

“Yeah?”

“If you truly loved someone, your face would turn red, and you’d avoid their gaze when you met their eyes.”

“You’re staring right at me.”

“Huh?”

“That’s the proof.”

“Proof that you don’t really love me.”

“Th-that’s not proof!”

“It is proof.”

In Prophecy RPG, that was one of Lia’s signature reactions when she fell in love.

So.

Right now, Lia was just a kid who didn’t understand love.

…With that in mind, I rented a carriage.

“A carriage?”

“We’re taking one to the next city.”

A carriage.

Faster than walking, it was a means of transportation to the next town.

The types were as follows:

[Standard Carriage] The most affordable, ordinary carriage.

[Express Carriage] Faster than standard, but more expensive.

[Magic Carriage] Powered by magic, extremely fast—but also very pricey.

We were taking the Magic Carriage.

Enchanted horses,

a lightweight carriage—maximum speed.

The downside was the cost,

but for saving time, it was the best.

“Lia.”

“Yeah!”

“We’ll arrive by evening, so…”

“Pass the time by reading the guidebook or something.”

“Okay!”

Lia pulled out the guidebook I’d made and started reading.

I took out a magic primer.

‘What’s fantasy without magic?’

Thanks to Cain, I could use fire and water magic,

but I couldn’t use any other elements yet.

I focused on learning all the elemental spells.

At the same time.

Lia was thinking.

‘Why would someone blush and look away when they meet eyes with the person they love?’

Mom never did that.

[My dear daughter~]

[Mommy loves you so, so much~]

Mom truly loved me,

but she never blushed or avoided my gaze.

So?

Did that mean Mom’s love wasn’t real love?

‘That can’t be right…’

Then?

Did Mom’s definition of love differ from Master’s?

‘Is that it?…’

If they were different,

how exactly were they different?

What separated liking from loving?

‘Ughhh…’

‘This is too haaard…’

No matter how much she thought, no answer came.

For Lia—a shut-in, friendless, socially awkward loner who’d never experienced friendship or love—this was far too difficult a question.