episode_0036

I had been in the hot water for too long, so my memory of Mayhen climbing on top of me was hazy. When I came to, I was already on the bed. Mayhen must have moved it. Mayhen must have gone out first to do her own work.

“Ugh, Aya…”

My lower back felt cold and my back muscles were tense. I must have slept on the hard bathroom floor because the bed was clean.

“Shall we go for a walk?”

When your back hurts, it’s better to change your position than to lie down in one position for a long time. Even light jogging will help with the treatment. Since I’ve been back in the castle for a long time, I’ll go for a few laps around the castle as my morning exercise, and see the villagers who must have been waiting for me.

There were so many things going on while I was out of the castle. I also had to prepare for a meeting with the rebels in a few days…

Well, I understand. Things aren’t going well right now, so I’ll have to get as much done as I can while I’m out. But when I’m back inside the castle, I want to rest.

As I was walking, thinking about today’s schedule, Kuzunoha called me from afar, wagging her tail.

“Sir! I heard that you came back yesterday. Why didn’t you stop by to see me? I’m so upset.”

“Ah… I was so tired yesterday that I went straight to bed. I was going to go right away, but, um. Sorry.”

What… It’s true that I tried to go to Kuzunoha, and it’s true that I went straight to bed. It’s not a lie.

Kuzunoha came over to me, linked arms with me, and started to caress my body with her tail.

At first, I was a bit suspicious of why he was being so friendly when we first met, but now that he’s groping me so openly, I feel reassured… My parents used to tell me to be careful if a pretty woman showed them favor. But since we’ve already gotten physical, what’s the big deal?

“Ah, but that won’t work.”

“Heeeek… Okay, I understand.”

That’s that, but putting it deep inside the clothes is a bit much. If I accept it all, another day will definitely disappear.

Butt… is it okay? I think I’m starting to lose my sense of chastity… but then again, openness is relative. To this extent, it’s conservative.

“Okay, sir, please take a look at what I made.”

“This is… hic!”

What Kuzunoha, who was clinging to me with her arms linked, took out for me was a syringe that felt familiar.

“Really… I warned you not to abuse them because they are addictive, but I guess you used them multiple times. That’s why I came up with a replacement for you.”

“Kuzunoha? Could you please move the needle away?”

It felt like the same injections I had been getting before – honestly, I can’t say I’m better enough to not have any withdrawal symptoms, but whenever I put the needle in my body to inject it, it makes me tremble like I have acrophobia. Although Mayhen’s treatment was drastic, it was effective.

“Oh, oh? Sir. This is more effective than the previous one. I worked hard to make it, so give it a try…”

“Ah, ah! Ah!”

As Kuzunoha took a step closer, Hyunho waved his hand and took two steps back.

A clear sign of rejection. Kuzunoha felt that something was wrong with her plans.

‘This won’t do?’

Kuzunoha planned to use Hyunho’s drug addiction to lure him to her room so that the two could have a secret, physical conversation.

Curing addiction symptoms in one day – that wasn’t in the plan. I never thought that as soon as I took out the syringe, my face would turn white and I would run away.

“Sir, please don’t do that. Just try it once…”

“…Then bye! See you in the evening!”

I decided to push forward my originally planned walk, leaving Kuzunoha behind as she urged me to do so again. It seemed like she had something to say, but I could hear it in the evening.

“Haa- haa-”

After running away from Kuzunoha for a long time, I arrived at a fruit shop in front of the castle. It was the house where Cecil lived.

Daughter-

I heard the door chime open, and Sister Cecil came out.

“Son, you’re back already!”

“Yes. I just stopped by while I was taking a walk.”

He has short orange hair and is tall. His outfit is impressive with the vertical stripes on his sweater that extend across his chest. When I first met him, I remember calling him “auntie” because he gave off a married woman vibe and getting scolded.

When I told him that later, he said that it was because he used to take care of children at church that he had that kind of atmosphere. Unlike Mayhen, he had a motherly vibe.

‘After you said that, you started calling me son… Auntie, no, but Mom, it’s okay. I still don’t understand a woman’s heart.’

But Mom is a little… I just call her Sister. Sister Cecil seems to want to be called Mom, but I guess not.

“I saw your face, and I’m just going to sit down for a bit and then go.”

“Really? You look tired. How about closing your eyes for a bit?”

“Well, is that so?”

Actually, I came out to rest, so it’s okay if I sleep for a bit, right?

Sister Cecil has a very comfortable atmosphere, which is nice. In some ways, this fruit shop is better for resting than the bed I share with Mayhen. Mayhen is too strict…

“Hmm… the sun is bright.”

I came back during the day when the sun was high and light was streaming in through the windows in the building.

“Wait a minute, okay? Is this okay?”

“Yes, that’s perfect.”

Cecil leaned forward slightly after hearing Hyunho’s words. It was only a slight change in angle, but her huge chest blocked the light and created a shadow on Hyunho’s face.

Evil-evil-

Cecil began to gently comb Hyunho’s hair with his fingernails, as if he was taking care of his own son.

“Would you mind telling Mom what happened?”

“Uh… First of all, I went outside and saw another demon…”

A more comfortable atmosphere than being with anyone else. This must also be a talent that Cecil Noona possesses.

Mayhen… I asked her to learn the art of fighting from Cecil, but she just doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would do that. How could she possibly be an instructor when she looks so gentle?

I enjoyed having my hair combed and talked about what had happened.

As I was talking so quietly with my eyes closed, I started to feel sleepy again. It hadn’t even been that long since I woke up…

“So, Haam-”

“If you’re sleepy, just sleep. Mom will wake you up in an hour.”

“Then… wake me up in forty minutes…”

Oh, maybe you’re still a little tired from last night. Lying down like this, I keep getting sleepy.

So Hyunho closed his eyes, and soon after, he started to breathe noisily.

“…Johnny?”

Cecil continued to stroke his head and asked in a small voice. Hyunho only periodically rose his chest, but did not respond.

***

“Hyunho, wake up. You said you were going to see Kuzunoha-sama in the evening? It took a long time to find her.”

“Uh, huh?”

It wasn’t Cecil who woke me up by gently shaking my shoulder, but Mayhen. It seemed like she had come looking for me.

“Ugh, how long did I sleep?”

I got up from Cecil’s lap and looked at Mayhen. My head felt refreshed, but it didn’t seem like I had slept for as short as an hour.

“Maybe three hours? I hope you got some rest.”

“I tried to wake him up, but he was sleeping too soundly, so I stopped…”

Ugh… I was only going to sleep for forty minutes. You did it for me, so I can’t say anything. Well, it’s okay to be lazy here. The problem is that you made other people wait. I’ll apologize when I see you.

“By the way… Sister Cecil, your sweater changed?”

“Oh, huh? You noticed. I accidentally spilled water on my chest and it got wet. Me too…”

Cecil answered me with a slightly blushing face, perhaps embarrassed by her large breasts.

Water on the chest… Well, that size would be enough.

Since I had my legs cut off, it must have been hard to change clothes. My legs must have been numb after lying down for three hours. I felt sorry. Next time I come, I should bring a gift.

“Then I’ll come again next time!”

“Okay~ I’ll wait.”

Daughter-

We opened the door and went outside. When we were a little way from the store, Mayhen spoke to me in a surprised tone.

“That’s really amazing. I didn’t know you’d become so harmful just because you quit being an instructor for a while. I guess you really liked Hyunho.”

“Really? You’ve been kind to me from the start, ugh.”

While we were talking, I suddenly felt something inside me. It’s strange. I hadn’t eaten anything in particular.

“Have you already eaten? I heard that you and Your Majesty Kuzunoha were planning to eat together tonight.”

“No, nothing in particular. I feel strangely bloated.”

What is this? Is it because I slept right after working out? Why am I like this when I didn’t even eat while lying down?

Well, it’s not really important. Then I guess I’ll just eat a little less for dinner. I’ll be training with Mayhen after dinner anyway.

“No. Today, His Majesty asked for time off from training. He said he had something to talk about.”

“Really?”

Lina seemed to be hanging on the crystal all day, so she might have discovered something.

Kuzunoha is a great master of barrier techniques, so the exchange of knowledge between the two could be very helpful. I hope to hear some positive news. By the way, Kuzunoha never gave me a syringe to use as a sample, so how on earth did she make a replacement? Although I sometimes wonder what she’s thinking, her ability is certain.

***

That’s how the meal started. There was no need to eat, but everyone agreed because it seemed more comfortable for conversation.

Kuzunoha was the first to speak.

“First of all, there’s something I’d like to explain.”

That explanation is a story about a barrier. Kuzunoha brought up the story of how she thought she could freely come and go, but was trapped inside.

What followed was a story about a complex barrier. Meihen was slicing the meat in front of her as if she had no interest at all, but I could understand it roughly.

“So, there was something wrong with the barrier?”

“Yes. I looked into it with the help of the Queen, and it is true that there is something fishy about it.”

“I also heard a lot of stories. Thanks to that, I was able to solve a problem that I couldn’t solve while studying crystals. ”

Lina took out a pair of rings from her bosom. They were similar to the rings Kuzunoha had made before, so she felt a bit uncomfortable.

“What the hell is this?”

“It’s an access card. One is for the warrior. You can wear it around your neck. ”

I put the ring Lina had thrown around my neck and listened to the explanation.

“Obviously, someday the barrier will be broken and we will have to go outside. However, no matter how much I researched, I couldn’t figure out how to break the barrier itself.”

“That’s exactly what happened because it was designed wrong from the start. It was made with the goal of sealing, that is, imprisoning. ”

“I’m embarrassed to say this, but the two of us are the most powerful in the empire. If I or Mayhen could go outside, our power would increase dramatically. Then, your burden would be greatly reduced. ”

Click- As Lina put another ring on her wrist, a faintly visible chain stretched across the desk like a ghost between the two rings.

A seal, not a barrier – if so, then you have to approach it differently to enter. Embed some of the large crystals in the castle into Lina’s bracelet and Hyunho’s necklace. It’s a form of binding that’s close to a seal, and it’s an entry pass.

After demonstrating it like that, Lina took off her bracelet again.

“The problem is that only one person can go out at a time. Any more and it becomes confusing.”

“So sir, one of us. Please choose someone to go with you to the place where we will talk to the rebels.”

At those words, Mayhen, who had been quietly eating her food, turned her head and looked at me.

Three pairs of eyes looked down at me like that.

‘Oh, I feel like I’m really going to die.’