Chapter 24
Knock, knock, knock.
The last visitor knocked on my door.
“May I come in?”
It was Lloyd.
When Lloyd entered with a gloomy expression, Davien had already disappeared in an instant along with the glittering magic circle at my feet.
“Sir Lloyd.”
“Kae!”
Seeing the tear marks on my face, he looked shocked and hurried closer.
“Were you crying alone?”
He gently wiped away the tears that had fallen.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you alone. I’ll stay by your side from now on.”
He looked even more dejected than before.
“Sir Lloyd, you don’t need to take responsibility for me. Please just send me back to Zeronia.”
But he firmly refused my request.
“I can’t do that. I heard from Mother. When someone goes through something like that, absolute rest is the most important thing. For now, you must rest well.”
It really seemed like he believed I had miscarried or something.
But the next words that came out of Lloyd’s mouth left me speechless.
“You must be very sad about losing the child… but you can have another one in the future, so don’t worry too much.”
…What?
What are you even talking about?
Did I hear that wrong?
Lloyd’s face turned red when he saw my shock, and he continued.
“I’ll do my best.”
Aaaaah! No, no, Lloyd. That absolutely must not happen!
For a moment, the image I had been desperately avoiding flashed through my mind—the terrifying “other half” that perfectly resembled its owner’s massive build.
No. No. That wasn’t a human thing. I would die in a different sense. Absolutely not.
I shook my head frantically and shouted at him.
“W–wait a moment! We just slept for one night, that’s all! A baby? And ‘doing your best’? What are you even saying?!”
Lloyd tilted his head at my words.
“We didn’t have a wedding, but an unmarried man and woman slept together. Isn’t that basically the same as being husband and wife? And since you seem to want a child, I’m saying I’ll do my best whenever you wish.”
What?! Have I ever seen someone this rigid about chastity? And when did I ever say I wanted a child?! I was just crying because I was being threatened over something I didn’t even do!
As my blood pressure skyrocketed, Lloyd delivered the finishing blow.
“And… that night was my first.”
He turned his face away, blushing again, and muttered in a small voice.
At his unexpected confession, my mind went blank, as if my blood pressure had exploded.
I see.
He was a virgin.
Was that why he was this ignorant about sex…?
I tried to pull myself together as my mental state crumbled, but Lloyd continued speaking without pause.
“I gave you my first time, so shouldn’t you take responsibility for me as well?”
Oh my god… My mental state completely shattered with his last sentence.
“Then, I look forward to it, Kae.”
He took my hand and lightly kissed the back of it. Seeing that, my brain fell into chaos once again.
But the chaos didn’t last long.
Lloyd began unbuttoning his white shirt one by one. His firm muscles, broad shoulders, and the powerful back of a man filled my vision. My head rang loudly, and I finally came to my senses.
“W–wait a second. Why are you taking off your clothes?”
Lloyd answered with an innocent look, as if it were a strange question.
“It’s late at night. We should sleep, shouldn’t we…?”
“…You mean, together in that bed?”
At my dumbfounded question, Lloyd smiled brightly.
“Isn’t sleeping together natural for a married couple?”
When our eyes met—those purple eyes—I swallowed without realizing it.
A handsome face. A great body. A virgin man waiting for me in bed.
For a moment, I almost walked toward the bed without thinking—but I snapped out of it.
Lloyd, saying things like that with that face and body in an all-ages story is cheating!
I shouted loudly.
“No!”
“?”
“I–in Zeronia, you can’t sleep together until after the wedding!”
And we’re not even a real married couple!
Not even knowing what I was saying anymore, I rushed at Lloyd, made him put his shirt back on, buttoned it up one by one, and pushed him out the door.
“Good night.”
Bang!
With a loud sound, Lloyd disappeared from my sight with a dazed expression.
Slide…
Left alone in the room, I leaned against the door and sank down.
“What on earth is going on…?”
One protagonist was threatening me, saying she’d keep an eye on me, and another was telling me to take responsibility for his first night… My head was so messy I felt like I was going crazy.
“For now… let’s sleep.”
I’ll think about it after I wake up.
I stood up, shook it all off, and fell asleep under the soft blanket.
“Wedding… a wedding…”
Unaware that Lloyd, who had been kicked out, was muttering while staring at my door.
I slowly opened my eyes inside the messily tangled blankets.
Looking out the window, it seemed to be just before dawn. Scratching my head, I remembered how I had cried and shouted at the female lead who had come to kill me yesterday.
I’ve really lost my mind. She’s someone terrifying enough to cut rocks with a sword, and I just lashed out at her.
Davien had backed off because of Lloyd, but there was no guarantee she wouldn’t come again.
Should I run away?
For a moment, Lloyd’s face flashed in my mind as he told me to take responsibility, but I shook my head. If I got swept up by his looks and actually married him, it was obvious that my married life would turn into hell thanks to the sister-in-law who wanted to kill me.
Early dawn, when everyone was still asleep—this was the perfect chance to escape this cursed Helderios family.
I quickly opened my luggage, changed into healer’s clothes, and checked whether my money pouch was still there. Inside the heavy pouch, the shiny gold coins were intact.
This should be enough to get to Zeronia.
I considered escaping through the window, but when I looked down, I changed my mind. Even though it was only the second floor, it was absurdly high.
Let’s go out through the door first!
Steeling my resolve, I carefully opened the large door.
There shouldn’t be anyone, right?
I never imagined that through the small gap of the opening door, I would meet eyes with the terrifying female lead standing right outside.
Ah, damn it! That scared me!
“…!”
Since when were you standing here?
Feeling my heart pounding wildly, I quietly closed the door. I prayed she wouldn’t come in, but soon the door creaked open again.
And there stood Davien, wearing a frightening expression.
“You’re running away, aren’t you?”
“I’m just… going for a walk?”
“At this dark hour, after changing clothes and packing a bag?”
At her sharp remark, I had nothing to say.
Fine. So what if I’m running away?
I gathered my courage, looked straight into Davien’s eyes, and spoke.
“Yes. I’m going home. So please step aside. You don’t like me being here either, do you, Lady Davien?”
“No, I’m fine with it.”
“…What?”
“You rose in status overnight from a commoner. You should stay here for a while, shouldn’t you?”
Davien smiled kindly and walked toward me step by step. She really looked like the female lead of a novel—shiny black bobbed hair, clear purple eyes. Her bright smile was as beautiful as mine, if not more.
What got into her?
With that friendly smile, Davien continued.
“I almost completely fell for your act yesterday. You probably thought that if you cried and clung to me with that innocent face, I’d fall for it like Lloyd did.”
A vicious edge seeped into her words.
“If I let you go like this, who knows what kind of scheme you’ll cook up outside?”
I shook my head and replied.
“I’m not planning anything. As you can see, I’m a healer, and I don’t even know how to use dark magic.”
“Ah, that’s none of my concern.”
“…What?”
“I’m telling you to stay here.”
“I refuse. I’m going back to Zeronia.”
At that, her smiling face hardened instantly.
Davien let out a short sigh and cracked her neck.
“You really don’t understand, do you?”
She casually lifted a thick, heavy iron clothes rack that had been standing beside the door with one hand.
“You’re mistaken. What I’m saying right now isn’t a suggestion. It’s an order.”
Is she saying she’ll kill me with that thing or what?
Holding the rack, Davien bent it cleanly in half as if folding paper.
“I can fold a person’s spine just as easily. Want me to show you?”
It was a threat.
A threat to snap my spine in half.
My mind went blank again.
“Why… why are you doing this?”
“I’m giving you a grace period—deciding whether to kill you or not. Who knows? I might let you live.”
Hic!
Maybe it was because of her killing intent, but I suddenly started hiccupping.
“Of course… it could be the opposite.”
She straightened the bent rack again.
When she grabbed it tightly and released it, the rack twisted horribly and became completely unusable. Davien tossed it aside. With a loud crash, it hit the floor.
That sight overlapped with an image of my own spine being snapped and my body collapsing, and my body began to tremble again.
“That disgusting acting of yours—go on, keep it up. It’ll be exposed soon anyway, but until then, I’ll enjoy it too.”
Davien stared at me as I trembled while looking at the rack, then walked closer and lightly tapped my cheek.
“If I catch you trying to run away again, I’ll throw you into the underground prison.”
With a delinquent grin, like a street thug shaking someone down, she opened the door and spoke as she left.
“Then, enjoy your breakfast.”
