Chapter 40
‘Where… am I?‘
Elion was walking down a dark forest path.
Given his short limbs in his line of sight, it seemed to be a dream where he had returned to his childhood.
‘Damn it.‘
Even knowing that this situation was a dream didn’t make it easy to wake up from.
Elion walked and walked along the forest path.
At some point, a woman began walking ahead of him.
‘Mother!‘
Elion instinctively knew.
The child ran, moving his short limbs vigorously to catch up to the woman.
But the distance between him and the woman barely narrowed.
Still, the young Elion didn’t give up and ran with all his might.
His heart burned with frustration at being almost, but not quite, within reach of the woman.
The child stretched out his hand.
“Mother! Wait for me. Let’s go together.“
He called out to his mother in a desperate voice, but nothing changed.
The woman didn’t wait for the child and continued walking ahead at a quick pace.
Elion clenched his lips and ran for dear life.
And finally, the child succeeded in catching up to the woman and grabbed her hand.
Even so, the woman didn’t look down at the child and just kept walking.
“Mother, it’s me. It’s Elion. Mother!“
The boy took courage and called out to her again.
It was the face he had always yearned to see.
It was the word he had always wanted to say.
But nothing changed.
The woman still only looked straight ahead and walked quickly.
The young Elion tightly gripped the woman’s hand with both of his in a final act of desperation.
Then he stopped walking and hung onto the woman’s arm with all his strength.
The woman, dragging the child along for three or four steps, finally couldn’t bear his weight and sank down to the ground.
“Mother!“
The child shouted in a voice filled with triumph and looked at the woman’s face.
But the woman’s face wasn’t there.
There was only a skull with black, hollow holes where the eyes, nose, and mouth should have been.
“Aah!“
The child’s face twisted in horror.
The hand he was holding had also become the hand of a skull.
“Aaaah!“
Startled, Elion flung the skull hand away.
Then, the skull that had collapsed on the floor crumbled into pieces.
“Hoo… hoo-ooh!“
The pent-up tears streamed down the child’s eyes.
Waking Up
“Ugh… Uuuh!“
Rubiana opened her eyes at the faint groaning sound.
It was already dark outside the window, and the fireplace was crackling softly inside the room.
‘Ah… I fell asleep.‘
She was relieved that she had fallen asleep while holding Elion’s hand and checked his face.
Rubiana gasped in surprise at the sight of him drenched in cold sweat.
“Oh my goodness…!“
Rubiana gently wiped the sweat from Elion’s forehead with a dry towel.
She also lightly massaged his tightly furrowed brow.
“Uuuuh… ugh!“
A repressed groan escaped through his twisted lips.
What kind of terrible dream was he having to be in such agony?
It was pitiful and regrettable to see the large-framed Swordmaster struggling against a mere nightmare.
Rubiana patted his shoulder and whispered.
“It’s alright, Your Highness. Everything is alright. I’m here. And it’s just a dream. A dream that you won’t even remember when you wake up. So it’s alright.“
After a moment’s hesitation, Rubiana’s lips touched his forehead, cheek, and lips in turn.
If the cause of the nightmare was his unstable mana, she hoped this kiss might bring him some comfort.
And it seemed her wish was granted.
Soon, Elion’s brow relaxed, and his groaning subsided.
‘It worked!‘
And the very next moment, his eyelids fluttered and slowly lifted.
His moist, blue eyes, which had been unfocused, finally looked up at Rubiana.
“L-Lady…?“
“Your Highness, you’re awake!“
“…You woke me from the nightmare. Thank you.“
“Are you feeling a little better? Should I call Haley?“
Rubiana asked urgently.
But Elion slowly shook his head.
“No. I’d like it if you stayed a little longer.“
“…Yes.“
“And keep doing what you were doing before.“
“Pardon? Oh…“
Rubiana’s face flushed red.
The ‘what you were doing before’ he spoke of meant kissing him.
Was he blaming her for kissing a sleeping person without permission?
“Th-that is… I apologize. You seemed to be in distress… I just…“
As Rubiana nervously offered excuses, a large hand slowly reached toward her cheek.
Cupping her cheek gently and pulling her closer, Elion slowly took her lips with his own.
The surging mana in his head flowed into Rubiana through their softly joined lips.
The slight fever, headache, and even the lingering effects of the nightmare vanished instantly.
Elion was completely captivated by the familiar yet seductive sensation.
As if to compensate for all the pain he had endured during the two days he spent without Rubiana, Elion pulled her in even closer.
He felt as though he couldn’t let her go.
Rubiana was the only one who could save him from his suffering.
The position, which had clearly started with Rubiana leaning over the lying Elion, was reversed at some point.
Rubiana was lying on her back on the bed, and Elion enveloped her body from above.
Hot breaths and desperate flesh intertwined in the gap between their parted lips.
Elion, half-mad with desire, plunged into her mouth.
It was warm yet cool, wet yet refreshing.
Everything he wanted was within her.
No, that wasn’t right.
What he desired wasn’t something inside her; it was her herself.
It was Rubiana.
‘I want her!‘
The fervor for Rubiana engulfed Elion’s entire body.
There was no room for reason to intervene.
Only a thirst he had never felt before dominated his hands and feet.
Releasing her mouth, his lips slid down to her neck.
His lips, tracing her slender neck, moved past her collarbone and headed further down.
He had to stop, but he couldn’t.
Her entire being was powerfully drawing him in.
It was then.
“Y-Your Highness!”
The trembling cry broke through his sanity.
Elion instantly regained his senses and pulled away from her body.
Their two flustered gazes clashed in the air.
Both Elion’s eyes, drenched in hot desire, and Rubiana’s eyes, overwhelmed by the unfamiliar stimulation, were trembling slightly.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, an unknown heartbeat vibrated through the air.
Rubiana’s chest rose and fell sharply as she gasped for breath.
‘I don’t know what’s happening!’
Regaining her composure was just as difficult for Rubiana.
She could clearly understand what Elion wanted.
His gaze, his touch, his kiss—they were all speaking of only one thing.
Yet, what confused her now was herself.
She also desired what Elion wanted.
‘This… this is absurd…!’
The power of mana was truly formidable.
Each time the breath laden with Elion’s mana touched her body, a strange, ticklish sensation arose like a haze.
She felt as if she could do anything if she could keep receiving this warm and ecstatic mana.
No, she felt like she had to do anything. She felt like she wanted it even more than Elion, though she hated to admit it.
‘I shouldn’t… I really shouldn’t do this…!’
Her mind was a complex mess.
Elion kissed her forehead and cheek tenderly and whispered. No, he pleaded.
“Rubiana… I will give you mana… please, give yourself to me.”
Every spot his lips touched felt as if mana was bursting like fireworks.
She desired Elion as one desires a festival.
She longed for everything they would share, whatever it might be.
‘Why not? There’s no reason not to, is there? This is just… the act of exchanging mana. My incomplete body craves Elion’s mana.’
Reason could not overcome instinct.
Her exhausted body yearned for Elion’s mana more powerfully than ever before.
Rubiana cupped Elion’s face in both her hands.
She kissed his lips and whispered softly.
“Alright. I want it too. I want you, Elion.”
“…Rubiana!”
What followed happened in an instant.
It was as if her earlier hesitation was meaningless; Rubiana happily accepted every sensation Elion gave her.
His fervent eyes watching her as if she were a wonder, his hot breath brushing her skin, his persistent lips nibbling her flesh, his large hand stroking her waist—she loved it all.
