My Husband Was Clearly a Paladin
Chapter 47
At that moment, Michael momentarily ceased all movement.
He sat there motionless for a long time as if enduring something, then took Irene’s hand.
Then, he kissed each of her fingers, one by one.
Every time he touched her body like this, it felt as if a refreshing breeze brushed past him.
If so, it was only natural that he should feel good. Yet, Michael found that sensation disagreeable.
“……I don’t mind how things are now.”
The desire surging within him was like a wildfire that consumed his mind every minute, every second. It should have been agonizing, yet he found himself unwilling to escape that intensity.
That was why the refreshment Irene provided as a pair brought him a sense of self-loathing.
The more they touched, the more he realized just how dark and viscous the desire he harbored truly was.
Fortunately, he was able to suppress his lust today. It was thanks to the sound of her soft giggles every time he touched her.
It was a sound he had never heard from Irene before.
She had always been strictly formal with him.
“I don’t know why you find me so difficult when we are pairs.”
His voice was grumbling, enough that Irene would have been startled had she been awake.
“It would be nice if you could just accept me comfortably without suspicion.”
He muttered, repeatedly kissing her fingertips and nails.
It was a reverent gesture, as if a devout believer were facing the image of God for the first time.
Then, his lips stopped at Irene’s ring finger.
“…….”
His eyes narrowed as he looked at the bare finger. Simultaneously, the red in his pupils deepened.
Whenever Irene passed by, everyone looked at the ring on her finger.
He had felt satisfied watching people’s reactions.
Every time they saw her, they would think:
Who was the one who placed that ring on her finger?
Whose pair was she?
When he learned that it was customary to give a pair their first accessory, he immediately thought of this.
The most valuable thing among those he ‘knew’ of, and at the same time, the thing he wanted to place in Irene’s hand more than anything else.
So, he had intentionally ‘summoned’ it.
People would not know. What Unstable Dungeons really were.
Or how he could control them.
Michael let go of Irene’s hand and stood up.
Even though he was only stepping away for a moment, it was as painful as leaving a part of his body behind.
He had held her and drank her in all night, yet instead of his thirst being quenched, it only grew deeper.
He could not even begin to guess how much more he would have to hold her.
But he felt no frustration at that fact.
The sensation of wanting someone else so much that his fingertips trembled was quite enjoyable. It was enough to make him understand why the Temple forbade such pleasure.
This was a terrible, wicked delight. One that could cause even the most devout to crumble pathetically.
He looked around and spotted the ring on the table.
Just as he was about to turn, thinking he should return it to its owner’s hand, his steps halted.
Looking at the ring in his hand with a strange expression, he turned back around. His gaze shifted toward the box on the table.
He opened it immediately. Inside was the dagger Irene had purchased at the Auction House earlier that day.
As Michael gripped it, the dagger let out a low hum as if in protest.
A sneer appeared on his face at the protest of an object with its own ego.
He looked back and forth between the ring and the dagger and muttered.
“So you have a pair too, despite being what you are.”
Others might not know, but he did.
This ring and this dagger were each crafted from a single mass of mineral that had once existed as one.
Things that traveled through different dimensions and worlds. And things that were currently staying here for a while.
They could do nothing while far apart, but once they realized they existed in the same world, one had clearly summoned the other.
Michael looked at the paper inside the box written by the Hand of Appraisal.
The fortress staff had clicked their tongues, saying it would be impossible to decode as it was a language that existed nowhere in the world, yet Michael’s eyes scanned it rapidly.
“Yorgo’s Sword. A certain probability of inflicting a fatal wound on an opponent, with the probability and power increasing the more enemies it faces……”
He read the language, which was said to have never existed anywhere on the continent, with ease.
Perhaps it was because they shared the same root. The dagger also possessed properties of an evolved form similar to the ring.
He put the paper back and closed the box. Seeing the box marked with the Auction House’s seal, it seemed Irene had won the bid after he had left.
Returning to the bed with the ring, he looked at the sleeping woman and spoke.
“You bought a good sword. That, too, will gradually grow just like your ring. If you let it drink its fill of blood, it will become a weapon with a blade sharper than any other sword in this fortress.”
Naturally, the sleeping Irene could not hear him.
She would be curious about what exactly this dagger was. However, Michael had no intention of telling her its nature for the time being.
‘If I tell her……’
She acted as if she had no lingering attachments to the fortress.
If she knew the properties of this dagger, she would try to sell it off to someone else and leave this place somehow.
‘I can’t let that happen.’
Irene likely didn’t know yet. The reason why rare treasures from across the world were pouring in around her, yet no money actually ended up in her hands.
“I’m sorry. But…… if you gather all your money, you will leave me without hesitation.”
It wouldn’t take long for everything to end anyway.
So please, just until then, stay here. Stay by his side.
Michael carefully took Irene’s hand and slid the ring onto her ring finger.
Seeing her wearing something he had given her always brought him immense satisfaction.
Lowering her hand, he gently brushed back the bangs of the sleeping Irene and whispered.
“I will give you much more in the future.”
Once this dungeon subjugation period was over, she would be able to have everything she wanted.
No, she would be able to obtain something far more vast than that.
No one would ever dare point a finger at her.
Even if he weren’t there, for the rest of her life…….
Then, Michael’s thoughts drifted back to what had happened during the day.
“Ah.”
He had handled it for the time being, but because he had rushed back to see Irene, he hadn’t finished things properly.
He stood up, covered Irene with the blanket, and once more, drank in her lips.
Ending the kiss with a lingering sense of regret, he stepped outside.
It was time to finish his unfinished business.
* * *
The next day, Irene spoke to Reina, who had come to visit her, with a startled face.
“A dungeon appeared? And a high-rank Unstable Dungeon at that?”
At Irene’s reaction, Reina looked even more surprised.
“You didn’t know? The city was in an absolute uproar! The streets were a mess with people fleeing, and the fortress side seemed quite flustered since it’s the first time a high-rank, and an unstable one at that, appeared so far inside.”
“I had no idea. The staff in the appraisal room didn’t say anything. And I went straight back to my room as soon as it was over.”
When she had woken up from her sleep, Michael was standing before her.
After that, she had been with him throughout the dawn, so she hadn’t heard any news, let alone been able to go outside.
“Fortunately, Sir Michael was nearby, so the subjugation ended without any issues, but because it appeared in the middle of a building downtown, some people were caught in it. Most were luckily just injured, but two guests from the Auction House were caught and lost their lives. And those two……”
Reina hesitated while watching Irene’s reaction before finally speaking with difficulty.
“They were the ones who won the bid for the Stone of Silence you put up, Irene.”
“……!”
To think they were dead.
In times like this, one should hope that the souls of the departed reach God safely, but her first thought was worry for the Stone of Silence they had taken.
“Oh, right. The Stone of Silence they won was found separately, so the Auction House took it back.”
“I…… see. May they find peace.”
“May they find peace.”
Not knowing what they had done, Reina seemed to think Irene was hesitating out of shock and made the sign of the cross with a somber expression.
Reina talked about the incident for a long while longer before getting up, saying she was going to a small low-rank dungeon nearby with Felix in the afternoon.
Left alone, Irene pondered for a moment before getting dressed and heading out.
There was something she had to check.
