My Husband Was Clearly a Paladin
Chapter 51
For a moment, Irene wondered if her eyes and ears were playing tricks on her.
Michael appeared perfectly normal. There were no visible signs of demonic energy poisoning like that night. His eyes were the same deep blue she saw every day.
Moreover, even though they were inside a room, Reina and Cynthia had been there just moments ago.
The two had only stepped out briefly, seemingly intending to return; the papers they had been reviewing and the teacups they had been drinking from were still sitting on the table.
They had given them some space, but they could return at any moment if they needed anything.
To try and kiss her in a place like this.
“That is….”
Irene, about to say it might be difficult, reflexively brushed her lips with one hand.
The morning after he had visited her, Irene had looked in the mirror and let out a deep sigh at her own reflection.
Her face in the mirror had been a mess. Her swollen lips, in particular, were the worst part.
It was only natural since he had been nipping and sucking at them until dawn, but out of embarrassment, she had stayed in her room all day to avoid seeing anyone.
It wasn’t just her lips that hurt. Her jaw had felt numb because of his tongue, which had constantly pushed inside as they kissed until she found it hard to breathe.
Fortunately, the pain vanished before long, but she felt the phantom sensation of that strange soreness lingering.
The problem was….
I didn’t hate it.
He had acted for the purpose of purification, but her heart was already in a flutter.
He had clung to her all night as if he never wanted to let go. Like two people born to be one, he had held Irene tightly without a single gap between them.
The warmth she had yearned for so desperately in her past life was now enveloping her, giving her a sensation so surreal it was hard to describe.
At first, she had tried to push him away, but when she eventually grew tired and went still, he had pulled her even deeper into his embrace with apparent joy.
The feeling of being held perfectly by someone was, honestly, a very pleasant sensation.
It felt like the tranquility of a drifting ship finally entering a harbor, dropping anchor, and finding rest.
After a moment of hesitation, Irene asked him in a small voice.
“Is it… hard to endure because of the demonic energy?”
Even if the demonic energy wasn’t visible to the eye, it didn’t mean what had accumulated in his body had completely vanished.
Besides, during the two weeks he was gone, he might have accumulated more while traversing other Dungeons.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, it was Irene who became urgent.
When she looked at him with worried eyes, he avoided her gaze as if embarrassed and answered.
“Shamefully… yes.”
As she thought. It must have been difficult for a lauded Holy Knight to speak of the agony of suffering from demonic energy.
Irene recalled the tingling sensation of the demonic energy she had absorbed and took his cheeks in both her hands.
Then, she pulled his face close to hers and carefully pressed her lips to his.
To think she was stealing the Holy Knight’s lips in broad daylight. It was a brazen act.
However, since she told herself this was strictly to ease his pain, the embarrassment faded.
Driven by the thought that she had to purify him quickly, Irene boldly pushed her tongue in first.
Was it thanks to him teaching her dozens, hundreds of times that night?
Irene was able to enter him without much difficulty.
A refreshing scent of mint rushed in along with a cool sensation. It was as if he had chewed on mint leaves beforehand, knowing this would happen.
Unlike the kiss from that night as she remembered it, this felt light and refreshing, prompting Irene to pull on his neck with more strength.
Since they had already started, she figured it would be best to finish the purification as quickly as possible.
He remained frozen for a moment, simply accepting Irene’s kiss.
But that was only for a split second.
Once he realized what was happening, he immediately wrapped both hands around Irene’s waist and lifted her up as if to embrace her.
No matter how slender Irene was, she was an adult woman. She wasn’t particularly short either, yet he lifted her as easily as if she were a straw doll.
Supporting her backside with one arm, he cradled the back of her neck with his hand and gently pressed down.
Just a moment ago, she had been standing on her tiptoes, hanging onto him to kiss him, but now she was looking down at him from above as they kissed.
It wasn’t just their positions that had changed.
“Mmph, mm….”
It was as if he wanted to remind her who had taught her how to kiss that night.
He, who had been frozen and unmoving at first, began to move his tongue smoothly.
The wet sound of slick flesh brushing together echoed in the sunlit room.
Though saliva—it was unclear whose—trailed down, the two continued to kiss, heedless of it.
Irene’s mind grew increasingly hazy.
She couldn’t believe she was casually doing something she hadn’t even imagined a few minutes ago.
And Michael, too, for joining her instead of pushing her away in contempt.
The night from two weeks ago now only remained in fragments in Irene’s memory, but her body seemed to have fully recalled the experience just by tangling tongues a few times.
Otherwise, there was no way she could so skillfully open her throat to accept his tongue so deeply.
After kissing frantically for a long time, Irene felt herself growing short of breath.
Yet, she didn’t want to stop.
To be honest… it felt just as good as being held tightly in his arms.
The kiss only stopped when Irene reached the point where she was about to faint from holding her breath.
Michael, feeling the strength drain from the body he was holding, finally broke the kiss.
“Haa, haa….”
Irene panted, resting her forehead against his shoulder. Judging by how his shoulders were heaving, it seemed he had been holding his breath quite a bit as well.
Irene slowly moved the tongue inside her mouth.
They had kissed for quite a while, yet her tongue didn’t ache like last time, nor did she feel nauseous from him touching too deep.
I’ve gotten better at this.
She had improved, but Michael’s movements had become incredibly skillful as well.
He acted like a man who knew exactly where to press inside Irene’s mouth so she could breathe and how to move his tongue to make her more comfortable.
Are knights… also skilled at using these parts of the body?
Since she had never done this with anyone else, she had no way of knowing.
After taking a deep breath, he patted Irene’s back soothingly as she continued to gasp for air.
“You did well. I think you just need to get a bit more used to it. I will also put in more effort.”
“…?”
Irene, who had been leaning on him, snapped her head up in surprise at those words.
“Pardon? What do you mean by….”
“Is it not obvious? You are my pair, after all.”
It was true, but it felt strange.
To get used to it. Did that mean he intended to keep doing this in the future?
At first, they had only held hands, but now their bodies were making deeper contact.
If I get used to kissing….
What comes next?
While Irene was lost in confusion, he lowered her back down to the floor.
Then, he quickly straightened her disheveled clothes.
His touch was so deft that he was faster and more meticulous than the maids of the Fortress. In no time, Irene looked as neat as if nothing had happened.
It wasn’t just her who showed no trace of what had occurred.
Michael, who had been kissing her frantically just moments ago, looked every bit the undisturbed Holy Knight he was when he first entered.
If she were to point at him now and say he was the man who had just been tangling tongues with her, who would believe it?
While she stared at him in a daze, he pulled out a chair and motioned for Irene to sit.
He pushed the chair back in so she could sit comfortably and then took the seat right next to her—the one Reina had occupied earlier.
Then, his gaze fell upon the papers on the table.
“This is….”
“Ah, have you received the report? It seems a Distorted Dungeon has been sighted.”
Glad to have a topic of conversation to dispel the awkwardness, Irene spoke hurriedly.
“Now that it’s been announced to the whole Fortress, everyone will be preparing to join the subjugation. Since there are four entrances, the Fortress wants as many pairs as possible to participate.”
Then, Michael, who had been listening to her, spoke up.
“There are three observed distortions; I’m not sure why you say there are four entrances.”
“No, that’s….”
Irene fell silent in panic. She should have said there were three entrances, but she had reflexively recalled her old memories and said four.
“I must have been mistaken. I guess I didn’t listen carefully to what Reina said earlier.”
“I see. You said ‘four’ so certainly that I thought you might have known in advance that a new entrance would appear.”
In that moment, Irene felt as though her heart had dropped through the floor.
