Chapter 74
Chapter 74
====
I blinked a few times to clear my blurry vision.
Was I seeing things because I was in pain?
I thought I had seen a fleeting coldness on Dielo's face, but in an instant, a gentle smile spread across it.
"Their plan failed, but in the end, I somehow obtained the Fire Manipulation Ability and met Krua. I've lessened my resentment a little."
'They' clearly referred to the previous Duke and Duchess.
The plan failed, but he obtained the Fire Manipulation Ability?
So, they didn't just leave him in the fire to gain the Fire Manipulation Ability, but there was another purpose?
Something didn't quite add up.
But I didn't want to delve deeper into his memories.
Even if he spoke calmly, it was still a case of parents, who were everything to a child, throwing that child into a pit of fire.
Clear abuse.
There was no need to make him recall it any further.
"Rest," he whispered, covering my eyes with his hand, but I stubbornly opened them.
There was something I desperately wanted to ask.
Even in my hazy mind, the image of him suffering in the sea was vivid.
"...But if the water didn't want to come near you, why, in the swimming pool...?"
Not just this time in the sea, but in the swimming pool.
Dielo smiled faintly at my addition.
"The water there would have been imbued with my Magical Power."
The sea was vast.
But the water in the swimming pool was less than a drop in the bucket compared to that.
Naturally, the Magical Power would be more concentrated in the swimming pool water.
"If you touch water imbued with my Magical Power, is it bad for your body?"
I asked, examining him.
"I'm fine now."
So, he wasn't fine earlier. I was momentarily speechless.
Dielo stroked the back of my hand.
"Really."
I couldn't say anything for a moment at those words.
His sparkling eyes revealed that he wasn't lying.
"...How is it?"
When you touch the water. At my words, Dielo hesitated a little before answering.
"It stings."
Like immersing himself in water charged with electricity.
I shuddered slightly at those words.
"...Isn't it incredibly painful?"
"The stronger the Magical Power, the more so."
Dielo finally said.
So, he endured that pain and stayed by my side for hours?
'Lord Argenta!'
I could understand why Pielle, with her surprised face, had pulled Dielo away.
She might have been more surprised that he was immersing himself in water heavily imbued with my Magical Power, rather than being surprised that he had run away from work.
"Why did you do that?"
He must have been enduring the pain while he was in the swimming pool with me.
The face I saw in the sea was so vivid that my voice came out almost accusingly.
"...Because I'm leaving soon, is that it?"
So, you wanted to do everything I wanted?
The words I had been holding back slipped out unintentionally.
No, perhaps what I really wanted to ask was something else.
But I was struggling just to cool down my burning eyes.
Dielo immediately shook his head at my question.
"No."
If that wasn't it. I was about to sit up when.
Dielo gently pushed me back down onto the bed.
—Thump.
He gently laid me down and whispered as he covered me with the blanket.
"Because I don't want you to leave."
My eyes met his as he said that.
His eyes were the same clear blue as usual. There was no sign of a Magical Power surge.
That meant... he was sincere.
"I want you to stay here."
If you would just do that, I can do anything you want, no matter the pain.
So.
"Don't leave, Krua."
His arm braced between my neck and shoulder along with a trembling voice.
The bed creaked softly under his weight.
And the moment I recognized that sound, he was above me.
—Peck.
He kissed my forehead and looked down at me from very close.
The surroundings instantly darkened.
I didn't know if my vision had darkened, or if the lights had all dimmed from his Magical Power.
The only thing in my sight was Dielo.
"Ah."
A short breath escaped.
Too close.
"Dielo—"
The moment I opened my mouth to call him, he gently invaded me.
"...!"
He wrapped his arms around the back of my neck and collapsed onto me as if the reason that had been supporting him had disappeared.
His arm, bent sharply, barely braced beside me.
He gently took my upper lip and delved deeply into me.
If it weren't for the single blanket he had covered me with, his heat might have truly enveloped my entire body.
I had that feeling.
From his breath, which greedily sought my lips, and from the blue gaze that never left me.
But even as he wedged his knee between my legs, he never broke through the single blanket he had covered me with.
"...!"
I didn't know how long the long kiss, mixed with warmth and heat, lasted.
His voice reached my dazed mind, as his breath was all I had.
"Just stay like this."
Please, just stay like this.
"Dielo, this is..."
I could hear him gripping the bedsheets tightly in my ear.
Closer, hotter than usual.
He wouldn't do this.
He wouldn't delve this close.
My head was spinning, and I was confused whether this was a dream or reality.
As I thought that, Dielo whispered.
"If it's surprising, if it's strange, it's all a dream, Krua."
I could feel the sensation of his lips moving.
"...!"
The moment I barely managed to catch my breath, he kissed me again.
I could see his eyes, with their long eyelashes cast down.
His clouded eyes, his shadowed eyes, were staring intently at me.
His eyes, which always held a gentle smile, seemed a little distorted.
He hugged my neck, my body tightly. As if telling me not to go anywhere else.
"If you don't like it, you can push me away, Krua."
He whispered to me, barely panting.
"If you don't want to. Or even if you hesitate."
He pleaded.
"Just stay like this."
Don't think about anything. Entrust yourself to me.
Don't think about complicated things.
"While taking what you want."
Then, he bit my ear and said in a low voice.
"I wish that was me."
A lewd energy ran from my ear to my entire body.
Without realizing it, my hand, which was gripping the bedsheets tightly, tensed.
But only for a moment.
His hand, which had somehow found mine, slipped into the blanket and enveloped my hand.
"I don't care if I become a foolish Lord Argenta who falls for Duke Alloze's plan,"
He smiled as he pressed his forehead against mine after a deep kiss.
It was a clouded smile.
"I wish you were here, Krua."
Was it because my mind was hazy? Was it because I was short of breath?
Or was it because he was all I could see?
—Thump, thump, thump…….
My heart was beating wildly. The more I met this person's eyes, the faster and stronger it beat.
I shouldn't do this.
I shouldn't like this person.
"Don't think you shouldn't."
Then he cupped my cheek.
Amidst the heat, he whispered.
"Forget about plans, rational thoughts, everything. If you can't."
If the wise Krua can't, if you keep trying to whisper that to yourself.
"Then."
Dielo kissed me again.
The hand that stroked the back of my neck was as hot as flowing lava, chilling, yet seductive.
I felt like I was being possessed by an incubus.
"Say that you've fallen for the crazed Dielo Argenta."
That I've clouded your wise mind.
That a foolish man has endlessly seduced you.
That you had no choice but to mercifully offer your hand.
The corners of his eyes crinkled, and a bewitching smile escaped.
* * *
When I properly opened my eyes, I was in the mansion's bedroom.
I didn't quite remember how I had gotten back in the meantime.
No, on the way...
'Krua.'
I thought I had heard my name.
No, a darker, more heated shadow seemed to have come to mind.
"Ah..."
I was trying to recall something beyond just a sensation when.
"Have you awakened?"
"Ah, Pielle."
As soon as our eyes met, an urgent question immediately came to mind.
Pielle spoke neatly before I could even ask.
"The Keen Merchant Guild and the Shadow Supply have been completely normalized. You don't need to worry anymore."
"Hah."
The anxiousness I hadn't realized I had felt subsided somewhat after hearing that.
"Was I lying down for a long time?"
I asked as I got up from my seat.
No, I was trying to get up.
"…Ah."
The muscle pain in every corner of my body pierced through my entire body with just a slight movement of my arm.
It felt as if something was stuck between every muscle in my body, making it feel heavy and tight.
"Yes, you've been unconscious the whole time. It will still be difficult to move. Shall I give you a massage?"
A surprised Pielle came over and supported me. I barely nodded.
I was panting even during that brief moment of nodding, as I felt the pain.
My body was much tighter than on days when I had done a lot of exercise.
My body was more stiff in various places than when I had collapsed after using the Water Manipulation Ability last time.
"Nias says that your body was shocked because you suddenly released Magical Power so strongly."
Pielle gave me the order to bring the massage oil and then spoke to me.
"Ah..."
As expected, it was a side effect that appeared after using the ability strongly.
These side effects were different for each person, but if Nias was right.
"So, if we just release that, the muscle pain will disappear?"
That meant it was somewhat hopeful. Pielle bowed at my words.
"Yes, it may be a little difficult with a normal massage because the Magical Power has been released and clumped together."
"Then—"
I was about to continue speaking when.
—Click.
"Excuse me."
Maids holding massage oils and towels entered the room with cautious voices.
It was a familiar sight since I had received massages before.
But.
"…What are you doing there?"
Behind the maids stood someone who wouldn't normally be there.
It was none other than.
"I've been caught."
Dielo looked rather confident for someone who had been caught.
