Translator: Nox

Chapter 75

Chapter 75

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To come in so brazenly without even thinking of hiding, and then say, "I've been found out?"

As I blinked, Dielo gazed at me for a moment, as if trying to read something.

After a short pause, he replied, "You've suffered because of me, so I should relieve you."

Well… I scratched my cheek. "I can't really say I suffered because of Dielo."

It was something I did for Argenta, of my own volition.

Dielo's smile deepened at my words. "That too, but according to Nias, Krua's body aches are due to Magical Power that remains and is congested in your body."

He placed a towel in front of me. Then, the maids placed essential oils and all sorts of massage tools on it, before quietly retreating.

Could it be?

I glanced up at Dielo, and he was smiling brightly. "So, someone who can handle Magical Power delicately needs to massage you."

Dielo tilted his head slightly. "There are many in Argenta who can handle Magical Power delicately."

He held out his hand. "Rick can, and most of the Argenta on the front lines can handle delicate Magical Power. Unfortunately."

His gaze turned to the maids and Pielle behind him. "They can also handle Magical Power, but they will inevitably have more difficulty with detailed control than those who frequently engage in combat on the battlefield."

Then, he carefully said to me, "I, regrettably, am right after a rampage, and I can't bear the thought of anyone making a mistake on the precious bride's body."

He leaned slightly towards me. "Please, will you allow me?"

There was no need to ask what he was asking me to allow.

His fingertips gently caressed the lid of the essential oil. The movement was strangely captivating.

His blue eyes met mine. I gave him a smooth smile and cautiously asked, "...Did you really only come in with that in mind?"

Without any ulterior motives?

I looked straight up at him.

After a pause long enough for him to blink a few times, Dielo finally smiled. "If you look at me like that, I can't lie."

Then, he took his hand off the essential oil.

And then he whispered to me, "Just a little, I had other thoughts."

I shouldn't. Right?

He hid his hands behind his back as I hesitated. "But I won't cross the line. I promised I wouldn't."

He leaned in closer and whispered, "If Krua wants me to."

It was a short, light voice, like a passing breeze.

As if it didn't matter whether I heard it or not.

"Please, will you allow me?"

His gaze was fixed on me as he said that, scrutinizing me.

It felt almost obsessive.

"...If I don't allow it, other people will have to massage me?"

Dielo nodded slightly at my words. "Nias, Rick, or other knights would have to stand in this place."

For a moment, I thought there were thorns in his voice.

Cold, sharp thorns.

"—Perhaps, is that what you want?"

"Of course not."

I waved my hand.

No matter how much it's a contract marriage or whatever, I have no intention of entrusting such a sensitive task as a massage to another man.

...Another man?

The thought made my face flush.

So, it's okay if it's Dielo, that's why I'm thinking like this?

Well...

But I can't just leave the Magical Power congested.

I was hesitating.

—Tap.

Dielo placed his hand on the lid of the essential oil again.

Clearly, the place he touched was not my body, but only the lid of the essential oil, yet a strange heat seemed to be transmitted.

"But to give you a massage, you'll have to take off your clothes."

He seemed troubled. "I can't dare to look at the bride's body."

He whispered very softly.

So softly that other Argenta people couldn't hear.

Heat poured down between him and my ear. He narrowed his eyes and smiled.

The Argenta people watching us were subtly moving back, to the point of crowding near the door.

He...

Before I could say anything, Dielo had made up his mind.

"How about we do this?"

He picked up the black cloth used for massages. The long, folded cloth in his hand was handed to me.

It was a thin cloth, but nothing could be seen beyond the layers of black.

"Why this?"

When I looked up at him, Dielo's eyes curved with laughter.

"Please cover it yourself."

...What? Me? With this? I was hesitating.

He pointed to his eyes.

"So that I can't dare to look at the bride."

"...Dielo's eyes?"

"Yes."

Dielo's answer was light.

—Click.

By that time, the Argenta people were already leaving the room.

I even saw them bowing.

I couldn't help but feel my face burning even as I received their greetings.

Even though the people on the fourth floor know our situation.

Even though they know we don't really spend the night together.

...They know, and that's how they're reacting?

No matter how I looked at it, it was a scene of giving newlyweds some privacy.

But I can't let someone else massage me, so I can't help it.

Dielo stood patiently, as if waiting for my choice.

In the end, I cautiously held up the cloth.

"But if I do this, can you massage me?"

You won't be able to see anything.

Dielo repeatedly said in a confident voice at my words. "Yes. But still, just in case."

He suddenly handed me the dagger he was carrying.

"If I try to touch you in an inappropriate place, punish me."

...Surely not with that?

"Even more so if I try to commit an unforgivable discourtesy, even in my dreams."

As the song-like words echoed, the dagger was really handed to me.

—Shwing!

When I pulled the dagger out of its sheath, it was a real dagger.

I knew this dagger. It was the same one we used when we made the contract.

In other words, it's an incredibly sharp dagger.

If he's covering his eyes at such a close distance, even if Dielo is someone who has trained in swordsmanship, he won't be able to avoid this knife.

"It would be troubling if you drew it already."

Dielo said in a truly troubled voice.

"N-No."

I quickly put the knife back into its sheath. I won't have to use this. I won't.

Dielo, who had handed over a brutal weapon, said nonchalantly, "If the bride is uncomfortable, please tell me to stop immediately. At that moment, I will immediately take my hands off."

Because I didn't come here to make you uncomfortable.

Dielo's voice seemed to have a soft rhythm as he said that.

"If it's difficult for you to cover them yourself, shall I cover them?"

He took the black cloth from my hand.

In an instant, the lights in the room dimmed to the point where it was good for sleeping.

* * *

I was lying face down on the bed, following Dielo's guidance.

He was definitely covering his eyes, but he led me as if he could see.

He fumbled a little when he grabbed the essential oil, so he must have covered his eyes.

"If you're uncomfortable, tell me."

Dielo whispered that and came up and sat next to me.

I could clearly feel the bed sinking.

However, what filled the empty space between the bed and my body was not cold air, but a strange heat that surrounded us.

His hand, which had applied essential oil, landed behind my neck.

His hand, which lightly wrapped around my neck muscles, began to loosen my neck.

"Ah."

It didn't seem to be congested because of this incident.

Neck muscles that were congested with a slightly different feeling began to loosen little by little under his hands.

It seems to be stiff from work. His hands gently rubbed my body from my neck to my shoulders.

"...!"

When I pressed hard to massage, it hurt.

Strangely, the place where his hand pressed and passed had congested muscles, but instead of pain, a cool feeling rushed in.

The massages that the maids occasionally gave me had this feeling, but it was a different feeling.

Is it because he's loosening it in a warmer place?

I unknowingly moaned softly and asked him. "Dielo, when you use your abilities... are you this tired too?"

My words were cut off with a breath without me realizing it.

He must have used his abilities on the sea too.

I wonder if he has a worse body ache than me.

When I glanced up at him, I could barely see his face at the end of my vision.

I couldn't see his expression well because he was covering his eyes with a black cloth.

"I want to say yes."

I was wondering what that subtly raised corner of his mouth meant when a faint voice vaguely passed through my mind.

'...Stay like this.'

"Yes?"

I was startled by the voice that came to my mind and was about to turn my head a little more.

His hand, which had come up to my neck again, swept down from the back of my head to my shoulders.

"...!"

A tingling, cool feeling and a hot feeling rushed in. It was when I let out a short breath.

"Is my answer strange?"

Dielo asked. I barely nodded.

"Yes."

His short laugh was heard from behind my back.

The moment his hand gently dug between my shoulder blades, he said, "Then, the bride might do this for me."