Banquet, Persuasion, Meteor (5)
“Hey, those guys…”
“What the hell are they doing?”
“Dragon boy. Aren’t we completely fucked?”
“We’re absolutely fucked. We have to bury the fact that we had anything to do with this…! If they find out we were behind it, that enraged bastard will have our heads on pikes the very next second.”
“Heads? That relentless man would dig until he reached the bone and then invent some new punishment just for us. Especially once he realizes we’ve been standing here ogling them like a bunch of perverts…”
“…Agreed.”
“Was voyeurism always my specialty…?”
The sobering sensation hit like cold water. The miserable certainty that the hangover waiting on the other side would be unbearable, forcing me to pull my scattered mind back together.
After shaking the empty grain sack over Yohan’s head, Cryan and Jurchen—having flown all the way here on Hilken’s power—now stood frozen.
“U-um, excuse us! W-we… Should we maybe step away…? I swear I didn’t expect anything like this, and I have no idea why we’re still watching! We’re not people with such twisted morals…!”
“Oh dear. Eclipse, shut your mouth this instant.”
“Yeees?!”
“This is the perfect moment…. Hehehe…”
Together with Hilken and Eclipse, who had been lying in wait from the beginning, the four of them were openly feasting their eyes on the deliciously scandalous scene. Cryan, now sober enough that his formal speech had returned, trembled with dread at the coming consequences.
“Hilken. Forget everything else—those two have clearly crossed the line. If we stay any longer, we’re going to see things that cannot be unseen.”
“You horny little—! Since when is there a rule about what your eyes are allowed to see and what they aren’t?”
“No, seriously, let’s at least give them some privacy, you insane woman.”
However, Hilken—far more of a lecher than Jurchen, who despite his chaotic nature was surprisingly quick to retreat in these matters—simply stood there drooling, drinking in the sight without the slightest shame.
Why? Because she was a pervert.
The “Kuh, kill me—” she had unleashed during their reunion had never been a random outburst.
In any case, watching her respected senior and the precious young lady in such a state appeared to be the height of delight for her. Had she possessed any spare memory cartridges, she would have recorded every second and still wanted more.
“Perfect. Today I get to witness Senior rolling around with the lady—! I don’t care if it creates a bastard or anything else! If such a child is born, I’ll… I’ll take responsibility somehow…”
“Lower your voice, you filthy red pervert—!”
“Even if you are the crown prince, you cannot stop me.”
“…Fine. Jurchen, subdue Hilken!”
“Who the hell is ordering who around here?!”
“If you won’t do it, I’ll have to—!”
But at that exact moment—
Crack!
Hilken, trying to shake off the clinging Cryan, stepped on a branch. And not just any branch—one loud enough to send the sound echoing across the entire snowfield.
“Oh. Oops. Hilken’s unfortunate mistake.”
“—Run!”
“J-Jurchen, sir…! Listen, I drank way too much… Gueeeh—”
“Right. If we get caught we’re dead, so just this once…!”
In a frantic scramble, the chaotic quartet fled without so much as a backward glance, terrified that Yohan and Karalin’s fury might reach them.
I had never kissed anyone before.
There had never been anyone to practice with. In my entire life, the only woman I had ever thought of in that way was Lady Karalin.
Still, it was probably the same for her.
So even though it feels strange for me to say it, you were quite clumsy too.
Yet perhaps because her instincts were so sharp… At first I was the one struck by a blind, bird-pecking kiss. But after our sensitive lips had wrapped around each other’s softness several times, she seemed to understand without being told which way to tilt next. She began to pour her affection over me in every direction, in every possible way.
That bold, all-encompassing charge was not something I could have stopped.
Nor did I want to.
Chu—
Chu, chu—
“Mm…”
Chu—
“I love you. I love you, Yohan…”
“S-Stop…”
In that sense, the intoxication that had turned her into this was both terrifying and utterly lovable. The sight of her unleashing nearly twenty years of pent-up emotion all at once. No one else in the world could possibly understand how desperate she looked.
Describing the sensation of her lips with my stale vocabulary feels impossible. At this point, my lack of eloquence feels like a lifelong regret.
Still, if I were to summarize it in a way that sounds like me:
Her lips tasted like a soft, ripe apple.
Obviously because she had secretly been drinking apple wine while pretending it was vodka.
But right then—
Crack!
“…What was that sound just now?”
A horribly clear noise, unmistakably a branch snapping underfoot, struck my eardrums. I had been so absorbed in the moment that I had completely forgotten the obvious fact that I had brought other people here—meaning someone was almost certainly watching.
Flustered beyond reason, I could only stammer.
“My lady. There’s someone here. Whoever it is, I’ll chase them down and kill them…?”
“Nooo…!”
Yet Lady Karalin seemed absolutely unwilling to let the moment slip away. Without thinking, she grabbed my collar.
“Oh my.”
Apparently realizing she had acted like a wild beast, she quickly released me. Still…
“T-this isn’t—! Don’t go. That was definitely just a wild animal!”
She offered an unusually sloppy excuse, trying to explain the situation away.
“That can’t possibly be true… With a banquet underway, a wary wild animal wouldn’t be wandering near the city…”
……...
……
…
Whatever. I don’t care anymore.
Since it had come to this, I was in a do-or-die position too. So I simply went along with her interpretation.
If someone saw, so what? If they wanted to spread rumors about something that looked like Lady Karalin embracing a madman who believed he was Yohan in the middle of a snowfield, let them.
“…Um. Actually, my lady.”
“Hmm?”
“Now that I think about it, I drank far too much. It seems I won’t be able to stand and walk properly.”
“Hmm, really? …The same goes for me.”
“Then shall we rest for ten minutes before heading back?”
“Ten minutes… Why exactly that long?”
“Because that is the amount of time permitted.”
“Master of Steel! Is this why you upgraded me?!”
“It is the Veil of the Mirror World. With this, no one should be able to see us for at least ten minutes.”
“…Oh. Ooh—”
“If you feel dizzy, you may lean on my shoulder for a while.”
She slipped into the space beside my arm where I lay on the fur coat…
Sniff— Sniff sniff—
She hadn’t chosen thin clothing on purpose, yet she pressed her softness against every inch of my skin, repeatedly sniffing as though trying to memorize my scent.
I, helplessly being savored like this, held her just as carefully—as if she were a fragile pillow—and left a shy mark on her cold cheek and lips that would never have been permitted without the wine.
This is mine.
She did not reject my advance. That alone made my heart tremble as though it might shatter.
It was only about five minutes, yet it felt as though we had spent a long time doing embarrassingly sweet things.
“…Haa.”
“Haa…”
Like students who had finally finished a long-delayed assignment in a somewhat acceptable manner, we lay sprawled on the snow without either of us suggesting it first and gazed up at the sky.
Such a deeply engraved, meaningful moment. I carried a small knot of doubt in my chest—whether I would truly be able to forget it, just as she had said.
“…My lady.”
“It’s fine. Just………”
And then she spoke.
“Just stay like this. I don’t want to wake up…”
“…Understood.”
But I don’t think I will ever be able to forget what happened today, even after I sober up. Forgetting it would make me a fool.
“Still, it’s unusual. Why is a meteor shower falling like this right now…?”
“Indeed. Meteor showers in the North only occur during winter.”
…Moreover, the reason today felt like something I would remember forever was not simply because of the unbelievable experience she had given me.
Piiing—
“…………Ah, damn it—”
An untimely meteor shower, and from the edge of our vision, a single star that had strayed wildly from its path. As though someone had deliberately hurled it, the star flew straight toward us—far too close. It looked as if it would crash directly onto our heads.
Seeing it, I felt a bone-deep rage at why that damned Six Sword bastard refused to leave me—no, us—alone.
He didn’t need to come looking. I had already planned to find him at the right moment and tear him apart.
“Vincent…”
“What did you just say?”
“…It’s nothing.”
But the me of this moment could only whisper a lie to her. At least right now, I didn’t want to give Karalin even the slightest anxiety.
“As you said, just stay by my side. No matter what happens, I will protect you. My lady…”
“…What are you even saying?”
She smiled.