Sweet Weekend #3
The moment I opened the window, something plummeted straight into my arms like a fallen angel from the sky.
It couldn’t have been anything else—how on earth was I supposed to end up hugging a celestial being on the third floor? The only way that made sense was if someone had simply dropped from above.
“H-hi, Lucian.”
“R-Rie?”
“Yeah. It’s me.”
That soft whisper from the angel—well, from Rie—carried the unmistakable scent of alcohol straight to my nose.
Has Rie been drinking a lot? But I had personally checked the party earlier; everyone had left with just the right amount of buzz after I confirmed the remaining wine was minimal.
I gently brushed my fingers against her cheek. The warmth was unmistakable, radiating right through my fingertips.
Her flushed face, glowing with just the right amount of heat, was nothing like her usual porcelain pale complexion.
Just as I was trying to figure out what in the world was going on, my eyes landed on something clutched in her hand. I couldn’t help muttering, “Rie? What are you… holding there?”
“Yeah. That’s right. I snuck down from the fourth floor by climbing the wall. Perfect timing, there were some good ones hanging around, so I tied them up! Hehe, this stuff is surprisingly sturdy!”
“Hey! Those are all curtains for the hallways! You tied them all up into a single rope? What were you thinking? If it comes loose and you fall, you’ll get seriously hurt—maybe even badly!”
If Rie had been in her normal condition, I wouldn’t have worried this much. But looking at her now, there was no way she was normal.
The alcohol fog in her nose, the crimson flush on her cheeks, the constant smile that refused to fade, and even the casual, childlike way she spoke—the exact words she used to use back when she was little.
“She’s definitely drunk.”
She hadn’t even had that much, but if she was this intoxicated, it was a real problem.
I reached out to help her up, thinking I’d carry her to her room, but then I heard a soft, dazed groan.
“Whoa… ya, ya! Put some strength in your legs! Don’t lean on me. You didn’t even drink much, right? Why are you acting like this?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Lucian’s right. I didn’t drink that much.”
“You didn’t drink much? Well, you must be sensitive to alcohol. If the professors catch you like this, it’ll be a problem—not just for you, but for us too. I’ll take you to your room, so…”
“Lucian.”
Suddenly, her voice dropped, calm and steady as she called my name.
At that exact moment, my heart gave a painful thud as I looked down at the angel still nestled in my arms.
Those eyes, melted and glassy from the drink, pulled me right in. They felt like they could suck me under in a heartbeat.
“Remember what we were doing before?”
“Eh?”
“Because of that idiot Forbes, we couldn’t finish it. Do it now.”
…
The moment I heard Rie’s words, my heart started racing violently, thumping so hard it felt like it might explode any second. I was worried she might hear it pounding away.
Without realizing it, my free hand moved toward her face.
I tenderly stroked her cheek, and she shyly tilted her head, rubbing her cheek against mine like a cat seeking comfort in its owner’s lap.
The sight was so unbearably cute and provocative at the same time. Even without the alcohol making me hotter, her body felt like it was burning up from the inside.
“…Hold on. No way. Lucian, snap out of it. Even though you and Rie are in love, this… this isn’t right.”
If Rie and I were already married—or just one step away from it—things would have been completely different.
If we had already made each other ours in every way, it would have been fine.
But neither of us had reached that point yet. More than anything, I didn’t want our first time to happen like this.
I wanted the two of us to be clear-headed, fully aware of what we were doing, what emotions we were feeling, and how we were saying it.
I wanted to hold onto that moment where we both recognized it for what it was and accepted it slowly.
“You’re drunk. This isn’t the time, Rie. I like you—I want you—but relying on alcohol like this isn’t right. Go back to your room and rest…”
“Who’s leaning on anyone? Who? Do I look like I’m leaning on alcohol right now?”
“Of course you look like it. I mean, you never say things like this normally…”
“You idiot. This isn’t leaning… it’s not…”
Before I could finish, Rie suddenly stopped talking.
The hand that had been gently rubbing my cheek froze. She stayed silent for a moment, then quietly pulled her lips away.
“You don’t like it?”
“What… what now?”
“You don’t like me?”
Before I could even answer that ridiculous question, Rie slipped out of my arms.
She looked straight at me, and that gaze felt incredibly heavy.
Just a moment ago she had been so drunk she could barely stand. Now she looked completely sober, as if she had never been intoxicated at all.
“You don’t like me? Lucian, answer me.”
“Stop saying stupid things. I already told you—I like you. I will always like you. I’m not changing my mind.”
“Then why are you acting like this?”
“Hugging a woman who’s completely drunk is not my type at all. Even though I’m acting this way now, I’m still the kind of person who believes you should both be completely sober for important moments like this. Just because I feel like ‘oh, that was happy’ tomorrow morning doesn’t mean I should be thinking ‘what happened last night’ with a blank look on my face…”
“So what? If you two are happy, that’s all that matters. On the night we did this, you wanted to hug me and I wanted to hug you.”
Rie, who had been a distance away, moved closer again.
One step. Another step. Slowly, slowly, inch by inch, she came forward.
“Do you like me?”
“…Yeah.”
“I like you too. So hug me back. There’s nothing left now. You said it yourself—Forbes, that disgusting guy, won’t bother me anymore. What does that mean? It means I’m never giving myself to anyone else. So do it for me right now. Make it official.”
…
“The wine I drank tonight wasn’t to gain courage or hide my embarrassment. It was a toast. A toast to celebrate your brilliant victory, to celebrate my escape from Forbes, and to bless what we have together.”
Honestly, was she drunk or completely sober? She was still flushed red, the alcohol smell lingering, and her steps were unsteady—but she was saying words that could charm anyone without any problem. It was confusing.
I let out a long sigh and looked at the woman standing right in front of me.
At first, her gaze had felt overwhelming, too intense, so I couldn’t meet it directly. But I realized I had been overthinking this.
People don’t need reasons to love someone else. And there’s no limit to where a heart can reach.
Here I was, staring at a girl who had climbed all the way down from the fourth floor at this late hour, looking like nothing more than an idiot.
“You’re not allowed to say stuff like ‘suddenly what’s going on’ or whatever after this.”
“Not allowed to say you seduced me, Lucian.”
“…Well, since you’re the one who seduced me, I don’t think there’s any problem with that.”
“Are you really going to do it?”
Of course not. Seduction was one thing, but being seduced was another.
Thinking like that, I carefully pulled Rie into my arms.
She was an amazing woman—strong and firm. I had been worried she might feel heavy if I carried her, but she turned out to be surprisingly light, lighter than a feather.
“Hey, am I not heavy?”
“Even though I’m a martial arts prodigy, I’m not a health prodigy. I worked hard like everyone else.”
“That’s why you thought you could break through with your body?”
“There’s that too, but the bigger reason is because of noona. She was always worried about me locked in my room reading books and scribbling nonsense. She dragged me out forcibly.”
“…Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen her in a while.”
There was no other way. Noona was currently serving near the border.
Different from our father, who had always been a diplomat, and our family name of Deodor, which had grown through generations of diplomatic work.
Noona was the first person in the Deodor family to achieve the rank of high-ranking knight thanks to her excellent swordsmanship skills.
That was my proud noona, the future head of the family.
“More importantly, Lucian. Don’t say that word anymore.”
“What word?”
“Prodigy.”
“Swordsmanship isn’t a prodigy anymore. I’ll vouch for that.”
“Well… you still can’t do much besides defend, right? Honestly, the one hit I landed on Forbes during sparring was pure luck. He was so arrogant that he swung his sword widely and left clear, huge openings. If not for that, I might not have had a chance to counter.”
“So work harder. It’s not easy to defeat a martial arts student in such a short time after barely being able to swing a sword yourself. So stop calling me a prodigy.”
After chatting with Rie for a while, we finally reached the bedroom.
My memories from the previous life meant I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with the relationship between a man and a woman.
But since the other person was Rie, and she was a woman I would consider off-limits even in this body, the thought kept flashing in my mind: “Is this really okay?”
“We’re both adults now.”
“…Yeah. I know everything you know.”
Shouldn’t I hesitate? Every time she showed me that look…”
“I don’t have any inferiority complex. But the moment I look at you, I keep thinking that way. I always think I’m great, but you’re a genius who surpasses even that category. I can’t help it. You’re a woman who’s really too good for me. It’s a little unsettling, but…”
I couldn’t finish the sentence.
Rie grabbed my face and pulled me toward her, pressing her lips hard against mine.
At first it was clumsy, just a light kiss. But the angel’s breath filled my mouth, and the alcohol took over, sending a rush through me.
My heart, which had finally calmed down, started racing wildly again.
“…Did you practice alone?”
“P-practice? What? I just did exactly what you taught me last time.”
Rie pulled back slightly.
She touched her own lips for a moment, then spoke in a voice that had finally settled.
“Don’t say that. Rather, Lucian, you’re the one who’s too good for me. You don’t know? How much I held my breath every time I was scared another woman would steal you. I would just reject them if I didn’t like them, but the thought that maybe you would smile and laugh with another woman while engaged made me so jealous I could barely stand it.”
“…Hearing that suddenly makes me sad.”
“Eh?”
“To be honest, those women never got close to me in the first place. What’s the point of being smart? They can’t do swordsmanship or magic. From the noble ladies’ point of view, I must have looked like a flashy, superficial playboy.”
Of course, that wasn’t entirely true. Since I had hidden myself well enough, they didn’t know much about me anyway.
But I thought it was better than letting the whole thing become a hassle. I figured we could meet plenty of people who supported me later on anyway.
Locke had been one, and Raoul had been another, along with many other acquaintances.
…It was a little sad that only men were in that group, but I couldn’t deny it.
Rie let out a dramatic sigh, like she couldn’t believe it.
“Idiots. Superficial playboys? They’re the real fools who can’t see the inside and only look at the outside. In my eyes, there isn’t a single person more amazing than you.”
“Seeing you curse and react like this so sharply is pretty rare for you.”
“…I didn’t want you to hate this side of me. You said it before, right? Women have a womanly side.”
“I did say that. But it was just a casual remark. If I hurt you, I’m sorry.”
At that, Rie shook her head.
Thanks to that, she had grown both physically and mentally.
After all, the world isn’t one where you can just be wilful all the time. I was right.
“I’m fine, Lucian. Really, everything is fine.”
“…”
“So…”
Srrrrr—
Rie’s hand moved, and her outer coat fell to the floor with a soft rustle.
The pure, white skin of the angel filled my view, and the scent of the woman trapped beneath the clothes filled the entire bedroom.
“I want to become something precious to you.”