Chapter 186
Chapter 186
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 185
Chapter Title: While He Slept (1)
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“Hoo.”
Even after returning from a trip, the fatigue is indescribable, but after toppling an entire nation and sinking into the room’s sofa, the forgotten exhaustion starts flooding back in waves.
Finally back in Northsweden after wrapping up everything. Sitting quietly, I found myself unexpectedly feeling a touch of nostalgia.
My body slumped in exhaustion.
Just sitting still won’t shake off the fatigue.
“Hehehum, I’ll brew some tea!”
Pindenai hummed a tune cheerfully as she prepared the tea, brimming with inexplicable excitement.
“Don’t brew it.”
Too tired to drink Pindenai’s tea and feel even more drained, I refused, and she opened her eyes sleepily.
“You said my skills improved.”
That was what she said while I drank the drugged tea before parting ways with Pindenai.
“I didn’t say it tasted good, kid.”
Clink.
Pindenai’s body froze for a moment.
She set down the teapot with a clatter and slowly turned her head toward me.
Rarely, Pindenai’s face flushed with embarrassment.
“D-don’t call me that.”
“Why not? Didn’t you say Pindenai died, so call you kid instead?”
Thinking back to that dawn when she barged into my lodgings and caused a ruckus still makes my teeth grind.
“Axe. Where’s the axe? I need to split the master’s skull.”
“Go help Deia. She looked busy.”
With my long-awaited return to the territory, Lady Deia of the main house must have a mountain of tasks.
“F-fine, just never call me that again. Or I’ll really crack your skull.”
“Go.”
“Damn it, if I drink again, I’m a beast cub.”
Pindenai muttered as she left the room. Watching her go, I slowly rose from the sofa.
The sun hung high in the midday sky, but I couldn’t fight the crashing fatigue and lay down on the bed.
The soft embrace of the bed carried a scent not mine, but another Deus’s.
“Hoo.”
How long had it been since my last nap?
Thinking about it, I hadn’t taken a single nap since arriving on this continent.
I slowly closed my eyes.
I meant to sleep just a bit, but when I opened them, the room was already dim.
I tried to force my thoroughly fatigued body up, but a soft weight pressed down from above.
A touch on my head.
[You’re awake?]
Stella’s voice, gentle as a lullaby, brushed my ear. I realized she was cradling my head on her thigh.
Even without a physical form, she conveyed this sensation and warmth through mana. If she’d lived as a mage instead of a saintess, she would’ve achieved greatness.
“......”
More importantly, what should I say?
If it had been Pindenai, I’d have yelled at her to get out immediately.
If the Black Necromancer... same thing, get out.
With Aria or Elenoa, I’d have docked points on the spot, scolded them, and made them write a reflection essay.
But Stella?
No words came to mind. Thanks to her warmth, I’d slept comfortably, and the fatigue was gone.
Whether to take this positively was questionable.
“What time is it?”
Perhaps that’s why.
I changed the subject and slowly sat up.
Stella rose too, flashing a playful smile as she answered.
[It’s 8 p.m. now.]
“Right.”
Nearly eight hours asleep.
I’d planned for just one or two, but I slept deeper than expected.
[They’re preparing a festival outside. Some others came to fetch you earlier, but they left when they saw you sleeping.]
“A festival?”
[The lord of the land has returned.]
A celebration for the Verdi siblings’ return? It felt a bit premature, but the commotion through the window suggested they were enjoying it lively.
“Hm?”
Too exhausted, I’d lain down still clothed.
As I removed my outer garments to change, an unusual scent wafted up.
Sweet yet fragrant.
Not one scent, but layers overlapping.
I hesitated, then asked Stella.
“Anything happen while I was asleep?”
[No.]
Such a firm denial.
But precisely because of that, it piqued my suspicion subtly.
“Tell me.”
[It’s a secret.]
Stella gasped, covering her mouth with both hands. I stared piercingly, unwilling to back down.
Then a horn sprouted from Stella’s forehead, she dropped her hands, and shouted.
[Why pry so nosily!]
“......”
[Just let it go!]
“Hoo.”
Recognizing her wisdom in handling an archdemon this way, I turned my body.
* * *
A bit earlier in time.
Thirty minutes after Deus fell asleep.
[Oh?]
[What, he’s sleeping?]
Stella and the Black Necromancer, back from touring Northsweden, looked down at the napping Deus.
The Black Necromancer, who’d boasted about guiding Stella around, felt a pang of regret but slyly slipped beside Deus.
[......Senior, what are you doing?]
Such a familiar motion.
Stella startled, and the Black Necromancer hurriedly sat up.
“Ah, no! Habit. Haha!”
Scratching the back of her head awkwardly suggested she often acted this way when Deus slept.
[But a nap? First time I’ve seen it.]
[.......]
[Must be really tired, right?]
[.......]
[Stop staring at me like that, Senior?!]
Unable to bear Stella’s blank gaze, the Black Necromancer spun around.
[I don’t know! I’m leaving! They’re doing a campfire for the festival prep—I’ll go watch that!]
[I won’t tell him, Senior.]
[......Please don’t.]
Then she zipped out through the window. Watching her intently check the campfire preparations earlier, Stella smiled, thinking her quite innocent.
*Ahem.*
Stella cleared her throat awkwardly, glancing around despite knowing no one could see her.
Then control shifted, a horn sprouting on her forehead.
[Argh, so frustrating.]
Sharing emotions with Stella, I knew her conflict.
She went to Deus’s head, infused mana into her knee for weight.
[This should do it, right?]
Bellica, now in control, shrugged at the trivial worry and yielded back.
[.......]
Stella returned.
Lowering her head, she saw Deus sleeping soundly on her knee.
Stella silently cooled her burning face but held the pose rigidly.
Creak.
“Hey, quick talk......”
The door opened, and Stella’s head whipped around. Deia Verdi, her younger sister, entered with awkward steps.
“What, he’s asleep.”
Seeing sleeping Deus, she made a subtle expression.
Until then, Stella had been sinking into self-loathing for acting improperly despite being invisible.
“Hmm.”
Deia approached Deus slowly.
She examined his face, then poked his cheek lightly with a finger.
[Wh-what if he wakes......]
“He must be tired.”
Unaware of Stella ahead, Deia poked his cheek, then felt a strange déjà vu.
“Brother......”
Inside now was Kim Shin-woo.
Not original Deus Verdi, but Kim Shin-woo’s body.
Deus had sacrificed himself and closed his eyes—she’d witnessed it.
Since then, Deia sensed something odd.
Deus Verdi was trash she didn’t want to see or remember, but at the very end, he changed.
Witnessing that, Deia had acknowledged even a wretch as her ‘brother.’
But crucially.
“Kim Shin-woo.”
With Deus’s death filling the brother role, her feelings toward the Kim Shin-woo inside grew confused.
Not the emotions for Darius or Deus.
A bit different.
A bit special.
“......”
Pinch.
Irritably, she jabbed his cheek harder with her finger. A fun, addictive sensation.
“Softer than expected.”
Deia toyed endlessly with his cheek, but her time ended soon.
“Deia, you here?”
Darius burst in. Startled, Deia’s shoulders hunched, and she withdrew her hand.
Then she glared at Darius and whispered.
“He’s sleeping, so be quiet.”
“Ah, sorry. Pindenai’s looking for you outside.”
“I didn’t assign you something this quick to finish...... And why are you relaying it?”
“Ahem.”
“Ugh, act like the heir for once.”
Grumbling, Deia dragged Darius out. Before closing the door, her lingering glance at sleeping Deus didn’t escape Stella.
[Your sister seems to have her own troubles.]
Having come to see Kim Shin-woo and Deus as separate.
Shortly after.
About two hours later.
Stella still stared blankly at Deus in the same pose.
A knock came from outside.
No answer, so the door opened cautiously. Through the gap appeared the prim blonde, Erika Bright.
“Deus?”
Erika slipped in quietly, spotted Deus on the bed, and gasped softly.
“He’s sleeping.”
Stella watched Erika whisper.
To Stella, Deus’s fiancée Erika Bright was intriguing.
Erika approached, gently smoothing his tousled hair.
“......”
Stella noted the myriad thoughts in Erika’s clouded eyes.
The gaze of a lost lamb, struggling for direction—seen countless times in life.
Erika looked ready to crumble gazing at Deus, stirring Stella’s urge to reach out.
But oppositely.
Erika’s hand, tidying his hair, slid delicately down.
Gulp.
A quiet swallow echoed.
Her pale hand touched his forehead, passed between his eyes, traced his nose.
And lightly met his soft lips.
[......!]
Middle and index fingers gently touched his lips, lingering as if imprinting her print.
Then slowly withdrawn.
“Ah.”
Tap.
Erika overlaid her fingers on her own lips. Recalling the prior kiss, she closed her eyes briefly, hot breath escaping.
“Haa.”
Her face flushed as if fevered.
That sequence held a seductiveness unseen by the others.
Opening her eyes, now composed, Erika covered her burning face and tiptoed out quietly.
Thud.
Door closed.
Stella, witnessing it all, muttered blankly.
[That was...... something impressive.]