Chapter 5
Chapter 5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: The Saint's Inner Thoughts
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Currently, Victoria and I had no choice but to sit on a single bed. Since it was the cheapest inn in a remote area, the room was cramped.
The distance between us was so close that we could feel each other's breath and body heat. Even though the only difference from yesterday was that we had entered into a contract relationship, many things about our relationship had changed.
"I'll sleep on the floor, so you can sleep comfortably on the bed."
After entering the room, we had both remained silent, and I was the first to break that silence. I brought over the bedding and spread it out on the floor.
Victoria was scared, wondering what might happen to her now. Her inner thoughts kept flowing with regret that she should have worn provocative underwear.
"Huh? But then your back will get cold... Are you sure you're okay?"
- It can't be...? Does he really dislike me?
Victoria tilted her head slightly as she watched my actions, as if something was wrong. It was a natural reaction, as her plan to bewitch me and make me see her as a romantic interest had been thwarted.
"It's fine. You wouldn't want to sleep in the same bed with a man you dislike either, right? I also have no intention of crossing the line just to pretend to be fake lovers."
I deliberately acted coldly towards Victoria as I watched her. After all, I had never seen her as a romantic interest even once.
"...If that's truly the case, then why did you reveal to Anima that you confessed? It was a perfect opportunity for our contract relationship to be exposed."
Victoria opened her mouth with a sullen expression. It seemed she thought our minds had connected when I impulsively said I confessed earlier.
"If our contract relationship falls apart, we won't be able to stand against the Succubus Queen. How could a relationship that's been exposed to all our comrades and lost its sense of reality possibly resist an Illusionary Dream?"
I gave her the proper reason so Victoria wouldn't misunderstand. The contract relationship was something only the two of us should know from the start. This aspect would serve as a good means to deal with a fake appearing in a dream.
"Astal, so you accepted my proposal? You truly have no personal feelings whatsoever?"
- I thought if I did this, Astal would look at me... Am I really not attractive at all...?
Victoria's dejected voice pierced my chest. Outwardly, she seemed unfazed, but inside, she was on the verge of tears, as if she could burst into sobs at any moment.
"...I must kill the Demon King."
To that Victoria, I revealed my purpose.
As the sole survivor of a village burned down by the Demon King's army, I had lived believing I had no right to like anyone nor to be loved by anyone.
"Isn't that everyone's wish? There's no need for you to shoulder it alone..."
"Sorry if I gave you the wrong idea, but I think a guy like me has no worth living if not for that."
Truthfully, I wished Victoria would give up on her feelings for me. Unrequited love inevitably tires out and breaks only one side.
If there were no feelings, it was better to push her away like this.
"And besides, you said you disliked me from the start. So why did you seem so excited earlier? You even went so far as to fabricate a confession."
"Th-that was... I was drunk and couldn't help it. I would rather die than like a man like you. I also plan to leave you without any regrets once this contract relationship is over."
- I was just so happy it felt like we were really dating... I couldn't help it...
Victoria crossed her arms, showing signs of discomfort. Even if she properly conveyed her inner thoughts, it was something I couldn't accept, so it was actually fortunate that her outward and inward feelings differed like this.
'I must never let her find out I can hear her inner thoughts.'
In a state where it wasn't even certain if Victoria had romantic feelings for me, I couldn't just casually mention that I could hear her inner thoughts.
Since I couldn't hear anyone else's inner thoughts just a moment ago, there was a high probability that something was wrong with the contract relationship we had formed.
"You really are the worst kind of man. Now that I've actually tried dating, I think I'm starting to understand a bit."
- Don't you have any idea how passionately I tried to seduce you...? I even told the others that story so you wouldn't be able to back out later...
Victoria bit her lower lip as she spoke, perhaps stressed. It seemed she wasn't pleased with my attitude of not seeing her as a woman.
"...I'll wash up first. Please don't even think about peeking."
Victoria spoke to me with a slightly pouty mouth. Hearing the squeaky footsteps and the bathroom door slam shut with a *bang*, I realized she was angry.
- He could peek if he wanted... We're lovers now...
I deliberately started exercising for physical training, trying my hardest not to look at the neatly folded Holy Garments she had placed.
I had to clear my mind. With this kind of temptation, even non-existent feelings might start to develop.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Splash─.
As the water poured down from above, Victoria washed her body clean.
The flowers blooming all over Victoria's body originally caused a burning pain the moment they were touched.
So originally, she couldn't even dream of taking baths or showers and could only wipe her body with a damp cloth at best, but...
'The reason I can shower like this now is also thanks to you... Why can't I be honest like this?'
Thanks to Astal, who was proficient in water-related magic, she was able to wash her body using Waterproof Magic.
"Astal, do you really dislike me that much..."
Victoria muttered to herself in a small voice so it wouldn't be heard outside. At the thought of being hated by the man she liked, tears almost trickled out.
The reason Victoria couldn't bare her heart was largely because Astal put up such an iron wall.
Although she tried her best to express her feelings, Astal, who seemed either oblivious or simply uninterested, always tried to push her away like that.
"It's not like there's absolutely no reaction..."
Victoria had noticed that his gaze wavered ambiguously when she deliberately placed her chest on the table earlier. She could tell his eyes had inevitably moved in that direction.
Given that he had just offered to sleep on the floor, it seemed he didn't truly see her as a non-romantic interest. If he were a male comrade, with his personality, he would have insisted on using the bed himself.
'I regret not bringing sexier underwear. If I had, I might have been able to gauge his feelings a bit more.'
Victoria had even deliberately placed her change of underwear where Astal could see it. She could have come out wrapped only in a towel and then made the excuse that she did it while drunk.
'If Astal really were to pounce on me like a beast...'
Just imagining it made her face flush red as if steam was rising. According to the Heavenly God's doctrine, intercourse not intended for procreation was forbidden.
Had her sly heart been discovered?
"Oh right, Victoria!"
"Yes?! Yes!"
From outside, Astal's voice urgently calling Victoria was heard, and she hurriedly covered her body with her hands out of shame.
Even though no one was peeking, she thought Astal might see.
"There's perfume on top of the cabinet, use that! Don't use the inn's stuff here!"
But Astal seemed to finish knocking after saying that. Regrettably, he didn't mention the underwear placed by the door, so it seemed he didn't even notice it.
"This is..."
Checking the cabinet, Victoria couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth.
"...The man who spoke so harshly just moments ago prepared the perfume I like. That's really cute."
The modest perfume she used, having smelled floral scents to the point of weariness since childhood.
When shopping with Astal, she had casually mentioned she only used this one because it didn't have much scent.
"Then the story you told about not remembering what you said when we first met must have been a lie too."
Immediately seeing through Astal's lie, Victoria hummed a tune as she applied the perfume to her hair and finished her shower.
'Come to think of it, where would you find a man who goes this far for a woman he's truly not interested in?'
Astal, who meticulously cast Waterproof Magic so she could wash her body and even prepared perfume that didn't use flowers as the main ingredient.
'If it seems like Astal is trying to keep his distance from me, I can just force him down today and make it a done deal...'
Thinking of him while thoroughly drunk, Victoria was in a state where she couldn't make rational judgments.
Having booked a room together like this, she resented Astal for saying he'd sleep on the floor like a husband after a marital fight.
'It's wrong that Astal doesn't see me as a woman.'
His attitude of not even seeing her as remotely feminine upset her. And yet, why was he being so considerate?
Victoria dried her hair and wrapped her entire body in a towel, preparing to go outside to retrieve the underwear she had deliberately left out.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Having read Victoria's inner thoughts, I was now facing the greatest crisis of my life. Because I had learned of her plan to pounce on me if I showed no interest.
"...Why did you come out wrapped only in a towel?"
Victoria's soft curves, which couldn't even be fully covered by the large towel, made her seem less like a Saint and more like a Succubus.
"Ah, I left my underwear outside. It seems I can't resist the effects of alcohol either."
Victoria, the owner of a sensual figure, pointed with her finger towards the underwear on my side in an audacious manner.
Incidentally, it was black.
"Don't tell me you felt lust looking at my things? If so, you're truly worse than a monkey, you beast."
- Let's check today if he's not a complete eunuch.
"...That's impossible."
I hurriedly shook my head in denial. The movements of the woman approaching me, increasingly affected by alcohol, felt more terrifying than any monster.
"Victoria, shall I cast a spell to dispel the drunkenness? You seem to be having a hard time..."
"No. I also have days when I want to be drunk."
- I need to be drunk so I can lie and say I did it because of the alcohol even after pouncing on Astal...!
Thump, thump.
The Gold Dragon's unique irises were glowing in the darkness.
'Even if I use a spell to remove the drunkenness now, she'll pounce on me with a lie... If I ask for help from others or run away, my comrades might see me as trash tomorrow.'
If the Saint, Victoria, lied that she was almost raped by me, who would believe my words? My reputation, always steeped in alcohol and tobacco, is the lowest even within the party.
As Victoria's footsteps slowly approached, I racked my brain for a way to escape this situation.
Think, think...
"Victoria."
"Yes, what is it?"
- If he took off his top and robe too..., maybe Astal is also preparing himself mentally?
After retrieving her underwear, Victoria stopped for a moment and stared intently at me. Seeing that I had taken off my top earlier while exercising, she was under a major misunderstanding.
"I've been thinking it over, and since it's a contract relationship after all..."
Her excited breathing and the saliva at the corners of her mouth made it seem like she would pounce on me at any moment, so I had no choice but to utter the lines a man would say in this situation.
"Let's just hold hands and sleep today."
"...Huh?"
"To prepare for the Succubus Queen's Illusionary Dream, we should try acting like real lovers. Well, if it's a burden, we don't have to..."
Thud. At my words, Victoria's steps halted, and she lifted her head like a broken doll, creaking as she looked me in the face.
- Like real lovers, like real lovers..., I can hold Astal's hand and sleep...?
Currently, Victoria's face was slightly flushed, but from the outside, it was hard to tell if it was due to drunkenness or embarrassment.
"...So it's not that you have absolutely no ulterior motives towards me. I thought you might be impotent, running away even in a situation like this."
- Astal proposed it to me first...! The oblivious Astal did...! The contract relationship really must be working!
Victoria smiled faintly and threw a remark at me. Her inner thoughts kept repeating the same sentence over and over, savoring the aftertaste.
- Then I really won't need to show him directly that I'm a woman! From now on, I'll naturally make Astal into a real lover who can't live without me. Let's do this, Victoria!
Currently, her inner thoughts were truly noisy. The moment I gave her some distance, Victoria was immediately filled with thoughts of bewitching me and making me her boyfriend.
'Oh great Odin... Why have you given me such a trial...'
For the first time that day, I prayed to a god I didn't even believe in, wishing in my heart for time to be reversed to before I entered into this contract relationship with her.