Chapter 44
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: An Embrace Too Warm to Resist
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The warmth Stay provided was too cozy to issue a cold warning.
"Hoo. It hurts, as expected. Feels even worse than yesterday."
Even after a deep sleep in what had to be the best bed of my life, my wrists showed no signs of improvement.
Rather, it was par for the course with joint pain—injuries like this always hurt worse the day after. At this point, I doubted I could even smack her ass like I did yesterday.
Staying still and resting was the fastest path to recovery.
Put another way, it meant I couldn't use my wrists until they healed.
For someone like me who'd handled every treatment with these two hands so far, this injury—with no hint of recovery yet—was a bolt from the blue.
"Well, it doesn't really matter anymore."
But feeling like it was a big deal? That was only before yesterday's breakthrough.
When Mir Ryuin shared her solution, the shock of the injury jolted my creativity back to life, sparking a brand-new form of caress... no, treatment.
It was utterly different from my usual improv methods that had worked so well before, but somehow, it just felt like it would do the trick.
No solid evidence or anything—just pure confidence that I could pull off anything right now.
"I bumped the curse relief value for Mir Ryuin by a whopping 25% in just one day. Time to get a little cocky, right?"
Through two fainting orgasms yesterday, I'd pushed Mir Ryuin's curse relief value to 36%.
Jumping from 11% to 36% meant I'd cleared a full quarter of the curse in a single day.
Simple math: three more sessions like yesterday, and Mir Ryuin would be fully cured.
No one else had even identified the cause of this nightmare curse, let alone relieved a quarter of it overnight. How could I not feel unstoppable?
"Alright, let's do this."
That's why I could stride forward so boldly, even forced to try this totally new treatment method.
Before I knew it, I'd reached Dain Adamas's room. Unlike the first day, I grabbed the doorknob without a second thought and twisted it open.
"I'm here! Bet you've been waiting!"
A chipper morning greeting was a vital spark to power through the day.
Back when I was slaving away as an ER grunt, my body and mind were too wrecked for it. But now, with solid sleep and no grueling tasks, I could greet the day with full cheer.
"Good morning!"
I called out to Dain Adamas, lying there with her eyes peacefully closed just like three days ago, and activated my inner voice listening skill.
User's will confirmed. You can now hear the target's inner thoughts within a certain range.
The now-familiar alert popped up in the corner of my vision and vanished, just as Dain Adamas's response to my greeting came through.
This was a level of sarcasm I'd never encountered before.
※
May Luina had burst into tears at the mere thought of enduring three empty days. Mir Ryuin had counted down every single second of her two-day wait, her spirit fraying bit by bit.
Such utter isolation from the world was torture enough to shatter even the strongest minds.
But Dain Adamas was different.
The last of the three, she'd weathered what May Luina would've sobbed over just imagining—a full three days alone—and her psyche remained remarkably intact.
There was only one reason: Dain Adamas was already accustomed to solitude.
Even before becoming a vegetable, she'd always been alone, never mingling with anyone.
She could handle everything solo—the world's strongest, dismantling countless S-rank gates single-handedly without breaking a sweat.
Dain Adamas only let others tend to her when she needed it, forming no real bonds with anyone.
Whether sycophantic followers drawn to her power or schemers trying to exploit it, she ignored them all.
All her relationships boiled down to utility: needed or not. Even those deemed useful were discarded without mercy once their purpose was served—that was Dain Adamas.
That's why, even after a month alone, and despite the hope of improvement from Stay's visits keeping her from fully adapting to the darkness, she felt only boredom and tedium—not the same mental erosion as the others.
In fact, what tormented her wasn't solitude, but the helplessness of being unable to do anything herself. She was that adapted to being alone.
The loneliness inevitable for the world's top-ranked powerhouse—no one worthy to stand by her side.
People like Mir Ryuin or May Luina might've matched her caliber, but their fields were worlds apart, leaving no room for camaraderie.
Thus, Dain Adamas was doomed to solitude, a fate she'd endured since childhood—right from her first awakening. By now, she just accepted it.
She didn't love the loneliness, but it was so woven into her life that it didn't cause her particular distress.
That was true right up until three days ago.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Got it. But you sure you're okay? You seem even more down than last time."
At Stay's concerned words, Dain Adamas felt a twinge deep in her lower abdomen.
This brand-new discomfort had started right after his treatment three days ago—the first of its kind in her life.
Accustomed to solitude as she was, this unfamiliar emptiness had left her irritable ever since.
She had no clue why, just that it felt hollow and annoying—not debilitating, and with nothing she could do, she'd resigned herself to it.
The three days of resigned waiting had felt longer than any before, but she endured, convinced his next treatment would reveal the cause.
And now, the instant Stay entered the room, her lower abdomen thrummed like a puppy's wagging tail greeting its owner. She was certain: he was the culprit.
Realizing her hunch was spot-on, Dain Adamas could wait no longer.
Snapping gruffly at Stay's concern and urging him on was only natural after scraping through three long days.
"Really? Alright then... if you say you're fine, I'll take your word for it."
Treating like a rude jerk to the guy here to help was peak assholery, but Stay had zero expectations from any of the three patients—not even an ant's eyelash worth—so he shrugged it off and drew close.
As Stay approached right beside her—bedside, practically—Dain Adamas instinctively swallowed hard.
Well, technically, in her vegetative state, she couldn't even swallow saliva on her own. It just felt that way.
Anyway, that phantom gulp came with tension and excitement surging through her body, her lower abdomen—precisely, her womb inside—pulsing with a thrum-thrum. Her untouched newbie pussy began to moisten.
Just from Stay getting close, feeling this way? Dain Adamas was displeased.
But at the same time, anticipation bubbled for another round of that Portio sensitivity development treatment that had knocked her out cold before. She swallowed hard—or felt like it—a few more times.
Unable to hold back as Stay drew near, Dain Adamas's raw, resolute inner vow burst forth, brimming with sincerity about not losing easily.
Sure, she called it resolve, but she wasn't hiding her excitement for another Portio pounding. To Stay, listening in, it was laughably obvious.
Still, since she believed it was ironclad determination, Stay tactfully didn't call her out.
"Not doing that today. Got too hyped smacking Mir Ryuin's ass yesterday and wrecked both wrists. Can't use my hands today."
Instead, he poked holes in her another way.
'Smacking Mir Ryuin's ass? Got so into it he hurt his wrists? He enjoyed it that much?'
The moment she heard Stay, an inexplicable rage surged in Dain Adamas.
She'd found a justification that made sense—sort of—but it still didn't fully vent the frustration. Growling fiercely, she opened her mouth to unleash on Stay.
"Instead, trying a different treatment today."
But Dain Adamas's fury cut short.
Something huge, firm, and soft had slipped into her bed, wrapping her in a tight embrace.
The sudden, affectionate warmth evaporated her boiling rage in an instant—so out-of-left-field.
This novel sensation left Dain Adamas blank, forgetting what she'd even meant to say.
Holding her close, Stay whispered today's treatment into her ear.
"The hospital bed has healing effects built in, right? So today, I'll lie next to you to heal my wrists too. Plus, a tight hug to infuse some yang energy. Sound good?"
His voice brimmed with utter confidence, as if "no" wasn't even on the table.
For Dain Adamas, having an F-rank weakling like Stay—who couldn't even share a meal with her—lie in her bed, hug her, and declare "This is treatment. Sound good?" was infuriatingly presumptuous.
So she steeled herself gravely, ready to snap, "Get off me now, you F-rank runt. Know your place." Cold warning at the ready.
......The warmth Stay provided was too cozy to issue a cold warning.