Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Noble-Plebeian Union
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“Ugh...”
The warm sensation slowly roused me from sleep.
-Rustle…
Where am I?
I looked around…
“You’re awake?”
Luna was sitting beside me.
“Ugh...!”
As I tried to sit up, Luna gently pressed down on my shoulder.
“Don’t get up. You’re a patient right now.”
Her voice carried a strange mix of anger and worry. I turned my head toward her…
Is she mad?
Luna stared at me intently, her expression sour.
“If you were feeling that sick, you should’ve said something. Why didn’t you tell me?”
I scratched my head sheepishly at her scolding.
“Well… I didn’t think I’d collapse like that.”
It was the first time in my life I’d ever fainted.
I figured I could tough it out if I was honest… but no such luck.
“And that’s supposed to be an excuse?”
I put on my best pained act as she glared at me sharply.
“Cough… cough… ugh… my head hurts all of a sudden…”
Luna jumped to her feet in a panic.
“Hold on. I’ll get your medicine.”
She soon returned with a white pill and handed it to me.
“Here, take this first.”
I stared at the tiny white pill, about the size of my thumbnail.
“Can I swallow it without water?”
“Yeah. It’ll melt in your mouth. I’ll go ladle some soup, so stay put.”
As she left, I eyed the pill for a moment.
Is this really okay?
I popped half of it into my mouth.
Miraculously, it dissolved instantly.
Like a compressed powder pill, it melted on contact with my saliva, spreading a faint sweetness across my tongue.
Not bad tasting?
With that thought, I took the other half.
“Here, eat this.”
Luna handed me a wooden bowl filled with soup.
“Thanks, I’ll dig in.”
While I ate…
-Zap…
Her gaze made me uncomfortable.
What does she want…? For me to eat or to talk?
Her red eyes brimmed with resentment.
Is she that mad I collapsed?
As I sipped the soup, I glanced at her sidelong and asked,
“You’re gonna make me choke.”
I wasn’t joking.
With her ice-princess looks, it was hard not to.
“Hmph!”
Luna turned her head away, clearly displeased.
Gonna get an earful after I eat…?
I smiled bitterly to myself and finished the food.
As soon as I was done, Luna silently cleared the bowl. I started to get up.
She shot me a cold glare.
“What are you doing?”
What…? Why’s she so pissed?
That time of the month…?
I calculated roughly—no, it should’ve passed by now.
“Well… I should head back to my tent now.”
-Crunch.
Luna scowled, set the bowl on the table, and pushed me back onto the bed by the shoulder.
“Are you trying to die? Do you know how dangerous the flu is? Rest here today.”
The flu…? That dangerous?
I’d heard it kills people sometimes… but I didn’t know it worried her this much.
Still…
I decided to stay quiet, lest I upset her further and end up in pieces.
“Not lying down?”
“Y-Yes ma’am!”
I lay down hastily at her low tone.
I pulled the blanket up to my chin obediently, and only then did her frown ease a bit.
“Hoo… seriously, you’re gonna be the death of me.”
She sighed deeply and sat beside me.
“How’s your body feeling?”
“A little hot.”
No joke—the tent was stifling from all the firewood in the brazier.
“Bear it. The medic said this is best.”
“Still…”
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and continued,
“Isn’t this too hot?”
“Tough it out. Experts know best.”
She crossed her legs as she spoke.
Maybe because of those skin-tight black leather pants…
Her beautiful legs were on full display, and…
Ah… up it goes again.
Ever since that potion for erectile dysfunction, I’d been getting hard at the worst times. Super inconvenient.
And it felt even bigger than before…
As I felt embarrassed,
Luna’s eyes drifted downward.
Ah… nooo.
She stared right at my crotch, filling me with endless shame.
“Aiden? You’re thinking about that even now?”
She looked at me with a hint of pity.
A faint contempt lingered in her eyes.
“N-No… it’s that impotence cure. It’s happening all the time now…”
“Ugh, whatever. No need to explain.”
I frantically stopped her as she reached for my pants.
“I’m sick right now, you know?”
She glanced between my crotch and my face before asking,
“Then why’s it standing up?”
“Well… it kinda does its own thing…”
Luna put on an innocent expression.
“Oh? So you don’t actually want to?”
Her pure question made me cringe with embarrassment.
“Right! I don’t want to!”
She patted the bulge in my pants with her palm.
Her touch was full of affection.
It felt like a mother patting her young son’s butt—humiliating.
“Good. I thought you wanted to for a second.”
“N-No, don’t worry about that.”
A brief silence fell between us.
An awkward, cringey moment.
As I wondered if I should say something, Luna looked at me and spoke.
“Anyway… ahem… Aiden, did you do something wrong to me?”
“Uh… say I was leaving?”
She nodded slightly.
“And?”
What else did I do wrong?
I racked my brain, but nothing came up.
As if reading my mind, Luna scowled again…
-Thwack!
“Ow!”
She flicked my nose.
“If it hurts, say it hurts! Know what the medic said? Today’s the critical point. My heart dropped when I heard.”
She furrowed her brow.
I rubbed my stinging nose.
“I… really didn’t think it’d get that bad…”
But she wasn’t buying my excuse and glared harder. A strange sense of déjà vu hit me.
This feels just like… a lover nagging.
Our relationship was hard to define.
What? Weren’t we just fuckbuddies?
To be precise, somewhere between friends with benefits and dating.
A bit ambiguous for this kind of talk, I thought.
“I dropped everything in my pioneering venture to come save you, and what do you do? Talk about leaving! Hmph!”
She turned her head away.
I couldn’t believe my eyes as she pouted like any ordinary girl.
The cold heroine Luna Valmore, sulking?
But if I didn’t soothe her, I was in trouble.
“Sorry. If I hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t have listened to me, right?”
Her eyes flashed with fury as she nodded vigorously.
“Obviously! You risking your life over something trivial—how could I allow that?! Thinking about it pisses me off! What’re you gonna do from now on?”
“What else? Succeed, obviously.”
“Hah… you’d better not fail…”
She looked pained, so I waved it off.
“No worries, I told you.”
Her eyes blazed as she grabbed my collar and shook me.
“Why, when you’re the one risking your life, do I have to worry alone?! And then you say you’re leaving me, you jerk?”
“Ah? M-My head… hurts!”
My head really did ring from the shaking.
But she let go the moment I complained of pain.
Watching her swallow her anger because I was the patient, I thought,
What’s with this cute creature?
“Argh! Say something like that again, I dare you!”
I gave her a soft smile as she ground her teeth in frustration.
“And what’ll you do if I do?”
Half-joking, honestly.
But…
“I’ll tie you up in my room and rape you all day.”
“Pardon?”
Did I hear that right?
No way the romance novel heroine says something a lunatic would.
She crossed her arms and continued.
“Then you’ll give me three kids. That way, you can never leave me because of them.”
“Huh?”
“You’re a sucker for emotions, right? Could you really abandon crying, clinging kids?”
Her logic almost made me nod…
Wait, kids?
“Hold on? Have kids?”
Never saw that coming.
What was I even testing her for?
But three kids? Wouldn’t that be hard on her?
I just provide the seed, but she’d be inconvenienced for months…
And three means a ton of work.
As I mulled that over, she spoke as if sensing my discontent.
“Hmph! You do all sorts of reckless things and then try to leave me? Think that’ll fly? I’ll have lots of kids so you can’t run.”
Her red eyes gleamed with obsession.
What…? How’d it come to this?
Weren’t we just having fun?
Dating, marriage—Luna was too much.
A Swordmaster, status even the emperor couldn’t ignore easily… and if her suitors found out…
I’d be in danger, no doubt.
Need an excuse—ah, that could work?
My mind raced, pulling out a pretext.
“Wait? Didn’t you say you’re marrying into the Grand Duchy?”
“Hmph, yeah. Didn’t expect I’d have to break my oath thanks to certain people.”
Her chilling smile told me I was screwed.
Ah…
“Don’t get too happy, though! For you to marry me, you need a higher status.”
Her baffling words prompted a question.
“Why’s that?”
She scratched her flushed cheek.
“Well… there’s this noble-plebeian union rule. You need achievements for me to grant you a title and marry. Otherwise, our kids lose inheritance rights.”
“Ah?”
Some complicated custom here, huh.
Wait… noble titles are hard to get, right?
I heard even knighthoods are rare.
“At least an independent barony… I could grant the title and separate it, but the backlash from nobles is the issue.”
Something clicked as she spoke seriously.
What about those three guys…?
All big names in the empire.
With the crown prince in the mix, it’s over.
“Exactly. So work harder, Aiden! If you slack off on purpose… you know what happens, right?”
Cold sweat trickled down my back as she urged me with a flushed face.