Explain Yourself, My Roy

"Explain it to me, my Roy. If it doesn't convince me..."

The cold edge of the dagger tapped the inside of my thigh. "I might have to carve out every place that bitch touched."

It wasn't a joke. Adelia's crimson eyes had already evaporated every trace of reason. Any excuse I offered now—that it was a misunderstanding, that I'd only received treatment—would fall on deaf ears. Her mind was consumed by jealousy. What mattered to her wasn't the truth; it was the scent of another woman clinging to my body.

'This is bad.'

If things continued like this, maintaining my life as a man would become impossible. There was no way an F-class like me could overpower a berserk hero through brute force. That left only one option. Her mental state was at -98%. I had to exploit her fractured mind.

Instead of speaking, I chose to show her.

Thud.

"...Ugh!"

I collapsed to my knees right there. The dagger sliced through empty air.

"...?"

Adelia's eyes widened at my sudden movement. She stared down at me blankly, knife still in hand.

"What are you doing, Roy? Are you trying to win sympathy or something right now—"

"Huuuugh...!"

Instead of answering, I clutched my stomach and curled into a ball. Cold sweat poured off me like rain. The fear was real, but it made my performance that much more convincing. Yuriel's holy power had healed the wounds, yet I recalled the sensation of my bones and organs twisting and let out a genuine-sounding groan of agony.

"It's still... not healed..."

"...What?"

"My insides... feel like they're about to burst..."

Pretending to fight the pain, I writhed across the floor. By now it must have come into view—my sorry state hidden by the darkness.

My uniform shirt, shredded to tatters. Muddy stains all over my pants. And the pitiful traces of dried black blood visible through the rips in the fabric.

"...!"

Adelia's face froze solid. Her red pupils trembled violently, as if struck by an earthquake.

"Ah... No..."

Her lips drained of color. The present version of me vanished from her sight, replaced by the overlapping images of comrades who had died cold in her arms across 999 hellish lives. Her expression screamed I couldn't protect them.

The jealousy that had ruled her was devoured by trauma in an instant. Her killing intent flipped to terror in the blink of an eye.

"Ah..."

The dagger slipped from Adelia's hand.

Clang.

She had realized what she had nearly done. To the bloodied man who had barely made it back. To her god, curled up and clutching his wounded stomach. She had pointed a blade at him and threatened to carve him apart.

Whoosh—!

She appeared before me in a flash. Her hands trembled so badly she couldn't even touch my shoulders, hovering uselessly in the air.

"Ugh... Ah, aah... I'm truly sorry."

Her voice shook.

"I didn't know... Uwa, I didn't know you were hurt... I just smelled another woman on you... That's all, so..."

She was in full panic. Her eyes darted wildly, lips completely bloodless.

"Will you... hate me now? For acting like a crazy bitch...?"

"......"

"Ah, d-did I say something awful? Carving it out—I didn't mean it like that. I was just angry... What do I do... Roy, what do I do..."

She rambled through her tears. The predator from moments ago had vanished, replaced by a terrified puppy who had accidentally bitten its master.

'Phew... I survived.'

I let out a mental sigh of relief. But I couldn't celebrate. The woman trembling before me was the noble hero I had admired for ten years while reading the novel. The fact that she had been broken this badly because of me made something in my chest ache.

'Sorry. For deceiving you.'

Guilt twisted inside me, but I couldn't stop. This was the only way for us to survive together.

I slowly lifted my head and looked up at her, mixing performance and genuine sorrow into the saddest expression I could manage.

"...I'm disappointed, Adelia."

Staggering, I grabbed the bed frame and pulled myself up.

"Those Kyle bastards beat me... My ribs are broken, my organs are damaged. But I still had to see you tomorrow. With this body, I didn't think I could keep our promise..."

I gave her a bitter smile.

"So I got treatment. Because I wanted to live. Because I wanted to see you again."

"Ah..."

Her mouth fell open. She had assumed I'd been fooling around with another woman... The truth—that I had dragged my broken body to receive healing just to keep my word to her—shattered her completely.

"Yet you pulled a knife on me... and threatened to cut there?"

"T-that was..."

"What hurts most is..."

I pointed at my torn clothes.

"Even though I was injured this badly... your first reaction wasn't worry. It was suspicion."

Tears slid down my cheeks. They weren't fake. I had been genuinely terrified. I had almost lost everything that mattered a moment ago. These were tears of relief that my precious parts remained intact, and joy at having survived this insane ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠situation.

But to her, they must have looked like the grief of a man betrayed by his lover.

Crackle.

"Ah... Aaaah..."

Adelia stumbled backward. She stared down at her own hands as if they belonged to a stranger. The realization that she had nearly killed her savior with them seemed unbearable.

"I... again..."

She muttered.

"I ruined it. I ruined everything again this time."

Her eyes grew dull like a dead fish. Self-loathing. The self-destructive impulse that had tormented her through 999 lifetimes was rearing its head once more.

She looked at me with sudden resolve.

"My God."

"...?"

Riiip!

A sharp tearing sound filled the room. She grabbed her collar and violently ripped the shirt apart.

Pop. Pop.

Buttons flew in every direction. The white uniform parted, unable to contain her suppressed curves any longer. They swayed heavily with gravity. Pale flesh spilled over black underwear in plain view. Her deep, bursting cleavage caught the moonlight and gleamed.

"Go ahead."

She picked up the fallen dagger and offered me the hilt.

"Stab me."

"...What?"

"I was wrong. I acted like a crazy bitch again and hurt you."

She forced my hand around the grip, then pressed the tip against the white skin above her heart.

"Stab until your anger fades. Or hit me if you want."

"Adelia, you're—"

"It doesn't matter! I'm already broken! If you abandon me, it's over!"

She cried out. Tears rolled down her cheeks, dripping from her chin onto the torn fabric.

"Don't be angry... Please don't hate me... It's because I'm crazy... I can't seem to fix it lately... Sob..."

The hero tried to kneel before me. She was offering her body like a blank canvas, begging me to vent my anger but please, please don't throw her away. The heartbreaking sight made my chest tighten.

'Ha...'

Complicated emotions flooded me. She was terrifying. But at the same time, unbearably pitiful.

I tossed the dagger onto the bed.

"Get up."

"St-stab me... Please..."

"I said get up!"

I pulled her trembling body to her feet. Then I stripped off my uniform jacket. It was filthy with blood and dirt, but it was the only thing that could cover her exposed chest right now.

Flutter.

I draped the jacket over her shoulders and fastened it in front.

"...Roy?"

She looked up at me with wet eyes. I sighed and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry."

"...Yes?"

"I'm the one who's more sorry. For making you misunderstand."

"No, no. I pulled a knife..."

"I should have told you before I went for treatment. I was lacking, and I made you anxious."

I gently patted the bare skin revealed by her torn shirt.

"So don't say those things! You're not broken."

"......"

"And I'm not leaving. Even if you hurt me... I'll stay by your side. We're accomplices, aren't we?"

Those words destroyed her final defense.

"Hwaaaaaang—!"

She crushed my waist in her arms and wailed. These weren't tears of sadness. They came from the relief of forgiveness and the certainty that this man would never abandon her.

I buried my face in her platinum hair and held her. The saintess's lilac scent had vanished, replaced once more by Adelia's unique sweet, slightly metallic fragrance that wrapped around my body.

We stayed like that for a long time, clinging to each other in the middle of the narrow dormitory room. When her sobs finally quieted, she slowly lifted her head from my chest. The corners of her eyes were red and swollen, but her pupils once again glistened with sticky possessiveness.

"Roy."

Her hand slid downward and tapped the deepest part of my inner thigh with a finger.

"Hehe, next time I won't cut anything else."

"...What?"

She smiled seductively and whispered.

"The place that carried that bitch's scent... I'll erase its function. Permanently."

Crackle.

A chill ran down my spine. The threat was far more horrifying and concrete than direct words. She was serious. The moment I slept with another woman, she would destroy me as a man if that was what it took to keep me by her side. That level of madness.

"I'll make sure you can't do anything with other women. You'll only ever look at me for the rest of your life."

"......"

"So we need to cover it. Thoroughly."

"Cover... what?"

"The smell. That disgusting saintess scent."

There was no time to stop her. She shoved me toward the bed. Then, like a cat marking its territory, she began rubbing her entire body against mine.

"Mmm... Haa..."

Her hot breath brushed my neck. This wasn't a simple hug. Her overflowing breasts pressed against my chest, and her firm thighs pushed between my legs, grinding against my center. Through the thin shirt, her body heat and the soft texture of her skin transmitted directly.

"Ugh..."

A groan slipped out before I could stop it. The continent's strongest hero was pressing herself against me this blatantly, and her face was breathtaking on top of it... I wanted to touch her everywhere. I wanted to be inside her right now. A heavy ache built in my lower abdomen as blood rushed downward. Reason screamed danger, but instinct was growing numb, drunk on her sweet scent and supple touch.

"Ah... It feels so good..."

She nibbled my earlobe and murmured in a dreamy voice.

"My Roy... My faith..."

She breathed in my scent deeply, lost in ecstasy as if worshipping me. The act of marking me with her own scent seemed to be both salvation and pleasure for her.

Crackle.

'...Not bad.'

Even now, relief washed over me that the numbers had improved. The way to tame a mad hero might be to accept her obsession and give her exactly as much of myself as she craved.

"Roy."

She looked up at me with hazy eyes. The glimpse of pale skin between undone buttons, her flushed cheeks, her ragged breathing. She licked her lips and dropped the bomb.

"I want to sleep here tonight."

"...What?"

"This isn't enough. I need to hold you all night if I'm going to completely cover that smell."

"Th-that's..."

This was the male dormitory. Getting caught meant expulsion. But her hands were already toying with my belt buckle.

"Why? You don't want to? Or... do you still like that bitch's scent?"

Her eyes began to narrow dangerously again.

Knock. Knock!

The sound shattered the tension. My heart nearly stopped.

"Roy? Are you in there?"

It was the dorm supervisor. The notoriously strict tiger of a teacher.

"I heard strange noises. I'm coming in."

"W-wait!"

I shouted, but the old doorknob was already turning.

Click.

We were finished. A woman in this tiny room—and not just any woman, but the hero with her shirt torn to shreds? Expulsion would be the least of our problems. It would make tomorrow's front page. In despair, I looked behind me.

"Adelia, hide—!"

But.

"...?"

The bed was empty. Only cool night air drifted through the open window, gently stirring the curtains. She had already vanished. Her escape skills were supernatural. The experience from 999 rounds clearly hadn't gone anywhere.

'Phew... I survived.'

My legs nearly gave out.

Creak—

The door opened and the supervisor entered with a stern expression. He scanned the room. Fortunately, no trace of Adelia remained. Only my torn shirt and the dagger on the floor drew his attention.

"What happened? I thought I heard screaming."

"Ah... well..."

I quickly kicked the dagger under the bed.

"I had a nightmare. Sorry for the disturbance."

"A nightmare..."

The supervisor gave me a suspicious once-over, then clicked his tongue at my ripped shirt.

"You look awful from your very first day as a freshman. Get some sleep."

"Yes! Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"...?"

My sudden gratitude left him bewildered. Most students cowered when scolded. Thanking him was odd. But I meant every word. If not for him, my virginity—or my life—would have been in serious danger tonight.

"...What a strange kid."

The supervisor shook his head and left, closing the door behind him.

Click.

Silence returned to the room. I collapsed spread-eagle onto the bed.

"Haa..."

With the tension gone, my entire body felt like soaked cotton. What the hell had even happened today? Running from the entrance ceremony, a suicide attempt, a contract with the hero, meeting the saintess, and a home invasion in the dormitory.

'Today was seriously... exhausting.'

A hollow laugh escaped as I stared at the ceiling. It was only the beginning, yet I already felt drained. Still, it wasn't all bad. The breeze through the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠window carried a faint trace of the scent Adelia had left behind. -97%. She was changing, little by little. At this rate, a happy ending wasn't impossible.

'Those Kyle bastards... I'll settle the score later.'

Revenge could wait. I didn't have the strength to lift a single finger right now. My eyelids ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠grew too heavy to fight, and I sank into deep sleep.

—Crackle.

It must be Adelia. I brushed it off. She was probably watching over me from somewhere nearby. My chest felt strangely tight, like something was blocking it, but I chalked it up to exhaustion. Being inside her gaze might actually be the safest place. Comforted by that thought, I closed my eyes. When I woke up tomorrow, I should at least thank her.

"...Hey, Roy! Hey, Roy!"

Someone shook my shoulder roughly. Damn it, I had just fallen asleep.

"Ah, what?"

"Wake up! We've already arrived!"

"...Huh?"

Arrived? Where? I forced my heavy eyelids open. Bright sunlight stabbed my vision.

Wait. It had definitely been night. I had been in the dormitory bed.

"Woaaaaah!!"

"Freshmen! Welcome to the Imperial Academy!"

Bang! Boom!

Fireworks exploded. Cheers hammered my eardrums. It was familiar. Creepily, horrifyingly familiar.

I turned my head in a daze. Gorgeous chandeliers, red carpet, a massive crowd. This was the academy auditorium. And on the podium stood Adelia, wearing a pristine uniform not yet stained with blood.

"...This can't be real?"

Cold sweat broke out. This wasn't a dream.

—Crackle.

"...Eh?"