Chapter 65
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: The Hero Who Wants to Make a Baby
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Came out of Chloe's house and returned to our original lodging.
Since all our business was done, there was no reason to stay any longer.
Ashy didn't hesitate even after seeing the ties from her previous life.
She'd paid back her own kind of debt and left without looking back.
I couldn't help but admire that resoluteness of hers.
"The baby will be born safely, right?"
Chloe was already close to full term.
Barring any complications, she'd give birth within the month.
I'd cleansed the womb that had been corrupted by magic and purified the fetus growing there with celestial power.
Even so, I couldn't be certain it would be born healthy.
"I did what I could in my own way, but... tsk."
Ashy clicked her tongue and shook her head.
Ashy had done her utmost for her old comrade.
From here on, it was out of her hands.
"I hope they all do well."
They were people I'd just met today.
Nothing particularly special about our connection.
They were just trying to live happily.
I hoped they wouldn't suffer misfortune and would thrive.
I hoped Eric in Chloe's belly would grow up healthy as can be, just to spite my worries.
Yeah, maybe flip me the bird someday.
We returned to our original lodging.
I tossed Grape's head into a corner and plopped down on the bed.
"Puppy, should we think of some baby names too?"
Ashy slipped naturally into my arms. I didn't resist her pull.
I hugged her soft body and tumbled onto the bed with her.
Now it was okay to touch Ashy.
Even if I wrapped my arms around her waist or gave her ass a little squeeze, she just stayed quietly nestled against me.
No reaction at all.
It was silent permission.
I wrapped my arm around her lower back and buried my face in the nape of her neck.
Her scent lingered on that pale skin.
My lower half twitched.
The chastity cage squeezed my cock tight.
"I've thought of a few names for the baby..."
"Oh? You've got some in mind already?"
Back when I was clueless, not fully grasping the weight of marriage and child-rearing.
I'd come up with names thinking, "If we have a kid, this is what I'll call them."
Ashy showed interest in those names.
Even after regressing, this was the first she'd heard of them.
"How come you didn't know? Didn't we talk about it?"
"......"
It was a conversation from before her regression.
I asked if first-round Kang Ajin had ever talked about this with her.
Ashy made a bitter face and let her limbs go limp.
Like she had nothing more to say, she just deflated.
"No. I avoided it because I didn't want to admit my feelings. Thinking you'd be by my side forever was the problem."
Her large breasts squished against my chest.
Ashy mumbled something, like she was sharing her true feelings.
I couldn't hear it.
I grabbed her ass.
The urge to fuck her boiled up fiercely.
"Hey."
She caught on that I hadn't been listening.
I'd been groping her ass, after all. No way she wouldn't notice.
I'd ignored her serious talk.
Even I'd be pretty pissed.
"Ack..."
Ashy moved to punish me right away.
She propped herself up on one arm, bent her leg, and raised her knee.
That sharply honed knee headed straight for the forbidden zone.
Between my thighs, right under my crotch—balls dead center.
Ashy started pressing my cock down with her knee.
"Babe, Ashy...!"
"What did I just say? Recall it now, and I'll let it slide."
"......"
I could've pretended to remember if I'd caught any of it.
But since I hadn't listened from the start, I had no answer for her question.
"Heh."
Ashy let out a scoff.
She looked down at me in amazement and laughed.
"...Watching Chloe-unnie and her husband made me feel all weird? It was super touching. Knowing what Chloe-unnie went through... how hard she fought to hold on..."
"What does that have to do with th-this...?"
Getting yanked by hand was one thing.
A knee was way scarier.
"So I got all sentimental without realizing. You're a puppy who won't listen unless I whip you, after all."
"...That's too harsh..."
"Puppy talking back?"
"Babe...!"
She was violent just for not listening.
What a brutal master.
But I had no choice.
Ashy's knee closed in, dead serious about crushing my balls.
I begged and begged.
It was the only way I'd survive.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
I barked like a dog.
When dealing with a flipped-out Ashy, you had to go full dog mode.
And that was the answer.
"Do you know what you did wrong?"
"Woof!"
Ashy petted my head.
Her touch was gentle, but I couldn't let my guard down yet.
She might snap anytime.
"Now you've gone and ruined the mood. Hmph."
"...Woof...?"
There was such a thing as atmosphere.
The perfect vibe for bringing up certain topics.
Ashy wasn't going to revisit what she'd said earlier.
My chance to hear her true feelings was gone.
"Annoying."
"Woof..."
"Don't make that pitiful face."
"Woof...?"
"Sigh, can't just rip your balls off either."
"Woof...!"
This routine was getting familiar now.
Never thought barking wouldn't feel awkward someday.
Ashy scowled and sat up.
She let my balls go free.
"Phew..."
I sighed in relief and rubbed my cock.
Checking if it was still intact.
"Go wash up. We're sleeping."
Ashy pointed to the bathroom and sat on the chair.
Her breathing was still rough, anger not fully spent.
"...Got it."
Hard to respond now.
Couldn't answer seriously or brush it off as a joke.
Any words would turn to poison.
I quietly went to the bathroom and washed up.
Scrubbed every inch, dog collar and leash still around my neck.
When I came out clean, Ashy sat at the table, her demeanor much softer.
I dried off and pulled underwear from my bag, putting it on.
Once fully dressed, Ashy called me over.
"Puppy, what do you think of me?"
"Huh?"
"Exactly what I said. What do you think of me?"
Ashy looked at me with unusually calm eyes.
Her sky-blue gaze pierced right through, serene yet intense.
"What do I think...?"
Was she asking for an evaluation of herself?
Why bring it up out of nowhere?
My head spun.
For a moment, worry crept in.
"...You're not thinking of ditching me, right...?"
"Huh? No? Why would I ditch you?"
The instant Ashy abandoned me, it was all over.
I had no confidence surviving this harsh world alone.
Ashy's sudden odd questions amplified my needless anxiety.
Unlike my fears, she seemed to have no such thoughts.
"Just answer the question."
"...What I think of you?"
"Yeah."
What did I think of Ashy?
Without Ashy, I'd have been sold as a sex slave.
First-round Kang Ajin became Gertong Baron's plaything, ass broken in.
She'd saved me from that fate, so Ashy was my benefactor.
"Not that."
Not satisfied, Ashy shook her head and furrowed her brow.
"As your woman, your future wife... what do you think in that sense?"
"Oh."
What Ashy wanted was simple.
Strip away all the conditions—what did I think of her as a person?
Did Kang Ajin see Ashy as a good woman? That seemed to be her curiosity.
"Before regressing, I only heard about Chloe-unnie, so I didn't know. But seeing her with her husband... it felt weird. Watching Chloe-unnie and her husband made me wonder too."
"What I think of you?"
Ashy nodded.
"I remember all our time together. But you don't. Kang Ajin, you're just going along because I'm dragging you, matching yourself to me..."
Ashy seemed anxious somewhere deep down.
I didn't fully get what she felt watching the Chloe couple.
But I could understand, at least.
She'd confirmed with her own eyes the relationship she'd only heard about before regressing.
A woman defying fate to save her husband and son.
The man who loved her for it.
Ashy had realized one-sided emotional exchange had its limits.
Or maybe she envied their genuine bond as a couple.
A relationship where only one side gives is bound to feel lacking compared to mutual exchange.
That's just how it was.
'Is it really enough to make her this anxious, though?'
I studied Ashy's face.
She tried hiding it, but I could see right through.
Her eyes tense, lips twisted.
She couldn't smile even if she tried.
She watched me, waiting for my answer.
Tense, like she'd shatter at any negativity.
What could I say to reassure her?
'Our relationship isn't exactly normal.'
From the start till now.
It was far from ordinary.
Didn't matter much to me.
But from a regressor's view, it might nag at her.
The affection she'd built alone differed from what I was building.
Time to quell that anxiety from the gap.
'How to say it?'
I wasn't sure.
Just spit out what was on the tip of my tongue.
"I like you, Ashy."
I like Ashy.
Depending on interpretation, it could mean love.
Trivial compared to the regressor Ashy's feelings.
But my emotions weren't fake.
"My tastes are kinda weird, but it's not bad."
My body's all messed up.
Gertong turned first-round me into a shit gay, Ashy made second-round me a masochistic bitch.
Who's worse? No comment.
Anyway.
"It's only been about a month. Do we need to worry about feelings now? They'll get deeper with time..."
"......"
"You seeing the Chloe couple didn't make you too sappy, did it?"
The Ashy I knew would've added shackles to the collar and cage.
"I'll free you when you truly fall in love."
"I can't run anyway if you don't let me go. You gonna ditch me?"
"No...! Absolutely not...!"
Ashy shook her head furiously.
Her earnest head-shake felt genuine.
"Then isn't that enough?"
"Is it?"
She pondered briefly, then relaxed her expression.
Ashy was back to her usual self in no time.
"...Nah, won't work. Gotta get to Alvheim quick and make it official."
We spent the night at the inn and headed straight for Alvheim.