Chapter 483: A Step Forward
Chapter 483: A Step Forward
“Anyway, nothing really happened, so you don’t have to feel so sorry. It’s not like it was your fault in the first place. Me getting swept away was an accident, and I was the one who told you to go back and call for rescue. Thanks to you all properly calling for help, I made it here safely. If anything, I’m grateful to you.”
“Grateful… Guwon…”
“So for today, just get some rest. Seeing your pale faces breaks my heart. And honestly, I’d like to sleep in a bed for the first time in a while, too. For now, let’s just rest today. Okay?”
In truth, I had been sleeping right up until I met Rachel, and I’d also received the effects of Healing Sex with her, so I wasn’t tired at all. But if I didn’t say something like this, it seemed like they would never rest, so I put it that way for now.
“…I suppose so. Very well.”
Diana’s expression clearly showed she didn’t want to sleep apart from me after seeing me for the first time in so long, but my persuasion seemed to have worked, as she nodded her head as if she had no other choice.
“Guwon. Can I sleep with you? It was my turn anyway. That’s okay, right?”
“What?! Leia! That’s cheating!”
But, in a rare turn of events, Leia didn’t immediately follow my words.
Diana cried out as if struck by injustice, but Leia paid her no mind, simply gazing into my eyes with a pleading expression.
I never thought Leia, of all people, would act like this.
It was a little unexpected, but the thought that she cared for me enough to behave this way warmed a corner of my heart.
Seeing an angel throw a little tantrum was a truly rare sight, so I felt like granting her wish if I could… but this time, I couldn’t back down.
That’s just how haggard everyone looked.
I could now understand how the people from the Mage Association felt when they tried to force them to rest.
Of course, Healing Sex has the effect of relieving physical fatigue, so having sex might not be a bad idea, but I also felt that in a situation like this, getting proper sleep would be better.
Therefore, despite the angel’s rare, endearing request, I regretfully decided to refuse.
“No. Sex right now is a bit… I’ll do it with you tomorrow when we get back to the mansion, okay? So for today…”
“We don’t have to have intercourse. I just want to sleep next to you. I don’t mind if we count that as my turn.”
Even as I tried to persuade her, Leia stated her case and refused to back down.
But I see. When she mentioned her turn, I assumed she meant we had to have sex, but if it’s just sleeping together…
“Alright. Let’s do that, then. Everyone else, hurry back to your rooms and get some rest.”
“Ugh…”
“Silvia.”
“Ye-Yes! Please rest well, Guwon!”
It seemed Silvia didn’t want to be separated from me either.
For today, she hadn’t even run off to a corner and had stayed close to me the whole time.
But when I spoke a little sternly, Silvia finally bowed her head to me and left the room.
“…Just as Silvia said, please get a proper rest. You may say nothing happened, but you were stranded alone for a long time. You might not have noticed, but you must have accumulated fatigue.”
Then Matilda, befitting her rank as a Cardinal, offered that advice, cast a fatigue-recovery spell on me, and left the room.
But even as the mood shifted towards everyone dispersing to rest, there was one person who wasn’t moving at all.
It was Sara.
She hadn’t really joined the conversation from the start and had just been clinging to my body this whole time.
“Alright, Sara, you go rest too. Oh, is this your room, by any chance?”
“It is not. It is my room.”
“Then… Sara?”
“…No.”
“Huh? What?”
“I’m not letting go.”
“Hey. As you can see, I’m fine now…”
“I’m not letting go.”
…This is a problem.
I could probably pull her off if I really tried, but… what should I do?
“It seems it will be difficult to separate Miss Sara from you.”
Watching the scene unfold, Diana muttered.
Normally, the two of them would get jealous and bicker if anyone clung to me for too long, but in a serious situation like this, Diana was mature enough to let it slide for Sara, who was the youngest.
She hadn’t said a single word about Sara clinging to me throughout our entire conversation, either.
When it comes down to it, Diana really is an adult.
“Then we have no choice. How about we all sleep here together today?”
…An adult… no. Well, I guess this is a mature solution, too. Yeah.
“Whaaat?! B-But today was…!”
“Is it not a problem that can be solved by postponing Miss Leia’s turn until tomorrow? You weren’t planning on having intercourse today anyway, were you?”
“B-But…”
“Hmph. You, there. The bed is a bit small, but it will be fine. I, being the smallest, shall sleep on top of you. If we squeeze together, we should all be able to sleep!”
…Diana. Your intentions are mature, right?
“Really…”
Leia pouted her lips slightly with a sulky expression, but as long as Sara showed no signs of letting go of me, it seemed there was no choice but to follow Diana’s suggestion.
In the end, I lay down on the bed first, with Sara and Leia on my left and right, respectively. Diana lay face down on top of me, and in that formation, we prepared to sleep.
“I’m in a total harem state right now.”
“Hehe. Oh, Guwon. You haven’t changed a bit, even after all you’ve been through.”
Hey now. For something like this… you’re complimenting me, right?
I couldn’t shake the feeling that her words had a subtle thorn in them… Nah. There’s no way an angel would do that.
Sure, she had a slightly sulky look on her face when she couldn’t have me all to herself, but still, there’s no way my angel would be like that.
Nope. No way.
“Now if we could just bathe together…”
“Have you still not given up on that?!”
“As if I’d give up!”
“I-Is that something to say with such force…?”
Diana had been lightly patting my chest from above, but when I spoke with a serious expression, she seemed to shrink back a little and muttered. Cute.
Seeing her after so long, I felt like her cuteness had doubled.
“Really… Guwon. You must be tired too, so please stop joking around and get some rest. If you can’t sleep, shall I sing you a lullaby?”
Seeing me joking with Diana, Leia put on a deliberately stern expression, like when she scolds the children at the orphanage, and spoke in a chiding tone.
Even that expression is beautiful on my angel.
“N-No. It’s fine. You should get to sleep, Leia.”
Having a lullaby sung to me at my age was a little embarrassing, so I shook my head.
Especially with the other girls watching.
I’ll ask you later when we’re alone, my angel.
“After you fall asleep first.”
Leia said, pressing her upper body firmly against mine and slowly stroking my hair.
“Whoa! D-Don’t press your chest against him!”
For some reason, Diana, who was on top of me, took some splash damage from that action.
Anyway, with my angel stroking my hair like that, my mind began to grow hazy.
I had actually planned to stay awake even after they all fell asleep because I wanted to gaze at my girls’ faces for even a little longer after not seeing them for so long.
But just as Matilda had said before she left, it seemed fatigue had built up without me realizing it. As expected of a Cardinal.
On top of that, the feel of a soft bed for the first time in ages, combined with the sensation of my girls’ soft skin pressed against my whole body, made the thread of my consciousness snap.
“…So to relieve the fatigue more effectively, that is what’s needed…”
“…No. Diana. If it’s for that, then I…!”
“…E-Everyone, at a time like this…”
“…It is precisely because it is a time like this. How tired must he be to not wake up even at this hour? You all know well that this man always wakes up at the same time, like clockwork. Miss Leia has her doctrines, so you may step out…”
“…Since Diana has that kind of hobby, it would be better if you didn’t step out…”
“…Wh-Who has that kind of hobby…!”
“…Anyway, rather than Diana, who is at risk of going berserk, it would be better if I…”
“…I-I’ll do it! If we’re going by turns, it was originally my…”
“…But Leia is a priestess, so…”
“…If you all leave…!”
“…No. This isn’t really about turns right now…”
“…That’s right. Besides, Miss Leia has tonight…”
…It’s kind of noisy around here.
Voices whispered ceaselessly in my ear.
They were quiet, hushed whispers, but they were enough to wake me.
In fact, as a rebound from not hearing human voices for so long, I had become a little sensitive to them.
“…Ngh… what are you talking about?”
“Kyaaaah!”
“Ughyaaaah!”
“Kyaa!”
The moment I opened my eyes and asked, high-pitched screams rang in my ears, and the three girls who had been leaning in close to my face simultaneously shot backward.
Well, even in the midst of that, Sara was still clinging tightly to my arm.
And Diana. I know you’re flustered, but stop patting my face like that.
It doesn’t hurt, mind you. In fact, it almost feels like a massage.
“Y-You. Are you awake?”
“F-For Guwon to sleep in this late. How unusual.”
“I-It’s true. You must have been incredibly tired.”
“……”
Suspicious. Incredibly suspicious.
All three of them were acting extremely fidgety.
“What were you all doing just now?”
“N-Nothing at all, I assure you.”
“…Leia?”
“It’s true. We were just so happy to see your face after so long that we were all just staring and talking. Th-Though we might have been touching it a little too much…”
I see. So they were surprised because I suddenly woke up while they were caressing my face.
My angel wouldn’t lie to me about something like this, so I decided to take her word for it.
“See! What did I tell you!”
Seeing Diana, who had been cowering just a moment ago, puff out her chest and suddenly become bold again made me want to tease her.
“I don’t like that you checked with Leia in the first place. Does that mean you only trust what Leia says?”
And beside me, Sara pouted her lips slightly and grumbled.
“Oh, Sara. You seem to be back to normal now.”
“B-Back to normal? What’s with that tone? It’s like you’re saying I wasn’t normal before.”
“Well, you weren’t, really. You practically regressed to a childlike state, clinging to me and refusing to let go.”
“Childlike regression? It wasn’t that bad, you know?!”
Well, admittedly, “childlike regression” was a bit of an exaggeration.
But thinking about how she was stuck to me like glue, I couldn’t think of any other way to describe it.
“…Well, anyway, did you all sleep well?”
“Mm. You seem to have slept soundly as well.”
“Hehe. You were so tired you didn’t even wake up when we touched you. It was cute.”
Diana nodded in satisfaction, and Leia poked my cheek with her fingertip, smiling warmly.
“Alright, let’s all get up. Let’s call Silvia and Matilda, have a meal together, and then head back to the mansion. Oh, right, the ladies from the Mage Association helped look for me, too. Did anyone tell them they can stop now?”
“Mm. It’s fine. I checked before you woke up. It seems Miss Rachel told them yesterday.”
“I see. Rachel did…”
So that’s why she didn’t follow us to the inn.
She’s so considerate of every little detail. I’m in her debt again.
Including the matter of my confession, I need to take care of things as soon as possible.
Well, it seems like there’s a lot I’ll have to do for that to happen.
It looked like I would have a lot on my plate once I got back to the surface this time.
But this girl, Diana.
She said she checked before I woke up, right?
Come to think of it, she was wearing different clothes from yesterday.
You went and changed your clothes, and you still came back to lie on top of me?
Not that I mind, of course.