Chapter 649: The Aftermath
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 649: The Aftermath
Muen opened his eyes to find the all-too-familiar white ceiling of the infirmary.
"Is it morning already? Hiss... why do I feel so heavy?"
He instinctively tried to move, only to find his entire body weighed down as if he’d just been run over by several heavy trucks. But immediately after, the sensation of soft, fragrant curves pressed against him began to stimulate his nerves.
"Mmm... Muen, don't touch me anymore, I can't take it..."
Liya, who was clinging to Muen’s arm like an octopus, felt his movement and mumbled dizzily. On his other side, two incredibly alluring, porcelain-white figures also began to shift their lithe bodies. The friction of skin against skin caused the blood in Muen’s veins to accelerate almost instantly.
Ah, this is bad.
Muen snapped wide awake. While forcibly suppressing his rising heat, he cursed inwardly.
I woke up too early!
Judging by the sensations against his body, all three women had fallen fast asleep from sheer exhaustion after last night’s madness.
Falling asleep wasn't the problem; the problem was that they had all ended up in the same bed with him.
If they all woke up at the same time, wouldn't that be the end of the world?
Without hesitation, Muen squeezed his eyes shut again. He was going to fake it!
The best way to deal with a shitshow was to pretend the shitshow didn't exist!
That’s right, he was just a harmless little blonde bastard who had been tragically ravaged last night. This "love battlefield" had absolutely nothing to do with him...
"Nn~"
Shortly after Muen "fell back asleep," the three perfect, naked bodies draped over him in various poses indeed began to stir. They woke up almost simultaneously, stretching languidly.
Three pairs of eyes met.
First came the grogginess of sleep, followed by the dazed confusion of the newly awakened, then the shock of remembering everything, and finally... a deathly silence, as if nothing had ever happened.
The three of them stared at each other in silence. Each could see the lingering marks of last night’s frenzy on the others' creamy skin, and through the others' eyes, they knew they looked exactly the same.
In that moment, they reached a tacit understanding: no one said a word.
Celicia was the first to move, turning away to get dressed.
From the moment she woke, her expression had returned to its usual frigid state. Even during the standoff just now, her face hadn't betrayed much emotion. It was as if she had reverted to the high-and-mighty, cold, and noble Empress, and last night had been nothing more than a preposterous fever dream.
...Even though she had actually been the most disheveled of the three, caught between the pincer attack of the other two and the deliberate mischief of a certain someone.
Unlike Celicia’s coldness, a lingering, flirtatious warmth still danced in the corners of Anna’s eyes. By the end of that chaotic battle, everyone had been completely swept away, so no one knew if she had actually achieved her goal of making Celicia call her "Big Sister."
...But she looked satisfied regardless. After seeing the Empress’s adorable side—so different from her usual icy demeanor—how could she not be?
As for Liya... she looked left and right, then cast one last lingering, reluctant glance at Muen. Pouting her cheeks, she turned to search for her clothes, which had been tossed who-knows-where by a certain villain.
...She didn't know what to do next, so she figured she’d start by getting dressed.
For a while, the only sound in the room was the rustle of fabric. It was as peaceful as a sea breeze on a calm shore; even the sight of the beautiful girls dressing was enough to refresh the soul.
But Muen was in no mood to appreciate such a wonderful moment. He kept his eyes shut tight, playing dead.
Intuition told him this was merely the calm before the storm.
The big one was coming!
"..."
"..."
"..."
Finally, once everything was in order, the three of them regained the nobility and sanctity befitting the Empress of the Empire, the Sword Bearer of the Silence Bureau, and the Saintess of the Life Church. Any outsider standing before them would have been compelled to bow in the face of the aura they exuded with every gesture.
And now, the three of them faced each other once more...
...
...
"Ugh... my head is spinning."
In the bright morning sun, Diaka finally drifted awake.
She had slept too long and too deeply, leaving her head heavy and dull. She slapped her forehead hard, using her long-honed willpower to force herself into alertness.
"I'm..."
She looked around and realized she was still outside the infirmary room. She was still wearing her standard Royal Knight armor, though her posture was a bit ungraceful from her rather "unrestrained" sleeping position.
Which meant...
"I actually fell asleep on duty!"
Diaka scrambled to her feet and punched the wall in frustration, her face full of grief.
As the daughter of a knightly house, she had worked for years to finally fulfill her dream of becoming the Empress’s personal guard. It had only been a few days, and she had already committed such a dereliction of duty!
If her father found out, he would be so disappointed in her.
"Dammit..."
Diaka scratched her head in agony. In her memory, something had happened last night, but her mind was still too foggy to recall the details.
"Huh?"
As she thought, her hand paused.
"Why does it feel damp? Morning dew?"
She rubbed her fingers together, feeling the slight moisture. This unusual sensation triggered her professional instincts...
"No, now isn't the time for that!"
Diaka knocked herself on the head again, annoyed that she was focusing on something so trivial.
The mission was what mattered! Mission! Mission! Mission!
She had been ordered to guard Young Master Muen Campbell. If anything happened to him, how could she face the Empress? She would have to die to preserve her knightly honor!
Diaka composed herself and quickly surveyed her surroundings...
Okay, good.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
Everything seemed peaceful. There were no signs of damage to the room.
It didn't look like there had been an enemy attack. Besides, if there had been, she wouldn't have been allowed to sleep until now.
Now, she just needed to confirm the Young Master’s safety...
It was too early to knock and disturb him, so Diaka leaned forward slightly, pressing her face to the observation window on the door to peek inside...
But before she could see anything, a massive roar erupted. The entire door, along with half the wall, exploded outward!
Caught completely off guard, Diaka had no time to react. With a muffled groan, she was sent flying several meters. Fortunately, the terrifying force wasn't aimed at her, so she didn't sustain any real injuries.
Before she could even move, two figures blurred out of the breach almost simultaneously. One was shrouded in deep darkness, the other bathed in holy light. This contrast of light and shadow seemed to drain the very color from the sky.
The two figures soared into the air and, without a moment's pause, fled in opposite directions with perfect coordination. As the dark figure streaked away, Diaka thought she heard a wicked, playful giggle.
"What?"
Diaka was stunned. The power radiating from those two was beyond her imagination. She couldn't understand why two such terrifyingly powerful individuals would fly out of Muen Campbell’s room together.
Could it be... that the Young Master had already met with foul play?
Terror gripped Diaka’s heart, but before she could check, a third, even more terrifying aura suddenly surged.
This one was truly monstrous.
The entire Academy medical building groaned and shook under the pressure, like a prehistoric behemoth awakening from ancient times, ready to tear apart any insect that dared offend it. Despite her rigorous training as a Royal Knight—training that would keep her from flinching even before the most vicious magical beast—Diaka couldn't stop herself from trembling.
Moreover, this aura felt incredibly familiar. It felt like... Her Majesty the Empress?
But why would the Empress be this angry? And why was she, like those other two mysterious powerhouses, coming out of Muen’s room? Hadn't she left last night?
Diaka’s mind was a mess of questions, but suppressed by that terrifying pressure, she could only kneel on the ground with her head bowed. She didn't dare look up to confirm the Empress’s identity.
"Hmph!"
A majestic voice snorted coldly. The infirmary room finally collapsed completely. Diaka’s body jolted as she succumbed to the overwhelming pressure and blacked out.
The figure took to the sky, paused for a fraction of a second, and then chose to chase after the dark shadow that was still giggling like a little devil.
"You slut, you're dead—!"
The figure vanished, but those words—spat through gritted teeth and saturated with murderous intent—were cold enough to freeze a person's soul...
*
Diaka woke up again.
This time, she didn't see a hallway ceiling, but the blue sky and... a handsome face more dazzling than the sun.
"You... Young Master Campbell!"
Diaka instinctively tried to snap to attention, but her body was still stiff from the shock, making her movements awkward.
"Don't be nervous. I don't hold any grand titles right now; you don't need to salute me."
Muen waved his hand with a peaceful smile.
"More importantly, are you okay?"
"I... I'm fine."
Diaka moved her limbs and found that although she had been knocked out, she wasn't actually hurt.
That terrifying pressure had clearly been targeted; she had just been caught in the peripheral aftershocks.
"Wait!"
Diaka suddenly remembered and looked at Muen anxiously.
"What about you, Young Master? Are you alright? I am so sorry... Her Majesty entrusted your safety to me, and I failed my duty so miserably."
Thinking of this, Diaka felt a wave of regret. What kind of "Warrior of Pure Love" was she? She hadn't protected anything at all!
"I'm fine... aside from my kidneys feeling a bit drained, I'm actually in great spirits."
Muen patted Diaka’s shoulder to comfort her.
"Don't worry, Celicia won't blame you for this. In fact, in some ways, I'm probably going to get blamed a lot more than you."
"Eh?" Diaka blinked, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Nothing."
Muen gave a complicated smile and pointed to the pile of rubble behind him.
"I'm just wondering how I'm going to explain to Dean Hathaway... how I managed to get half the infirmary demolished after staying here for only one night."