Even as I heard the Captain’s sarcasm, I managed a faint smile despite my weakness.

“Why don’t you be a bit kinder to a patient? Stop tormenting me with your sarcasm.”

“What, should I be nice because you’re pretty? You deserve more than just punishment for acting so recklessly in front of me.”

To destroy the monster’s core, I had no choice but to wait for it to attack and then counterattack.

The Captain didn’t seem to like my combat style.

Then again, he had reason to be angry this time.

If I hadn’t found the core in time, I would have been the one to die.

So I simply offered him an apology.

“I’m sorry. For always worrying you. It won’t happen again.”

“Hah… I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve received apologies like this. You say you won’t do it again, but the next time something dangerous comes up, you’ll rush in like a moth to a flame.”

“You don’t trust me at all, do you? I’m the vice-captain, you know. If you really don’t trust me, why don’t you give me a harsh punishment? To knock some sense into me.”

Of course, the punishment I was talking about wasn’t actually about physical chastisement.

I smiled as enigmatically as I could and stared at the Captain.

Seeing that smile, he soon leaned down and approached my ear.

“Punishment, you say…”

His voice, whispered so secretively, made my insides tingle.

To think a voice alone could make someone so hot and bothered. It was quite a natural talent.

After whispering so suggestively, he gently sucked on my earlobe with his soft lips and continued.

“I’d like nothing more than to really punish you. So much that you couldn’t get out of bed alone, your legs so weak that you’d need my support even to go to the bathroom.”

With that, the Captain gently took my hand in his.

He slowly brought the hand he had grabbed towards his heart.

Then he let me feel directly how excited he was right now.

The hot, intense sensation beneath my palm made me even more aroused.

But before I could feel that sensation any longer, he removed my hand from himself.

“But I can’t force a patient to do something unreasonable. No matter how much I want to torment you, you’re a patient right now.”

“…”

“What a patient needs isn’t punishment, but rest. Don’t you agree?”

As soon as the sensation from my palm faded, disappointment immediately washed over me.

I glared at him a little and grumbled.

“Since when have I ever prioritized rest…”

“Even if you don’t prioritize it, I’m going to force you to rest from now on. Since you don’t take care of your own health, I’ll have to do it for you. Otherwise, I feel like I’ll end up watching you die young.”

Die young? That seemed like the word furthest from me.

I was the type with such a tenacious life that I could crawl back up unharmed even if someone pushed me off a cliff.

But the Captain didn’t know that I had such a stubborn grip on life.

I had never told him about dying twice and regressing each time.

Then the Captain looked down at me quietly and suddenly let out a deep sigh.

“It feels more like I’m the one being punished.”

“You, Captain?”

“My lower half is all worked up, but I have to endure it. Isn’t this punishment? No, maybe it’s closer to torture?”

“Ah, that must be hard for you. If you don’t take care of it.”

From what I had just observed, his lower body was already quite excited.

It would surely be painful if he couldn’t relieve it.

But it’s not like I could help him physically.

Even if I said it was okay, it was obvious that the Captain would refuse, telling me to just rest.

So after thinking a bit about how to help him, a decent idea came to mind.

“Should I watch you?”

“…? Watch what?”

For once, he didn’t understand right away and asked back like that.

Somehow, it felt a bit embarrassing to say it again with my own mouth, so I mumbled in a small voice in response.

“You know… ahem, that thing.”

As if finally understanding my words, he cleared his throat like I had.

“In front of you? It seems embarrassing.”

“That’s what makes it fun, right?”

Hearing my words, he seemed to think for a moment before nodding.

“Your logic is impeccable, I can’t argue with that.”

“Right? Come on, let’s take off those pants.”

“…”

He hesitated a little before slowly moving his hand towards his belt buckle.

Click. It was the first time the sound of a belt unbuckling had sounded so stimulating. That’s when it happened.

“Martin! How is Yulia’s condition? Has she regained consciousness?”

Edbert, who had entered the room without knocking, asked in a loud voice.

Startled, I almost jumped out of bed, while the Captain rebuckled his belt at superhuman speed.

Feeling my heart pounding as if it would burst, I looked at Edbert.

Did he see?

Fortunately, Edbert seemed to have missed seeing the Captain fastening his belt buckle, as he was looking at me.

“Yulia! You’re awake! Do you know how worried I was?”

“Ah, y-you were worried. I’m sorry for causing you concern, ahem.”

“What are you sorry for! Thanks to you, the monster has finally been defeated! Kamira can now pass on to the afterlife in peace! It’s all thanks to you!”

While Edbert was giving me such words of gratitude, the Captain, who had discreetly tidied up his clothes, quickly said.

“I’ll step out for a moment so you two can talk.”

Edbert, who seemed to want to express his personal gratitude to me alone, didn’t stop the Captain.

The Captain hastily made way, and in the meantime, Edbert spoke to me in the now quiet room.

“To be honest, even as I was asking you to take on this task, my heart was very heavy.”

“Your heart?”

As I asked that, having calmed down somewhat, Edbert nodded.

“I felt like I had entrusted you with too dangerous a task because of my selfish desire to comfort Kamira. I couldn’t help but feel burdened.”

“Ah…”

“And when you were in danger… I regretted it over and over. Fearing that you might lose your life because of my selfishness and poor judgment. I regretted assigning such a reckless request in the first place.”

Having said that, he bowed his head.

“I’m truly sorry. For putting you in danger. And at the same time, I’m deeply grateful from the bottom of my heart. For comforting Kamira’s soul.”

Feeling a bit embarrassed by such a sincere apology, I immediately shook my head at him.

“No, it’s not like I helped for free, I was supposed to receive something in return. So there’s no need for you to feel so burdened.”

“Ah, that’s right, I was supposed to lift the curse. I’ll do it right away. Hold out your hand for a moment.”

I held out my hand as he instructed.

He wrapped both his hands around mine and smiled at me.

“Physical contact is necessary to lift the curse. I have no choice but to hold your hand like this. But keep it a secret from Martin that I held your hand.”

“It’s for the spell, so the Captain won’t say anything. More importantly, how long does it usually take—”

“It’s done.”

Just as I was about to ask how long it usually takes, he said that and let go of my hand.

Unable to hide my bewilderment, I asked.

“Done…? Was the curse just lifted?”

“That’s right. Quite anticlimactic, isn’t it?”

“Ah…”

I never expected the curse to be lifted so simply.

It happened so quickly that it was hard to believe, but soon I had no choice but to believe it.

The constant tightness I had felt in my heart had vanished without a trace.

I carefully opened my mouth.

“If the curse has really been lifted… I’d like to confirm it.”

“How will you confirm it?”

“I’m going to tell you one of the Emperor’s secrets now. If the curse has been lifted, I will survive. If it hasn’t been lifted, I will face death as the price for revealing the secret.”

The curse on my heart was a death curse that would take my life the moment I revealed a secret.

So if the curse hadn’t been lifted, my heart would stop as soon as I spoke the secret.

Before that, I asked Edbert one last time to confirm.

“You really lifted the curse, right?”

“I swear on everything I have. Your curse has been lifted. And very cleanly at that.”

After receiving that confirmation, I slowly spoke.

“The Emperor… is committing terrible acts in the underground of the Imperial Palace, of all places.”

“Terrible acts?”

“Yes, he is synthesizing chimeras from monsters that are harmful to humans, and then plans to implant them into people.”

Edbert stared at me blankly, as if unable to understand my words.

It was probably difficult to accept immediately, having suddenly heard about the Imperial secret.

But that was fine.

I could make him understand slowly, and right now, it was more important to confirm whether the curse had really been lifted.

I waited a little in that state after revealing the secret.

If by any chance the curse hadn’t been properly lifted, my heart would soon stop.

Translation complete. 100% of original text translated.