It was a clear impulse.

However, unlike before, this time she was perfectly sober, without any influence of alcohol. Yet it was clear she was in a far less composed state than when drunk.

The nightgown covering her slender body slid down, and warm water streamed over her bare skin. Clumps of mud and blood flowed away with the water, revealing bruises and torn wounds scattered across her pale white body.

As the water touched, the throbbing pain was transmitted directly, and Givnen lightly caught her body as it slumped down, unable to endure it.

“I’ll help you.”

Riley couldn’t do anything. She could only stare up blankly at Givnen, who was looking down at her while standing with his back to the water stream, still clothed.

Bathing together, or having someone help you bathe, should clearly be an embarrassing situation, but rather than feeling embarrassed, Riley found herself wanting to be even closer to him.

Riley reached out and fiddled with the hem of his soaked shirt.

She must have gone crazy from the heat. But her body didn’t follow her head and moved purely on emotion.

Givnen healed her wounds with magic. The bruises and injuries covering her pale white body began to fade, and soon the pain stopped as well.

“Does it not hurt anymore?”

“…Yeah.”

Givnen embraced the limp Riley. The damp feeling of the wet shirt transmitted directly to her bare skin.

So they kissed again.

Without even drying off, they left the bathroom and headed straight for the bed. Along the way to the bed, Givnen’s clothes fell to the floor one by one.

Before she could shiver from the sudden chill and embarrassment, his hot body pressed tightly against her.

‘Bigger than I thought… heavier than I thought, and warmer than I thought.’

Unlike the first night when she was drunk, this time his body was clearly imprinted in her mind.

The surprising thing was that his body was bigger and more muscular than she had imagined. She was a bit surprised by the manly body that contrasted sharply with his pure and beautiful face.

His large-framed body was quite heavy, pressing down with considerable weight due to his toned muscles.

Moreover, what was unusual was.

“…You have a lot of scars?”

Although he was not a mercenary or knight who swept through battlefields, Givnen’s body had many scars.

It seemed even more unusual because mages rarely do physical labor, especially work that uses their bodies.

“Is it unsightly?”

“No…”

Scars, they should be unsightly, but strangely they weren’t unsightly at all. His scars were as beautiful as his face. They suited his sturdy frame well. They gave off a more wild, rugged impression.

Riley unconsciously placed her hand on his chest. The firm feeling under her hand. That novel sensation of a man’s upper body with a completely different structure… Just the tingling transmitted through her fingertips made her body heat up.

Givnen’s hand tangled in Riley’s hair, and his lips touched the area around her neck. Everywhere his lips touched, a thrilling shiver and heat rose up.

Riley struggled to straighten her body that kept twisting and curling up.

As if finding that sight amusing, Givnen smiled and caressed her cheek.

“Relax.”

“…”

“Don’t be nervous.”

Riley embraced his body with all her might.

She didn’t care anymore. All complicated thoughts had completely flown away. It was like whatever happens, happens. She thought that a person could tremble uncontrollably even when feeling too good to control their body.

“But.”

He slowly opened his mouth.

“This time you can’t use being drunk as an excuse.”

It seemed like he was asking if she was okay with this.

Riley retorted.

“…If I say stop, will you stop?”

At that, he smiled.

“No.”

His fingers trailed down from her nape.

Riley clung to Givnen’s body and closed her eyes.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Ah…”

Riley’s eyes flew open at the thirst that felt like it would tear her throat. In that moment, a weight like hundreds of lead weights pressed down on her entire body. Not only that, but every joint in her body ached and hurt.

‘What’s this?’

Riley was bewildered by the feeling that was clearly different from the first day.

It was difficult to even walk on two feet. Her body, heavy as lead, was even burning hot.

“What should I get you?”

Givnen called out from beside her. He was neatly dressed.

“Wa, water…”

Givnen called the hotel staff and requested water, medicine, and rice porridge.

Riley, who had been listening to their conversation in a daze, tilted her head.

“Medicine?”

“Are you not aware of your own physical condition?”

“…”

“You have quite a talent for surprising people.”

“?”

“You went limp like a corpse in the middle, I was so shocked. I seriously wondered if I had done something wrong. I never imagined experiencing my partner fainting in bed.”

He recalled the events of the previous night.

·

·

·

“Hey.”

Givnen was startled by Riley’s limp form. He shook her, but there was no response.

“Elder sister.”

No matter how desperately he called, there was no answer.

Looking closely, her complexion had turned deathly pale. Givnen turned pale as well in response. He frantically checked if Riley was breathing. Though irregular, she was breathing. Then what about her heart? Thump, thump, thump. It was beating regularly.

Then was she sleeping?

Givnen suddenly realized that her body was quite hot.

He had thought it was just arousal making her heated, but… could she have been unwell?

Magic can treat simple external injuries, but not internal ones.

“Ha.”

So Givnen was left alone on the bed.

He was at a loss for words at this experience he had never encountered before. This feeling, this sensation, how should he describe it? He carefully covered her body with a blanket and changed his clothes.

Afterwards, he quickly called a female hotel employee to change her into new clothes. He didn’t forget to call a doctor either.

The doctor came, felt her pulse, and said as if it were nothing:

“It seems she has a severe cold. With plenty of food and rest, she’ll be fine.”

Givnen was relieved.

At the same time, he felt deflated and dumbfounded.

It seemed like it would be an unforgettable night in many ways.

·

·

·

“It was truly a terrible experience, thank you for giving me an experience more terrible than eating Coapu fruit soup for every meal.”

Coapu fruit is a bitter fruit mainly used as a medicinal ingredient for its excellent detoxifying effects when poisoned.

“If you were sick, you should have said something. Magic can heal external injuries but not internal ones.”

“…I fainted?”

“Yes.”

“Ah…”

Come to think of it, her condition hadn’t been good even before she was kidnapped.

“For a moment I thought this might be what they call dying during sex, it was serious.”

“I, I’m sorry…”

“Being sick isn’t something to apologize for. But be more careful next time. It’s troublesome if you collapse just anywhere.”

“…Okay.”

Riley looked at him meekly. Givnen, who had been staring at her intently, let out a low sigh.

“But.”

“?”

“What’s this?”

Givnen held something out in front of Riley.

It was a crumpled letter. The letter she had written, pressing down each character firmly, intending to give to Givnen. The letter she had written, discarded, and rewritten countless times, finally completing it but lacking the courage to deliver it, so she had hidden it away.

“I found it in your sleeve pocket when changing your clothes.”

“…Did you read it?”

“Yeah. I can’t resist curiosity.”

“It was probably unreadable, covered in blood and dirt…”

“Restoration magic is a very simple spell.”

“…Ah.”

“According to the contents of the letter, it seems you want to break off our engagement.”

“…”

“Why.”

“Well…”

Riley couldn’t continue speaking readily.

“If you were going to ask for a breakup because you disliked me, you wouldn’t have clung to me like that yesterday.”

“…”

“What is it?”

“You seemed… to be going through hardship.”

Hardship?

Givnen pondered Riley’s words, chewing them over, when he seemed to realize something and briefly asked:

“Don’t tell me it’s the gossip magazines?”

Nod.

At the timid nod, Givnen let out a bitter laugh as if dumbfounded.

“Why worry about such trivial things? It’s not even worth caring about.”

“…It’s not a good thing.”

“Is it the first day or two that I’ve been embroiled in such rumors? The person who should know better than anyone cared about this?”

“This time is different.”

“You mean the rumors of an affair?”

Nod.

Givnen stared at Riley intently, then crumpled up the letter he was holding and threw it in the trash.

“Then I’ll decline this letter and its contents.”

“…”

“There’s no need to worry much about it. It’s not a serious matter. And it will soon die down.”

Because it will be covered up by even bigger gossip.

Givnen omitted the last part.

“You must have had a hard time.”

At the gentle tone, as if soothing and comforting a child, Riley hung her head low.

For some reason, she felt like she might cry.

She was glad he said it was okay, that it was nothing. When he said it didn’t matter, it really felt like it didn’t matter at all.

Just as she was about to tear up, the water and medicine arrived.

“Let’s take the medicine.”

Riley received a round pill and a glass of water and swallowed it down. Soon after, the rice porridge arrived. He naturally took the spoon and held out a spoonful of porridge to Riley.

“Say ah.”

Riley opened her eyes wide in surprise at his unexpected action.

“…You’re going to feed me?”

“Your fingers were trembling even when drinking water.”

“…”

“I’ll feed you.”

“Are you always like this?”

“Like what?”

“To other people too? Are you… usually this caring?”

This clearly wasn’t the impression she had when she first saw him.

He had seemed gentlemanly, but there was a feeling of being difficult to approach, of clearly drawing a line. Even his kind and caring demeanor had felt strongly like it was intentionally created.

But now why… As Riley looked at him with eyes full of wariness, Givnen chuckled.

“What do you think?”

“…”

“Do I seem like someone who’s this caring to just anyone?”

He blew on the hot porridge, hoo, hoo. Then, pushing the adequately cooled spoon into her mouth, he said:

“I don’t do this for just anyone.”

“Then why…”

“Elder sister isn’t just anyone, is she?”

Riley silently ate the porridge he fed her.

This feels strange. It’s ticklish for no reason.

‘Even though I know there’s no special meaning to his words…’

“That’s right, eating well.”

“…”

“Good girl.”

Riley couldn’t say anything in response and just ate all the porridge he fed her.

Although it was just plain rice porridge without even basic seasoning, strangely it tasted good.

[This is the timeline separator]

Seeing Riley fall back asleep due to the effects of the medicine, Givnen rose from his seat.

He called Sack via telepathy.

− You called, Master.

− Connect the coordinates there, I’m going to open a portal.

− Coordinates connected.

As soon as Sack finished speaking, Givnen opened a portal and moved through it.

The place he arrived at after passing through the portal was a dense forest. The forest, where only trees grew thickly, had no traces of human passage and not even a path was formed.

“A total of five men, is this all?”

“Yes.”

Givnen looked at the five men tied to trees.

Perhaps due to the aftermath of being blasted by magic yesterday, they were covered in blood and couldn’t even properly control their bodies. However, unlike their inability to move their bodies freely, their mouths moved freely.

“Pl, please spare us, we were wrong.”

“Please just once… I have a wife and children waiting. Please show mercy just this once.”

“We, we just did as we were told. Please…”

Givnen crouched down to meet their eyes, letting out a snicker as if finding it ridiculous.

“Vermin who make money off people’s lives dare to speak of family, and beg to be spared because you were just following orders?”

“…”

“Anyone watching would think this was something you were forced into. Choosing to do this kind of work was your own free will, wasn’t it?”

These guys are always like this.

Of the countless people they must have heard begging for their lives, I wonder how many they actually spared.

If people who accept contracts to kill others for money had enough conscience to not ignore those desperate cries of “spare me” and let them go, they probably wouldn’t be doing this kind of work in the first place.

Givnen recalled the image of these men groping Riley’s body, then grabbed one of them by the throat.

“Think of it as bad luck.”

“Keurk!”

“It’s a phrase you guys use often, isn’t it?”

Since he was young, he had to deal with all sorts of assassins.

The image of his mother, who died protecting him when he was just a child, was still vivid. These are trash not worth keeping alive.

If spared, would they quit this line of work? No, they would just go on taking other people’s lives for money.

And anyway, even if he let them live here, Count Ermeints would kill them to destroy evidence.

“Even if not by my hand, you’ll be killed by that old man anyway.”

“We, we’ll testify! We can do it, we’ll confess. Everything…”

“No, not needed. That testimony is meaningless anyway.”

From the start, calling journalists through Sack and summoning the knights was not to secure witnesses or testimony. It was just a kind of show.

Anyway, even if this incident is brought to the surface and taken to court, it will be buried, and even if it’s not buried, it’s obvious they won’t be able to properly punish them, so what difference does their testimony make?

The goal is a deal, not legal punishment.

“I don’t like dirtying my own hands directly.”

“…”

“Well, I guess there’s no choice.”

Givnen stretched out his hand towards them. Light emanating from his hand enveloped them, and in an instant they withered, turned to ashes, and scattered in the wind.

Literally, not even a trace remained.

Givnen dusted off his hands and stood up.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, Master.”

Sack followed behind him nonchalantly, as if they had seen nothing.