Episode 40. Groovy
With every exhale and inhale, Lacrahan smelled like a clean, warm bathtub.
Feeling increasingly weak, Bercheria reached out and hugged his neck.
Snow began to fall heavily behind them, their bodies nestled together.
Lacrahan's hands slid through her hair. Tendons bulged as he clutched her blond hair.
The tattoos vividly etched on those blue tendons twitched and were sucked into Bercheria.
At the same time, a new line was added to her leg, which lay stretched out under the bed.
"Ah!"
Bercheria's body shook, startled by the sudden burning sensation.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
Lacrahan's face, his lips parted in surprise, was filled with worry.
"No. That's not it."
Bercheria lifted her skirt slightly to examine her left leg.
A dark, unseen pattern had been added to it.
Lacrahan met Bercheria's gaze and then rolled up his sleeve, where the new pattern had been engraved.
Within the vivid pattern, there was a gap exactly the size of Bercheria's new creation.
"Ah."
"Ha."
The two simultaneously burst into exclamations and laughter.
"How absurd."
Lacrahan wiped Bercheria's lips with his thumb and lifted her off his lap, sitting next to him.
The intense worries that had been swirling through his mind just now were flying away, making him laugh.
It was painful to think that he had only sought his own desires, not the kiss meant to help her find her strength.
"Bercheria."
"...Yes."
"I'm saying this just in case you misunderstand."
Bercheria opened her eyes sharply and looked at him.
"It's okay. Don't misunderstand. You helped me find my strength again."
Feeling bitter for no reason, Bercheria quickly avoided Lacrahan's gaze.
As she was about to get up from the bed, Lacrahan grabbed her arm.
When Bercheria turned around, he brushed back the thin hair that had fallen over her forehead and raised his eyes.
“I was going to tell you so you wouldn’t misunderstand.”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t make a mistake.”
Bercheria couldn’t understand what he meant, so she just waited for him to continue.
“I wasn’t trying to give you back your strength. No, I’d rather have your strength back. But I wasn’t thinking about that just now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I did it because I wanted to kiss you. It wasn’t a mistake.”
Lacrahan gently released his hand.
“I wanted to tell you that.”
Bercheria stared at Lacrahan without saying anything else, then suddenly blurted out something completely unexpected.
“Uh, aren’t you sleepy?”
“...”
“I think it’s time to go to sleep. I’ll turn off the light and...”
Lacrahan got up and turned off the lights on the walls and ceiling.
The room quickly darkened, and Bercheria climbed onto the bed, relying on the faint moonlight.
Then she lay flat.
Lacrahan also lay down beside her, perfectly still.
The thrill of the kiss alone was hard to bear, but the thought of doing something even more overwhelming already made her nervous.
She had to calm down.
Calm down.
Bercheria placed her hands over her heart.
It seemed like the only way to keep Lacrahan from hearing the tumultuous beating of her heart.
The next morning, Gerard left the sleeping Leone and headed out of the room to his secret cellar.
If asked to name the best thing about being Emperor, Gerard would choose this secret room without hesitation.
Anyone would be happy to have a place filled with their favorite things.
Especially if they were precious jewels only available to those who were emperors?
Who wouldn’t love that?
Gerard spent hours touching this jewel and that jewel, then looked dissatisfiedly at the empty shelf.
It was where a woman with blonde hair, or rather, gray hair, had sat not long ago.
"It has to be Bercheria."
Gerard muttered the perfect name he sought under his breath.
The one and only thing that could crown his collection.
"Execute that damned weather goddess."
Gerard praised himself once again for not revealing his preferences to Leone.
Leone was generally perfect in her own way, from bed to housework, but she was too greedy.
Knowing this, Gerard kept his true preferences from her.
Like Bercheria, for example.
"Cut her off and hang her in the square. Let everyone know that no goddess dares to stand against Emperor Gerard, who rules the Periat Empire."
Gerard shuddered.
Just thinking about how thrilling it would be to have Bercheria here sent shivers down his spine.
"How on earth could I fool Leone and bring Bercheria here?"
The weather goddess was practically the beginning of his tastes.
One day, when he was still a child, he was learning boring history when he saw a picture of Bercheria in a book.
A beautiful goddess with blond hair, golden eyes, and holding a golden staff.
From then on, he became interested in shiny things.
Only he knew that everything prepared here was nothing more than preparations for welcoming Bercheria.
"Your Majesty, the Emperor."
Gerard opened the door, his voice ringing from outside.
"Why?"
"The Captain of the Guard requests to see Your Majesty, the Emperor."
"Ah."
Gerard nodded, seemingly annoyed.
"Just tell him to wait a moment."
Finally, after remaining underground for another thirty minutes, Gerard headed to his office.
Yesterday, Captain Dylan had reported that someone capable of generating mana had been found.
They'd found him sooner than expected, meaning they could reach the north in about two days.
"Your Majesty, the Emperor."
As he passed through the many doors and entered the office, Dylan, who had been waiting, bowed.
The wizard, who had been brought from prison, was so large he barely noticed him.
Gerard was not happy about having his time interrupted by unnecessary formalities.
"It was good that we rescued the wizard, but you didn't have to come all this way to say hello."
Gerard, sitting at the head of the ornately patterned sofa, casually slumped over and looked at Dylan.
It was a casual glance, but he found himself sitting upright, his mouth hanging open.
“I’m sorry. I was wondering if there was anything you needed to check. Then, I’ll be leaving now.”
Dylan turned to face outside.
“Wait! Wait a minute!”
Gerard called out urgently.
He got up from the sofa and approached the boy standing next to Dylan.
The boy had just bathed to meet the Emperor, and the soft down still grew on his neck.
“What’s your name?”
At Gerard’s question, the boy lowered his head and shook it from side to side.
Dylan shouted at him,
“How dare you say you’re in front of His Majesty!”
“Shh. Be quiet.”
Gerard frowned, as if telling Dylan to shut up, and studied the boy.
His blond hair, shining brilliantly in the morning sunlight, was haphazardly cut, its ends ripped and tangled around his shoulders.
Even his lowered head and his downcast eyelashes were a mystical color, sprinkled with a shimmering gold dust.
“Raise your head.”
When the boy flinched, Gerard drew the sword of the guard commander nearby and lifted the boy’s chin with the back of the sword.
“Ugh!”
An instinctive exclamation escaped Gerard’s lips as he faced his small face.
Had he ever seen such a beautiful face in his life?
If he had ever felt beauty in someone before, it was time to completely erase that memory.
As Gerard gazed at the boy, concealing his true feelings, Dylan elaborated.
“They say he was born in prison. His mother died shortly after birth, so he has no name.”
“Really?”
Gerard turned back to the boy.
“What did you eat there?”
As the boy remained silent, Gerard pushed harder on the sheath holding the sword to his chin.
“Ugh.”
"I am the Emperor. Depending on how you answer my questions, you may not be sent back to prison."
Dylan, who was nearby, looked at the Emperor with a surprised expression.
The boy replied tremblingly,
"...I ate bugs, moss, things like that."
Gerard lowered the scabbard from his chin and, without even looking, tossed it at Dylan.
Gerard stared at the boy, his brown lips twisting into a smile.
“Groovy.”
Somehow, he had a pleasant feeling that bringing Bercheria home this time would be much easier than he’d expected.
“Your name is Groovy.”
This was the first time in Bercheria’s life she’d slept in bed with someone.
A man, at that.
Unable to toss and turn due to nervousness, she ended up staying up all night and finally fell asleep in the morning. Even as she slept, she remembered Lacrahan’s words about his morning schedule.
If she slept like this, she might not wake up on time.
He said they should spend every moment together from today onward, so what if she overslept?
But Bercheria was exhausted from holding back sleep.
It had been a day when she’d been so exhausted that she’d even received a proposal.
Her body, more than anything, yearned for complete rest.
When Bercheria finally opened her eyes, it was already bright daylight.
She woke up in bed with disheveled hair and rubbed her still sleepy eyelids.
Lacrahan had already left, leaving only the fireplace crackling in the curtained room. She stared blankly at the flames dancing within.
"If you'd woken up a little later, I could have gone straight to dinner."
A long shadow rose from the couch, which she'd assumed was empty.
With every exhale and inhale, Lacrahan smelled like a clean, warm bathtub.
Feeling increasingly weak, Bercheria reached out and hugged his neck.
Snow began to fall heavily behind them, their bodies nestled together.
Lacrahan's hands slid through her hair. Tendons bulged as he clutched her blond hair.
The tattoos vividly etched on those blue tendons twitched and were sucked into Bercheria.
At the same time, a new line was added to her leg, which lay stretched out under the bed.
"Ah!"
Bercheria's body shook, startled by the sudden burning sensation.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
Lacrahan's face, his lips parted in surprise, was filled with worry.
"No. That's not it."
Bercheria lifted her skirt slightly to examine her left leg.
A dark, unseen pattern had been added to it.
Lacrahan met Bercheria's gaze and then rolled up his sleeve, where the new pattern had been engraved.
Within the vivid pattern, there was a gap exactly the size of Bercheria's new creation.
"Ah."
"Ha."
The two simultaneously burst into exclamations and laughter.
"How absurd."
Lacrahan wiped Bercheria's lips with his thumb and lifted her off his lap, sitting next to him.
The intense worries that had been swirling through his mind just now were flying away, making him laugh.
It was painful to think that he had only sought his own desires, not the kiss meant to help her find her strength.
"Bercheria."
"...Yes."
"I'm saying this just in case you misunderstand."
Bercheria opened her eyes sharply and looked at him.
"It's okay. Don't misunderstand. You helped me find my strength again."
Feeling bitter for no reason, Bercheria quickly avoided Lacrahan's gaze.
As she was about to get up from the bed, Lacrahan grabbed her arm.
When Bercheria turned around, he brushed back the thin hair that had fallen over her forehead and raised his eyes.
“I was going to tell you so you wouldn’t misunderstand.”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t make a mistake.”
Bercheria couldn’t understand what he meant, so she just waited for him to continue.
“I wasn’t trying to give you back your strength. No, I’d rather have your strength back. But I wasn’t thinking about that just now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I did it because I wanted to kiss you. It wasn’t a mistake.”
He felt Bercheria’s hand tightening.
Lacrahan gently released his hand.
“I wanted to tell you that.”
Bercheria stared at Lacrahan without saying anything else, then suddenly blurted out something completely unexpected.
“Uh, aren’t you sleepy?”
“...”
“I think it’s time to go to sleep. I’ll turn off the light and...”
Lacrahan got up and turned off the lights on the walls and ceiling.
The room quickly darkened, and Bercheria climbed onto the bed, relying on the faint moonlight.
Then she lay flat.
Lacrahan also lay down beside her, perfectly still.
The thrill of the kiss alone was hard to bear, but the thought of doing something even more overwhelming already made her nervous.
She had to calm down.
Calm down.
Bercheria placed her hands over her heart.
It seemed like the only way to keep Lacrahan from hearing the tumultuous beating of her heart.
***
The next morning, Gerard left the sleeping Leone and headed out of the room to his secret cellar.
If asked to name the best thing about being Emperor, Gerard would choose this secret room without hesitation.
Anyone would be happy to have a place filled with their favorite things.
Especially if they were precious jewels only available to those who were emperors?
Who wouldn’t love that?
Gerard spent hours touching this jewel and that jewel, then looked dissatisfiedly at the empty shelf.
It was where a woman with blonde hair, or rather, gray hair, had sat not long ago.
"It has to be Bercheria."
Gerard muttered the perfect name he sought under his breath.
The one and only thing that could crown his collection.
"Execute that damned weather goddess."
Gerard praised himself once again for not revealing his preferences to Leone.
Leone was generally perfect in her own way, from bed to housework, but she was too greedy.
Knowing this, Gerard kept his true preferences from her.
Like Bercheria, for example.
"Cut her off and hang her in the square. Let everyone know that no goddess dares to stand against Emperor Gerard, who rules the Periat Empire."
Gerard shuddered.
Just thinking about how thrilling it would be to have Bercheria here sent shivers down his spine.
"How on earth could I fool Leone and bring Bercheria here?"
The weather goddess was practically the beginning of his tastes.
One day, when he was still a child, he was learning boring history when he saw a picture of Bercheria in a book.
A beautiful goddess with blond hair, golden eyes, and holding a golden staff.
From then on, he became interested in shiny things.
Only he knew that everything prepared here was nothing more than preparations for welcoming Bercheria.
"Your Majesty, the Emperor."
Gerard opened the door, his voice ringing from outside.
"Why?"
"The Captain of the Guard requests to see Your Majesty, the Emperor."
"Ah."
Gerard nodded, seemingly annoyed.
"Just tell him to wait a moment."
Finally, after remaining underground for another thirty minutes, Gerard headed to his office.
Yesterday, Captain Dylan had reported that someone capable of generating mana had been found.
They'd found him sooner than expected, meaning they could reach the north in about two days.
"Your Majesty, the Emperor."
As he passed through the many doors and entered the office, Dylan, who had been waiting, bowed.
The wizard, who had been brought from prison, was so large he barely noticed him.
Gerard was not happy about having his time interrupted by unnecessary formalities.
"It was good that we rescued the wizard, but you didn't have to come all this way to say hello."
Gerard, sitting at the head of the ornately patterned sofa, casually slumped over and looked at Dylan.
It was a casual glance, but he found himself sitting upright, his mouth hanging open.
“I’m sorry. I was wondering if there was anything you needed to check. Then, I’ll be leaving now.”
Dylan turned to face outside.
“Wait! Wait a minute!”
Gerard called out urgently.
He got up from the sofa and approached the boy standing next to Dylan.
The boy had just bathed to meet the Emperor, and the soft down still grew on his neck.
“What’s your name?”
At Gerard’s question, the boy lowered his head and shook it from side to side.
Dylan shouted at him,
“How dare you say you’re in front of His Majesty!”
“Shh. Be quiet.”
Gerard frowned, as if telling Dylan to shut up, and studied the boy.
His blond hair, shining brilliantly in the morning sunlight, was haphazardly cut, its ends ripped and tangled around his shoulders.
Even his lowered head and his downcast eyelashes were a mystical color, sprinkled with a shimmering gold dust.
“Raise your head.”
When the boy flinched, Gerard drew the sword of the guard commander nearby and lifted the boy’s chin with the back of the sword.
“Ugh!”
An instinctive exclamation escaped Gerard’s lips as he faced his small face.
Had he ever seen such a beautiful face in his life?
If he had ever felt beauty in someone before, it was time to completely erase that memory.
As Gerard gazed at the boy, concealing his true feelings, Dylan elaborated.
“They say he was born in prison. His mother died shortly after birth, so he has no name.”
“Really?”
Gerard turned back to the boy.
“What did you eat there?”
As the boy remained silent, Gerard pushed harder on the sheath holding the sword to his chin.
“Ugh.”
"I am the Emperor. Depending on how you answer my questions, you may not be sent back to prison."
Dylan, who was nearby, looked at the Emperor with a surprised expression.
The boy replied tremblingly,
"...I ate bugs, moss, things like that."
Gerard lowered the scabbard from his chin and, without even looking, tossed it at Dylan.
Gerard stared at the boy, his brown lips twisting into a smile.
“Groovy.”
Somehow, he had a pleasant feeling that bringing Bercheria home this time would be much easier than he’d expected.
“Your name is Groovy.”
***
This was the first time in Bercheria’s life she’d slept in bed with someone.
A man, at that.
Unable to toss and turn due to nervousness, she ended up staying up all night and finally fell asleep in the morning. Even as she slept, she remembered Lacrahan’s words about his morning schedule.
If she slept like this, she might not wake up on time.
He said they should spend every moment together from today onward, so what if she overslept?
But Bercheria was exhausted from holding back sleep.
It had been a day when she’d been so exhausted that she’d even received a proposal.
Her body, more than anything, yearned for complete rest.
When Bercheria finally opened her eyes, it was already bright daylight.
She woke up in bed with disheveled hair and rubbed her still sleepy eyelids.
Lacrahan had already left, leaving only the fireplace crackling in the curtained room. She stared blankly at the flames dancing within.
"If you'd woken up a little later, I could have gone straight to dinner."
A long shadow rose from the couch, which she'd assumed was empty.
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