If someone were to ask Erna about her physical condition right now, there was only one thing she could say.
"Help me..."
She groaned as she lay on the office sofa. She had never felt so fortunate as she did today to have a sofa in her office that was as wide and plush as a bed. It felt as if someone had beaten her all over during the night. Her muscles screamed at the slightest movement.
Erna was someone who rarely exercised. Therefore, she had never felt or thought about where or how much muscle she had. However, because of her body, which ached just from breathing, Erna realized that she had muscles all over her body.
She placed her hand on her stomach. Just that alone made her body ache all over, causing her to frown. Her hand traced below her navel. Although it was gone now, Erna still felt as though something was filling her stomach.
Erna let out another groan as she fumbled around the spot where she felt an inexplicable emptiness. Right now, there was something else that hurt more than her body. If someone were to ask her how she felt, Erna had only one thing to say.
“I want to die...”
I really wanted to die. Why? Because I was ashamed!
Erna had never felt that her excellent memory was as cursed as it was now. Her mind, which could memorize a spellbook without missing a single letter, remembered the events of the night in their entirety. Where Callion had grabbed, how he had moved, what he had said. Everything. And what truly made Erna want to die were the words she had spat out.
“Ugh, more, more...!”
“Aaaaaaaah!”
The moment those words came to mind, Erna slammed her hand on the sofa. But what she was met with was terrible muscle pain. Tears welled up as Erna patted her lower back.
'The monster poison that hit him isn't it actually contagious?'
Monster poison inflicts damage in various ways. She has heard that there are cases where a victim spreads the poison to others, just as if they were suffering from a disease. Did that happen? It must have happened. No, it had to. Otherwise, she could not explain herself, clinging to him happily while he was frantically moving around.
'Besides, I thought it would be fine after doing it once.'
Last night, when Callion did it once and stepped back, she thought it was finally over. And she thought Callion might have calmed down a little, too. But...
'Three times? No, four times?'
She thinks she lost consciousness for a moment in the middle. If they count that as the time, she thinks they did it four more times. On top of that, she ended up crying then.
'You persistent bastard.'
During the second time, Erna realized that a certain part of her body was particularly vulnerable. She had let out a moan and clung to him like a madwoman whenever Callion pressed down on that spot. After realizing this, Callion kept targeting that area. Eventually, she started crying, fearing that she was truly losing her mind; at that moment, Callion whispered in her ear, "Let's do it just one more time," and pressed his forcefully against that spot.
For a brief moment, the world turned completely white. When she came to jer senses, I think she was sobbing in Callion's arms. Then she dozed off, and when she woke up again, Callion was up and getting dressed.
Just as she was wondering if she should get up too, she heard a click from the door. When Erna realized what the sound was, her eyes snapped open.
'Did you slide the decoration to the side?'
She knows what that means. It means they want to rest comfortably, so don't come in. If it were any other room, she would have thought that. But this was the master bedroom, and pushing that aside meant...
Suddenly, her throat became parched. Erna desperately swallowed the words "crazy bastard" that were about to escape her lips. The moment Callion returned to the room and then, for reasons she didn't know, left for his own room, Erna practically rolled out of bed and ran to her own. She had no presence of mind to get dressed. She had to escape for now. Because otherwise, she felt like he would do it again!
As soon as she got out of bed, contrary to her expectations, her legs felt weak, so she staggered back like a newborn animal. After returning, she firmly locked the door to her room leading to the master bedroom and crawled straight to the bathroom.
Erna sat blankly in the hot water. Then, thinking it was time to get up, she stood up from the bathtub, only to see something trickling down from inside her. Lowering her gaze, she saw a white liquid flowing down her legs.
Splash!
At that moment, Erna recoiled in horror and sank back into the bathtub. Just how much did I do that! It's flowing down!
Erna could not come out of the bathroom for quite a long time after that.
“Fortunately, it doesn’t look like they’ll come all the way here...”
“Who is coming?”
“Aargh!”
Startled by the sudden interruption, Erna sprang up. Then, clutching her waist again, she collapsed onto the sofa.
"What are you doing?"
“Orpheus... when did you come in...?”
Erna was about to yell, but realizing that it was also physically painful, she groaned and spoke.
"Just a moment ago. I was about to go wake the Grand Duke, but what brings you out so early?"
“...Just because I remembered something I needed to do.”
Erna couldn't bring herself to say that she had run away here because she was afraid Callion would come looking for her to continue. She knew she would have to see him again tonight anyway, but for now, she had to escape. Running away is also a strategy.
Just as Erna was desperately trying to justify her actions, someone knocked on the door.
“Who, oh my. Ms. Vanessa.”
Orpheus opened the door and greeted the visitor with a welcoming voice. At the sound of Vanessa's arrival, Erna slowly and laboriously got up.
“Vanessa? What’s up?”
Whenever Vanessa, the chairperson of the council, came here, it was usually for an important matter. When Erna got up and turned her head, Vanessa was standing there with a serious expression on her face.
"What's the matter?"
“That is...”
"I'll step out for a moment! Please feel free to speak."
Orpheus said she would pick out tea and snacks as she pleased and quickly left. As soon as Orpheus left, Vanessa approached and took a rolled-up letter out of the bag she had brought. A golden seal was affixed to the letter, which was tightly sealed with special wax. The seal bore a sentence that Erna knew well.
“Havand...”
A golden dragon symbolizing Havand, Erna's homeland. Erna tore open the letter handed to her by Vanessa. The torn wax fell onto the table, and the letter unfolded.
Erna's eyes quickly scrolled through the letter. And Vanessa could see Erna's face turning pale and her hands trembling.
“You can’t do it properly! Again!”
At the sound of Callion's voice, the knight standing before him slumped to the ground. Then, stretching out his limbs and lying down, he shouted.
“Just kill me!”
Callion frowned at the sight of the knight struggling and blatantly challenging him to slit his stomach. Then, the other knights standing nearby stepped forward, each chiming in with a word.
“That’s right! Just kill me!”
“Why on earth are you acting like this first thing in the morning!”
"If you have a complaint, please resolve it with words! Don't beat me like a dog!"
They were already in poor condition here and there as they had sparred with Callion since morning.
"Don't act so weak over something like this. You pathetic fools."
"To think it's just this. If you do it properly, you're going to kill someone!"
The knight who had been struck in the jaw by Callion's fist raised his voice even higher, as if feeling wronged. The other knights who had not yet sparred looked at Callion and whispered among themselves, wondering why on earth the Grand Duke was acting like that today.
“Tsk.”
Carillon realized that everyone was casting resentful glances at him, so he shook his hands as if resigned to the situation.
"We're starting again in an hour. Stay alert until then!"
"Tyrant!"
"A man without blood or tears!"
At Callion's words, the knights booed him. At the sound, Callion stopped walking, glared back, and answered.
"It will start again in 10 minutes."
Then, the surrounding knights began punching the knights who had been uttering sounds of resentment just moments before.
Leaving the chaotic training grounds behind, Callion returned to the Knights' building and entered his room.
“Phew...”
He knew it well, too. Summoning the knights early in the morning and putting them through the wringer under the guise of a duel was his way of venting his anger. And he also knew very well why he had been in such a bad mood since the morning.
"So you're saying she ran away?"
The moment he saw the empty bed in the morning, he was momentarily unable to think. Then, looking around, he saw the pajamas she should have been wearing lying in the corner. Seeing that the blanket was gone, it was clear that she had wrapped herself tightly in the blanket and left without even having a chance to get dressed.
Approaching and grabbing the doorknob, he heard only a click, and the door was firmly locked. From that moment on, Callion's mind became confused.
'Why?'
Why did she run away? He recalled last night.
He acted like a madman, even to himself, until dawn. He hugged her again and again. He intended not to do it if she disliked it. But when he clearly pulled her by the waist, Erna wrapped her arms around his neck, telling him to do more. From that moment on, he thinks he really lost his mind.
He only did more because he was told to. When he regained his senses a little, Erna was sobbing. The problem was that, far from stopping at the sight of her, he moved even more roughly.
Callion covered his face with both hands.
'Did I... do a terrible job?'
It was the first time in his life that he had ever had such a worry. Naturally, since he had never done so with anyone before, it was a worry that he didn't need to have. Callion fell deeper and deeper into contemplation.
Honestly, everything that happened last night wasn't bad. No... it was good. To be even more honest, it was actually quite good.
Until now, whenever he saw knights about men obsessing over meeting women, he thought they were incredibly pathetic, but now he understands them a little.
He wondered how such a thing could exist. Warm, soft, and tightening enough to make him lose his mind. And even the sensation of the slender arm that had wrapped around his neck at that moment.
Callion's face instantly turned red. He shook his head like a madman.
The priest Vanessa visited last time must have been a quack. There is definitely monster poison in it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to lose his mind to this extent.
"Ha..."
After denying his entire situation for quite some time, Callion came to his senses and turned his stiff neck. His body was such that it rarely hurt, even after sparring for a considerable amount of time. If even he was feeling such a heavy pain...
'It's going to hurt quite a bit.'
He guessed that by now, Erna was suffering from muscle pain so severe she would rather die. It was a pain that Callion knew all too well.
Not long after arriving in Hessengard, he had been gripping his sword like crazy ever since he had barely recovered. Thanks to moving his body without rest, he gradually gained muscle, becoming sturdy and solid.
In the first place, building muscle is a process in which existing muscles in the body are torn and damaged, only to regenerate. To achieve this physique, he, too, continuously endured and overcame hellish pain.
'People were making a fuss, saying you could die even from just a paper cut.'
Erna once cut her hand on a piece of paper while lying on the sofa, flipping through documents. He remembered how she had made such a fuss and acted like she was in pain back then. She made such a scene over something like that. By now, she must be unable to even breathe.
Just as he was thinking about Erna again, he heard a knock on the door.
"It's me, Cedric."
"Come in."
As soon as Cedric entered, he spoke to him.
"We have received a request from the council for knights. However, I think we need to be a bit more careful when selecting them this time."
“What’s the matter?”
"Well... a delegation is coming from Havand."
At those words, Callion stood up.
“In Havand?”
“Yes, and let’s see the name of the person leading the advance party...”
Cedric read the name written on the paper he received from Vanessa.
“I am the Marquis of Carnarvon.”
Marquis Carnarvon. Carillon remembered that he was the one who had brought Erna here a very long time ago.
"Help me..."
She groaned as she lay on the office sofa. She had never felt so fortunate as she did today to have a sofa in her office that was as wide and plush as a bed. It felt as if someone had beaten her all over during the night. Her muscles screamed at the slightest movement.
Erna was someone who rarely exercised. Therefore, she had never felt or thought about where or how much muscle she had. However, because of her body, which ached just from breathing, Erna realized that she had muscles all over her body.
She placed her hand on her stomach. Just that alone made her body ache all over, causing her to frown. Her hand traced below her navel. Although it was gone now, Erna still felt as though something was filling her stomach.
Erna let out another groan as she fumbled around the spot where she felt an inexplicable emptiness. Right now, there was something else that hurt more than her body. If someone were to ask her how she felt, Erna had only one thing to say.
“I want to die...”
I really wanted to die. Why? Because I was ashamed!
Erna had never felt that her excellent memory was as cursed as it was now. Her mind, which could memorize a spellbook without missing a single letter, remembered the events of the night in their entirety. Where Callion had grabbed, how he had moved, what he had said. Everything. And what truly made Erna want to die were the words she had spat out.
“Ugh, more, more...!”
“Aaaaaaaah!”
The moment those words came to mind, Erna slammed her hand on the sofa. But what she was met with was terrible muscle pain. Tears welled up as Erna patted her lower back.
'The monster poison that hit him isn't it actually contagious?'
Monster poison inflicts damage in various ways. She has heard that there are cases where a victim spreads the poison to others, just as if they were suffering from a disease. Did that happen? It must have happened. No, it had to. Otherwise, she could not explain herself, clinging to him happily while he was frantically moving around.
'Besides, I thought it would be fine after doing it once.'
Last night, when Callion did it once and stepped back, she thought it was finally over. And she thought Callion might have calmed down a little, too. But...
'Three times? No, four times?'
She thinks she lost consciousness for a moment in the middle. If they count that as the time, she thinks they did it four more times. On top of that, she ended up crying then.
'You persistent bastard.'
During the second time, Erna realized that a certain part of her body was particularly vulnerable. She had let out a moan and clung to him like a madwoman whenever Callion pressed down on that spot. After realizing this, Callion kept targeting that area. Eventually, she started crying, fearing that she was truly losing her mind; at that moment, Callion whispered in her ear, "Let's do it just one more time," and pressed his forcefully against that spot.
For a brief moment, the world turned completely white. When she came to jer senses, I think she was sobbing in Callion's arms. Then she dozed off, and when she woke up again, Callion was up and getting dressed.
Just as she was wondering if she should get up too, she heard a click from the door. When Erna realized what the sound was, her eyes snapped open.
'Did you slide the decoration to the side?'
She knows what that means. It means they want to rest comfortably, so don't come in. If it were any other room, she would have thought that. But this was the master bedroom, and pushing that aside meant...
Suddenly, her throat became parched. Erna desperately swallowed the words "crazy bastard" that were about to escape her lips. The moment Callion returned to the room and then, for reasons she didn't know, left for his own room, Erna practically rolled out of bed and ran to her own. She had no presence of mind to get dressed. She had to escape for now. Because otherwise, she felt like he would do it again!
As soon as she got out of bed, contrary to her expectations, her legs felt weak, so she staggered back like a newborn animal. After returning, she firmly locked the door to her room leading to the master bedroom and crawled straight to the bathroom.
Erna sat blankly in the hot water. Then, thinking it was time to get up, she stood up from the bathtub, only to see something trickling down from inside her. Lowering her gaze, she saw a white liquid flowing down her legs.
Splash!
At that moment, Erna recoiled in horror and sank back into the bathtub. Just how much did I do that! It's flowing down!
Erna could not come out of the bathroom for quite a long time after that.
“Fortunately, it doesn’t look like they’ll come all the way here...”
“Who is coming?”
“Aargh!”
Startled by the sudden interruption, Erna sprang up. Then, clutching her waist again, she collapsed onto the sofa.
"What are you doing?"
“Orpheus... when did you come in...?”
Erna was about to yell, but realizing that it was also physically painful, she groaned and spoke.
"Just a moment ago. I was about to go wake the Grand Duke, but what brings you out so early?"
“...Just because I remembered something I needed to do.”
Erna couldn't bring herself to say that she had run away here because she was afraid Callion would come looking for her to continue. She knew she would have to see him again tonight anyway, but for now, she had to escape. Running away is also a strategy.
Just as Erna was desperately trying to justify her actions, someone knocked on the door.
“Who, oh my. Ms. Vanessa.”
Orpheus opened the door and greeted the visitor with a welcoming voice. At the sound of Vanessa's arrival, Erna slowly and laboriously got up.
“Vanessa? What’s up?”
Whenever Vanessa, the chairperson of the council, came here, it was usually for an important matter. When Erna got up and turned her head, Vanessa was standing there with a serious expression on her face.
"What's the matter?"
“That is...”
"I'll step out for a moment! Please feel free to speak."
Orpheus said she would pick out tea and snacks as she pleased and quickly left. As soon as Orpheus left, Vanessa approached and took a rolled-up letter out of the bag she had brought. A golden seal was affixed to the letter, which was tightly sealed with special wax. The seal bore a sentence that Erna knew well.
“Havand...”
A golden dragon symbolizing Havand, Erna's homeland. Erna tore open the letter handed to her by Vanessa. The torn wax fell onto the table, and the letter unfolded.
Erna's eyes quickly scrolled through the letter. And Vanessa could see Erna's face turning pale and her hands trembling.
***
“You can’t do it properly! Again!”
At the sound of Callion's voice, the knight standing before him slumped to the ground. Then, stretching out his limbs and lying down, he shouted.
“Just kill me!”
Callion frowned at the sight of the knight struggling and blatantly challenging him to slit his stomach. Then, the other knights standing nearby stepped forward, each chiming in with a word.
“That’s right! Just kill me!”
“Why on earth are you acting like this first thing in the morning!”
"If you have a complaint, please resolve it with words! Don't beat me like a dog!"
They were already in poor condition here and there as they had sparred with Callion since morning.
"Don't act so weak over something like this. You pathetic fools."
"To think it's just this. If you do it properly, you're going to kill someone!"
The knight who had been struck in the jaw by Callion's fist raised his voice even higher, as if feeling wronged. The other knights who had not yet sparred looked at Callion and whispered among themselves, wondering why on earth the Grand Duke was acting like that today.
“Tsk.”
Carillon realized that everyone was casting resentful glances at him, so he shook his hands as if resigned to the situation.
"We're starting again in an hour. Stay alert until then!"
"Tyrant!"
"A man without blood or tears!"
At Callion's words, the knights booed him. At the sound, Callion stopped walking, glared back, and answered.
"It will start again in 10 minutes."
Then, the surrounding knights began punching the knights who had been uttering sounds of resentment just moments before.
Leaving the chaotic training grounds behind, Callion returned to the Knights' building and entered his room.
“Phew...”
He knew it well, too. Summoning the knights early in the morning and putting them through the wringer under the guise of a duel was his way of venting his anger. And he also knew very well why he had been in such a bad mood since the morning.
"So you're saying she ran away?"
The moment he saw the empty bed in the morning, he was momentarily unable to think. Then, looking around, he saw the pajamas she should have been wearing lying in the corner. Seeing that the blanket was gone, it was clear that she had wrapped herself tightly in the blanket and left without even having a chance to get dressed.
Approaching and grabbing the doorknob, he heard only a click, and the door was firmly locked. From that moment on, Callion's mind became confused.
'Why?'
Why did she run away? He recalled last night.
He acted like a madman, even to himself, until dawn. He hugged her again and again. He intended not to do it if she disliked it. But when he clearly pulled her by the waist, Erna wrapped her arms around his neck, telling him to do more. From that moment on, he thinks he really lost his mind.
He only did more because he was told to. When he regained his senses a little, Erna was sobbing. The problem was that, far from stopping at the sight of her, he moved even more roughly.
Callion covered his face with both hands.
'Did I... do a terrible job?'
It was the first time in his life that he had ever had such a worry. Naturally, since he had never done so with anyone before, it was a worry that he didn't need to have. Callion fell deeper and deeper into contemplation.
Honestly, everything that happened last night wasn't bad. No... it was good. To be even more honest, it was actually quite good.
Until now, whenever he saw knights about men obsessing over meeting women, he thought they were incredibly pathetic, but now he understands them a little.
He wondered how such a thing could exist. Warm, soft, and tightening enough to make him lose his mind. And even the sensation of the slender arm that had wrapped around his neck at that moment.
Callion's face instantly turned red. He shook his head like a madman.
The priest Vanessa visited last time must have been a quack. There is definitely monster poison in it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to lose his mind to this extent.
"Ha..."
After denying his entire situation for quite some time, Callion came to his senses and turned his stiff neck. His body was such that it rarely hurt, even after sparring for a considerable amount of time. If even he was feeling such a heavy pain...
'It's going to hurt quite a bit.'
He guessed that by now, Erna was suffering from muscle pain so severe she would rather die. It was a pain that Callion knew all too well.
Not long after arriving in Hessengard, he had been gripping his sword like crazy ever since he had barely recovered. Thanks to moving his body without rest, he gradually gained muscle, becoming sturdy and solid.
In the first place, building muscle is a process in which existing muscles in the body are torn and damaged, only to regenerate. To achieve this physique, he, too, continuously endured and overcame hellish pain.
'People were making a fuss, saying you could die even from just a paper cut.'
Erna once cut her hand on a piece of paper while lying on the sofa, flipping through documents. He remembered how she had made such a fuss and acted like she was in pain back then. She made such a scene over something like that. By now, she must be unable to even breathe.
Just as he was thinking about Erna again, he heard a knock on the door.
"It's me, Cedric."
"Come in."
As soon as Cedric entered, he spoke to him.
"We have received a request from the council for knights. However, I think we need to be a bit more careful when selecting them this time."
“What’s the matter?”
"Well... a delegation is coming from Havand."
At those words, Callion stood up.
“In Havand?”
“Yes, and let’s see the name of the person leading the advance party...”
Cedric read the name written on the paper he received from Vanessa.
“I am the Marquis of Carnarvon.”
Marquis Carnarvon. Carillon remembered that he was the one who had brought Erna here a very long time ago.
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