Chapter 47
‘…With a hit like that, if not the intestines, at least a rib or spleen should’ve been destroyed.’
Even after he struck back and finished his opponent, the thought lingered. What had gone wrong this time? What should he do differently next time?
He always reflected that way. It was how Ael had survived through countless drawn-out battles. A habit carved into him since the days he’d been thrown onto the battlefield at barely thirteen.
But this time, he couldn’t figure out the answer no matter how hard he thought.
“My stomach might not have burst, but a hernia would’ve made sense at the very least…”
“A hernia?!”
Kiara panicked and started feeling around Ael’s abdomen. He bit down hard on his lower lip to keep from laughing at the ticklish sensation.
“…I told you, it was bearable.”
“Eh?”
Calmed slightly by his words, Kiara examined the injury again. Splotchy black bruises covered half his torso. Could something like that really be called bearable?
Ael let out a short chuckle at her doubtful gaze.
“That’s why I’m asking. When you got cut, was it really not that bad?”
“Well… of course it hurt, but…”
Kiara looked down at the faint scar across her palm. The deep, wide mark ran from one end of her hand to the other. It must have hurt like hell.
And yet—
“…Now that you mention it, it wasn’t that bad…”
“Right? And now here.”
“Hhng—”
Kiara let out a startled gasp. When Ael suddenly reached out and stroked her side, a tingling jolt shot through her entire body. Wh-What was that? It hurt, yes — but it wasn’t just pain. Was this… could it be? A sensitive spot…?
Wait, what on earth am I thinking?
Shaking her head vigorously, Kiara muttered under her breath.
“Y-You startled me.”
“Just startled?”
Instead of answering his overly casual question, Kiara pressed her lips together. In truth, the moment his hand touched her skin, her waist had twitched involuntarily and her lower stomach tightened sharply.
But she wasn’t about to explain that. That would be mortifying.
Seeing her fall into awkward silence, Ael asked again.
“Did it hurt?”
“Eh? Oh, hurt? Why would it hurt? I mean not hurt, but more like it tickled? Tingled? It felt kind of nice, actually…”
Ah.
Kiara clamped her mouth shut with an audible snap. She’d said way too much. But Ael, apparently used to her babbling, didn’t react much. He just continued on, unfazed.
“Right? I thought so too. The pain’s been weirdly fading for a while now.”
Though he sat with his back straight, the moment the servants had left, even standing had become a struggle. He’d barely managed to get his armor off.
But he started feeling better coincidentally after Kiara had come near.
More precisely, after she’d touched his wound.
“I’d only ever heard of it in legends myself, so I’m not completely sure. But supposedly, when two mates are bound, any injury or pain one suffers is shared with the other. Although… rather than ‘shared,’ maybe it’s more like…”
He paused, still musing.
“…more like, if there’s close physical contact, the pain gets divided. That sounds closer to the truth.”
“Ah, so that’s why our wounds healed so quickly! Back then, when we…”
Nodding as if the pieces were finally falling into place, Kiara trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. But Ael, ever unfazed, finished it for her with the same casual air:
“…There’s no more direct form of contact than… well, joining bodies, after all.”
As his words sank in, Kiara’s eyes dropped to the faint scar on her palm again.
So that’s what it had been. That night…
A vivid memory flashed across her mind. The rawness of it, the sound of her own breathy, suggestive moans.
‘…Now that I think about it, every time we met, we ended up doing that…’
Wait, what was she thinking now?
Her face flushed crimson as she hurriedly looked around, desperate to distract herself from the heat creeping up her neck. And unfortunately, her wandering gaze chose exactly the wrong place to land — on Ael’s bare torso.
‘R-right, yeah. It’s the bruises. That’s why I’m looking. Just concerned about the injury. Look at that — must hurt like hell, poor guy. I just want to help him heal and — wait… huh?’
Kiara stared at Ael’s bruise. More precisely, at the mottled, darkened expanse of his torso.
Come to think of it, she’d never really taken a proper look at him before. The only impressions that lingered were his red eyes and black hair that were so much like hers.
‘…He’s… really big.’
That had been her first impression when she’d met the Altnebrans. They were tall. Incredibly so. Not quite giants, but all of them, men and women alike, exceeded what she’d considered an average human height and build.
Maybe that’s why, even though she had never thought of herself as small, Raelin always spoke of her as though she were some dainty little girl.
‘Lady Kiara, how can someone be so petite and delicate?’
Just like that.
In any case, Altnebrans were striking with their towering height, broad frames, pale skin, and light-colored hair and eyes.
Kiara’s dark hair and red eyes inevitably stood out. Her smaller frame, too.
But Ael, who shared her hair and eye color, was taller than any Altnebran she had ever seen.
‘It’s not just his height…’
The thought escaped before she could stop it. Her gaze slowly traced Ael from head to toe. First, his broad, powerful shoulders and sturdy ribcage caught her attention — clearly the product of rigorous training and years of hardened battle.
Her eyes moved past the thick pectorals to the tightly defined abs and flat stomach. Then her gaze, suddenly panicked, followed the sharp taper of his torso down to his pelvis, forming a pointed triangle.
‘No, wait, what am I even looking at right now?!’
Her gaze snapped upward, only to land on his hips just above the waistband of his trousers.
If everything were simply on display, she wouldn’t have minded so much. But it was the almost-but-not-quite-visible line of that subtly prominent bone that made Kiara swallow dryly.
Seriously, what was it with that bone? Why was she getting all worked up over that of all things?
Feeling vaguely like some kind of pxrvert, Kiara scowled. Whatever she was thinking, Ael seemed to interpret her expression differently. He sighed and shook his head.
“There’s no need to look at me like that.”
“Huh? Wh-what? I mean, I didn’t…what was I even looking at—”
“The bruise, right? I mean, sure, it’s bad, but I’m not going to guilt you into sleeping with me just because of a bruise.”
“……Huh?”
He said it like he was being considerate. But Kiara was left stunned and incredulous.
No, that’s not what I…
Wait a second.
‘Then what is it I’m hoping for?’
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