Who Could Have Loved the Monster Princess? - Chapter 26

Without refusing, I grabbed Ken’s arm to prevent him from escaping and held onto his side with my other arm. His shirt hiked up, exposing his chest.

Ken, who was trying to twist out of my grasp, was taken aback. I was surprised too.

“Oops, sorry. Did I scratch you?”

Thinking I might have scratched his skin with my nails, I pulled my arm back. Ken, looking surprised again, spoke softly.

“Stop.”

I stopped as he said. There wasn’t any contact with Ken, especially not with my nails. My arm was just pressing against his thigh. I could feel the tension in Ken’s leg muscles, tight and strained.

“Ken?”

Judging from his expression, Ken didn’t look like he was in pain, just slightly flustered. I loosened my hold on him. Ken cautiously moved away from me. Only then did I realize that I had been holding onto Ken’s thigh embarrassingly close to his g***n.

My scales prevented me from feeling any details or textures when I touched his thigh. I only knew the temperature—whether it was hot or cold—and whether something was touching it or not. Any sensations of softness or roughness were dulled.

So, even if something touched the scales on Ken’s thigh, I wouldn’t have known.

“Did I accidentally touch it?” I asked absentmindedly, trying not to recall the imaginary flesh I had seen in my dream. Ken narrowed his eyes, pressed his lips together, and flicked water onto my face.

“Eep! Hey!”

I hurriedly retaliated by splashing water in the direction where Ken had been, but he wasn’t there. He vanished. I had no idea where Ken had gone.

‘Maybe it didn’t touch him after all.’

Seeing Ken eager to play again, it seemed like his earlier flinch might have been just an act. I searched for Ken, splashing water in all directions.

“Where are you! Seriously, I thought you were hurt! Really, surprise attacking someone who was worried about you?”

As I was yelling and splashing everywhere, suddenly, an enormous shadow loomed over my head. Something large floated slightly in the air before descending toward me.

‘Is he insane? What did he throw at me?’

A rock? A piece of wood? It was a bit challenging to sidestep due to water resistance. I crouched down first, planning to touch the riverbottom and swim away with my arms. However, whatever it was fell faster than expected. As I crouched down to touch the bottom again, I saw something breaking the surface of the water.

They weren’t large. In fact, they were rather small and light, falling from a considerable height but staying afloat on the water. But there were so many of them.

“Petals?”

There were an immense number of flower petals. I stood up and watched in awe as the petals fell all around me. Yellow flowers, red flowers, white flowers—it seemed like every flower of the season had been swept in.

Seated on a rock with petals clinging all over me, I looked up and met Ken’s gaze as he watched me.

“Where did you manage to get so many?”

“There’s a flower field up there.”

I picked up a white flower. It was a freesia, which was my mom’s favorite.

“Did Arina like this flower?”

“Yeah. Want to get more?”

“There’s plenty.”

“I want to take some.”

“Come here.”

Ken reached out to help me out of the water. My clothes were soaked, and the petals stuck all over me looked comical. On the other hand, Ken’s clothes seemed to have dried a bit and looked quite fluffy. The contrast was stark, which made this feel like a victory for him.

“I can’t believe I lost….”

It’s the first defeat of my life.As I sulked, Ken responded with a smile.

“Someone told me never to lose.”

“Who on earth said that?”

Ken didn’t answer, but I didn’t need one. I was the one who said that. When Ken was heading to defeat the Demon King. It was a plea for him to come back alive.

“Yeah. You did well.”

Praising him with a soulless tone, I brushed off the petals clinging to my clothes and wrung out the water. I thought they would dry quickly in the good weather today. While contemplating this, suddenly, a piece of clothing appeared right in front of me.

“What’s this….”

I was about to ask when I looked at Ken, only to see the muscles of his firm back flexing. He had taken off his wet shirt.

“What the….”

Fortunately, my voice came out calmly without trembling or faltering.

“Let’s light a fire and dry your clothes.”

“Well, I appreciate it, but…”

Not knowing what to do, Ken handed me his shirt. Then he pointed towards the forest.

“I’ll find something to start a fire. I’ll be back.”

Before I could respond, Ken disappeared through the trees.

“Oh, uh.” I stuttered, looking at Ken’s shirt in my hands.

Before I knew it, I was holding it to my nose. He had worked without breaking a sweat, and all I could smell was the scent of flowers and grass. And there was a slightly sweet and fresh scent, reminiscent of eucalyptus—Ken’s unique scent…