STM 121

Click. Clack.

A clattering sound reached my ears. However, my eyes felt far too heavy to open, even if a bomb were to detonate right beside me.

I was exhausted. My body did not necessarily ache, but a mental fatigue weighed down on me like dozens of kilograms of lead. It felt as though I could drift into an eternal sleep. Unfortunately, the needlessly helpful Mo informed me of my surroundings.

[I estimate that two servants are currently cleaning the room. You are presently naked, with only your buttocks barely covered by the duvet. Do you wish to maintain this state?]

I immediately opened my eyes. I scrambled to grab the duvet and pull it over myself.

I was an Earthling with a sense of shame. I would rather die clutching a bomb than let a stranger see me naked. This was especially true for a body still covered in the vivid marks of a sexual encounter.

I sat up abruptly with the blanket pulled to my shoulders. Just as Mo said, one servant was cleaning while the other placed a kettle and teacups on the table.

The pair stopped immediately when they realized I was awake. They bowed their heads with excessive depth.

“Are you awake, Master Lu?”

Both of them seemed unusually nervous. I looked around the room with a sense of wonder. I rubbed my eyes, which were so swollen I could barely open them, but that damn Tairok was nowhere to be seen. I turned my gaze back to the two servants who still had their heads bowed.

“Raise your heads.”

The two hesitated at my command before slowly looking up. Even then, they could not meet my eyes. Why were they so afraid of me?

Since I arrived here, all I had done was sightsee for half a day before I got trapped in the black magic fog and did those things with Tairok… damn it. Thinking of him made me want to scream every curse word I knew.

Just how much did he torment me?

“What is the date today?”

One servant promptly gave me the date. I could not easily calculate it at first. The number was far beyond my expectations. Exactly how long did I roll around with Tairok…?

[It has been five days.]

…What? My thoughts came to a halt for a moment, but then every sense in my sleeping body woke up with fury.

That absolute bastard! Even a dog wouldn’t behave like that!

I wrapped the duvet tightly around myself and jumped out of bed, my fighting spirit ablaze. Where is that son of a bitch Tairok?!

“The Grand Duke has left the mansion due to a sudden schedule. He asked me to convey that he cannot visit this evening.”

The butler, whom I encountered the moment I left my room, spoke politely. She looked thinner and more haggard than when I first saw her. At first, I thought I had mistaken her appearance.

Under normal circumstances, I would have been concerned that some misfortune had befallen the household, but I did not have the luxury for that now. I came out ready for a fight, yet the person I wanted to curse was nowhere to be found.

My burning rage fizzled out in an instant. Perhaps my expression looked like disappointment to her. She offered a word of comfort.

“He usually returns in the morning, so you will not have to wait long.”

“Why would I wait…”

I was about to deny it when I remembered my situation. To the public, was I not the one head-over-heels for Tairok who had proposed first?

“It is such a shame that I cannot see him for even a single night.”

I lied as if I were reading from a textbook, but then I realized something. Usually? It sounded like he often stayed out all night and returned in the morning.

I once lived like that too. I used to fight those monsters that attacked mainly at night because they knew humans had slow reactions in the dark.

“Did he go to hunt monsters?”

The butler nodded obediently.

“Yes.”

Well, I heard Tairok supposedly rebuilt his family through monster hunting.

It could not have been an easy task considering his past as a member of the imperial family. Part of me found it impressive, while another part thought him quite relentless.

“You said he is coming tomorrow?”

“Yes, you only have to endure a little longer.”

“Right, a little… wait. Endure what?”

“Your urges.”

…What? Did she say urges? I tilted my head, doubting my own ears, but the butler misunderstood my reaction once again.

“Since your partner is the Grand Duke, I fully understand your feelings, Master Lu.”

No, I am not doing that. I wanted to deny it, but the butler spoke first.

“The Grand Duke also knows your feelings well, so he left a message.”

“What message? About my curses?”

I asked in disbelief, but the butler calmly shook her head.

“No, it was about your urges. He said you might be in an excited state while looking forward to your time in bed with him, but you should still go to sleep early.”

“……”

My face turned a shade that was the furthest thing from excited. I went pale as a corpse. No matter how much I recoiled in horror; the butler, a typical person of Tubain, spoke as fast as a racing carriage.

“He also said you should not exhaust yourself by masturbating beforehand.”

This time, I could not bring myself to look her in the eye and turned my head away. I felt like I would scream if I opened my mouth, so I questioned Mo instead.

‘Mo, is the butler doing this on purpose to embarrass me? Is this some kind of territorial display?’

[No. This is a common conversation in Tubain. If you overreact, she might misunderstand and think you are picking a fight over nothing.]

However, I simply could not nod along calmly and promise a stranger I just met that I wouldn’t masturbate! But she waited patiently, as if she had received a direct order to get a confirmation from me.

“I won’t. I absolutely won’t do it.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“No, it is not something for you to be grateful for, haa.”

A sigh escaped my lips. I never wanted to be thanked for not masturbating.

“As someone who works for the Grand Duchy, it is naturally a matter of gratitude for me.”

“Naturally?”

“Yes. Are you not saving your energy to focus on your time with the Grand Duke? Are you not trying to replenish his depleted energy?”

No, my only intention was to curse him to his face, curse him behind his back, or perhaps just show him my middle finger. That was all I felt.

But the butler’s solemn expression made my reasons feel so trivial. Since she took it so seriously, I found myself looking down at my own body.

‘Mo, do you really think my body feels energized from sex? Doesn’t it feel like the opposite?’

It felt more like my life force had been sucked out of my body. I thought I was going to die while we were at it.

[If you had that much sex on Earth, you would have to be hospitalized.]

Yet I felt fine now. Furthermore…

[Your vital signs are quite good. The injury to your ankle has also completely healed.]

Ah, my ankle. Right, it hadn’t hurt once since I had sex with him. It was still hard to believe. To think that a physical ailment could actually be cured just by sex. I could understand a little bit why the people of Tubain were so unrestrained.

Then I suddenly felt curious. Who did Tairok sleep with all those times he returned from monster hunting?

He was a man of Tubain, so he must have had countless partners. I might be just one of them, simply wearing the label of ‘fiancé.’

This thought caused my mood to sink in a different way than before. On the other hand, it wounded my pride to realize I was even conscious of his feelings.

Get it together. You shouldn’t find any meaning in sleeping with him.

I ran a hand roughly through my hair and turned around. I needed to stop these stray thoughts and focus on my goal. Finding chili peppers was the first…I mean, saving my world was the priority, and then the chili peppers.

I needed him to close the Eye of Hell, and I needed his permission to pass through the castle to enter the Acorn Forest. One way or another, I had to stay on Tairok’s good side.

Alright, I won’t masturbate today… damn it, why would I anyway! That man and his nonsense. Just wait until he gets back tomorrow.

However, Tairok was nowhere to be seen the next day. Nor the day after that.

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“I guess going home today is out of the question.” Haas felt frustrated as he watched the monsters constantly emerging from the rift in the Crystal Lake from a distance.

This night had already dragged on for several hours. Even with the rift present, monsters do not always come out. They repeat a cycle of surging like a wave and then falling quiet, but this time was exceptionally severe.

Haas could barely tell if his own arms were moving anymore. It was no exaggeration to say he was casting magic almost unconsciously.

Dawn finally broke just when he felt he might die, and only then could he catch his breath.

Thud.

Haas flopped into his seat.

“Ugh, so tired…”

A bitter taste filled his mouth, but not a single knight of Kun, including Tairok, put down their swords. Instead, they were excitedly collecting black mana stones.

Those monsters.