Chapter 109

Chapter 109

Surging Strength (End)

As Zeto and I fed each other food, the dish quickly ran out.

It was food I had made for Zeto’s frail body, so I wondered if it was all right for me to eat it, but thinking that the chance to have him personally feed me food would not come often, I accepted everything he gave me.

“How is it, do you feel a little strength coming back...?”

After finishing my cozy meal with Zeto, I asked softly while cleaning up the dishes. Zeto was sitting on the bed.

“Strength? It does feel like strength has been surging in me since a while ago. Maybe because of that, my body feels a little hot...”

“Heat...? Mmm...”

At Zeto’s answer, I let out a hum.

Since it was highly nutritious food, it had only made me feel energized, but perhaps, as Hutton said, it was better for men. It seemed the effect was greater on Zeto.

For one thing, the Magma Bear used as an ingredient was a monster that lived in lava zones.

Whether it was because this was the nourishing dish of the Clementine family of flame magic, or because of the ingredient itself, I could not know exactly, but it seemed to be true that it had stirred up his strength.

As I was thinking that, a strange sound came from Zeto’s direction.

—Soft.

It was the sound of something falling onto the fluffy bed.

Feeling doubt at this, I immediately turned my head.

Soon, Zeto entered my eyes, lying on the bed.

“Zeto...?”

I called him, but no answer returned.

Was he playing a prank, lying on the bed all of a sudden without saying anything?

I approached him as he lay there and called him again.

“...Zeto.”

“...”

Still, there was no answer.

At least, the Zeto I knew was not the sort to collapse onto a woman’s bed without saying a word.

Sensing something strange, I lightly shook his shoulder.

“Huh...?”

At my touch, Zeto’s body shook without any particular resistance.

The way Zeto softly breathed sounded as if he had fallen asleep.

Even so, I could not make a clear judgment.

Because his eyes were covered by bandages, I could not tell whether his eyes were closed or open.

I kept calling him and shaking his shoulder.

Even if he was asleep, did it make sense that he would not wake up?

...It seemed Zeto had lost consciousness.

If it were Lucia, perhaps, but I did not think Zeto would suddenly play this kind of prank.

“Could it be... that I made the food wrong...?”

Startled, I checked Zeto’s pulse, and though it was a little on the fast side, I could feel it.

If the food was the problem, nothing like this had happened until now.

Lucia and I both had no issues with our health.

Then what on earth had happened?

***

Hutton, the dedicated chef of the Clementine family, learned that an entire Magma Bear had been sent to Yuri and hurried to find the family head, Zeras Clementine.

“...So you are worried that Yuri’s tenacity may let her complete the dish perfectly?”

After listening to Hutton’s explanation, Zeras was leisurely examining documents.

“Yes...”

By contrast, Hutton, whose head was lowered deeply, was fretting.

Soon, Zeras looked at him and began laughing loudly.

“Hahaha!...Hutton, do not worry so much. Even if Yuri completes the dish perfectly, the sort of thing you are worried about will not happen. You know the true effect of the nourishing dish as well...”

“That is true, but...”

“Even when I met her recently, she still had a fairy-tale book beside her bed. Regrettably, even if given the opportunity, I cannot imagine that child seizing it.”

“Regrettably, my lord...?”

“I liked the other party that much, you see. He was quite a fine young man. If you met him, I think you too would cry out that he passed.”

At Zeras’s words, Hutton could only scratch his head with a reluctant smile.

A man who consumes the Clementine family’s nourishing dish does indeed have “strength” surge within him, but unable to overcome that energy, he falls asleep.

The deed being carried out is only a matter after that.

When Hutton had entered the family and learned of the nourishing dish’s effect, he had been rather surprised. He guessed that perhaps, when the nourishing dish was created, the head of the Clementine family had been a woman.

“A fairy-tale book.”

Hutton also knew Yuri’s pure side well, so he felt a little relieved.

After all, to fully enjoy the nourishing dish’s effect, the woman’s “active movement” was ultimately required.

***

In the dark room with the lights off, using moonlight as illumination, I stared at Zeto as he slept quietly.

The room was so quiet that if I stayed still, the sound of Zeto’s soft breathing reached my ears.

“To think he fell asleep without saying a single word...”

Zeto had recently pushed himself enough to cough blood.

Perhaps he had failed to withstand the exhaustion pouring over him.

Having reached that thought, I properly laid Zeto, who had fallen asleep in an awkward posture, on the bed and even covered him with a blanket.

The blanket especially had to be covered.

I rolled my eyes and glanced beside me.

“...”

The thing rising near Zeto’s lower body was displaying an overwhelming presence... even though it was covered by the blanket.

It was very different from my shallow knowledge.

To express it without filtering... it was vicious.

I did not know why that had become like that, but I firmly resolved not to pay attention to it as much as possible.

If I did not at least cover it with the blanket, the heat would rise to my face until it felt as if it might burst, so I hurriedly covered him.

Even so, I could not help my eyes continuing to go there.

Suddenly, I recalled the words Father had left me before leaving this room.

“This father would always approve of a son-in-law like Zeto.”

If... as Father said, I became engaged to Zeto and married him.

Though it was only a what-if, I gulped because I grew nervous.

“I would have to face something like that every night...?”

—Soft.

I hurriedly buried my face in the bed.

My face burned from imagination alone.

What on earth was a woman like me imagining with Zeto asleep before her?

“Huu...”

I lifted my head, took a deep breath, and quickly emptied my thoughts.

“No matter what...”

I could not commit such a shameless act as revealing lust toward someone who had fallen asleep from exhaustion.

Soon, Zeto’s face entered my eyes once more.

Because of the bandages around his eyes, I could not see his eyes, but his sharp jawline and straight nose remained.

With considerable beauty not even bandages could hide, he was extremely popular with female students.

The female students who used to glance at Zeto and whisper when he showed acupuncture before were like that, and thinking of Eisel right now, this was an undeniable fact.

And that person had come to my room, lay on my bed, and fallen asleep defenseless.

As I slowly went over every detail like that, my chest kept tickling.

“Lucia said that when he went on a date with Eisel, Zeto had swept his hair back...”

My hand naturally moved to check his forehead.

At that moment, I stopped my own hand.

I wondered if it was all right to touch Zeto as I pleased when he was defenseless, one might even call it unresisting.

“Still, his forehead should be fine...”

No one would see, and no one would know.

The thin, thin wall inside my heart collapsed miserably, and I gently swept aside the hair covering his forehead.

Then Zeto’s fine forehead was revealed.

“...Huhung.”

As I looked over Zeto, I laughed faintly.

This had its own different feeling.

Gathering courage, I brought my face close to Zeto’s.

My eyes did go to his lips, but that was not my intention.

Soon, I could hear the sound of his breathing clearly by my ear.

It was my first time hearing it from this close.

It was nothing special, merely a soft sleeping breath... but was it my imagination? For some reason, both my body and heart felt at ease.

“Haam...”

Perhaps it was simply because I was sleepy.

Lying face-down on the bed, I decided to put my head close to his pillow and seek sleep.

Even if we could not lie down together, could this not be called sleeping together?

Although we had not shared as many conversations as I had thought, I felt I had been able to spend even more time with him than that.

Before closing my eyes, I whispered softly to Zeto.

Naturally, he would not hear it, but it was something I wanted to try saying at least once.

“Good night, Zeto.”

***

Meanwhile, around the time Zeto woke from sleep and quickly grasped the situation, Eclin was having a hard time.

This was because the Saintess, Bernice, had been skipping meals for several days.

The reason was none other than Honorary Knight Zeto’s induction ceremony from a few days ago.

“Saintess, I told you, Zeto clearly said he was fine and was worried about you instead...?”

Eclin spoke coaxingly to Bernice, who was refusing to eat again today.

Soon, Bernice’s tightly pressed lips slowly opened.

“...That is the problem. I ruined the induction ceremony of someone so kind. I have no right to eat. His only induction ceremony... without even a blessing...”

Bernice stopped speaking and lowered her head deeply.

Soon, her voice, nearly dying, could be heard.

“I am the worst...”

“You do not need to go that far...”

Eclin could not know, but Bernice’s one sentence contained many meanings.

Ruining Zeto’s induction ceremony was indeed the worst, but more than that, she thought her own situation was the worst because she had no choice but to accept the dark energy dwelling in Zeto’s body, his unknowable “fate,” without being able to do anything.

Even so, she could not defy the Chief God’s revelation. More than anything, he had said that if she touched it carelessly, she would not be able to avoid calamity.

But the energy seated within his body was swelling in size.

At a glance, it seemed to be spreading from his heart throughout his entire body.

Even Zeto’s life force had been drained by a handful, as if something had gnawed it away.

Bernice could sense no external or internal injury from him.

The meaning contained in that fact was obvious.

For now, it was still at a level that could recover naturally, but would it be the same afterward?

Bernice feared that.

The afterward, the endless future.

For the first time in her life, something frightening had appeared to her.

Whether it was a curse or anything else, Bernice had the power to resolve it simply. Yet she was not allowed to touch even a single hair of it.

This was a harsh fate given to the man called Zeto, and an inescapable destiny.

The worst.

Bernice began to tear up again.

Whenever she thought of Zeto, emotion overwhelmed her, and tears kept leaking out.

“Saintess...”

Eclin could only feel doubt.

Ruining the induction ceremony was one thing, but... was it something to be this sad over? Was it not still too early to say they could not live without each other?

That was what she thought.

In the end, frustrated by Bernice, Eclin drew her blade.

“Saintess, if you are going to keep doing this, let us go meet him. How long are you going to sit here and wait endlessly?”

“Go meet him...? But he is at the academy...”

Bernice reacted to Eclin’s enticing words.

“...You can disguise yourself or do whatever is needed.”

“A disguise...? But... do I have the right to go find him...?”

“Saintess, you are the master of the knight order. You are also Honorary Knight Zeto’s master. Do you not have more than enough right?”

At Eclin’s answer, Bernice nodded.

Eclin, arms crossed, continued speaking.

“If you did wrong, you can ask for forgiveness... and you can treat him better from now on. It is not as if your connection with Zeto himself was cut off by this incident.”

“From now on... from now on...”

Bernice repeated Eclin’s words.

She could not defy the cruel fate given to Zeto, but just as Eclin said, she could treat him well.

Bernice thought it was right to make him as happy as possible.

Although she did not know how long that could continue.

Still, Bernice felt that was the best she could do.

“...I was thinking foolishly. Thank you, Eclin.”

Only then did Bernice regain her spirits.

“Good grief... If you are grateful, eat first.”

Eclin turned her head away from her and scratched her head for no reason. Whatever she said, Eclin greatly followed and liked Bernice.

Watching Bernice become unable to live without Zeto made her feel a little sad, but if Bernice was happy, that was enough for her.