21 — Between The Veil Of Night (4)

Night, when the moon cast deep shadows over the floating islet.

On the bed, Noi sat cross-legged hugging a cushion. It was an oval cushion with golden tassels at both ends.

“What’s wrong, bride?”

Noticing Noi sitting with a troubled look, Kardia perched on the edge of the bed.

He seemed to have finished getting ready for sleep, but—as with yesterday—he wore a snug undergarment. Yet contrary to the neatness of that undergarment, his outer robe hung quite open; just bending forward traced a curve at his collar.

He looked the same as last night. And yet, for some reason, Noi felt flustered tonight.

A bed that hadn’t existed yesterday was hardly going to appear out of nowhere today.

In the end, since she would be sleeping in this room from now on, Noi let go of the cushion with a pop, grabbed it again, and squeezed it tight.

Then, using the cushion like a shield, Noi looked up at Kardia.

“H-hey.”

“Mm?”

“You won’t do anything weird, right?”

Kardia, looking down at Noi, curled his lips into a broad grin.

“What do you want me to do to you?”

“W-what do I want?!”

She had asked him to promise he wouldn’t do anything, and yet without realizing it the conversation had turned into what she wanted done to her; Noi’s face flushed bright red.

Ever since he held her hand during the day, she had felt off.

(B-but, during the day, our hands… W-well, I may look like this, but I’m an adult, so something like that is nothing at all…)

“So, um—”

“Go on, go on.”

Noi’s face had turned as red as a ripe apple as she flapped her hands, babbling this and that. Kardia watched with a cheerful smile, clearly enjoying it.

Noi had no experience with love, so there was no way words like that could come out of her own mouth. At a loss, she looked to Kardia—and then noticed he was sitting on the bed’s edge with his hip on his waist sash. If he moved a little more, the sash would come undone.

(Ah, it’ll come off.)

If you didn’t wear things properly, you would upset your stomach.

Switching in an instant to the mindset of a master, Noi reached out toward Kardia’s sash.

But before her fingers could touch it, Kardia twisted lightly out of reach.

“Pervert.”

“Wha—?!”

How did that follow?! She moved to protest and flushed even deeper.

“N-no! Your tie was loose! I thought you’d catch a chill!”

“Reeaally?”

“It’s true! Please believe me!”

When tear-eyed Noi looked up at him, Kardia was laughing. Realizing she’d been teased again, Noi shoved him with a thump. His body toppled onto the bed.

His face was still smiling, and a frustrated Noi straddled him.

“Kardia!”

“Ahh, doing that again. You don’t even know what it means.”

Noi should have been the one on top of Kardia’s stomach. For animals, exposing the belly signified absolute submission, and the belly was a vital spot besides.

And yet with just a glance or a word, this man somehow made Noi feel like she was the one being cornered.

“…What is it?”

His long fingers scooped up Noi’s white hair.

They both watched it fall in soft strands from his fingers onto the bed.

Suddenly scared, Noi sprang off him.

Kardia laughed again at her quick movement, then slowly sat up.

“I told you yesterday. I won’t do anything.”

“You said for a while!”

“I did.”

“‘For a while’ means there’s an ‘after a while,’ doesn’t it?! And only you know how long your ‘after a while’ lasts, so the only one I can ask is you!”

As Noi hugged the cushion again with watery eyes, Kardia nodded grandly.

“I see. My bride is clever.”

“So?! When is it?!”

“Isn’t it more fun not knowing when it’ll be—more…thrilling?”

“How could that be fun?!”

“Eeh. Makes you feel alive, doesn’t it?”

Noi gasped. Noticing her sharp intake of breath, Kardia’s expression went blank for an instant, then he smiled softly.

“Just speaking generally.”

“Because you’ve lived a hundred years?”

“I said it was a general statement.”

Releasing the cushion, Noi crept on her knees across the bed toward Kardia. This time Kardia grabbed the cushion she had thrown and held it between them.

Noi yanked the cushion sharply to the side. Still smiling, Kardia slipped away from her.

“Kardia!”

“…Honestly. You think I’ll do whatever you say if you call me in that voice?”

With a sigh, Kardia took Noi’s arm and pulled her close.

Crimson eyes were right in front of her—so close the twin moles blurred.

“—If you want to know that badly, shall I tell you?”

“My bad!”

The instant those seductive lips began to speak, Noi squeezed her eyes shut tight and surrendered in a second. Wasn’t he the very one thinking that if he did that, Noi would obey anything he said?

Moving faster than the eye could follow, Noi darted away from Kardia and, panting hard, steadied her breathing at the far corner of the bed. He let out an exasperated laugh.

“You really like that topic.”

“Because—!”

She whipped around, and added in her heart: because.

(If he truly had lived a hundred years…)

“Then I thought…he must have been lonely.”

Wasn’t he cold, wasn’t he scared, wasn’t it painful—of course she worried.

Because even if Noi could no longer use magic, she was still Kardia’s master.

“—And if I was lonely?”

A cool voice came from above Noi’s bowed head.

Unusually for Kardia, who always smiled gently, his voice sounded somewhat thrown away, unable to fully suppress the emotion in it.

“If I was lonely, what then? You’d hold my hand?”

“Of course! I’d come take your hand anytime!”

Kardia had liked having his hand held since he was little. That much, even the present Noi could do.

She lifted her face in high spirits, but then looked at Kardia and asked anxiously:

“…Were you teasing me again?”

Kardia wasn’t even looking at her. He turned his face away from Noi and shut his eyes.

Slowly, he shook his head.

“No.”

“Good grief.”

He murmured, running a hand through his long hair. For some reason, the gaze fixed on the bed looked as helpless as a lost child’s.

“…Kardia?”

Noi called his name without thinking. But Kardia didn’t answer. He flopped onto the bed, and by then his expression was already back in place.

With a shrewd face, he gave a faint smile.

“This topic is over. I’m not a toy to satisfy your curiosity.”

His face and voice were gentle. Yet the words were shockingly sharp.

Slapped down, Noi was left speechless. Seeing that, Kardia gave a helpless little smile.

“Sorry, there, there. Come on—come here. Let’s have a goodnight kiss.”

He thought that even if he hurt her, it would be fine as long as he comforted her. That light tone made it obvious, but pushing further and having him draw the line again scared her, so Noi went to him as she was called.

A kiss fell upon her brow. She didn’t have the courage to brush it off.

And just like the night before, when she closed her eyes in his arms, she eventually drifted to sleep.

“…Hold hands, huh.”

As Noi slept, Kardia murmured while brushing her hair back from her face with his fingertips.

“You’re a strange child, you know…”

That small voice—like hiding from the stars—couldn’t possibly reach the sleeping Noi, and fell into the canopy and vanished.

—And on the next day as well, Noi woke to the sound of him drawing the curtains open.