Chapter 52

Whenever he had to carry or hold someone, Pado always slung them over his shoulder.

That left her head hanging behind his back and her butt facing forward, making Morae feel both embarrassed and uneasy.

“Why do you always carry people like this?”

“So it’s easier to spank your butt?”

The hand supporting her back slowly slid lower toward her waist.

Startled, Morae instinctively moved her hands to cover her backside.

“If you say something annoying, I can legally smack you once.”

Pado’s gaze swept over the butt positioned right beside his face.

Pierced by the mixture of desire and mischief in his eyes, Morae curled her knees up, trying to hide herself.

Not that it helped.

All it did was make her squirming more obvious.

“Keep that up and one of the maintenance robots will catch you, and you’ll be the one getting smacked.”

“I’d win.”

What an infuriating thing to say.

For once, she hated the world’s rule that the strong got their way.

Carrying Morae over his shoulder, Pado quickened his pace.

It looked like he was walking normally, yet he was moving faster than someone running.

With the wind completely messing up her hair, Morae complained.

“My hair’s getting blown everywhere. Why are you running?”

“Someone might see us.”

The words So what if they do? lingered on the tip of her tongue.

Then a sense of crisis washed over her.

Even if people had already figured things out, if they were seen like this over and over again, her dignity really would take a hit.

Since Morae stayed quiet, Pado continued running without hesitation, carefully avoiding other people’s eyes.

A distance that normally took twenty minutes on foot disappeared in just five.

When they reached the front of Central Headquarters, Pado summoned a stream of water beneath them and lifted them into the air.

Before Morae could even finish saying, “Wha—,” he slipped through a corridor window, entered the building, and arrived outside her room.

That took another minute.

It had happened in the blink of an eye.

His abilities had clearly improved.

At this point, it really felt like the Hunter Association could officially recognize him as an S-rank Hunter.

“The door.”

“Take my shoes off and carry me all the way to the bed.”

Instead of opening the door as he’d asked, she shamelessly demanded the next step.

If that counted as a talent, it was certainly one she possessed.

There was something about Morae’s words that made them difficult to refuse.

It wasn’t because of the authority she held within the West Sea Legion or because people felt indebted to her.

It was simply a talent she possessed herself.

Having grown up surrounded by adults, Morae had become accustomed to acting spoiled, and it naturally showed in the way she spoke.

Rather than sounding like an order, it came across as childish pleading.

People like Pado, who had a weakness for that sort of thing, found themselves giving in before they even realized it.

Sure enough, despite grumbling the whole time, Pado carried Morae all the way to the bed.

A stream of water removed her shoes and socks before gently washing her feet clean.

He carefully dried the remaining droplets with a tissue before setting her down on the bed.

He pretended to toss her onto it, but his hands remained gentle until the end.

As she landed lightly on the mattress, the hem of her short dress fluttered.

After smoothing down the skirt that had briefly ridden up, Morae looked him straight in the eye.

“You saw it, didn’t you?”

“Saw what?”

“Why do you always pretend you didn’t? I know you saw.”

“So, do you want me to say, ‘Yeah. Cute panties. White today?’ Because I can. They’re the prettiest pair I’ve seen so far.”

“They’re prettier than the ones in your room.”

That accusation couldn’t be denied.

Pado’s expression immediately changed.

A mixture of embarrassment and guilt crossed his face as he briefly avoided her eyes before looking back.

Somewhat irritably, he lifted the blanket and covered her completely.

Morae pushed it back down with her legs.

The hem of her dress rolled up again.

“It’s hot.”

“You said you were hurting. Stay warm and get some rest.”

Standing beside the bed, Pado crouched down until they were at eye level.

He was probably trying to be considerate, but it only made things more awkward.

Her neck actually started to hurt from looking at him.

“I don’t have a cold. It’s… down there… It still stings. Since we did it standing up.”

“I used more strength than you did, but you’re the one suffering. Does doing that really make you hurt?”

“After everything you did!”

The way he casually dismissed it as “that” made Morae flare up.

Claiming she still had muscle soreness today was a complete lie.

Even so, for some reason, his words genuinely irritated her.

How could he relentlessly ram into her like that and then brush it off as though it had been nothing?

The only reason she’d endured it so well was because she was a Hunter who constantly kept herself in peak condition.

Otherwise, she would’ve been bedridden long ago.

As she glared at him as though ready to bite his head off, Pado leaned halfway onto the bed and pouted.

He twisted his lips like a sulky bird, refusing to speak.

Eventually, Morae had no choice but to ask,

“What are you unhappy about now?”

“…I did.”

“What?”

“I couldn’t even finish… and I held back the whole time. So maybe it wasn’t actually a lie that there are hardly any women who could handle me.”

Pado muttered the words quietly.

Suddenly…

Morae felt like she’d lost.

If he’d said it with that usual smug attitude, she could’ve knocked him down a peg.

But hearing him say it so dejectedly…

She couldn’t very well take back everything she’d already said.

At this point, anything she said would only sound like the whining of a sore loser.

So she changed tactics.

“Are you some kind of beast? You wanted to go even further than that?”

“A beast couldn’t keep going that long in one go. You’re supposed to be smart. Didn’t you know that?”

“Then you’re worse than a beast. Built up again already today?”

This was the perfect moment for Pado to indignantly deny it.

Or fire back by asking whether she wasn’t the same.

Morae had already begun calculating how he’d respond.

Instead, Pado completely caught her off guard.

He placed a towel over the space between her thighs.

Then he gently lifted the hem of her dress all the way up to her stomach.

Her legs and lower abdomen were left completely exposed.

Morae’s knees twitched.

The only reason she didn’t immediately jump up was because the towel covering her underwear spared her from complete embarrassment.

If she moved carelessly or tried to sit up, it looked as though the towel would simply slide off.

Before she could even ask what he thought he was doing, he placed a hand on her exposed stomach.

His large hand covered her abdomen.

The moment it touched her skin, it felt cool enough to raise goosebumps.

Then warmth gradually spread from his palm.

Pado gently rubbed her stomach in slow circles.

Startled, Morae could only stare at him with wide eyes.

In a gentle voice, he said,

“If I rub it, it’ll hurt less.”

“…That’s not where it hurts.”

“Even so.”

“Even so?” What did he mean, “even so”?

It was kind…

But it was kindness that had absolutely nothing to do with the problem.

Somehow, it felt like he was trying to win her over.

Using rubbing her stomach as an excuse just so he could touch her and steer the mood in that direction.

Otherwise, why would he pull up her dress just to caress her stomach?

His excuse had been muscle soreness.

Her stomach didn’t hurt at all.

It was such an obvious little scheme.

“…”

Even so…

When she’d brought him all the way to her room, she had every intention of playing along with his childish scheme.

Out of all places, she’d brought him into her own room.

That meant she didn’t mind if his scent lingered there, or even if the bedding became soaked with his fluids.

More than anything…

The way his hand stroked her stomach was comforting.

His large, sturdy hand gently cradled the warmth of her abdomen, and her eyelids slowly drifted shut.

“…Well, it does feel nice.”

It reminded her of the way her mother and father used to rub her stomach when she was little.

Gradually, Morae fell silent and closed her eyes.

The gentle pressure felt cozy.

“Get plenty of rest and recover soon.”

She honestly wasn’t hurting that badly…

But wrapped in the warmth of his touch, her voice came out soft and drowsy.

His thick fingers occasionally brushed the skin just beneath the towel.

Each time they did, a faint ache stirred somewhere deep inside her.

“Mmm…”

The firm pressure felt so pleasant that a sleepy little moan slipped from her lips.

Pado’s hand began moving in the opposite direction, slowly tracing circles.

It felt so good that her hips grew heavy against the bed.

Unable to open her eyes again…

Morae simply fell asleep.

“…You actually fell asleep right there?!”

Her first attempt had failed spectacularly.

When she woke up, an entire hour had passed, and Pado had long since left the room.

Since she’d turned off the CCTV just in case, there was no way of knowing what had happened after she’d fallen asleep.

Still…

Pado was unbelievable for leaving without even waking her after coming all this way.

Then again…

Would he have been disappointed if she’d woken up and suggested they continue?

She wasn’t sure.

For some reason, she thought the image of him quietly waking her and asking so earnestly would have been rather adorable.

If he’d done that…

She probably would’ve teased him a little before giving him permission to kiss her.

No.

Not because she wanted to.

Only because Pado would’ve wanted it.

Those were two completely different things, and she refused to confuse them.

Straightening out her thoughts, Morae sent him a message.

[What were you doing?]

Even with such an abrupt question, Pado didn’t blow up.

Instead…

He sent her a photo.

It was a picture of Morae asleep with the words “Crybaby” written across her cheek in marker, while Pado stood beside her with a completely expressionless face, making a V-sign.

It wasn’t the kind of prank an adult would pull.

It was filled with the innocent mischief of a child.

Morae burst out laughing at him before looking at her reflection in the mirror.

Since the writing was reversed, she could barely read the word “Crybaby.”

[You should practice your handwriting.]

After criticizing his terrible penmanship, no reply came.

Feeling mildly offended, Morae deliberately didn’t wash her face until dinner.

She went to the cafeteria with “Crybaby” still written across her cheek.

Everyone who saw her asked about it.

Each time, Morae simply replied,

“Who knows?”

Then she deliberately lingered in the cafeteria for a long time.

Only after she’d even finished a second helping of dessert did Pado finally arrive.

The moment he spotted Morae, he froze in surprise.

But…

Without saying a single word, he pretended not to know her and walked right past.

Morae couldn’t help thinking he was ridiculous.

“I brought you a new slime.”

Morae suddenly poked her head into Pado’s room.

Pado, who had been putting dirty clothes into a laundry basket, nodded in greeting.

Three days had passed.

Nothing particularly noteworthy had happened during that time.

If she was lucky, she’d run into him during morning training.

Occasionally, they’d see each other during meals.

Whenever their eyes met, an odd little flutter would bloom between them.

But without anything to trigger it, nothing more ever happened.

So Morae occasionally invented excuses to come see him.

Today’s excuse…

…was a cleaning slime.

After being captured from a contamination zone and selectively bred until they became docile, slimes were surprisingly useful for household chores.

They ate dust and trash around the room, and with enough training, they could even sort laundry.

Morae held out the soft, squishy new slime.

Pado happily accepted it.

“Oh, thanks. This one won’t grow up and melt someone else’s clothes too, right?”

“I told you, that was an accident.”

“Why should I trust a pure-blooded villain like you? I’ve got to protect myself.”

Even as he said that, he carefully accepted the slime and hugged it protectively.

Lifting the pumpkin-sized slime in both hands like it was a puppy or a small child, Pado planted a kiss on it.

“Ah!”

A shriek escaped Morae’s mouth.