Chapter 2
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Translator: Diva
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: They Say an NNN-Year Age Gap Rules Out Compatibility
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Reflexively, I flinched, my body trembling.
"What is this...?"
Shouldn't kissing a stranger I'd just met today feel awful?
So why wasn't there any sense of rejection?
This was weird. This whole situation was utterly ridiculous, yet my body's reaction was completely different.
Honestly... it felt a little good.
"Maybe I got poisoned by the venom those demons scattered."
Yeah, that's it. I must have fallen into a trap.
"No other explanation for this."
It was just our lips pressing and rubbing together, but I didn't want to stop.
Even when his tongue brushed mine lightly with a tap, I parted my lips as if welcoming it.
At that, he let out a low, rumbling chuckle.
As if he were utterly delighted.
His smooth tongue tip slid up along my retreating one, wrapping around it.
Our heated breaths tangled together rapidly, as one.
"...!"
My mind went blank, too foggy to even think about clearing up the misunderstanding right then.
"No, this isn't right. We have to stop."
If we kept going, we'd really cross the line.
I seized the moment when he pulled back slightly to catch his breath and pressed my lips tightly together.
Making it obvious to anyone that I wanted to stop.
I'd instinctively sensed it was dangerous to continue.
"......"
A suffocating silence settled between us.
As my saliva-slicked lips cooled to lukewarm, he let out a long sigh like a lament.
"I must have been clumsy, after all."
I wouldn't know since it was my first time too, but clumsy? He seemed downright skilled...
"Don't worry. I won't force you."
He whispered, gently caressing my cheek.
"But... we can't pretend that kiss just now never happened."
His voice was low and shadowed.
As if he wouldn't let me escape, misunderstanding or not.
"It's a promise. You'll be mine."
He persistently tracked me with his gaze, confirming again.
"Right?"
'No, so who the hell are you?!'
This must be exactly when you'd say you were losing your mind.
'...I have to keep this a total secret from Mikhail and the expedition team.'
If they found out I'd blown my first kiss on some ridiculous misunderstanding, I'd be their teasing fodder for at least a year.
That was why.
"Over here!"
I jumped in shock at the loud footsteps echoing from outside.
'I can't let them catch me like this...!'
This...
This would be teasing material for a minimum of three years!
"What's wrong?"
The man asked, puzzled, as I frantically rolled my eyes.
"Does the commotion outside have something to do with you?"
I wasn't certain, but I figured it probably did.
The more finicky the magic, the worse the aftereffects.
Given how slowly I was recovering—just enough to move my fingertips now—the return spell must have been high-grade too.
'The palace wards would've picked it up for sure.'
If Chief Mage Caleb was at the palace, he'd have pinpointed my exact return and reported it.
'Either way, no!'
Whether Mikhail, Caleb, or any knight from the order, I couldn't let a single one see me like this.
Not even a soldier who didn't know my face.
'It's too embarrassing...'
I'd avoid getting caught red-handed no matter what.
I tensed my abdomen once more and forced out my voice.
And at last, my desperation bore fruit.
"He...lp... me."
"...!"
His eyes widened at the barely squeezed-out words.
Following his sweeping gaze around the room, I took in the surroundings too.
'What is this place?'
The stark space had no proper furniture besides the bed, and the window was completely barred.
And now that I looked, there were even restraints clamped around the man's ankle.
'No way... a prison?'
A voice from the hall happened to give me a clue about his status.
"Mana explosion in the hostage's room here!"
'...Hostage? What the hell happened to make that necessary?'
"Open the door, quick!"
No time to think—the footsteps halted right outside.
"Key's here!"
The loud clank of the lock turning rang out.
"Damn..."
With nowhere to hide due to the room's layout, he bundled me up tight in the blanket like a silkworm cocoon.
"Just bear with it a little."
He whispered, then shoved me blanket and all under the bed, pulling the sheet down to conceal me.
Immediately after, the door burst open with a shattering force, and several people rushed in.
"Subdue him!"
The man, standing blankly by the bed, was seized by the soldiers' brutish hands.
They pinned him to the floor, wrenched his arms behind his back, and bound them.
'Wh-what?'
I was stunned by the completely unforeseen turn.
'He's no criminal, and this is how they treat a hostage?'
In Bardia, under Mikhail's rule?
Throughout it all, the man didn't resist—not even a groan.
"Deposed Crown Prince, what mischief have you been up to here?"
The knight approached once he confirmed the man fully subdued and demanded answers.
His overbearing attitude held zero respect for the captive.
"Beats me. Nothing?"
The man replied with cold sarcasm.
A tone worlds apart from how he'd spoken to me.
And as if he'd been waiting for this moment, retaliation followed instantly.
The knight kicked him square in the gut.
"You dare play tricks?"
A knight wielding Aura was a living weapon unto himself—the man spat up blood.
"...Overkill. You really think I could do anything from here?"
"If you don't know, we'll remind you."
Soon, the knight's merciless violence rained down.
He kicked the bound, defenseless man relentlessly, even slamming his scabbard down on him.
Yet the man endured it all in silence.
Until another knight couldn't stand it anymore and intervened.
"Sir Hamel, enough. He was your lord once, wasn't he?"
"The past is the past. I'm a knight of glorious Cradion now, not some rotten Bardia!"
Sir Hamel snapped back, bristling.
As if being reminded of his origins shamed him.
"Sigh, fine. But if he dies, we're in trouble too."
"If he could die from this, Bardia would've fallen ages ago."
Hiding under the bed and watching it unfold, I couldn't hide my horror.
'What... what is this...'
I could piece it together from the conversation so far.
This was the upstart nation 'Cradion,' and that hostage was none other than Bardia's deposed crown prince—my country's own.
He'd apparently been the final bulwark holding Bardia together till the end.
Yet the kingdom he'd staked his life to protect had stripped him of his title and handed him over as a hostage to the enemy.
And in the process, betrayed by one of his own followers.
Hamel curled his lip in a vile sneer.
"Time to properly educate him. Train him to grovel like a dog and obey."
...Hearing that snapped something in me.
Bardia's traitor mocked his former master more viciously than any enemy knight—and laid into him with violence.
No one forced to submit for family or loved ones would ever stoop that low.
This was the voice of someone who'd already sold countless lives for his own gain.
'The one who should grovel like a dog is you.'
I decided to deal with him right here.
As long as I existed in this world, traitors had only one end awaiting them.
Inside the blanket, I cautiously clenched and unclenched my fist.
'I can move, but my body's still sluggish.'
The aftereffects wouldn't fully fade for another five minutes or so.
'To stay hidden, I'll need my Authority.'
I didn't relish using that damned demon power, but no choice.
I couldn't let the man's efforts—enduring his former subordinate's blows to hide me—go to waste.
'Servant, heed my call.'
Flicking my finger toward the shadow on the floor, it began bubbling up.
As if giggling gleefully at my summons.
'Quiet. Do your job right, or I'll offer you up at my goddess's altar.'
-......!
The threat worked.
Before taking form, it dissolved into mist and slithered out from under the bed at my gesture.
Then, unseen by all, it quietly seeped into the shadows of the enemy knights and soldiers.
And moments later.
Slash-!
With a chilling slice, the traitor's head tumbled to the ground.
"Huh?"
The one holding the dripping sword was the Cradion knight who'd tried to restrain Hamel.