Chapter 20
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Diva
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: They Say Big Age Gaps Skip Compatibility
-----------------------------------------------------------------
But if I said that... Elhart himself would probably throw a fit and insist on sleeping on the floor.
"…No."
I mumbled my response, and he nodded slowly while gazing at me intently.
"Alright, then."
Elhart lay down right beside me.
The bed wasn't small, so our bodies weren't touching, but we were still incredibly close.
Just a little shift, and I'd feel every bit of his movement.
"……."
How did things end up like this?
Sleep...
I couldn't sleep.
Just a few days ago, I'd been sleeping among the expedition team members, lined up in sleeping bags without a care.
Why did this feel so different?
Of all people, why him—Elhart.
My breathing suddenly felt too loud.
Once I focused on it, everything started feeling awkward.
'Ah... why am I like this?'
Unable to take it anymore, I cracked my eyes open and peeked at Elhart. Unlike me, his face was peacefully asleep.
'Doesn't it hurt his shoulder sleeping on his side like that?'
Out of habit, Elhart always slept facing me with his back to the wall.
Thanks to that, I could study his face up close right now, which was nice.
'He looks different with his eyes closed.'
Elhart had long, sharp eyes, so when his face was expressionless, he looked incredibly cold.
But when he talked to me, he'd soften his gaze with a faint smile tugging at his lips, making me mistake him for a gentle soul.
'How did he end up so handsome?'
He really was gorgeous.
Dressed up fancy, his looks stood out even more—women in the banquet hall had been stealing glances at him the moment he walked in.
If he weren't a hostage from Bardia, people would've flocked to chat him up.
'But his smile is the best.'
Sometimes he'd laugh so hard his eyes curved into crescents, nearly disappearing, and faint dimples would appear on his cheeks.
'Right about here...'
Maybe I'd stared too long because he seemed so deeply asleep, and I let my guard down.
'Ah...!'
Lost in thought, I poked his cheek before I realized it.
I yanked my hand back in a panic and held my breath, staring at him.
'He won't wake up from that... right?'
As I carefully withdrew my hand while watching his closed eyes...
His eyelids slowly lifted.
But for some reason... there wasn't a trace of sleepiness in them.
It was like he'd just been keeping them shut.
"Ser."
"Yeah...?"
"Your talents are more than I deserve."
Sudden praise...?
"And yet I still harbor impure thoughts. To the point where I almost wish you were just an ordinary woman."
"...That's because you haven't seen much of my abilities yet."
My feats as a maid were just a tiny fraction of what I could do.
He let out a soft chuckle at my reply.
"Is that so."
But his smile faded quickly.
"If the Crown Prince proposed... would you accept?"
What? He'd been thinking about that?
Well, earlier, the scene with me and the Crown Prince could've easily been misunderstood.
He'd been holding my dress, and I was in my undergarments pressed up against him.
"No. He's not my type."
The problem was how much he resembled Mikhail.
It made it impossible to see him innocently.
"What if he offered a deal—something you truly value in exchange?"
"Still no. If I don't like it, I don't."
If it was something like sending me and the expedition team back 300 years... maybe.
But no way did he have that kind of ridiculous power.
Even stopping time for a second or two was grand mage territory—rewinding 300 years would be a goddess's feat alone.
Anyway, for anything else, I'd achieve it myself.
Even if it was harder and took longer—it didn't mean it was impossible.
"Then..."
Elhart wrapped his fingers around the one I'd used to touch his cheek and pulled it closer as he spoke.
"What about me?"
"Huh...?"
"How am I?"
My mind went blank the instant I heard that. What was he asking?
"You said the Crown Prince isn't your type."
So, was he asking if he was...?
"You, um..."
I swallowed hard without thinking. The words wouldn't come.
After saying the Crown Prince was so firmly not my type...
'Well, he is exactly my type.'
His face, body, personality—everything checked every box.
"Ser, you said you had a cold."
Elhart reached out with his large hand and pressed it to my forehead.
My face heated up so fast it really felt like I had a fever.
"If I kiss you, your cold will go away."
He whispered.
"Uh... so you want to... kiss me?"
He stared into my eyes and asked right back.
"Will you refuse?"
Like the first day... that... right now...?
'I want to.'
Where was this sudden impulse coming from?
Did I just want to feel that tantalizing, sweet sensation from that day again?
Or did I... want something with this man?
'I don't know.'
This was too unfamiliar and confusing for me.
My mind was wrestling with it fiercely, but my body betrayed me, nodding on its own.
'He's worried about me. He wants to cure my cold.'
Refusing... didn't sit right.
Sure, I'd never had a cold, hiding behind an excuse was cowardly, and I despised cowardice...
'But what can I do? I don't even know why I'm like this.'
Maybe one more time would clear it up.
Just once, then.
A storm of thoughts clashed in my head as I closed the two hand spans of distance between us myself.
I approached him oh-so-slowly, and it probably took dozens more breaths before our lips met.
Yet Elhart didn't rush me—he just waited patiently there.
For me to kiss him.
"Close your eyes."
At my whisper, he obediently shut them.
At first, it was just a light brush—lips barely touching before parting.
Even that had my heart ready to burst.
But I didn't want to stop there.
'A little more...'
I nibbled on his lips, the ones I'd kept glancing at greedily.
Then, flicking my tongue tip against them, that same sweetness bloomed, saliva pooling in my mouth.
'Why do they taste like this?'
We'd had champagne, but I'd washed up and brushed my teeth after.
Addicted to the intoxicating sweetness, I kept licking his lips. At some point, I started sucking on his tongue, drawing it in with wet smacks.
"Mm... ngh..."
Our tongues tangled like snakes, breaths growing ragged.
Before I knew it, Elhart was above me, cupping my cheek with his hand.
His palm was so large it nearly reached my nape.
His touch was so gentle it tickled—I almost wanted to rub my face against it.
I might've done it a little.
His body tensed for a split second, after all.
Then he kissed back with frantic urgency unlike before—devouring me wildly.
'Feels like he's going to eat me alive.'
Was my breathing this labored because I wasn't used to this?
Or because my heart was pounding abnormally fast?
My head felt fuzzy.
"Ser."
Elhart's lips glistened with saliva as they moved.
I stared at them blankly.
Why stop?
He smiled, looking pleased.
"Still not quite enough, huh?"
His hand slid from my nape, stroking down my back softly.
Every time tension rippled through my waist, my breasts pressed against his firm chest, flattening.
Why did even that feel good?
My body didn't feel like my own anymore.
And come to think of it, something hard was pressing against me down below...
"Eek...!"
A weird, lewd sound slipped from my lips.