With her hands still firmly held, she naturally wrapped her other arm around Ariel’s neck. Their tongues intertwined frantically.
Then Merrien’s eyes suddenly flew open.
“Ariel.”
Though she urgently broke away and called his name seriously, her hazy vision could only see the sticky saliva glistening on his lips.
“Hmm?”
Ariel tilted his head with his tongue still out, seemingly without a thought in his mind.
The sudden return to clarity was more problematic. Merrien covered her burning face. She was mortified beyond belief.
“I told you this isn’t the time for this…”
Read the situation, please. But her voice was muffled behind her hands.
Ariel paid no attention and licked her neck.
“…Hey!”
“Ouch.”
Finally, Merrien, red to the roots of her hair, bonked him on the head, and only then did Ariel pretend to be hurt and let go.
Though he looked at her playfully, his tilted face was still full of undiminished excitement.
Merrien stroked her cheek and turned her head away.
“You said we would talk, but what is this?”
“This is talking.”
He must definitely be a pervert. Not just crazy, but completely insane.
Despite having completely fallen for it, Merrien inwardly heaped criticism on him. Perhaps she was deliberately rationalizing to calm the strange atmosphere.
She cleared her throat and looked into his eyes again.
He seemed somewhat calmer, as his eyes were no longer as deep as the ocean. However, something was clearly still stirring quietly within them.
Now was truly not the time for this.
“Forcite is going to hold a noble trial. He’s trying to strip you of your duke title.”
“Ah.”
“Don’t just say ‘ah’! Wouldn’t it all be over if you revealed that you’re the Tower Master? Or does Forcite have something else on you?”
What about your relationship with the Tower? Do you have some other reason to be confident?
No matter how much this was an attempt to remove her from Ariel’s hands, it was far too reckless.
While she was lost in thought with her chin propped up, somehow she found herself back in Ariel’s arms.
He wrapped around her more tightly, resting his face lightly on her shoulder.
“Ah, so that’s it.”
He murmured as if realizing something.
“Hm?”
“It’s nothing.”
His leisurely voice whispered right next to her ear.
“…You’re doing this on purpose!”
When Merrien hurriedly covered her ears, he laughed mischievously and gently stroked her back.
Soon her entire body was shivering again.
“This is actually good. I’ll attend the noble trial and see what he’s trying to do.”
“And reveal that you’re the Tower Master?”
“That won’t work.”
“…Why not?”
“I can’t bear to see you feel betrayed again.”
…What is he talking about?
What betrayal am I supposed to feel?
Merrien stared with cold eyes at his serene face that showed no sign of having any plan.
He exaggeratedly shrugged his shoulders and covered his eyes, pretending to cry.
Isn’t he being too carefree? Even the Emperor of the empire is unconscious.
“If you reveal that you’re the Tower Master, everything would end. Why won’t that work?”
“It’s better to wake the Emperor and show the contract with the imperial family directly to the nobles’ eyes.”
Merrien slapped away his hand as it stealthily stroked her waist and tried to escape.
But he paid no heed and pulled her waist more firmly.
“Nes said he would investigate, right? He may look stupid, but he’s more useful than he appears.”
“Is that how you talk about someone who’s helping you?”
“Yes. This all happened because of him anyway.”
His response was incredibly cheerful.
At this point, he seemed less like a friend and more like a slave or servant.
Merrien felt sorry for Nes, who was probably working hard researching alone.
“So everything’s settled now, right?”
“Hm?”
“Let’s continue what we were doing.”
“Hey! …mmph.”
Before Merrien could even be surprised, she was laid down on the bed.
Ariel’s expression was so pure that it was hard to believe he was the owner of the hands that were blatantly caressing her.
*** 
“Mmm…”
Merrien reflexively covered her face and opened her eyes as red light warmed her entire body.
The two on the bed were directly exposed to the bright sunlight. They had fallen asleep without closing the curtains.
Her brow furrowed involuntarily, but she couldn’t raise her body, which had become as heavy as waterlogged laundry.
The most she could do was shift and slip out from under the blanket.
“Merri, sleep more.”
With a whisper, the curtains completely covered the window. Soon, darkness filled the room, resembling the arrival of night.
Merrien blinked with drowsy consciousness. Moments later, a large hand wrapped around her waist from behind.
Her body, half out of the blanket, was fully embraced in a firm hold along with the soft bedding.
“…Ugh.”
Despite the gentle touch, a pained sound escaped her lips.
“Does it hurt?”
The voice whispering in her ear was affectionate.
Soon came the sound of kisses from the nape of her neck to her shoulder.
When soft lips directly touched her skin, goosebumps rose all over her body before she could even gather her thoughts.
‘Yesterday…’
Ah. She remembered.
Before she could even finish her thought, Merrien’s face burned bright red.
Her hands quickly covered her face. Her earlobes were already flushed red.
These crazy perverts… The target of her mental cursing wasn’t just Ariel. She was largely at fault, too, for completely falling for it and losing her senses.
Moreover, she had fallen asleep afterward, almost like passing out. Forgetting how serious the situation was and being so carefree!
There was no time to be lying around idly. Merrien tried to get up abruptly but lay back down due to the extreme pain in her waist.
‘Ah, insane.’
Having been held by Ariel for nearly hours, it was no wonder her body wasn’t in good shape.
She felt around for painful spots on her body. Perhaps it was accurate to say there were hardly any unaffected areas.
Her shoulders and neck, not covered by the blanket, were full of red marks.
Embarrassment, awkwardness. Such feelings filled her head, making her hands tremble. Deliberately ignoring his profound gaze from right beside her, she used her holy power.
Thanks to the white light emanating from her palms, the pain began to gradually subside.
Once her body was somewhat recovered, she wrapped herself tightly in the blanket and raised her upper body. She intended to glare at Ariel, but he embraced her carefully first and murmured in a dejected voice.
“Merri, I didn’t know it would hurt so much. I’m sorry.”
“……”
Just as Merrien knew how to handle Ariel, he knew the same about her.
With their faces so close that their noses almost touched, looking into those sparkling blue eyes, even the thought of scolding him flew away.
“Ahem, ahem. It’s not something to apologize for.”
Even in this situation, he slowly traced from her lips to her shoulders that weren’t fully wrapped in the blanket.
“Merri. Does it not hurt anymore?”
“Hm? Yeah.”
“Then shall we do it once more? …Ouch.”
But she couldn’t tolerate his sly murmuring right by her ear. Merrien bonked Ariel on the head.
Then she pointed with her chin at the clothes thrown carelessly on the floor.
“Let’s go to the Tower.”
Nes must have been researching alone since yesterday.
*** 
“Oh, you’ve finally arrived.”
As soon as they arrived at the Tower, it was Seren who welcomed the two.
“Haha… I was so tired that I fell asleep. I’m sorry.”
“Not at all. What would the Saint have to apologize for?”
Merrien, feeling unnecessarily guilty, tried to elaborate on why they were late, but Seren good-naturedly brushed it off. He truly had no intention of blaming her.
Rather than that… Seren scanned Merrien’s now-clean neck.
“At least you’re not wearing a dog collar this time.”
“Dog collar?”
…Hey!
Merrien almost destroyed the image she had been carefully maintaining. She wanted to shout at him like she would at Ariel, but she swallowed it.
Isn’t it unfair to talk about such things so casually? Ariel was already giving her a puzzled look.
“About that—”
“Ah, the Tower Master didn’t know yet!”
She tried to explain, but Seren, completely lacking in tact, excitedly cut in.
“The day before yesterday, the Saint came to the Tower wearing the Tower Master’s dog collar. Perhaps because she sought my advice, I heard things went well.”
It seemed he was truly just showing off his own achievement.
He proudly shrugged his shoulders.
At this point, it was more believable that he wasn’t lacking tact but doing this deliberately.
‘Ah, I was planning to bury this forever…’
Yes, she should have asked Seren in advance not to mention it.
Or perhaps she should bury Seren forever.