Side Story 2. Proper Rest

In the end, I was cooped up in the room for the entire week.

That meant I couldn’t attend the banquet even for a single day.

Falling asleep during the day and waking up at night, then falling asleep at night and waking up during the day…

On the first day, there were only sheer curtains, but Johann had put up thick curtains over them at some point, completely blurring my sense of time.

“How can you be this soft?”

Johann murmured in a gentle voice while caressing my body.

Lying on my side, feeling his body heat overlapping on my back, I answered drowsily.

“You’re soft too, Johann.”

“Sera, your skin is softer. Like cotton candy.”

Then he quietly added, “It’s even sweet.” As if he really thought it was cotton candy, he started licking my back.

“Mmm… I want to sleep more. I’m tired.”

“Don’t you think you’ve slept quite a lot?”

“How can I know how much I’ve slept? The room is always dark.”

“Hmm.”

Johann glanced at the blackout curtains and then started giving light kisses on my cheek again.

“There’s a side effect.”

“What is it?”

“I tried to prevent you from counting the days because you kept trying to go to the banquet, but now you just keep sleeping because it’s dark.”

“I can keep sleeping. Yawn.”

It was true.

No matter how long I slept, my back didn’t hurt.

It’s just that I hadn’t been allowed such time until now, but I was a person who could be incredibly lazy.

Think about it.

Even when I ran away to Ponitan, I was just lying in my room for the first month. Except for the minimal movement to buy food.

Anyway, after defeating the bone dragon, and then suffering through etiquette lessons that were harsh in a different sense right after returning, this was the first proper rest I was getting. Although it couldn’t be called a proper rest because Johann kept bothering me.

“How’s the pain?”

“It’s almost gone.”

Actually, we made love a few more times in between. I hadn’t counted exactly, but I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a day we didn’t do it.

“Sera.”

Johann whispered in a sweet voice as he kissed my neck. But recognizing the strange nuance in that voice, I shrugged my shoulders.

Why is he so obsessed with my body?

Let’s rest just for one day.

“I’m tiiired…”

When I mumbled as if whining, Johann moved his lips away as if he had no choice. Even though I had my back turned, I could feel his disappointment transmitted through the air.

It’s a bit cute.

Why is he so disappointed over this, and why does he listen so well?

“You’re too much.”

“……?”

At that sulky voice, I turned around. Johann was looking at me with eyes that really said I was too much.

“…What is?”

I was dumbfounded.

Who’s being too much now?

Who was it that wouldn’t leave a person alone whenever they opened their eyes, day or night?

I wanted to argue, but Johann’s face looked genuinely troubled, so I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

“To think you’d develop a new t*rture method like this.”

“T*rture?”

Understanding what he meant, I blinked a few times and then burst into laughter.

This is crazy.

What is this man saying?

It seemed he was like this because we were still in the hot newlywed phase. He didn’t seem to realize he was the one going overboard.

Well, I didn’t dislike that he only saw me. No, I rather liked it.

I laughed off Johann’s grumbling, half exasperated and half heart-fluttering.

Not knowing that in our future married life, I would teach him persistently for a long, long time that this was not something to laugh off.

Chu.

I turned around completely and kissed him while wrapping my arms around his neck. Johann looked at me as if asking what this meant.

“I fell for your charm because you’re cute.”

“Cute, you say.”

As if to correct that word, Johann showed a smug smile.

Soon, Johann overlapped his lips with mine passionately.

I closed my eyes, entrusting everything to him. Amidst the fluffy air, hot love blossomed.

* * *

“You’ve made people wait for quite a long time.”

Mihail said sarcastically as he watched Johann enter the reception room.

He had reason to.

Mihail had dressed up meticulously and attended the first banquet held the day after the imperial wedding. His purpose… on the surface was to congratulate the Emperor and Empress couple, but in reality, it was because he wanted to see Seraphina.

It had been about two months.

The last image he had was of her jumping into the bone dragon’s breath, so it was natural for Mihail to want to see Seraphina up close properly.

Under the name of etiquette, he wanted to at least hold her hand. It seemed like his mind would only be at ease if he could confirm that he could hold her hand normally.

But a day passed, and two days passed, and Johann and Seraphina didn’t show even a strand of hair.

How could this be?

<Hohoho. It seems they’re spending hot nights.>

<It’s natural since they’re newlyweds.>

Mihail was frustrated, wanting to shut the mouths that were chattering loudly throughout the banquet. Unable to control his rising irritation like lava, he ended up crushing an innocent champagne glass.

While some people barely got to hold hands…

The nobles who were lingering nearby, thinking of perhaps making connections with the Holy Knight Commander, who’s one of the three heroes, sensed the unusual atmosphere and slowly moved away. It seemed that if they misjudged the timing, they might catch sparks instead of making connections.

Thus, Mihail’s surroundings, which had been quite crowded on the first day, gradually became deserted, and by the last day, only flies were buzzing around.

Despite not interacting with anyone, Mihail attended the week-long banquet without missing a single day.

It couldn’t help but look truly strange to others’ eyes. Well, Mihail didn’t care about others’ gazes any more than the dirt under his nails anyway.

All his attention was focused on when Seraphina would attend the banquet.

He was secretly expecting that she would look pretty in a dress. Because during the short time they spent in Ponitan, her appearance had been angelic.

<Hahaha… Johann, you b*stard, until the end…>

You’re not coming until the last day?

You’ve been holed up in the bedroom all this time?

What the h*ll is that crazy b*stard doing in a confined space? Mihail tried not to imagine, but whenever he was still, his thoughts inevitably led back to the newlyweds’ hot nights.

And so, after the 7-day banquet came to an end…

Three more days later, now.

“You haven’t left yet?”

Mihail could finally see Johann’s annoying face.

Having erased all traces of hot nights, Johann looked impeccable. From head to toe, he was the epitome of neatness, exuding innate elegance — the Emperor Marseus that everyone knew.

“I have something to receive.”

Mihail said nonchalantly, crossing his long legs.

Fortunately, he had a reason to stay in the Imperial Palace even after the festival.

The wand.

He had to get back that d*mn wand that had taken Seraphina to an unknown place.

“Hand it over.”

Mihail arrogantly tilted his chin slightly and wiggled his fingers. If anyone had been beside him, they would have been outraged at such an insolent attitude.

However, Johann, used to such treatment, sat on the sofa instead of pointing out the attitude. Then he began to discuss the solution.

“You said you’d file for damages?”

“Only if I can’t get it back.”

“It doesn’t look like you’ll be able to get it back.”

“Why do you say that when Miss Sera has returned?”

Mihail glared at Johann fiercely, as if to say it wouldn’t be funny if he was talking nonsense. Johann shrugged nonchalantly.

“Because Marseus is thinking of gifting it to the Empress.”

“By whose decision?”

Mihail raised one eyebrow.

It was originally lent. What’s more, it was reluctantly lent, almost forcibly taken, because Johann had pressured the museum director by throwing around the imperial order while Mihail was away from Sahar. If Mihail had been there, it wouldn’t have happened.

But what did he say?

Gift the wand to Seraphina?

“Do you know if any of the 127 weap*ns came back intact? There are scratches all over due to rough handling.”

“Well, aren’t those glorious scars from defeating the bone dragon?”

“You know they’re all priceless artifacts, right?”

It was a warning that the price for damaging them would be enormous.

Johann furrowed his brow, wondering how much this b*stard was trying to extort.

“Just tell me the price of the wand.”

“That’s not possible even if you hand over the Imperial Palace. I’m not sure if you can properly pay for damaging 127 artifacts.”

“Do you know that Sera’s lifespan is shortened every time she uses heal?”

“I heard from the Guardian of the North.”

Despite the seriousness of the matter, Mihail replied calmly. His emphatic voice was very firm, as if he had no intention of backing down.