10. Signs of Distortion (2)

‘…It’s stuffy.’

Saena woke up feeling an intense sunlight that made her squint and a strange stuffiness. The first thing that entered her focus as she blinked was an unfamiliar colored ceiling.

Not only the color, but the fact that she could see the ceiling instead of the canopy top of the bed she usually saw upon opening her eyes felt very unfamiliar.

“Ah.”

Of course. This wasn’t her room.

She had fallen asleep in the Duke’s room at dawn, and it seemed she had slept longer than expected.

There was something else that’s unfamiliar.

The presence of a heavy arm draped across her abdomen.

The presence of a man still sleeping soundly even when the sun’s marks filled the bedroom.

The fact that this man was still sleeping beside her, close enough that she could observe in detail how his thick, neat white eyelashes cast shadows under his eyes.

Seeing him sleeping in bed… This was a first.

The cold and emotionless impression she had first felt when she saw him in the capital was nowhere to be seen on his sleeping face.

His sparkling white hair was completely disheveled and spread across the bed as he slept on his stomach, showing his back.

As if he had failed in trying to trap her, only one arm was barely resting on her.

Of course, even that one arm was very heavy for her and made her wake up feeling stuffy, but it seemed he had tried his best not to put his weight on her.

‘After trying so hard to hide it yesterday…’

It was somehow funny how he was now sleeping while openly showing his back, like he’s telling her to look all she wanted.

Naturally, she found herself examining the patterns on his back more closely. The complex, multi-layered patterns that filled his broad back extended not only across his back but also over his rear shoulder, down his forearm, and up to above his wrist.

Since it didn’t wrap around the entire arm but only followed the back of it, it seemed like it wouldn’t be visible from the front.

Perhaps because of the area, the pattern on his arm looked less like geometric shapes and more like long written text.

‘…Wait.’

It’s not just that it looks like written text… it is text drawn like patterns?

“…Oh, oh…? Oh!”

Saena quickly lifted his arm to bring it before her eyes and traced the patterns with her hand. With wide eyes, Saena pressed herself against his back. Her hands frantically traced various parts of his back.

He startled awake at the contact, but Saena was too absorbed in examining his back to notice.

“S-Saya?”

“…My goodness.”

His back tensed again at her touch around his shoulder blade, but Saena moved her hands and gaze along the patterns as if entranced. Her upper body folded over his head as she leaned forward.

“Ungh.”

When not only her touch but also her breath reached his more sensitive side, he could no longer endure and grabbed her wrist.

“Wait… just wait a moment.”

“W-why, hah, why are you d-doing this?”

Unable to stop her more forcefully, Constantine bit his lip while flinching at her touches.

“…No matter how I look at it…”

“…Ugh.”

“It’s Arlesian, isn’t it?”

“……”

“This is a grammar structure I’ve never seen before. Wow, this…! Ah!”

He shuddered at the feeling of her small hands freely caressing his bare skin. Unable to endure any longer with his lower half already making its demands known, he grabbed her and pushed her down onto the bed.

Thump.

Though she suddenly found herself trapped beneath him, her mind was completely sold on the newly discovered grammar structure.

“This could be a major discovery!”

Her purple eyes sparkled with interest, completely oblivious to the state of his lower half.

“Please let me examine it a bit more, okay?”

No, beyond examining, she needed to strip him down(?) and copy everything down.

Saena had a feeling. She was confident that if she combined the Arlesian structure on Constantine’s back with the structure in that book she bought from Bellua Antiquarian Bookstore, she could surpass her previous life’s translation level!

Plus, there was the black diamond too!

Her eyes gleamed with promising anticipation as they intensely examined his body. As if she could see through to text that wasn’t even on his front.

Since it was his first time receiving such a gaze from her, Constantine felt his body tensing with each movement of her eyes.

“W-wait. Saya…!”

In her efforts to try to see more of his back by hugging him and craning her neck around, she ended up pressing his face into her chest, though she remained unaware.

Her legs flailing for balance pushed up her nightgown, gradually revealing white skin, and she was clinging to him in this state, but again, she remained unaware.

All of this felt like t*rture(?) to Constantine.

It even felt as if someone was whispering, “With this much, can you really hold back?”

“Ha… d*mn it.”

He simply couldn’t resist the soft sensation rubbing against his cheeks. He reflexively opened his mouth.

“…Eek?!”

Saena was startled at the sudden feeling of teeth on her skin.

He pressed his palm against her back to pull her closer as he opened his mouth wider to take in more of her flesh. The fabric of her nightgown became wet as he bit through it.

“Ah, C-Constantine.”

As the wet fabric clung to her sensitive area and rubbed against her n*pple, Saena stopped her exploration of his back. Soon, another hand gently grasped and began massaging her other br*ast.

“Mmnh. S-suddenly… ungh.”

Saena curled her fingers against his back at the sensation of his gentle nibbling. As her fingers closed, they lightly scratched his back. His back twitched reflexively as he simultaneously pressed his fingertip firmly against her peak on the side he was holding.

“Ahh!”

At the tingling stimulation, Saena trembled and pushed against his shoulders. He pulled back slightly and looked up at her.

“…Saya, can I… can I touch you more?”

Saena looked at him with wavering eyes at the sudden change in atmosphere.

“If you don’t hate my touch… let me do a bit more… okay?”

“B-but…”

Since their marital relations had been fixed to only happening at night, this was extremely embarrassing.

It also felt much more obscene because in this brightness, the marks where he had thoroughly sucked and wet her chest area were more clearly visible, making the same act feel much more lewd.

“It’s so bright, that’s a bit…”

An atmosphere like this on a bright early morning…

Not to mention, after what happened yesterday in broad daylight, she felt some reluctance.

“Well… I suppose you would hate it.”

He still seemed to be sensitively watching her reaction to the patterns on his back.

“You don’t hate me, or find me repulsive… do you?”

“Huh? No, that’s not it.”

This was sincere. She could understand his position so easily, to an extent that even she couldn’t comprehend, that her resentment towards him was brief.

Some might say she had no backbone, but that’s how it was for Saena.

“Hah.”

Constantine buried his face in the pillow with a deep sigh that could have been relief or something else.

He seemed to be feeling self-loathing, or perhaps embarrassment.

In that position, his back once again vividly revealed its form, and Saena found her gaze drawn to it as if enchanted. Her intense eyes traced along his back muscles, like she’s trying to excavate the engraved letters.

Her hand reached out following her gaze. Saena’s hand arbitrarily pressed against the side of his shoulder blade, tracing the gaps between what appeared to be strangely split letters.

“Ungh, Saena…!”

And once again, he grabbed her wrist.

“Ah, the letters… the Arlesian letter forms are fascinating…”

Saena, somewhat regaining her senses, offered her excuse.

“Hah, you really…”

Constantine pulled her into a half-embrace with a sigh-like smile, then brought his other hand to Saena’s back. His long fingers slowly traced along the hollow of her central spine.

“Ungh. Why are you…”

The wandering hand gently stroked her side with its back, then moved up to softly caress her shoulder blade. Despite it being her back, his touch was overly conscious, making her shoulders shrink.

“This is what you did to me.”

“Ah.”

She had never thought the back was such a sensitive area, but when it was his hand rather than her own touching it, the sensation felt very strange.

As she unconsciously blushed, he looked down at her intently and moved his hand a bit more.

“Like this.”

Perhaps because his hand was so large, while touching her shoulder blade, his thumb dug into the sensitive area under her armpit.

Like he might trace the outline of the rounded area at any moment.

‘Was it this sensitive?’

She only wanted to see the Arlesian letters more clearly…

Suddenly, she felt like she had committed an enormous act of molestation.

“I-I’m sorry.”

The words of apology reflexively escaped Saena’s lips.

“…I wasn’t looking for an apology though.”

“Then what?”

Constantine’s expression became somewhat similar to when he had buried his face in the pillow earlier, and he let out another soft sigh.

“…Nothing.”

“……”

“Just, you… don’t need to apologize. You haven’t done anything wrong to me.”

He patted her and got up in a somewhat awkward posture.

“Let’s sleep more.”

Then he left the bedroom in an even more awkward manner.

Watching his back covered in dense patterns disappear through the door, Saena slowly closed her eyes.

Right, though the sun had risen, it was still early morning, and perhaps due to the excessive stress of the past few days, she wanted to sleep a bit more.

Saena drifted into dreams amid the scent of Constantine lingering in the bedding.

* * *

After Constantine revealed the secret of his back and they went through their own process of reconciliation, they lived a daily life similar to before.

No, it seemed somewhat different.

No, no. Not just somewhat, but quite different?

If there was the biggest change, it might be his casualness. Now he began to strip off his clothes unhesitatingly in front of her, and showed no hesitation in revealing his back under the sun.