Chapter 74

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Stay
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After blinking a few times through my blurry vision.

*Did I see it wrong because of the pain?*

I thought I’d seen a flash of a cold sneer, but a gentle smile had already spread across Diello’s face.

“Their plan may have failed, but in the end, I somehow gained control over fire and was able to meet you, Croire. So I resent them a little less.”

“They” clearly referred to the former duke and duchess.

*The plan failed, but he gained fire control?*

*So they didn't just leave him in the fire to make him gain control over it—they had another purpose?*

His words didn’t quite add up.

But I didn’t want to dig any deeper into his memories.

Even if he spoke of it calmly, it was still an incident where the parents, who were a child’s whole world, had thrown him into a pit of fire.

It was blatant abuse.

There was no need to make him recall it any further.

“Rest,” he whispered, covering my eyes with his hand, but I forced them open.

There was something I had to ask.

Even in my hazy state, the memory of his pained expression in the sea was vivid.

“……But if you hated going into the water, then why, at the pool……?”

Not the sea this time, but the swimming pool.

At my added words, Diello gave a faint smile.

“That water must have had my magic in it as well.”

The sea was vast.

But the water in the pool was less than a puddle in comparison.

Naturally, the concentration of magic would have been far greater in the pool.

“Does it… affect you badly? If you touch water containing my magic?”

I asked, studying him carefully.

“I’m fine, now.”

Which meant he wasn’t fine before. I was momentarily speechless.

Diello caressed the back of my hand.

“Really.”

I couldn’t say anything for a moment.

His sparkling eyes showed he wasn’t lying.

“……What is it like?”

When you touch the water. After a slight hesitation, Diello answered.

“It stings.”

As if I were submerged in electrified water.

I shuddered slightly at his words.

“……Doesn’t that hurt a lot?”

“The stronger the magic, the more it does.”

Diello finally admitted.

*So he endured that pain to stay by my side for hours?*

‘My lord!’

I thought I finally understood why Pielle had pulled Diello out with such a shocked expression.

She might have been less surprised that he had abandoned his work and run off, and more shocked that he had submerged himself in water deeply infused with my magic.

“Why did you do it?”

He must have been enduring the pain the whole time we were in the pool together.

The memory of his face at the sea was so clear that my voice came out demanding, without me realizing it.

“……Is it because I’m leaving soon?”

*So you wanted to give me everything I wanted?*

The words I had been holding back slipped out.

No, perhaps what I really wanted to ask was something else entirely.

But I was already struggling just to cool my burning eyes.

At my question, Diello immediately shook his head.

“No.”

If not that, then. I was about to sit up.

Diello gently pushed my body back down onto the bed.

*Thump.*

After gently laying me down, he covered me with the blanket and whispered.

“Because I want to make you stay.”

As he spoke, his eyes met mine.

They were the same clear blue as always. There was no sign of his magic running rampant.

He meant it… sincerely.

“Because I want you to remain here.”

*If you do, I can endure any pain and give you anything you desire.*

So.

“Don’t leave, Croire.”

With a trembling voice, he placed his arm between my neck and shoulder.

The bed creaked softly under his weight.

And the moment I registered the sound, he was above me.

*Peck.*

He kissed my forehead and looked down at me from an incredibly close distance.

My surroundings instantly grew dark.

I couldn’t tell if my vision had dimmed or if the lights, imbued with his magic, had all faded.

The only thing in my sight was Diello.

“Ah.”

A short breath escaped me.

Too close.

“Diel—”

The moment I opened my mouth to call his name, he softly pressed inside.

“……!”

Wrapping a hand around the back of my neck, he collapsed onto me.

As if the reason that had been supporting him had vanished.

His arm, bent sharply, barely managed to prop him up beside me.

He gently claimed my upper lip, then delved deeper.

If not for the single layer of the blanket he himself had covered me with, his heat might have truly engulfed my entire body.

That’s how it felt.

From his breath that craved my lips, and from his piercing blue gaze that never left mine.

But even as he pushed his knee between my legs, he never once disturbed the single blanket he had laid over me.

“……!”

I didn’t know how long that long kiss, a mixture of warmth and heat, continued.

The only breath I took was what he gave me, and through my hazy mind, I heard his voice.

“Stay like this, please.”

*Please, just stay like this.*

“Diello, this is……”

I thought I could hear the sound of him gripping the bedsheets tightly by my ear.

Closer, hotter than usual.

He wasn’t supposed to be like this.

He wasn’t supposed to get this close.

My head spinning, I was confused whether this was a dream or reality.

As I was thinking that, Diello whispered.

“If you’re surprised, if it feels strange, then it’s all a dream, Croire.”

I could feel the distinct sensation of his lips moving.

“……!”

As soon as I managed to take a breath, he kissed me again.

I could see his eyes, fringed with long lashes.

His clouded, shadowed eyes were watching me intently.

Those eyes, which always held a gentle smile, seemed a little… distorted.

He pulled my neck, my body, into a tight embrace. As if to keep me from going anywhere else.

“If you don’t like it, you can push me away, Croire.”

He whispered to me as I struggled to breathe.

“If you don’t want to. Or even if you just hesitate.”

He pleaded.

“Just stay like this.”

*Don’t think about anything. Just entrust yourself to me.*

*Don’t think about complicated things.*

“While taking what you desire.”

Then, he nibbled my earlobe and said in a low voice.

“I hope that what you desire is me.”

A sensual thrill shot through me, starting from my ear.

My hand, gripping the bedsheet, tightened unconsciously.

But only for a moment.

His hand, having found mine at some point, slipped under the blanket and enveloped it.

“I don’t care if I become a foolish lord who falls for Duke Alloje’s schemes,”

He said at the end of a deep kiss, his forehead pressed against mine as he smiled.

It was a clouded smile.

“I just want you to be here, Croire.”

Was it because my mind was hazy? Was it the lack of air?

Or was it because he was all I could see?

*Thump, thump, thump…*

My heart pounded violently. The more I met this man’s eyes, the faster and harder it beat.

*This can’t happen.*

*I can’t fall for this man.*

“Don’t think that it can’t.”

Just then, he cupped my cheek.

Amidst the heat, he whispered.

“Forget your plans, your rational thoughts. If you can’t.”

*If the wise Croire can’t help but whisper to herself that it’s impossible.*

“Then.”

Diello kissed me again.

His hand stroking the back of my neck was as hot as flowing lava, chilling, and yet, seductive.

I felt as if I were being bewitched by an incubus.

“Then just say that you fell for the crazed Diello Argenta.”

*That I clouded your wise mind.*

*That a foolish man endlessly tempted you.*

*And that you had no choice but to mercifully extend your hand.*

The corners of his eyes crinkled as a bewitching smile escaped him.

* * *

When I properly opened my eyes, I was in my bedroom at the mansion.

I couldn’t quite remember how I had gotten back.

No, on the way here…

‘Croire.’

I think I heard my name.

No, it felt like a darker, hotter shadow had emerged.

“Ah……”

I was trying to recall something beyond just a feeling.

“You’re awake?”

“Ah, Pielle.”

The moment our eyes met, an urgent question surfaced.

Pielle answered cleanly before I could even ask.

“The Kin Merchants and the shadow supply have been completely normalized. You don’t need to worry anymore.”

“Phew.”

Only after hearing that did my anxious heart begin to calm down.

“Was I out for a long time?”

I asked as I sat up.

Or rather, I tried to.

“……Ah.”

Just moving my arm slightly sent a wave of muscle aches through my entire body.

A stiff, pulling sensation filled my muscles, as if something were wedged between every fiber.

“Yes, you were unconscious the whole time. It will likely be difficult to move just yet. Shall I give you a massage?”

A surprised Pielle came over to support me. I managed a nod.

Even that small movement sent a jolt of pain through me, and I let out a shallow breath.

My body was sorer than on days I’d done strenuous exercise.

The aches and knots all over were incomparable to the time I fainted from using my water control ability.

“Nirua said that your body went into shock from releasing so much magic so suddenly.”

Pielle said to me after giving orders to bring scented oils.

“Ah……”

So it really was a side effect of using my ability so intensely.

The side effects varied from person to person, but if Nirua was right.

“Then the muscle pain will disappear once that’s taken care of?”

That was a hopeful sign. At my words, Pielle bowed her head slightly.

“Yes, but since it’s from magic clumping together as it was released, a normal massage might not be enough.”

“Then—”

I was about to continue.

*Click.*

“Excuse me.”

With a cautious voice, maids carrying scented oils and towels entered the room.

It was a familiar sight, as I’d had massages before.

But.

“……What are you doing there?”

Behind the maids stood someone who was definitely not usually there.

It was none other than.

“So you’ve found me.”

For someone who had been caught, Diello looked remarkably brazen.