By Zephyria 
Just in case, I had brushed my teeth before coming, but perhaps because Yeldidus had chattered for so long, the taste of alcohol lingered on the tip of my tongue again.
Occasionally, her voice sounded distant, then close. From her exaggerated laughter and the way she spoke faster than usual, I could clearly feel her strong determination to ensure she wouldn’t be linked to me or misunderstood.
It was funny, absurd, and also… also.
As if she hadn’t been so heartbroken that she felt like she was dying, my heart melted away.
While I exchanged a conversation—if you could even call it that—with Hestia, Mikael’s gaze lingered on me several times. Every time his softened eyes quietly observed me, I felt a tickle deep in my gut.
How much time had passed?
Yeldidus, who had been laughing and chatting like a madwoman, finally left.
At that moment, I was gripping Mikael’s sleeve tightly. I didn’t want to let go again. Even without holding on, I felt as if his warm body heat was being transmitted to me.
Maybe it was because I felt relieved. I was sleepy. It was the moment I let the strength leave my body and slumped over.
Mikael’s hand—the opposite hand that I wasn’t holding—lightly touched a palm’s width above my navel.
I sobered up instantly. I couldn’t even take a proper breath. Pop. The sound of a button undoing sounded incredibly loud.
From the fourth button from the top, then below, and below… Even at the slightest contact, the fine hairs all over my body stood on end. With a dull tongue, I lightly traced the inside of my canine tooth to check the inside of my mouth once more. I… I was ready. It would be okay.
Tense, I stole a glance upward. Mikael had a benevolent and tender expression. Seeing the awkwardness that had seeped into his face instead of a flush, I knew it wasn’t meant in that way.
Was he disappointed? …A little.
I lowered my gaze. Mikael was re-fastening my buttons. Why does my lover only know how to fasten buttons and not how to undo them…? A hollow laugh escaped me. Still, I decided to be satisfied with the fact that such trivial contact had become natural between us.
Watching him quietly, I leaned against Mikael’s shoulder. I burrowed into his embrace. Every time I took a deep breath, his familiar scent filled my lungs.
I realize now that I had been living like a fish out of water. I didn’t want to leave this embrace. So, I immediately started whining and whimpering.
“…I thought you’d just leave and not come back.”
“…That is.”
“I did do something wrong. I thought you didn’t want to hear my excuses. You wouldn’t even look at me, wouldn’t let me near you… Without me knowing, I thought you… that you had stopped liking me, just like at the beginning…”
I whimpered and acted like a little puppy. I rubbed my cheek against Mikael’s chest with all my might and hugged his broad back. I pushed against him with my whole body, leaning in with my full weight. I made murmuring sounds like a baby animal and brought out every bit of aegyo I could muster to show how sorrowful I was.
In response, Mikael hugged my shoulders and patted my back. Letting out a shallow sigh, he indulged all my spoiled behavior.
And he apologized.
“I am sorry.”
“…Why are you?”
“I acted narrow-minded. I said I was fine, but I realize now that I was cold toward Ruben.”
So it really wasn’t my misunderstanding or a delusion; he had simply been… jealous.
I couldn’t believe it.
Of course, early in our relationship, Mikael had mentioned in his own words that he felt jealousy. There were times when his eyes grew sharp when I came home late after drinking, or when I saw Viscount Miguel Ereira in Yulan.
But to me, it didn’t look like jealousy. I thought those were just gifts he gave me to soothe me, since I was the one who constantly got heated over trivial matters. To me, jealousy wasn’t an emotion that could be cleared away so simply.
Mikael always just pretended to complain for a very short time and then smiled generously…
Still, what I had to say now was already decided. Like a butterfly exhausted from a long flight, I let my shoulders slump and whispered, pretending to be utterly pitiful.
“You can stop apologizing. I’m the one who should be sorry. If you had told me you were escorting another woman… another person, I would have acted even meaner than you.”
“Even though such a thing would never happen.”
Ah. At the firm answer, I almost burst out laughing unconsciously.
But I held it in. I lifted my head from his broad chest and gazed steadily at Mika. Now, Mika doesn’t avoid my eyes.
A tender blue light scanned me slowly. Within that gaze, I finally become complete.
“Yeah, I know… but still.”
Cowering slightly, I thought to myself. Still, it would be better to keep the Grimsbein Territory prepared as Mikael’s share.
It was a misunderstanding this time, but just in case.
* * *
I had a wonderful birthday.
On my wrist was a blue sapphire bracelet with the exact same color, saturation, and brightness as Mikael’s eyes. The gold content was appropriate, and the rose cut and bezel setting were clean. It was the work of Luceno, a rising artisan currently being promoted by the Barhelin family, who are famous for colored gems.
What a relief. At this level, I could wear it every day even in the capital.
I had been upset that he went out to play with friends the day before my birthday without any notice, but it turns out they did that to choose my birthday present together. How did he come up with such a clever idea? I kept smiling every time I looked at the bracelet.
As soon as morning came, I had a servant contact Luceno separately. I ordered him to produce an obsidian bracelet of the same design for Mikael to use. Since production would take about three months, I decided to give it as a New Year’s gift.
The plan for Floyd’s deployment also proceeded without a hitch.
The existence of the two gods provided great advantages in many ways. It would have been better if the First Goddess, the highest god, were in place, but knowing that our adversary was the Ninth God was very encouraging. While the pressure from the Temple remained effective, several of the First Prince’s faction nobles who had been acting out shut their mouths.
It was also good that Spiritus opened portals dozens of times personally, even while not hiding his annoyance. Thanks to that, we didn’t have to worry about Floyd’s harassing attacks during long-distance travel, and we were able to promptly convene a meeting of the Empire’s leadership to fight the war against Floyd through legitimate procedures.
It happened at midnight on November 6th, four days before the deployment.
During the 12th simulated march meeting, Philip Swanson, wearing an ambiguous expression, handed me a note. It was news that Mikael had entered my bedroom at this hour.
I read it three times in a row, wondering if I had forgotten the common language of the continent, but the black letters engraved on the white note did not change.
Mikael, in my bedroom?
Why?
Of course, I spent time with Mika whenever I had a spare moment. But those times weren’t particularly secret. My conservative and modest lover still seemed to have no intention of allowing anything beyond lips.
Was he anxious ahead of the great war? What if he heard some nonsense somewhere? With those thoughts, I hurried to end the meeting. Before returning to my room, just in case, I used a Clean Artifact and reapplied the holy oil.
Then, Mikael lifted me up and sat me on the bed, and in a very fast voice, he said something truly strange.
“I thought you might be fatigued after today. Facing each other is nice, but… before it gets any later, I will perform a brief Acupressure and Blood Manipulation for you before I go. I will hear the rest of the story during the day.”
“…Huh?”
What is Acupressure and Blood Manipulation?
I tried my best to listen to the following explanation with the most wholesome mind possible.
The claim that he would strike and knead the bones and muscles of the body to realign them, directly contact the mana pathways inside the body to activate the Minor Meridians, and assemble the body to be suitable for martial arts… to my ears, it didn’t sound much different from a massage.
And on the day Mikael gave me a massage, we had our first kiss.
No way, no way. Could it be? No, surely not.
Still, I obediently lay face down on the bed as told. It seemed he was going to start with the back again. I tried not to have excessive expectations, but it wasn’t easy. It was the moment I bit my lower lip with a shy and fluttering heart.
The moment Mikael’s middle finger brushed a spot between my collarbone and shoulder, my entire body froze with a tingling sensation.
“…Eh? Wait, Mika. My body…”
“You’ve simply become unable to move. It’s okay to make noise… but it’s better to endure it. Breathe comfortably.”
I couldn’t move a single fingertip. Last time when I received the massage, if it got a bit ticklish, I could twist my body, act spoiled and hug Mika once in a while, or grip the bedsheets, but now I couldn’t.
Is he trying some kind of manic play? No, no. Mikael is not the type of person to enjoy making his lover like a log on the bed.
I was so bewildered that I half lost my mind. Moreover, the first place Mikael’s hand touched wasn’t the shoulder or near the shoulder blade.
“This will hurt a little.”
“What?”
The hand that gripped the back of my thigh without hesitation was hot and large. And it was surprisingly rough. Goosebumps broke out at the hand that gripped me tightly enough to be slightly painful.
While I couldn’t say a word, Mikael’s hand dove between my groin as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“…Hic! Mi, Mika.”
“Yes.”
“Th-there. Wait, wait a second…”
“It will be over soon.”
But right now, your thumb feels like it’s about to touch my… thing.
Because I had placed a pillow slightly under my chin when I first lay down, I couldn’t hide my expression. The expectations that had soared high had long since collapsed, but heat rushed through my entire body due to the shame that surged even more violently.
Powerful fingertips pressed and scraped down from the upper part of the adductor muscles on the inner thigh to the lower part.
It hurts, it hurts.
I was originally good at enduring pain. But when it was Mikael’s hand, it wasn’t easy. Under the hand that delicately found the gaps between the muscle fibers to press the most painful parts, then rubbed gently as if to soothe, and then gripped tightly enough to hurt again, I…
“Ah.”
“…Hmm. You weren’t like this before, but your waist is a bit crooked. It seems you’ve been sitting with your legs crossed often lately…”
…Fuck, no, no, right now…
Why is the Dantian located below the navel? If it were near the chest like a general Circle, it would have been better. No, that probably would have been a problem too.
Regardless of whether I was horrified, Mikael kept talking nonsense about how he had to make my Dantian flexible, and he meticulously pressed from the lower back to the back of the knee several times.
If my body were functioning, I would have run away, but since I was stuck unable to move, I felt like I was going crazy.
Occasionally, Mikael used the edge of his hand to rhythmically tap from my shoulder blades to the top of my tailbone. My body sank into the mattress with those blunt touches. A gasp escaped me. My genitals, which had been rubbed and pressed against the bed several times, grew hot.
In short, it felt like I was receiving a pressurized masturbation via Mikael’s hands.
“Ugh, ngh…”
“Don’t hold your breath, Ruben. If it hurts too much, tell me.”
“It, it hurts. It hurts, it hurts, Mika.”
“…Already? Yes. I will do it more gently.”
“…That! Hagh, hnghh, ngh…”
The tapping hand rested tenderly. He rubbed slowly, tickling the area around my pelvis. Then he moved down again, pressing firmly and slowly from the back of the thigh to the inside. Goosebumps rose as mana that wasn’t mine wrapped around my body at will.
Ah, no. I couldn’t come now. I trembled with a body that had no strength. Now, unable to even shrink away simply, I was completely…
“Hmm. Now I will count to three. Hold your breath for a moment.”
“…Hng, ugh, ngh…”
“One, two… three.”
“Hagh!”
Crack. A sound echoed, and my pelvis… was aligned.
Mikael’s laughter poured ticklishly behind my back. His hot hand swept my hair to one side, exposing my neck. I was the only one irritated by his refreshing touch.
No, no, fuck. Really? You’re really okay after making me look like this? Do you not know where and how your hand is holding me right now? Fuck, just because your hand touched me, I’m so tense deep inside…
I was so curious about what kind of expression he was making, but I was anxious because I couldn’t look back. Mikael whispered in a very softened, soothing voice.
“I think the preparations are now complete. Since I’ve aligned the center of your body, I intend to awaken the Minor Meridians of your entire body. It might feel a bit hot.”
“Wa-wait. Mika, I, breath. Give me some breath…”
“Yes. Breathe comfortably… once you’ve caught your breath, I’ll begin immediately. I won’t be able to speak while I’m concentrating. But don’t be afraid, Ruben. I wouldn’t do anything that would harm you.”
Whether it harms me or not isn’t the problem… I resisted with all my might. But Mikael didn’t listen to a word I said.