Let’s see… I need to think.

Why did things turn out like this?

And so, I rack my brain as hard as I can.

Not only is Aslin clinging to my side, but she’s wrapped her arms around me, sleeping with a soft smile on her face—so close that I can’t even think straight.

The heat rising to my head is making it impossible to think clearly.

Still, I can’t afford to slack off.

Because if I do, I won’t survive.

Right, this all started a few days ago when I had a deep conversation with Aslin.

From the day I comforted her as she wept, things like this had been brewing little by little.

Now, feeling Aslin’s warmth as she clings to me with no sign of letting go, my mind drifts back to the not-so-distant past.

****

From the moment the day ended after an honest conversation with Aslin and the next day began, things had been peaceful.

Though I was aware that, in a sense, I was a hostage even as I benefited from Aslin’s care, life proceeded uneventfully.

It was such a peaceful daily routine that calling it uneventful life in the duke’s estate seemed fitting.

That’s not to say there weren’t any chaotic moments.

Take, for example, the time Aslin got injured while subduing a rampaging beast thanks to that lunatic, Khalid.

Although Aslin’s body had healed, we didn’t let her join the subjugation efforts against the beasts sporadically invading from beyond the Zakarat Mountains. The rest of us insisted she rest.

Instead, the Knights of Broad Wing successfully divided their forces to handle the beasts scattered like a web, preventing significant damage to the territory.

Once the subjugation ended, matters like rewarding the knights for their achievements and compensating residents for their losses became pressing issues.

Even this was handled smoothly, thanks to Aslin, who channeled her frustration at not joining the front lines into efficiently managing the post-subjugation tasks.

When I first served as my brother’s escort and aide in secret while being forcibly brought to the Sword Mansion, I couldn’t help but admire how seamlessly he handled the affairs of the count’s domain.

But Aslin went above and beyond. She not only managed the beast subjugation but also addressed the resulting issues with exceptional skill.

Truly, she seemed every bit the rightful heir to inherit a duchy far grander than a count’s estate.

I was so mesmerized by her handling of affairs that I got caught staring blankly at her.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” she asked, curious.

When I mentioned that she was more adept at desk work than I had expected, she misunderstood me, puffed out her cheeks indignantly, and almost got upset. Calming her down was quite the ordeal.

Life in the duke’s estate was the definition of peace itself.

Amid this peaceful flow of time, I spent my days pretending to assist the busy Aslin, killing time in moderation.

In my free moments, I focused on recovering my damaged mana core.

Time passed quickly, and before I knew it, days were flying by.

In hindsight, I can’t exactly call such uneventful days anything but ordinary.

Of course, even amidst such ordinary times, challenges were not entirely absent.

For instance, there were moments when Aslin, buried in paperwork, would request a sparring session to stretch her stiff body.

It might seem absurd that her way of relieving stiffness was not resting but engaging in sparring with real swords. But knowing Aslin’s tendency to invoke her family’s tradition as an excuse to demand bouts with me since our first night together, it wasn’t surprising.

In fact, I found myself wondering how she had restrained herself for so long and decided to humor her.

However, just because I anticipated her actions didn’t mean sparring with her was any less challenging.

Aslin was strong.

The injury she had sustained from Khalid’s surprise attack had long healed, and with my mana core still incomplete, she was far more vigorous than I was.

Her overwhelming swordsmanship—utterly incongruous with her beautiful face—was a stark reminder of why she was called The Sword Demon.

With my incomplete condition, simply blocking or dodging her attacks was grueling.

But Aslin, perceptive as ever, perfectly gauged my state and refrained from using her full strength or battle aura. Thanks to her consideration, I managed to barely hold my own.

Our sparring sessions always began evenly matched and ended the same way—stalemates.

In other words, every match ended in a draw.

Someone once said, “Every trial that doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” While not exactly the same, every sparring session with Aslin honed my skills further.

Our duels, contrasting two entirely different styles of swordsmanship, pushed us both to new heights.

Had we crossed swords on the battlefield instead, I wouldn’t have had time for such leisurely reflections. I’d have become another stain of blood on her greatsword.

But since our sparring was meant to test our skills rather than settle life-or-death matters, neither of us found it problematic.

If there was an issue…

“It’s truly exciting to imagine how strong you’ll be once you’re fully healed.”

At the end of every spar, Aslin would flash a radiant smile, her voice polite yet brimming with anticipation.

And I swear, facing that bright smile was more torturous than blocking her relentless strikes.

Not for any particular reason—just that her unguarded smile seemed to deal critical damage to my already fragile state of mind.

Where is it fatally bad, you ask? …Of course, it’s my heart.

The shock my body endures when parrying or deflecting Aslin’s fierce strikes with her powerful sword may heal with time.

But if something goes wrong with my heart, no one can recover from that—they just die on the spot. It’s fatally dangerous.

…Ahem. Have I strayed too far from the topic?

Anyway, aside from a few minor issues like that, there hadn’t been any major problems with my daily routine.

For a while, I thought I’d be able to live here comfortably without much trouble.

But I never imagined that my bedtime routine would become an unexpected hurdle, one that would torment me.

At first, there wasn’t much issue with sharing a bed.

I had even corrected Aslin’s habit of drowning herself in alcohol when she couldn’t sleep, so the bedroom no longer reeked of booze.

In the first few days, Aslin struggled to fall asleep despite lying down, but over time, she got used to it and began sleeping soundly. Seeing her peaceful expression as she slept became my own nightly ritual, reassuring me and lulling me to sleep.

“We were definitely getting closer.”

I carefully recalled the situation, being mindful not to wake Aslin, who showed no intention of letting go of me.

It was about four days ago that I first noticed something odd during what should have been a peaceful night’s rest.

The distance between Aslin and me—once clearly defined even when we shared the same bed—had started to shrink.

At first, I didn’t think much of it. I got up and began my day as usual.

But the next day, when that distance grew even smaller, I began to feel a strange unease. Still, I chalked it up to being overly sensitive and dismissed it.

Yet, the most alarming moment since setting foot in the Sword Duke’s estate occurred the morning after that.

“My heart nearly stopped.”

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw—right in front of me—was Aslin’s sleeping face.

The sudden sight of her so close startled me so much that I genuinely thought my heart would stop.

I’m not joking. Opening my eyes to find Aslin, smiling softly in her sleep, felt like being greeted by an angel declaring my death sentence.

Someone might scoff at me, asking why I’m making such a fuss over something as trivial as a decrease in distance.

But if anyone dared to mock me like that, I’d confidently retort:

“How could anyone endure such a beautiful creature suddenly closing the gap on a bed like this?”

Legally speaking—

“…But that ends today.”

Those were the words I muttered last night, as I prepared for bed.

Sitting at the table, I reflected on everything that had happened and resolved firmly:

“…I need to avoid being caught off guard and dying helplessly.”

Believe me. That was my solemn vow, without an ounce of falsehood.

It was a steadfast oath to block Aslin’s approach entirely.

But no matter how resolute my vow had been…

When I woke up, there she was, openly clinging to me with both arms wrapped around me.

“…Haa.”

Returning to the present, I let out a deep sigh, lamenting my inability to even get out of bed.

No exaggeration—facing the beasts that wreaked havoc across the Zakarat Mountains, even their commanding high demon, had been less overwhelming than this.

But in the Demon Realm, as long as you keep your wits about you, you can find a way to survive.

“Huff… huff…”

Taking deep breaths at a volume that wouldn’t wake Aslin, I reflected on what had gone wrong last night for me to let Aslin’s “invasion” happen so easily.

####

Let’s rewind time for a moment. To last evening, just after finishing my daily tasks, meditating, and practicing the breathing techniques necessary to repair my damaged mana core—a point when a pleasant sense of fatigue began to settle in.

Having completed my meditation and prepared for bed, I reflected on the vulnerability I’d displayed over the past few days. Determined not to fall victim to Aslin again, I made a firm resolution for the night.

“This might be boring for you, but letting you wander around the Duke’s residence freely might cause some people to take issue. So, I ask for your patience.”

Aslin’s polite apology, referring to the strict limitations on my movement, wasn’t anything significant, but it still caught my attention.

“I wouldn’t mind being banned from leaving forever. Don’t feel too guilty about it.”

I accepted her apology with a calm demeanor, which seemed to surprise her.

“You know… I felt this on the battlefield too, but despite how you look, you’ve got a surprisingly soft side.”

“That’s the first time I’ve heard that from someone like you.”

“From the way you act, I’d think people say that about you all the time.”

“I guess I’ve been treating you differently because I think of you as my savior. Normally, I’m lucky if people don’t call me cold-hearted.”

“So, what you’re saying is… this is all just for me?”

“Take it however you want…”

“Hm…”

Aslin let out a pleased hum at my words, and with that, our conversation ended. Before I knew it, we had both lain down to sleep.

“Rest well…”

Her words, polite yet oddly warm, were the last sounds before silence enveloped the room.

‘She really is beautiful.’

I found myself confirming that Aslin’s sleeping face was as beautiful as ever before I surrendered to the pull of sleep, marking the end of my day.

Even as I drifted off, I took extra precautions, lying farther from her usual spot in bed to ensure that she wouldn’t approach me even in her sleep.

‘This should be fine, right?’

With that confident thought, I closed my eyes in peace.

The moment I woke up, though, I realized how arrogant that assumption had been.

The first thing I noticed as my groggy mind surfaced was a pleasant scent wafting into my nose.

It was the kind of refreshing fragrance that naturally put people at ease—too genuine to be from perfume, too perfect to be artificial.

Then, my other senses kicked in. Something incredibly soft was wrapped around my upper body.

‘…Soft?’

Even in my half-awake state, the realization jolted me awake, and my eyes fluttered open.

The third thing I noticed was a breathtaking cascade of blue waves filling my vision.

That’s when I pieced it all together.

The pleasant scent was Aslin’s natural fragrance, emanating from her body now pressed so close to mine that there was practically no distance left between us.

The soft sensation wrapping around me? That was her body, embracing my upper half just as I had embraced her a few days prior.

And the beautiful blue waves? That was her hair—so striking that my gaze instinctively sought it whenever I looked at her.

To top it off, I became acutely aware of how light and airy her current attire was—a far cry from the fully-covered outfits she used to wear.

Once I noticed all this, my heart began racing wildly.

Thump-thump-thump—

A heart rate that wouldn’t even flinch during intense battles now roared like a war drum, leaving me at a loss.

‘Dear gods…’

For the first time—even in war, I’d never done this—I found myself praying.

‘Please, just help me get out of this.’

Returning to the present, I struggled to think of a way to escape from Aslin, who still had me locked in her embrace. My arms were pinned, leaving me unable to move freely, and my mind was racing for a solution.

Breaking out of Aslin’s embrace felt more challenging than strategizing how to break through a monster-surrounded front line to secure an escape route.

I kept wracking my brain, hoping for an easier way to slip away.

But no matter how much I thought about it, the answer was always the same.

“…Aslin? I know you’re just pretending to sleep.”

I deliberately raised my voice, hoping to wake her up.

“…Mmm.”

But all I got in response was a soft murmur, proof that she was still lost in her dreams.

Gulp.

I moved with excruciating care, questioning if I had ever acted so cautiously in my life, as I painstakingly slipped out of Aslin’s arms.

It was such a simple task—just getting out of her embrace—but it still took me a full three minutes.

The absurdity of spending three entire minutes simply to sit up in bed and move away made me sigh internally.

“Whew…”

But I couldn’t help but smile in relief, knowing that I’d managed to escape without waking her. She was still peacefully asleep.

…I decided that I’d wash my face and start the day with some sword practice in the training hall I was free to use.

Resolving this silently, I went to retrieve a change of clothes from the small room adjacent to the bedroom that had been assigned to me.

####

Creak—!!

Even though He carefully closed the door with the gentlest touch, the faint creak of the hinge echoed through the room.

The bedroom, noisy only moments ago thanks to wildly pounding heart, fell silent once more.

“….”

But that silence didn’t last.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Aslin’s upper body shot up from the bed like a spring.

Her face, full of vitality that belied the fact she’d just woken up, was remarkable.

Normally, at this point, she would climb out of bed, fix her hair, and prepare herself for the day.

But for some reason, Aslin decided to direct that energy elsewhere this morning.

Her cheeks puffed up defiantly.

Her emerald eyes, bright and lively despite her just-awakened state, showed the unmistakable frustration of someone annoyed with an absent party.

Her brows and the corners of her eyes arched slightly, revealing her dissatisfaction.

“…Idiot.”

Her lips, slightly pursed in a pout, let the word slip out, directed at someone no longer present in the room.

No doubt, Endymion was now somewhere outside, relieved to have narrowly escaped the clutches of her deadly beauty.

But what he didn’t realize was this:

His act of peeling away from Aslin and sneaking out of the room would ensure that today, he’d suffer more than he could imagine because of her.