Even if I’m told to stop
“What kind of reckless behavior would result in a body covered in scars like this…”
Someone muttered that right next to my ear. At the same time, our bare skin pressed together even closer, and the heat that had been swirling inside my body escaped into the warmth of that body.
“…I’ve been putting my efforts into this…If you don’t wake up, I won’t accept it.”
The voice, which seemed to be trembling slightly, sounded like it belonged to someone she knew well.
As I was remembering this, I opened my eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
She instinctively tried moving her limbs. The intense pain that had been tormenting her body completely disappeared, and when she tried to lift her arms, her palms came into view.
“— I’m alive.”
She was surprised at how hoarse her voice sounded, perhaps because it had been a while since she’d last spoken. When she tried to sit up, her joints moved on their own, and she sat down on the bed, letting out a small sigh.
“Did you miraculously survive…? Ah.”
Mitina looked around and spotted a man sleeping face down on the bed she had been lying in. The familiar, beautiful, platinum hair was unmistakably Kyelse’s.
“Kyelse-san…”
I tried calling his name softly, but he didn’t respond. I thought he might get angry if I touched him, but now that I was looking at him in such a defenseless sleeping state, it was too late. Thinking that, I reluctantly shook his shoulders. But…
“He’s not waking up… he’s fast asleep.”
I slowly looked into her face and saw her picturesque, graceful sleeping face. However, upon closer inspection, I could see dark circles under her eyes and her tired face. She kept her mouth shut.
(Kyelse, who is so particular about beauty, was up late at night…? Perhaps she has been nursing her ever since then.)
Then Mitina remembered the time she drank the water.
At first she was given water to drink from a pitcher, but she spat it out, so Kyelse ended up feeding her with it by mouth.
“…………”
Touching his own lips, he frowned at the indescribable sensation. He didn’t know what emotions were swirling in his chest, but at the same time, he imagined what Kyelse would say if she woke up, and a bad feeling began to creep up on him.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door. It was so sudden that I couldn’t respond and just remained silent. Then the door opened and Zeffen came in with a blanket in his hand.
“Hmm, Mitina. It looks like you’ve woken up.”
“Commander…”
“Good morning. Are you feeling better now?”
Hearing Zeffen’s usual calm voice, she sighed in relief. Kyelse’s appearance had seemed a little too unrealistic, and she wondered if she had already died and was having her final dream.
“I’m not in any pain anymore. My fever has completely gone down… how long was I asleep?”
“It’s been three days since we hurriedly brought him to the royal capital. The reason he recovered so quickly is because Kyelse was constantly by his side, using her vital energy.”
“Kyelse-dono…?”
As he covered Kyelse with the blanket he had brought, Zeffen said something shocking.
This means that the dark circles under his eyes were probably because he had been continuing to perform the secret technique, even sacrificing sleep.
“It didn’t have much effect on the poison, but it seemed to ease the pain and give you some strength. Make sure you thank him when you wake up.”
“Of course.”
She was worried about what kind of abuse Kyelse might have when she woke up, but more importantly, he was the one who saved Mitina’s life. No matter what kind of abuse she might hurled at her, she couldn’t complain.
“So, Mitina–“
“Hi.”
She let out a small shriek at Zeffen’s cold voice. The bed creaked slightly, and Zeffen, smiling but with no smile in his eyes, moved closer to her.
“I’ve told you many times to stop acting recklessly.”
“Y-yes…”
「You were simply lucky this time. If we had arrived at the royal capital a little later, you would have definitely died. It is almost a miracle that you are still alive and well.」
“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.”
Zeffen was usually a gentle man, but of course in a situation like this, he wouldn’t be able to just be gently scolded. Mitina, who had made a similar mistake in the past, flinched as the lightning quietly rained down on her.
“As punishment, you will have to return all allowances and rewards from this job.”
“N-No way! I went through all the effort of defeating him all by myself!”
“You have committed the most abhorrent act by fighting without regard for your own life. You cannot be rewarded for achievements that were made through mistakes.”
He was right. Mitina had fought dangerously and needed to be punished so she wouldn’t do it again. If she was given a reward, she would do it again just for the sake of it.
“I’m grateful that my entire reward wasn’t confiscated this time. And also… I’ll be supervising Mitina’s training for a week after you return.”
“…”
“Once again, I’ll thoroughly teach your body so that it can correct your weaknesses.”
To some people, those words may sound meaningful, but to Mitina, they are not even funny. For Zeffen to become an instructor would mean being trained so hard that he would be unable to eat lunch properly.
Although she had become a little stronger since she enlisted, there was no doubt that the training would be hellish.
“…But…”
Suddenly, the intimidating aura emanating from Zeffen disappeared, and a large hand stroked Mitina’s head. When she turned to look at him in surprise, she saw a gentle smile on his face.
“I’m so glad you woke up. Please don’t worry too much.”
“Zeffen, Captain…”
Having her head stroked like a child, Mitina felt embarrassed for some reason and her face turned red. However, since she had been scolded, she couldn’t tell him to stop stroking her, so she tried to keep doing it until Zeffen was satisfied, but…
Kyelse suddenly sat up. After staring at Mitina and Zeffen for a moment, she quickly brushed off Zeffen’s hand.
“Oops, sorry Kyelse, I think I woke you up.”
“It’s not about waking you up! Why are you here, Zeffen?”
“Why, I just came to check on my important subordinate…”
Kyelse glared at Zeffen with open hostility for some reason. Come to think of it, the two of them didn’t get along, or rather, Kyelse had always disliked Zeffen. Mitina remembered.
However, before they started a fight in a place like this, she called out Kyelse’s name.
“Kyelse, I heard from the commander that you treated me. Thank you, it was a great help.”
Kyelse glanced dully in Mitina’s direction. Perhaps because she hadn’t slept enough and had just woken up, her mind was still half-awake.
“Without me, you would have died. I am the one who saved your life. A single word of thanks like that is not enough. Try to praise me more.”
“As expected of a miracle user, Kyelse-dono is incredible, a knight among knights!”
“Are you seriously planning on being grateful?!”
Mitina, who had inadvertently responded to Kyelse’s extremely disrespectful attitude, kept her mouth shut. It was her usual habit to take advantage of the situation and provoke Kyelse.
No matter how annoying someone may be, you should always be polite to your benefactor, she scolded herself, and bowed her head again.
“I am truly grateful. This is an enormous debt, so I will put up with your selfishness for a while.”
“That’s so pointlessly condescending…”
“I don’t want to hear that from Kyelse-dono. But, well, you did make dark circles under my eyes for me. I’ll do whatever you ask, be it cooking or cleaning.”
When Mitina said that, Kyelse froze for some reason. When she tilted her head to the side, wondering what was wrong, he pulled out a mirror from nowhere and was speechless when he saw his own face.
Looking at Kyelse who ran out of the room without a word, she gave a wry smile. His sense of beauty would probably not allow for a face showing signs of lack of sleep and fatigue.
“Anyway, you should take it easy for a few more days. I’ll come and see you from time to time.”
“Yes. Thank you, Captain Zeffen.”
Mitina suffered no after-effects from the poison, and was in good spirits thanks to Kyelse’s vitality. As she was not able to calm down by just staying in bed, she did some exercise as part of her rehabilitation, but she still took care of her body.
During his rest, his colleagues, including Zeffen, came to visit him. When he arrived at Vite, he was poured over his head with water from a vase he had brought with him, so he struck him in the head with a chop.
Speaking of Kyelse, she didn’t come to visit during that time. However, it wasn’t like they were particularly close to begin with, so Mitina didn’t particularly mind, thinking she’d see her when she returned to the mansion.
After being safely released from the Knights’ treatment facility, Mitina returned to the mansion for the first time in several weeks. There, as soon as she opened the front door, she encountered Kyelse standing there with her arms around her.
“I’m back now…”
“You idiot knight, I’ll give you some valuable advice.”
“fart?”
While wondering when she’d become known by that nickname, she felt a little relieved to see that Kyelse had completely recovered from the haggard appearance she’d seen at the treatment facility. Normally, she would have told him to get out of the way, since he was being too nosy, but she kept her mouth shut and waited for him to speak.
“Quit being a Black Iron Knight. It’s not for you.”
“……picture?”
“Someone who is so arrogant that he comes back injured shouldn’t be on the battlefield. That’s why you should quit being a Black Iron Knight.”
Mitina stared at him, stunned by his words, which she had never expected.
Quitting the Black Iron Knights. That was something I had never even considered. I had always thought that I would probably continue working for the Black Iron Knights until I was an old woman.
“Well, I understand what Kyelse-dono has to say. It’s true, my mistake this time is unbecoming of a Black Iron Knight.”
“Yes, you know that very well.”
“But I can’t quit. There aren’t many jobs that pay as well as being a knight.”
When she explained why she didn’t want to quit being a knight, Kyelse frowned and glared at Mitina with a look of disdain, as if to ask if she was serious about being a knight for the money.
But Mitina was not intimidated by such looks. Even if she was despised as a miser, earning money was more important to her than her own life.
“Unfortunately, I do not have the pride of a knight like Kyelse. The reason I became a knight is to repay the kindness of the people who picked me up when I was a foundling with money.”
“what……?”
“It’s a very poor and cold place. There aren’t many young people either… so I don’t intend to quit being a knight. If I did that, I wouldn’t be able to send home any money.”
He looks shocked at Mitina’s situation. He must be quite shocked to learn that she was a foundling.
“Hmm, hmm, that’s fine. There’s no need to give up being a knight.”
“Thank you.”
Why did she need Kyelse’s permission to continue being a knight? Even as she was thinking this, she remained obedient in front of Kyelse, who had become her second benefactor.
However, the next thing he said made me unconsciously let out my usual nasty words.
“In that case, I’ll let you join the Silver Knights. The pay isn’t too bad either. …If you become an assistant captain, you’ll make about the same amount as you are now.”
“Huh? You want me to join the Silver Knights? Are your brains rotten?”
“What’s with the rude behavior when someone is kindly making a suggestion…!”
Although she tried to cover her mouth from the insults that had come out of her mouth without thinking, there was nothing that could be done about what had come out. Anyway, once she had calmed down, Mitina spoke as calmly as possible.
“I’m sorry, but the Silver Knight doesn’t suit me. There’s no way I could ever get used to a beautiful knight surrounded by such dazzling nobles.”
“It’s not a question of fitting in or anything like that. If you can’t become a Black Iron Knight, then your only path to becoming a knight is to join the Silver Knights.”
At this point, Mitina felt it would be better for her to sell her body at a brothel. That being said, she didn’t have a pretty body, so she probably wouldn’t be able to earn much even if she did become a prostitute.
“I appreciate your thoughtfulness. However, I like the Black Iron Knight, and although I will be punished for my mistake in the future, I have forgiven you.”
I haven’t committed any crimes that would get me expelled. This time, I just acted recklessly. Having said that, Mitina gives another reason why she is so attached to the Black Iron Knights.
“Besides, the Black Iron Knights have Captain Zeffen.”
“Huh?! Why did Zeffen come up here?! What do you mean? Do you really like a man who is so sloppy and careless and writes in such messy, earthworm-like handwriting, and who has such a pretty face…?!”
“I’m impressed that you can say such insults so easily, but I guess that’s how it is, isn’t it?”
Mitina had admired Zeffen’s overwhelming power. Admiration can be interpreted as affection.
However, upon hearing those words, Kyelse seemed to be in shock and froze. Mitina sensed a mysterious impatience in Kyelse, who didn’t move even when she waved her hand in front of him, and hurriedly changed the topic.
“Well, now that I think of it, when you treated me… I’m really sorry for making you drink water in such a way. I think it was too much for you to bear…”
「Y-yes, that’s right! Even though it’s an emergency, I would like to give you this noble and beautiful first kiss――」
“What? Your first kiss?”
“N-no, that’s definitely not true! There’s no way that was the first, you idiot! Ha, what a shame you couldn’t be my first woman!!”
“I don’t really care, but…”
Mitina sighed softly at his constant tyranny. She felt like she had already repaid the debt of having her life saved. That’s how tired she was.
“Thank you anyway. But you should fix your obsession with cleanliness. If you keep this up, you’ll have a hard time even if you get married.”
“You’re being a big troublemaker…!”
“Look, let’s start by just holding hands. I’m sorry, I haven’t even washed my hands yet, but oh well.”
Mitina casually took Kyelse’s hand and gave a small smile. If she could feed her mouth to mouth, then holding hands would probably be just fine.
Seeing her expression, Kyelse froze again. However, perhaps because Mitina had said that she hadn’t washed her hands, his hands, which she was holding, began to sweat unpleasantly, and Kyelse’s face began to turn pale.
“Ugh…there’s no way I can hold back! Hurry up and get in the bath, you filthy woman!”
“Filthy woman… that’s the most rude and insulting thing I’ve ever heard. Haa…”
Mitina sighed heavily again as her hand dangled after being shaken off.
It seems like the road to overcoming my obsession with cleanliness is long and difficult.
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