114 – Marry Me!
Noah gasped, swallowing rough breaths. She realized for the first time that her vision was blurring white.
“What is this? What…?”
From Noble mtl dot com
Her dizzying, swaying vision, the intense feeling of being on edge, and the emotions from the past when she felt like she could do anything vividly came back to her.
As she recalled even the memory of roughly taking off her clothes and even the bandages, Noah let out a scream without realizing it.
“Ahh!”
If it had been her usual self, the suppressed scream of a high-toned voice would have been impossible to let out, showing just how confused she was.
Crack, Swoosh!
Noah’s scream echoed through the room, and at the same time, a new white book popped out of her bag.
[ What’s going on?! What is this?! ]
Even though Noah had only whimpered softly when stabbed with a knife, he let out a loud scream, which startled Julianna and made her jump out of her bag. She immediately approached Noah.
[Are you hurt anywhere?! Could it be a curse?!]
Julianna began checking Noah’s condition with a serious voice. His face was flushed as if about to burst, his tear-filled eyes, and his trembling gaze filled with confusion.
Clearly, he was not in his right mind. Julianna poked Noah with a serious voice.
[What on earth happened?!]
“I…”
[What…?]
“I… to Lian… ugh…”
Noah couldn’t continue speaking and buried his face in his palms, collapsing onto the bed. Julianna, who had been wearing a serious expression, fell silent for about three seconds and then made an expression of “Could it be?”
[Did something interesting happen overnight that I don’t know about?]
Julianna’s expression suddenly turned bright.
[Noah.]
“Ugh…”
Noah couldn’t respond to Julianna’s voice and couldn’t escape from yesterday’s memories. Julianna leaned in close to Noah’s ear and whispered.
[…Did you use protection?]
“Ah! What are you saying!?”
As if a button had been pressed, Noah jumped up and shouted at Julianna. He was so flustered that he even spoke informally.
[Hey… it’s not, right? Really? Since I can’t even say it anywhere, can’t you just tell me? Huh?]
“No, no! That’s really not it! Lian and I-“
[Just like that?]
“…”
Noah couldn’t continue speaking and breathed heavily, his mouth twitching. His head was spinning from the rush of blood.
[What did you do? Huh? If you don’t tell me, I’ll go to Lian and…]
“Ah! That’s really not allowed!”
[Then quickly tell me what mischievous thing you did last night! Quickly!]
“Um, the mischievous thing was…”
As Noah recalled the scene where he pressed his chest against Lian’s body, his lips clenched tightly.
[What? Why can’t you speak? Did you attack first?]
“…!”
[Really?]
When Noah couldn’t say a word and lowered his head, Juliana’s eyes sparkled with joy. Noah, who could withstand any trial, was no different from a fragile chick when faced with the trial called ‘love’.
“Ju-Juliana… What, what should I do? I made such a big mistake with Lian…”
Noah started to reveal his confusion to Juliana, who always gave him answers, while choking back tears.
As Noah’s explanation continued, Juliana reacted with exclamations like “Oh, wow…” and even clapped her hands at the end.
[Once you’ve made your mark, it’s over!]
When Noah said it seemed like he had kissed Lian, Juliana let out a cheer. To describe her emotions in one line, it would be something like “The stocks I bought skyrocketed!”
[When would be a good time for the wedding? Spring? Summer? Oh, it’ll be held in the Empire, right?]
“W-Wedding?”
Just as hearing the word “apology” would inadvertently bring apples to mind, when Noah heard the word “wedding,” he immediately imagined himself dating and marrying Lian, having three children, and living happily ever after. As time passed, they would become grandparents, laughing and reminiscing, saying, “Hoho, do you remember that? It was so good back then.”
In the blink of an eye, Noah stumbled over his words, his lips twitching, and then suddenly lowered his eyes at a realization, groping for words.
“That… Honestly, I’m not sure about that memory. It feels like it happened and didn’t happen at the same time…”
[Really? Then I’ll go and ask Lian.]
“No, no! Absolutely not!”
Noah and Giuliana’s wrestling match came to an end only after the organization member who had finished eating brought Noah his share of the meal.
***
The road of the journey began again.
“…”
“…”
A huge, impenetrable wall emerged between Noah and Lian, a wall that couldn’t be expressed in words. The two couldn’t even look at each other or have a conversation.
“Did you fight with Boss?”
“Huh? Oh, no. That’s impossible.”
“But you’re not talking to each other and looking elsewhere like this.”
“Yeah, we’re just playing a game like that.”
“It’s a strange game.”
The awkwardness between the two became so noticeable that even the youngest member of the group, Ribbon, noticed. It was because they had started to see each other as more than just friends. Noah, too, blushed upon hearing Lian and Ribbon’s conversation.
As he thought about the reason why he couldn’t have a proper conversation with Lian, memories from that time naturally came to mind. Julia, who had been bored and only stayed in the bag, floated ominously in the air and watched the two of them.
[How cute. So adorable. This is youth.]
A week had passed since the awkward and ticklish journey continued. Lian and Noah started to talk a little again, and they were attacked twice in the meantime.
Once by slave traders, and once by a group of mercenaries. They were all taken care of by Lian and Noah.
“Wow… Big brother, you’re so cool!”
Ribbon, who was seeing Lian fight properly for the first time, stuck to Lian’s leg with sparkling eyes. Thanks to the caution given to the dark sword to avoid feeling as ominous as possible, Ribbon’s pupils were filled with nothing but admiration.
[hehehehe, sing more, more praises!]
The dark sword shouted, sparkling with delight at the praise it hadn’t heard in a long time. Of course, only Lian could hear the sound.
“Oppa! Oppa!”
“Yeah?”
Ribbon, who was stuck to Lian’s calf, smiled widely and shouted.
“Marry me!”
“Pfft!”
Noah was the one who reacted first to Ribbon’s words, not Lian.
“Cough, cough!”
She coughed violently, tears even streaming down her face due to the rough sound of the wind.
“Huh? Boss, are you okay?”
Surprised, Ribbon hurriedly ran to Noah. Lian let out a sigh of relief, knowing that he didn’t have to answer the awkward question.
“By the way, marriage…”
Lian, like Noah had said, imagined himself becoming a laughing and happy grandparent while raising two children and a puppy. But then he snapped back to reality.
Noah’s face was now as red as a tomato, and she said, “Boss Lian, did you see? Zoom! Zoom! You looked like a knight from a fairy tale!”
Suddenly, from beside the now calm Noah, Ribbon’s teasing voice could be heard. Lian remembered one fact that he had forgotten at the mention of the word “knight.”
“Come to think of it, I wonder where the knight who saved Iris in the original is now? I wanted to escape together if possible… But that’s probably impossible.”
Lian thought, lightly brushing his flushed cheek with the back of his hand.
‘Because he’s the one who took Iris all the way to the Duke… He must be doing well.’
***
Two men dressed in pristine white lab coats sat facing each other on a luxurious sofa in a traditional study, engaging in conversation.
“Well… I thought at least one person would come.”
“We were supposed to have a new Four Kings member joining our side.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, but apparently he had to go to another place due to an urgent mission from above.”
“Damn it… They have no idea how important our research is!”
“You’re right.”
“Tsk, if only it wasn’t an intruder, we wouldn’t have to worry about this!”
A researcher with a mustache stood up from his seat and turned towards the window of the study. Beyond the window was a pristine white research area.
Inside the research area, there were dozens of chains piercing through a 2-meter tall female spirit with black skin, lying unconscious.
[ My child… my child… ]
The spirit shed tears as she continuously searched for her child.
Crackle!
[ aaah! ]
As the chains flickered black, the spirit let out a scream. The man, twirling his mustache, spoke to the bespectacled researcher who had approached him.
“The intruder still hasn’t spoken?”
“Yes, but we haven’t found out nothing.”
From Noble mtl dot com
“Ohh…! What did you find out?”
“It seems that the guy is presumed to be a knight who came from the Empire.”
“A knight?”
“Yes, there were quite a few items in his belongings that seemed to be usable only in the Empire. And the behavior that instinctively came out of him was clearly that of a knight.”
“A knight from the Empire…”
The man grinned, showing his white teeth.
“He’ll make quite a useful test subject.”
