Turning Chapter 1142

Chapter 1142

The man wearing a cloak covering his face like Yuder quietly opened his mouth.

"I came out when you were giving instructions about needing to shoot one more arrow."

"Came out... you say."

"I regained consciousness somewhat earlier than that, though."

"..."

Yuder lowered his head and let out a deep sigh.

'Damn.'

He had chosen wind and bow because it was the best method in the current situation, but the low noise was also a factor. Though others wouldn't have known, even while using his ability, Yuder had been controlling the direction of power as much as possible and faintly setting up wind barriers to prevent noise and vibrations from reaching the inner castle behind him.

However, it seemed that alone was impossible to prevent waking the sensitive swordmaster's sleep.

'Since his heat hasn't completely ended, I wanted him to sleep more deeply.'

Feeling deeply chagrined, Yuder apologized.

"I'm sorry. It's all over now, so let's go inside and you can sleep more."

"You expect me to go back to sleep after seeing that?"

Kishiar asked in a low voice. Yuder remained silent then raised his head. Under the hooded cloak that hid his face, he could see the faint, playful upturn of his lips.

"That seems like a request that would be hard for anyone to grant, not just me."

Saying that, Kishiar pushed back his hood and removed it.

'Ah.'

Ridiculously, for a moment there was an illusion as if the world had become half brighter. The man revealed inside the hood was smiling more happily than anyone while softening his eyebrows as if about to cry.

He reached out to Yuder, who had stopped thinking and was staring blankly at him, and brushed back the hair that had fallen out. As his movement naturally removed Yuder's hood as well, a warm hand enveloped his cheek as if melting it.

Only then did Yuder realize that his skin had cooled more than usual from continuously using his wind ability. As his frozen cheeks and ears melted with a strange sensation, he pressed his lips together, and Kishiar urged in a gentle voice.

"Shall we go inside? It's too cold here."

The Duke's bedroom hadn't changed at all since Yuder left. Kishiar sprinkled a handful of magic stones in the magic stone fireplace and then took Yuder's hand and sat him in front of it.

Though he made no request, Yuder explained what had happened in the meantime of his own accord.

"While you were sleeping, I went down briefly to meet Sir Zuckerman. But... news came that monsters had suddenly appeared in Jilbang and knights had been injured."

"Earlier than usual."

"Yes. Sir Zuckerman said the same thing."

Yuder confessed that originally Nathan Zuckerman had tried to take responsibility and handle the monsters alone, but he had stopped him.

"Sir Zuckerman is an excellent knight, and the others in Peletta are too, but I judged that in that situation, it would be much faster and we could annihilate the enemy without casualties if I stepped forward to cooperate. Through past experience, I could roughly predict what kind of monsters had appeared in Jilbang, and I thought this opportunity could also build experience for the Northern Branch members. So..."

"Yes. I thought so. Was that why you chose the bow too?"

"Yes."

Indeed, Kishiar had already mostly guessed why Yuder had chosen that method of combat just from briefly seeing it.

"At first I only predicted they would be flying monsters, but when I saw them up close, they turned out to be creatures I had seen in the previous game. Since their weakness was the part not covered by feathers, I could handle them without much difficulty by myself. As I thought, Sir Zuckerman's side should have dealt with all the remaining monsters without casualties. They should be returning by now."

"I see."

Kishiar nodded.

"It was a good judgment, and achieved sufficiently splendid results, but why does the main protagonist of the victory look so gloomy?"

Yuder remained silent for a moment before answering honestly.

"I... didn't want to wake your sleep. If possible, I wanted to return before you woke up, but I completely failed in that aspect. So the words 'good judgment' don't suit..."

The answer to those words came from an unexpected direction. Before he could finish speaking, approaching lips gave him a kiss so deep he couldn't breathe. While he blinked in surprise, the lips that seemed about to steal all his breath separated with a wet sound. As the closed eyes opened, beautifully enchanting red eyes were revealed.

Kishiar muttered while breathing heavily.

"I'm sorry. Clearly I'm... still not completely over my heat."

"What?"

"Everything that was sad and painful has become foolishly happy... I can't hold back. If you have the heart to show mercy to this poor one who has lost his patience, would you allow me to kiss you just a little more?"

He kissed again before even hearing permission. Even as his body fell backward and was pinned down, the kisses continued without giving room to breathe. Through those lips, it was too clearly felt that the wordless beast who had blindly pounced on Yuder until yesterday had not yet disappeared.

Yuder decided to wrap his arms around his neck and focus on the kissing for now. Whatever the situation, Kishiar's kisses always felt good enough to make him forget everything and fall into them.

It might sound strange to say he felt comfort in those kisses that seemed to crave like a child's, but strangely, he did.

When the kiss ended and they separated, Yuder realized that his slightly gloomy feelings about failing to achieve what he had wanted had disappeared without a trace.

"...Haa."

Kishiar kissed Yuder's cheek and embraced him deeply. His scent released gently and tickled Yuder's skin.

"When I woke up... I was actually a bit surprised by the fact that you weren't there."

Kishiar whispered softly.

"But as I stayed up and assessed the unusual vibrations and sounds around, I could roughly read the situation. Just feeling where you were and what you were doing... somehow everything became alright."

So wonderfully.

"..."

"When I finally couldn't be satisfied with just hearing, I wanted to go outside and see directly. Even knowing you would feel regretful like this if I slipped out... I couldn't help it because I felt I would regret it for life if I didn't capture it with my own eyes."

"You mean the fighting?"

"Yes. 'Your' fighting."

Kishiar both affirmed and corrected.

"It was a choice I don't regret. If I hadn't, I would have truly regretted it greatly."

"..."

"What kind of person holds all of me, how brave and beautiful and captivating they are. And also what I am here for... It was a moment sufficient to realize anew."

Saying that, Kishiar laughed lowly. He pulled off the glove on Yuder's hand and kissed the bare hand revealed.

It was a reverent kiss that continued from the back of his hand to his fingertips.

"So... I was able to regain my heart that seemed about to lose its way for a very brief moment."

Though his fingertips trembled, Yuder didn't avoid his lips. Kishiar kept his cheek pressed against the back of Yuder's hand and closed his eyes tightly. A faint whisper flowed from between his moving lips.

"No matter how many times I saw that figure, I couldn't help but be drawn to it."

Kishiar buried his lips in Yuder's fingertips one last time before raising his head. He no longer looked pained and confused like before sleeping. He was smiling with the face most familiar to Yuder.

With a smile completed through many failures and much pain.

With eyes like his tactics.

Like the brightest light impossible to look away from.

"I'm glad you weren't hurt. When you shot that last arrow, even while believing you wouldn't be, I was a bit anxious inside wondering if you might have gotten scratched somewhere."

Only then did Yuder snap out of his entranced gaze at Kishiar.

"...If you were watching from behind, that's understandable. Not even a hair was touched, so you can rest assured."

Kishiar smiled. Though he said that, through that smile one could tell that even if Yuder had been hurt, he wouldn't have intervened at that moment.

Did he know that fact made Yuder most satisfied?

Yuder silently leaned his head against him.