EEA Chapter 36

Clint came to his senses while taking a cold bath. When he finished bathing and opened his room door, Ailea was still inside. She approached and asked worriedly,

"Is your forehead okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine of course. The door was in a strange place."

Then where should the door be...

Ailea was puzzled but didn't want to bother Clint further, who seemed to be rambling from exhaustion. She pulled Clint's sleeve and made him sit on the bed. Then she carefully examined his forehead.

"Your whole face is red."

Since there was quite a height difference, there wasn't much difference in height between Clint sitting on the bed and Ailea standing. Still, when examining him like this, he seemed exactly like an adult.

Ailea said,

"Should you sleep right away?"

"Were you waiting in my room because you were worried?"

"Yes. Because there was a thudding sound..."

Clint didn't want to admit that he had done such a foolish thing because of Ailea's kiss. Until a few hours ago, he had been someone who made even his own allies cower on the battlefield. His sense of identity was becoming confused.

He pointed to the dress Ailea was wearing and changed the subject.

"Where did that outfit come from?"

"Ah, Mary lent it to me."

"I'll give you money, just keep wearing it."

Honestly, shouldn't a woman who had lived so timidly in the outer castle and then kissed her husband first when he returned from battle be considered admirable? Shouldn't she be rewarded? Clint seriously pondered this.

Unaware that he was lost in other thoughts, Ailea turned around and stroked her platinum blonde hair.

"Mary braided it like this. She's really skillful, isn't she?"

"She is."

Clint said with a sigh. He had only not seen Ailea for a week, yet how could he miss her this much? His reaction was lackluster as he pondered this, so Ailea immediately turned back around and asked,

"Does it look too childish?"

Ailea realized she'd grown used to Clint's constant "pretty, pretty" - those repeated compliments had become routine. Flustered by his unusually flat response, she quickly steered the conversation away.

"Ah, and an invitation came from the capital. For His Highness the Crown Prince's wedding."

"Right, it's about time."

Clint finally reacted properly. He continued, "This might be an opportunity."

"An opportunity?"

"If Rita really is behind the curse you're under, Joachim said that making her very angry to make her perform another curse ritual might be a method."

Thinking his talk of making Rita angry was a joke, Ailea laughed a little. When she laughed, Clint bent down and asked, "Why are you laughing?"

"What?"

"It really could be because of that woman. This isn't something to laugh about."

"Ah... wasn't it a joke?"

"How could I joke about the people who made you suffer like this?"

He continued speaking with a savage expression.

"That bastard Roylin too. It's fortunate that he sent you to me."

Clint stopped there and closed his mouth.

Looking at Ailea's jewel-like sky-blue eyes left him speechless. If he had recaptured Excalize and returned, and the Crown Prince hadn't married him to Ailea to keep him in check, he might have killed Ailea, who was left neglected in the outer castle, without anyone knowing. It would have been the easiest way for him, who didn't want marriage to Ailea, to make Rita the Crown Princess.

If Ailea had died.

Clint erased the assumption he didn't even want to imagine and said to Ailea,

"Anyway, don't smile so gently when talking about people who hurt you."

"Mm, I won't smile."

"...you're still smiling."

A gentle smile remained on Ailea's face.

"Since I'm meeting you after so long, I keep smiling because I'm happy. I was really bored these past few days."

"I must be amusing to you, madam."

"Mm, a little?"

Saying that, Ailea gave him the eye-smile she had learned from Clint. In an instant, Clint's mind went blank and the anger that had built up thinking about Roylin completely subsided. If the raiders he had tracked and slaughtered for days had seen him reacting to each of Ailea's responses, they would have been outraged.

Ailea said,

"What should I wear to the capital wedding?"

"The style you're wearing now is pretty too."

"How can I go dressed like this?"

"Why not? People will only look at you."

"That's not because of the clothes..."

While Ailea was complaining, Clint lightly kissed her lips and asked, "It's not?"

"It's because of my appearance..."

Not wanting to hear such words from her, Clint kissed her again. Ailea's face turned red and she stepped back.

"Aren't you tired?"

"No."

Ailea, drawn by him, sat on Clint's bed. Clint unbuttoned one by one the buttons that were fastened up to just below her neck. When her chest was half-exposed, Ailea pushed Clint away with both hands.

Her expression began to darken. Bad memories surfaced at Clint's hands undressing her. Last time was okay because it was dark.

The more she grew to like him, the more she didn't want to earn his hatred. She became increasingly afraid of his reactions.

Ailea asked, "Should we... close the curtains?"

"Why?"

"Because it's too bright..."

"Are you embarrassed because it's bright?"

When she couldn't answer, Clint sat up again. And he knelt at the feet of Ailea who was sitting on the bed.

"Ailea."

When she nodded, Clint asked gently,

"Do you like my face?"

"What?"

...Is he seriously asking this question with that face?

While Ailea was dumbfounded, Clint ruffled his hair and said,

"Do you like black hair? There isn't much black in Teniac."

When he asked, Ailea pulled her open collar together and tilted her head. Then Clint continued,

"Or golden eyes? I sometimes get told I look like a madman."

Clint took off the comfortable shirt he had changed into after bathing. His broad shoulders and beautifully developed muscular body were visible. It was a much more trained body than when they first met in the imperial palace two years ago. He looked up at Ailea and said,

"To my eyes, a man's body doesn't seem like much."

"..."

"You're pretty to me."

"..."

"No matter how much I look, you're still pretty."

Ailea's eyes became slightly moist. At first, every time he said she was pretty, she had tensed up wondering what his ulterior motive was, but gradually these words of his became precious and necessary to her. Holding back tears, she smiled slightly and said brightly,

"I've become eager to go to the capital wedding."

"Why suddenly?"

"To go there... and be really shameless. If anyone says anything, I'm thinking of telling them that I don't dislike my body at all. Since you said I'm pretty, I'm thinking of saying that I don't dislike it either."

"..."

"How about it? If someone really did curse me, wouldn't there be no more annoying reaction than this?"

She laughed as if it was a joke. Clint answered with both eyes smiling,

"That's a very good plan."

"Right..."

When Clint grabbed her ankle and kissed it, Ailea brought the two hands that had been covering her body to her mouth.

Clint sat up. And he slowly laid her down on the bed and looked at her tenderly. Then Ailea said with a flushed face, smiling a little,

"You have to work hard to soothe me like this every time."

"I could work hard every day if I could do this every day."

At his words, Ailea lightly hit Clint's shoulder with her hand. Then he grabbed Ailea's hand, kissed it, and grinned.

Was it because of the kiss? Just his touch stroking her hair made sultry moans flow from her. Clint's lips touched along the cleavage where buttons had been undone. Ailea gripped the sheets tightly. Knowing what would happen next made her even more nervous.

Clint took a deep breath in that position. When his tickling breath touched her, Ailea laughed a little.

"It tickles."

He flopped down next to Ailea and hugged her tightly with both arms.

"Because you smell good."

"What kind of smell? Sir Chante said the same thing when we first met."

Ailea brought her arm to her nose to smell it and tilted her head.

"I don't smell anything."

Then Clint narrowed his brow and said firmly,

"From now on, if any other guy gets in your face, hit him first. Got it?"

"What? Even the knights?"

"Are the knights the problem right now?"

Thinking foolishly about whether there was a way to paralyze Chante's sense of smell, Clint sat up.

He asked gently, "You haven't been eating well, right?"

At his words, Ailea looked at Clint. Those were eyes of resentment for why he came so late, melting sweetly and severing a man's reason. Clint chuckled as if incredulous. Those clear sky-blue eyes could become this sultry.

"Now that I'm back, let's eat well, okay?"

"I'm... not even a child."

At Clint's playful words, Ailea complained in a voice so small it could barely be heard without concentration.

"We're only six years apart..."

"Six years is a lot."

He finished speaking and kissed Ailea. He wanted to possess even all of her sweet breathing sounds.

Clint, who had missed Ailea for a week, was going crazy just from the presence of the woman in his arms. It wasn't enough. Had he ever felt such deprivation during intimacy?

Am I such a deprived person?

He had always only lost things. His parents died when he was very young, and Ron, whom he had relied on throughout his youth, also died before he became an adult.

Still, he was never lonely. By his side were always good people who trusted and followed him.

But why, why was it so insufficient?