IBTHM Chapter 36

In that moment, I felt it instinctively.

The pain that had vanished so completely, so suddenly—it hadn't disappeared at all.

"Huk."

It had simply transferred to Hades.

"Y-Your Grace..."

Hades must have used his absorption ability to take the pain from my heart area.

I could feel, with devastating clarity, how much he was suffering as he held my body tightly against his.

The arms wrapped around me, tense with so much force it hurt. His face buried weakly against my neck, hot breath flowing from his lips where they pressed against my skin. His body trembling finely as he forced himself to swallow the agony.

All of it—every bit of it was proof that he was experiencing my pain exactly as I had.

"Haaa..."

"Wh-what is..."

I'd experienced that horrific pain myself—the kind that made death seem preferable—so I couldn't help but worry about Hades.

"What is this? W-wait, let go for a moment, Your Grace. Please?"

"...No."

He spoke while still holding my body tightly against his. His voice was terribly broken, and it hurt to hear.

"What do you mean, no..."

What couldn't he do?

"You'll... be in pain."

You.

He meant I would be in pain.

This wasn't a simple pain like an external injury—not something brief and sharp.

Hades intended to keep using his absorption ability until all of this agony disappeared completely.

This was different from the wound on Abel's foot or the mental breakdown that happened in his head in the original story. A different kind of suffering entirely.

The mana that should have been flowing through my body all this time—whatever had been controlling it was gone, and until my body normalized to let mana flow properly, I would have had to endure this pain continuously.

No, not me...

The agony that kept tearing at my heart relentlessly—right now, in this very moment, Hades was the one taking it all.

"Y-Your Grace, will you please let go? I wasn't exaggerating. It really hurts, that—it's really..."

At that moment, Hades's weight shifted toward me.

My body naturally fell backward, and even after I was lying down, Hades didn't separate our pressed-together chests.

Trapped beneath him like this, I somehow didn't feel suffocated.

Even in the midst of everything, he was trying to be considerate—his clenched fists pressed firmly into the bed, supporting his weight so it wouldn't crush me.

"Hauk..."

"No, what do I... ah..."

Hot breath burst from Hades's mouth where it was buried against my neck. That alone was enough to tell me how much he was suffering.

At the same time, I felt deeply ashamed of how selfish I was as a person.

In an instant, the pain had vanished, and Hades was too absorbed in the agony he'd taken from me to think of anything else.

If I wanted to, I could probably slip out from under him, but imagining the pain that would start again the moment I did—I couldn't bring myself to do it.

"Ah... uaaa... I-I'm sorry, Your Grace. Huuung..."

All I could do was reach up and wrap my arms tightly around Hades's back.

Cold sweat poured from Hades like rain, soaking my neck completely.

"Your Grace is really..."

In this moment, I couldn't help but think of the original Hades—the one who had absorbed all of rampaging Abel's pain and died.

For me, it was pain enough to die from, but back then, for Abel, it was pain that would actually kill him.

And Hades, who had noticed Abel's abilities and brought him here—he had known.

He'd known about the agony when those abilities went out of control.

The rampage that led directly to death, that wouldn't even permit endurance.

'He knew, and still.'

Right. Maybe the fact that Hades was holding me now, taking all my pain—maybe for him, this was perfectly natural behavior.

Wasn't he the man who had suffered in Abel's place, even knowing it would kill him?

'What kind of...'

The tears weren't because I was being ridiculous or overly sentimental. They absolutely weren't.

'...person even does that?'

Anyone would feel grateful, and sorry, and—and grateful. How could they not?

"Huaaaaaang..."

Hades's body trembled constantly as he tried to suppress his groans.

It must hurt. It had to hurt. I knew better than anyone.

"Huung, huaaaa..."

"...Does it hurt?"

Even while absorbed in his own agony, Hades asked in a broken voice right against my ear.

It was hard to answer while crying. Still holding him, I just shook my head over and over.

"Soon, urk... it'll be, huk... okay."

"Huaa, uaaaaang..."

That scene—the one I'd read at least twenty times, savoring every word because it was so deeply moving—overlapped in my mind.

"...Abel."

"F-Father. Are you all right? Father! Father!"

"It doesn't... hurt anymore."

"I... I'm..."

Even as Hades was dying, he'd smiled and comforted the crying Abel.

The description of never forgetting the touch of that hand stroking his head appeared dozens of times throughout the book.

Right. Even if I had been Abel—

"Soon... you'll be okay."

I probably would never have been able to forget this warmth either.

I kept crying while holding Hades's trembling body even tighter.

Even though it didn't hurt anymore, the tears kept coming—I didn't know why I felt so miserable.

"Huuuung... Y-Your Grace..."

"...I'm, fine."

That damned "I'm fine."

'What about this is fine, you ridiculous man?'

His voice kept trying to comfort me through it all, which only made it more impossible to stop crying.

Had anyone ever done this much for me before?

What was I, really, that he would do this?

If I were his cherished son, maybe it would make sense, but I was just...

"Your Grace. I'm sorry. Huk... I really am a coward. I'm so sorry, but... I'm still scared of the pain..."

Instead of saying it was okay, Hades just shook his head slightly where his face was buried against my neck.

Really...

This man...

Why was he just as wonderful as Abel? Just as—

"Your Grace, I..."

I made a decision.

Even animals know gratitude—all the more reason for me, as a human being, not to forget.

"After today passes, I'll make sure you never hurt again. I'll stick close like this. I'll... huk! Uuuuung..."

From today onward, I...

The pain was tremendous.

As Hades absorbed all of Aisha's suffering, he understood.

Mana was overflowing in this seemingly fragile body—more than it could possibly contain.

Of course she would find it unbearable.

Even for him, someone who found most pain merely ticklish, this was agony so extreme he wondered if he might actually die.

Hades thought, even while hurting enough to die—just as Aisha had said—that he was fortunate.

How could he just watch her endure this?

The mana that had been blocked for her entire life—until it could flow normally through Aisha's body, the pain continued throughout the night until dawn.

The tearing sensation in his heart only subsided when the window outside grew hazily bright.

He didn't want to pass even the bearable pain back to Aisha, so Hades only slowly separated their bodies after the agony had completely faded.

Aisha, who had fallen silent at some point after exhausting herself from crying, opened her eyes at the same moment.

Her eyelashes trembled. As her eyelids lifted, blue eyes touched by the dawn moonlight blinked.

With his strength completely drained, barely managing to lean against the headboard, Hades watched her.

After blinking several times, she sat bolt upright with a shocked expression.

"Crazy! I fell asleep? Did I actually sleep?"

Unlike Hades, who smiled slightly, Aisha looked pale as she flailed about.

"I'm insane, aren't I? I really slept?"

"It wasn't so much sleeping as..."

...more like you collapsed from exhaustion, would be the accurate description.

He'd never seen a woman—not a child, a grown woman—cry continuously for nearly six hours without a single break, tears streaming down her face the entire time.

It wasn't that she'd been sleepy—she'd simply lost consciousness for a moment after completely draining herself.

But Aisha seemed unable to accept even that. With a shocked expression, she suddenly slapped her palm against her own cheek.

Smack!

"I'm insane!"

Hades startled.

"What are you doing?!"

"I've lost my mind!"

Smack!

Aisha kept bringing her hand down on her own small face, which didn't look like it could take much more.

Alarmed, Hades grabbed her arm.

"Have you gone crazy?!"

"Yes! I think I really have gone crazy! I slept in the middle of all that? I, really, I'm actual garbage! I'm garbage! I'm sorry!"

"You didn't fall asleep—you collapsed from exhaustion. How could you not drain yourself crying like that?"

"Your Grace..."

"What."

"...Is, is it okay now?"

Even after all that crying, Aisha had more tears left apparently, as she started tearing up again while asking.

"Yes. Stop crying already. You must have lost every drop of moisture in your body."

"..."

"You don't look it, but if you can wail at the top of your lungs for hours, you've got more stamina than I thought..."

Hades had been muttering casually, trying not to worry her, when he startled.

Without warning, Aisha had thrown herself into his arms.

"Wh-what? What's this?"

When she'd been in pain and he'd pulled her against his chest, he hadn't thought much of it, but now was different.

With no particular reason to be embraced, the small body pressing against him left Hades stiffly frozen and flustered.

His voice came out panicked.

"A-Aisha. It's all over now. There's no reason for you to hurt anymore..."

"I know."

"..."

"I just wanted to hug you, so I am. Huung..."

Aisha, with her face pressed against Hades's chest, rubbed her cheek against him quite familiarly.

"Uhm! Ahem..."

At the warmth filling his arms, Hades's hand, which had been frozen stiff, slowly, hesitantly rose.

The hand that began slowly stroking the back of small Aisha's head became familiar to both him and her.

When his touch had grown comfortable for them both, Aisha lifted her head from his arms and spoke with puffy eyes, smiling slightly.

"I've made a decision."

"...About what?"

"I'm going to become your slave."

"What?!"

Hades froze in horror.

"Look. I don't have those kinds of hobbies."

"Don't misunderstand. It's not like that..."

Somehow, Aisha's eyes looked resolute.

Hades had been about to scold her—what was a noble young lady talking about?—but his mouth closed.

"I'll protect you."

"Ha!"

Who was protecting whom, when she'd just been writhing in pain?

Even as Hades let out an absurd laugh at the ridiculousness, Aisha continued without caring.

"Trust me completely, Abel's Father. Because I'm going to trust only you here too."

"What?"

As she said this, Aisha grinned.

Even though she was smiling with eyes still puffy and tearstained, her face looked so pretty that Hades subtly averted his gaze.

But to his flustered dismay, Aisha pressed against him once more.

Hades flailed again.

"No, just... ahem!"

"Starting today, I'll work hard."

Unlike the flustered Hades, Aisha didn't seem embarrassed at all about holding him tightly like this, rubbing her cheek against him as she spoke.

"I'm going to fan over you too, Your Grace."

Her voice was as resolute as her eyes.