STVWDTD Chapter 27

Should've Always Been Careful with Your Mouth

Only the woman's soft breathing filled the quiet space. He spoke once he confirmed she'd fallen into deep sleep.

"Didn't you say direct contact would help?"

So why are you interfering? Rodrick's eyes cursed as he looked at Noel, who was trying to sleep wedged between them.

Rodrick, lying at an angle with his head propped on his hand, reached out to take Diana's hand.

Smack. A small hand swatted his arm away mid-reach.

"This is close enough. You're the one trying to stick closer than necessary. Hup!"

Mmm. The two men shut their mouths as Diana, sleeping soundly, shifted position.

They whispered in the smallest voices, worried she might wake.

"You told me to hold her while sleeping, so I held her in my arms until Diana woke up."

It had been back in the Black Forest when Diana absorbed Rodrick's rampaging curse.

When she'd fainted and wouldn't wake, Noel was the one who'd told him to embrace her while sleeping.

Which was why Diana had opened her eyes to see his bare torso. But that had been an emergency.

"That was different from now! Why do you keep clinging to my sister?"

Diana's brow twitched. Rodrick rose from his position.

He grabbed Noel by the scruff and carried him across the room. Noel flailed uselessly. The door opened abruptly. Daren asked urgently:

"What's happening?"

"Get rid of this."

"Pardon?"

"Ack! I'm not going!"

Worried Diana might wake, Noel kept his voice down as he resisted. Daren, flustered, gripped the child firmly under both arms so he wouldn't drop him.

"It's adult time. Kids, out."

The door closed without a sound. Noel glared at the closed door, puffing his cheeks.

Adult time. A phrase ripe for inappropriate imagination. Daren's face flushed bright red as he cleared his throat—ahem—hiding his embarrassment as he retreated down the corridor.

[@#%!@#!]

A man's voice murmured indistinctly.

Pink eyes opened beneath long lashes. A black shadow wavered before her.

Diana frowned, unable to focus, and swallowed a breath.

[@#%!@#!]

A man-shaped shadow stood before her.

Diana stepped back—thud—a floating sensation and something solid against her back. She turned to find a portrait.

The woman's portrait from the passage she'd entered with Noel. But the frame was empty.

[@#%!@#!]

"Wh-what..."

The shadow seized her wrist. Unable to pull free, she stared down at the captured wrist.

The shadow's hand scattered into blackness, then began taking solid form.

Beneath the man's thick fingers, an unfamiliar bracelet encircled her wrist. Even her clothes weren't her own.

Diana wore the same outfit as the woman in the portrait. What's happening? Before she could process the situation, the man captured her gaze.

[Beatus.]

The shadow had transformed completely into a man. His clothing also dated back several generations.

"..."

Diana couldn't answer. The man holding Diana wore a smile on the verge of tears. He resembled Rodrick.

Blue eyes and black hair tinged with blue. Tall build and sturdy frame. Even his pale but sharp features looked similar.

[Beatus. I waited.]

She was indeed a Beatus. But she could tell she wasn't the person this man sought.

[I... feel so guilty toward you...]

The man knelt, weeping pitifully. Diana swallowed another empty breath. She wanted to retreat, but a solid wall blocked her.

"Um, excuse me."

The man gripped her skirt hem and raised his head forlornly.

[I accepted your curse.]

What?

[This is proof we're together, isn't it? That's why... I received the curse of madness.]

Her heart constricted. Breathing became difficult.

[I did well, didn't I?]

The tear-stained man's face filled with rapture.

"..."

[Angela.]

Obsession verging on madness settled heavily. The man's blue eyes felt chilling.

[Angela Beatus. My love.]

Flash. Her eyes snapped open.

"Diana!"

Gasp—hck— Like floundering underwater, she gulped air desperately until strong hands steadied her.

Drenched in cold sweat, she stared blankly at Rodrick.

His touch was careful as he peeled away hair plastered to her face. She closed her eyes briefly at that tender gesture, steadying her breath.

"Diana. Did you have a nightmare?"

"A man."

Her voice wouldn't come out. Throat locked.

"A man?"

"I think a man grabbed me and cried."

She couldn't remember. There'd been a man, she thought, but unable to recall what he'd said, Diana clutched her head.

I heard something important. Her chest felt tight.

"You stayed beside me the whole time, right?"

"Yes."

"Wow. My energy must be depleted."

Had she ever sweated so much from a dream? Might need to build up her strength.

"Diana. Shall we clean up first? I'll draw a bath. Or I'll bring a wet cloth."

Waiting for her answer, Rodrick didn't even glance at the cord to summon maids.

As if he'd personally handle everything, he awaited her response.

"Surely you're not going to fetch it yourself?"

"Why not?"

"What's the point of having maids?"

For someone supposedly with a cleanliness obsession, he casually swept his bare hand across her sweat-dampened forehead without concern.

"Who took care of you when you were unconscious?"

He shrugged as if this was nothing. Diana's mouth fell open, freezing in place.

'Wait, so when I woke up feeling fresh, this man had cleaned me?!'

"...Pervert."

"What?"

"How could you touch a sleeping woman?!"

Diana spoke primly, crossing her arms over her chest. Rodrick's mouth curved crookedly.

'This woman. Who threw herself at me first, clinging all over? And this is her reaction to being cleaned?'

Rodrick tapped his forehead lightly against hers.

"You touch me freely when you're awake, but I can't?"

"W-well, when you put it that way, I have no argument."

"Don't worry. I had maids handle the important areas and underwear."

Why did that sound so obscene?

"Though my hands did thoroughly reach every corner of your intimate mouth."

Diana flushed red to her neck at the low whisper.

Watching this, Rodrick's eyes deepened. Her snow-white skin ripened perfectly—he wanted to burst it like a berry.

His fingertips tingling again, he grasped Diana's soft cheeks.

"Mmwhat?" (What?)

Fighting against desire, Rodrick kneaded the soft cheeks before releasing them.

"I'll get a wet cloth."

His voice sounded like he was restraining something. When Diana nodded, he rushed into the bathroom.

Rodrick emerged from the bathroom much later, after her cold sweat had completely dried.

"Did she really roll around on battlefields? A noble lady acting like that?"

The word vulgar reached her ears after she'd left Rodrick's bedroom.

Strange. Even after learning she was a Beatus through Nathan, their attitudes hadn't changed much.

"Sister."

Noel, who'd come out to meet her, gripped her hand tightly. At his call, she looked down. Noel smiled brightly and said:

"Should I kill them?"

Maybe because he wasn't using magic. His body, which had shrunk, had returned to a five-year-old size. Noel's eyes glinted ominously. Right, you could kill them in one shot.

"Nah. What for?"

At her indifferent response, Noel deflated. He'd thought he could help her. Diana stroked the child's gray hair.

"Noel, listen carefully. Dealing with those gossiping mouths one by one is a losing game."

"Then?"

"Either create bigger drama to bury the rumors."

Her pink eyes curved thinly.

"Or handle whoever's stirring things up."

I see. Noel nodded with sparkling eyes.

"So that unpleasant energy. It's a curse, right?"

"Yes, but it's a bit different from what you absorbed from that man's body."

Thanks to Noel's help training to read mana, Diana could now see even mana too faint to notice before.

Now she could detect red mana spread like threads everywhere. The mana flowed in the form of a curse.

"That one. I think it's a fascination curse."

"Hm?"

"You only listen to people you like, and really hate anyone the person you like dislikes."

Right, that explained their behavior.

But how does Noel know this? Do mages comprehend everything once they become one?

Questions about the child kept creeping up. Plus he only shares information when it suits him. Would be nice if you'd tell me before I ask, Noel.

"Sister? What's wrong?"

Finding her stare strange, Noel gripped her hand and shook her arm.

"Hm? Nothing. Our Noel is just too cute."

The child ducked his head with a bashful smile.

"So how do we remove it?"

She'd already disposed of the sachet the maid carried. Yet the energy proliferated like breeding, ensnaring servants throughout the castle.

"Either eliminate whoever wished for the curse, or remove the medium."

"The medium being something like that stone fragment in the sachet?"

"Yes, they're probably holding something bigger."

The culprit behind this situation was obvious. Thinking of the clear perpetrator, Diana nodded.

Where the hell did they hide the medium? Need to get rid of this ominous energy quickly. Diana worried this sinister energy flowing throughout the castle might affect Rodrick.

But before she could act, the brewing situation exploded from an unexpected direction.

It was the day of joint training between the First and Second Knight Orders. One of the few opportunities for these two groups, normally like rivals, to openly fight.

But their bout was pushed aside by an uninvited intruder.

"Ack! Go easier, please!"

"Rodrick's little brother, stop whining. I can see you're dodging with strength to spare!"

Felice, making crying sounds while dodging, and Nathan, swinging his massive sword like a maniac.

Felice, too busy with heir duties to usually visit the training grounds, parried Nathan's sword strikes competently.

The future duke's younger brother and Nathan's blade, renowned on battlefields.

Half watched them with keen interest; half had already finished training and sprawled about resting.

And some separated from the group drank from water pouches in the shade of trees, gulping loudly.

"Did you hear? That lady we guarded is apparently Sir Nathan's sister?"

"What? That woman's a Beatus?"

"She's famous in the capital. The secluded youngest daughter who stays shut in the mansion."

"Wow, I thought that youngest would look totally gloomy."

Those who'd rotated guard duty whispered quietly, watching Nathan.

"Just looking at her, she seemed like a seductress."

"Ha, so that's why she's even having an affair with someone proper like Vice-Commander Daren?"

"If she seduced Commander Rodrick with her body, she's impressive. Vice-Commander Daren would've been easy."

"Makes sense. So not going outside the mansion was because she was rolling around with men she called in every day..."

CRACK—! They couldn't continue. Cracks spread through the massive tree, and—BOOM!—the shattered tree exploded upward and fell.

With a tremendous explosive sound, the tree they'd been leaning against burst apart and flew.

Amid the flying debris stood Rodrick, radiating suffocating murderous intent.