Chapter One Hundred and Ninety-One: Goddess’s Merciful Rain
As the sun set, rain began to fall—an unusual occurrence in a dungeon where climate and seasons were typically fixed and stable. It was cold, cold rain.
On that freezing night, Karen made milk soup curry and distributed it. For many people, that became dinner.
To observe the effects of the panacea she’d made, Karen made the rounds of the patients’ tents. There she found Therese and her companions, and Karen finally remembered their existence, realizing she hadn’t seen them around.
Since Waltride had been kidnapped, it was only natural that Therese’s party, who had been guarding her closest, would have been caught up in it.
“Lady Karen… We received your panacea. Thanks to it, my party members were able to cling to life. I offer you my deepest gratitude.”
Though Therese herself could not rise from the bed, she nonetheless focused every ounce of awareness down to her fingertips and carefully showed her respect toward Karen.
Karen answered curtly:
“I’m an alchemist, so I’m just helping people who can be saved with potions. Please don’t concern yourself with it.”
“…Lady Karen, did you know that Sir Julius was such a person?”
She was probably referring to the battle with the elder treant. According to what Karen heard later, when she’d wondered why Therese wasn’t returning, apparently Therese had been using water magic to weaken the flames on the burning adventurers. That was why she couldn’t return from the front lines. Apparently, she hadn’t just been watching Julius.
Perhaps it was thanks to Therese’s water magic that Karen had been able to extinguish all the flames. Even so, it irritated her to say that she hadn’t seen Julius’s fight, so Karen gave a roundabout answer:
“I heard various things from Mr. Julius himself!”
“Weren’t you frightened?”
“Not at all. Not in the slightest.”
Julius, who said killing was enjoyable. When she saw Julius thinking of himself as terrifying, Karen was accustomed enough to seeing such people that she wondered why he went that far.
Even so, she had never once seen her younger brother Thor, who had loved hunting monsters since childhood, take pleasure in killing people. If she witnessed such a thing, she might be frightened even if it were her brother.
Nevertheless…
“—From now on, even if there are things I find frightening, I have no intention of leaving Mr. Julius’s side.”
“You’re strong, Lady Karen. I seem to have been dreaming about Sir Julius. When I actually spoke with him, he was quite different from the Sir Julius I’d imagined… especially when he was with you. At first, I thought it was because you were a valuable talent, but…”
Therese’s speech became fragmented.
She was a mage. If she’d been contaminated by fragments of a black egg, the consequences would be immeasurable. Though Karen was curious about the words that followed, as an alchemist, she called out to her:
“Please rest now, Lady Therese.”
“When Sir Julius disappeared… I couldn’t go look for him. I was the party leader… and I had escort duties… and I convinced myself that Sir Julius would be fine… When you came to help him, Lady Karen, I am sure Sir Julius was very happy…”
“Why do you think that?”
When Karen felt irritated and inadvertently asked Therese, who spoke as if she understood Julius, Therese smiled.
“Because I was also very happy to be rescued… Being alone in a dungeon is so lonely and frightening…”
Rather than understanding Julius, those were Therese’s feelings.
After Karen made a surprised face, she adjusted Therese’s sheets.
“Please sleep. What should heal won’t heal otherwise.”
“Yes, Lady Karen…”
Therese smiled and fell asleep.
Leaving the tent and blending into the pouring rain, Karen muttered softly:
“I’m glad I was the one who met Mr. Julius first…”
Surprisingly, even to Karen herself, the source of that feeling wasn’t jealousy.
Even if Therese had met Julius first, and even if Julius had chosen Therese, she would still have remained a princess to be rescued by him, and she would not have gone to save Julius herself.
If that was the case, then it was better that Karen met him first.
She even thought that even if they hadn’t met like this, they would have met eventually. It was not a matter of fate, but simply that Karen was Karen and Julius was Julius, making their meeting inevitable.
Karen exhaled.
Finally, Karen was able to think that it was good for Therese to exist as one of the reasons Julius could take pride in himself.
Even afterward, the knights appeared to be hard at work, despite the rain making the ground slippery and the view difficult. From Karen’s perspective, the incident had already been resolved.
Although they couldn’t reach the mastermind, the research facility in the blank zone—likely the primary cause of the dungeon’s abnormalities—had been burned down by the pegasus, and monsters would probably stop crossing the boundaries from now on. Things would probably be difficult again after leaving the dungeon, but that was that. However, for people who thought the dungeon was collapsing, it was not that simple.
In the midst of all this, only Karen—who knew everything was already over and had finished her duties—had her mind completely occupied with something else. Currently, she was in front of Julius’s tent.
“M-Mr. Julius! It’s Karen!”
“—Come in.”
“Excuse me…!”
Julius was sitting in a chair.
While Waltride’s tent was almost like a room, Julius’s tent seemed to have only the bare minimum necessities.
Karen inadvertently looked at the bed placed at the edge.
Perhaps because of Julius’s height, it was quite large—if they pressed together, two people could sleep side by side.
“Karen.”
“Yes!”
“Come here.”
“Yes…!”
Karen removed the cloak she’d been wearing as rain protection.
Under the cloak was nightwear. Taking advantage of being on the eighth floor, tonight she’d polished her body to a shine.
With the cooperation of Irmlinde and Dorotea, she’d left no gaps.
Standing before Julius, Karen watched his hand extend to her cheek and closed her eyes.
As she waited with her heart pounding—a soft sensation pressed against her forehead and withdrew.
She’d apparently been kissed on the forehead.
When Karen opened her eyes in surprise, Julius smiled.
“Thank you for keeping your promise, Karen.”
“Eh? Ah, yes.”
“Well then, good night. Since Her Highness Waltride’s tent, which you’ve made your base, is right nearby, you won’t need an escort.”
Julius gently urged Karen to leave.
To the dumbfounded Karen, Julius smiled wryly.
“My magical intoxication has subsided, so I no longer have business with you.”
“Whaat!? B-But I came here having prepared myself for everything!”
“Please don’t take the foolish nonsense I spoke while intoxicated in the future seriously.”
“What about your promise to give me an incredible kiss without holding back, with one hundred percent pure desire from you, Mr. Julius!?”
“I don’t recall making such a promise, Karen.”
Julius said that with a smile. After all, it was just Karen who had wished for it unilaterally. Now that his magical intoxication had subsided, apparently, everything had calmed down.
Karen held her head.
“I-I should have gotten you to kiss me with appetite or whatever…! When will you ascend a step next time!?”
“Please don’t look forward to my magical intoxication. It only shows you my worthless true nature. It’s far too different from the me you said you liked. …You should leave now. Lingering in a man’s tent isn’t good for you.”
“Ah, wait!”
Julius tried to push Karen out of the tent.
At such unreasonableness after calling her out in the middle of the night, Karen grabbed Julius’s hand that was pushing her back.
“Even if your feelings have calmed down, my feelings haven’t calmed down at all—! I came here a little scared, yes, but filled with anticipation!”
All the desires that exploded when Karen was magically intoxicated were ones she’d held all along. Just because she was intoxicated didn’t mean the desires disappeared—it only exposed desires she’d been hiding.
That was why she pushed back, but when she saw Julius looking down at her with an expression on the verge of clicking his tongue, Karen quickly lost her nerve.
“I see, well then, see you tomorrow—”
With a dejected face, Karen tried to hurriedly leave, but Julius’s hand grabbed her arm and pulled.
“Wah!”
By the time Karen realized it, she’d been thrown onto Julius’s bed, and before she could even move, Julius had straddled her.
Hearing the sound of the simple bed creaking, Karen closed her eyes to accept him as Julius’s face approached.
Julius’s lips gently touched her lips.
It was a different kiss from when he’d been driven by the hunger of a black egg.
At first, Karen accepted it comfortably, though bewildered, but eventually she opened her eyes slightly and noticed.
Julius showed no sign of closing his eyes at all and was watching Karen’s reactions.
Realizing that, unlike before, there was no breathless pressure—only pure comfort—Karen flushed red as if her whole body had boiled. Julius continued kissing her while closely observing even that reaction, and only when Karen grew limp, unable even to resist, did he finally pull away.
“Karen, I apologize for not meeting your expectations, but unleashing my desire on you without holding back is still too early for you. You should leave now.”
“But…”
“Let me cherish you, Karen.”
The troubled smile held a pleading tone, and Karen’s eyes widened.
She could feel that Julius, who believed himself to be a monster meant to be feared, was desperately trying to discipline himself by the good he believed in.
“You are my goddess. I absolutely don’t want to do anything that would cloud the sky that is you. Please.”
To Julius’s earnest plea, Karen said blankly:
“Mr. Julius, you really do like me…”
“I’m concerned by your manner of speaking, as if you hadn’t believed it until this very moment, but yes. I’ve come to love you… So I can no longer let you go. I’m sorry.”
Karen already knew the reason he spoke as if that were a bad thing. Julius wore a bitter smile probably because he thought Karen’s feelings would change if she saw Julius’s true nature. He apologized probably because he stubbornly believed Karen would want to run away someday.
Since she didn’t feel at all that Julius would believe her even if she said that wouldn’t happen, Karen set that aside and asked:
“What do you like about me? And since when?”
“In any case, could you please get off the bed? And I would like you to leave the tent. Your presence here is bad for my heart.”
To Karen, asking excitedly, Julius said while holding his head.
Since she didn’t want to trouble him, Karen reluctantly got up from the bed, hurriedly put on her cloak, and left the tent.
When she turned back to Julius, who had come out to see her off, Karen said with a smile:
“I like you too, Mr. Julius!”
“Do you truly like me? Beyond my looks, my body, my status, and my honor—do you have anything else you like about me?”
“That hurts!”
It was an undeniable fact that she’d been attracted to exactly those things.
“But listen! Now I also like other things about you!”
“What do you like about me?”
“I asked first! You should answer my question first!”
When Karen asked at the peak of excitement, Julius let out a soft chuckle.
And he smiled bashfully as if forgetting his conviction that Karen would run away from him someday.
“Everything about you, Karen. I’ve come to love everything about you. From much earlier than you think.”
Karen grinned broadly and fidgeted as if holding something back.
But unable to hold back, she jumped at Julius, rain and all.
“I love you!”
At Karen’s embrace without reserve or consideration, Julius couldn’t help but laugh aloud.
It was a noisy night. In a situation where the dungeon was suspected to be on the verge of collapse, Royal Knights and adventurers were mobilized regardless of the night, taking turns subjugating monsters.
They also had to investigate the suspicious research facility apparently run by the group that kidnapped Waltride and the abhorrent research conducted there—people worked busily turning over charred rubble burned by the pegasus and rushing about searching for evidence, running to bring word to the surface, trying to extract information from the few captured prisoners.
The guard for the once kidnapped Waltride and Weiss, the baby pegasus Waltride had brought back, had also been increased.
On top of that, countless curious eyes were watching from the entrances of Waltride’s nearby tent and the maids’ tents. Karen, seeming unaware of all those gazes, innocently embraced Julius, was lifted up, and looked down at Julius with a smile.
Karen didn’t say it out of consideration for Julius, who had wished for self-control earlier—but Julius, who realized she was looking at him with eyes that wanted to kiss him as her feelings dictated, could no longer hold back either.
Julius looked up at those sky-colored eyes and smiled, and this time, Julius closed his eyes. Then Karen’s lips gently rained down on Julius.
