“Lady Leones, resupply and reinforcent units from the 5th Legion stationed in the north have arrived.”
Mirna Draco watched as supply wagons rolled into the fortress. The logistics crisis that had plagued them for days was finally over, and only now could she breathe easy.
With this much, even if the fortress were to be isolated, it could hold out for five years.
It had been a week since they seized control of Gargarta Fortress.
Apart from the siege and the initial surprise attack aid at capturing the fortress, the frequency of monster raids had drastically decreased—manageable enough now.
They had safely secured the strategically vital Gargarta, just past the barrier, and even completed fortification efforts. From here, they could now easily deploy troops in all directions across the northern front.
“Hoo...”
Even so, sighs kept slipping from Mirna von Draco’s lips. Standing beside her, Lady Elga of House Leones scowled visibly.
“What’s with the constant sighing? It’s bad luck, you know?”
“You know why, don’t you? And you too...”
Mirna trailed off mid-sentence. She didn’t feel like arguing over sothing trivial right now.
Lady Elga of Leones was probably just pretending to be fine. In truth, she was just as anxious. It was only for the sake of the child in her womb that she was keeping her thoughts calm and composed.
Mirna spoke as evenly as she could.
“Today makes four days.”
“I know.”
“I really don’t understand what’s going on.”
Elga replied more irritably than usual.
“I said I know. But what else can we do? We just have to wait. At least they’re eating regularly, so I don’t think they’re physically unwell.”
Elga rembered how the food trays left at the door kept disappearing.
It had now been four days since Teo Gospel and his cousin, Queen Ayra, had gone completely silent inside the queen’s quarters.
People had begun murmuring—wondering aloud, whispering suspicions and worries. Elga’s mind was in turmoil. She had no idea what the two were doing inside, but a sense of unease gnawed at her.
Hard to explain, but... sothing definitely wasn’t right. The world wasn’t made of fairy tales like the ones her mother used to whisper by her bedside.
Mirna asked,
“Still, shouldn’t we make sure they aren’t physically ill? For female mages especially, during... that kind of intimacy...”
Mirna didn’t finish the sentence, but Elga understood what she was getting at. Sexual intercourse involving female mages ca with certain risks.
Perhaps that was also why the half-fairy hadn’t shown his face in days. Then again, who could say for certain?
Just then—
There was noise from the fortress gate. Lowering her gaze to look below the walls, Mirna spotted a unit of soldiers assembling before Gargarta.
They wore uniforms emblazoned with a cross.
“Those bastards... they’re paladins from the Church, aren’t they?”
Elga’s brows furrowed, and Mirna added grimly,
“Looks like they’re inquisitors, directly under the Holy See. Known for using extre thods. What in the world are they doing here...?”
“They’re definitely not here to offer support.”
As Elga narrowed her eyes, soone lightly touched down beside her, using the fortress’s columns like footholds.
It was the elf professor, Stella.
In her hand was a small scroll.
“They said to hand this over to the queen.”
The three won unrolled the scroll together. It was long and filled with formal wording, but only the final line mattered:
“The Queen of Angmar is hereby commanded to cease unlawful occupation and answer the summons of the Holy See imdiately.”
***
I slowly opened my eyes, roused by the faint murmuring and commotion outside.
Next to lay a woman, her face nestled into my side as she slept, and beyond her sprawled the spiderweb-shaped wards strung all around the room.
Careful not to wake her, I began to sit up.
“......”
Gently, gently.
There.
After propping a pillow under Ayra’s head, I cautiously slid out of the bed. But the trouble wasn’t over yet.
I had to avoid brushing against or disturbing any of the spiderweb-shaped wards around the room. Still, after two days of this, I’d grown used to it.
At last, I reached the door.
I carefully opened it—just enough to slip out a plate, maybe a person at most.
Creeeak—
Peering down, I saw a small dish sitting just outside the crack of the door. It looked like the bread and eggs had long gone cold.
Guess today’s lunch is egg toast.
Just as I reached for it and began to slowly draw it inside—
“━━─!!!”
A loud shriek rang out behind .
Turning my head, [N O V E L I G H T] I saw Ayra staring at with her hair bristling wildly.
She rushed forward and yanked back with force. The plate in my hand toppled to the floor, spilling food everywhere.
Clatter!
“Teo! I told you not to go anywhere!”
“......”
Ayra lifted up and placed back on the bed. Then she pulled the blanket over us and hugged tightly—like a little girl clinging to a big doll her parents had given her.
And maybe that’s exactly what I was to her.
“You’re not allowed to go anywhere. You can’t. And I told you not to eat food from outside.”
“But... I’m hungry. Both of us haven’t eaten for two days now...”
My gaze shifted toward the trash bin in the corner of the queen’s room. It was overflowing with untouched food, rotting away. What a waste.
Ayra said,
“They definitely poisoned it to kill us. There’s no one out there we can trust. Everyone’s trying to kill . Solomon’s assassins, all of them. I know it.”
“......”
Grrrrumble. My stomach let out a loud growl.
As I said—over two days without food. There was nothing I could do. My throat was dry too.
Hunger and thirst.
I couldn’t even rember what it felt like to be full. My body was too weak to move. Though the exhaustion wasn’t just from hunger.
Rustle.
Ayra’s hand crept under the blanket toward my lower half. As her thin fingers began to tease , I had no choice but to respond... in a very physical way.
“Teo... you’re the only one I can trust.”
Ayra climbed atop and began to move her hips on her own.
It was hard to believe that just recently she had been a virgin. Her movents were sultry and sensual.
The sway of her body, the cascade of her hair.
Sweat.
Breath.
Love juices.
Saliva.
Everything blended together and swirled before my eyes. Was this real? Or...
Schlick, schlick, squelch, squelch.
“Ahhn... nngh... aah, haah...”
Despite not having eaten for two days, Ayra hadn’t lost any vitality. If anything, she looked more radiant than ever.
“Haaah... ngh... open your mouth.”
She leaned down and slipped her tongue into my slightly parted lips. After toying with mine for a mont, she suddenly bit down on it—hard.
The sharp pain made ejaculate again, deep inside her belly.
Sen dribbled down from between Ayra’s thighs.
I hadn’t eaten anything, and I’d already co a dozen tis, yet sohow the volu of my sen didn’t seem to decrease—it felt like it was increasing.
It gave chills. Where the hell was all this energy coming from? I didn’t know. I just lay there, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Next to , Ayra smiled in satisfaction. She was stunning. Not even a sunflower could match her radiance. She lay beside , babbling like a child.
“So then the flying whale goes under the black desert. It’s good at math, but the rabbit—I didn’t pet it.”
“......”
“So, Teo, what do you think?”
“......”
“I know, I know. Bit classic, right? But still—”
I couldn’t understand what she was saying. Not that I ever really could, but lately... it had gotten worse.
And maybe it was my fault.
For pushing her too far.
So now, I bore that responsibility.
“And then I opened the door wide, and there were so many eyes, a red monsoon, and stars were falling from space while I could feel the usual aura and...”
“You really are Ayra-nim.”
I gently stroked her head. Ayra smiled like a child being praised by her teacher.
“You think so too, right? We’re stars.”
Ayra had started smiling much more these days. And when she smiled, she was more beautiful than any light or flower I’d ever seen.
But when night ca—Ayra changed again.
At night, she beca even more broken than during the day. As though afraid of the darkness that fell over the world, she couldn’t stand even the tiniest shadow.
“Teo, soone’s under the bed. I heard them whispering.”
“Ayra-nim, it’s just you and in here.”
“Listen closely. You can hear it. That voice... that voice... aaahhh!”
I had no choice but to hold her tightly to stop her sudden outbursts. The only ti she cald down was when I was holding her.
Even then, her gentle soap scent never faded.
“...Teo, eat . Erase from this world without a trace. So no one can see again...”
I ate her. And she ate . We devoured each other, forgetting the world, tangled in each other until we could no longer tell where one ended and the other began.
In the process, I discovered how much a woman’s body could offer to please a man. I stained every inch of Ayra with my color.
“Ayra, turn your hips this way. Stick your ass out.”
“T-That place is a little...”
“Just relax. Don’t tense up.”
“Ugh... nghhh...”
She still slled like soap.
Suddenly, I rembered sothing I once heard—soap never loses its purpose, no matter how filthy the place it ends up in.
Maybe Ayra was the sa. Even in the worst of situations, her beauty remained unchanged. That’s why she was like soap.
And whenever I inhaled that fragrant scent, I couldn’t bring myself to care about anything anymore. That was when Ayra whispered from within my embrace.
“...Teo, please don’t hate ...”
“I don’t. I like you.”
“...But you keep trying to leave the room without .”
I looked at the door. Beyond it, people were probably waiting for .
“Teo, the outside is dangerous.”
It felt like the life I had lived beyond that door was already long ago. I even started to think Ayra might be right. Maybe the world outside really was dangerous.
The only thing that felt real was Ayra’s warmth.
So I wrapped my arms around her waist and rubbed my face into her hair.
That subtle, fragrant soap scent filled my nose.
“Ayra, you always sll like soap. Do you know that? That gentle scent.”
Ayra chuckled softly.
“That’s not my scent.”
“Then whose?”
“It’s yours, Teo. That’s your scent. It’s just rubbed off on because we’re always holding each other. I like it. It makes feel clean inside...”
And then—it hit like lightning in my head.
The soap... wasn’t her.
It was .
The only one who could wipe away the gri clinging to Ayra’s heart... was .
It was a dumb thought, but I hadn’t eaten, and my brain wasn’t working properly. Still, it made sense in that mont. And that’s when a new unease rose inside .
I couldn’t stay like this.
What the hell was I doing?
I had things I needed to do. Things I’d forgotten.
Soap never forgets its purpose. Even buried in mud or snow, it still cleans.
So do I.
I don’t have ti to drown in this.
Even if it’s just for the people waiting for outside—I have to do sothing.
I am Teo Gospel of Angmar.
So I took Ayra’s hand and said,
“Ayra, do you rember how you promised to grant two wishes?”
I’d spoken the first one easily. But the second—I’d never said it out loud. I worried she might have forgotten it. Ayra was very unwell right now.
But when I saw her puppy-like eyes look up at , a mix of emotions flickering in them, I thought... there’s still hope.
“I’m ready to say my second wish now.”
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