"What! Mmph!"
Diana, whose shirt was clinging to her body due to being wet, squirmed in his arms as she buried her face in his chest. The more she moved, the tighter he gripped her back.
"Rodrick?"
"..."
Diana glanced up at him, who remained silent, then gave up and rested her head on his chest. Might as well absorb some more of the curse while I'm at it.
"What does this mean? Can a person change so much after waking up? You used to hate it when I clung to you."
"So."
His dry voice cracked pleasantly at the end.
"Do you dislike it?"
"No. Who said I disliked it?"
As Diana said this and clung even tighter, Rodrick let out a small laugh.
A maddening woman. But she had been upgraded to a not entirely unpleasant woman.
The weight of her body pressing against his wasn't bad.
Was the comfort of each other's warmth always this peaceful?
It was a tranquility he couldn't find even when wandering the battlefield, his whole body screaming with the urge to kill.
It was the first time in his life he felt such ease.
"..."
Lost in thought for a moment, Rodrick gazed at the bright moon hanging in the sky. Then, sensing something amiss, he furrowed his brow.
"My lady?"
"..."
Diana's chatter, which had continued until just now, had ceased. Rodrick rose from his seat and checked on her condition.
Her soaked body was cooling down, but her temperature was rising.
Diana's face was flushed red as she fell asleep, breathing heavily.
Tsk. Clicking his tongue, he removed the pendant from the string wrapped around Diana's wrist. Rodrick quickly destroyed the pendant imbued with location-tracking magic.
It was a method to alert their location in case of emergency. His subordinates would arrive soon.
Rodrick scanned the area, then propped Diana against a safe-looking tree corner before starting a fire.
Lighting a fire in a dark forest teeming with magical beasts was suicidal, but magical beasts were no threat to him.
His upper garment was nowhere to be seen. No sword either. He remained calm even in this defenseless state.
He took off the thin shirt he was wearing, wrung it out tightly, and covered Diana's body with it.
He wasn't sure how she had left the castle. Who would believe a woman alone could drag an unconscious man out?
Especially with a body that looked like it would break if touched too roughly. He had unintentionally incurred a debt.
Rodrick turned his gaze to the lake, which shone as blue as his eyes.
His blue eyes sank to unfathomable depths. Was that lake connected to the castle?
Considering her wet body and what Diana had said, it was easy to deduce. Underwater, even a man's body could move without much difficulty.
"Captain!"
Just as he was lost in thought, a familiar voice called out. Along with the clanking of armor, his group arrived.
The subordinates who made eye contact with Rodrick as he turned his head all froze in their tracks.
More precisely, they stopped abruptly, stunned by the scene before their eyes.
"Uh, well, um."
Pushing aside one who was stuttering, a subordinate spoke up.
"Did we interrupt something?"
Rodrick swept back his black hair with its blue tinge. His exposed eyes were more murderous than ever.
His gaze was saying, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"No! But when the captain is half-naked like that, it's natural to misunderstand!"
A shirtless man in front of a crackling campfire, with a woman lying covered by his shirt. They looked like affectionate lovers.
The problem was that this man was their captain.
The captain who commanded ruffians on par with imperial knights. The commander of the Duverc Knights. Rodrick Schwartz!
And he was even offering his thigh as a pillow to the woman, with one leg stretched out.
That cold-blooded man had allowed a woman by his side.
A lap pillow! A lap pillow, of all things! The subordinates were all shocked. This was a major incident.
"Wow, so even our captain has his springtime."
"I thought he'd live alone forever."
"Tch. Damn. I'm jealous."
"I can't even see my wife."
"Quiet."
At the low voice, all noise ceased instantly.
Rodrick silenced his subordinates with a word and raised his hand. At his gesture, the vice-captain stepped forward.
At the same time, Noel, who had been holding the vice-captain's hand, trotted over.
"Sister."
Before the child could reach Diana, his small head was caught in a large hand.
"Quiet. Who are you?"
"...I'm her brother?"
The face that had turned pale at the sight of the collapsed Diana quickly became sullen as he looked up at Rodrick.
The strangely glistening red eyes were threatening. Though the chubby cheeks and short stature were not threatening at all.
"The Beatus family should only have the young lady as the youngest. Was there an illegitimate child?"
The vice-captain, who had been standing back quietly, added softly.
"He claims to be an illegitimate child of the Beatus family. According to our previous investigation, the illegitimate child disappeared without being registered in the family register as soon as he entered the family. It seems he was trapped here."
"Was the young lady of the Beatus family also missing?"
"Was this lady the young lady of the Beatus family?"
"Yes."
"In the report we received just before departure, there was no mention of anything unusual."
The four siblings of the Beatus family were famous in the empire. In contrast to the renown of the three brothers, the youngest daughter was famous for a different reason.
The young lady who had secluded herself in the mansion and never came out, despite belonging to such a prestigious family.
There were all sorts of rumors: that her beauty paled in comparison to her brothers, that she had an incurable disease, that she had a disability.
Despite the various rumors, they never explained or clarified, simply ignoring them. And the more they did so, the more the talk increased.
Contrary to the rumors, she was a beauty with striking features. Was even the claim that she was in the mansion a lie from the start?
She might have been confined here all along. We'll have to investigate when we return.
"Mister."
Search "seduce" at redcatty [.] com to read ahead up to chap 70.