Chapter 326
Chapter 326 – Snuggling
Coming to the room, Count Laurien turned, bowing deeply and courteously toward Viktor and Gwen, smiling as he addressed the two:
"I won't disturb your rest any further."
Viktor responded with a nod, while Gwen remained as expressionless as ever.
When she saw Viktor nod, she likewise gave a slight tilt of her head.
Count Laurien spoke his piece, then turned and departed the room with practiced elegance, closing the door behind him without a second thought.
His figure disappeared from the doorway to the quiet sound of a latch clicking shut.
Just as he had walked some distance down the corridor, a servant came rushing in from one side, bowing respectfully before Laurien and saying:
"My Lord, the Young Mistress has 'slipped out' again."
Count Laurien's footsteps halted at once. He looked down at the somewhat timid servant and asked in a low voice:
"Priscilla—has she gone to her mother's room again?"
"No."
The servant shook her head and continued:
"The Young Mistress appeared just as Princess Auréliane of the Carencia Empire was passing by Madam's room."
"But she only lingered there a moment before leaving. I saw it myself—she had no opportunity to enter Madam's room."
"And besides, there is a sign posted at Madam's door. The Young Mistress cannot get in."
The servant's account put Laurien somewhat at ease. He waved his hand and issued a measured order:
"Locate her as quickly as possible. Ordinary people may not notice her, but today there are many guests."
"If she disturbs the other guests, that would be troublesome."
The servant nodded hastily, then turned and hurried away at a jog.
Count Laurien stood alone in the corridor, glancing once toward Viktor's room.
Then, leaning on his walking cane, he slowly departed.
In the corridor, all that remained was the dull echo of cane against floorboard, fading into the distance.
Viktor, within the room, had not been idle either—Runes and patterns coursed swiftly through his hands, Magic Power surging between them.
His hands passed lightly over the door, and several Magic Formations were embedded within it.
Sound-blocking. Barrier. Interference.
These and a whole series of magical traps were laid about the surroundings.
Should anyone try to force their way into the room, they would become entangled in these magical traps, and Viktor would be alerted.
Viktor swept his awareness across the surrounding Magic Power until he was certain there was no other presence outside the room, and only then gradually relaxed.
With all of that handled, Viktor turned from within the room and looked again toward Gwen, who sat upon a sofa draped in fur.
Compared to the Gwen of before, the Gwen of today was far too compliant.
Even sharing a room, there was no shyness or clamor.
They had once spent a night in the town at the foot of the volcano—Gwen had been bashful then, with a trace of dissatisfaction about her.
But now……
Sensing Viktor's gaze, Gwen blinked. A faint trace of puzzlement seemed to flicker across her otherwise unruffled face.
A personality as different as night and day.
Though that was also related to Gwen's current instinct-driven state.
Viktor reached out and drew the luxurious silk curtains shut, veiling the wide windows completely, cutting the pure moonlight off from the outside world.
He trod across the gold-threaded carpet beneath his feet, turning to look at Gwen.
She had long since removed her armor down to her knees.
Beneath it lay an undergarment that clung to her body like white gauze,
her fair and jade-like skin impossible not to admire, her graceful figure lending her purity an added touch of charm.
Gwen walked slowly toward Viktor, the distance between them shrinking gradually, until she was nearly pressed against him.
She stopped just before his eyes, tilted her head slightly upward, and looked at Viktor with a pair of eyes as still as water.
Then, beneath the combined gaze of Viktor and Weija—
She ignored the crow perched on Viktor's shoulder, gently extended both arms, and wrapped them around Viktor's neck.
Her forehead pressed against Viktor's, her voice emerged, like a spring breeze brushing tender shoots, softly saying:
"Hold me."
"……"
***
About half an hour later, the bathroom door misted with steam slowly opened, and Gwen passed through the hazy light within the steam, letting her damp hair fall softly around her.
She took a towel and loosely wound it about her hair, patting it dry.
She then took down the thick, generous bathrobe already hung in readiness and put it on.
At this moment Viktor, however, was sitting quietly in a chair, his body reclined slightly back.
His Coat had long since been shed, replaced by a white shirt and loose trousers.
Both legs stretched out across the crystal-carved dining table, he calmly turned the pages of the book in his hands.
The entire room held only the sounds of dripping water and turning pages, as though softly narrating the scene.
The pages turned and turned again with his thoughts.
Seeing this, Gwen rose on her own initiative and approached, passing by Viktor's side like a spring breeze, raising a clean-scented draft that drifted into Viktor's nose.
To say Viktor was entirely unaware of it—that was impossible.
Gwen stood behind Viktor, body bent slightly, as though without thinking she leaned in, pressing quietly against his back.
Soft skin resting against Viktor's shoulder, a texture fine as sand transmitting from shoulder down to his heart.
Her hair swayed gently as she looked at the content of Viktor's book and asked with curiosity:
"What is it you're reading?"
Feeling Gwen's breath so close, Viktor shut his eyes—which only allowed the nearby fragrance to more forcefully "assault" his senses.
The hand holding the book began to tremble slightly.
"Only a simple and unremarkable Spellbook."
Since Viktor had reached the 4th Tier, his composure had improved markedly.
【1st-Tier Magic: Self-Suggestion】—that sort of spell he rarely used anymore,
and now, suddenly, he felt an urge to take it up again.
On the table, Weija's body shuddered, its feathers quivering with each convulsion, as it twisted its head away and burst into silent, unrestrained laughter.
As though deeply pleased to witness Viktor in such a sorry state, it was thrilled beyond measure.
Only when Gwen lifted herself from Viktor's shoulder did Weija manage, with effort, to stifle its amusement.
Mm—couldn't make heads or tails of it.
For a Knight, this sort of Spellbook was still far too advanced.
Gwen turned and sat at the edge of the soft bed, leisurely crossing one slender leg over the other, tilting her head and watching Viktor with focused attention.
Viktor read his book, and Gwen simply watched Viktor. The atmosphere between them grew somewhat stiff.
It seemed that, perceiving that nothing more would happen and the whole night might pass this way, Viktor set down the book in his hands, rubbed his brow, looked toward Gwen, and felt a faint sense of trouble.
"……Why haven't you rested yet?"
"Waiting for you."
Gwen looked at Viktor, lightly lifting one leg and setting it idly on the bed, slightly bent.
Her arms wrapped around it, stroking back and forth, as one might with a beloved toy.
At the same time, she rested gently against her own soft knee and slowly said:
"Last time, you didn't rest properly."
Last time?
That was the time at the inn near Mount Vesuvius.
Viktor clearly recalled—they had only spent the night in the same room twice.
Once in the town at the foot of the volcano, and once tonight.
That time, he had given up the only bed to Gwen, while he himself had sat the whole night through, reading the Spellbook.
With the aid of Magic, Viktor's mental fortitude was enough to sustain him for several days without rest or sleep.
But he had not expected that Gwen would keep that incident in her heart all this time.
From the look of her, she seemed to have been brooding ever since over the fact that he hadn't been able to rest properly that time.
After all, the Gwen of today, governed by instinct, would give unrestrained expression to anything—it would never remain buried inside her.
Viktor exhaled slowly, and of his own accord set down the book in his hands.
The book crumbled in his grip into flakes of black fragments, then scattered into ash, like autumn's last petal in the fall.
Torn apart by a cold wind and gradually vanished.
Viktor rose and walked toward Gwen. She, in turn, tilted her head slightly upward.
His figure reflected in her pupils.
She watched him draw closer and closer, nearer and nearer.
At last, he was right before her.
Gwen had only to look up to see Viktor's chest.
And to catch the scent that drifted from him.
Viktor then spoke:
"Very well, we'll sleep."
At that, Gwen rolled directly under the covers and assumed a waiting posture.
Coming back to herself, she looked at Viktor, still standing to one side.
She reached out both hands, lifted the blanket, and patted the bed beside her.
Indicating that Viktor should sleep next to her.
But just as she had barely raised her eyes to meet Viktor's gaze—
A strange, faint luster of intermingled pink and violet flickered through Viktor's eyes.
【1st-Tier Magic: Hypnosis】
【Evaluating target's resistance—target resistance ＜ spell intensity—saving throw failed.】
【Hypnosis successful.】
Gwen suddenly felt a wave of weariness rising from somewhere deep within her, surging upward. The hand patting the bedside lost all its strength in an instant.
Her head tilted slowly downward, her body falling to one side.
The next moment, she was fast asleep.
One cheek lay buried in the soft pillow, pink spreading across both her cheeks—like a fully ripened apple radiating an inviting warmth.
Viktor merely looked at her in silence, his face expressionless.
A seasoned Mage always possessed the means to keep himself in an unassailable position.
He looked at Gwen and said quietly:
"If you won't fall asleep, how am I to continue with my plans?"
Thereafter, once he had ensured that Gwen would absolutely not wake, Viktor extended a finger, lightly tracing a path across her back.
【1st-Tier Magic: Blade of Severance】
His forearm instantly radiated a brilliant blue light, materializing a halo of Magic Power.
With a light swipe, a straight line was drawn along Gwen's bathrobe from top to bottom.
The bathrobe split along the line, revealing the pale skin of Gwen's back.
A flick of his fingers to both sides, and the bathrobe parted wider still, exposing nearly the entirety of her back.
Even the edges of the rounded peaks beyond could faintly be glimpsed.
He shut his eyes, drew a long, slow breath:
"Forgive the intrusion."
Viktor extended his finger once more, like a pianist playing a composition, tracing from the top of her spine downward.
All the way to the coccyx, where he stopped at last.
The next instant, Gwen's back seemed to split open, and a glow of golden radiance seeped from the fissure.
Weija flapped its wings over, alighting on Viktor's shoulder.
Looking downward, its beak produced a clicking sound of astonishment:
"Remarkable."
It opened its beak, gazing at Gwen's back, full of admiration:
A golden scale motif, like a brand, was embedded on her back.
"The Goddess of Justice's recognition."
"As expected—the Goddess of Justice has long since regarded her as a vessel in the mortal world?"