IITYVA 27

Chapter 27

“……”

“Haha, it’s bedtime now, isn’t it? Yeah, it is. So let’s talk tomorrow instead…”

I laughed awkwardly, trying to carefully pull my hand away from Aches’ grasp.

Perhaps displeased, he furrowed his brows slightly and tightened his grip, pushing me down onto the bed.

“…!”

My body fell softly onto the sheets.

A heavy weight followed. He leaned his large torso over me.

His elegantly wavy black hair cascaded down, tickling my cheek.

“Tomorrow is too far away, Einra.”

He whispered softly.

“We have so much to talk about.”

A strange uneasiness washed over me—like a hunted prey sensing its predator.

Not knowing what I was even saying, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“T-The room! The room’s messy—I have to clean it! There’s a, a corpse too…!”

“Ahh.”

Murmuring faintly, Aches lifted his body away slightly.

For a moment I thought he understood and felt a flicker of hope—until he reached for a small ornamental sculpture on the nightstand. With a small surge of aura, he activated it.

In an instant, the chaotic room returned to its pristine state, as if time had rewound.

Stunned, I stared blankly at him.

After placing the sculpture back, he looked down at me with a soft smile.

“I used a cleaning-type magical tool. I have the same one at home.”

“……”

Well, that made sense.

Aches was one of the few allies of Harnen, so it wasn’t strange for him to have the same tool I owned.

Especially since the original purpose of that artifact was “evidence elimination.”

A spell tool that resets a space to its designated time and state, while erasing all residual traces created after that time.

…Although it was gifted to me under the pretense of being a “cleaning tool.”

“B-But if you use that, the remains of the deceased…”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Assassins don’t get funerals anyway.”

He said this plainly—as the leader of the assassins.

“But still…”

There were so many questions I wanted to ask—but not now.

I shifted to move away from him, and the smile slowly faded from his face.

“…Don’t go.”

His large hand grabbed a handful of my hair.

“Why do you keep trying to avoid me?”

He slowly leaned down toward me again.

His long black hair draped down like ink soaking into the bed.

In the pouring moonlight, his long lashes cast shadows around his eyes, deepening the decadent aura.

His hand, once tangled in my hair, now brushed my cheek.

“Is it because you don’t like me?”

His breath grazed my skin.

Thoughts swirled chaotically in my mind.

I struggled to compose myself and finally opened my mouth.

“Aches, it’s not that…”

“If it’s not that, then I can’t understand why you keep avoiding me.”

He tilted his head gently.

“If it’s not because you dislike me, then why?”

“B-Because…”

I tried to come up with an excuse, but my lips only moved silently before I gave up.

How could I—someone who wasn’t even that brazen—tell him to his face that being this close to him makes my heart race like it’ll explode because it feels… too intimate?

‘This is crazy…’

I felt like crying.

When I avoided his gaze, he fell silent for a moment, then looked at me with cold eyes.

“It’s okay, Einra.”

“H-Huh?”

His hand slid from my cheek down to my lips, gently stroking them.

“You told me yourself. Even if I slept next to you, you wouldn’t hate me.”

“Th-That…”

As I reflexively opened my mouth, I quickly shut it again.

My instincts screamed: Don’t say “That was meant for little As”!

“That’s enough for me.”

For now.

He added in a low voice and gave a faint smile.

‘…What do you mean “for now”? Enough for what? What’s for now supposed to mean?’

My brain was overheating.

I was frozen stiff—couldn’t even lift a finger.

“You know, Einra?”

His drowsy voice slipped into my ear.

“I have nightmares every night.”

I flinched at his calm confession.

“…Nightmares?”

“When I have them, it’s so terrifying and painful.”

His fingers, once brushing my lips, now ran through my hair.

“I couldn’t take it anymore and went to find you… and you said you’d let me sleep. That you wouldn’t hate me for it. That you wouldn’t regret it.”

His face began to show traces of sorrow.

“I only believed those words…”

“……”

“You said you’d never hate me. I was content just being near you… but then you made me hope for more.”

“……”

“And now that you’re avoiding me—what am I supposed to do?”

His gaze met mine.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

As if bewitched, I couldn’t look away.

“Do you regret offering to sleep beside me… now that you know As is actually Aches?”

He asked with heartbreaking sadness.

A faint shimmer of tears pooled over his red eyes, like drops of wine.

My mind was still overloaded—but the moment I saw those tears, everything else vanished, and only one thought remained:

‘I need to comfort Aches!’

“N-No…! I don’t regret it at all!”

I cried out desperately.

But instead of stopping, Aches lowered his eyes gloomily.

“…Liar.”

“I-I’m not lying!”

“You’re clearly trying so hard to avoid me.”

Finally, the tears spilled down his cheeks.

Panicking, I reached out both hands and wiped them away.

“No! I’m not avoiding you! I don’t want to avoid you at all!”

At my shout, his red eyes—once downcast—slowly lifted to meet mine.

“…Really?”

“Yeah, really!”

“You won’t avoid me anymore?”

“Nope! I promise I won’t.”

“And you won’t regret it?”

“Never! No regrets!”

I nodded furiously, affirming every word.

A gentle smile slowly spread across his face as he looked down at me.

“Einra, you said that.”

“Uh-huh.”

I nodded again.

Now that the situation was under control, a creeping sense of unease began to return.

But seeing Aches smile so brightly in joy made that unease fade.

‘Yeah, what’s the big deal. It’s not like the world’s ending or a war’s starting.’

As the whirlwind of tension settled, a sudden yawn escaped me.

Sleepiness, unnoticed until now, quietly overtook me.

“Yaaawn…”

My head felt heavy.

Blinking through tears brought by the yawn, I heard a gentle voice.

“Einra, are you sleepy?”

“Mm-hmm…”

“A lot happened today. No wonder you’re tired. Go to sleep. We can talk more tomorrow.”

His soft voice spilled into my ear like a lullaby.

I responded with a soft hum.

I wasn’t even sure if I spoke aloud or just thought it.

My blinking slowed.

And like that, I drifted into sleep, listening to the sound of his heartbeat.

Whoosh—

The sound of birdsong brushed past my ears.

As soon as I registered it, the sunlight stabbed at my eyes.

“Mmm…”

I burrowed deeper into the blanket, but memories of the night before suddenly returned.

“Gasp.”

I sat up abruptly.

Last night… I fell asleep with As.

Then I woke up from a strange dream, got out of bed feeling thirsty…

“…And found a scene drenched in blood.”

And As turned out to be Aches.

Aches, who didn’t shy away from me.

…Now that I thought about it, it sounded completely unreal.

Maybe it was all just a dream?

I glanced toward the spot where Aches had been.

He was gone.

“…So it was just a dream.”

Maybe I had dreamed that ambiguous blend of hope and fear because I didn’t want Aches to hate me.

That thought brought a strange emptiness to my chest.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I got up from bed.

As soon as I stepped out of the room, the savory scent of food drifted up from downstairs.

I could hear the faint sound of something being chopped.

“As?”

I muttered reflexively and quickly made my way to the first floor.