Chapter 31
My head throbbed dully.
My vision was blurry, as if shrouded in mist.
Where was I?
“Were you having a pleasant dream, Aria?”
What a chilling voice.
A voice I didn’t want to hear.
Yet that timbre, etched into my mind, clung to my chest like stubborn sulfur and refused to leave.
“W-what?”
“Since you fainted, I gave you a little time to recover. The night is long, after all.”
Where was Ashtein?
Where was he?
Aria trembled as if she couldn’t bear to believe it.
“What is this?”
Bishop Ronin’s eyes curved.
They were filled with malice.
“Your speech needs correcting, Saintess.”
Aria cried out in alarm.
“I-I don’t want to be corrected!”
“You should have watched your words, then.”
She realized her body was cold.
That’s right.
She was naked.
As always.
“I-I’m sorry!”
“It’s all right. I don’t believe in empty words. Your body knows that better than anyone, doesn’t it?”
No.
He wouldn’t listen.
Aria tried to move and flee.
Clank.
Unfortunately, her arms and legs were secured in shackles with chains.
Bishop Ronin approached.
The other bishops approached, too.
Their hands groped her body like caterpillars and cockroaches.
There was no escaping.
Realizing that, she screamed.
“No, no!”
Why did she have to face this situation?
Where was Ashtein?
No.
Save me.
Ashtein.
Save me.
Please.
“Gasp.”
Aria’s upper body sprang upright like a taut spring.
Beads of cold sweat dripped from her forehead onto the sheets.
“……Ah.”
A dream.
It had been a horrible dream.
“Ashtein……”
She turned her head like a baby bird searching for its mother.
There he was: Ashtein, sleeping soundly.
“……Thank goodness. Really.”
Aria wrapped her arms around the sleeping Ashtein.
As if trying to shake off her horrible memories, she burrowed into his embrace.
Thanks to that, her heart quickly settled.
Once she had calmed down, Aria remembered last night’s lovemaking.
Ashtein had certainly granted Aria’s wish to be painted in his colors.
His thick semen had smeared all over Aria. It was hard to find a spot—her head, chest, stomach, buttocks, back, and so on—that hadn’t been covered.
Fittingly for a Hero, perhaps his stamina was Hero-class, too.
Or perhaps, like his enormous cock, his load was no joke.
‘But I liked it.’
Entrusting her body to the person she loved.
That alone made her feel safe and filled her with a sense of fulfillment.
Maybe that was why.
She could shake off the nightmare she’d just had, too.
Aria sniffed at her wrists and hands.
“I think the smell of semen has mostly faded.”
Ashtein’s semen had been so pungent it could make her nose wrinkle.
Because of that, Aria, covered in semen, had needed to wash herself in the middle of the night.
‘Want to bathe together?’
Worried that Aria might hurt herself, Ashtein had suggested that they bathe together.
Aria had no reason to refuse.
It went without saying that they’d made love several times as Ashtein got worked up in the process.
In fact, Aria had swayed her hips seductively and lured him first, saying, ‘Aria’s breeding pussy wants more of Ain’s seed.’ So it had been both their fault, rather than either one’s alone.
They’d mated like beasts.
Perhaps that was why, after their bath, they’d fallen asleep without even having a chance to get dressed.
In fact, both of them were naked now.
“Hehe.”
Remembering last night’s lovemaking made the corners of her mouth twitch for no reason.
It seemed to Aria that the fact Ashtein had wanted her was quite sweet.
She rubbed her bruised buttocks and sore crotch as she got out of bed.
Her legs trembled from all the sex, but she could still walk.
Gloop, gloop.
Ashtein’s semen still remained inside her belly.
The sticky semen leaking from her vagina ran down her thighs.
“Honestly, you came so much.”
She didn’t mind.
Wasn’t it proof of how much he loved her?
Aria wondered what it would be like to have Ashtein’s child right now, then shook her head.
“Having a child now would only hold Ashtein back.”
He was the one who would defeat monsters and kill the Demon King.
She couldn’t let him grow soft because of her.
Looking toward the window, she saw the faint blue of dawn.
It was still a while before morning would break.
Aria walked over to the window without even thinking to put on her clothes.
Perhaps because it was winter, frost had formed on the windowpane.
When she touched the glass, an intense chill crept along her fingertips.
“I got pretty worked up yesterday, didn’t I?”
She turned over the things she’d said in her mind.
‘Please, paint me in your colors—me, the lewd, dirty me.’
‘D-don’t pull out. Come inside me. Fill Aria’s breeding pussy.’
‘Aria’s pussy wants Ashtein’s semen.’
Aria couldn’t help laughing.
Her lines had been pretty extreme, so it was only natural.
Even a prostitute or an AV actress probably wouldn’t say things like that.
She didn’t feel ashamed or embarrassed.
What was wrong with craving love and expressing it?
She’d said even dirtier things than that before.
She’d even said them to people she didn’t like.
Compared to that, saying obscene things to someone she loved was a relief, wasn’t it?
‘Ashtein said he was fine with me even like this.’
How long had she stood smiling as she looked out the window?
Ashtein stirred and woke up.
He closed his eyes for a moment, still dazed, then opened them again.
“You’re up early.”
He was asking Aria.
She turned her head from the window to look at Ashtein.
Ashtein thought she looked like a figure in a painting.
Aria smiled faintly.
“You stayed awake until I fell asleep, Ashtein, so of course I woke up early.”
He brushed back his bangs and furrowed his brow.
“You were clinging to me quite a bit.”
At that, Aria didn’t argue. She only smiled bashfully.
It was true she’d kept pestering him to hold her tight and whisper that he loved her.
“Did you not like it?”
“I liked it.”
“……Hehe, thank you.”
Ashtein asked with an indifferent expression.
“Shall we eat?”
“Isn’t it too early?”
“It’s still dawn,” Aria said, pointing toward the window.
Ashtein rubbed his chin and gave her a mischievous look.
“I lost a lot of fluids thanks to someone. Maybe that’s why I’m so hungry.”
It was a lewd joke, and Aria was hardly going to miss it.
She lowered her head.
“Ugh, th-that was something we b-both agreed to, Mr. A-Ashtein……….”
“I’m joking.”
The Saintess glared at the Hero with narrowed eyes.
“Scary, our Saintess.”
“……Honestly. Fine. Anyway, this is a little out of the blue, but do you have a nickname, Ashtein?”
“A nickname?”
Aria gave him a shy smile.
“I want to call you something special. Would that be all right?”
He gladly agreed.
He simply wasn’t used to anyone calling him by a nickname. It wasn’t that he minded.
“You can call me Ain.”
“Ain. That’s a nice nickname.”
Aria murmured the nickname Ain over and over.
As if she were enjoying it, as if she were delighted.
“Aria.”
When Ashtein called her name without thinking, her black eyes turned toward him.
Her gaze was filled with boundless affection.
“Yes, Ain.”
She seemed as if she might leave at any moment.
Would she disappear somewhere, like a mirage, like an illusion, like ‘Noona,’ if things went on like this?
That thought made Ashtein’s chest tighten.
So he said,
“Don’t leave.”
“Pardon?”
“Don’t leave me.”
Aria’s eyes widened at those words.
Then, with a face so happy she could barely contain it, she said,
“Ash—… Ain, you think I’m going to leave you?”
“……….”
“I’m disappointed. I’d never do that. I-I even have Ain’s seed in me now.”
Aria stroked the area below her navel with a benevolent expression.
That sacredness and lewdness could coexist was surely a whole new frontier.
“You’re lewd, Saintess.”
“I’m only lewd in front of Ain.”
That was exactly what he couldn’t stand.
Ashtein silently spread his arms.
It was a gesture inviting her to come to him.
Aria walked from the window to the bed without a moment’s hesitation.
Then she flung herself into Ashtein’s arms.
“I really hated being bound or restrained. I was afraid I’d forget who I was, and what I did.”
Ashtein quietly listened to Aria speak.
It wasn’t as if he had many other options, and he wasn’t inclined to do anything else, either.
As he slowly stroked her head, she smiled as if she couldn’t contain her happiness.
Like a puppy.
Ashtein had the silly thought, ‘Wouldn’t she like it even more if I scratched her chin?’
Aria gave him a sultry smile.
“You know? Of all the people I’ve met, Ain is the one who binds and restrains me the most.”
“Sorry about that.”
Aria smiled at Ashtein’s grumble.
“But I don’t hate it. I’d rather you keep holding my leash—no, hold it forever.”
“You’re not a pet.”
“It’s a metaphor, a metaphor.”
“It bothers me.”
Aria sighed.
“Can I tell you about myself?”
“Sure.”
Ashtein adjusted his posture and listened attentively to Aria.
She calmly explained her circumstances.
Her story went on for quite a while.
It was cruel, sadistic, and nearly erased her personality.
And at last, her long story came to an end.
“It was horrible. I was raped and gang-raped every day, and I had to kill myself to fit the mold of a Saintess.”
Ashtein stroked Aria’s back as she hugged herself, shuddering.
“I see.”
“Don’t you find me dirty? I’m a woman who’s taken all kinds of men.”
She looked withdrawn and timid.
Had everything she’d acted so calm about until now just been an act?
Ashtein said only one thing.
“You went through a lot.”
It was an answer so very like him.
Aria felt a love churning in her chest.
So she kissed Ashtein’s cheek.
Caught off guard, he blankly touched his cheek and gazed at the Saintess.
Aria playfully squeezed one eye shut.
It was what people called a wink.
Ashtein thought it was awkward as hell.
“Hehe, do you hate it when a lewd, dirty woman like me does this, Ain?”
“I’m flustered, not repulsed at all. And like I said yesterday, you’re……”
She cut him off as if she already knew what he was going to say.
“Neither lewd nor dirty?”
“You know that, so don’t put yourself down.”
“Because I like hearing Ain say it.”
“Even if you don’t put yourself down, I can say things like that as much as you want.”
“That’s a lot of flattery.”
“Flattery?”
Aria giggled.
“It’s a thing.”
It was a lively side of her, so different from the awkward, earnest one she’d shown until now.
Ashtein found that side adorable, too, and immediately stole a kiss from Aria.
It was a deep kiss.
She flailed both hands, hitting his chest, but soon gave in and entwined her tongue with his.
After their tongues had tangled for a while, they parted.
“Aren’t you, t-too good at this?”
He looked at Aria, who was panting.
Her skin was smooth and unblemished, her nose straight and neat, her eyebrows slender.
Ah, her eyelashes were longer than he’d expected, too.
“You’re beautiful no matter how many times I see you.”
At his words, Aria’s pale face turned rosy.
This person was always like this.
He always made her feel embarrassed.
“…………Ughhh.”
Aria looked away.
“Embarrassed?”
“Y-you can tell just by looking.”
“Hmm, I can’t tell.”
What a shameless man. Her heart was beating all on its own.
When she looked away, Ashtein forced her to meet his gaze.
It wasn’t so much uncomfortable as it was annoying.
Was there a topic she could use to change the subject?
Just then, white snow began to fall outside the window she’d been looking through.
“Ah, it’s snowing, Ain.”
“Yeah.”
The first snow fell.
It was a white dawn.