Chapter 103
The human brain tires easily.
Especially if it’s someone who doesn’t usually have to think much.
“I can’t do any more. No, I won’t.”
Leon, after Aurora had pushed him into writing for several days, declared a strike.
The S-rank skill reward, freedom, whatever—if this kept up, his brain circuitry would fry and he’d turn into an idiot.
“Aw, come on, just write a little more. I’m telling you, the novel you wrote will sell all over the continent! It’s your chance to become a famous author!”
“Even so, my name won’t be on it. You’ll take all the credit and all the honor, Your Highness.”
“Well, because I’m Leon’s master... Still, wouldn’t Leon feel proud if people read his novel?”
Aurora spouted nonsense that didn’t even make sense, but Leon wasn’t weak enough to fall for that kind of gaslighting.
Motivation, after all, comes from proper compensation.
If nothing comes in, nothing goes out.
“Figure it out yourself.”
Slave union.
Short for union.
His attitude was firm.
“Aww, don’t be like that~ Write the next chapter for me. Hm? Write the next chapter pleeease.”
“No.”
When Leon kept refusing, Aurora, who had been acting cute, now put on a deliberately stern expression.
“Leon, don’t you feel sorry for the readers who don’t know how this novel ends?”
“Then I’ll tell you. What happens next is, the grand duke who regrets his past tries to find Isabella—”
“Wait, wait, wait!”
-Mmph!
Aurora covered Leon’s mouth with her hand.
“No spoilers.”
Aurora exchanged a look with Leon.
After getting Leon’s silent promise not to spoil it, she took her hand away.
“I’m the one writing it anyway. Whether I write it down or say it out loud, isn’t it all the same?”
“That may be true, but hearing it spoken and reading it on the page feel different. I want to read a novel.”
“Do as you please. I can’t move anymore.”
“If you keep this up, should I make you write by force?”
“Try it if you want. But you won’t get the quality you’re after. I might even change the ending outright.”
“Hmm...”
Because Leon was so stubborn, Aurora couldn’t pressure him any further either.
But she couldn’t give up like this.
She needed to see this novel’s ending, no matter what it took.
“How do I get you to write it?”
“Try to bring out some motivation in me.”
It wasn’t the sort of thing a slave should say to a princess, but someone with nothing to lose had nothing to fear.
“Hmm.”
Aurora began thinking seriously.
After all, if she couldn’t see the ending of this novel, the one who’d regret it would be her.
“What should I do?”
Because of her exalted status as a princess, she had never once had to flatter anyone in her life.
She could do whatever she wanted and get whatever she wanted.
It was the first time she’d ever faced a dilemma like this.
“Should I give you gold and jewels?”
“What’s the point of money if I can’t even go out on my own? If you give me freedom, I’ll write nonstop until it’s finished.”
“No. You’d run away.”
“Then we can make a contract.”
“Still no.”
She hadn’t said it to Leon, but Aurora had no intention of being satisfied with just this novel.
Leon had potential.
Once this novel was finished, she’d make him write something new.
Maybe not a normal person, but someone who had blocked the imperial knights single-handedly. She absolutely couldn’t let the leash come off.
Neither gold and jewels nor freedom would do.
“Uuuuuugh...”
Aurora groaned and clutched her head.
Watching her, Leon casually tossed out an idea without much thought.
“If you give me a tight hug, I’ll do it.”
“If I hug you, you’ll do it?”
“Yes.”
Leon had dreamed of one thing ever since the day he became a slave.
If he had to be a slave, then at the very least, he wanted a master who was rich, beautiful, capable, and a generous older woman.
Aurora was the perfect match for those conditions.
She was a little airheaded, but she wasn’t nasty like Renua, and being near her wouldn’t kill him either.
If she offered the right carrot, he was willing to be loyal.
“Of course, I was just testing the waters.”
Asking a princess to hug him.
That was far, far beyond the line a slave could cross when asking a princess for something.
It was his roundabout way of saying he didn’t want to do it.
But then—
“Really? That’s it?”
Aurora’s expression was perfectly calm. There was no sign of displeasure at a slave who had crossed the line.
“Be clear. If it’s really just that, will you write earnestly again?”
“Yes, well...”
“You promised.”
Aurora sat on the sofa.
She patted her thigh.
“There. Big sister will give you a lap pillow.”
“...”
For a moment, Leon thought he’d misheard her. That was why his reaction came a beat late.
“What did you just say?”
“I’ll give you a lap pillow, and Leon will get back to writing in earnest. How about it? Reasonable enough, right?”
“You’re really going to do it?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Aurora recalled a scene from a novel she had read once.
“Blue sky, a little hill, a single tree, a gentle breeze, a man and a woman. A lap pillow for a weary lover is a scene that often appears in romance novels.”
“And?”
“There are a few things I’ve always wanted to try after reading novels, and that’s one of them.”
He’d thought she’d dream of kidnapping and torture, but who would have expected this twist?
It was something Leon had never expected.
“This should be enough instead of a hug, right?”
“It should be enough, but...”
Leon couldn’t bring himself to move.
He glanced sideways at Aurora’s lower body.
Her womanly softness and supple curves made for a silhouette that trapped a man’s gaze.
Even with her dress draping over her legs, it couldn’t hide the round, smooth curves beneath.
It would definitely feel good to lie on.
But there was no way he could lie on the princess’s thigh, especially not when they’d only just met.
“No, but she herself said it was okay.”
Then maybe it was okay?
Was this a trap?
For a brief moment, reason and instinct waged a fierce battle in Leon’s head.
“Come on. Hurry up and write.”
Aurora was now even badgering Leon.
“...You’re really telling me to lie down? I’m going to just flop over, you know?”
“Lie down, I said.”
Leon approached hesitantly and sat down awkwardly beside Aurora.
“You’re really going to lie down?”
“Come on.”
Leon’s body tipped sideways in an instant. Aurora had issued the command.
Thud.
Leon’s head sank down.
A dizzyingly soft, plush sensation caught the side of his head.
Through the smooth fabric, he could clearly feel the pleasant resilience of her skin.
“Hmm. So this is what a lap pillow feels like. But isn’t this a thigh pillow? Why is it called a lap pillow?”
Aurora muttered something, but it didn’t reach Leon’s ears.
Warmth slowly seeped in along the nape of his neck.
The body scent that rushed in with every breath muddled his reason.
And above all.
“The ceiling...”
A huge shadow fell before Leon’s eyes as he glanced sideways.
Aurora’s generous lap filled Leon’s field of view.
That overwhelming angle blanked his mind.
But behind that dizzying sensation, an indescribable comfort enveloped Leon.
“...”
Then, before long, an unfamiliar feeling began to surge up from deep in his chest.
“How does it feel, Leon? In novels they say it makes your energy surge—does it really feel that way? I want to use it as reference when I write later.”
“...”
“Leon?”
Leon gave no response to her question.
Aurora tried to check why, but a large obstacle blocked her view, so she couldn’t see.
That was when it happened.
Leon seemed to stir for a moment, then suddenly turned toward Aurora and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Eek?!”
Aurora was startled by the sudden hug.
She immediately tried to pull Leon away, but he clung tightly and showed no sign of letting go.
She was about to order him off by force, having no other choice, when...
“Leon...?”
Aurora’s body swayed slightly.
The source was Leon.
It was so slight it barely showed on the surface, but his trembling traveled through their touching bodies and was fully conveyed to Aurora.
“Wh-what’s wrong? Is something the matter? Are you hurt somewhere?”
Aurora, flustered, tried to comfort him in an awkward voice, forgetting even to pull him away.
“...”
Leon gave no answer.
He had no time to answer.
Because emotion had surged up without warning.
He had been dropped into another world.
Overnight, he’d become a slave, and with the constant fear of not knowing when or how he might die, his nerves were always on edge.
He had to hold a sword he’d never even picked up before, force his body past its limits, and keep whipping himself onward.
To survive, he couldn’t show weakness, and there was certainly nowhere he could fully rest his heart.
His body and mind had long since reached their limit.
Yet the string of tension that had been stretched taut as if it might snap came undone helplessly on this comfortable, warm lap.
“...”
Aurora’s eyes trembled slightly with bewilderment.
In her mind, Leon was an unknown, suspiciously capable monster.
A slave, and yet he had single-handedly overwhelmed the imperial elite knights.
A slave, and yet he wrote lines that captured noblewomen’s hearts.
He was absolutely no ordinary slave.
He was definitely hiding something.
She kept him close only because of the subordination contract, and even then, part of her still feared him.
But what about the man who had just collapsed in her arms now?
There wasn’t the slightest trace of threatening killing intent in the two arms wrapped around her waist.
Rather, he looked pitiful, as though he were desperately clinging on so he wouldn’t lose the warmth he’d finally found in a biting blizzard.
He wasn’t a monster or anything of the sort.
Just someone who was highly suspicious, highly capable, and, at the same time, terribly fragile.
“...”
Aurora swallowed hard without realizing it.
The fingertips that had been about to pry Leon away lost their way and hovered in midair.
Because she had the instinct that it would be wrong to coldly shove him away here.
And because looking at him trembling in her arms sent an unidentifiable feeling rising from deep inside her chest.
The scenes from the countless romance novels she’d stayed up all night reading suddenly flashed through her mind.
Was this the feeling the princess had when she embraced a knight soaked through with rain and caked in mud without asking for anything in return?
Was this the kindness of a master who stayed by a servant’s side all night through while he groaned in a nightmare?
The emotions she’d only known as words on a page were now being conveyed to her in full, right here and now.
It was incredibly unfamiliar.
But it wasn’t a bad feeling.
Aurora slowly exhaled and lowered the arm she’d had hovering in the air.
Soon, her hand began gently patting Leon’s back.
Pat, pat.
There was no greed or calculation aimed at exploiting a slave in that touch.
Aurora was simply willing to offer him her embrace so he could regain his composure.
***
After a little while, once he had calmed down, Leon quietly pulled away from Aurora’s side.
Leon immediately regretted it.
“Why on earth did I do that?”
He couldn’t believe he’d shown such an embarrassing display.
The emotions that had spilled out of him so unlike himself were impossible to rein in. He was so mortified he wanted to leave at once.
Leon couldn’t meet Aurora’s eyes.
Watching him, Aurora smiled slyly.
“Leon. Tell me anytime. Big sister will hug you.”
“I just did that on impulse. I don’t need it anymore.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Reeeally?”
“...”
He couldn’t bring himself to refuse outright...
Aurora stood up.
A playful yet benevolent smile spread across her lips as she looked at Leon.
“Tell me anytime if you need it. This master can do that much for her slave.”