novelraw Chapter 110 : Chapter 110
Chapter 110 : Chapter 110
Chapter 110: Festival (2)
Harad looked unusually flustered.
It was only natural, as it was late at night.
Grand Heir Elaine had suddenly visited Harad, who was sleeping.
-You meticulous bastard. You must have tumbled and sent the woman back.
Elaine frowned upon seeing the empty bed.
It seemed she had intended to raid the scene.
-What nonsense are you spouting, coming here in the middle of the night.
-I heard you were playing with a woman instead of working.
-Who says so.
-Arika.
-Do you believe that woman's words, or my words.
-Arika.
-…….
Harad let out a sigh and got out of bed.
He was only wearing his underwear, but he didn't care.
It was proof that he thought of Elaine as a man.
In Ellen's opinion, that was only natural.
In reality, she was also completely deceiving Harad.
For the same reason, Grand Duke Elaine did not tell Harad to put on clothes.
Ellen stared at the bare body of the Harad in the dream.
It was firmer than in reality. There were also many scars, which was a little disappointing.
-The reason I didn't work is because there was no work to be done. Am I not unemployed during every subjugation?
-You are my escort knight.
-It was Your Highness who told me not to follow.
It seemed that Elaine, even after becoming the Grand Duke, went on subjugations herself.
-What do you mean there's no work. It's piled up like a mountain on my desk.
-That is Your Highness's work.
-So what.
-…….
Harad rubbed his temples.
The escort knight Harad had a similar personality to the Harad in reality, but it seemed difficult for him to hold back his anger when he had just woken up.
Is he weak to sleep?
Ellen thought so.
-It was Your Highness who told me to enjoy the festival.
-So you enjoyed it. With a woman.
-I had a pankration with Gullen.
A sand pit was also prepared for the festival.
-Did you win?
-Yes. Since it's a bare-bodied fight without Aura.
The Harad in the dream seemed to be skilled in hand-to-hand combat as well.
-And you enjoyed the after-party with a woman.
-I didn't enjoy it. I just had a little chat, and sent her back.
-Why.
-My face is all over the place as Your Highness's escort, so how can I play around dissolutely.
The corners of Grand Duke Elaine's mouth went up.
-What's wrong with that. It's okay to be promiscuous sometimes.
-I'm fine. I don't have time to date because of Your Highness anyway.
-Do you have any thoughts on it?
-I'll think about it when Your Highness gets married.
-I have no thoughts on it.
Then I don't either.
Harad replied.
The corners of Grand Duke Elaine's mouth went up even more.
She seemed to have regained her composure.
-Even if it's not marriage, you should date from time to time. What good is it to have no experience at your age.
To Ellen, it sounded like she didn't mean it.
-What do you mean I have no experience.
-What?
-Do you think I have no experience? How old do you think I am.
The face of Grand Duke Elaine, whose corners of the mouth had gone up, hardened.
-As you know, I'm quite fiery. It's much harder for me to hold it in than others.
-……Is that true?
-I'm amazing.
Ellen swallowed her saliva.
-It's a joke. Why are you so envious.
-……I'm not.
-You don't have any? Experience?
-Of course not. I was probably several times more promiscuous than you.
-You look like it.
-……What?
Grand Duke Elaine's face contorted menacingly.
-You will never hold a woman's hand for the rest of your life.
-I was planning on that anyway.
-For the rest of your life. I'll kill you if you do.
-Then Your Highness shouldn't either for the rest of your life. I'll kill you if you do.
It was a disrespectful statement.
-That's a very easy promise.
But Grand Duke Elaine grinned.
* * *
The streets were lively, and abundant.
There were people everywhere, and there were things to eat or play with everywhere.
To Shura, it was heaven.
And to someone, it would be a golden opportunity.
There is no better environment to stab someone in the back than a bustling street.
'Why is there nothing.'
But Harad's back was safe throughout the festival.
"Hey, Harad! Let's have a drink!"
"I'm fine. I don't like alcohol."
The Liberation Tower mages he was waiting for didn't come, and blameless knights were hitting on him.
'Is it because of the knights?'
That couldn't be it.
It was unlikely that the Liberation Tower of this period would have information on the Wall knights.
The knights who were drinking on the streets everywhere were in plain clothes.
On the outside, they looked like thugs, not knights.
'Are they cleaning out the mages they sent to the North because of their failure on the great plain?'
Or did a false rumor spread that Serzila had formed some kind of relationship with the Church because of Seria?
Either way was plausible.
It seemed that the Liberation Tower's Rebellion faction was planning on laying low for the time being. Perhaps they were waiting for an opening.
Harad fiddled with the Moon's orb in his pocket.
'Should I get hurt once.'
If he were seriously injured, the mages hiding somewhere might take the bait... Harad, who was thinking, clicked his tongue. It was an excessive response.
Opportunities to fill the Moon's orb were rare.
The Rebellion faction's interest had already shifted to Harad.
Kubel must have already been erased from their minds.
As long as Shura's safety was secured, there was no reason for Harad to act hastily any longer.
"Oppa?"
Just then, Shura pulled on Harad's clothes.
She had been watching from afar, but Shura had managed to find Harad. It must have been thanks to her Origin, the eye.
'It does prick my conscience.'
He was not of an age to be called "oppa".
Of course, he was 20 years old now, but still.
"Aren't you going to play with me?"
"Ah. Let's play. Let's go."
Ellen is not here.
Harad felt the need to fill that role, if only a little.
"Th-Thank you..."
Kubel, who had said he would play for four years' worth of festivals, was already haggard.
A child's stamina is too much for a father to handle alone.
"It's fine."
"Daddy, are you tired?"
Shura asked cautiously.
If he said he was tired here, that mature child would say let's go home.
"It's fun, but my body is tired. Shura, it's like when you want to play more but you have to take a nap."
"Ah."
"Your dad has it worse. Because having a lot of muscles makes your body heavy."
Harad skillfully soothed Shura.
It was an easy task for Harad, who had been pestered by the Elaine of the past life.
"So let's play with me until then."
"Yes! Daddy, take a nap!"
Shura abandoned Kubel with an excited face.
For now, the festival seemed more important.
"You don't have to sleep. You're an adult. You'll be fine if you just sit for a bit."
"Still, go take a nap!"
"……."
Shura, holding Harad's hand, walked as if running.
Kubel followed behind with the face of a man who had lost his daughter.
"What's this place?"
"It's a dirty place. Let's move on quickly."
Harad covered the eyes of Shura, who had discovered the sand pit.
It was a place where northerners fought bare-chested. It was also the place where the Harad of the past life had broken Gullen's elbow.
"Let's fight, Harad!"
Someone shouted from the sand pit.
Coincidentally, it was Gullen.
It seemed he was confident he could win if he couldn't use magic.
"Mister Gullen wants to fight with oppa."
The 19-year-old Gullen was a mister.
"The weaker they are, the more they bark. Shura, you're a northerner, so keep that in mind."
"Yes!"
Shura's mouth and body did not rest for a single moment.
She talked or ate, and yet she wandered around restlessly.
And so, she kept Kubel's promise to play for four years' worth of festivals, and by the time the sun set, she was discharged and fell asleep.
"I'll carry her."
"It's fine. Rest a little more."
Harad held such a Shura in his arms and found a suitable stall.
They sold charcoal-grilled meat, and there was a small table and chairs nearby.
"Ellen would like this. Let's fill our stomachs over there."
It looked more delicious than the meat skewer Ellen had thrown away last time.
Kubel pulled out a chair for Harad and headed to the stall, saying he would go and order.
The order was quick, as they were grilling pre-cooked items.
Kubel quickly received the skewers and headed to his seat.
A woman was standing in front of Harad, who was holding Shura.
"She must not have a mother."
"……Is that a challenge?"
Harad tilted his head.
The woman laughed as if amused.
She was a white and healthy northern beauty.
"I'm hitting on you."
The woman was hitting on Harad, knowing he was a widower.
At that sight, Kubel was newly reminded of the fact that Harad was handsome.
He was not the type of man sought after in the North.
But unless one had a preference for very rugged muscles, Harad was a more than charming man.
To the point where someone would volunteer to be a mother.
"You have a peculiar taste. It's a shame, but she's not my child."
"Then that's even better."
The woman's tongue licked her lips.
It was clearly an attitude of someone trying to hit on him.
"You don't have to feel burdened. It's a festival, right? If you don't like it, it's over, and if you do..."
The woman's fingertips touched Harad's arm.
Her fingers slowly climbed up his arm.
"Oh my. It's so hard."
"Hard, you..."
At the voice that suddenly came, the startled Kubel jumped.
Ellen caught the meat skewer he had dropped and put it in her mouth.
"This is delicious. Order more."
Ellen's expression as she said that looked better than he had thought.
It probably wasn't because the skewer was delicious.
"I'll order everything."
So Kubel smiled with satisfaction.
At the end of his gaze, Ellen grabbed the woman's hand.
"This man has someone."
"Is it you?"
"I don't know."
At that, the woman disappeared as if running away.
At that reaction, Ellen laughed without a sound.
"You said you wouldn't hold a woman's hand for the rest of your life. The you in the dream."
"Did the Grand Heir say that?"
"Yes. She said she'd kill you if you did."
"That's a very scary thing to say."
Harad, who said that, was smiling.
"Let's talk for a bit, us."
"Alright."
The atmosphere was not bad.
Kubel smiled even more contentedly as he watched the backs of the two leaving.
* * *
Stimulation and dreams are interconnected.
And the week with Seria was quite stimulating.
'I thought I would dream about the Church.'
It seemed Elaine had had a strange dream.
'It's not that it doesn't make sense.'
It must be because it's the festival.
Stimulation accumulates.
The stimulus of the festival was added on top of the stimulus of Seria.
That's why a memory related to the festival was manifested as a dream.
'Or the festival was more stimulating.'
The latter is more likely.
The most stimulating among several stimuli will be revealed as a dream.
Since the dreams Elaine had had so far were like that.
"I thought you were busy."
Harad said to Ellen's back.
"What is there for me to be busy with."
Ellen answered without looking back.
She was climbing the wall.
"Then you should have played with Shura a little. She was sad that you weren't there."
"……I was a little busy. A little. I'll be able to play tomorrow."
In fact, Harad was more surprised by this fact than by Elaine's dream.
The Elaine of the past life had never had time to spare like this during the festival. She had only worked.
"Are you like that too?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you going to not hold a woman's hand for the rest of your life too? Like in the dream."
"That was the plan. It's coincidentally the same as the dream."
Harad said without a hint of a smile.
He didn't want Ellen to take it as a joke.
The dream shouldn't be a dream.
"You were about to hold one just now."
"I was about to refuse."
"Why? She was very pretty."
"Is that so? In terms of looks, you're much prettier."
Ellen's foot, which was climbing the stairs, hesitated.
It was for a moment. She climbed the stairs again.
However, her speed had slowed down.
Ellen's back got closer. She said as if whispering.
"Did you refuse because she was uglier than me?"
"That's not it."
"Then? Because you have someone?"
"Hmm. That's not it either."
It had nothing to do with Elaine.
The promise to kill her if he held a woman's hand was meaningless.
'Come to think of it, it was an unequal treaty.'
Anyway.
Even if there had been no such promise, Harad had no intention of messing around with women.
At that time, that life alone was enough.
"I probably have even less interest in women than the me in the dream."
He has even less thought of it now.
"Are you not going to hold your partner's hand either?"
"At least for now."
Will you make me fall for you again this time.
Grand Duke Elaine's voice came to mind.
That love, Harad has never thought about it deeply.
Because the regressed Harad has no such luxury.
He had to prepare for the future in the time he would spend worrying about a heart that the person herself doesn't even remember.
Love is a problem to think about later, much later.
When Elaine regains her memories.
"I feel sorry for your partner."
"Actually, the one who's most pitiful is me."
Ellen tilted her head.
To her, it was an incomprehensible statement.
When will she realize?
Harad sometimes found that frustrating.
"Who is your partner?"
"It's a secret."
His steps had been stopped from a while ago.
But Ellen did not look back.
"The woman who dislikes heart consumption is that person, right?"
"Exactly."
"When, where, and how did you meet?"
"It's a secret."
If he had his way, he wanted to tell her everything.
If he did, the restrictions of regression would surely burst his heart.
Ellen turned around. She met his eyes.
"You know it doesn't make sense, right?"
"I know."
So Harad smiled brightly.
As if telling her to figure it out.
"Of course I know."
Iagar was a peaceful land with no Magical Beasts.
Even if Arika's information was wrong, there was no way Harad would have consumed a heart.
But a woman who dislikes him consuming hearts exists.
"But it's a secret."
Harad has the secret of regression.
Ellen may not know about regression, but she was aware that Harad had a secret.
"It's a secret I have to find out, right?"
That she, Ellen, has to find out that secret herself.
"If not me, then the Grand Heir? Are the dreams the Grand Heir has also like that?"
Ellen muttered as if testing the waters.
Harad couldn't answer. The restrictions were squeezing his heart.
This must be the limit.
"It's vague. Just like magic."
But... Ellen had already noticed the sense of incongruity.
The Harad of the past life had expected such a thing from Elaine.
Elaine seemed to be the greatest ignoramus in the North, but at times, she was sharper than Harad.
"I understand. The partner is just a partner in name, right?"
"Exactly."
"And you have no thoughts on it."
"That's right."
Harad answered promptly.
Perhaps he was even excited.
"So, why are you asking such things?"
Harad wanted to continue this topic.
He wanted to draw out more of Ellen's thoughts.
"I don't know."
"What?"
"I said I don't know."
"……."
His head, which had heated up as if on fire, cooled down at once.
"Is he really amazing?"
"……?"
It seemed Ellen's curiosity had moved on to something else.
"Do you have a lot of experience with women? I'm asking because in the dream, he said he had a lot."
Fortunately, the place her curiosity had arrived at was the dream.
Harad decided to be satisfied.
It is indeed greedy to achieve the purpose of regression in just half a year.
"How could I. I was stuck in my room."
But a woman who dislikes heart consumption exists.
Ellen had surely noticed that sense of incongruity.
"Have you ever liked someone?"
"No."
"……."
Ellen jumped down the stairs.
She stood at the same level as Harad. And she looked up at him.
"You really haven't?"
"What about you?"
"……."
Ellen took a deep breath.
And she answered as if spitting it out.
"I don't know."
"Hmm?"
"I said I don't know."
Ellen was uncharacteristically embarrassed.
But she did not avoid his eyes.
"What about you?"
"Then I'll say I don't know either."
It was a very poor answer, just going along with it.
But Ellen smiled. It was a very beautiful smile.
……Perhaps even more so than the Elaine he had seen before regressing.
"It's a magnificent view. The festival."
The territory seen from the wall stairs must be a magnificent view.
But Ellen was looking at Harad.
"I see."
So was Harad.
"Let's just talk for a bit and go. Kubel is waiting."
"Alright."
Their eyes did not move.
They were fixed on each other.
Harad thought it was a restriction.
He couldn't take his eyes off Ellen's, as if someone had forced him.
"Are you weak to sleep?"
"A little?"
"If you fight Gullen bare-bodied, you'll win?"
"Of course."
"Is it much harder for you to hold it in than others?"
"I suppose so."
"Can I hold your hand?"
"……."
"You would have died if it were a dream."
"……Because it's not a dream."
Because it's not a dream.