Chapter 606
Editor : Amethyst00
Niel and Marcel were sitting at opposite ends of the room.
They both turned their heads sharply, not even glancing at each other.
The warm heat rising from the floor made their bodies naturally feel warmer.
Feeling an odd dryness in his throat, Niel reached for a water bottle placed in a corner of the room.
As she poured the water into a cup and brought it to her lips—
“Puhak! Wh-what the—?! Is this alcohol?!”
Niel spat the liquid out, hurriedly wiping her mouth and checking the other water bottles.
“They’re all alcohol!”
Wearing an expression of disbelief, Niel urgently made her way to the hot spring attached to the room.
She scooped a cup of steaming spring water, cooled it down a bit, and brought it to her mouth.
“Guhhek?!”
A sharp taste filled her mouth, and Niel spat it out on the floor without realizing.
“Wh-what the hell is this?”
She frantically looked to the side.
"Good for skin health and fatigue recovery. Harmless to the human body but tastes strange, so do not drink it."
Niel felt a headache coming on.
In the end, the only drinkable thing in the room was alcohol.
‘Unbelievable, seriously.’
“Stop making a fuss, Niel Rhoda.”
At that moment, Marcel sighed and spoke.
Niel scoffed and sat back down.
Just as the strange silence was settling in again—
Grrrrrowl—!
Marcel’s stomach growled.
He buried his face in his hands.
Seeing that, Niel sneered.
“As expected from a wizard who just sits in his room reading books. No self-control. Just one day without food and already making that pathetic noise—”
Grrrrrowl—!
“……”
Niel’s stomach growled in the exact same way.
It was natural, really.
Niel and Marcel had both gone without food all day.
On top of that, they had done physical labour without using aura or magic.
And now, the smell of delicious food prepared in the room was stimulating their senses.
Their bodies were reacting honestly, and they couldn’t help it.
Marcel glanced at Niel, who quickly turned away with a beet-red face.
‘Ah, this is so embarrassing!’
Niel silently screamed as she pressed down on her noisy stomach.
She was about to be laughed at harder after having just ridiculed Marcel.
“Pfft.”
Marcel suddenly burst into laughter.
“You haven’t changed a bit, Niel Rhoda.”
“What do you mean?”
“That needless rigidity. Always being strict with yourself. And turning into a hopeless fool whenever it involves your lord.”
“Hmph! Look who's talking! You’re the one acting all carefree! You’re no less of a fool than I am!”
Niel snapped and let out a sigh.
Marcel looked at her and said, “Shall we eat, then?”
“…Fine.”
Niel nodded.
There was no reason to keep starving in front of perfectly good food.
It’s not like the food did anything wrong.
Marcel tried a meat dish and admired it.
“This is quite delicious.”
“Don’t eat it.”
“What’s your problem now?”
“I made it. So don’t eat it.”
“……”
Marcel sighed deeply.
“I shouldn’t have told Young Master Leo anything unnecessary. If I knew it’d lead to this, I wouldn’t have said a word.”
“Something unnecessary?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“……”
Niel hesitated for a moment and asked, “Was it about me?”
Marcel didn’t answer.
‘No wonder. Even Chelsea Lewellin asked me something strange… it must’ve been because of that.’
Niel recalled the earlier conversation.
And the awkward air continued between them.
While eating, Niel choked and started pounding on her chest.
Marcel frowned at the sight.
“Stop making a scene. Just drink this.”
“Don’t… be ridiculous! gulp gulp! Huff… huff…”
Niel barely managed to swallow the food.
“I don’t drink alcohol! You drink it!”
“I don’t drink either.”
“Yeah, right? You seem like the type to break school rules the most, and you don’t drink?”
“I made a mistake once while drunk. Since then, I’ve sworn off alcohol.”
Niel grimaced.
‘How annoying. We even have the same reason for not drinking?’
The heavy silence returned.
‘Young Master Leo probably prepared this for the sake of harmony between Zerdinger and Lewellin…’
Maybe her strained relationship with Marcel was a hindrance to Leo.
‘Even the lady is building ties with Abad.’
The direct descendants of Zerdinger were making efforts.
And yet she was keeping walls up against Marcel over past events.
While the loyal knight Niel was thinking about all this—
Marcel spoke.
“Niel Rhoda.”
“What?”
“Let me be honest. I still have feelings for you.”
“What?”
Niel froze.
But after a moment—
She let out a sharp laugh.
“Funny, coming from someone who had a pretty big scandal. Wasn’t there an uproar when you broke up with your girlfriend in second year? You got caught drinking in the dorms and got disciplinary action, didn’t you?”
Marcel let out a deep sigh.
“To be honest… that’s exactly why I don’t drink anymore.”
“What?”
Marcel scratched his head.
“There was a rumor that you were dating a guy. I got drunk because of that and messed up. Thankfully, I didn’t mention your name.”
Niel’s lips trembled.
Back in her first year—
During a school trip, she had gotten drunk for the first time and accidentally said she had dated a guy.
And that guy was none other than Marcel.
That’s how the rumor spread through the entire school.
“I resented you for forgetting me so easily. That’s why I treated you so harshly.”
It was a long-forgotten scandal.
“But even with lingering feelings, I never dated anyone else during school.”
Hearing that, Niel gave a bitter laugh.
“Same here.”
“What?”
“That rumor. I drank because of you too.”
Niel and Marcel looked at each other silently.
And then, without a word, both burst into laughter.
After laughing for a while, Niel, clutching her aching stomach, wiped tears from her eyes.
“Seriously. We’re both so pathetic.”
“Yeah. Utterly ridiculous.”
Marcel agreed, looking at Niel.
“But it’s too late to go back.”
“Yeah. Too late.”
Niel nodded.
“Niel Rhoda. Young Master and Miss want to put an end to the feud between the families. You know better than anyone how difficult that is, right?”
“Yeah. It’s hard. But I want to support their wish. I’m a knight of Zerdinger.”
“Same here. I’m a mage of Lewellin.”
They stared at each other and said in unison:
“We can’t be obstacles to our lords.”
“Right. So, let’s start over.”
Both smiled.
“Let’s forget the past and become friends.”
“I agree.”
Niel extended her hand. Marcel took it.
It was a reconciliation five years in the making.
“Wow! I feel so refreshed!”
Niel lay down on the floor, speaking with a bright voice.
Then she suddenly sat up.
“Then…”
“You're going to drink?”
“Yeah. It’s not like I didn’t drink because I didn’t want to. I’m an adult now, you know? I deserve it.”
She poured alcohol into her cup.
“Want one too?”
“Heh. Now that I don’t have to dwell on past mistakes… maybe I should stop avoiding it too.”
“Right. It’s not like we’ll mess up again.”
Niel poured Marcel a drink.
They clinked glasses and sipped.
Niel grimaced at the spreading aroma in her mouth.
“Ugh. Still not a fan. Don’t think I ever will be.”
Marcel chuckled at the sight.
“Wow. Can’t believe we’re both adults now.”
“Yeah. Back then, we used to say we’d be married by this age.”
“We were just dumb little kids.”
“Yeah. But it was nice.”
“It really was.”
Recalling old times, they clinked their glasses again.
“Brr! Cold! So cold!”
As Leo entered the room of Chelsea and Niel, he saw Chelsea burrow into the blankets and tilted his head.
“It’s not that cold.”
Chelsea stopped moving and peeked her head out.
“Well, it’s not actually cold.”
She smiled slyly and stood up wrapped in a blanket.
Leo gave her a puzzled look as she shuffled toward him, dragging the blanket behind her.
Her discarded clothes trailed along the floor.
Chelsea, now in front of Leo, slyly dropped her shoulder.
Her pale blue hair fell along her neckline, and her delicate white shoulders were revealed.
“Seductive, right?”
She smiled suggestively.
Leo grabbed the blanket.
“Huh?”
And yanked it off without hesitation.
Fwoosh—!
“Not seductive. More like… cute.”
Seeing Chelsea in a swimsuit, Leo chuckled.
Chelsea pouted.
“Ugh, boring! Can’t you at least pretend to be flustered?”
“You shouldn’t tease adults.”
Leo slipped his hands under her arms like picking up a kitten, carried her to the attached hot spring, and tossed her in.
“Kyaaah?!”
Splash!
“That was mean!”
Ignoring her complaints, Leo changed into a swimsuit and entered the spring.
Stretching his limbs, he leaned back.
“This is nice.”
“You sound like an old man. You have a boy’s body but talk like a grandpa.”
Chelsea teased, but Leo didn’t care.
“What will you do first when we get to the temple tomorrow?”
She asked with curiosity.
“I’ll meet the Elemental Lord of Purification first.”
“To make a contract?”
“Yeah.”
He spoke as if it were no big deal.
“Well, no Elemental Lord could resist contracting with you.”
“It’s okay even if they refuse.”
“Huh?”
Just then, a water bucket floated by.
It was full of hot spring water.
[Take that!]
Peep! Peep!
[Fiora and Kiran, please stop.]
[Hey! Phoenix! Fairy! Elsie said stop! Want me to rip your wings off?!]
[Eek!]
Fiora and Kiran, splashing water at Elsie, froze at Laruel’s deadly shout.
“……”
Chelsea was speechless.
Leo pointed to Laruel.
“If they refuse, she’ll break their neck.”
‘None of Leo’s summons are normal…’ Chelsea muttered internally.
Then looked up at the night sky.
“I hope Marcel-oppa and Niel-unnie made up.”
“They definitely did.”
Leo’s words made Chelsea smile brightly.
“Ugh…”
Niel felt like her head was splitting.
‘How much did I drink last night?’
She couldn’t remember clearly.
But one thing was certain: they had drunk every bottle in the room.
‘Never drinking again…’
She made the same vow she had made years ago, rolling over in bed.
Then she felt something warm beside her and instinctively snuggled into it.
The warm, firm yet soft sensation was comforting.
“Ugh…”
Marcel groaned next to her.
Even so, he pulled Niel into his arms.
She let herself sink into his embrace.
“……”
“……”
Just as they were about to fall asleep again, something felt wrong.
They both opened their eyes wide.
Realizing they were in each other’s arms under the blanket, they froze.
Their thoughts halted.
A moment later, both peeked under the blanket.
Then looked back at each other with pale faces.
Just as they were about to scream—
Bang—
“Marcel-oppa, I’m sorry I— Kyaaah?!”
Chelsea, who entered the room, screamed and fled.
Leo, who followed behind, stood silently for a moment, then grinned.
“Looks like we interrupted a good time.”
“L-Leo! It’s not what it looks like! Please, listen! This is a misunderstanding!”
Niel shouted desperately with a pale face.
But Leo walked out.
He gave a wry laugh at Chelsea, whose face was bright red.
“I told them not to act like kids, and they end up acting like adults instead.”