My face feels like it’s about to boom!
A person with pure white hair approached me. Almost naked except for a towel!
“Wow, Licht, you have a lot of muscles… interesting.”
“…”
Pina Grancia looked at my body with her glowing golden eyes.
I trained hard enough to build muscle. When I first got possessed, I had nothing.
Even Drake said I wasn’t cut out to wield a sword. So, I worked late into the night swinging a sword.
“Hehe, it’s solid…”
Splash, her moist hand touched my arm. Pina’s small and soft hand.
She’s poking my muscles like she’s playing a piano.
“Other guys don’t have much muscle because of their mana.”
“I trained with Drake.”
Her wolf ears are flopping back. I always knew she was sneaking glances, but did she like muscular types?
“I’m more curious about you, Pina.”
“Why…?”
“How do you have such strength with that body…?”
I think you’re more curious. How could you be the daughter of Emperor Rock and be so strong?
Compared to my body, Pina’s looked soft and squishy with no muscles at all.
“…pervert.”
“I’m sorry.”
As I focused on the most pronounced part of her body, she pinched my arm lightly. I couldn’t help it. It was an irresistible force.
“It’s genetics.”
“I know. The Emperor’s daughter.”
Now Pina is rubbing my arm while talking. The heh heh laugh was right next to my ear.
“Licht, no matter how you look at it, you’re not the sword-wielding type.”
“How did you know?”
It’s what my mentors always said. They said I showed no talent as a swordsman, like a total loser.
Especially since I couldn’t use mana to compensate for my lacking physical abilities.
They said I might as well go farm in some faraway land.
Gradually, my talent seems to have blossomed as I trained, but all my persistence in wielding the sword until now was thanks to Pina.
“I have slightly better eyesight than others, Licht.”
After falling into this world, I might have been living just to see that expression. I definitely want to show a happy ending this time.
Being unhappy by myself is just sad, right?
“You must’ve really struggled…”
Pina was caressing my helmet. Her hair was caught in the hard steel part, and she puffed her cheeks a bit, looking displeased.
“I just did what I had to.”
“But you defeated the Demon King… took care of the Apostles…”
Pina listed what I did until now. She stopped petting me, spreading her fingers, counting them.
“You’re a hero to me, Licht.”
Honestly, compared to what she’s given me, it’s barely a drop in the bucket.
“Compared to the grace I’ve received from you, it’s not enough.”
“I could only give you a Dragon Heart and swordsmanship…”
Even without mentioning that she saved my life, I was becoming more and more moved by Pina’s warm-heartedness.
“You’ve bought me tasty things and even gave me chocolate cake, right?”
Even when I was Mardol, I always liked her, so I couldn’t keep my walls up like I did with other girls.
I maintained my boundaries with the Celestial Demon, Ariel, though.
“…no, even now, you’ve given me so much more than I have.”
At that moment, Pina slowly closed the distance and leaned her shoulder against my arm.
“Licht, is it okay if I stay like this…?”
“Do as you wish…”
Maybe due to the warmth of the hot spring, Pina was inching closer to me. I could even hear her breathing next to me.
“What do you… think of me, Licht?”
“Do I really have to say it out loud?”
Thump, her wet hair brushed against my shoulder.
Just as I felt a slight weight that made me uneasy, she leaned her head on my shoulder and spoke.
“Yeah, otherwise… I feel anxious.”
“You don’t have to be anxious.”
Is this the reassurance she needs? It was the same when I drank at the festival, she would nuzzle against my body a lot.
“But… you worked hard for the Saintess, right?”
“Calling it effort is a stretch.”
“You’re lying…”
She still held doubts about the Nameless Saintess.
“I’m a princess, Licht.”
“…”
“I thought I could have anything I wanted in life.”
That struck me. Pina Grancia, the princess, not the Saintess, saying that.
“But then you appeared.”
She was slowly starting to question me, making an exit impossible. A man with the Drake Style that hadn’t been inherited by anyone else.
“At first… I was surely jealous of your strength. But now…”
She must have actually desired it. Ironically, through this small connection, the two of us were tied together.
“I’m envious of the Black Knight who dedicates everything to the Nameless Saintess.”
Pina’s voice grew colder. I felt like a criminal being interrogated.
Even if I told her the truth now, it might look like I was just mimicking the respectful tone of the Saintess.
I have to stop this. That’s neither pure love nor anything.
“I’m your Black Knight right now, Pina.”
“That’s just words, Licht.”
The words I had used to comfort her when she was under the Apostle’s influence came back to hit me like a boomerang.
“That was a lie because of the Apostle.”
“No, it isn’t, Pina.”
She was gradually letting out the pent-up feelings, almost lecturing me about how I couldn’t approach her due to burn scars.
“Lie… the Saintess, is she pretty? Or is she like me?”
Her tone was becoming more emotional. When I first looked for her, I thought she would be the Nameless Saintess itself.
I had no idea I’d need to think of her as such a different person.
“She’s got white hair, so that’s a similarity. Pretty? Yes, she’s extraordinarily beautiful.”
We are the same person. Even if I lied and said she wasn’t, I felt like I’d get caught. She said, in my dreams, not to cheat on her.
“Looks like you’re just a fool, looking at the face…?”
“Her face is good, but I fell for her heart.”
Honestly, even you had the worst first impression. No matter how much you transformed into a glass knight, it was her heart I fell for.
Love interests can sometimes overlook appearances for the sake of the story or the setting.
“Your face says you mean it. It makes me like you even less.”
Her tone had turned sharp as a knife. The sound of her grinding teeth sent chills down my spine.
“So, you’re overlapping me with that person? If that’s the case… you wouldn’t have pushed me away.”
“…”
“Jealous of the Nameless Saintess… because you’re receiving Licht’s love…”
I feel like I became the boyfriend who has to calm down an angry girlfriend. The narrow-minded reasoning came from being heavily burned.
“I only want you… I want Licht…”
But Pina Grancia still doesn’t know love. The confusion between gratitude, affection, obsession, and love often leads to such mistakes.
She knew too much to turn into a pure love-praising saint and her scars were deep.
“Pina, what do you think love is?”
If it’s what made her anxious, then I did something wrong. Now that it has come this far, I’ll ask her what I’ve been curious about.
“I don’t know…”
With a white-haired woman shaking her head, strongly denying.
“Is there a reason why you’re obsessed with kisses?”
She always tried to kiss me, and even when the Apostle attacked, she attempted the same.
“In the novel I was reading… kissing makes you cherish each other…”
Pina was a wolf who would run away with fear whenever I approached to do it myself. She even started hiccuping in surprise.
“Love isn’t a light feeling that happens just with a kiss.”
“But all men are wolves… my father said so…”
I turned to look her in the eye so she wouldn’t compare me to others. I came here knowing that information from the game, choosing only her.
“Do I seem like the other guys to you, Pina?”
“You act like a total scoundrel though!”
Of course, I’m a man with desires. There were times my reason lost to pleasure.
But even right now, with just a towel on, I’m doing my best not to cross the line.
Pina’s body is so gorgeous, it’s hard not to look.
To maintain my sanity, my mouth hurt from biting the inner side of my lips.
“Without kissing, I still hold you dear.”
“I know that’s true… but I feel anxious…”
If it had been someone else, they might have taken advantage of the innocent wolf, making her their prisoner of desire. But I was doing all I could to hold back.
Because that isn’t love.
“I’m afraid I might lose you to a real Saintess if she appears…”
With her wet hair sticking to her shoulder, Pina showed her anxiety by fidgeting with her fingers.
“What do I need to do for it to be proven, Pina?”
“Kiss… can you really not do that?”
The former Saintess, Pina, had noticed that we had no overlap as a couple and started demanding skinship before we left for the north.
“Then, how about a test of feelings?”
Now that we’ve reached this point, I have to make a decision. She believes that kissing will make us fall in love, how innocent!
She’s not a fairy-tale prince or princess. While purity is good, she’s too clueless about the ways of the world.
“Um…? Another finger kiss?”
“No, that’s not it.”
I need to teach her a lesson first. If she acts like this with bad guys approaching for the wrong reasons, she’d be in trouble.
“In another country I know, they kiss on the cheek as a greeting.”
“Wait, do you mean…?”
As soon as I spoke, Pina was startled, splashing water everywhere.
When she asks me to kiss, she’d refuse a simple cheek kiss and looks like a cute wolf.
“Oh no… Licht…”
I gently grabbed her wrist as she tried to run away. Jolt, she was surprised for a moment, her cheeks went slightly red. She looked down, avoiding my gaze.
“Are you… really going to kiss my cheek?”
It was interesting to see her gradually relaxing and lowering her arms. She let her wolf ears flop back, showing clear signs of approval.
“…”
I answered with silence instead of words.
Perhaps love is not enough with just words but with actions too. Realizing my intentions, Pina closed her eyes, waiting for my move.
I brought my lips close to her cheek, and then whispered,
“Puck.”
I didn’t actually touch her; just made the sound for the cheek kiss because that’s how it should be according to custom.
I’m not some blonde vampire from a story, and there’s no way I’d steal her first kiss.
Pina’s shoulders began to tremble. Was she scared just from the sound?
“…Ugh.”
If this is the level of excitement she gets from a fake kiss, how could I possibly explain the differences between love and obsession by kissing directly?
To reassure Pina, I held her shoulders with both hands.
“Puck.”
I let out a playful sound, dragging it out a little longer.
“Haaah…”
That made Pina’s body twitch and sway. She’s so innocent. Maybe she really doesn’t know how to kiss?
“With this, I thought you’d understand what it feels like.”
Trying to reassure her, I playfully squeezed her shoulders while successfully executing two sound-only cheek kisses.
“…Ah.”
With her mouth open, Pina let out a little sigh. Her face was flushed as she covered it with her hands, looking just like a rabbit.
“My lips didn’t touch; it was just a sound. That’s how it’s done for greetings.”
“Ahh…”
Even as I continued explaining, Pina seemed stunned, her eyes squeezed shut, only letting out sighs.
“…Pina? Can you hear me?”
Worried she was feeling dizzy from being in the hot spring too long, I hurriedly checked on her, only to startle her.
“Is it, over?”
Finally peeking through her fingers, she barely glanced my way. It had been a while since we started, and she was trying to calm her quickened breaths.
“Yes, it’s all over now.”
“Hik… hic.”
Pina started hiccuping again. She kept fanning herself with her hands, turning away from me. Completely different from before.
“So from now on, please do it only with the ‘person you love,’ Pina.”
I hoped my feelings for her were conveyed. I wouldn’t need to kiss her for her to know I care for her.
“Save kisses for someone else, not me.”
“Got it. Licht…”
Kissing should be saved for when you love each other. Seeing Pina, who seemed to have been defeated by just cheek sounds, I thought she’d finally let go of her obsession with me.
But then…
“Licht! I-I’m going to head out first… something urgent came up…!”
She dashed out of the hot spring, almost tripping in her hurry. I wondered if she was really okay.
“…Was it too much?”
But I just made sounds without any actual contact. I thought after defeating the Demon King, I could be rewarded with this much.
I also wanted to try just once with our Pina.
*
Pina Grancia couldn’t control her pounding heart.
With her heart’s rhythm racing, she dashed toward the hot spring exit, unsure if it was her own or Licht’s heartbeat she was feeling.
“Cheek Kiss…”
“I did it… with Licht…”
Pina sat back in a corner, recalling what had happened not long ago. In truth, it had been a cheek kiss without any actual touch.
Every time the knight in the black armor made that puck sound, she’d feel dizzy, and it seemed like time itself had stopped.
“From now on… I really want to do this with someone I love…”
What Pina had thought about kisses until now was different.
In romance novels, the sentences that would take several lines to describe couldn’t encompass the shock she felt.
“What is love…?”
The thought that people in love do even more embarrassing things washed over her. Pina shook her head repeatedly, trying to shake off the shameful thoughts.
“…”
Even though she thought this level of interaction would easily pass, Pina was full of regret. Other men often looked at her with lewd eyes.
“They’re different from other men…”
If she had really kissed, she could’ve lived imprisoned forever under the charge of touching a princess, claiming him as hers.
Much like how a queen struggles to capture a knight in chess, Licht skillfully slipped away.
“…Licht really values me…”
Just from a non-tactile cheek kiss. In that moment, she thought maybe this was the true experience of love she thought she’d had with the Saintess.
“Pina?”
Hearing a familiar male voice, she raised her head from where she’d been hiding it, and saw a tall man with a long scar on his arm.
“Ah… Li-Licht?”
“You said you had something urgent…?”
Even though Licht had intentionally stayed in the hot spring a little longer, Pina still hadn’t shaken off her shyness, sitting at the entrance to the changing room.
“I’m heading to my room now!”
Without knowing what she was saying, Pina started to flee toward the women’s dressing room.
