Chapter 68

〈 Chapter 68 〉 Bear Hug

*

The mating scene of toads I saw in a documentary suddenly popped into Doyeon’s mind.

During the breeding season, a male mounts a female and hugs her abdomen tightly to induce spawning.

At this moment, if an unwanted male climbs on top, the female struggles with all her might to shake him off.

As a result, sometimes the male clinging to her back desperately tries to hang on while the female continues to spawn.

There are even cases where a female suffocates from the overly tight embrace of the male.

“Hero····. Please let go of me····.”

“No way! I will never let go!”

I want to take a moment to express my condolences to all the female toads who died countless times from the loveless bear hugs of male toads.

Using all my strength to crawl toward the door.

Yet my futile resistance is completely thwarted by the Hero embracing my waist from behind.

The strength I feel around my back is so overwhelming that it’s hard to believe he’s just one human.

It feels like a thick rope tightly bound around my waist like an ancient tree.

In that moment, I deeply empathized with the helplessness of a wild animal waiting for death in a trap.

“If you really want to go! Please cut off my head right here and leave!”

A majestic echo reminiscent of a rugby player before the goalpost.

In a dungeon where even life could end at any moment, the Hero’s desperate voice echoed through the cramped room.

After that unexpected dungeon disaster, where all the party members, including the Hero, got caught up in it.

It was unavoidable that the entire Hero Party had to secretly commute and rest their bodies at this monastery until the blessing ceremony.

However, after that first meeting, which was already awkward, the Hero’s intense resentment toward the Saintess caught me completely off guard as he continually disrupted my care for her.

Recently, I faced the hardship of encountering a new pattern in this familiar bullet hell game that I had never seen before.

“I heard everything from Apis! The Priest is constantly going to the meeting room! Just the two of them! Doing things that shouldn’t be seen by others! It’s just how men and women behave in a confined space!”

No, this lady has no bounds when it comes to saying things about her juniors.

Unable to stop the Hero’s rampage, my heart was burning with intense anger as the big-eared comrade carelessly added fuel to the fire.

“Hero, it seems there’s a misunderstanding. The relationship between me and the Saintess is purely that of a Saint and her protective Priest. There’s nothing to worry about! I swear to the gods, I have never approached the Saintess with indecent intentions. So please let go of my hand.”

“Even if you don’t intend to, you can’t say the same about the Saintess!”

The Hero’s sharp remark hit the nail on the head and momentarily paused my thoughts.

That statement perfectly pierced through the Saintess’s nature and my current treatment.

“There’s no woman in the world who wouldn’t harbor lust for a man with such captivating beauty like a Priest! I’m also desperately suppressing the desire bubbling up inside me!”

“Um····.”

A chill ran down my spine,

And those embarrassing praises, which I could have brushed off as a joke in the past, quickly flashed through my mind like a subway ad.

In those past days, perhaps it didn’t matter, but now I had long realized she held feelings for me that were anything but ordinary.

I had even recently vowed to not ignore those feelings and face them boldly.

I was struggling to hold onto that determination, like a new year’s resolution of a worker who signed up for gym personal training, so close to crumbling at any moment.

“B-Bigtim! You’re out there! Please help me!”

“····”

“Stop pretending you’re not there! I can see you standing outside the door through the shadow under the crack!?”

“····!”

Crash!

Right after that, there was a loud noise of something big shifting outside the door.

But my desperate plea for help remained shrouded in mystery.

You coward!

The voice of betrayal clung painfully to my heart, echoing in my thoughts, but soon all that noise was completely drowned out by the Hero’s fierce voice.

“It’s no use! I made sure to tell Bigtim that not even an ant could step foot into this room!”

“Sigh····.”

I felt a sense of despair over the wasteful use of the best tanking talent in the system as the Hero, still firmly embracing my waist, muttered with a visibly disappointed expression.

“That’s unfair! I also want to have some fun with the Priest in a small space!”

From the way he said it, it seemed like the Hero interpreted “having fun” as a couple engaging in cute acts.

The usual abstaining attitude was nowhere to be seen.

His childlike insistence on expressing what he wanted felt quite perplexing to me.

But it was unreasonable to chastise him right now.

Because of the price I had paid for pretending not to notice and ignoring all this.

Just a gentle pat on the head or a brief embrace.

And if I were to do anything else she wished, I was the one who foolishly stirred up her desires.

“Y-Hero····.”

“Honestly, I don’t want to receive that blessing at all! I can manage well without relying on such unidentified power! I have dependable comrades! And more importantly! I have the Priest! The only reason I agreed to attend the blessing ceremony was because of the Priest’s earnest request! I only consented out of obligation!”

The clear enmity the Hero expressed toward a specific person felt so strange to me.

Despite having to deal with unsavory types in rough adventuring jobs, the Saintess always tried hard to maintain an attitude of tolerance.

I had come to know her as someone who could be rather foolishly kind-hearted.

“I dislike that person! Every time he tries to intertwine with the Priest! A dark tide churns within my heart! This is the first time I’ve felt such emotions! Now I can understand why wives go wild with knives when affairs occur!”

The strength tightening around my body felt even stronger, but it was only slightly more than a bit breathless.

There were no marks on my skin or bones breaking from the pressure.

And that meant, at least she still retained a shred of reason.

“Moreover, that person often flaunts it to me whenever our eyes meet, like the Priest’s body belongs to him!”

“That… that’s····.”

But unlike her maintaining the balance of rational strength, her voice grew increasingly passionate with time.

“When has the Saintess ever done that? Surely, it must have been a misunderstanding on your part!”

“It’s not a misunderstanding!”

I attempted a one-off defense, but deep down, I knew the Hero’s suspicions were not entirely unfounded.

Just as the Hero, filled with disdain for the Saintess, the Saintess also appeared to find the Hero unsatisfactory.

Just recalling the events from a few days ago proved that.

Yes. That was what happened just after I finished serving dinner for the Saintess.

The Hero, who cheerfully waved to me, came to greet me after I had completed my daily tasks.

Suddenly, the Saintess drew closer and pulled me into her embrace, rubbing her face against my neck.

‘····Hehe.’

Whenever I try to recall that moment, I still get chills.

Like a cunning cat teasing a large dog barking furiously from below, looking down from a tree.

When I first saw the Saintess’s sinister expression while cradling my body as if it belonged to her, I forget to even breathe from shock.

‘····’

“P-Please stop! Hero!”

Right after that, I successfully blocked the Hero who was silently getting closer, approaching the Saintess.

Ending the series of events without bloodshed certainly felt like a miracle.

Looking back now, the Hero’s vacant stare at that moment was as terrifying as a snake deprived of its eggs, and it still occasionally haunts my dreams.

“Just what do I have to do for you to let go of this hand····.”

Despairingly asking that heart-wrenching question was precisely when it happened.

“If you could do that thing you refused last time····. I’d appreciate it····.”

The Hero’s response came in a hesitating tone, remarkably contrasting with his prior bravado, reminiscent of a girl awkwardly passing a love letter to her first crush.

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