A figure was sitting right on the bed, hands resting politely on their lap.
It was a girl in a pure white nightgown, kinda transparent, very erotic. Her silky blue hair cascaded down her white shoulders, painted golden by the candlelight. Her face was delicate, as beautiful as an angel, a masterpiece of creation. Her body was full, yet neatly packed with an abundance of alluring curves. This was clearly...
"You can stop now." Isolde cleared her throat, her face slightly flushed.
"That's the price you pay for constantly reading my mind," I replied deadpan.
The thing is, Isolde gets really embarrassed by my flattery. She always blushes and gets as shy as a ripe tomato, which is ridiculously cute. So whenever I know she's intending to read my mind, I immediately praise her to the high heavens.
"But um..." I scratched my forehead and bowed ninety degrees. "Sorry for walking into the wrong room, I thought I heard my room is the last of the hallway. By the way, do you know where my room is?"
"Right here."
"Oh, thanks— wait, huh? What do you mean by 'right here'?" I stood there dumbfounded. Then, I asked another question. "What are you doing in my room?"
"This is my room too."
"Huh?"
"..." Isolde didn't answer. She just stared at me for a long time and then sighed. "Do you actually not understand, or are you just playing dumb?"
My brain started working at full capacity. I came up with a few hypotheses, some of which sounded too absurd so I temporarily dismissed them, and finally arrived at the most plausible conclusion.
"The inn ran out of rooms so you're staying here temporarily... In that case, I'll go to Paul's—"
"You stay right there."
"Yes ma'am." I stopped in my tracks, not daring to move an inch.
"Close the door."
"Roger that." I closed the door gently, trying to make as little noise as possible.
"Sit down."
I sat down on the floor. Wait, why am I acting like a puppy?
"Not like that." The blue-haired girl sighed, placing her right hand on the bed, right next to her. "Sit here."
"..."
I looked at Isolde's hand, then up at her face, which was a mix of slight annoyance and shyness. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips slightly pursed; she looked genuinely sexy. Tearing my gaze away from her face, I was met with that flawless body—honestly, I didn't know where it was safe to look. And that's not even mentioning the faint, signature scent of the girl I love most in this world.
"You... um..." I hesitated, my butt still glued to the floor. "You're not planning on actually sleeping here with me tonight right?"
Since she said she will stay here tonight, so…
"..." Isolde looked at me, her eyes wide open. "You don't want to?"
"I'd be lying to say no," I answered immediately. "But..."
"But?" Isolde raised an eyebrow.
"You know… um… I'm a man now. I can't hold myself like I used to be back in Fortress Necross you know? And I may do something indecent."
"I don't mind. In fact, that's my goal here."
Wait what? What the hell is happening?
"You are not saying that line are you?" I sweat a bullet.
"Yes I do." Isolde place her hand on her chest, proudly announced. "I'm your birthday present. You want to hear that right?"
"Gah!"
Holy shit! A romcom trope! This is a critical strike! I think my lil' bro is getting too excited now. But let's calm down a bit before we become a fricking werewolf.
"Um… Is it… unnecessary?" I move a little bit to hide the excitement of my lower body part. "I mean… I still love you nonetheless, so…"
Isolde opened her eyes wide. She is surprised. Well I can't blame her for that.
"You don't find me attractive?" She actually asked that question. "Or is it because of the dress?"
"No no. Both are fine. Ah no you are more than fine I mean. You are beautiful, flawless like a goddess."
And her outfit is just… damn it. Now I can clearly see that she doesn't wear any bra. That's just too much for me now.
"Then why not?" She isn't mad but literally curious.
And I didn't even know how to explain it.
Honestly speaking, I love Isolde, definitely, no questions asked. Of course I want to be intimate with her. But for some reason, whenever I think about going further, I feel like something's not quite right.
Why is that? Maybe because I've been a virgin for too long? Long enough that I'm destined to be a virgin forever? It's like a trait that defines my character like Shinpachi with his glass? No, I don't think so. I don't want to.
Maybe... it's because I'm a reincarnated person. And whenever I think about our relationship, I still find it… unfair.
Sometimes I just want to be a normal person. Someone who doesn't bring a curse named memory of the previous life. So when I think about it, it's like I'm cheating. And that makes me want to drive myself forward more.
So what is it huh?
Ah, I get it now...
"Even though we're already a couple... I still think I'm not worthy yet."
I just blurted it out. Even though that wasn't entirely what was making me anxious, it was one of the most important reasons.
"I am afraid that maybe, somewhere in the future, something happens and you will start to despise me. Then you would regret this day for the rest of your life."
I made a promise to myself that I will only cross the line when I have enough courage to tell Isolde everything about me. Including and especially my past life. I want to let her know everything, that's what she wanted right? She wants there to be no secrets between us.
"Why would I be like that? Are you hiding something?"
She's smart isn't she?
"Yes." I admitted. "And I don't think I can tell you now."
Isolde looked at me, then up at the ceiling as if pondering something. Now it was my turn to have no idea what she was thinking. I could see a deeply thoughtful look in her eyes, before she relaxed, full of nostalgia for a distant past.
"Do you remember when we first met?" Finally, a smile bloomed on those lips.
"At the dojo?"
Of course I remembered. Back then, she showed up as a substitute sword instructor. A ten-year-old Water Saint—everyone at the dojo was completely blown away.
"No." Yet, Isolde shook her head. "At the church."
"Huh?"
"It was a very sunny day. I still remember how hot it was and I was praying then." Isolde began to recount, her eyes closed comfortably. "I was hoping that day would be another good day, just like everyone else. Yet someone, a boy on the other side of the pillar, was busy cursing people. And as I know, one of those people is his father."
"Ah... Yeah."
I remembered I really did have that habit back in the day. I went to the Millis church just to curse people out. That's really nothing to be proud of.
Isolde half-opened her eyes, chuckled at my expression, and continued.
"At first, I thought you would only come to the church once or twice because your family forced you because you seem like a noble boy, which explained your behavior. But surprisingly, you came every day, even on days with storms so fierce that the most devout believers wouldn't dare leave their houses. You still came. I was honestly quite impressed back then."
"Don't tell me you liked me since back then?" I asked suspiciously.
"No way. On the contrary, to be honest, I kinda hated you," Isolde confessed. "Ah no, I definitely hate you."
"Ouch..."
"It's not easy to get me to hate you, you know." Isolde smiled. "You could consider it something to be proud of."
Perhaps. Isolde has always been quite generous and forgiving. Even though she's quick to judge someone based on first impressions, she always takes the time to observe and understand the situation. I'd never seen her genuinely hate anyone before; if she did, that person must be awful.
And yeah... back then I was still a hateful, nagging bastard, wasn't I?
"And when we got a little bit closer, I did ask you about that. And you didn't tell me anything. I just hate that so much."
I can't. I don't want anyone to get in trouble just because they know about Tristina's incident.
"So that must be why you went so hard on me the first time we sparred, right?" I speculated.
"Not at all." Isolde shook her head. "I might have hated you, but wouldn't using too much power against a beginner swordsman be a bit much? I actually held back on purpose. And I didn't attack first, I just defended. Do you know why?"
Even though I could guess the answer, I still asked. "Why?"
"Because that way, I could beat you up for much longer. And if I countered your attacks, it would humiliate you even more."
"How cruel."
"It's partly because you provoked me, you know."
Well... It's true I did do that, Ken's North God Style.
"Ah, what did I call you again?" I asked.
"You said I was scared of you."
"Oh right? I really had a death wish back then, haha." I laughed.
"Yeah, a real death wish." Isolde agreed with a smile. "If it wasn't me, you probably would've been injured way worse."
Probably. I know Isolde is a proud person. But she has limits. If it were some arrogant guy with power, he probably wouldn't have hesitated to break my arms and legs. Regardless of whether I was the son of a high noble, I didn't think Pilemon would do anything to protect me anyway.
But speaking of this, there's something I don't get.
"Why are you bringing this up?"
"Um, to remind myself what a kid full of secrets you used to be. Very mysterious."
"You weren't much different," I replied.
"People always think I am an open book. Just some like you can figure that out." Isolde shrugged. "So that makes two of us, right? I call that destiny."
Honestly, I didn't think so. Everything has its reasons. The fact that Isolde and I met was because of Ken's arrangement. If she hadn't met me at the church, we would have run into each other at some dojo sooner or later anyway.
But maybe Isolde's first impression of me really did create a completely different turn of events. If I had known beforehand, I probably wouldn't have acted like that in our first match; I would have given the Water God style more respect and kept my mouth shut. And perhaps if Isolde hadn't hated me, she wouldn't have held back and aimed to humiliate me; she would have just thrown a straightforward strike to knock me out like all the other kids at the arena that day.
Was that destiny? Maybe it really was. I truly wanted to believe so.
Isolde, meanwhile, continued speaking.
"Before I met you, the only thing I knew was sword and sword. I had no friends, absolutely no one I could talk to. And honestly, I didn't really want to talk to anyone anyway."
I could guess it was because she looked down on other kids. Isolde probably knew I knew that, so she didn't bother explaining.
"Then I met you. I hated you. And then you showed me up by managing to use a Secret Art. Even though Master later explained that you just got lucky, it still drove me crazy."
Isolde tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her gaze directed toward the candlelight dancing in the night. She looked quite happy, even though she was telling me how much I used to annoy her. I annoyed her when I had the thick skin to hang around her house. I made her angry with my stubbornness, thinking I could actually defeat her. I casually used her kitchen like it was my own home. I treated her as an equal.
So many things, Isolde hated them. The fact that an untalented high-noble brat naturally put himself on equal footing with her, a genius, didn't make her happy in the slightest.
"But then I began to understand. That being so angry all the time gave my seemingly dull days a sense of motivation. And that was when I wanted you to become stronger."
And she struck up conversations with me, supported me, helped me grow stronger. Isolde didn't see me as a friend back then, not at all. She just wanted to mold an obstacle so she could feel like she had a worthy rival.
Surprisingly, I actually did it. Though I didn't defeat her, but I still managed to use the Secret Art in front of all the strongest swordsmen of the Water God Style. I knocked her sword off and won the bet. I proved that my effort could absolutely create something miraculous.
"That was when I accepted you as my rival, even though I still don't understand anything about you." Isolde admitted. "And that was when I realized how boring my life would be if you were no longer around."
It still wasn't love yet, just pure rivalry. Not long after, we were separated again. I went to Roa on the Water God's orders, while Isolde began her training journey. We both looked forward to the day we would reunite and fight.
Later, Isolde set out to find me when she heard what happened in Fittoa. After that, I already knew how everything played out. We reunited, went through all sorts of things, and then fell in love.
"And then, years later, I still don't understand much about you. You just act differently, do things no one understands. But do you know why I still love you?" Isolde asked, her eyes expecting an answer from me.
I knew what she meant. I knew it. Because deep down, I probably had the exact same thought.
So I stood up, still hesitating, avoiding looking at the girl across from me. I didn't know what it would sound like if I said it out loud.
But then I said it anyway.
"Because it doesn't matter."
"Yeah. Does that even matter? I know you have some insecure thoughts. You are still hiding things from me. But does that even matter? In the end, I want to give you all of me and that's the only thing that matters here."
Isolde beamed and opened her arms toward me. Her blue eyes were glued to me, gentle and inviting. "Maybe somewhere in the future, I may hate you because of your secrets. But now, I love you so stop overthinking and touch me. At this moment, I'm yours."
This conversation doesn't make any sense does it? But as she said, it doesn't matter.
And so I walked over and laid Isolde down on the bed. I kissed her as my hands started to do their job. That night we both shared our heat until morning.
…