Chapter 16. This Time, You Won’t Be Able to Blame the Alcohol
It was clearly an impulse.
The difference from before, however, was that this time she was completely sober—no alcohol, no haze at all. And yet, it was obvious that she was in an even less sound state than when she’d been drunk.
The nightgown that had barely covered her slender body slipped down, and warm streams of water ran over her bare skin. Clumps of dirt and blood washed away with the flow, revealing bruises and torn wounds scattered across her pale body.
As the water touched her, the throbbing pain surged back all at once. Unable to endure it, her body sagged—and Gibnen caught her lightly.
“I’ll help.”
Riley couldn’t do anything.
She just stood there, fully clothed, with the water streaming down her back, staring up at Gibnen as he looked down at her.
Washing together—helping someone bathe—should have been an embarrassing situation. Yet instead of feeling embarrassed, Riley found herself wanting to be closer to him.
She reached out and fiddled with the hem of his shirt, soaked through with water.
She had to have lost her mind from the fever. But her body didn’t listen to her head at all; it moved purely on emotion.
Gibnen healed her wounds with magic. The bruises and injuries covering her pale body gradually faded, and soon the pain disappeared as well.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore, right?”
“…Yeah.”
Gibnen pulled the limp Riley into his arms. The damp texture of his wet shirt transferred directly onto her bare skin.
And just like that, they kissed again.
Without even drying off, they left the bathroom and went straight to the bed. Along the way, the clothes Gibnen had been wearing fell to the floor one by one.
Before she could even react to the sudden chill and embarrassment that made her body tremble, his hot body pressed tightly against hers.
He’s bigger than I thought… heavier than I thought—and warmer, too.
Unlike their first night together, when she’d been drunk, this time his body was etched clearly into her mind.
What surprised her was how large and solidly built he was. His masculine, muscular body stood in stark contrast to his clean, beautiful face, and that contrast startled her a little.
With his large frame and dense muscles, the weight pressing down on her was considerable.
And what was especially strange was—
“…You have a lot of scars?”
He wasn’t a mercenary or a knight who roamed battlefields, yet Gibnen’s body bore many scars.
It was even more unexpected because mages rarely did physical labor—especially work that used their bodies.
“Are they ugly?”
“No…”
Scars could have been ugly, but strangely, they weren’t at all. Like his face, even his scars were beautiful. They suited his solid frame well, giving him a more wild, rough impression.
Without realizing it, Riley placed her hand on his chest. The firmness beneath her palm—the unfamiliar sensation of a man’s upper body, completely different in structure from her own… Just that thrilling sensation at her fingertips made her body heat up.
Gibnen’s hand tangled in her hair, and his lips brushed her neck. Everywhere his lips touched, a sharp shiver ran through her, accompanied by rising heat.
Riley struggled desperately to steady her body as it kept twisting and shrinking in on itself.
As if amused by the sight, Gibnen chuckled and gently caressed her cheek.
“Relax.”
“……”
“Don’t be nervous.”
Riley wrapped her arms around him with all her strength.
She didn’t know anymore. All the complicated thoughts had completely flown away. Whatever happened, happened. She realized that even being too happy could make a person’s body tremble uncontrollably.
“By the way.”
He spoke slowly.
“This time, you won’t be able to blame the alcohol.”
It sounded like he was asking if she was okay with that.
Riley asked back,
“…If I tell you to stop, will you?”
He smiled.
“No.”
His fingers slid down from the nape of her neck.
Clinging to his body, Riley closed her eyes.
“Ah…”
Her throat felt like it was tearing from thirst, and Riley snapped her eyes open. In that instant, it felt as though hundreds of lumps of lead were pressing down on her entire body. Not only that—every joint ached and throbbed.
What…?
The sensation was completely different from the first day, and Riley panicked.
Even walking on her own two feet felt difficult. Her body was heavy like lead—and worse, it felt like it was burning up.
“What should I get you?”
Gibnen spoke from beside her. He was already neatly dressed.
“W-Water…”
Gibnen called the hotel staff and asked for water, medicine, and rice porridge.
Listening blankly to the exchange, Riley tilted her head.
“Medicine?”
“Do you really have no awareness of your own condition?”
“……”
“You have a real talent for giving people heart attacks.”
“?”
“You suddenly went limp like a corpse in the middle of it. Do you know how shocked I was? I seriously wondered if I’d done something wrong. I never thought I’d experience my partner passing out on the bed.”
He recalled what had happened the night before.
·
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“Hey.”
Gibnen panicked at the sight of Riley lying completely limp. He shook her, but she didn’t move.
“Riley.”
No matter how desperately he called out, there was no response.
Looking closer, her face was pale—deathly pale. Gibnen’s face drained of color as well. Panicking, he checked whether she was breathing. Her breathing was irregular, but she was breathing. Then her heart—thump, thump, thump—beating steadily.
Then… was she asleep?
That was when Gibnen realized her body was extremely hot.
He’d thought it was just excitement—but could it be that she’d been unwell?
Magic could easily heal external injuries, but internal ones were another matter entirely.
“…Ha.”
And just like that, Gibnen was left alone on the bed.
At a loss for words at this experience he’d never had in his life, he didn’t even know how to describe how he felt. Carefully, he covered her with a blanket and changed his clothes.
After that, he hurriedly called a female hotel staff member to have Riley changed into clean clothes. He didn’t forget to call a doctor, either.
The doctor arrived, checked her pulse, and spoke casually.
“It looks like a severe case of body aches from overexertion. If she eats well and gets plenty of rest, she’ll be fine.”
Gibnen let out a sigh of relief.
At the same time, he felt hollow—and dumbfounded.
In many ways, it was going to be an unforgettable night.
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“It was truly a horrible experience. Thank you for giving me something even worse than being forced to eat koapu fruit soup three meals a day.”
Koapu fruit was an extremely bitter fruit with excellent detoxifying effects, commonly used when treating poison.
“If you were sick, you should’ve said something. Magic can heal external wounds, but not internal ones.”
“…I fainted?”
“Yeah.”
“Ah…”
Thinking back, she really hadn’t been feeling well even before she was kidnapped.
“For a moment, I seriously thought this was one of those legendary deaths during sex.”
“S-Sorry…”
“Being sick isn’t something to apologize for. But next time, pay attention. It’s a problem if you just collapse anywhere.”
“…Okay.”
Riley, thoroughly deflated, glanced at him cautiously. Gibnen, who had been staring at her, let out a low sigh.
“But.”
“?”
“What’s this?”
He held something out in front of her.
It was a crumpled letter. The one she had written painstakingly, pressing each word down with care—the letter she had meant to give to Gibnen. She’d written and thrown it away countless times before finally completing it, only to hide it away because she couldn’t bring herself to hand it over.
“I found it in your sleeve pocket while they were changing your clothes.”
“…Did you read it?”
“Yeah. I can’t resist my curiosity.”
“With all the blood and dirt on it, I don’t think it would’ve been readable…”
“Restoration magic is very simple.”
“…Ah.”
“From what’s written here, it sounds like you wanted to break off our engagement.”
“……”
“Why.”
“Well…”
Riley couldn’t bring herself to continue.
“If you were asking to break it off because you disliked me, you wouldn’t have clung to me like that last night.”
“……”
“So what is it?”
“…It just seemed like you were having a hard time.”
A hard time?
As Gibnen mulled over her words, something seemed to occur to him.
“Don’t tell me—it’s gossip?”
She nodded.
At her timid nod, Gibnen let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
“That kind of thing isn’t even worth worrying about.”
“…It’s not a good thing, though.”
“Is it the first or second time I’ve been caught up in rumors like that? Of all people, you’re the one who knows that best—and you worried about this?”
“This time it’s different.”
“Because it’s a romantic scandal?”
She nodded again.
Gibnen stared at her for a moment, then crumpled the letter in his hand and tossed it into the trash.
“Then I’ll refuse this letter—and everything written in it.”
“……”
“It’s nothing you need to worry about so seriously. It’s not a big deal. And it’ll die down soon.”
Because he planned to bury it under even bigger gossip.
He left that part unsaid.
“You must’ve been really stressed.”
His gentle tone, like he was soothing a child, made Riley lower her head.
For some reason, she felt like she might cry.
She was happy to hear him say it was okay—that it was nothing. When he said it was nothing, it really felt like nothing.
Just then, the water and medicine arrived.
“Take your medicine.”
Riley took the round pill and a glass of water and swallowed it down. Soon after, the porridge arrived. Gibnen naturally took the spoon, scooped some up, and held it out toward her.
“Open your mouth.”
Caught off guard, Riley widened her eyes in surprise.
“…You’re going to feed me?”
“You were trembling just holding the glass.”
“……”
“I’ll feed you.”
“Are you always like this?”
“Like what?”
“With other people, too? Are you always… this gentle?”
When she’d first met him, he hadn’t felt like this at all.
He’d seemed gentlemanly, yes—but also distant, clearly drawing a line. Even his kindness had felt deliberate, almost manufactured.
But now—why…?
As Riley looked at him warily, Gibnen let out a small chuckle.
“What do you think?”
“……”
“Do I look like the type who’s this attentive to just anyone?”
He blew on the hot porridge, then pushed the spoon—cooled just enough—toward her mouth.
“I don’t do this for just anyone.”
“Then why…?”
“Because you’re not just anyone.”
Riley silently accepted the spoonful of porridge.
It felt strange. Her chest tickled for no reason.
I know it doesn’t mean anything special…
“There you go. Eating well.”
“……”
“Good girl.”
Riley couldn’t even respond; she just accepted every spoonful he fed her.
It was plain porridge without even basic seasoning, yet strangely, it tasted good.
After watching Riley fall back asleep under the influence of the medicine, Gibnen stood up.
He called Sak through telepathy.
—You called, Master.
—Link the coordinates. I’m opening a portal.
—Coordinates linked.
The moment Sak finished speaking, Gibnen opened the portal and stepped through.
On the other side was a dense forest. The trees grew thick and wild, with no signs of human passage—not even a path.
“Five in total. Is that all?”
“Yes.”
Gibnen looked at the five men tied to trees.
Perhaps due to the aftermath of being blown away by magic the day before, they were covered in blood and barely able to hold themselves up. But while their bodies were restrained, their mouths certainly weren’t.
“P-Please spare us. We were wrong.”
“Please, just once… My wife and children are waiting for me. Please, show mercy.”
“We-We only did what we were told. Please…”
With an amused scoff, Gibnen crouched down and met their eyes.
“Worms who make money off people’s lives talking about family, begging to be spared because they ‘only followed orders’?”
“……”
“You’d think someone forced you into it, the way you talk. But choosing this line of work was your own free will, wasn’t it?”
They were always like this.
How many people who’d begged for their lives like this had they ever spared?
If men who accepted contracts to kill for money had the conscience to respect such desperate pleas, they wouldn’t have chosen this work in the first place.
Gibnen recalled the way they’d groped Riley’s body—then seized one man by the throat.
“Consider it bad luck.”
“Ghk—!”
“That’s what you say all the time, isn’t it?”
From a young age, he’d had to face countless assassins.
Even now, he vividly remembered his mother dying while shielding him when he was still very young. These were trash with no value in being spared.
If he let them live, would they quit this line of work? No—they’d just take more lives to earn money.
And even if he spared them here, Count Ermeinz would kill them anyway to erase the evidence.
“Even if I don’t kill you, that old man will.”
“W-We’ll testify! We can do it—we’ll confess to everything!”
“No. Not necessary. Testimony like that means nothing.”
Calling in reporters and the knights through Sak hadn’t been about securing witnesses or evidence. It had merely been a show.
Whether the case was brought to court or dragged into the light, it would be buried anyway—and even if it wasn’t, proper punishment would never follow. So what use was their testimony?
The goal was negotiation, not legal justice.
“I don’t like getting my hands dirty myself, but…”
“……”
“Well. Can’t be helped.”
Gibnen extended his hand toward them. Light poured from his palm, enveloping the men, and in an instant they withered away, turning to ash that scattered in the wind.
There wasn’t even a trace left behind.
After brushing off his hands, Gibnen straightened.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, Master.”
As if he’d seen nothing at all, Sak calmly followed behind him.
