Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 266
So long as her period wouldnāt come, as soon as he spent an entire day filling her with himself, conception would only be a matter of time.
āIn truth, we could have made a baby from the start, butā¦ā
There were plenty of ways for him to disregard human medicine.
After all, he had already become a monster.
If he had used the monstersā ferocious methods of reproduction, Irene would have conceived his child from their very first encounter.
But Michael had chosen the human way.
Even if it took longer, he wanted her to fully understand exactly who it was entering herāhe wanted her to accept him knowingly.
And he wanted every moment to come with pleasure. He wanted her to share the rapture he felt.
Fortunately, although it was difficult for her, Irene accepted him completely.
But her stamina had limits.
Michael had no choice but to pull out what heād buried inside her.
That was when Irene held him, begging him not to do it again.
Never before had her prettily trembling lips looked so resentful.
But he couldnāt refuse her request. Michael promised that he wouldnāt put himself back inside her while she rested.
Ireneās relief lasted only briefly. After all, from that moment on, Michaelās face never left the space between her legs.
Eventually, her weeping subsided.
Michael turned her body so that she was facing him and wrapped her in his arms.
Her tear-filled eyes glared at him with resentment, but that lasted only a moment. Drained of strength, her body sagged and her eyelids drifted shut.
She was fighting it, but sheād surely be asleep again soon.
As if telling her not to worry and just rest, Michael drew her closer by the waist and kissed her forehead.
At that moment, Irene, gazing at him through half-lidded eyes, spoke up. She parted her lips with some difficulty, mumbling.
āYou neverā¦ used to do this. You never even looked at me beforeā¦ā
A bitter smile crossed Michaelās face.
āWhen you say ābeforeāāwhen exactly do you mean?ā
āBeforeā¦ whenā¦ when I reached out to youā¦ you wouldnāt even look at meā¦ā
āThis time, I was the one who reached for you, Irene.ā
Hearing that, her eyes widened brieflyāonly to close again, overcome by drowsiness.
As she sank into steady, even breathing, Michael watched her quietly.
āYouāre still not going to say that you remember the past.ā
He murmured, running his fingers over her swollen lipsāswollen from how he had spent the entire day devouring them.
From the beginning, Michael had known she retained her old memories.
Whenever he activated āthe Impossibilityā, the world reverted to its former state.
And each time, he had two fragments in his handsāthe one Irene possessed, and the one he himself had discovered.
On rare occasions, when he rewound time again, Ireneās fragment would look different in his grasp. In that scenario, there was a different Irene in that world.
He could tell at once that she wasnāt his Irene.
And so, Michael triggered āthe Impossibilityā again.
Then, when this particular world began anew, he realizedā¦
Ireneās fragment was no longer in his hand.
He went directly to the fortress, where he found a woman exactly like Ireneāthe one whoād once clung to him on the Contract Night.
But unlike before, she was now extending her hand toward another knight.
From then on, Michael tested her time and again, convinced she was indeed his Irene.
āAll I ask is that once a month, you give me the rewards for any dungeon I choose.ā
And at the moment she said that, he became certain she remembered everything.
Her motive was obviousāto quickly secure artifacts, gather money, and leave the fortress.
ā¦Which was why Michael quietly stole away the rewards that should have been hers.
A petty, childish jealousy at the thought of her going far from him.
Of course, that wasnāt the only reason he kept her in the fortress.
Michael had read the notes Irene left behind, where she occasionally wrote down short thoughts.
Irene had been lonely, living in the fortress without a single friend.
She had felt pity for Purifiers whoād lost their pairs, only to be sold off in defeat.
[If only I had even the smallest ability to helpā¦]
Even in a place where everyone ridiculed her, she still wanted to be of use to others.
And so this time, Michael decided he would grant her all the things she wished for.
He summoned the āInfinite Healing Ringā, an artifact heād found in the past, and slipped it onto her hand.
He helped with the group she was forming.
As she made friends, as the number of people she was close to grew, Ireneās expression brightened, and she found a happy smile.
No trace of her former darkness remained.
In this new world, she had found a place among people who believed in her and depended on her, letting her carry out her own desires.
That was what pained Michael.
āWith so little, you could have been happy. So why did the old me give you nothing?ā
Recalling the past, Michael suddenly remembered the fragment of the Impossibility.
āI left mine in the subspace, didnāt I?ā
He hadnāt so much as glanced at it since retrieving Irene. It had been a while, and he suddenly felt the urge to confirm that it was still there.
