Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 266
So long as her period wouldnât come, as soon as he spent an entire day filling her with himself, conception would only be a matter of time.
âIn truth, we could have made a baby from the start, butâŚâ
There were plenty of ways for him to disregard human medicine.
After all, he had already become a monster.
If he had used the monstersâ 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 herâhe 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 heâd 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 couldnât refuse her request. Michael promised that he wouldnât put himself back inside her while she rested.
Ireneâs relief lasted only briefly. After all, from that moment on, Michaelâs 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 sheâd 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.
âYou never⌠used to do this. You never even looked at me beforeâŚâ
A bitter smile crossed Michaelâs face.
âWhen you say âbeforeââwhen exactly do you mean?â
âBefore⌠when⌠when I reached out to you⌠you wouldnât even look at meâŚâ
âThis time, I was the one who reached for you, Irene.â
Hearing that, her eyes widened brieflyâonly to close again, overcome by drowsiness.
As she sank into steady, even breathing, Michael watched her quietly.
âYouâre still not going to say that you remember the past.â
He murmured, running his fingers over her swollen lipsâswollen from how he had spent the entire day devouring them.
From the beginning, Michael had known she retained her old memories.
Whenever he activated âthe Impossibilityâ, the world reverted to its former state.
And each time, he had two fragments in his handsâthe one Irene possessed, and the one he himself had discovered.
On rare occasions, when he rewound time again, Ireneâs 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 wasnât his Irene.
And so, Michael triggered âthe Impossibilityâ again.
Then, when this particular world began anew, he realizedâŚ
Ireneâs fragment was no longer in his hand.
He went directly to the fortress, where he found a woman exactly like Ireneâthe one whoâd 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.
âAll I ask is that once a month, you give me the rewards for any dungeon I choose.â
And at the moment she said that, he became certain she remembered everything.
Her motive was obviousâto quickly secure artifacts, gather money, and leave the fortress.
âŚWhich 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 wasnât 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 whoâd lost their pairs, only to be sold off in defeat.
[If only I had even the smallest ability to helpâŚ]
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 âInfinite Healing Ringâ, an artifact heâd 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, Ireneâs 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.
âWith so little, you could have been happy. So why did the old me give you nothing?â
Recalling the past, Michael suddenly remembered the fragment of the Impossibility.
âI left mine in the subspace, didnât I?â
He hadnât 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.
