I Wish You Well In Your Next Love, My Love

* * *

Ugh, it’s hot.

Sweat slowly trickled down the back of my neck. The stifling heat that made irritation rise on its own gradually pulled my sinking consciousness back up.

And as a bonus, there was the pressure of something like a rock heated over fire crushing my entire body.

Instinctively, I stretched my elbow back, trying to push away whatever was stuck to my back. But the more I struggled, the mass tightened around me more persistently.

“Mm.”

The familiar vibration of a voice made my mind snap awake.

W-What. What is this. What happened?

I quickly tried to grasp the situation.

This muscle texture, body heat, this scent. The mass clinging to my back was unmistakably Gerard.

I clearly heard him go back down to the floor last night, so why was he on the bed?

And not only that, why were his arms wrapped around me, and why were his legs trapping me in place?

The situation was so incomprehensible that my head spun.

And the bigger problem was—

“Please, move back a little…”

Something terrifying kept pressing against my lower back.

The sweat from the heat turned into a cold sweat in an instant. My mind went completely blank.

I desperately tried to shift my body toward the wall to avoid the enormously swollen mass behind me. Each time I barely managed to move even a small distance, Gerard’s arms and legs pulled me right back into his hold.

It didn’t stop there. He began rubbing his lower body against me from behind. I could feel a satisfied breath scatter above my head.

Shocked, I reached back. Even when I grabbed his solid thigh and tried to push him away, Gerard didn’t budge.

“Ah…!”

“Haah.”

“L-Lord Castion. Castion—”

A hot hand slipped under the hem of my clothes, which had ridden up during the night, and moved inside. As if soothing my restless movements, he slowly stroked my stomach. Then, as if by sequence, his hand traced up along my ribs and grasped my softly risen chest—

“Hey!”

I couldn’t hold it in and shouted.

At the sharp scream, his body jerked. Taking advantage of his half-dazed state, I kicked his leg hard to push him away.

Not even understanding what was happening, Gerard ended up shoved all the way to the edge of the bed.

The moment the weight came off me, I jumped up and pulled my rolled-up clothes back down.

When I glared at him, Gerard blinked slowly and met my eyes.

“Why am I here?”

“How would I know!”

He had even taken off his shirt. The morning sunlight poured over the defined lines of his well-built muscles.

Gerard sat up, looking disheveled. Then he finally noticed the unmistakable state of his lower body.

“I’ll apologize. …This doesn’t mean anything.”

It looked like it meant quite a lot to me.

“This has never happened before.”

He muttered, looking slightly flustered.

“Fine, don’t explain it to me, just cover yourself.”

I tossed a pillow onto his lower body, then fled the bedroom.

* * *

That night, the rain poured down again.

During the rampage three years ago, the only thing Gerard still remembered was the harbor sinking into darkness.

Gerard clenched and opened his right hand repeatedly. Now, he couldn’t even hold a sword with that hand, let alone grip a pen and write long passages.

He had trained himself to use his left hand like his right in order to overcome the disability, but it would still take time before he could properly wield a sword again.

Especially on days like this, when heavy rain poured down relentlessly, the tremor in his right hand grew worse.

“Haah, ha…”

Melvers Temple, Gerard Castion’s office.

Thud. A fourth-rank Purifier collapsed to the floor, unable to endure any longer. Gerard’s expressionless face was cold enough to be frightening.

“Take him out.”

“Yes.”

There wasn’t a trace of sympathy or even acknowledgment of effort in his authoritative voice.

The fourth-rank Purifier was carried out of the office, supported by two people.

Alvar, his aide and a second-rank Awakened who had been watching the entire scene, stepped closer.

“I was surprised to hear you were receiving purification, but only a fourth-rank?”

“But… that woman’s purification definitely had an effect.”

“Pardon? Who?”

Gerard’s handsome face frowned slightly, as if sinking into thought. Out of habit, he slowly brushed the wound at the corner of his mouth with his thumb.

“How did she do it.”