NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 202
EP.202 The Black Rose
Let’s rewind a bit to when Abigail and Regis were having a wild night of fun.
Left alone in the room with the Saint, Beltein was plunged into deep anguish.
Hwaah…!
She fumbled with a long ruler around her belly button, her awkward movements clearly unnatural.
Her eyes were tightly shut, her brows furrowed deeply.
No matter how she looked around, she was acting like someone trying to piece together a faint memory.
Yet, the tremble of her lips and her haggard breathing evoked the typical image of someone shuddering from a nightmare they wished to forget.
Surely this much…
Suddenly, her fingers, gauging an unknown distance, halted abruptly.
Gulp.
Right after, Beltein’s startled whisper floated into the serene night air, spreading further than she had anticipated.
How much time had passed?
Huh…
With her composure thoroughly cracked, Beltein took a deep breath and wrapped up her brief wandering.
The ruler, marked with red at a specific length.
Holding it like it was some unholy grail, she cautiously approached the sleeping Saint.
The sight of the Saint curled up like a kitten, softly breathing in deep slumber, was beautiful and utterly adorable.
Normally, Beltein would have watched that scene until dawn, but now she was compelled to check on something, desperately biting her lower lip to suppress her desire.
I-I’m sorry, Welna. Just for a moment…
Hmm…
The conflicting feelings of guilt for touching the unconscious girl’s body and the sense of mission that all of this was for her sake.
For some time, those two feelings twisted and tangled together.
With the ruler still in hand, Beltein’s fingers slowly reached the Saint’s abdomen.
Huff, Hah!
A startled breath escaped her lips unexpectedly.
If she hadn’t quickly covered her mouth, it would have been a sinful scream that perfectly voiced her shock.
Although she was smaller in stature compared to others, the Saint was still a fully-fledged 16-year-old.
In a system where preparations for marriage began as early as age 14, it wasn’t unusual to consider this an appropriate age for marriage.
Therefore, the fact that Beltein contemplated marriage to keep the Saint and Regis tied together was not strange at all, as Beltein had concluded after much thought that she could trust the responsible Regis with her sister.
Currently, Beltein envisioned a future where the Saint and Regis would marry and build a family together.
And there she would be, supporting them closely in everything they did, like a mirage flickering in her mind.
Initially, she hoped for a daughter that looked just like her sister, but recently, she thought a son resembling him wouldn’t be too bad either.
No, in truth, she didn’t care at all about the child’s gender.
As long as the Saint and Regis were together, supreme happiness was surely ahead of them.
However, such hopeful thoughts were brutally crushed by the harsh reality right before her eyes.
W-What on earth…
If her memories were correct, Regis had come disturbingly close, reaching below the Saint’s belly button, a place unsuitable for her small frame.
While the fear of that moment could have exaggerated its size in Beltein’s mind, even if it were half of what she imagined, it was still a significant burden for the not-yet-fully-mature Saint.
If Regis’s restraint faltered even once, everything would hastily unfold, leaving Beltein in a truly precarious situation.
Especially considering the Hero’s emotional state was already unstable lately.
What if Regis ended up connecting completely with the Hero…?
Ah, no…!
Just imagining that future sent heat rushing through her, and her chest ached.
An overly pessimistic mindset: it might just be groundless worry.
But contemplating the worst-case scenario had a way of quickly consuming her optimistic theories.
Her face flushed bright as the autumn leaves falling, her lower lip tightly bitten as frustrated breaths occasionally slipped through.
Beltein didn’t even seem to realize that her soft grasp around her chest evoked the image of a girl writhing with jealousy.
Since it’s come to this, I’ll be Welna’s surrogate while also… with Regis!
Breathless, Beltein was approaching a conclusion she wouldn’t have imagined in her normal state.
The accidental joining of Regis and Beltein’s bodies had long been a pact between the parties involved.
However, no matter how unclear their consciousness was, the exchange of their firsts as a maiden and a man inevitably created a tainted residue between them.
The heated moment stuck beneath the membrane had exerted considerable influence over Regis’s rationality.
Though Beltein tried hard not to show it, her situation was not much different.
Zzzzzzz…
Ugh…!
Every time that day flashed in her mind, a wrenching sensation throbbed in her lower abdomen.
It was that thought that had kept Beltein from looking directly at Regis’s face since that day.
If she locked eyes with him and recalled that day’s events, she instinctively knew the fiery passion wrapping around her heart would spread uncontrollably.
The once innocent nun, who had never stepped onto the wrong path, found herself abruptly falling into the quagmire of lust due to a moment’s carelessness — something she once thought only happened to talentless adult novel writers.
Bam!
…!
It was just then that the sleeping Saint suddenly jolted up.
I-I’m sorry! Welna! I was so loud…
Her eyes wide open, it was hard to believe she had just been asleep moments ago.
Her fierce gaze lingered outside before it eerily twisted towards the ring on her left ring finger.
Swish.
Finally, the Saint brought the ring to her ear.
Amid her white hair, her ears perked up like a rabbit as if sensing some unknown wave beyond the ring, standing alert.
Welna?
Sister, be quiet.
…!
That cold voice shattered the softly whispered words.
Beltein was trying to muster the courage to peek at the expression the Saint wore, but that moment was mercilessly blocked by the curtain of dark clouds covering the moonlight.
◈◈◈
Still broken, huh…
At the same time, Dawna tapped the desk with her pen, subtly expressing her irritation.
Across from her was a cracked crystal ball, crackling like a broken TV.
A magic tool that showed the person you wanted to see, infused with magic power by its creator.
The fact that it was originally made solely for stalking Regis was a well-known secret among the Hero Party, known only to Dawna.
Of course, due to its constant malfunctioning and the unnecessary misunderstandings it caused, it had long since become a mere nuisance.
However, the effort put into creating it held her back from letting it go.
Moreover, repairing magic tools when her mind was in turmoil had been a habit she carried since her academy days.
These days, Dawna was under immense pressure as she watched the Hero and Regis swirl in a strange dynamic, with no calm moment in her heart.
Huh…
She had been told all about the circumstances between the Hero and Regis from Regis himself.
Thus, while she could intellectually grasp the Hero’s behavior of expressing affection toward Regis, her heart couldn’t accept it.
The Hero showing affection to Lowville is probably an expression of paternal love toward the one who raised her… Moreover, girls much older than him are unlikely to be seen as romantic interests, even if they’re adults… So if I leave it for a while, the Hero will fall off… Yeah, that’s how it would be…
Even if she tried to divert her gaze from reality, the dark jealousy prickling in her heart was unavoidable.
Huh… Lowville…
At that moment, a sorrowful voice slipped out.
Crrack. Crackle.
Like rain seeping into dry land, the magic tool soaked with her damp tune burst into brilliant light for all to see.
Huh…?
In that instant, the rosebud blooming in her thoughts turned black.
A dark, ominous, despair-filled black.