Chapter 289: Distress (3)

**“…So that’s what happened…”

“…Yes.”

Iliya replied, sounding as if she had a headache.

In front of her was Faenol, who seemingly had just arrived as she still had her luggages on her.

It hasn’t even been a day since Teach got here…

She had heard from her servant that the women were coming to the Margraviate, but for them to already arrive at this place…

“By the way…”

As Iliya was drowning in her thoughts, Faenol called out while sweeping her hair.

“I heard that Mr. Dowd got into a slip and fall accident?”

“…Yes, but we’re going to find him soon. You don’t have to worry too much.”

“It’s already dark out there, and he hasn’t been found yet. Does that make any sense?”

“…”

“Especially considering that Lady Tristan, you, the Hero, and the margrave were all here.”

“…”

Iliya clenched her mouth shut. She couldn’t say anything to that.

In truth, Eleanor and her were about to go and find him themselves since the search’s progress had been slow.

“…They’re going to find him soon. Like I said, don’t worry about that and—”

“I’m not worried. In the first place, I never thought something would happen to him. It’s just a little accident, he can handle it.”

Faenol cut Iliya off while sweeping her hair again.

“Then, why do you keep questioning—”

“Just because. Well, actually, no. I have a better way to find him rather than searching for him blindly.”

She said as she turned her gaze at the forest below the rampart, the place where Dowd was said to have fallen into.

“You know, that thing.”

“…What?”

“So, are you in, or not?”

“…”

●

Two people’s bodies swayed around, accompanied by the sound of someone walking through a pile of snow.

They were none other than Dowd and Beatrix, who was being carried on his back, walking through the snow with a coat draped around them.

“…”

“…”

No words were exchanged between them.

Beatrix didn’t know if it was because of her fever, or if it was because she just didn’t have the strength to talk.

I owe this guy a lot—

Beatrix thought as such in a daze.

She felt as if she was drunk.

Considering that her mind felt completely blank, that feeling of hers was probably not as far off as one might think.

“…”

That was why…

She suspected that the strange warmth in her lower belly was probably because of that.

…This punk is very sturdy.

Even while being carried on his back, she could clearly feel his hard back and dense muscles.

With how his sweat formed as the heat in his body sharply rose due to him carrying her on his back, the texture of his muscles became more pronounced than it should.

Considering that under the coat, they were only wearing their underwear with their skin touching each other’s… Well…

Beatrix felt that something kept soaring up from the lower part of her body.

“…!”

Of course, that didn’t last long. The moment she noticed it, she popped her eyes wide open as she screamed inwardly.

Get a grip on yourself, Beatrix!

This man is your best friend’s fiancé! What the fuck are you thinking?!

As her vision spun, she belatedly spurted out something that was completely different from what she had in mind.

“…Good job. Even though the visibility is poor, you managed to find a place with a ceiling.”

“…”

“As long as we can keep the inside warm, I should be able to recover quickly.”

“…”

“…Say something.”

“…Yes.”

Dowd finally replied as he took a deep breath and entered the cave he discovered.

Only then did Beatrix come back to her senses. She tried to read the room, but…

“…Are you tired?”

“No, not really.”

Dowd replied as he cleaned up a spot for Beatrix to lie down. Then, he arranged the wood that he had gathered along the way.

“…I’m just…experiencing a physiological reaction… It’s a little hard to suppress it…”

“What?”

“In my defense, anyone would have a similar reaction if they have to keep a skin-to-skin contact with you for that long, Senior.”

“…”

Dowd wriggled his legs after saying so.

As if trying to hide something between his legs so that she couldn’t see it.

“…”

“…”

An awkward silence fell between them.

A-Ah… T-That…

It’s ‘that’, right?

I-It’s ‘that’, right?

T-That thing when men’s blood flows to a single part of their body…? T-That?

Beatrix thought in a daze, completely stunned.

Because to her, her body was just an average woman’s body.

She never had thought even for a little bit that she was attractive enough for him. Not when all those beautiful women were flocking around—

“…Senior, you’re beautiful.”

“What?”

“If you’re calling yourself average or whatnot, you’ll turn into an enemy of women all around the world, you know?”

He wasn’t joking. Objectively speaking, Beatrix was a beauty that would attract attention wherever she went.

She wasn’t to blame for thinking so, though. As anyone would develop an inferiority complex if they had to live in Eleanor’s shadow all their life. Nevertheless, that didn’t diminish the mature and intelligent charm that she naturally had.

“U-Um…”

Hearing that, another wave of dizziness struck Beatrix.

But this time, it wasn’t because of exhaustion unlike before.

It was a physical phenomenon that accompanied the current of an unknown emotion that was soaring up powerfully within her.

“…Thanks.”

She said sincerely.

Whenever they stood by each other, everyone always turned their gazes towards Eleanor. All this time, she had been living under her shadow, and that got her to think that she was someone who wasn’t worthy of such attention.

This had been happening for almost all her life. She had always believed that she was ordinary.

But…

Just now, Eleanor’s fiancé told her that he was ‘horny’ because ‘she was attractive’.

“…”

U-Um…

W-What…

I-Is this feeling…?

Beatrix blinked slowly, confused by the unknown ‘triumph’ that was welling up in her heart.

Meanwhile, Dowd, who had finished making fire, came next to her again and before hugging her tightly.

“…”

“…”

“…Can’t let your body temperature drop any lower.”

“…Yeah.”

Beatrix replied weakly to Dowd, who was talking stiffly.

She knew that he didn’t have any ulterior motive when he was doing this. He’d most likely act casually and pretend that it didn’t happen the next day.

But, she…

To be exact, in her mind…

“…”

The flames that he lit inside the cave swayed around, just like her heart.

“…”

“…”

“-Hey.”

Beatrix called out, breaking through the silence, while chanting something inwardly.

She also didn’t know why she was doing this.

It was probably because her body wasn’t in a good condition.

At some point the sentence had lost its meaning, but she kept on repeating it in her head like a spell.

For most people, compromising with oneself was a part of their everyday life, but for her, it wasn’t the case at all. She was a right-minded person, probably the most right-minded one out of everyone, so that was something she had no memory of doing all her life.

But…

If she wanted to do what she was going to do without feeling guilty, then she had to do this.

“…Do you…need my help…?”

“Sorry?”

“…Because it seems uncomfortable…”

Hearing that, Dowd’s whole body froze.

He looked as if he didn’t understand what he had just heard.

“…What did you say?”

“A-Ah, n-nothing… J-Just… Y-You look uncomfortable in that position, a-and… Y-You know…”

Then, she just started stammering, completely contrasting her usual attitude.

She was aware that what she was doing was undignified.

I swear this isn’t what you think, Eleanor—!

This excuse would never reach Eleanor even if she were to say it out loud, and besides, it would only increase the awkwardness if Eleanor actually heard it. But, she couldn’t help but say such a thing inwardly. Or else, the guilt that she felt, hurting her like a knife stabbing through her chest, would become unbearable.

Even so…

“I-If you became like that because of me, I-I’lll take responsibility for it…”

“…”

As Dowd could only listen to her with his jaw dropped…

Beatrix carefully made her move and pressed the back of her head towards his chest.

“L-Like this.”

“…”

Dowd was struck speechless, but that didn’t stop Beatrix. She held both his hands around her body and pulled his body closer to hers.

…Just what are you doing right now, Beatrix…?

Of course, she didn’t know the answer to that question.

If she did, or at least, if she was in a state where she could think properly, she wouldn’t have started doing all this in the first place.

At that moment…

“…”

She stuck her tongue out.

Then, she surrounded his finger with her tongue before sucking it lightly.

The softness of a marshmallow and the sweetness of whipped cream.

At first glance, that was like a sentence used as a slogan for a snack commercial and most people would react quite badly if someone were to describe their body part this way. Because it would make them think that the person who said that was about to eat them up or something.

So, it was clear that she wasn’t in the right state of mind the moment such an expression popped up into her head.

It’s sweet…

For a human’s skin—especially someone who had always overworked his body—to taste anything remotely close to sweet was impossible. But, since she was stuck in such a bizarre situation, it wasn’t a wonder that her mind was malfunctioning a little.

A hallucination of a mini Eleanor with angel wings appearing out of nowhere on her shoulders with a buzz rose in her dizzy brain. The mini Eleanor started to pull her ear when she appeared.

But, immediately after that, a mini Beatrix, a deformed version of herself with devil wings, appeared and dragged mini Eleanor away, before disappearing from her sight together.

“No need. I can make you feel warmer instead.”

An answer came, but it didn’t come from Dowd.

Soon after, the surroundings turned bright red.

Flames, burning up so intensely it could sting one’s eyes just by looking at it, started to surround them.

“…”

“…”

Dowd and Beatrix were struck speechless, and they turned to look at the source of the voice at the same time.

Flames that were almost like lava were poured in all directions, changing the temperature from extreme cold to extreme heat. In fact, the flames were so hot that it instantly evaporated all the snow it touched.

“…Faenol?”

And in the middle such flames…

Faenol was walking towards them with clear footsteps, exuding fiery murderous intent, just like the flames surrounding them.

The horns on her head, proof of her demonization, were wrapped around by her flames. Heat overflowing from them.

“Yes, it’s me, Faenol. I heard that the search for Mr. Dowd turned out to be quite difficult because you got lost in this forest.”

“…”

“I did hear that this place is important or whatever, but who cares, I can’t be bothered, so I just burned it all down.”

“…”

“But that’s irrelevant right now. You. Who are you?”

As she calmly admitted that she had committed straight vandalism on someone else’s territory just because she wanted to see Dowd faster, Faenol turned her gaze towards Beatrix, who was still clinging to Dowd right now.

“Who are you to flirt with Mr. Dowd like that?”

“…”

Beatrix wasn’t sure but…

The atmosphere surrounding the other woman definitely wasn’t a friendly one.**

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