They Say an Age Gap Like This Doesn’t Even Need Matching - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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But if I said that, Elhart would stubbornly insist on sleeping on the floor himself.
“…No.”
As I hesitated with my answer, he gazed at me intently and nodded.
“Good, then.”
Elhart lay down beside me without another word.
The bed was large enough that our bodies didn’t touch, but we were still remarkably close.
Even the slightest movement would be felt between us.
“….”
How did things come to this?
Sleep…
I couldn’t sleep.
Just days ago, I’d laid out sleeping bags in a row and slept without a care among the Expedition Team members.
Why was this so different?
Why did it have to be this man—Elhart?
My breathing suddenly felt far too loud.
Once I focused on it, everything began to feel awkward.
‘Ugh… why am I like this?’
Unable to bear it any longer, I cracked my eyes open slightly and looked at Elhart, only to find him sleeping peacefully—unlike me.
‘Doesn’t his shoulder get uncomfortable sleeping on just one side like that?’
By habit, Elhart always slept with his back to the wall, facing toward me.
Thanks to that, I could now examine his face in such detail.
‘When his eyes are closed, his expression looks different.’
Elhart had long, sharp eyes that made him appear incredibly cold when expressionless.
But when he spoke with me, he would soften his gaze and always carry a faint smile at the corners of his lips, making me mistake him for someone of gentle nature.
‘How can he look like that?’
He really was handsome.
Dressed so elegantly, his appearance stood out even more, and the moment we entered the banquet hall, the women had stared at him intensely.
If he weren’t a hostage from Bardia, people would have swarmed him just to have a conversation.
‘Most of all, his smile is truly beautiful.’
Sometimes his eyes would crease so much that his pupils disappeared when he laughed, and at those moments, small dimples would form on his cheeks.
‘Right about here….’
Perhaps because I’d been staring for so long and he was sleeping soundly, I let my guard down.
‘Oh…!’
Lost in thought, I unknowingly reached out and gently touched his cheek.
I immediately withdrew my hand in alarm and held my breath, watching him carefully.
‘He won’t wake up from just that… right?’
I was cautiously pulling my hand back while watching his closed eyes.
That’s when his eyelids slowly began to rise.
But strangely… there was no trace of sleep in his gaze.
As if his eyes had simply been closed all along.
“Ser Brin.”
“Yes…?”
“Your competence is almost too much for me to deserve.”
Sudden praise…?
“And yet I still harbor impure thoughts. I even wished you were an ordinary woman.”
“…That’s only because you haven’t yet seen the full extent of my abilities.”
What I accomplish as a maid is merely a tiny fraction of what I’m truly capable of.
He let out a soft laugh at my response.
“I see.”
But his smile faded just as quickly.
“If the Crown Prince proposes to you… will you accept?”
What? He was thinking about that?
Though I suppose our appearance together earlier could have been misunderstood.
The dress was in the Crown Prince’s hands, and I was pressed against him in nothing but my undergarments.
“No. He’s not my type.”
The problem was that he resembled Mikhail far too closely.
It made it impossible to view him with anything approaching pure intentions.
“What if he proposed a bargain, offering you something you truly cherish in exchange?”
“Disinterest is disinterest, regardless.”
Unless he could offer to send me and the Expedition Team back three hundred years in time—then perhaps I might reconsider.
But there’s no way he possesses such an absurd ability.
Freezing time for even one or two seconds falls within the domain of Grand Mages, and reversing three centuries would be something only a goddess could accomplish.
In any case, for anything less than that, I would choose to achieve it with my own hands.
Even if the path is difficult and requires a long detour, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
“Then….”
Elhart wrapped his hand around my fingers that were touching his cheek and pulled me closer as he spoke.
“What about me?”
“What…?”
“How do you feel about me?”
The moment I heard that question, my mind went completely blank. What was he asking right now?
“You said the Crown Prince isn’t your type.”
So he was asking if he was….
“You are, well….”
I swallowed hard without meaning to. The words wouldn’t come easily.
I’d just declared my absolute disinterest in the Crown Prince.
‘Because you’re exactly my type.’
Your face, your body, your character—there’s nothing I would change.
“Ser Brin, you said you caught a cold.”
Elhart reached out his large hand and pressed it against my forehead.
My face flushed so intensely that I actually felt feverish.
“If you kiss me, your cold will get better.”
He whispered the words.
“So… you’re asking me to… kiss you?”
He gazed intently into my eyes as he repeated the question.
“Will you refuse?”
Like that first day, that… now…?
‘I want to.’
Where did this sudden surge of impulse come from?
Did I want to feel that strange and sweet sensation from that day once more?
Or did I… want to do something with this man?
‘I don’t know.’
This was far too unfamiliar and difficult a question for me.
My mind was clearly wrestling with the dilemma, yet my body betrayed my will and nodded in agreement.
‘He’s worried about me. He said he’d cure my cold.’
Refusing didn’t feel right.
Of course, I’d never actually caught a cold, and hiding behind an excuse was cowardly, and I despised cowardice deeply, but…
‘I don’t understand why I’m doing this either, so what can I do.’
If I tried once more, wouldn’t I understand?
So, just this once.
Countless thoughts collided and clashed in my mind until I narrowed the small distance between us of my own accord.
Naturally, I approached him very slowly, and it must have taken dozens more breaths before our lips met.
Yet Elhart simply waited in place without rushing me.
Waiting for me to kiss him.
“Close your eyes.”
At my whisper, he obediently closed his eyes.
At first, I barely brushed them together before pulling away.
Even that much made my heart feel like it would burst.
But I didn’t want to stop there.
‘A little more…’
I gently took his lips—the ones I’d been greedily drawn to—into my mouth.
When I flicked my tongue across them, that sweet taste returned, and saliva pooled in my mouth.
‘Why does it taste like this.’
He’d had champagne, but he’d come back, washed up, and brushed his teeth.
Addicted to the sweet taste, I kept licking his lips, and at some point, I began drawing his tongue in and sucking on it.
“Mm… ah…”
Our tongues intertwined like serpents, and our breathing grew ragged.
At some point, Elhart had moved over me and cradled my cheek in his hand.
His hand was so large it nearly reached my nape.
His touch was so careful that I wanted to rub my face against his palm—it tickled that much.
I think I actually did that a little.
For just a moment, I felt his body stiffen.
Then, with an urgency incomparable to before, he intertwined his tongue with mine. He devoured me with reckless abandon.
I felt as though I might be consumed entirely.
Was my breath coming so rapidly because this act was unfamiliar to me?
Or was it because my heart was racing abnormally fast?
My mind had gone blank.
“Ser Brin.”
Elhart’s lips, glistening with saliva, parted slightly.
I stared fixedly at his lips.
Why did he stop?
He smiled as though pleased.
“Still not enough, is it?”
His hand, descending from the nape of my neck, gently caressed my back.
Each time his grip tightened around my waist, my chest was pressed and crushed against his firm chest.
Why did even that feel so pleasurable?
My body no longer felt like my own.
And then I felt something hard pressing against me from below….
“Mmph….”
An odd sound escaped from my lips.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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