They Say an Age Gap Like This Doesn’t Even Need Matching - Chapter 48

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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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We held each other in silence for a long while, breathing in sync.
As my vision slowly returned, blinking languidly, my eyes met Elhart’s gaze looking down at me.
The fervent passion that had filled his golden eyes was gradually subsiding.
“Ser Brin.”
“Yes.”
“Even holding you like this, it doesn’t feel real.”
I gazed up at him intently.
“Truth be told, I suddenly began to doubt whether this is a dream or an illusion.”
In his eyes, now devoid of that fierce passion, my image was reflected with perfect clarity.
“Everything has felt strange since the day you came to me. My existence was bound in chains, eating nothing but wretched gruel.”
“Yet you said it was edible at times.”
“Yes. Because that was all I knew as normal.”
He spoke while gently tracing my face, caressing my eyes and cheeks as if redrawing them.
“Perhaps I’ve gone mad from exposure to some synthetic poison. Otherwise, none of this makes sense.”
I admit that your sudden appearance, the Expedition Team’s return, all of it seems unreal.
But….
“Your reality is what’s wrong.”
I whispered to him.
“A prince who should have been surrounded by precious things in the Beautiful Palace, showered with nothing but love, shouldn’t be in a place like this.”
Elhart deserved far better than this.
“The Goddess must have sent me to set things right.”
Countless souls are in need of miracles.
There is no one in this world without desperate longing.
Yet those chosen by the Goddess are exceedingly rare.
Those who have never prayed for themselves.
Those who do not weep for their own sake.
Those who shoulder the wishes of countless others and run forward with greater diligence than anyone.
The Goddess chose Elhart to give wings to that broad yet solitary back.
“I am no illusion. I won’t disappear.”
I bumped my forehead gently against his.
“So instead of wasting time on needless worries, focus on your training, Your Highness.”
So that’s what he’d been thinking all along.
“I see.”
He murmured softly and stared at me intently.
“Then falling in love must also be the Goddess’s will.”
“…?”
Where did that conclusion come from?
The moment I tried to speak, he broke into a radiant smile.
In that instant, he looked so genuinely happy that I could only close my mouth again.
***
Elhart hadn’t slept a wink.
Even with his eyes closed, his consciousness remained more alert than ever before.
The reason was simple.
It was because of her, sleeping in his arms.
He held his breath and carefully looked down at her.
Iserna slept deeply, her face buried against his chest.
Her expression was so serene and peaceful, as if the fierce hours of last night had been nothing but a lie.
Elhart spent a long time simply gazing at her, doing nothing else.
He listened to her slow, rhythmic breathing and traced the stillness of her eyelids with his gaze.
It still didn’t feel real.
The moment dawn was just breaking.
Light filtered through the window bars, casting a dim glow across the bed.
Even in that faint light, Iserna sparkled like a jewel.
Elhart moved his hand slowly.
With utmost care so as not to wake her, he brushed her hair back.
The soft strands slipped through his fingers like silk.
“….”
He stared at his empty hand for a moment, then carefully touched her hair again.
He had never once imagined that looking at someone this way, touching them like this, would ever exist in his life.
The Cold Barracks, hard bread, the anguished moans of the dying, and the smell of burning corpses.
All he had ever known was such suffering.
His life in chains, receiving garbage-like gruel, had been so arduous that even this place seemed comfortable by comparison.
His naturally strong body had driven him toward this fate.
He had wielded a sword since childhood, and when he was cut or injured, no one ever asked if he was alright.
He would heal quickly anyway.
To have been born with such a blessed body and yet complain of weakness was unthinkable.
He too believed that was only natural.
Because such times had continued for so long, he had already grown accustomed to it.
He had accepted that bearing burdens, protecting, and enduring was his entire existence.
Until Iserna appeared.
From the day she stood before him, everything began to change.
She expected nothing from him. She seemed to have no intention of relying on him or pushing her burdens onto his shoulders.
Rather, she regarded him as someone to be protected and cherished.
She marveled at how remarkably strong his body was and how quickly he recovered, but that was all.
‘A prince who should have been surrounded by precious things in the Beautiful Palace, receiving nothing but love.’
That was the place Iserna had assigned to me.
She spoke with confident certainty that she would restore me to a place my feet had never touched.
She smiled and told me to trust and rely on her.
Yet I was neither weak nor incompetent.
Unexpectedly, I found myself deeply moved by her words—that she would protect and cherish me.
It was not because the crushing weight had disappeared—the weight of knowing that a single misstep could drag countless lives down into the abyss alongside me.
It was simply the fact that she cared for him, that she thought of him, that made his heart tremble.
As if he had filled a place in her heart, as if she would remain by his side for some time to come.
He felt the exhilaration of a young boy experiencing his first love.
‘Yet I never dared believe it could come true.’
Now, in Elhart’s arms, she slept peacefully.
She who had not fled from him as he lunged forward like a beast, but instead had reached out and pulled him close in return.
That warmth that seemed to melt him, her softness, her sweetness.
And the pleasure and ecstasy that followed, driving him to madness.
It was a shocking experience that made it impossible to return to the days of ignorance.
In other words, it was a miracle to him.
He drew in a deeper breath.
The thought resurfaced—could he have truly lost his mind completely?
Was he addicted to some synthetic poison, believing an impossible reality to be true?
Of course… he could not entirely rule out that possibility.
But.
He lowered his head slightly.
A subtle, sweet fragrance drifted from Iserna, brushing against the tip of his nose.
A scent he had never encountered before was so vivid, so clear.
Yes, this was not a hallucination.
It could not be a dream or fantasy.
“Ser.”
He whispered her name in a low voice.
Iserna did not respond.
She simply breathed steadily in her sleep.
A faint smile spread across Elhart’s lips.
“…Really.”
He murmured.
“You’re here.”
Elhart pulled her closer, holding her more firmly.
As if refusing to let go.
As if confirming she would not disappear.
That was when it happened.
“…Elhart.”
A voice, slightly drowsy, reached his ears.
Elhart froze and looked down at her.
Still with her eyes closed, she let out a small whimper.
“Can’t… breathe….”
Elhart startled and immediately loosened his grip.
Only then did her expression ease into comfort.
“Then keep touching me.”
“…You were awake?”
“Yes.”
She answered casually, then exhaled a languid breath.
As she rubbed her face against my chest and pulled my waist closer, I froze momentarily, and she urged me again.
“Hurry.”
Only then did Elhart realize what she was asking for and moved his hand.
As he stroked her hair as before, a satisfied smile graced her lips.
That was when it happened.
Knock, knock.
The sound of someone knocking on the door echoed.
Both of them turned their heads toward the door simultaneously.
Moments later, a familiar voice came from beyond the door.
“Commander.”
It was Kei.
“Have you awakened?”

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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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