Youngest 269
by CristaeEpisode 269
Judging by the small petals caught in his hair, he must have just come back from training outside. I saw them and chuckled inwardly.
It was too endearing, that incongruous clumsiness behind his indifferent expression.
“Have you eaten?”
Khalid turned around with a sunny smile and asked.
Regrettably, that fluttering charm of his seemed to fall away, though—for the record—he was still adorable.
“Yes. What about you?”
“I have, too.”
“How does it feel to be back with the knights after so long? Still busy?”
“Well… I suppose so.”
“I see.”
“And Hazel?”
Khalid looked around the bedroom. As I closed the window, letting the breeze full of flowers drift away, I replied,
“She’s gone to steal—no, no. She’s gone to prepare dessert.”
“Ah, I see. But…”
“…”
“Why won’t you look me in the eye?”
He abruptly closed the distance between us.
“No, it’s just…”
“You’re not feeling unwell again, are you? Come here, let me see.”
“That’s not it, um.”
It was only embarrassment, really.
I was about to say I felt perfectly fine, but quickly changed my mind.
“Maybe I do feel a little off…”
“Give me your hand right now.”
“Yes, sir.”
As soon as his large hand seized mine, a warm, pleasant magic crept steadily into me. Khalid transferred his mana to me with exquisite care, as if giving his entire heart.
And then…
And then.
‘…Is that it?’
That was all.
“Um, Khalid.”
I called him softly.
His flawless face gazed down at me in silence.
“We… you know, you could… if you want.”
Our clasped hands trembled at my words.
“Ah, that… I mean, I just find that way more comfortable now. Once you’ve experienced the new, you can never quite return to the old… Ah.”
Suddenly I was pulled toward him—before I realized it, I was sitting atop the table.
“…You.”
Khalid was now almost eye-level with me, his brows drawn as if troubled. He braced his arms on the table, trapping me gently, gazing into me.
“You really do know how to torment me.”
“Ah…”
“You know all too well that I can’t refuse you…”
And then something soft settled upon my lips.
He pressed gentle, searching kisses, as if reading my mood; the moment he sensed my acquiescence, he enfolded me, devouring every part of me.
My breath caught swiftly, and my head spun, whirring and fizzing.
The sensations inside my mouth, some new and unknown, awakened me with an overwhelming shock. Instinctively, I drew back, as if to escape.
But each time, the firm hands encircling my waist only pressed me closer, as if there could be not a sliver left between us, as if he needed complete oneness.
His kisses were rough, but the magic flowing into me was gentle and soothing, as though to calm me, slowly filling my heart.
‘Still, just what are we, like this?’
The thought slipped in through the heady, melting haze.
‘I like Khalid.’
…But Khalid?
It was true—ours was a complicated story.
So, right after regaining all those memories, I honestly thought, maybe, Khalid likes me.
But still…
‘I’ve never heard him say it. Not once.’
That he likes me.
That he loves me.
‘I’ve never heard it—not even in my previous life.’
But who kisses someone they don’t even like? At least, I wouldn’t.
That thought emboldened me, and truthfully, after coming back to Zelox, I tried to confess to Khalid several times.
Yet each and every time…
“Khalid, um, I… I actually—”
“Ruby, sorry. Something came up at the mountain outpost.”
“So sudden?”
And off he went, just like that.
“Khalid, hey, talk to me. I—”
“Ruby. Oberon-senior is calling. Sorry.”
“So sudden?”
And he’d simply escape.
Because of that, now I couldn’t be sure of anything.
‘Was I too full of myself, thinking someone would return for my sake?’
I deflated like a balloon with all the air let out.
‘Come to think of it… Ever since we were kids, Khalid always called me “Master” and followed me around like a little puppy…’
As if a loyal knight serving his lord.
He always said, out of habit, that he stayed with me only to repay a debt.
‘I don’t want to be your savior—I want to be your girlfriend!’
Maybe, growing up together, we simply became too comfortable with each other in this life.
All the years we shared might have only made it easier for our feelings to settle into something else.
‘Maybe he only lets me kiss him because of my magic, or because he still thinks of me as the master who saved him…’
After all, delivering mana through the mucosa was the most efficient way to heal his core.
It was exactly why I could recover so well in three weeks…
‘Besides, I’m always the one badgering to kiss him!’
Just think of what he said a moment ago.
“You know I can’t refuse you…”
Didn’t that mean he’d rather not, but just couldn’t say no?
‘Ah, wait, this is too depressing. I can’t believe my grand, magnificent first love is turning into unrequited love.’
Still… I can’t give up.
If I have to cling like this, so be it.
‘Even if I have to use magic as an excuse, I’m going to keep kissing you.’
But, a little frustrated, I bit his lip lightly. Khalid’s eyes widened, startled.
“…Why’d you bite me?”
“Mana—huff—give me more mana.”
At my demand, he breathed all the more heavily and threw himself at me.
Things fell and rolled off the table, chaos swirling around us, but in the confusion I heard none of it.
He stroked my ear, planted fluttering kisses down my cheek and jaw. His soft lips brushed my earlobe, and, as if in retaliation, nipped my skin with a playful bite.
His broad hand slipped into my carelessly draped cardigan, caressing the bare skin of my shoulder and forearm with gentle fingertips.
While I was absorbed in those sensations, his lips traced down to my neck, exposed just slightly, and explored its hollow intently. The heat of his breath on my sensitive skin curled my toes unconsciously.
“Ah. Khalid, Khalid, any more and…”
It was at that moment—
He froze, as if struck by lightning.
“What am I…”
He stared at my thoroughly disheveled self for a long moment, then jerked away.
“I—I have urgent business, so I’ll just…”
“What?”
Again?
But without another word, he staggered off like a broken doll and then vanished as if swept by the wind.
“Wow.”
The instant my mana was fully replenished, he turned cold as ever…
I slid in a heap under the table. Checking the time, I realized around thirty minutes had passed since our kiss.
“Screw it, next time it’ll be forty-five minutes…”
Khalid Riorc.
‘Even if you don’t like me.’
You’re never getting away from me!
But, alas, since when does unrequited love ever go smoothly, like wind filling a sail?
The next day.
I turned completely stone-still at the thunderclap of unexpected news.
“What?”
“Sir Khalid is departing for the front.”
“All of a sudden?”
“There’s been severe damage in the east of Babylon—dark beasts hidden there, as well as slumbering magical beasts, have all appeared.”
It was one of the most fiercely contested battlegrounds left in Babylon.
From what my father told me, an expeditionary force had been put together for a campaign lasting perhaps a year.
Of course, the Imperial Knights, together with the Eastern Frontier Army, were more than enough for the task. There was really no need for Khalid to step in.
“But Khalid volunteered?”
Hazel nodded.
“Yes. He apparently visited the palace yesterday, took the portal, and petitioned His Majesty in person.”
“If it was yesterday…”
That would have been right after he’d been, like a dog, licking my neck.
Good grief…
‘Does this mean he doesn’t even want to share magic with me anymore?’
Maybe the past is just the past, and present circumstances feel too much for him.
“Miss? Your eyes look really intense. Are you alright?”
Ha. Wretched Khalid.
‘After all that, taming me with your touch.’
Now you go running off to war?
For the first time, I genuinely wanted to lock him up.
Khalid strode across the wide training ground.
“Khaaaaaalid! You’re going to the eastern front? Why the sudden decision?”
Allen came running from a distance.
Khalid glanced at him indifferently and continued on; he had much to prepare, as he was leaving for the East at dawn.
“I said, why so sudden!” Allen bellowed.
At last, Khalid sighed, as if he had little choice.
“Because… I’ve decided to confess…”
His voice flowed soft and flat.
“Because I’ve decided to confess to Rubian.”
“Wh—!”
Allen clapped both hands over his mouth.