CH 25

The wedding was a blur for Isabelle, and soon enough she found herself in more comfortable clothes and eating a crispy yet moist turkey dish back in her room.

‘Riggs sees me as a woman?’

There was nothing wrong with that sentence itself. It’s not like she was a man because she’s always been a woman. But she knew that wasn’t what Riggs meant.

‘It means that he sees me as someone of the opposite gender. Not as a friend.’

Somehow, it was a distant feeling. Isabelle never saw Riggs as a man. So by the end of the ceremony, she didn’t even realize that his lips had touched her forehead, and that it was so flustering.

Riggs, her baby deer, was always like a younger brother to her, one who she had to take care of. He was a younger brother who was likely to collapse if she didn’t hug him or soothe him whenever he sobbed so badly that his face would go all scrunched up.

Whenever she looked into his tearful crimson eyes, it felt like there was a deep lake of sadness within them, so it was her who often kissed his forehead so that his eyes would close.

‘Every time that happened, did Riggs also feel the same way I felt today?’

Isabelle recalled the memories of the saintesses embracing her in their arms and kissing her on the forehead when she was a child. Her heart was touched by the feeling of being loved.

But what she felt at the wedding today was a different feeling. Rather than feeling as though she was on a cloud in the sky, it was more like she had plunged into the depths of the sea.

Which of the two did Riggs feel whenever she habitually kissed him on the forehead to soothe his tears?

「 My Isabelle. You seem to be occupied with a lot of thoughts. If you accept my kiss as a token, all your troubling thoughts will disappear. 」

When the goddess’ voice came in, Isabelle opened her eyes. She was wondering why the goddess was strangely quiet today—she had been forcing Isabelle to accept her for a few days now.

“O, benevolent goddess Isis. The reapers are frightened, so please stay away.”

Isabelle said this as she sensed how much the reapers’ hands were trembling while they were helping her bathe. It was only then that the goddess’ voice replied quietly.

「 My Isabelle. Tonight, it would be wise to take care of your body. 」

“I’ve heard about it from Riggs. Isn’t it because we should be careful because there might be intruders? Thank you for your concern.”

「 Isabelle, my innocent lamb. Keep in mind that the one you have to be the most careful about is the irreligious Ephelix. I’ve never seen any other human preparing for the first night so early. 」

“Huh?”

「 If tonight becomes too much, pray to me. Don’t hesitate to use my power to beat up and seal the Master of Cardiago. 」

Judging by the tone of her voice, it didn’t seem like the goddess was joking at all.

* * *

Without even being aware of his own body movements, Riggs immersed himself in a cold bathtub. The water was as cold as ice, but his heated body just wouldn’t cool down.

‘…Isabelle should be washing up by now.’

As he was bathing for a long time, he barely got up and reached out to the shelf.

There should have been towels piled up just as usual, but now that there weren’t any, the employees’ intentions were clear—that he shouldn’t wear anything at all.

“Kiel, are you there?”

“Yes, I’m here. Whenever Hyung calls me, I… Hoo.”

In that bathroom, Kiel’s gaze was fixed on only one thing. Feeling embarrassed, Riggs gestured using his chin.

“Go get some towels. There aren’t any here.”

“If I were your Hyung, seriously… I’d catch all the scoundrels who spread such a ridiculous rumor about your lower body not working. I’d destroy them until the third generation. If that rumor is even a little true, it’s just not fair.”

“Shut your trap.”

“You can just pretend to be crazy for one day and walk around naked. If you do that, all those rumors would disappear. After all, people will believe what they see with their eyes. If it’s this huge and beautifu—”

“I said shut up. Get the towels.”

As though frustrated at how unfair it was, Kiel ran out and fetched some towels. It would have been better if he brought a bathrobe, too, but Riggs decided that this was fine.

He had tried to call a servant to bring one, but he paused for a moment.

‘Now that I think about it, my dear wife said that I must wrap only one towel around my waist. Plain and simple.’

She also said that his hair should be dried half-heartedly and a bit tussled. It was a very picky taste. Riggs agonized while putting on the towel according to her taste.

‘…Would she be taken aback once she sees me like this?’

At this thought, Riggs chuckled while shaking his hair to dry it.

Suddenly, a cold energy shifted in. Riggs lowered the hand with the towel he was using to dry his hair, then he focused his senses.

Soon, Kiel’s report could be heard.

“Hyung! There are punks swarming over here!”

“…Isabelle!”

Riggs rushed out of the bathroom and went straight to the large bathroom where Isabelle was. Had Kiel not moved quickly, the bedroom would have been invaded earlier.

“Isabelle!”

He couldn’t see the guards and the maids in the bathroom. Then, he saw something red spreading little by little on the surface of the bathwater. A terrible metallic stench was spread through the steam. 

Riggs could feel his blood running cold.

“Isabelle!”

“R-Riggs?”

However, her voice was from behind him. Riggs turned around, relieved that her voice was just as how it usually sounded.

“……”

Then, he froze right there as though he’d become a stone. The only thing Isabelle was wearing was a thin slip dress. And it’s length was so short.

No. It wasn’t just the short, thin clothes that surprised him. Not long after coming out of a warm bath, Isabelle’s cheeks were red.

Right then, Riggs felt the urge to taste her lips, slowly and thoroughly. Her skin smelled sweet, perhaps because of the bathwater’s scent.

He wanted to dry her hair for her, to run his lips over her smooth nape. His hands flinched in anticipation, wanting to wrap his arms around her waist.

“Isabelle.”

As he spoke in a low voice, Isabelle desperately pulled down the bottom of the slip dress and urgently explained.

“Riggs. You know that I grew up in a temple all my life. But when I opened the closet, there were a lot of the same clothes just like this. They’re something I’ve only seen being described in novels.”

“…And?”

And I was just curious and asked the maids to help me try them on. But If I knew there would be intruders, I wouldn’t have worn this!”

“…First, come here. The intruders came here with a goal.”

This intrusion was basically a declaration of war. It could be interpreted as their urgency to capture Isabelle.

Riggs took Isabelle into the walk-in closet. The only light that entered that place was from a small gap above and it was dark around them.

Since it was full of only the same slip dresses, there was quite a lot of space left after pushing the clothes aside, however it was still cramped for two people to hide in.

The intruders’ tenacity could be felt by even Isabelle.

Riggs used some defensive magic without revealing his strength as much as possible. A small number of them had been eradicated. His eyes were cold.

“Isabelle, I just remembered, but the bathroom smelled like blood earlier. Was there a maid that got killed in the crossfire?”

“Oh, that… I killed one of them by mistake.”

“…Well done.”

Isabelle recalled what happened earlier. She was trying on the slip dress with the maids when an intruder suddenly jumped out.

She used magic reflexively after letting out a small shriek, then somehow… A huge ice spear pierced through his body.

Riggs must have found the body that fell into the hot bath. The ice had melted, so it must have looked like the intruder was killed too brutally.

‘Even when I just turned around and used it, the spell had hit its mark. It’s useful at times like these.’

She was just grateful for the fact that this was all from the goddess Isis’ protection.

‘By the way.’

Isabelle, who was still tense, glanced over at Riggs’ expression. He was looking outside through a small gap in the closet. Under the dim light, his brown hair could be seen to be still somewhat wet.

His forehead, which was always covered by his fringe, was revealed. His skin was smooth without any blemishes. Then down his forehead, a straight, angular nose bridge matched his sharp gaze—like a perfect portrait.

Just earlier today, she recalled how Lady Lethor grumbled anxiously at how, if she had known that Riggs had this kind of face, she would have seduced him anyway, regardless of the rumors about his lower body.

‘I thought she was just saying nonsense before.’

Riggs’ features, which became more pronounced as a deep shadow was cast over him, was so striking that she had to pause for a moment just to look at him.

She rarely ever saw him with a detached expression this close. Whenever they were close to each other, it was usually when she soothed his tears from time to time.

“Riggs. Now that you’re up close like this, you kinda look handsome.”

“You like handsome guys.”

Riggs focused again without reacting much other than this response. Isabelle almost laughed at his answer that almost sounded like a complaint.

‘But then again…?’

Isabelle’s gaze went up then down, taking the appearance of Riggs’ whole body. Where did he ever learn to dress himself so seductively?

Riggs was wearing only two things: a towel and the necklace that she gave him as dowry. It’s difficult to see because it’s dark inside the closet, but it seemed like he didn’t even have any body fat at all.

‘Why did he dress like this… Is it because I’ve managed to brainwash him with all those things so far?’

Looking back, there were more than just one or two things that would have tainted Riggs’ mind. Though seeing him with just a towel around his way, it was worth shouting to the world that it was fitting. 

Riggs looked stronger than she thought. No—Isabelle had never seen any other person who had a body like this. Occasionally, there were temple visitors who looked to be greatly vigorous, but their muscles weren’t exposed outside.

Rather than a real human’s body, the body she was looking at right now seemed to be something from the sketch collection that was brought into the temple for artistic literacy.

His shoulders were so wide that she wondered why she never noticed before. Perhaps the situation outside wasn’t good, but Riggs summoned a sword, and as muscles rippled over his arm, Isabelle’s eyes followed fervently.

“……”

His chest, which was totally exposed, was firm. Not to mention his abs. In particular, the abs leading down to the part that was covered by the towel looked to be very solid. His waist was so smooth that she could feel how hard his muscles were with her hands.

“…Isabelle.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t go lower than that with your hands. My concentration will be broken and the barrier might break.”

“……”

“I’m your husband, so it’s perfectly fine to touch me however you want. But please, a little later.”