FFF-Tier System, SSS-Rank Wife-Chapter 43: Formal introduction and its unspoken consequence

Selia’s eyes widened.

"O-okay...?"

Looking at her, I couldn’t tell whether she took my word for it, or if she was merely trying to go along with my story so as not to upset me any further.

Just yesterday, I would likely assume she simply didn’t want the bother of dealing with my delusions. But today?

After our relationship somehow rapidly accelerated through means I couldn’t quite understand?

Now, answering this question was no longer such an easy task.

Before long, the Saintess shook her head. She then closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and held it in while pushing her chin up, only to breathe out at the same time as she opened up her eyes again and looked back into my face.

"Okay, let’s assume what you are saying is correct," she started, making it seem as if she was about to cross her arms over her chest and continue with "but."

"If such is the case, then..." Selia continued, already finding a way to betray my expectations, "why did you wake up all panicked like that? Were you worried you made a mistake while rewriting your fate?" she asked, only to glance up above my head before quickly turning her eyes back. "And what’s with that spell you wanted me to prepare?"

"I..." I opened up my mouth, hoping to answer right away, only to end up stumped for proper answers.

Sure, the sooner I answered the more honest and genuine my answer would appear, but...

’As it turns out, I’m the one who resorts to using that word,’ I thought before pressing my lips together as I took some time to properly process everything in my head and prepare a proper answer rather than a product of whatever I would find at the end of my tongue.

"It was my own stupidity that scared me. Or rather," I grimaced, "the potential consequences of it."

Even though I took my time to come up with this answer, it still came out extremely cryptic, ambiguous.

And yet, rather than lashing out or commenting on it in any way, Selia opted to just stare at my face instead.

I couldn’t really hide my sense of guilt and worry at this point, not when those feelings still lingered all over my mind.

It didn’t matter that nothing ended up happening to Selia.

A fluke, that was all that her safety was. And no matter how much I wanted to keep myself calm, how much I wanted to distance myself from that whole event so I could focus and keep going... This was way too big for me to just ignore and forget.

"Hey, kiddo..." Selia shook her head, only to suddenly perk up a bit as she quickly turned her head back. "No, wait," she squinted her eyes a bit before opening them up wide. "Now that I think about it, we’ve gone long enough without a proper introduction!"

The change of the topic was so abrupt, I almost physically recoiled from it.

Still, since she was offering...

And as if openly suggesting a proper introduction wasn’t enough, Selia lowered herself down on her knees before sitting down on her heels—just like before—only to then place her hands right before her knees, both of them pointing inwards.

"I am Selia Jahel, of no house and divine affiliation," she introduced herself before gently leaning forward with her upper body, just far enough to bring her forehead directly above her hands that she kept lying flat on the ground. "And I’m sorry it took me so long to properly introduce myself," she added with an apologetic smile.

At first, my eyebrows moved up. Then, perfectly keen to reciprocate the respect that oozed out of the formal way of her introduction, I attempted to first replicate her pose before introducing myself.

"I am Leonard Piast of no house and no affiliation," I adapted her own introduction to my own circumstances before bowing myself. Then, as I pulled back, I added, "That is, as far as I understand the nomenclature properly. And while my surname goes thousands of years to the past, I’ve never found any direct link between my family and the ancient royals from which my family has taken its name. And you can call me Leon."

Even though there was no need for me to go that deep into the details... It just felt right to do so. Not even to establish myself as someone more important than I was in reality—the idea of houses or clans was long gone from the Earth, after all—but to show my respect to the local culture to which Selia subscribed.

"Okay then," Selia’s smile blossomed even further, making it seem as if we completed some kind of step that was of much greater importance than I dared to expect. "With that out of the way," her smile grew even further, reaching the point where it no longer felt all that real and genuine, "what did happen in that dream of yours to scare you so much?"

By all means, I ended up swept in the flow of things.

I couldn’t explain it or make any proper sense of it but after the introductions... I felt as if it would be rude to hide the truth or try to change the topic.

It felt as if any attempt at doing so would mean spitting at the honor of proper introductions that Selia voluntarily offered.

Or maybe, through those formal introductions, I’d unknowingly elevated our relationship to the point where it would be unbecoming of me to hide the truth?

Either way, guided by just those feelings of what was proper... I’ve revealed the truth.

"I..."

I opened my mouth, hesitated... and then the floodgates of my lips broke open, releasing an avalanche of words that quickly covered all the points of what I thought happened, from the source of my worry, fear of unknowingly hurting Selia through my recklessness, all the way to the sense of guilt of repaying all of her kindness and help with greed-born harm.

By the end of it, I felt empty.

As if all the emotions I’d bottled and pushed away were taken out of my soul and then snatched away.

Or, to be more precise, as if all of those emotions poured out as Selia’s eyebrows rose higher and higher, only to then all evaporate as her face started to melt in smiles.

"You really are... quite an amusing guy, you know?" Selia laughed out, her voice distorted by her giggle to the point I couldn’t even tell if she was calling me amazing or amusing.

And given how little that mattered right now, I opted not to worry about it.

"Don’t you worry, though," Selia’s smile grew even larger, this time retaining all the warmth and cuteness of an actual, genuine smile that was born from the soul rather than a precise control over one’s own mimicry. "If it’s something born out of our connection, I would have to allow it to happen for it... well, to happen," she giggled, as if the story of my guilt and worries were no more than an amusing misunderstanding.

"And with that said," Selia shook her head... only to get right back to her knees and pinch her skirt up a bit once again, "do you want to dive in again?" she asked while her smile took on a playfully teasing note.

For a moment, I could only stare back at her, while desperately keeping my eyes from turning towards those lovely, soft thighs of hers that made for the most divine pillow my head ever graced with its presence.

"Sure," I then admitted with a defeated voice, "can’t say I don’t."

Before long, I’d already sat down in front of the Saintess before lying down on my back and carefully placing my head down upon Selia’s lovely lap. Yet, before I could close my eyes and focus on my breathing to try to fall asleep as soon as possible...

"Wait, what do you mean, ’our connection?’"

Pretty much as soon as I said it, I felt the desire to smack myself in the face.

’Of course there’s some sort of a connection between us, stupid! How else could she be the key for me to enter that weird dream?’ I thought—

Only to watch Selia reach out and cover my eyes, but not before I glanced at how her cheeks were covered with a pinkish blush.

"One day, I might tell you," she muttered, even further proving that this bond of ours wasn’t just a slip of the tongue or mention of what we’ve already confirmed to exist... but a slip of the tongue that hinted at something I clearly wasn’t aware of.

Then, as my consciousness started to fade away...

"One day, I might tell you," Selia repeated, her voice mellowing down while her hands already moved to brush my hair and tickle my ears, "but today is not yet that day."

Selia’s voice already started to trail off, as the wave of sleepiness started to mute all the sounds I could hear, but not before I’d heard her utter just a few more words.

"Not yet. But hopefully, soon."