"Excuse me—Is Muen Campbell in this ward?"

Huh?

Diyaka followed that gentle voice with her eyes, and # Nоvеlight # discovered that not far from her, a girl had appeared at some point without her noticing—imposing and full of presence.

The girl wore a nun’s habit. Her figure was graceful, and her hands were neatly folded over her lower abdomen. Her temperament gave people a feeling like a spring breeze—at a glance, someone with excellent upbringing.

Unfortunately, her real face was veiled by a faint holy light, making it hard to see clearly.

"You are... from the Church? What are you doing here?"

"I came to find Muen Campbell."

The girl rose onto her toes and tilted her little head, trying to peer through the small viewing window on the ward door. "He should be inside, right?"

"What do you need him for?"

Diyaka shifted her step, subtly blocking the viewing window, her expression wary.

"Young Master Muen Campbell is injured right now. Outsiders aren’t allowed to disturb him."

"Ah, how rude of me."

Only then did the girl seem to realize she’d crossed a line. She dipped her head slightly, then spoke with perfect courtesy.

"Actually, I’m from the Church of Life. I came specifically to provide him with treatment."

"Treatment?"

"Yes. Muen Campbell suffered a rather serious injury, didn’t he? Only our Church’s methods can help him recover quickly. So could I trouble you to make an exception for me?"

As she spoke, the girl lifted her hand and cupped a cluster of holy light. Just from it drawing near, Diyaka felt her fatigue fade.

"Is that so...?"

Diyaka still frowned as she sized up the girl in front of her, but that pure holy light couldn’t be faked. In terms of purity, it was the highest Diyaka had ever seen—she clearly wasn’t a simple figure within the Church.

Someone like that... even if she looked like a breathtaking beauty with an astonishing figure, even if she had come visiting at night... she probably couldn’t have any evil intentions, right?

After thinking for a while, Pure-Love Warrior Diyaka stepped aside.

"Go in."

"Thank you."

The girl gave a light hop. Even though her face couldn’t be seen clearly, you could still feel an extremely cute burst of joy from her—then she eagerly moved to enter the ward.

But just as her hand was about to touch the doorknob, Diyaka’s gaze suddenly sharpened.

Wait—something’s off!

She’d ignored something!

"Stop!"

"Hm? Knight, is there a problem?"

"There’s no problem, I just almost forgot to ask."

Diyaka held out her hand. "You were sent by Her Majesty, right? Then where is Her Majesty’s written order? Let me check it."

Diyaka felt a surge of regret. She was Her Majesty’s personal guard—how could she forget something this important?

Her father had taught her: the closer you are to someone supreme like Her Majesty, the more you must follow the rules. You can’t do whatever you want. No matter who the other party is, only by doing things according to procedure can you avoid mistakes.

And she had almost let someone through without following procedure. That was far too derelict!

But thankfully, since this little girl was from the Church, she should have something like Her Majesty’s written order, right?

"..."

But the moment she heard that, the girl’s movement visibly stiffened.

Diyaka saw the holy light shrouding the girl’s face flicker a few times in flustered agitation, then she spoke in an unnatural tone.

"A... a written order? Do we need that kind of thing?"

"Of course. Her Majesty ordered me to guard this place and not let anyone enter without her permission. If you want to go in, you naturally need Her Majesty’s written order!"

"But I’m here to treat Muen Campbell!"

"Then treatment needs a written order even more!"

Diyaka raised a brow, suddenly uncertain. "No written order? Who knows what you’re really trying to do? Don’t tell me you actually want to go in and do something evil."

"..."

The girl fell silent.

Huh? That reaction?

Diyaka instantly grew even more alert.

Earlier, because the other party was from the Church, she hadn’t thought too deeply. But now, seeing how suspicious she looked, Diyaka’s thoughts immediately started branching out.

Late night.

A girl hiding her face.

Using “treatment” as an excuse to sneak into the ward.

And inside the ward was Young Master Campbell, injured right now—weak, pitiful, and helpless...

If she got in, wouldn’t she... wouldn’t she be able to do this and that to Young Master Campbell, whatever she wanted?

The “little wildcat stealing bites” that Her Majesty always mentioned—that was talking about this kind of thing, wasn’t it?!

No. I can’t let her succeed. I, a dignified Pure-Love Warrior, must stop this illegal behavior—

"Sleep."

Liya lifted a finger, then lightly tapped.

Diyaka’s eyes widened in shock. She hadn’t expected this seemingly delicate girl to suddenly launch an attack.

Worthy of being Her Majesty’s personal guard, Diyaka reacted lightning-fast—her sword was already halfway out of its sheath in an instant.

But...

With the Saintess’s status boosting her, Liya was no longer what she used to be. A casually cast Sleep spell now carried ten times the effect it once had.

So Pure-Love Warrior Diyaka—who hadn’t even had time to punish the little wildcat stealing bites—collapsed on the spot, and fell into deep sleep.

"Sorry."

Liya clasped her hands together and apologized to the respected Pure-Love Warrior Diyaka.

Then she hurriedly stuffed her into the shadow to the side, and impatiently opened the ward door she’d been eyeing for so long.

...

...

"Hm? Why are you back again? Forget something?"

Hearing the ward door open again, Muen asked without thinking.

But the one who answered him wasn’t Her Majesty’s tsundere, icy voice, but—

"Muen~"

A warm, soft, fragile body that made you afraid to use too much force—faster even than the voice—suddenly threw itself into his arms.

Muen froze, wondering if Ariel had secretly used some illusion on him back on the platform, and he was hallucinating something this wonderful.

But as he inhaled that familiar girlish fragrance at the tip of his nose, and felt that exquisite touch that nearly swallowed his arms whole, he quickly understood—

This wasn’t a fake illusion.

It was reality.

Which made it even more wonderful.

"Liya? Why are you here?"

"Mmph... am I not allowed to come?"

Liya, who had already dispersed the holy light hiding her face, burrowed around in Muen’s arms, revealing a tender little face so adorable you couldn’t help wanting to rub it hard.

She tipped up her head, puffed her cute cheeks, and dragged a finger across Muen’s chest, huffing angrily as she said,

"You’re actually asking why I’m here—so does that mean in your eyes now, there’s only that empress fiancé of yours?"

"..."

Muen’s breathing grew slightly heavier.

In that instant, facing a question that didn’t quite look like a question, a huge amount of oxygen rushed into his blood and surged into his head, making Muen’s brain run even faster than under time-slow.

So in just an instant, the outstanding instinct he’d honed through several previous hellish love battlefields swiftly found the correct answer.

"How could that be?"

Muen pulled Liya’s slim waist into his arms and gently bit her ear.

"In my heart, there’s always been a place that belongs only to my cute little Liya. It’s just that you appeared too suddenly—I was so surprised I didn’t know how to react."

"Mmph, you’re so annoying~"

Even though it sounded like the kind of thing a scumbag would say, the “pure” Liya still looked extremely happy.

She wrapped both arms around Muen’s neck, pressed her forehead to his, and whined sweetly.

"Did you miss me?"

"Of course. I even miss you in my dreams. Just now I thought you showing up was a dream—I almost pinched my own thigh."

"All you do is talk."

Liya lightly bumped him, then added, "Don’t pinch!"

"Okay, okay, I won’t."

With soft fragrance and jade in his arms, how could Muen behave?

"Then I’ll pinch yours?"

"Mmph... still so bad!"

Liya twisted a little, yet moved even closer—half refusing, half inviting—letting Muen’s shameless hands do as they pleased.

"Don’t like it?"

"I like it... I like it a lot."

"Good, then."

The softness of Liya’s body was a completely different kind of charm from Celicia’s.

Where she should be slim, you could hold it easily in one hand; where she should be full, she was overwhelmingly full.

And the way they contrasted only highlighted each other’s beauty even more.

Plus, with one dip of his head, he could see emotions nearly overflowing from those watery eyes that were cute like little white rabbits.

Unlike Celicia, whose feelings were restrained and then burst forth like spring water melting, Liya—though she was usually shy in how she carried herself—was, in private, hotter than anyone.

Like right now.

How could anyone hold back?

So Muen’s mischievous hands applied a little more force, about to go deeper.

But...

"Tch—!"

The moment he moved, Muen jolted, gritting his teeth as he clutched his chest.

"What’s wrong?"

Liya immediately asked in worry.

"It’s nothing. The wound from the match got pulled."

Muen gave a bitter smile. "It just hurts a bit. It’s not serious—you don’t need to worry."

Under normal circumstances, Muen didn’t care much about pain—he’d long since gotten used to it.

But Ariel really lived up to being the phoenix-proud heroine. Without being able to use black flame to directly “swallow the wound,” he finally realized just how troublesome the injuries from her greatsword truly were.

Worthy of being an ancient relic called “Heavenfire.” Under the boost of Divine Favor, the combination of scorching flames and sword intent tearing at him made the pain reach his soul. Even Muen couldn’t ignore it—he had to endure it with clenched teeth.

"Ariel, honestly..."

Liya puffed her lips, tenderly stroking the bandage over Muen’s chest, and complained,

"It was just a spar! Why use such a vicious move?"

"It’s fine."

In this situation, it was Muen who comforted Liya, even speaking up for Ariel.

"In that situation, neither of us could hold back. Getting hurt by her was only natural. And I hurt her too, didn’t I?"

"I know... hmph. I just feel bad for you. Mmph... I don’t know why Ariel’s resentment toward you is so... when clearly, Muen, you..."

Liya rubbed her cheek against Muen’s chest, paused, and didn’t finish the sentence, only huffing.

"Still, her not knowing is a good thing." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"..."

Muen’s mouth twitched.

Was that really something a good best friend would say?

Liya, you’ve gotten worse too.

Muen immediately smacked her pert little butt once.

"Bad woman."

"Hmph, I’m not bad! I even came here kindly to treat you!"

Liya huffed cutely again.

"Treatment... ah."

Only because he was so happy to see Liya did Muen finally remember—

The cute, clingy little girl in his arms right now was the genuine current Saintess of the Church of Life!

With the Church’s backing, when it came to healing, probably no one in this world could surpass her—you couldn’t even gather enough to fill one hand.

In this world, who could be more suitable than her to soothe his injuries in this lonely late night?

"Then... Saintess, how are you going to treat me?"

Muen blinked, asking with an innocent face.

"Hmph hmph. Of course with the scariest method. A Saintess has to punish bad people."

Liya put on an “evil” smile that still looked adorably silly.

Then she suddenly got up and, before Muen could react, launched a surprise attack—the kind Muen excelled at—and kissed him.

Both of them trembled.

With their lips meeting, aside from the electrifyingly wonderful sensation, Muen could clearly feel a warm current flowing into his body with practiced ease, rapidly healing the injuries inside him.

And Liya kept pressing closer, hugging Muen’s neck tighter and tighter. Her little tongue chased him without pause, like she meant to suffocate him by force—while those two mountains playfully crashed against Muen, then, under Liya’s intense movements, were forced from peaks into thick highlands.

Liya was unbelievably proactive and deeply affectionate. Love and desire that had piled up for months bloomed in this moment, fervent like lava freshly erupted from a volcano.

Finally, the kiss paused for a moment, and both of them panted hard.

Liya’s cute face was already flushed crimson, making her even more intoxicating.

But in this brief halftime break, she suddenly reached down with a jade hand, hooked one finger under the hem of her nun’s habit, and slowly, little by little, lifted it—then leaned close to Muen’s ear and said in a soul-stealing voice,

"Guess what I’m wearing tonight?"

"Not guessing."

The fire Muen had been stirred into could no longer be suppressed. He grabbed those mischievous long legs.

"Compared to unrealistic guessing, I prefer hands-on exploration."

"Mmm~ bad~"

Liya didn’t stop him. Her waist went soft, and she rode the momentum, half crawling onto Muen’s body.

They drew closer and closer. A sensual atmosphere filled the entire ward. Their hearts were already pressed tightly together—so the next step should naturally follow like thunder hooking fire, unstoppable.

...

But unfortunately, in this world, there were things that could freeze even thunder and fire.

For example—

"Oh? How interesting."

An extremely cold voice abruptly rang out in the room, instantly dropping the temperature below freezing. It was like someone had hit a pause button, forcibly stopping the thunder and fire right before they merged.

Celicia—who had returned at some point—looked at the scene on the bed and sneered without end.

"Me whimsically killing my way back really did let me catch one little wildcat—wearing white lace, coming in the dead of night to seduce someone else’s fiancé. Heh heh..."