“I can touch you now that we feel the same about each other, right?”
Just rubbing the tip of his nose against hers filled him with pleasure. While Harij was at the height of bliss, Rose’s eyes swam, her cheeks redder than the apples she loved.
“I-Is it possible…you love me, too, Sir Harij?”
“Huh?” he grunted, too baffled by her ridiculous utterance to temper his reaction.
Just how many times do I have to tell her for it to stick?
“B-B-Because it seems that way, with the way y-your eyes look…and hands are…”
What kind of eyes and hands does she think I suddenly have? I’ve lived to this day with the same exact eyes and hands I was born with.
Was she trying to say that, even though she finally learned his heart belonged to her, she was only now realizing what that entailed?
Harij tried to stop her lips from uttering anything more outrageous by sealing them with his own, which he’d been trailing down her face.
“N-No! Wait! Wait, wait! This should wait!” Rose pushed Harij away with her slender hands and muttered, “I can’t take any more. I’ll die.”
All the blood drained from Harij. Because he knew Rose couldn’t tell a lie.
“Why? What’s wrong? You aren’t going to suddenly tell me that it’s forbidden for a witch to kiss before marriage, right?”
“No, no, there’s no rule like that, but I-I’m at my limit…”
“And what limit is that?”
“I’m not ready!”
“Phew. That’s all it is?”
This time Rose grabbed Harij’s cheeks and nuzzled hers against his to stop him from stealing her lips.
“…Please, Sir Harij,” she begged in a teary voice. “I want to wait.”
Harij clenched his fists. No one had ever asked him to endure this much before. This was tougher than the time he nearly died on the job.
“Dammit…”
Gritting his teeth, Harij somehow managed to respond with “I understand.” Rose breathed a sigh of absolute relief. Even her sigh tantalized him, tempting him to give in and just take her lips.
“Be ready for what happens after we get married,” Harij stated firmly, having made the decision to respect her wishes over his own.
“……”
“I won’t hold back anymore after we get married.”
“……”
“Do you understand?”
“……”
“Do you understand?”
“Uh-huh.” The witch breathed that reedy acknowledgment.