In Love With the Strongest Man
Translator: Shizukuku
Editor: Evelet
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Arc 1 The Strongest Man and the Cursed Merchant
Chapter 5 Kiss
“The sun is going down. I’m going back to my dwelling. I have to start working again in the morning,” I said as I looked out the window, making Ideal’s shoulders slump.
“Yes, you do… Thanks for hanging out with me today, Shuka-san. I’ll walk you back to your place.”
“I’d honestly appreciate it if you would.”
We were in a small town in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t that large, but my body was too weak to walk long distances. If I could get a ride home on horseback, as I did when I came here, that would be great.
“Thank you for your kindness, Ideal. I will surely repay yo– ugh!”
Suddenly, the curse mark on my ankle felt like it was tearing me apart.
I cowered, unable to speak, and held my leg.
“Shuka-san?! What’s wrong, where does it hurt?”
“Uh……uuugh……”
Ideal observed me carefully as I could do nothing but moan in pain.
When he realized that my ankle was the source of the pain, he apologized, moved my hand away, and rolled up my hem.
“–What is this, this wound?” Ideal asked in a horrified voice.
Sweating greasily, I looked at it and saw that the brand that had been applied twenty years earlier was burning redder and more ominously than it had back then.
“When did you get this kind of injury? …Wait here, you need treatment.”
“Hgn… no, it’s…ah… just…” I stopped Ideal, who was about to stand up, by shaking my head.
“Did you open up an old wound?” He asked.
“I don’t know… ah! It hurts!!!”
It was an old wound, twenty years old.
It might have hurt from time to time, but never before had the pain been as intense as this.
“Ah… I thought so…”
“???”
Ideal mumbled something, but I was too distracted by my own pain to understand.
I wanted him to leave me alone because I was sure it would stop soon. Even if Ideal did do something for me, I had no way to repay him.
“Shuka-san, I’m sorry. Forgive me a little,” Ideal called out to me with a serious expression.
And then – he suddenly pressed his lips to mine.
“?!”
For a moment, I was so shocked that I even forgot the terrible pain.
So this was what it meant to go blank.
My eyes were still wide open in surprise as Ideal’s tongue slid into my mouth.
“!?!?”
I wanted to shout and ask him what he was doing, but my mouth was sealed.
Ideal’s tongue moved around in my mouth like it belonged there.
I shuddered and shrank back, helplessly accepting the soft twirl of his tongue as it found mine.
“Hmm… hmm…”
I squeezed my eyes shut and endured the tingling, tickling sensation that ran through my entire body.
“Fu…aa, ha…”
Before I knew it, the pain in my ankle no longer bothered me.
Ideal placed his hands on both of mine, and our fingers intertwined like our tongues.
–I don’t know. I don’t understand this feeling, I thought to myself, trying to make sense of what was happening.
For the twenty years before I met Ideal, whenever I was touched by another, it was always accompanied by violence.
Being touched without pain was something that existed only in my distant memories.
Our overlapping lips, our intertwined fingers, they made me feel tingly and numb.
My eyelids trembled with each naughty tickle between my fingers.
My whole body lost strength and I would have fallen, but Ideal’s arm supported my back.
How much time had passed?
The only sound in the quiet room was the rustling of clothes.
Our wet lips finally parted.
“…No more pain, Shuka-san?”
“Nn…”
While I was breathing heavily, Ideal expressed his concern for me in his usual tone of voice.
He spoke very close to my ear; his breath tickled my neck.
I couldn’t look at Ideal’s face.
So… that was just a treatment… I told myself.
My whole body was shivering and trembling, but it wasn’t from pain. It felt like there were feathers stroking the surface of my skin.
It wasn’t cold, but my body was covered in goosebumps.
My mind felt foggy, as if covered in a haze.
“Pain, no. Thank you… you can, let go of me now…”
Ideal still had his arms wrapped around my back.
I was older than him, but he was much taller than me, so it was like he was holding me in his arms.
We could even hear each other’s heartbeats.
“Ideal… let go…”
If we stayed like that, I wouldn’t be able to stop trembling, and my head would never clear.
Despite the shaky feeling, I moved my body with a shudder.
I tried to move away from him, but for some reason, Ideal’s arms tightened around me.
“…”
“Shuka-san… just a little more…”
My body jumped as he caressed my cheek.
Ideal’s fingers lifted my chin. Red eyes stared at me.
That alone sent a shiver down my spine.
“Hnn…”
Our lips overlapped again.
“Nn…aa, fuh…”
This time they quickly separated.
Then, just as quickly, he pressed them together again.
“Fu… hn…”
The angle changed, and just as I thought he was done tasting me, his tongue entered my mouth.
My thoughts were languid and it felt like I was losing my strength.
Our lips overlapped again and again.
“Can, we stop now…” I asked.
“Just a little more…” He pleaded.
“No… no more…”
“Just a little more… Forgive me? Shuka-san…”
My heart was going crazy at this point, and before I knew it I was begging with every exhale as our lips parted.
Ideal said it would only be a little more, but he kept kissing me without tiring.
* * *
“When… Did I fall asleep…”
I woke up on a fluffy bed.
The cotton-filled comforter, which I had thought I would never see again after that first night, slipped off the top of my body.
“Shuka-san, are you awake?”
“Ideal…”
At first, I stared blankly at Ideal, who had come into the bedroom at the first hint of my waking.
Gradually, however, I remembered how many times his lips had touched mine.
I had melted to the point that I lost the strength to even ask him to stop or let me go, and I just passed out.
It was only a kiss.
We did nothing else.
Pathetic…!!!
I was instantly embarrassed.
I wanted to run around screaming. However, I somehow managed to suppress the urge with the logic that Ideal would be in trouble if I displayed such eccentric behavior.
Thanks for the update!! I must say, man, this ML is too fast.
Thanks for the update