Chapter 161

‘How did it end up like this?’

At first, it seemed like we were having a pleasant conversation, but as time passed and bedtime approached, the conversation started to dwindle, and I ended up dozing off.

Maybe it was because we had spent the night chatting and playing games, but I dozed off and fell asleep, and it felt kind of strange to wake someone up and tell them to leave.

I’m not the type to say such things.

It felt weird to care too much about it…

I was getting sleepy and lazy as well, so I didn’t bother to intervene and left it to them to figure it out.

And then…

“E-Evan…?”

Evan ended up staying in the room and completely fell asleep.

The comfort of the bed was beyond imagination, to the point where I couldn’t even think about getting up and returning…!

I understood.

Honestly, here… the feeling of not wanting to get up once lying down wasn’t only felt by Evan.

Everyone felt the same.

And rather than telling everyone to leave, they just said to sleep here.

Evan, who had already been half-asleep, nodded, and in the end, he ended up sleeping here.

Furthermore, the bed was spacious enough that even with Evan lying down, there was no issue.

The problem was that Stella and Uriel seemed to purposefully spread out so that there wasn’t much space left.

“Hmm…”

Moreover, since we were lying close together, I naturally ended up next to Evan, with the two who were spreading out creating a synergy that kept me next to Evan.

Why did it have to be next to me?

Perhaps Evan didn’t plan to fall asleep here.

He looked incredibly sleepy earlier, so any place to sleep would have been fine for him, I suppose.

Since there would be a long way back and not knowing the path, he likely didn’t want to go.

He must have resolved to just sleep here.

The issue was that there wasn’t much space remaining, so I was forced to stay close to him.

“This definitely feels like it was intentional on their part…”

It was too deliberate to call it a coincidence.

Stella and Uriel had conspired to spread themselves out in a way that made it so Evan and I had to be next to each other.

‘Should I just tickle her feet?’

I felt the impulse to tickle Uriel’s feet that were stretched out toward me, but the girl acting as Aria right now wouldn’t do such a thing.

I knew that best.

So even if I wanted to, I couldn’t do it.

Even so, seeing Evan sleeping in a room full of girls felt strange.

I thought such a scene could only be seen in harem stories.

‘Well… even if I say that, it doesn’t look like that to me.’

Evan, Stella, and Uriel… they all had different forms and were clearly either beautiful or handsome, male or female, but that was where it ended.

My sense of aesthetics had vanished…

‘I miss the Trial of Wisdom…’

At that time, I could see clearly and hear well. Ultimately, it was just a matter of mindset, so it wasn’t a huge problem to go outside, but sometimes it was nostalgic.

Having impairments in sight and hearing was incredibly inconvenient.

Those who were born without them, even if they felt the absurdity, didn’t understand the sadness of not knowing how comfortable it could be when they were present.

People often say, don’t they?

The feeling of loss and sadness when someone who originally had kind parents passes away for some reason is far greater than that of an orphan who never knew their parents.

The presence or absence of a body doesn’t change that.

‘It doesn’t matter much now, but…’

In a situation like this, I sometimes missed it.

Isn’t it natural to want to capture the sight of the protagonists from my favorite game all gathered together and sleeping?

Am I the only one feeling this way?

Sigh…

Anyway.

“I should just sleep.”

It seemed like everyone besides me had fallen asleep, and it felt odd that I was the only one awake.

But…

“If I just sneak out and sleep somewhere else, it feels like I’m losing.”

Usually, I would think it was strange to do something odd and just sleep, but right now it felt a bit different.

It felt like doing nothing and just sleeping was losing.

Given the situation, I definitely wanted to tease Evan.

“Should I just sleep beside him?”

Of course, just because I was sleeping beside him didn’t mean I intended to be completely cuddled up.

I was just going to lie down next to him.

Not too close, just in the middle, or even a bit closer to Stella and Uriel. I wasn’t sure, but if Uriel squirmed too much, I might get hit and wake up, but who would worry about such things while sleeping?

‘He’ll be really surprised when he wakes up, right?’

Now that this had happened, I was going to go along with what they wanted.

Anyway, I could sleep somewhere else besides here, and I didn’t even want to move somewhere else.

Above all…

‘What if I accidentally pull Stella or Uriel into an embrace? That would be a big problem.’

It’d be one thing to hug Stella, but if I ended up hugging Uriel or at least sleeping modestly beside her, I might be treated weirdly.

Maybe that kind emperor, who was kind just yesterday, would suddenly turn into a madman aiming for Evan’s life. After all, he was a doting father, so if rumors spread that Uriel was sleeping with a strange man, that could be troublesome.

I couldn’t let that happen.

Lying down next to Evan was purely for that reason.

There were no other hidden motives.

As I lay down next to Evan, I quietly closed my eyes.

…

Surprisingly comfortable, and sleep came quickly.

…

…

‘Ah… had I fallen asleep?’

When had I fallen asleep?

Evan rubbed his eyes and slowly woke up.

But…

‘What is this…?’

He felt something in his arms.

Something warm, small, and fluffy.

‘Huh…?’

When he opened his eyes and looked down…

“Ah, Aria…?”

Right there, a familiar small, cute girl with messy blonde hair was sleeping soundly right next to him for some unknown reason.

It was Aria.

Wearing pajamas, Aria breathed regularly as she slept.

“…!!!”

To Evan, it was an incredibly stimulating sight.

He nearly screamed at the shocking surprise of Aria’s unexpected presence, but barely managed to hold it in and wondered how to escape the situation.

‘I need to get out of here…!’

He couldn’t stay here any longer.

He had to get out of this place right away.

Thinking this, Evan planned to carefully slip out of bed without waking Aria…

“Umm…”

Just as he slipped away, as if she had been waiting, she stretched out her arms like a child looking for their mother and grabbed him.

“Ugh…?!”

Suddenly, she pulled him back into her embrace.

To her, it was simply a matter of hugging because she had someone next to her, but for Evan, who was experiencing it firsthand, it was maddening.

If only they were in a romantic relationship, he would have gladly hugged her in delight.

‘I said I would confess after defeating the Demon King…!’

But if it came to light that they were lying like this, he would be too embarrassed to even face Aria.

He didn’t want that to happen.

The sensation he was feeling now.

No, this isn’t right.

No matter what, this wasn’t right.

But there was no other way.

Now that it had come to this…!

‘I’ll just pretend to sleep again…!’

If he was in a sleeping state, it might give him a bit of a reprieve.

It was pathetic thinking for a hero, but it was a very effective method.

If he could convincingly show Aria that he was asleep, she wouldn’t be able to notice a thing, so even if he got scolded, it wouldn’t be too harsh; that was a subtly calculated decision.

Just as Evan resolved to pretend to sleep and closed his eyes,

‘What the…!!’

Unfortunately, Aria was also awake.

Evan, who was startled and trying to wriggle free, found that Aria had realized she was the one holding him and continued to pretend to sleep, keeping her eyes closed.

Of course, she couldn’t help but know she was the one embracing him.

Evan was trying to escape while she was sprawled out, holding him tightly, so it would have been stranger if she had not noticed.

In the end, the bizarre confrontation in which they both tried not to reveal their awareness of each other ended when Stella, who had woken up late, playfully poked them, urging them to wake up.

Perhaps the only fortunate thing was that Stella was the only one who saw them sleeping together.

Though that hardly seemed like a helpful fact.