Altruistic Warrior - Side Story 3

From their large builds and the sword hilts at their waists, it was clear they were knights.

“I am Ralph, First Commander of the Black Knights of House Nerion.”

“……?”

“I have come to deliver an invitation to the Young Duke’s coming-of-age celebration.”

The man, who introduced himself as Ralph, extended a piece of paper toward Kellian—most likely the invitation.

Kellian’s gaze lowered to it, his expression turning cold.

From experience, I could already predict what he was about to say next.

“I refuse.”

“…The party will last for an entire week. If you have prior engagements on the first day, you may attend on another.”

“I see no reason to attend at all.”

Ralph’s expression stiffened slightly, realizing that Kellian was serious about refusing. But he didn’t give up, calmly continuing his persuasion.

“Duke Nerion holds a strong friendship with Marquess Ayle, and a formal alliance has recently been established between the two houses. The Ayle family will also be attending this event, so if you were to—”

“Ugh. Here we go again.”

The voice that cut Ralph off, dripping with exasperation, was Dyne’s. He let out a sharp sigh, eyeing the knight like he was sick of dealing with this routine.

“Why do you people always act like you don’t know Kellian cut ties with House Ayle? Everyone knows. Just accept the damn refusal already.”

Even in front of a knight sent by a high-ranking noble, Dyne didn’t hold back in the slightest.

Ralph’s jaw visibly tensed, as if he was suppressing his irritation.

His gaze flickered toward Kellian once more, but seeing that he remained utterly unmoved, he finally slid the invitation back into his coat.

“It seems I came on too short notice today. I will arrange a more formal meeting soon.”

With that, he swiftly turned away, leading his fellow knights past us before we could refuse again.

At least things hadn’t escalated into a physical confrontation this time, which was a small relief.

But hearing that they’d be back was exhausting.

From past experience, I knew that the more powerful the nobles who sought out Kellian were, the more persistent—and arrogant—they tended to be.

And now, they were connected to House Ayle as well…

The image of Kellian’s half-brother, Seika Ayle, crossed my mind.

I remembered him as someone with a bold, carefree personality.

“We’ve got a tail.”

Not long after we started walking again, Kellian spoke.

“We have a tail.”

Ah.

I could easily guess what he meant.

The knights from House Nerion hadn’t given up. As expected, they had planted someone to keep an eye on us.

It wasn’t surprising, considering they had already promised to return soon.

But what unsettled me was the faint shadow darkening Kellian’s expression.

Before I could think, I called his name.

“Kellian.”

He had lost his memories.

But maybe—just maybe—that violent urge, the one he had once wanted to erase completely, was stirring inside him again.

I felt foolish for not considering it sooner.

Worried, I instinctively reached out and cupped his cheek, brushing my thumb against his skin.

Kellian had once told me that physical contact with me helped subdue his darker impulses…

“…Ah.”

His gaze, fixed on my face, looked slightly dazed.

And that was when my rationality finally returned.

What was I doing?

That had been true of the old Kellian—the one who still remembered me.

But the man before me now only looked startled, confused by my sudden touch.

I yanked my hand away, heat rushing to my face.

“S-Sorry.”

“…It’s fine.”

The atmosphere turned noticeably awkward, but Kellian didn’t seem as tense as before.

At least that was something.

Meanwhile, I was busy scolding myself for not breaking my old habits sooner.

My gaze flickered to Dyne, who had caught the whole thing.

Expression blank, he casually gave me a thumbs-up.

…Well.

At least someone approved.

In the end, we caught the spy, issued a firm warning, and from that point on, House Nerion stopped trying to send party invitations our way.

“Let’s all meet in the plaza this afternoon!”

That had been the plan.

But when I arrived, the only one there was Kellian.

He informed me that the person who had organized the whole meeting—Jenin—suddenly had a stomachache and wouldn’t be coming.

And as for the rest of our party?

Not even a message.

“…I think we’ve been set up.”

Now that I thought about it, they had been unusually pushy about taking a break, talking excitedly about spending the afternoon together.

The realization made me chuckle in disbelief.

Yesterday, Dyne had been the one to pull me aside for a serious talk.

And now, it seemed Jenin had taken over.

She had gone out of her way to create this opportunity for me, ensuring that Kellian and I would have time alone together.

I was both touched and guilty.

“Shall we walk for a bit?” I suggested lightly.

Kellian gave a small nod.

The village was small, and the plaza wasn’t particularly large, but the scenery, surrounded by mountains, was peaceful and beautiful.

I still couldn’t bring myself to like Piluos Mountain, but at least the view was nice.

As we walked in silence, I stole a glance at Kellian’s expressionless face.

There was something I had been hesitating to ask since yesterday.

And now, I carefully brought it up.

“Kellian… have you been having those thoughts again?”

House Nerion had been dealt with for now, but I knew they wouldn’t be the last to come searching for the Hero Kellian.

And if this continued, it was only a matter of time before he started feeling those destructive urges again.

If we were still lovers, maybe I could have done something to help, like before. But that wasn’t the case anymore.

And that worried me more than anything.

“If you mean those kinds of thoughts,” Kellian murmured, frowning slightly as if trying to decipher my intent.

Even that small expression was absurdly handsome, which was just… unfair.

I quickly continued before I lost my train of thought, careful not to sound like I was prying.

“I know you take your duties as a hero seriously. And I respect that… but I also think it’d be nice if you felt comfortable around us—if you didn’t have to hold everything in when you’re with us.”

“……?”

“If you ever feel overwhelmed, I hope you’ll tell us.”

Without thinking, I added softly,

“I like you just as much when you’re not a hero, Kellian.”

The moment the words left my mouth, I froze.

Had I just… blurted that out?

Flustered, I quickly tried to cover it up.

“N-Not just me! Everyone likes you!”

Heat rushed to my face, and I instinctively picked up my pace, as if walking faster could erase my own embarrassment.

Kellian didn’t respond right away.

For a while, he simply followed behind me, lost in thought.

I could only pray that I hadn’t overstepped.

Then, just as we were passing by the fountain, he suddenly spoke.

“May I ask you a few questions?”

His voice was calm, but the way he phrased it—like he was warning me in advance—made my heart skip a beat.

Half anxious, half intrigued by the idea that he was actually curious about something regarding me, I hesitated before answering.

“…Yes?”

“What kind of relationship did we have?”

Ah…

A strange feeling washed over me as I tried to recall our past.

Explaining our love story to the very person I had shared it with felt oddly difficult.

Not knowing where to begin, I decided to start from the very beginning—our first meeting.

“Back then, I was cursed with a rare affliction…”

I hesitated as I admitted, once again, that I had deceived him in order to break the curse. My eyes flickered toward his face, searching for any sign of displeasure.

But Kellian listened without so much as a frown.

Was it because he had already heard this before?

Or because he no longer had any attachment to me—even enough to feel betrayed?

I couldn’t tell.

Encouraged by his calm reaction, I continued.

“And then your sword broke, and you… oh! And as for how we cleared that dungeon—”

So many moments came rushing back.

Two years of memories, filled with laughter, excitement, and heart-pounding emotions.

As I recounted them, my voice softened naturally, and a gentle smile tugged at my lips.

Kellian watched me, occasionally interjecting with a short question or response—little signals that he was listening.

Above us, sunlight streamed down, casting a warm glow over everything.

“Was I talking too much?”

I finally stopped, feeling a bit self-conscious.

At some point, we had circled the entire village and ended up in front of the inn where we were staying.

“No,” Kellian said immediately. Then, after a brief pause, he added quietly,

“I’d like to hear more.”

“Oh! Then how about at dinner? We can talk with the others—”

“Can’t we do it now?”

My throat was a little sore from talking so much, but if Kellian was curious, I had no reason to refuse.

Still, I figured I had talked enough for now.

If we were going to reminisce, it would be more fun to do it with Jenin, Sayris, Dyne, and Bakrud.

“I’ll check if the others are inside—”

“Aine.”

His firm voice stopped me in my tracks.

When I turned back, I was met with a steady, serious gaze.

“Just the two of us.”

“……”

“I want to spend more time with you.”

Oh…

For a moment, I simply stared at him, dumbfounded.

Then, snapping out of my daze, I hurriedly blurted out,

“Y-Yes! Me too!”

And so, we walked together once more.

One step, then another.

I could feel how he adjusted his pace to match mine.

My entire awareness was consumed by the presence of the man beside me, to the point that I barely paid attention to where I was stepping.

At some point, the space between us had narrowed.

Our arms nearly brushed against each other.

“Shall we go to a restaurant?”

I was starting to feel hungry, so we stopped by a nearby place for a meal.

The food wasn’t particularly outstanding, but simply sitting across from Kellian and sharing a meal was more than enough to make me happy.

“You must have liked the past me a lot.”

His remark was almost observational, as if he were talking about someone else.

Without hesitation, I answered, “Of course,” but somehow, it felt like that wasn’t enough.

So I added, “I still do. A lot. And I always will.”

Kellian stared at me for a moment, silent.

Ah.

Had I just made another too sudden confession?

I wasn’t sure if words like that would make him uncomfortable now. But my feelings kept slipping out before I could stop them, and it was becoming a problem.

Sensing my awkwardness, he smoothly changed the subject, shifting the conversation toward more neutral topics.

He asked about my hometown, my friendships—little things he must have been quietly curious about.

I had to dig through my memories a few times to answer.

By the time we left the restaurant, dusk had settled over the town.

The northern region was certainly colder.

A sharp breeze brushed against my skin, and I shivered involuntarily.

And then, almost in perfect sync, both Kellian and I reached into our inventories and pulled out a cloak for the other.

We froze, caught in the moment.

“…Oh. I’m fine,” I said hastily. “Aren’t you cold?”

“I’m fine as well.”

“Still, take this. You probably don’t remember, but I borrowed this cloak from you before. I made sure to wash it properly.”

I held the cloak out insistently, refusing to withdraw my hand.

After a brief hesitation, he took it with a resigned expression.

Whether he truly wasn’t cold or was just being polite, the moment he accepted it, both cloaks vanished back into his inventory.

The chill wasn’t unbearable.

Rather than borrowing his cloak again, I decided to warm up by walking a little more briskly.

But just as I picked up my pace, something unexpected stopped me.

Kellian’s soft, almost hesitant voice.

“…I think I might be a little cold.”

“…What?”

For some reason, my heart skipped a beat.

Maybe it was his overwhelmingly handsome features.

Or maybe it was the way his delicate eyes lowered ever so slightly, giving him an almost vulnerable look.

This time, instead of offering a cloak…

He wordlessly held out an empty hand.

“Holding hands should help.”

…Did he just say that?

I might have a habit of overreacting when it comes to Kellian, but even I couldn’t mistake this for anything other than pure, shameless flirtation.

He waited calmly for my response, his expression unreadable, yet completely at ease.

A small, amused smile tugged at my lips before I finally placed my hand over his.

With a soft squeeze, our fingers naturally intertwined, fitting together as if they had been waiting for this exact moment.

The warmth from his hand spread through me instantly, pushing away the cold. In fact, it worked too well—I ended up secretly fanning myself with my free hand as heat pooled in my face.

We stayed like that, hand in hand, until we reached our destination.

By the time we returned to the inn, our party had already gone to bed.

For a moment, I felt a little ridiculous. We had wandered around outside, deliberately stretching out our time alone, only to come back and find that no one was awake to notice.

Feeling oddly sheepish, I stepped into our shared room.

Kellian followed, shutting the door behind him.

“Do you want to wash up first?”

I wasn’t sure why asking that felt so awkward, but I did my best to sound casual.

“…Then I’ll go first,” he replied, accepting without hesitation.

I watched him head into the bathroom, and a fleeting thought crossed my mind—

If he still had his memories, would we have stepped into that bathroom together?

There was a strange atmosphere lingering between us tonight.

It clung to us persistently, following us all the way back to this room.

It felt… odd.

I should be happy that Kellian was showing interest in our past.

But somehow, it felt like I was on a date with a completely different person.

He was still Kellian—he had always been Kellian.

So why did it feel this way?

Was it because, throughout dinner, he had asked me about my life as if I were someone he was meeting for the first time?

“…With someone else.”

The thought slipped out in a whisper before I could stop it.

The bathroom door opened.

“Ah, Aine.”

Snapped out of my thoughts, I turned my head—

And instantly regretted it.

There, standing in the doorway, was a freshly washed, fully dressed Kellian.

My brain blanked for a second, registering only disappointment before my senses came rushing back, and I panicked.

Had I seriously just pouted because he was wearing clothes?

Horrified at myself, I bolted into the bathroom.

I took my time bathing, as if I were a knight undergoing a ritual to strengthen my discipline.

And when I emerged, I was dressed as I always was for bed—in a nightgown.

Kellian wouldn’t care either way.

And honestly, it was the most comfortable thing to sleep in.

When I stepped out, he was already seated against the headboard, a book in his hands.

I climbed onto my bed, then—on a whim—asked,

“What are you reading?”

I hadn’t expected him to answer so directly.

But he closed the book, looked right at me, and said,

“How to Suppress Desire.”

“…Des…”

For a second, I thought I had misheard him.

A man who radiated pure self-restraint, who looked as if the very concept of desire had never once touched him—

Was reading that?

Of course, before he lost his memories, Kellian had been the opposite of restrained.

But now?

Now, it was hard to imagine him being affected by such things at all.

Which meant the title probably had nothing to do with the actual contents of the book.

“…Is it interesting?”

Kellian let out a soft chuckle.

It was a breathtakingly beautiful smile—one that made my heart lurch painfully in my chest.

“It’s not interesting. And… I’m not sure if it’s even helpful.”

“Helpful for what? Suppressing desire?”

I had meant it as a joke, but the way he turned to look at me—so serious, so direct—made me freeze mid-smile.

“Yes.”

Silence fell between us.

I lowered my gaze, flustered.

My stomach tingled with a guilty awareness.

I had done that right beside him last night while he was sleeping.

And now, this was the conversation we were having.

“There’s something I’m curious about, Aine.”

Ever since losing his memories, Kellian had been full of questions.

I hesitated, then nodded slightly.

“…Yes?”

“In the past, did I ever…”

He trailed off for a moment, then asked,

“Did I ever force myself on you?”

The bluntness of his words caught me off guard.

“…Force yourself?”

“I mean, did I ever push you down?”

I blinked.

It was clear that push down didn’t mean violence in this context.

But the phrasing was vague enough that I needed to clarify.

“You mean… like, that?”

Kellian nodded without hesitation.

For a moment, my mind went blank.

How was I even supposed to answer that?

I could feel him waiting intently for my response, his book now placed on the nightstand—meaning he wasn’t going to let this slide with an awkward laugh.

I swallowed and carefully chose my words.

“Well… we were lovers, so… But no, you never forced me. Not even once.”

At least, the beginning was always mutual.

Once we started, stopping had been another matter entirely.

Kellian’s expression turned unreadable.

I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

At the same time, a new worry surfaced—had he somehow found out what I did last night?

“Why are you asking something like that, Kellian?”

I tried to keep my voice steady, but my fingers clenched tightly around the bedsheet.

His golden eyes fixed on me.

It had to be my imagination, but…

For a second, it felt like there was a strange heat in his gaze.

“When I look at you, I keep—”

He abruptly stopped.

I held my breath, waiting for him to finish.

But after a long pause, he simply said,

“…No, it’s nothing.”

Disappointed by his abrupt silence, I instinctively grabbed his collar before he could get up from the bed.

In my haste, I ended up half-kneeling on his mattress, my negligee riding up high enough to expose the smooth skin of my lower abdomen.

The moment Kellian’s gaze swept over the newly revealed skin, I felt a searing heat spread across the spot he had looked at—almost as if his eyes alone had set me on fire.

Panicked, I hurriedly tugged my negligee down.

“…And then? What happens next?”

I didn’t mean to sound so desperate, but the words came out naturally.

I couldn’t let this go—I needed to hear what he had been about to say.

Gripping his collar like a child throwing a tantrum, I ignored the embarrassment creeping up my neck.

“…I keep—”

His large hand suddenly covered mine, holding it in place.

Then, in a voice rougher than before, he finally admitted,

“…I keep getting aroused.”

His heated gaze, filled with an emotion he seemed unsure how to handle, struck me like a lightning bolt.

Kellian’s thumb absentmindedly brushed over the delicate skin of my wrist.

I wasn’t sure if he did it consciously, but before he lost his memories, that was always a signal—one I would have known exactly how to respond to.

I bit my lip, unsure of what to do with the rapid beat of my heart.

My gaze flickered downward, and—

Oh.

The front of his pants had a distinct bulge.

It wasn’t just noticeable—it was obvious.

It reminded me of that one time I had accidentally touched it and mistook it for his forearm.

“…I guess your body remembers,” I murmured, unable to come up with any other explanation.

No matter how attractive I was, there was no way a memory-less Kellian would get this worked up over me in such a short time.

The more reasonable answer was that his body, conditioned by the countless nights we had spent together, was simply reacting instinctively.

At my words, Kellian’s eyes narrowed slightly, his expression shifting.

“Are you saying,” he asked slowly, “we spent enough nights together for my body to remember?”

That was what I meant.

So I nodded.

But instead of feeling triumphant, I suddenly felt like I had just blurted out, Yes, I was an insatiable mess for you.

And the worst part?

He looked absolutely pure today—clean, composed, dressed to perfection.

Meanwhile, here I was, sitting on his bed in a flimsy nightgown, admitting to all the countless times I had craved him.

Silence stretched between us.

Kellian looked…

Conflicted.

I couldn’t quite decipher his expression, but for some reason, he looked even more bewildered than when he first lost his memories.

“…Kellian? Are you okay?”

I wondered if this was some lingering effect of the trauma from that SSS-ranked dungeon.

But before I could reach out to check, he suddenly leaned in, resting his forehead against my shoulder.

His breath was warm against my skin as he murmured,

“…I feel strange.”

“You feel strange? Kellian, do you want to take a potion?”

If something felt off, it could be an aftereffect of the dungeon.

Though… if that were the case, it was strange that the front of his pants still looked so tight.

Still, I quickly pulled a healing potion from my inventory and held it out.

“Here, drink this.”

But he simply shook his head, still resting his forehead against my shoulder.

His soft hair brushed against my skin, sending an unintentional shiver down my spine.

Then, in a quiet voice, he called my name.

“Aine.”

“…Yes?”

“Do you think doing something familiar might help me regain my memories faster?”

Familiar…?

I didn’t understand what he meant at first.

Then his fingers lightly brushed my wrist again.

This time, it was unmistakable.

He was deliberate.

“A-ah…”

Heat surged through me in an instant.

As if my body had just been waiting for an excuse to react.

Truthfully, I was the one with the bigger problem here.

Why did I keep getting aroused just from looking at him?

Unable to withstand the teasing touch, I blurted out in a rush,

“Are you saying… you mean…”

“If you’re willing.”

His voice was laced with a sigh—deep, warm, and thick with suppressed longing.

Hearing it sent a deep tremor through me.

Could his body truly remember me?

I had never imagined that the countless times we had been together might actually help bring his memories back.

It caught me off guard.

But not enough to make me hesitate.

Because I wasn’t the only one who had missed this.

And more than anything…

The idea that this could help him remember faster was more tempting than I wanted to admit.

Normally, when we reached this point—both of us burning like this—we would have already been kissing, touching, losing ourselves in each other.

But for Kellian, this was technically our first time.

Even with the obvious strain in his pants, he didn’t move first.

Didn’t touch me where we both knew he wanted to.

Instead, he simply waited.

Waited for my permission.

Even without his memories, that part of him remained exactly the same.