The process of returning to consciousness was an explosion of the senses.
First was the sense of touch.
Beneath him was the softness of the bed and the warmth of the covers, a world away from the pervasive, crushing pressure of the deep sea.
Then came hearing.
Ophelia's steady, long breaths were right beside his ear.
Following that was the sense of smell.
The elegance of lavender mixed with a richer, crisper exotic fragrance filled his nostrils.
This fragrance was the very power that had pulled him back from the abyss.
Klein snapped his eyes open.
The scene before him was still a bit blurry, his pupils unable to adjust to the room's light in an instant.
He blinked, and his vision gradually came into focus.
Ophelia was sitting by his bed, her back to the light, her silhouette outlined in a warm golden glow.
She remained in her previous posture, sitting upright and staring at him with her golden eyes without blinking. Beneath her usual composure was a flicker of concern she couldn't quite hide.
As if sensing Klein's gaze, her eyes shifted and her lips parted as if she wanted to say something.
But Klein's gaze bypassed her, locked onto the source of that exotic fragrance in the room.
On his bedside table, the special incense used to block the prying eyes of evil gods had been lit at some point.
A thin trail of blue smoke was curling up from the tip of the incense.
However, this incense, which was supposed to last an entire night, was currently being consumed at a startling speed.
What a... familiar sight.
Ophelia noticed Klein's gaze.
She followed his eyes to the segment of incense that was shortening at a visible rate.
The blue smoke rose straight up, appearing fragile and eerie under the dim yellow light.
"I lit it."
Her voice broke the dead silence of the room, her tone flat and devoid of emotion.
"You were the one who made it a habit for me to check everything before sleep."
Klein withdrew his gaze and looked at her instead.
The light softened the contours of Ophelia's usually stern face, but her golden eyes reflected the flickering candlelight and a lingering sense of gravity.
"Klein."
She paused for a moment, seemingly weighing her words, but eventually chose the most direct approach.
"Are you... being haunted by something from the sea?"
The question was abrupt, yet entirely logical.
Klein remained silent. The exhaustion and stinging pain his mental form had brought back from the nightmare were still vivid.
He eventually nodded.
There was no point in hiding it.
He even tried to force a relaxed smile to reassure her, but his facial muscles were stiff, producing only a strange expression.
"Yeah, just an unfriendly dream," he said dismissively.
However, Ophelia's expression darkened instantly.
She remembered that morning a few days ago when a sleep-deprived Klein told her he had dreamed of the deep sea.
At that time, Eric from the Silver Scale Chamber of Commerce had interrupted her questioning.
Now, connecting that dream to the frantically burning soothing incense, the answer was chillingly clear.
The sea.
It was the sea again.
The place that had haunted the first half of her life, giving her honor while also bestowing a curse.
Ophelia's brow furrowed into a tight knot. In her golden eyes, which were usually as steady as a mirror, a storm of fear, lingering dread, and a heavy sense of self-reproach surged, unlike anything Klein had ever seen.
Her gaze uncontrollably fell upon her left hand.
That hand sat quietly on her lap, but Klein could feel that beneath the fabric lurked the cold, viscous pollution of the deep sea.
"Is it because of me?"
Her voice was soft, yet it struck deep into Klein's consciousness.
It wasn't a question, but a confirmation.
It was the scent of sea monster pollution on her that had lit a lighthouse in the darkness, drawing that hidden horror of the deep sea toward Klein.
Klein did not answer immediately.
The only sound in the room was the faint crackling of the soothing incense as it burned.
Ophelia watched him, her body tense, waiting for the judgment to fall.
The usual calm in her golden eyes was completely shattered, leaving only turbulent waves.
Guilt choked her throat, making her breathing heavy and labored.
Finally, Klein moved.
He propped himself up to sit straighter, a simple movement that strained his mental fatigue and made him frown slightly.
Then, meeting Ophelia's gaze, he nodded with absolute seriousness.
"Yes."
A single word, light as a feather, yet weighing more than a thousand pounds.
Ophelia's body gave an almost imperceptible shudder.
The hands on her lap clenched instantly, her knuckles turning white from the force.
As expected.
It was her.
She was the one who had brought this curse from the deep sea into this home, bringing it to the most important person in her life.
Just as that overwhelming guilt was about to swallow her whole, Klein's voice rang out again, unhurried but carrying a strange, indisputable logic.
"It is indeed because of me."
He looked at her, his tone suddenly shifting.
"So, you have to take responsibility for me."
"...Responsibility?"
Ophelia snapped her head up, her mind momentarily blank.
As a knight, she had spent her life practicing the word 'responsibility.'
But hearing those words from Klein's mouth left her feeling more bewildered than ever before.
How was she supposed to take responsibility?
Klein saw through her thoughts.
He leaned against the headboard, his face still pale, but the corner of his mouth curled into a rogue-like arc.
He reached out his uninjured left hand toward her and beckoned with his finger.
"Come closer."
Ophelia subconsciously followed the command, leaning her body forward and moving closer.
Only then did Klein slowly announce his 'judgment.'
"First, you must do everything in your power to heal yourself. You can't let those messy things follow the scent to our door anymore."
He paused, looking at Ophelia's face which was filled with shock and confusion, before continuing.
"Second, and most importantly..."
"As compensation for mental distress, the rest of your life belongs to me."
"..."
Ophelia was completely stunned.
She stared blankly at Klein, looking at the mischievous smile on his face as her stalled brain struggled to process the information she had just received.
Responsibility...
Heal herself...
And then the rest of her life belongs to him?
What was all this...
Something so serious, something that made her so guilty she could hardly breathe, had been turned into this... near-shameless confession by him?
A wave of heat rushed from her chest to the top of her head, making her ears burn.
This guy... was absolutely teasing her!
However, the heart that had been weighed down by guilt and fear was gently lifted by a warm hand, becoming incredibly light in an instant.
The guilt that was enough to drown her was effortlessly dissolved by a few of his words.
"Klein."
Her voice was very soft, carrying a trace of trembling she hadn't even noticed herself.
"Hmm?"
Klein maintained his lazy posture, the smile on his face undiminished, thinking she was going to argue or reason with him.
In the next second, the golden figure in his pupils suddenly magnified.
A soft, warm sensation pressed against his lips, carrying a hint of the crisp honey locust scent from her body.
Time seemed to freeze for a moment.
Klein's breathing stopped as well.
When Ophelia pulled away, her movements were still as swift as a knight's ambush, crisp and decisive.
She simply looked at him silently, those golden eyes, like the calm after a storm, were brighter than the stars.
Rate on N.U.
