Chapter 14

The mobile phone placed by the pillow began to play a monotonous electronic sound.

"Hmm... Hmm?"

Half-asleep, Zenjiro extended his right hand, found the mobile phone, and turned off the morning alarm. He then brought it in front of his face to check the time.

5:30 AM

Compared to the waking time of a salaryman in modern Japan, this was quite early. However, by the standards of this world, this was considered late. In a civilization where lighting, other than natural fire, hardly existed, the hours of daylight were precious. Ordinary people generally woke up around four o'clock, just after sunrise, and it was considered quite a luxury to sleep until this hour.

However, in Zenjiro's case, there was no need to set an alarm to wake up at this hour. Zenjiro had an LED stand light to illuminate the night, and he had no urgent work to do during the day.

The reason Zenjiro, who had been using the alarm function of his mobile phone since his salaryman days, deliberately woke up early was for one thing only.

To avoid missing his wife, Aura, who had successfully spent their first night together. It was a bit lonely to wake up and find that his wife had already gone to work.

After putting the mobile phone back in its original place, Zenjiro turned his body to the left while lying on the bed. There, he saw Aura, who was sleeping soundly with an unguarded expression, snoring softly.

After their intimate encounter last night, they had only wiped their bodies with a damp towel and then gone to sleep, so both Zenjiro and Aura were completely naked. They were covered with a thin blanket, but the night in the Kingdom of Carpva was so humid that even the thin blanket felt bothersome.

"......"

Almost unconsciously, Zenjiro reached out his hand to his wife's back.

While lying on his side, Zenjiro wrapped his right arm around Aura's back and gently patted her back with his palm.

The sound of Aura's breathing on his chest and the feel of her skin under his palm reminded Zenjiro of their intimate encounter last night.

"Aura..."

He had indeed spent the night with this woman. The realization rapidly deepened his affection for Aura. Zenjiro pulled her close, so that her naked breasts pressed against his chest, and he caressed her back and red hair lovingly, over and over again.

Such actions inevitably woke Aura up.

"Hmm... Ah...? Zenjiro, is it?"

Aura, now awake, leaned into Zenjiro's embrace, pressed her naked body against his, and rubbed her face against his neck like a cat, purring.

(Ah, this feels more like taming a large carnivorous feline, like a lioness or a tigress, rather than a cat.)

Narrowing his eyes at the ticklish and pleasant sensation on his neck, Zenjiro thought to himself and tightened his embrace on Aura.

While women are often compared to cats, Aura's presence was far from that of a cute creature. Even the comparison to a female leopard fell short. She exuded the aura of a queen, a ruler at the top of the food chain.

For a while, the two of them lay naked, feeling each other's body heat. Then, Aura slipped out of Zenjiro's arms and got out of bed.

She exposed her alluring naked body, which was full in the right places and firm where it should be, and dipped a towel into the bucket of water by the bed to wipe her body.

"Phew..."

Although they had wiped their bodies after their intimate encounter before going to sleep, the tropical night made them sweat profusely.

"Ah, when you're done, can you lend it to me? I want to wipe my body too."

Compared to Aura, Zenjiro was much paler. He got out of bed naked and approached his wife, who was wiping her body.

"Sure, of course. If you like, I can help you wipe your body, my lord."

Tempted by the playful smile of his new wife, Zenjiro almost gave in but shook his head.

"That sounds incredibly tempting, but it's so tempting that I might not be able to stop halfway. If you're willing to stay with me until the end this morning, I'd jump at the chance."

"That's a shame. Unfortunately, I have a lot of work to do and don't have the time. I'm sorry, but please wait until tonight."

After quickly wiping her body, Aura wrung out the towel and threw it to Zenjiro.

"Got it, I'm really looking forward to it. By the way, what's the plan for today? Meals and all?"

While wiping his body with the wrung-out towel, Zenjiro asked Aura, who was getting dressed.

Aura replied, "I don't think I'll have the time to visit the harem for breakfast or lunch. I might be able to come for dinner. If you want to have dinner together, you could come to the palace, and it would be possible."

She looked at Zenjiro with a slightly probing gaze.

(Eating at the palace, there's a good chance I'll run into other nobles. If I say something that could be interpreted as criticism of Aura, it could backfire on her.)

Although it was easy to forget due to her confident demeanor, in this male-dominated society, Aura's power as queen was not absolute. If Zenjiro, her husband, said something that could be perceived as dissatisfaction or criticism, it could cause significant damage to Aura.

(I might be overthinking it, but better safe than sorry.)

"No, it's a hassle to go all the way to the palace, so I'll just hang around here. But, I should learn the basics of this country's customs and manners soon. I might have to go out eventually."

This was Zenjiro's declaration that he would avoid actions that could undermine Aura as much as possible. Aura, who accurately read Zenjiro's intentions, smiled lovingly and replied,

"I see. Then I'll make sure to finish my duties by dinner. It might be lonely for you until then, but please bear with it. As for the customs and manners, I'd like to teach you myself, but I don't have the time... I'll find someone suitable to teach you."

She agreed lightly.

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

"Don't worry about it. It's more of an inconvenience for me."

Eventually, Zenjiro and Aura, who had finished dressing, moved closer to each other.

"I'm off."

"See you later."

Zenjiro, thinking that the roles were reversed, lightly kissed Aura and sent her off with a smile as she headed to her duties as queen.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

"Well, what should I do today?"

After seeing Aura off to work, Zenjiro, dressed in a T-shirt, boxers, and a loose white pair of pants that seemed to be the local attire, lay on the sofa in the living room, relaxing.

Until yesterday, he had been busy with the installation of the generator and wedding preparations. His real "lazy, do-nothing life" was starting from this moment.

He might eventually get bored, but for now, he had plenty to do.

The DVDs he had collected but never watched during his salaryman days, the game software he had bought but never opened, the songs by his favorite bands and singers from his college days, which he had continued to buy out of habit through online downloads but only listened to during his commute.

"Maybe I'll start with the TV shows I've been collecting. But if I start now, it'll be time for breakfast soon."

A maid assigned to the harem was supposed to call him for breakfast. Although Zenjiro, as the master of the harem, could technically adjust his meal times as he pleased, it wasn't something he could easily do.

After all, this world had no microwave, gas stove, or running water. Moving the meal time earlier meant the servants had to fetch water in a shorter time, and moving it later meant they had to prepare the meal again.

It wasn't as simple as keeping the food warm in a microwave like in modern Japan.

"Still, I'm just a groom. It's too risky to upset the servants. Hmm, how much of the food I brought is left?"

Feeling a bit hungry, Zenjiro opened the refrigerator to check. Inside, along with the local fruits and alcohol, were the food and drinks he had brought from Japan.

Mostly, the food he had brought was chocolate, dry bread, and biscuits he had packed in his backpack, and some xylitol gum he had been using since his student days.

"The chocolate is a bit too precious. From what I heard from Aura, they don't even know what cocoa is. The chances of getting it here are almost zero. Fortunately, they have plenty of sugar, but it's quite crude, like black sugar."

It was probably just the juice of sugarcane or a similar plant, squeezed and dried. The sugar in this world had a unique flavor compared to the refined sugar in Japan.

He had downloaded cake, cookie, and pudding recipes with photos from the internet to his laptop, but he was skeptical about whether he could make anything decent with the sugar and flour available here.

Moreover, he hadn't brought a hand mixer or a microwave, so making pastries as easily as in modern Japan was out of the question.

Zenjiro had tried to bring as many necessary items as possible during the one-month preparation period, but now that he had started his life in this world, he was regretting not bringing many things.

The most significant of these was "window glass."

Zenjiro, who had opened the wooden shutters, looked at the window where the outside air blew in and the air conditioner and its installation kit, and sighed.

"Perfect, I completely overlooked that. In Japan, it's taken for granted that buildings are enclosed spaces, so I never even thought about it..."

Even if he installed the air conditioner in this room without window glass, he wouldn't be able to maintain a comfortable room temperature. With the windows wide open, the air conditioner's effectiveness would be almost nonexistent.

On the other hand, living with the shutters closed all day and using the LED stand light was a bit too unhealthy.

"Well, the chances of successfully installing the air conditioner are much lower, so I might as well give up on it from the start."

At least until he could find something to replace the window glass, something that could block the heat while letting light through, he had no intention of focusing on installing the air conditioner.

"Ah..."

Sighing, Zenjiro decided to stop thinking about the air conditioner and window glass for the time being. Fortunately, he had discovered that placing a block of ice in front of a fan could create a surprisingly cool environment.

"Well, it's no use thinking about all the negative things. If it's inconvenient, I'll just have to find a way to enjoy it."

With that, Zenjiro opened the storage bag full of DVDs and started looking for what to watch today.

"Hmm, where did I leave off with that show? The solar car was on the island with the bull sumo, right? The third episode of the '100 Criminals Tag Game' was the last one I watched?"

Zenjiro prepared the DVDs he wanted to watch first so that he could start his viewing session as soon as he finished breakfast.