Chapter 6

“How did you follow me all the way back to my room?”

“I gave the inn people some money and they showed me the way,” Seirios said indifferently.

This was an inn with single rooms, the kind of cheap lodging that Lion always stayed at.

In contrast with Lion, who was sitting on a plain, wooden chair holding his head in his hands, the other man, exuding elegance, seemed to truly be enjoying himself.

“I already told you in front of the inn, didn’t I?! I will definitely not keep you as a pet nor anything of the sort! Do you even know what it means to ‘keep as a pet’?! Please, learn a bit more about humans!”

“Don’t humans often keep animals, children and women as pets?”

“That’s…”

Lion managed to piece together that when Seirios mentioned ‘children and women’ he was talking about slaves. Certainly, in some kingdoms, slavery did exist. However, seeing the way Seirios spoke, putting animals and humans onto the same level, Lion thought that it really showed the difference between demons’ and humans’ values system.

“…Why did you pick me in the first place? Saying stuff like ‘keep me’, are you planning to devour me? My magical powers aren’t especially strong, and I don’t have a sacred power either, so I’m not really something that could satisfy anyone’s stomach.”

“I don’t gain power by eating human flesh, so I wouldn’t. I really took a liking to you when we met earlier.”

“By earlier you mean…”

In the forest that was right on the Thailes country’s side of the border? Why had he taken a liking to Lion at that time?

…If it was possible to go back to that moment, Lion would run away with all his might.

“I won’t get in the way of your travels. You will keep me, and I will repay you. What do you say? It’s a good deal, right?”

“No, there’s truly nothing good about this.”

“I’ll be in your care.”

Lion’s words were completely ignored and swept aside. Somehow, it seemed that, in Seirios’ mind, he had already acquired Lion’s consent.

The man, who wouldn’t look out of place even inside a gorgeous imperial court, smiled with satisfaction in this cheap inn with only single rooms.

Afterwards, no matter what Lion said, Seirios wouldn’t leave the room, so Lion made his utmost to stay out of the man’s field of view. He still had to wash up, since he was covered in sweat and dust, so he poured some hot water into a bucket downstairs and was carrying it up.

Since there were no bathrooms attached to the rooms in such a cheap inn, he couldn’t do more than wipe himself down with a cloth.

”Are you carrying the hot water up? I’ll do it for you.”

“…”

In opposition to Lion’s desire of treating the man like he wasn’t there, Seirios easily meddled with him.The bucket was filled to the brim with hot water, and, since Lion was going up the stairs slowly, in order not to spill any of it, Seirios picked up the bucket from the side.

”

”

Even though the bucket was quite heavy, Seirios easily walked up the stairs without a worry.

Lion put the bucket into the room’s washroom area1 and then he took off his coat.

…He’s looking at me a lot…

Since there was no way to partition the washroom area off, Lion couldn’t really do anything about it. Seirios crossed his arms and intently watched Lion’s every move. Lion considered going to sleep without washing, too, but his body was sticky with sweat, making him feel uncomfortable.

He had no choice but to ignore Seirios’ existence and proceeded with washing himself indifferently.

Turning his back to him, Lion wrung the cloth he had dipped into the hot water and wiped his body. He felt refreshed and comfortable.

“What’s that scar?”

“Gah!”

The man had grabbed his left arm. Lion hadn’t felt his presence at all.

Seirios smoothly trailed his fingertips across Lion’s skin and stroked a two centimeters wide, round scar on Lion’s chest. It had healed a long time ago so it didn’t hurt, however, since the skin became inflexible, it bulged out a little. It was a scar type commonly referred to as a keloid2.

“It-it’s from when I got injured as a child! It’s all healed up, so please let go!”

Shaking off Seirios’ hand, Lion quickly dried his body and put on his clothes.

”

”

He didn’t want anyone to see that scar.

When he was eight years old, the main wife of his father had pushed him against a fire poker, which had been heated up until it was bright red, inside the Shray main residence.

Polygamy was allowed among the upper classes of the Mauser kindgom, and the head of the main branch of the ancient summoner house of Shray – Lion’s father – also had two wives.

The woman who gave birth to his older brother was the first wife, and Lion’s own mother was the second wife.

He didn’t remember anymore why he had been pushed against something like that. More precisely, his memory of what happened before and after the injury was hazy. That’s how big of a shock it had been to him as a child.

Afterwards, he lived his life without running into the first wife very often, and, five years earlier, she had died of an illness. Even though he wanted to forget, every time he caught a glimpse of the scar, he would be forced to remember.

In a bad mood due to the bitter emotions welling up inside him, Lion lied down onto the narrow bed. The bed creaked, and Seirios came to lie down beside him.

Uh… are we going to sleep together as I thought…?

There was only one bed, and since this was a cheap inn, they wouldn’t be getting an extra cot either. Also, this demon was determined not to leave the room. As such, they would end up sleeping together.

Moreover, if Lion went by his earlier experience…

An arm wrapped around his stomach smoothly. The man’s chest was glued to his back.

“Mister Sei, um, could you move back a little…? I understand that it’s a narrow bed, but there’s no need for us to be pressed together like this…”

”

”

“That’s right, I forgot to bring this up earlier. You didn’t get the wound on your arm examined by the doctor, did you? It bled a little again.”

The sleeve of the loose tunic that Lion used as his pyjamas was suddenly rolled up. He had a long, straight cut on his right arm, which he had received when he got wounded by the female demon at the lake. One section of the cut’s scab had come off, and it was bleeding slowly.

Silky black hair touched his arm.

Something red flashed in front of Lion.

That was Lion’s blood, and the man’s tongue —

was licking his wound. The fresh blood stained the man’s tongue and then disappeared inside his mouth. Lion’s wound got kissed and licked by Seirios’ tongue, as if he were trying to soothe it.

Shivers ran down Lion’s spine and his face heated up.

“Wh-what?! Whoa!”

His body jolted too violently and, with a thump, Lion fell off the bed.

“Are you alright?”

“Wh- Mister Se- what the hell are you doing?!”

“Look at your arm.”

“Uh?”

His arm? When Lion dropped his gaze, the wound that Seirios had licked was fully healed.

Even though it still stung just a few moments ago, now it didn’t hurt at all.

Seirios had healed his wound for him…?

Were demons known to heal wounds?

As if he were able to read his thoughts, Seirios chuckled.

“I can heal most wounds. I rarely do it, though.”

“Can demons even do things like these?”

“Not really? Demons with healing powers are quite rare.”

“Just who the hell are you, Mister Sei…?”

Sitting on the floor, Lion’s head slumped down. Although it was a demon who had wounded him, a demon had been the one who healed him as well. How ironic.

However, no matter the course of events, Seirios did heal his wound for him.

“Mister Sei, thank you very much.” With a strained smile, Lion thanked the man, who was sprawled on the bed. Seirios’ eyes widened slightly, and he stretched out his hand towards Lion.

He took Lion’s hand and pulled him onto the bed in one go. There was so much force behind it, that Lion ended up landing on top of the sprawled out Seirios.

A big hand was placed on the back of Lion’s head, pulling him forward.

“Nng.”

Something soft and wet touched his lips. Right in front of him were a pair of dark red eyes.

Huh? What’s going on?

Reflexively, Lion attempted to lift his head up, but the hand placed at the back of his head didn’t allow him to.

He was being kissed by Seirios!

“Mnngh!!”

While his lips were being nibbled, playfully bitten and sucked on, Lion put his hand on the man’s chest and tried to separate their bodies. However, Seirios didn’t budge an inch. The man’s eyes were crinkled up in amusement.

The moment the man’s lips slightly separated from his own, Lion yelled out.

“Stop!! What the hell are you thinking, idiot?!!”

Unexpectedly, the hand pressed to the back of Lion’s head lost its strength.

“Pfft!” From point blank range, Lion could hear the sound of a huff.

“Pfft, hahahahaha!”

“What are you laughing about?! Let me go!”

Lion jumped away from the demon, who was laughing so hard it could even be called roaring with laughter, and, in an attempt to run away immediately, Lion went for the door.

“You called me an idiot! That’s the first time someone has called me that!”

“Wh-!”

Deciding to not pay Seirios, who was still laughing, any mind, Lion tried to get out of the room. However, the door wouldn’t open.

“Wait, wait, I’m sorry. Aah, this might be the first time in my life that I’ve laughed this hard.”

“Wait, you’re the one who’s keeping this door closed, aren’t you?! Open it, please! I’ve had enough! I don’t understand what the hell demons are thinking after all! If you’re not leaving, I will!”

“Why, you ask? I kissed you because you were cute.”

“Cu..!?”

“I was right about coming here. Being together with you is comfortable. Is this what it means to have fun?”

It’s no use, I’m not getting through to him at all!

Lion glared at Seirios, who was nodding ‘yes, yes’ to himself in agreement, and gritted his teeth.

“I am not cute! Even if I were cute, that doesn’t mean you can just suddenly kiss me!”

“I can’t? Then… that’s right, let’s make it my reward for healing your wound, what do you say? It’s something my owner will give me as a reward for my labour.”

“I’m not your owner!”

“Calm down, Lion. You’ve worked hard today, so get some rest. I heard that if humans don’t sleep, they die. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything else. Come here.”

The dark red eyes fixed themselves on Lion.

Seirios’ quiet words gently seeped into Lion’s thoughts, and, slowly, his agitation subsided.

“If you really hate it, I will go sit on that chair while you sleep. I’m fine even if I don’t get any sleep at all.”

It seemed that leaving wasn’t an option. Although Seirios had assured him that he would be fine without sleeping, wasn’t it too harsh, forcing Seirios to sit on a chair while using the bed by himself?

The tall man was actually about to get off the bed.

“No… as long as you don’t do anything weird, then it’s fine…”

And so like that, Lion settled down into the same bed as Seirios. Although he was being held in Seirios’ arms, so closely pressed together that it couldn’t just be justified with how narrow the bed was, to Seirios, hugging him while sleeping probably didn’t count as ‘doing anything weird’.

Come to think of it, since this man kept doing things that lacked common sense, Lion even forgot that he had been feeling bad, remembering his past because of the scar on his chest.

A really weird demon had set his sights on him. Held by the man’s arms, Lion let out a big sigh.

Still being held, the exhausted Lion surrendered himself to the comfortable lull of sleep.

Thank you for reading!

Footnotes

As was mentioned in the previous chapter, the bathroom is the area with the bath and shower, while the washroom is a dry area with the sink. Therefore there can be a washroom but no bath to wash in. Also most likely, here the ‘washroom’ is simply a sink to the side of the room or something similar because it’s a single room inn, so I labelled it as a washroom area.

When skin is injured, fibrous tissue called scar tissue forms over the wound to repair and protect the injury. In some cases, extra scar tissue grows, forming smooth, hard growths called keloids.