When Marcus opened his eyes, something struck him.

  Damn…my eyes have never been this light.

  Almost always, whenever Marcus woke up, and in his daily life, there was this certain ‘heaviness’ that persisted in his eyes and mind. It was subtle, almost negligible whenever Marcus wanted to focus on whichever task at hand was in front of him, but it was always there, like a chain dragging his mind down.

  Now that it was gone, it felt strange. He felt awake in a way that he had almost forgotten. It must have been the passage of time. This kind of wakefulness was something that he must have only felt back before his adventurer days, when he was still truly a child who didn’t have to worry about anything.

  I slept…

  He looked at the clock.

  For a full nine hours.

  “Ah, so that’s why.”

  Marcus laughed. Strange indeed. Ever since he closed his eyes, he didn’t once wake up in the night, when he’d have to take half an hour or so just trying to sleep. Back in the battlefield, he’d always slept like a log whenever there was a chance to do so, but because his life was always in danger, he barely slept there.

  Here, in this more peaceful world, the problem Marcus dealt with when trying to sleep was that his mind always refused it. His dreams had always been ‘bad,’ so to speak, so he would always randomly wake up in the middle of the night, reducing his sleep time, or he’d have trouble actually falling asleep. Then, he would always wake up early in the morning for no reason, simply because his mind demanded to get back to work.

  This time, he didn’t even yawn anymore. His mind and body was so refreshed. From Stella’s lap to morning, he slept fully—

  Wait.

  Marcus turned red.

  Shit.

  He sat upright, troubled. Then, he facepalmed. He truly did that now, didn’t he? He just accepted lying down to that elf’s lap, and then he spoke about his most kept secrets to her. Then he had the gall to cry himself to sleep in the lap of said girl. The shame and dishonor he felt was immeasurable.

  Worst of all, he couldn’t deny that it worked. It felt good and comforting, and it eased his heart. At this point, even Marcus couldn’t keep running from it. While he wouldn’t make a big fuss about it, he knew that…

  I like her, don’t I?

  He laughed at himself as he steadied himself on the bed. To be honest, he knew this somewhat deep down; he just refused to acknowledge it, because acknowledging it meant confronting it. Confronting his inner self was always something Marcus hated to do, because he would have to look at himself in the mirror.

  He preferred confronting his external enemies instead, because he could just kill them if they ticked him off. If he looked at himself and saw how ugly he was, he couldn’t exactly just stab himself and get XP points, now, could he?

  What a joke.

  Marcus, Marcus, what’s up with you? She’s an elven princess; even if things work out, did you forget about the fact that you’ll die early and leave her alone for who knows how long? And how disgusting—you think you can now start having feelings for her just because you saved her?

  When he started working with her, Marcus wanted to just use her. He wanted to turn her into a proper [Saint] who wouldn’t fall to her death in the hands of the Holy Church or the Death God Cult. Why? Because he would finally be able to pass the job of keeping the demon horde off the mortal realm to someone else.

  Then, he would be free. The job would be done. He could do whatever he so wanted, maybe start a farm or a business, or drink himself to death in a nice city with the money he made from killing those stupid cultists. All while Stella did the actual work of keeping the world safe, her powers as [Saint] ensuring that nothing would go wrong.

  Instead, in the process, he grew closer to her, and he imagined Stella was the same. After all, would she do that for him if she didn’t at least find him tolerable? Inadvertently, Marcus now deviated fully from his intended task when he returned to this world. Now, he was attached to someone from this world.

  He placed a hand on his heart. It was beating a bit too fast for his liking. Even if his face was impassive and neutral as always, inside, he was starting to be a bit of a mess. It was unbecoming of a proper officer who should be able to do anything. He wanted to be back in tiptop shape, controlled and steady.

  Partially, it was also because he wanted to keep looking fine and cool to Stella, because his intrusive greedy thoughts about making her also like him were starting to bleed through now that he stupidly let the floodgates open.

  “Whatever.” Marcus smiled. “This is just how humans work anyway; what do I even expect? And I’m a guy. Of course I’ll fall for this trap. She’s stupid pretty.”

  He laughed at himself.

  “Don’t worry about it too much. Just try making things not weird. As long as you can still focus on hunting down the bastards, this ain’t a bad thing.”

  While Marcus was someone who loved running away from his inner self, he’d learned long ago that when shit happened, one would always have to take things at face value and adapt to it. You could deny that demons were stronger than humans and stupidly march to war with optimism, but once shit hits the fan and you see an entire battalion wiped out by a dozen demons, you better adapt your mindset in lieu of that.

  Whenever undeniable bullshit happened in front of Marcus, he would usually accept and adapt to it when there was no place to retreat to. Discovering that he could actually feel romance and that he liked Stella was one such bullshit. It was better to just roll along with it and control it than bury and deny it now that it was in front of him.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Today was going to be another big day, Marcus thought. While meeting the king yesterday was already a done affair, now came the harder part. He would have to monitor things around the palace, assess the danger, and work to prevent any headaches from arising. After all, the woman he liked just got back home.

  “I can hardly let her get bothered by these fools after all.” Marcus stood up, grinning to himself as he went for the wardrobe on the side, where he offloaded the bags of holding where his clothes were last night. “Right, let’s get back to work then. No time to waste.”

  He better prove himself worthy of an elven princess if he wanted to act on these feelings.

  [Mass Surveillance].

  “I have longed for something as fine as this for so long…” Stella melted in her seat as she calmly sipped her tea. “As much as I love travelling with Sir Marcus, I very much prefer the food and drinks here.”

  “Of course you do.” The maid behind Stella’s seat, Phoebe, smiled. “Marie made that; you just love her brewing skills, I suppose.”

  “Mhm. I missed it indeed. Ah, to have a morning this nice, it’s been a while.”

  “I’m really glad that you’re here now.”

  Marcus, who was outside of Stella’s ‘study room,’ which was at the end of her chamber, peered cautiously as he listened to the two women’s voices. They seemed to have been inside for a while now, as there were so many papers strewn on Stella’s table, which she must have been working on.

  The princess placed her teacup and saucer down, while Marcus steeled himself to enter. Right then, something suddenly landed on his head.

  “What a naughty boy. Really, seriously? Is this how you treat ladies? Staring at them when they can’t see you?”

  “Siris?”

  Marcus looked up as the small, white, and red-eyed kitsune flew upward, a smug smile on the creature’s face. He groaned. So he was being watched. At the very least, Stella and Phoebe didn’t seem to notice yet, so consumed were they in their conversation. Though, he wondered if Siris was actively reporting right now to Stella, and she just didn’t mind him.

  Does that mean she heard my monologue earlier? Did she tell Stella about that too? Damn it, it’s so over.

  Being caught red-handed like this bothered him, so he checked his [Mass Surveillance] skill again, wondering how the creature somehow evaded his detection all this time. Or was she just omniscient in Stella’s chamber altogether? The frown on Marcus’s face as he turned [Mass Surveillance] on and off seemed to amuse the great spirit, who chuckled at Marcus’s confusion.

  “Say, are you perhaps using that skill of yours to also listen to the girls in this palace? My, my, how scandalous.”

  “So you can detect that?” Marcus frowned at the great spirit. “Great to know.”

  “I only know it here. Stella’s chamber is my mini domain. As a kitsune, my strength and magic are limited the further I am from the Heavenly Empire. But, here, it’s as if I am at home. Wonderful, isn’t it?”

  “How does that work?”

  “Hmm…lets see, do you have two weeks to understand the fundamentals—?”

  “Forget about it.” Marcus turned his head and walked inside Stella’s study room. “I have someone more important to spend time with.”

  “You insolent fool! You need my approval too before trying to get close to her!”

  Marcus ignored the great spirit’s prattling as he walked inside Stella’s study room. Immediately, the two women inside noticed her. Stella immediately perked up, a bright smile growing on her face as she looked up at him.

  “Marcus? My, you look like you’ve had a good sleep for once.”

  “I did. Good morning.”

  Meanwhile, Phoebe regarded him with mild disinterest, which was quite usual in the maid’s face, as Marcus learned earlier.

  “Marcus, I believe that this will interest you,” Phoebe said as her hand gestured in Stella’s direction. “It seems that you’ve greatly charmed the princess, as she has been waiting for you since morning in a quite impatient manner.”

  “P-Phoebe? Why must you stab me in the back like this?!”

  Stella’s earlier pleasant face turned into a horrified one as she stood up, planting her gloved hands on her table. She pouted at her maid. “Don’t lie. I absolutely did not do that. Tell him, Phoebe. Please!”

  She’s such a bad liar. And Phoebe here is quite the devil for exposing her. Damn, what did I even walk into? Geez.

  Marcus tried to look around the room, at least to appear that he didn’t care about what Stella did. He didn’t want to embarrass her after all, even if the maid Phoebe would find tormenting her master by exposing him to Marcus amusing. So, he decided to swiftly change subjects by going for one of the chairs.

  “By the way, what’s our plan?” Marcus asked as he sat on the chair. “As much as I told you that I’ll escort you to reunite with your family, staying here is not exactly in my mind.”

  Stella stopped her panicked pleas for Phoebe to retract her words, and she looked at Marcus, calmed down for a bit, before returning to her seat.

  “Sorry. I’m just reorganizing things here. I’ve left so much personal work undone for months now, after all. If you can give me a few days to get things in order, I will greatly appreciate it?”

  “Personal work?” Marcus raised an eyebrow.

  Siris smiled proudly. Meanwhile, Phoebe sighed. “I can’t believe she’s never told you this. Lady Stella over here long lived true to her title as [Saint], even before she was chosen for it.”

  Stella’s eyes turned blank, as if she was embarrassed that it was Phoebe exposing her again.

  “She runs three charities in the kingdom, all with her personal money, which she earns from the Holy Church and from the donations she receives from many suitors and nobles worshipping her. Her disappearance meant that the money for those organizations ran dry, and now she’s in a mess.”

  “I…” Stella hung her head low. “I-it’s temporary. I’ll get it in order. I just need time, okay?”

  Marcus laughed.

  “Why do you look so embarrassed about it?” Marcus asked. “I mean, it’s admirable. Quite frankly, this is something to boast about.”

  “It is something to boast about, but she most likely wanted to impress you by having functioning charity works, which, at the moment, do not exist,” Phoebe dropped. “She must have been planning to reveal it to you later when things are working properly.”

  “P-Phoebe…” For the first time, Stella’s face turned psychotic as she looked at her maid, her tone singsong and fakely sweet. “You’ve been having so much fun since I’ve returned here, huh? So much fun, in fact, it makes me want to join in.”

  “Everyone, I still have work to do.” Phoebe quickly bowed at Marcus, Stella, and Siris before rushing out of the door. “Have a good morning, and please call me or Marie if you need anything else. Bye!”

  And she walked out, almost as fast as light away from the scene. Marcus looked up at Siris, bewildered. Quite frankly, there was very little master-servant relationship between Stella and Phoebe there. It was like two close friends poking fun at each other instead.

  “She sure is brave, huh?” Marcus asked.

  “Everyone who works with Stella usually gets that comfortable with her.”

  “I understand.”

  “She’s so mean, so mean…” Stella was looking at the ceiling in a defeated manner. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Hey, do you need help then?” Marcus asked, smiling. “About that charity thing? I mean, if we’re staying here to get that in order, I can hardly stand around doing nothing.”