Chapter 7

I changed into my pajamas and climbed under the warm, cozy blankets.

Hero Richt, who had barely slept properly for the past few days because he’d stayed by my side, should finally be able to rest comfortably tonight.

Actually, he had his own room in the imperial palace.

But he said he didn’t feel comfortable being far away from me while I was asleep and defenseless.

Considering that our lives were connected, I could understand his feelings.

So we’d decided to use the room right next to mine.

That way, he could come immediately if anything happened.

I gave a small yawn and closed my eyes.

I enjoyed the fresh, sun-dried scent coming from the fluffy blankets.

I swam through dreams for several hours before waking up with a strange, restless feeling in my heart.

“Yaaawn… What is this?”

The back of my neck felt strangely tense, and I had the feeling that I’d made some huge mistake.

For some reason, I felt like I needed to see the Hero immediately, so I rushed into the room next door.

I opened the large door and stepped inside.

What I saw was Richt collapsed on the floor, writhing in agony.

“Ah! Hero!”

What happened?!

Poison? A curse?

Whatever it was, I had to do something immediately.

I instinctively tried to draw upon my holy power.

But the power inside my body remained completely still.

Oh, right.

The bracelet Celestia had filled with holy power!

I hurriedly tried to remove the bracelet from my wrist, but Richt, who had barely managed to raise his upper body, grabbed my hand.

“Don’t use it, Flur!”

I froze in shock.

Breathing heavily, he pulled me tightly into his arms.

“Holy power… Don’t. I’m fine, so…”

I focused intently and checked the condition of Richt’s body where we were touching.

He was definitely getting better, just as he’d said.

His breathing had already returned to normal.

When I remained still, he let out a relieved sigh and released me.

But wait.

Looking closely, I realized that this Hero had just come out of the bath.

He was wearing nothing but a single towel wrapped around his waist!

I figured I should at least get some clothes on him, so I looked around the room.

Oh, there’s a robe in that basket.

I stretched my arm as far as I could and managed to reach it.

I quickly grabbed it and draped it over his shoulders.

The Hero said he could stand on his own, but I was worried, so I supported him and helped him to the bed.

I also made sure he properly put on the robe so that neither of us would end up in an embarrassing situation.

“Judging from what happened, you collapsed immediately after getting out of the bath. Is that right?”

“Yes. It felt like my soul was being squeezed.”

I looked at the clock hanging on the wall.

It was already past midnight.

The time was 12:30 a.m.

The Hero, who had been suffering in agony, had recovered simply from touching me, even though I hadn’t used any holy power.

“I’ll move away a little.”

He understood what I was trying to do and nodded.

I carefully separated our bodies and moved to the side.

Immediately, the Hero’s brow furrowed.

Apparently unable to endure it, he instinctively reached out and grabbed my hand.

He was in pain when he was separated from his master, but perfectly fine while touching me.

This was obviously a side effect of the Subordination Contract!

Sob!

This was exactly why there’s a reason you’re told not to do something.

The Hero, who had enjoyed all the benefits of the forbidden Subordination Contract until now, had finally reached the point where he had to endure its painful drawbacks.

Looks like I wasn’t getting any peaceful sleep tonight.

I stood up to close the wide-open door.

Of course, I kept holding Richt’s hand the entire time.

“This is an emergency, Hero. At least we’re lucky that this happened at a time when there aren’t any maids or servants around. We need to figure out the restriction before morning.”

We put our heads together and began analyzing the situation carefully.

After combining several clues, we quickly reached a conclusion.

“It seems that, over the course of one day—that is, twenty-four hours—the subordinate has to remain in contact with the master for a certain amount of time.”

“The problem is that we still don’t know exactly how long we have to stay together.”

Yesterday, Richt and I had been separated for quite a long time because he’d gone to deal with the paperwork following the Demon King subjugation.

That’s probably why this happened today.

Considering that the side effect didn’t appear even when only our fingertips were touching, it seemed that the duration of contact mattered more than the amount of physical contact.

Every ten minutes, we held hands and then separated to test the theory.

After an hour and a half, Richt nodded.

“I’m not in pain anymore.”

“Does that mean we absolutely have to stay in contact for at least an hour and a half every day?”

“No. It should be longer. What we’ve filled just now is probably making up for the time we missed yesterday.”

“It’s forbidden magic, but since it’s technically called a contract… Ah! I think I understand how it works.”

I suddenly realized it.

“It’s similar to an employment contract.”

“Yes. The subordinate seems to be required to serve the master for a certain amount of time every day, and if he fails to do so, he’s punished. Any working hours he fails to complete have to be made up the next day.”

Richt took a blank sheet of paper and wrote down his schedule from yesterday morning until night.

Normally, whenever the two of us traveled together, we were almost always touching.

He would hold my hand as an escort or lightly link arms with me.

But outside of those times, we had spent very little time in contact.

The maids had done everything for me, including bathing, changing clothes, and brushing my hair.

“It seems we need about four hours of contact.”

“Four hours?!”

“When we were having the meeting with His Majesty and Her Holiness, we were sitting next to each other on the sofa.”

Adding up the time we’d spent talking, walking around the imperial palace, and various other moments, we’d apparently been together for about two and a half hours.

Two and a half hours yesterday plus one and a half hours today made four hours.

“Hero, this isn’t going to be easy.”

I sighed.

“Unless we stay in the same room all day, it’ll be difficult to meet the requirement.”

“We absolutely have to complete the four hours before midnight.”

It would probably take quite some time for the temple to finish preparing the ritual to terminate the contract.

At the very least, they had to discreetly clear the schedule of either the Pope or a High Priest.

Until then, the Hero and I had to somehow manage to endure the Subordination Contract without letting anyone discover the truth.

No matter how much I racked my brain, there was only one solution I could think of right now.

“We can’t help it. Hero, let’s sleep together at night.”

“You mean share the same bed?”

“Yes.”

Even saying it was embarrassing for me, but it was better than watching the Hero writhe around on the floor in pain!

The Hero’s body was already several times stronger than that of an ordinary person.

And after fighting the Demon King, he had become accustomed to severe injuries and pain.

Ultimately, his tolerance for pain had increased as well.

Richt in particular had strengthened his entire body through the Subordination Contract, giving him an even tougher physique than the Heroes of previous generations.

And yet, even he had collapsed without being able to call anyone for help.

“The pain is caused by forbidden magic, so medicine probably won’t work. I’m not even sure whether holy power would help.”

“For now, I think this is the most efficient solution. It will also be easier to avoid other people’s eyes.”

After hearing what I said, the Hero hesitated for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.

He must have realized that there really wasn’t a better solution.

When I asked him how the imperial palace maids handled their duties, he immediately answered.

“Imperial palace maids normally work from seven in the morning until nine at night. Three of them take turns eating and resting while serving the imperial family and distinguished guests.”

Apparently, there were also two reserve maids who could immediately be sent in as replacements in case of an emergency.

“I want to sleep a little longer in the morning, so I’ll ask them to come at eight. And we’ll have them leave a little earlier too.”

“Yes. The maids won’t find thirty minutes unusual.”

We would also need to report this situation to His Majesty the Emperor and ask for his help.

We decided to contact him as soon as morning came.

“Princess, I think you should go to sleep now.”

“What should we do tonight? If we don’t complete the required time, the same thing will happen again the moment midnight arrives.”

“I’ll hold your hand until then and move back to my room before the maids arrive.”

That would mean he’d be going three days without getting proper sleep.

Even a Hero with an incredibly strong constitution would have his lifespan shortened if he kept pushing himself like this.

Neither of us was so dull that we wouldn’t hear an alarm.

So we decided to set one and go to sleep.

Actually, ever since I was chosen as the Princess of Total Victory, I’d rarely slept alone.

I was an important person who absolutely couldn’t afford to die, so I always shared a barracks with female knights who also served as my guards.

I’d even spent more than half a year sharing a barracks with Hero Dietrich.

It was safer to have the Hero and the Princess of Total Victory share one barracks because it allowed us to arrange our guards more tightly than if we used two separate barracks.

During the winter, I didn’t want to freeze to death, so I would put on every piece of clothing I had and sleep as close to the others as possible.

The reason was different this time, but it looked like I would be sharing a blanket with the Hero again for a while.

I returned to my room and lay down on the bed.

Then I patted the empty space beside me.

“Come on, Hero. Let’s go to sleep.”

After hesitating for a moment, Richt slowly moved.

He lay down with a small sigh and took my hand.

“It’s one in the morning now, so let’s set the alarm for five. We should both get some rest.”

At my words, the Hero obediently closed his eyes.

I counted silently to one hundred, a little faster than usual, then cautiously opened my eyes.

Just as I expected, he was already sleeping peacefully.

He’d been suffering from extreme pain while already sleep-deprived, so the fatigue accumulated in his body must have been tremendous.

Besides, if he could feel me within reach, he wouldn’t have to stay on high alert, so I figured he’d fall asleep quickly.

I needed to get at least a little sleep myself if I wanted to stay conscious during the day.

I relaxed and tried to clear my mind of all the thoughts swirling around in my head.

Then suddenly, an arm wrapped around my waist, and my entire body was pulled around.

“Huh?”

Richt had pulled me into his arms while still half-asleep.

Was he dreaming about fighting the Demon King?

His arms were so strong that there was no sign he would let go.

I gently patted his back to soothe him.

Perhaps he finally felt reassured, because his body gradually relaxed.

Sigh.

Whether it was the Hero from five hundred years ago or the Hero from this era…

Their appearances, ages, and social status were completely different, but perhaps because they shared the same soul?

They were equally troublesome.

This Princess doesn’t get to rest at all!