I Became the Main Character’s Demon Sword

40

The child who answered bravely pushed the book into Rohan’s arms and disappeared with pattering steps. After watching the child head towards where people were gathered, Rohan belatedly looked at the book forcibly placed in his hands.

The edge of the cover was tattered, suggesting the child’s claim of reading it many times was true. The color seemed slightly faded, perhaps from handling.

Estimating the time, Rohan decided to read the book while waiting for Arpel on a bench in the garden behind the temple.

And that book caused a drastic change in Rohan’s heart.

‘…Love?’

The book was a popular novel commonly found outside. As if tailored for a child’s perspective, it was closer to a fairy tale featuring a princess and a prince.

Nevertheless, the novel dealt well with the story of love between the two characters. It used vocabulary simple enough for a child to understand, and the situations and expressions were quite intuitive. The edges of the pages were wrinkled, as if they had been wet with tears several times when reaching the scene where the two had to part.

Rohan felt confused after reading how they expressed their love. Holding hands, hugging, kissing. When he reached the last page and read the line “The two had a beautiful daughter and lived happily ever after,” Rohan’s face suddenly began to turn red.

‘Then, Arpel and I…’

The only regret was that it happened to be a fairy tale-like story made for children. Unable to think about more advanced stages, his thoughts only reached the point that the actions he shared with Arpel were identical to the love described in the fairy tale.

“Rohan. What are you doing here?”

Arpel approached Rohan, who was sitting quietly with the book tightly gripped in both hands, unable to reach any conclusions and only left with confusion. His gaze naturally followed Arpel.

Looking down from above, Arpel, who was blocking the sun, seemed to sparkle even more than usual. The sound of his heart pounding was particularly clear.

“Nothing. It’s just a nice day.”

“This is…”

“Oh, a passing child gave it to me.”

Arpel didn’t seem very interested in the book Rohan was holding. He just glanced at it once.

As they conversed, thoughts about the book were pushed to a deep corner of his mind. Quickly forgetting the brief confusion he had felt, Rohan’s mood improved at the fact that he was talking alone with Arpel under the blue sky.

Little did he know that the small doubt sparked by a single novel would eventually cause a large rift within him.

***

‘Rohan.’

Rohan thought there was something unfamiliar about Arpel approaching him. His gait as he approached without bothering to fix his disheveled clothes, and the faint smile on his face were somehow different.

His throat felt dry. Something he couldn’t define kept circling through his entire body.

But whatever the feeling, Rohan would never avoid Arpel’s hand. He closed his eyes tightly as he saw the white hand extend towards him.

As soon as the hand touched him, Arpel leaned in, putting his weight on Rohan. Unprepared for this action, Rohan’s body lost balance and swayed. In the blink of an eye, Rohan fell back onto the bed behind him and looked up at Arpel with a surprised face.

‘What are you thinking?’

He wanted to say something, but his mouth wouldn’t open.

And more than that, Rohan’s attention was drawn to something else. White skin was visible through the disheveled collar. The long fingers he had always thought were beautiful were tracing Rohan’s neckline.

Every time he took in that sight fully, every time the hand moved slowly along the line, his heartbeat grew louder. So loud that he thought his heart might jump out of his mouth.

The dark eyes with upturned corners holding a smile, the plump red lips calling to him, were etched into his pounding heart asserting its presence.

Finally, a sound escaped from Rohan’s mouth as he stared at all of this as if entranced.

‘…Arpel.’

His hand, which had been stiff all along, moved. The hand that slowly extended towards the one on top of him finally touched the fair thigh that wasn’t covered by even a thread. In an instant, the clothes they had been wearing disappeared, but at that moment, he didn’t feel any sense of discomfort.

The touch on his hand was too soft. He swallowed hard at the texture and color that seemed like it would leave a handprint if he applied force.

Rohan’s expression contorted at the feeling he had never experienced before. The inside of his stomach felt too hot. Things he couldn’t explain in words jumbled together, making his head spin.

Arpel, who had been quietly watching Rohan’s movements, moved his body. He slowly lowered his head and stopped at a distance where their lips could almost touch, and Rohan held his breath.

The black hair brushing against his cheek, the calm purple eyes meeting his with affection, were all things he cherished. It felt as if all time in the world had stopped and only the two of them remained.

‘Rohan.’

It was a distance where their breaths could mingle. At that moment when Arpel murmured his name again in that state, Rohan felt an inexplicable impulse.

He removed his hand from the thigh. With one hand, he pulled Arpel’s body closer, and with the other, he cupped the back of Arpel’s neck. Arpel willingly moved with Rohan’s force.

Naturally, their lips met. Breaths began to mingle through parted lips. Without stopping the inexplicable impulse urging his body on, Rohan explored the soft lips, albeit clumsily. Just that was enough to make fireworks explode in his head, and his body trembled with joy.

The softly pressed lips, the panting breaths scattered between the lips, the face flushed more than usual as if heat was spreading through the body.

Rohan thought all of these things were lovely.

***

His eyes flew open near dawn. After struggling to gather his thoughts that wouldn’t return for a while, and feeling the familiar presence beside him, Rohan realized that everything that had occupied his mind was just a mere dream.

His face turned bright red. The reddened eyes from the heat, the red lips wet with saliva from being pressed together many times, and the purple eyes that had looked down at him as if yearning for something, kept flickering before his eyes.

Above all, the most unbearable thing was the sensation felt below.

His mind was in chaos. Everything was so jumbled that he couldn’t even tell what he was thinking. Yet, all the scenes from the dream wouldn’t leave him.

Rohan got up and immediately left the bed.

“Rohan.”

“…Arpel?”

If it weren’t for Arpel’s voice heard as soon as he got up, he would have left the spot right away. He awkwardly turned his head towards the bed, and the eyes he met showed no sign of sleepiness.

“Where are you going at this hour?”

“To the bathroom.”

Arpel tilted his head for a moment but didn’t ask anything else. After watching him close his eyes again, Rohan hurriedly left his spot.

The traces of the unfamiliar dream weren’t completely erased. What was visible to the eye disappeared with the flowing water, but the memories and sensations remained clearly etched in his mind. Rohan stood there for several minutes with the water running, agonizing.

“Rohan. Are you sick somewhere?”

“No. I’ll be out soon.”

Even that didn’t last long. It was because Arpel, finding it strange that Rohan hadn’t returned, knocked on the door himself.

Hiding the underwear he felt he couldn’t wear to sleep again in a corner of the bathroom, Rohan opened the door. Arpel was standing right in front of him.

The purple eyes, filled with affection only for him, shone quietly in the moonlight seeping through the window. Even though it was a space with no light except for the faint moonlight, Arpel’s figure was etched so clearly in Rohan’s vision.

All the feelings he had dismissed as inexplicable until now came rushing in like a wave. His chest tightened, and his heart pounded too heavily.

“…You seem to have a fever.”

“It was a bit hot, I guess.”

“Is that so?”

Even while being swept up in the whirlwind of intense emotions, Rohan habitually leaned his head into Arpel’s hand. The fingertips that touched his cheek as if checking for fever quickly withdrew.

If only he had touched him a little longer. Rohan’s lingering gaze clung to the withdrawing fingertips.

Rohan followed Arpel’s steps towards the bed. He obediently closed his eyes at the patting on his chest, as if telling him to go to sleep.

Of course, sleep didn’t come. He was too aware of Arpel lying next to him.

The sound of the blanket rustling with slight movements, the small breaths coming from Arpel’s mouth, and the loud heartbeat matching it – nothing allowed Rohan to fall asleep easily.

After enduring the unmoving time with his eyes tightly shut, he carefully moved his eyelids. As he slightly turned his gaze, he saw that the neat black hair on the pillow was now disheveled. Wheezing breaths escaped through slightly parted lips.

His hand moved as if bewitched. Without judging right or wrong, the outstretched hand was about to approach Arpel’s lips.

“Rohan?”

Eyes that opened as if it were a lie stared at Rohan. Rohan quickly withdrew his hand and forced a smile.

“Can’t sleep?”

“…No. It’s nothing.”

Arpel looked at Rohan with puzzled eyes for a moment, but Rohan kept his mouth tightly shut. The corners of Arpel’s mouth turned up slightly due to the hint of stubbornness visible in Rohan’s tightly closed lips.

Since childhood, or rather since meeting Arpel, Rohan had always slept together with him when going to bed. It was a kind of promise that hadn’t changed even after 7 years.

Because they hadn’t changed the bed, now that Rohan had grown to a similar height as Arpel and his build had become even larger, it felt quite cramped just lying side by side. Still, Rohan had never once thought he disliked this. The time spent with Arpel was too precious to him.

“We agreed to attend the morning service, didn’t we? You should sleep soon.”

“…Yes, I will.”

But at this moment, he couldn’t say it was entirely pleasant. Every time their arms brushed against each other, Rohan had to forcibly suppress the urge to flinch.

Nothing was going as he thought. He didn’t even know what he was thinking in the first place. Rohan just closed his eyes tightly. He thought it was truly a night where everything was unclear.

Naturally, that night, Rohan ended up staying awake all night.