Free Web NovelChapter 38: Tacit Understanding
Lamps were dimmed.
The hall was quiet.
The telegraph machines clicked less intensely.
In a corner, Vincent was lying on a bedroll, eyes closed and hands folded.
He wasn’t asleep yet.
The afternoon nap made it impossible to sleep immediately.
’One sheep. Two sheep. Three sheep...’
Vincent tried different ways to fall asleep.
On his left side, Anastasia lay facing away, fast asleep. freёweɓnovel.com
On his right, Leona faced away as well, but wasn’t asleep.
Her eyes were closed but her brows were slightly furrowed.
’Not comfortable...’
Leona shifted on her bedroll.
It wasn’t the floor.
She had slept on harder surfaces before.
Her eyes opened slightly.
Vincent’s back faced her.
For a few moments, she simply watched him breathe.
Three days ago, she wouldn’t have imagined sleeping in the same hall as him.
Three days ago, she wouldn’t have imagined discussing strategies with him until sunset either.
Leona fell into deep thought.
Vincent trusted her.
He listened.
He relied on her.
Without realizing it...
She had begun relying on him as well.
Although this was a fact she wouldn’t confirm if he asked.
Leona quietly looked at the narrow gap between their bedrolls.
’We are engaged.’
Sooner or later, they would be married and share the same room.
The same bed.
Sleeping beside him now... didn’t feel particularly strange either.
Besides...
She had slept surprisingly well the previous time.
"..."
Leona contemplated for a second longer and reached a conclusion.
She slid her bedroll a little closer and shifted toward Vincent.
Carefully...
She wrapped one arm around Vincent’s waist.
Then, almost experimentally, planted her face on top of his head.
"Mm..."
’...much better.’
Leona’s eyes closed.
Within moments, her breathing grew slow and even.
While she ventured into the serene wonderlands, the one she hugged snapped his eyes open.
’Oh shit!’
Vincent’s face heated up.
The scent of magnolias was strong and made him feel ticklish in the stomach.
It was a strange feeling.
Leona was a beautiful lady. Pretty to the point where he’d willingly go to war for her.
While this was a good thing, the consequences of being in such close proximity with someone like her were dire.
Blood rushed to places where it shouldn’t.
Before a disaster happened and he was labeled a creep, Vincent tried to distance himself.
He slowly shifted toward Anastasia and tried to get out of Leona’s hold.
’Anastasia... help...’
Vincent’s eyes blinked twice as he neared her.
While shifting, Leona’s hand slowly loosened.
As Vincent reached Anastasia, Leona’s hold was almost gone.
’Ah... at last...’
Vincent shifted a bit more.
He felt something.
He touched something.
Looking down, his abdomen was pressed against Anastasia’s hands as he intruded into her personal space.
Anastasia shifted.
"Mhm..." her lips gently quivered.
’Good lord...’
Vincent sweated buckets.
He did not move an inch and was still like a statue.
Behind him, Leona shifted in her sleep as she felt cold.
Her hands instinctively reached out again.
As they touched Vincent, he was startled and intruded deeper into Anastasia’s space.
The worst that could happen...
Anastasia felt pressure on her hand.
She freed it and wrapped it around the warm heat source nearby.
...ended up happening.
The movement was swift. Intricate. Almost like a spider weaving a web around its prey.
Vincent could not struggle. He did not get to put up a fight either.
Anastasia’s hold was quite strong.
Due to shifting again, Leona began feeling cold and discomfort.
Her eyes fluttered as she was slowly waking up, but her hands soon found the thing that brought a peaceful sleep.
She shifted closer and clutched it tighter, not wanting to let this feeling disappear again.
Vincent blinked.
He stared at the ceiling with what little vision he had left.
His face was crushed between two pairs of heavenly softness.
Moving left was dangerous. Moving right was destructive.
’...at least I’m not suffocating.’
He gave up struggling and breathed quietly.
A few moments later.
Legs wrapped around him and imprisoned him in place.
Vincent didn’t need to think to whom it belonged as one came from either side.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
’They’re so big—I mean... they’re so tall... my girls—no, those darn ladies... they’re twice my size. It’s not that I’m half their size, they’re twice my size. Yeah. Yeah. There’s no fault with me. This world is accursed with its standards. Wait, what am I even thinking? What I meant is that I almost disappear when they wrap themselves around me like that. So unfair!’
Vincent’s nose scrunched.
’If I could trade for a few inches—wait, that sounds wrong. I mean, I think I got a few inches traded because whazdafuck is this height? I am not taller vertically, but horizontally... tch.’
His mind wandered to the surprise he got when he first went to pee.
Vincent shook his head and tried to forget these thoughts.
"Mm..."
Physically doing that made his head rebound against the pressed softness.
The ladies were disturbed and wrapped their hands more firmly.
’Ugh...’
Their strength was no joke.
’If I presented my case in court, no jury would believe me.’
He almost shed a tear.
’...men can be victims too.’
Eventually, his chaotic thoughts were buried beneath warmth and softness as he drifted into the blissful land of dreams.
The black sheep jumped the fence.
Vincent’s breathing turned even and slow.
...
Morning arrived quietly.
Sunlight seeped through the windows, washing the hall in gentle hues.
The night shift slowly dispersed while clerks of the morning exchange took their place behind the telegraph machines.
Cutlery clinked in the corner of the main hall.
Someone buttered a warm slice of bread.
Another cut into freshly cooked eggs.
Vincent took a bite of his own breakfast and glanced at the two ladies seated beside him.
Leona calmly took a sip of tea.
Anastasia tore off a piece of toast. freewebnσvel.cѳm
None acknowledged what transpired last night or spoke a word of it.
Neither did Vincent.
There seemed to be a tacit understanding to pretend that nothing happened.
"Agenda for today?" Vincent asked.
"Silver Town bandits."
The reply had barely left Anastasia’s lips.
Tap.
Measured steps echoed across the wooden floor.
The conversation inside the hall gradually faded from Vincent’s mind.
Another step followed.
With each steady footfall came the crisp scent of cedar and pine, clean enough to remind one of a snow-covered forest.
Vincent turned.
A tall silhouette stood before the stained glass window.
A shoulder carried an axe.
A hand held a long spear.
The morning light caught strands of blazing red hair.
A second later...
A pair of crimson eyes met his.
