Free Web NovelChapter 46: 046. Get On Your Tip Toes And Kiss
WHOOSH!
"Ahhhh—"
"Shhh, you’re going to make them hear us," Eternia hissed as her boots hit the clay tiles of a high rooftop with barely a sound.
She was currently holding Mandy by the scruff of his shirt, dangling the terrified butler over the empty air of a three-story drop before unceremoniously depositing him onto the slanted roof.
Mandy scrambled to find his footing, his hands desperately gripping the edge of a stone chimney.
His hair was completely blown to the side by the force of Eternia’s vertical leap.
"Are you insane?!" Mandy whispered back.
Eternia completely ignored him. She crawled to the edge of the roof, her golden slit-pupils locking onto the streets below like a hawk zeroing in on a field mouse.
Down in the bustling thoroughfare,
Astrid was currently dragging her Master by the hand, her golden hair swaying as she navigated through the evening crowds.
Eternia thinned her lips, her eyes narrowing into dangerous unblinking slits. "Let’s go..."
With that, she didn’t even wait for Mandy. She simply dropped off the edge of the roof, her dark clothes blending seamlessly into the night as she fell toward the shadows of the next alleyway.
Mandy stared down at the terrifying drop, clutching the chimney for dear life. "I hate this job..."
Down on the illuminated cobblestone street, Ren allowed himself to be pulled along.
The formal hushed atmosphere of the upper-ring restaurant was quickly fading behind them, replaced by the vibrant noisy energy of the Adventurer Town’s commercial district.
"Where exactly are we going?" Ren asked, genuinely curious. They had just finished a massive slab of heavy Drake-steak.
Astrid glanced back over her shoulder as a radiant mischievous smile lighting up her features. "Be patient, Ren~"
She dragged him past another crowded street, weaving gracefully through groups of late-night shoppers and off-duty adventurers.
Soon, the towering marble architecture gave way to a series of cozy, brightly lit local shops that were still open at this late hour.
Lanterns strung across the alleyways cast a warm, inviting glow over the pavement.
Astrid slowed to a stop, proudly gesturing to a modest wooden stall. A colorful, hand-painted sign above it read Ron’s Frosty Delights.
"This is my favorite place in the entire capital," Astrid declared with her eyes sparkling. "Ron sells the best ice cream you will ever taste in your life."
Ren raised an eyebrow, looking from the small wooden stall down to her flat incredibly toned stomach. "Didn’t we literally just eat? We had a three-course Romance Combo."
"Ren," Astrid said, placing her hands on her hips with faux seriousness. "When it comes to good ice cream, you can never, ever have enough food... There is a separate stomach for desserts. This is basic magical anatomy."
Ren chuckled, shaking his head. "If you say so, Vice Guild Leader."
They walked up to the counter. An older man with a thick white beard and a remarkably jovial face was busy wiping down the counter.
He looked up, his eyes widening in genuine surprise as he recognized his customer.
"Well, I’ll be," the old man grinned, leaning on the wooden counter. "If it isn’t little Astrid. Haven’t seen you around these parts in a long minute! Been busy scaring the new recruits?"
"Something like that, Ron," Astrid smiled warmly, resting her forearms on the counter. "I needed a break from the paperwork."
Ron’s gaze shifted to Ren.
The old man’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he looked the young, handsome man up and down, noting the way Astrid was standing just a fraction of an inch closer to him than she normally stood to anyone else.
"And who is this?" Ron asked, a knowing twinkle in his eye. He looked straight at Astrid. "Are you two dating?"
Astrid froze. The playful confidence she had carried all the way from the restaurant instantly evaporated.
She paused, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly as a fierce blush rushed to her cheeks.
She hadn’t actually put a label on tonight yet. Was it a date? They had eaten dinner, but she was technically the one who invited him.
Before she could short-circuit entirely, Ren casually reached up, rubbing the back of his neck with a relaxed, easygoing smile.
"Yeah, we are..." Ren said smoothly.
Astrid’s breath hitched. She averted her eyes, staring intensely at the wooden grain of the counter as her face turned the color of a ripe tomato.
’I mean, we’re technically dating, right?’ Ren thought, his internal logic was perfectly sound. ’After all, she literally proposed to me in the middle of a dungeon and we were planning to go straight to marriage. Acknowledging a date is actually a massive step down in commitment. So...? Yeah. Dating.’
Old man Ron’s smile practically split his face in half. He reached over the counter, giving Ren a firm, approving pat on the shoulder.
"Well, you treat her very well, son," Ron told Ren, his tone turning a fraction more serious despite the smile. "She deserves it. She has been coming to this stall since she was a junior mage, and she has never, not once, brought someone here with her."
Ren gave a firm, reassuring nod. "I’ll keep that in mind, Ron. I promise to take good care of her."
Astrid looked like she was going to melt into a puddle of mana right there on the pavement.
"So!" Ron clapped his hands together, breaking the thick romantic tension. "What kind of ice cream are we having tonight to celebrate?"
Astrid cleared her throat, trying desperately to regain her composure. "I... I would like the usual, please."
"And the same for the young man?" Ron asked.
"Sounds good to me," Ren agreed.
"Coming right up!"
Ron got to work, and it was a genuinely entertaining display of magic.
The old man raised his hands, his fingers glowing with a frosty blue aura. He pulled raw cream, crushed winter-berries, and a dash of starlight sugar from his enchanted icebox, swirling them together in mid-air.
The ingredients spun rapidly, freezing into a perfect, creamy vortex before dropping flawlessly into two crisp freshly baked waffle cones.
He handed the glowing faintly misting treats over the counter.
Astrid and Ren both took their cones, thanking him warmly.
Ren immediately reached into his coat pocket to pull out a silver coin, but the old man aggressively waved his hand, shaking his head.
"Put your money away, son," Ron insisted with a hearty laugh. "It’s on the house tonight! Consider it a celebratory gift."
The old man leaned in closer, dropping his voice into a conspiratorial whisper that was entirely audible. "And when should I start expecting grandkids, eh?"
Astrid choked.
She literally spat out a tiny mouthful of cold mist onto the cobblestones, coughing violently as her lungs seized up.
She glared at the vendor, her face burning hotter than a Starfire spell. "Ron! Stop teasing me!"
On the other hand, Ren didn’t miss a beat. He gave the old man a cheeky thumbs-up. "Very soon."
Astrid whipped around and punched him squarely in the back. It wasn’t infused with mana, but the physical embarrassment behind the blow was heavy.
"No kids yet!" she shrieked, thoroughly mortified.
Ren just laughed, rubbing his shoulder as they walked away from the stall, leaving old man Ron chuckling heartily behind his counter.
A translucent blue screen chimed softly in Ren’s peripheral vision.
『Target: "Astrid"’s affection has increased to 93』
Ren smiled. The physical violence was just a cover; she was entirely ecstatic about the interaction.
They strolled down the bustling street, the magical lanterns casting a warm glow over them. Ren took a bite of his ice cream, fully expecting it to be a standard, sweet dessert. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
The moment the cold cream hit his tongue, his eyes widened slightly.
"This is actually pretty good," Ren admitted, genuinely surprised. The flavor was intensely rich, a perfect blend of tart winter-berry and smooth, sweet vanilla with a lingering, refreshing chill that didn’t hurt his teeth.
He had to admit, the culinary level of this fantasy world was leagues ahead of what he expected... It never failed to amaze him every time.
He looked to his side. Astrid was holding her own bitten ice cream cone out toward him, her face turned slightly away to hide her intense blush. Her blue eyes darted nervously toward him and then away again.
"Do... do you want a bite?" Astrid asked softly.
It was a classic indirect kiss maneuver. It was incredibly cliché, but seeing a woman capable of destroying a fortress acting like a shy schoolgirl was highly entertaining.
"Sure," Ren said.
He leaned in, closing the distance between them but instead of taking the cone from her hand, he just bit directly into the ice cream she was holding.
He made sure to take a bite right next to where her own teeth marks were, keeping his eyes locked onto hers the entire time.
Astrid’s breath caught in her throat. She stared at him with her heart thumping erratically against her ribs.
Ren pulled back, licking a stray drop of cream from his bottom lip.
"Delicious... Your turn."
He held his own cone out to her. Astrid hesitated for only a fraction of a second before leaning in.
She took a delicate bite from his cone, her lips brushing against the cold cream exactly where he had just eaten from.
A shiver that had nothing to do with the temperature ran down her spine.
The date continued like a dream. They wandered through the vibrant night market and soon finished their ice cream, resulting in the both of them exploring the stalls.
Soon, the sweet scent of winter-berries was replaced by the aggressive savory aroma of sizzling fat and heavy spices.
They stopped at a bustling stall where a burly man with a thick apron was roasting massive thick slabs of horned-boar meat on an iron grill, basting them in a rich dark pepperish sauce that sizzled and smoked beautifully.
"Astrid!" the griller yelled out, recognizing her instantly. "The usual?"
"Yes, please!" Astrid called back happily. "Just one bowl in a nylon bag, extra sauce!"
They received a steaming, fragrant bowl of chopped, roasted meat covered in a thick, spicy glaze.
As they walked away from the stall, Astrid didn’t want to let go of Ren’s hand to hold the bowl.
So, she didn’t.
Astrid’s blue eyes flared briefly with twilight mana. The wooden bowl lifted effortlessly from her palm, hovering perfectly in the air at chest height.
A pair of wooden skewers floated out of the bag, dipping themselves into the meat and offering perfectly bite-sized, spicy pieces to both of them as they walked.
"Using A-rank telekinesis to avoid carrying takeout," Ren noted dryly, catching a piece of hovering meat in his mouth. "You’re incredibly lazy."
"I am being efficient," Astrid corrected, squeezing his hand as she chewed a spicy piece of boar.
She swallowed, her expression turning a bit more thoughtful and soft.
"You know..." Astrid murmured, looking down at the cobblestones as they walked. "I originally wanted to make this a Street Date from the very beginning. The Silver Lotus is nice, but... I always preferred the noise and the food down here."
She looked up at him with her expression slightly vulnerable.
"But I wasn’t feeling that confident about what you wanted earlier. I was worried that if I brought you to eat meat off a stick in an alleyway, you would think I was cheap or unrefined."
Ren stopped walking. He turned to face her, letting the floating bowl of meat hover uselessly beside them. He reached up, his thumb gently brushing against her cheek.
"Astrid," Ren assured her, his voice low and sincere. "A Street Date is fine. In fact, it’s perfect. I’d much rather be out here with you than locked in some stuffy restaurant surrounded by some elegant people."
Astrid’s breath hitched. A brilliant blush spread across her face, warming her skin against the cool night air.
She smiled with a look of pure happiness radiating from her entirely.
High above them, concealed in the deep shadows of the slate rooftops, Eternia watched the entire exchange.
The Snakekin assassin knelt on the edge of the gutter, peering down into the brightly lit street.
She saw the way her Master looked at the blonde woman. She saw the gentle, reassuring way he touched her cheek.
She saw the genuine, relaxed smile on his face... a smile completely devoid of the terrifying malice he usually reserved for his enemies.
Eternia’s chest tightened painfully.
A sharp agonizing emotional pang struck her heart. She gripped the cold stone of the roof tile so hard her knuckles turned white.
’Master has never smiled like that with me...’ Eternia realized, the thought crashing into her mind like a physical blow.
When she was with him, it was always business. It was training, it was killing, or it was hiding from the suffocating nightmares of her consumed souls.
He was kind to her, yes. He protected her. He let her sleep by his side when the terror became too much but he had never looked at her with that kind of soft, genuine affection.
He didn’t see her as a woman. He saw her as a lethal tool that needed maintenance.
Tears gathered rapidly in the corners of Eternia’s golden eyes, blurring the bustling street below.
A profound sense of inadequacy and jealousy warred within her chest. Before the tears could fall, before she could break down completely, she stood up abruptly.
She couldn’t watch this anymore.
Without making a single sound, Eternia turned and jumped off the backside of the roof, disappearing into the vast dark expanse of the Adventurer Town’s skyline, leaving everything behind. freewebnovel.cσ๓
Thirty feet away, perched precariously on the steep, slippery incline of a slate chimney, Mandy watched her vanish.
The butler blinked, his mouth falling open in sheer disbelief. He looked down at the sheer three-story drop to the cobblestones below. T
he wind howled around him, threatening to blow his blonde wig into the next district.
"Wait... Eternia?" Mandy hissed into the wind, panic rising in his chest. "Eternia! How the hell am I supposed to leave here?!"
An hour later, the noise of the market had faded, replaced by the quiet serenity of the capital’s upper ring.
Ren and Astrid were standing on the grand stone porch outside her expansive manor. The magical lamps flanking the heavy oak doors cast a soft, warm glow over the two of them.
The date had reached its inevitable conclusion.
Astrid stood facing him with her hands clasped nervously in front of her.
The cool night air had brought a rosy flush to her cheeks, and her bright blue eyes were wide with anticipation.
"We’re here," Astrid said softly, breaking the quiet silence. She took a small breath, gathering her courage. "It’s... it’s a very big manor. And it gets quite lonely. If you wanted to... you could come inside. For a drink. Or... whatever."
It was an open, undeniable invitation. They both knew exactly what crossing that threshold meant.
Internally, a very large part of Ren wanted to accept.
Taking the opportunity to sleep with Jace’s aunt in her own bed, sealing the ultimate cuckold achievement would generate a monstrous amount of System Points and completely shatter the protagonist’s mental state if he ever found out.
But he hadn’t sensed Eternia’s mana signature for the last hour. The Snakekin had vanished from the rooftops.
Given her hyper-fixation on him, leaving her alone all night to spiral into a jealous, depressive panic attack could result in disastrous consequences.
He was just very worried about her...
Ren offered Astrid a gentle apologetic smile. "Astrid... I would love to. Truly. But I think I need to pass, just for tonight. Maybe next time."
Astrid’s face immediately fell. The hopeful spark in her eyes dimmed, and she quickly looked down at her boots, trying to hide her crushing disappointment.
Had she moved too fast? Was she too aggressive?
"I have some stuff to do back at the inn," Ren added smoothly, stepping closer to assuage her fears. "My subordinates have a terrible habit of nearly burning the building down when left unsupervised. I need to make sure they haven’t destroyed anything."
"Oh," Astrid breathed out, the tension leaving her shoulders as she realized it wasn’t a rejection of her but a matter of responsibility.
She offered a small, understanding smile. "I understand. Duty calls."
Ren reached out, taking her warm hand in his. He stepped directly into her personal space, forcing her to look up at him.
"I enjoyed our date a lot, Astrid," Ren said. "It’s one of the best dates I’ve ever had."
Astrid blushed even more, the red color rushing furiously up her neck as her heart pounded in her ears like a war drum.
Ren didn’t say anything else and he just leaned in slowly.
Astrid stood there completely blankly, her entire brain short-circuiting. Her face was bright red.
’He’s going to kiss me...’ Astrid’s inner monologue panicked wildly. ’The Twilight Witch is getting kissed on her porch like a maiden. What do I do with my hands? Do I close my eyes? Goddess, I hope I don’t taste like roasted boar meat.’
Gathering the last shred of her Gryphon-like courage, Astrid closed her eyes leaned up on her tiptoes, and kissed him.
It started as a soft, shy press of lips but Ren wasn’t a shy man.
Ren took control immediately. He tilted his head, his mouth opening slightly as his tongue entered hers.
He kissed her deeply, aggressively, twisting his tongue with hers in a wet highly sensual exchange that completely overwhelmed her senses.
"Haa~"
Astrid gasped into his mouth as a soft, helpless moan escaped her throat.
Her knees went incredibly weak as she instinctively reached up, gripping the lapels of his charcoal coat to keep herself from collapsing.
As they kissed, Ren’s hands moved from her waist, sliding deliberately down the smooth leather of her trousers. He cupped her ass firmly, giving the soft curves a squeeze.
Astrid’s eyes flew wide open.
The audacity of the grope, combined with the intoxicating heat of the French kiss, sent a massive jolt of electricity straight to her brain.
She broke the kiss with a sharp gasp, practically jumping out of his arms. Astrid stumbled backward with her chest heaving as her lips were swollen and glistening in the lamplight.
"I... you... that was—!" Astrid stuttered incoherently, her hands flying up to cover her furiously burning face.
She turned around, scrambling frantically for the heavy iron handle of her door. She ripped it open stumbling into her foyer.
"Goodbye, Ren! Goodnight!" Astrid squeaked out.
BANG!
