I Think My Fiancé Has Regressed

Chapter 36: Canbina Coast (6)

Today, like any other day, I was glued to my desk late into the night, flipping through the pages of a high ranking spellbook.

It was a normal day. Except that after three hours of flipping through hundreds of pages, I had only understood two chapters.

It was a book of magical theory that was difficult to understand in the first place, but beyond that, I felt like my head was spinning.

It was a book of magical theory that was difficult to understand in the first place, but beyond that, he felt like his head was spinning.

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been reading this kind of magic all day, every day. Or maybe it’s because it’s been a long time since I’ve had a proper break. Or maybe it’s because I’m still suffering from the after-effects of that woman’s dreamweed.

Even if the dreamweed is gone from my body now, it was obviously the kind of thing that causes abnormalities in the nervous system.

…Let’s stop thinking about that. It won’t change anything anyway.

In the end, all I had to do now was do the best I could under the circumstances, instead of dwelling on the past and regretting things that can’t be changed.

If three hours are not enough, thirty hours at the desk will.

As I refocused my attention on the page I was reading, I heard two knocks on my door.

“Alex, are you still awake?”

It was Dale’s voice.

He must have seen the light leaking through the doorway. He always nags me if I stay up late.

“Sorry, I was just about to go to bed.”

“You said that yesterday, too, and you were still awake two hours later.”

“Not today, really, I’ll be in bed soon, so don’t worry.”

“…Okay, I know you’re not listening to me anyway, but I’m still asking you to get some sleep as soon as possible.”

He seemed to take my words as an empty gesture and didn’t believe me at all.

It was karma, if you will.

If I had a brick for every lie I’d told Dale over the past six months, I could easily build a ten-story house.

But tonight, I was really going to go to bed early.

If only I could finish understanding the magic in the chapter I’m reading right now

It was a lie that ended up being a lie because of the circumstances, but it wasn’t like I didn’t intend to keep my promise.

After I heard Dale move away from the door, I turned my attention back to the text in front of me.

After another ten minutes passed without progress on the same page, I heard two light knocks on the door again.

“Sorry, I was just getting into bed.”

Normally, Dale would have gone straight back to his room, as he had his own work to do, but tonight he seemed to be more concerned and wanted to make sure I was really in bed.

I adjusted the brightness of my lantern-type magic tool until it could only illuminate the text in front of me, and then I pretended to go to bed.

This would probably keep Dale from coming in to question me further.

It was really time to go to sleep but even if I went to bed now, I probably wouldn’t get a good night’s sleep.

I can’t help it, but I’m done for the night.

…At least I’ll have to finish reading.

Just as I was thinking that and focusing my attention on the faintly illuminated words, I heard a familiar voice, not Dale’s, but someone else’s.

“What, you just got into bed?”

As soon as I heard her voice, sharp and lovely, a chill ran down my spine.

I hadn’t expected anyone to break into my room this late at night.

“Ah, Ariana?”

“How can you lie so shamelessly? Or, since it has become a habit to take a nap on the desk, this has become Alex’s bed?”

“Sorry, I assumed it was Dale of course….”

For some reason, the knock on the door sounded a little light, so it must have been Ariana, not Dale.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve told you the importance of getting enough sleep.”

“I’m sorry, Ariana.”

“What on earth do you think you’re doing up at this late hour reading a grimoire?”

“Well, I was originally just going to read it for a bit before I went to bed, but I got stuck on a part I didn’t understand, so I decided to read….”

“…Really?”

“I was going to go to bed once I got this far, but it’s taking me longer than I thought.”

“…….”

“I mean, really, Ariana, if I’m so close to interpreting it but I go to bed and forget about it, I’m just wasting all the time I’ve invested.”

At my defense, she gave me a look that said she still didn’t understand, and her eyes began to scan the pages of the grimoire I was reading.

After two minutes of silence, she raised a second finger, pointing to the passage I had marked as incomprehensible, and said

“There are traces of some letters being erased in the middle of this magic formula.”

“…What?”

I looked at where Ariana’s finger was pointing, and sure enough, there was a subtle erasure in the words she pointed out.

“This letter here, judging from the context before and after, I think it’s an ancient runic letter I, although the top is slightly erased, making it look like a neo-runic letter l.”

“Ah, ah…!”

It was definitely a glaring error once I heard it properly.

It was one of the more common mistakes made when reading even high-level spellbooks. How on earth had I not noticed this until now?

I’ve been trying to ignore it, but fatigue must have set in.

“You’re definitely right. It’s starting to make sense now.”

“JavaScript is case-sensitive…ah, no, it’s because the more advanced grimoires tend to use a mix of ancient and new runes.

The two I just mentioned, in particular, look a lot alike, so if something doesn’t seem to make sense, it’s okay to substitute them.”

“Thank you, Ariana. If it weren’t for you, I’d be stuck with this for days.”

“I’m sure Alex would have understood it with a clear head after a night’s sleep, but you were just too tired.”

“…Maybe I was.”

Ariana was right.

It was my fiancé’s advice that I couldn’t ignore, and I was already feeling my body’s limits.

The fact that she was making this claim with tangible evidence that I was tired made it all the more believable.

“You’re going to sleep now, right?”

“Yeah, I should.”

Even if the question that had plagued me for so long had been answered, I couldn’t shamelessly flip to the next chapter in front of her.

I slipped the bookmark in and closed the spellbook, then turned my head to where Ariana stood.

“I’m not going to lie, I’m going straight to bed. Ariana, don’t stay up late because of me either, go back to your room and….”

But there was no one where Ariana had been standing, only a blank wall.

I wondered if she had gone back to her room without saying a word because she was offended, but that assumption was quickly dispelled as she moved toward the bed to lie down.

“Come on over here and lie down, Alex.”

“Ariana….”

At the sight of Ariana fearlessly straddling my bed and calling out to me, my mind raced with all sorts of not-so-good imaginings.

“I think we’ve talked about this before, but maybe it’s a little early for you to be in bed with me.”

“Alex thinks I’m going to have a baby just by getting in bed with him, you’re more naive than you look.”

“…….”

“And it’s not really co-sleeping, because I didn’t come in here to sleep with Alex.”

When I focused my gaze on my fiancée, wondering what she was talking about, Ariana patted her thigh and continued.

“I’ll give you a lap pillow so you can sleep comfortably.”

“…What?”

“Oh, I don’t mean technically sleeping on my knees, I mean sleeping on my thighs.”

It wasn’t meant as a half-question, but Ariana added a clarification to something that hadn’t even been misunderstood.

“It’s a little embarrassing, but I’m pretty confident that my body is soft.”

“…….”

“Guys love that kind of physical contact, and it’s warm enough that you’ll probably sleep well.”

“…….”

“I’ll even stroke your hair and sing you a lullaby if you need it, uh, what do you think, is that okay?”

I just stared at her wordlessly, bewildered, and Ariana began to blush and blurt out gibberish.

Perhaps she was embarrassed too.

“Ariana, I’m sure a knee pillow would be uncomfortable in many ways.”

For a moment, I was tempted by Ariana’s temptation, but I managed to keep my voice of reason in check.

After all, if I were to sleep on her lap, I’d be depriving her of sleep so that I could relieve my own fatigue.

Considering that, I couldn’t rely on her.

Therefore, I had given Ariana a euphemistic rejection, but her response was something more than a lap pillow.

“…Well, do you like it this way?”

When Ariana said that and pressed her chest against her arms, it felt like my brain had temporarily shut down this time.

“Eh, this side is just as soft! It’s just a little more embarrassing than the lap pillow, but hey, if Alex wants it, I guess I can’t help it!”

“No, Ariana, that’s not….”

“Do you prefer to lie horizontally? Or do you want to lay together vertically, like on top of each other?”

“So that’s not what I’m trying to say….”

“Just so you know, I’m not taking no for an answer, lap pillow or chest pillow, you have to choose at least one!”

This may seem like a simple case of stubbornness, but it’s a pretty stubborn attitude, at least to me.

If I don’t match Ariana’s stubbornness, this argument will probably never end.

“…A knee pillow.”

It was a compromise that I could live with.

There was a hint of disappointment on Ariana’s part, but even so, the idea of draping my neck over her chest was problematic in more ways than one.

It was going to be more than just figurative, it would undoubtedly aggravate my heart disease.

“Okay, then come over here and lie down.”

“…Okay.”

I carefully placed my head on her outstretched thigh, just the right place to rest it.

Soft muscles and warmth wrapped around my neck and head as soon as my head hit the back of her neck, and before I had time to feel shy, sleep was all over me.

Intoxicated by her scent, as warm as a mother’s embrace, I was forced to start the next day’s schedule in the afternoon.

It was the first time I could say that I had slept properly in the half year since my regression.