A Butterfly Through the Mist - Side Story 18

Ah. The moment he spilled his seed inside her. Ilex tasted a sensation like his soul was being sucked beyond the far end of the universe.

It was a pleasure he’d only ever felt during his very first experience. His whole body trembled uncontrollably, and dumb, broken groans kept falling from his mouth, the very peak of overwhelming ecstasy.

He wouldn’t have minded becoming a complete idiot like this. No, he already felt like he had.

His whole body felt like it was floating, drifting. Instinctively understanding why a praying mantis could risk its life for a single moment of pleasure, Ilex wandered through a vision flashing white.

On the edge of that spine-chilling climax, Ilex suddenly realized he had been finishing for far too long.

“I, Ilex…”

He wasn’t the only one startled. Tilia flailed in surprise at the man’s member, which was releasing not semen but a transparent stream of liquid.

When he pulled out with a movement as confused as hers, he saw his own shaft still spurting clear water like a fountain.

Ah… Letting out a groan-laced sigh, the man lowered his hand and squeezed out the remaining liquid.

Tap, tap. Clear fluid dripped onto Tilia’s flat stomach. She looked bewildered, unable to understand why it had no smell at all or what exactly he had released in his peak of excitement.

Normally, he would have fondly explained it to her. But he didn’t have the capacity right now.

Did it all leak out inside her, leaving none for the outside? With deep worry on his face, Ilex checked inside Tilia’s opening.

Fortunately, his seed had pooled inside. But his relief was brief as he witnessed her entrance committing the outrageous act of slowly leaking out the semen.

No. Overcome entirely by instinct, the man returned the thick white fluid into his wife’s body. He pushed it in, stirred it in, gathered it again and shoved it back inside where it belonged.

“Ahh…”

Until Tilia unknowingly twisted her hips and let out an aroused moan.

But her overly elastic insides kept pushing out the semen despite his efforts.

Something like a plug… Dissatisfied that it wouldn’t stay in, Ilex searched for something to block it, and found the perfect item conveniently attached to him.

Thud. With a smile, he shoved himself in to the base in one stroke, making Tilia’s waist arch into a curve once more. It’s fine, it’s fine. As he soothed her, patting her and sucking her breast scattered with petal-shaped marks, she sniffled as if distressed.

“Ah, earlier…”

Even as she panted from the sudden penetration and struggled to make sense of what had just happened, Tilia blinked, tears hanging from her lashes.

“W-what… was that?”

“It’s similar to what you release whenever you get excited.”

“Isn’t ejaculation the end for men?”

“No. There’s more.”

She wouldn’t understand even if he explained now. Cutting the explanation short however he pleased, Ilex began to move his hips slowly.

Wasn’t half of it spilled? Didn’t he need to refill what had fallen out?

Chewing on a self-made excuse, the man pressed his lips to Tilia’s still-curious ones.

Her ticklish moan was swallowed into his mouth. But the hands that had been smacking his shoulders soon wrapped tightly around his scratch-marked body, as if she couldn’t help herself.

***

The night of ecstasy that had ravaged their bedroom passed, and only after lunchtime the following day did Ilex finally step out and order his aide to enroll his wife in graduate school.

“Enroll her immediately.”

The man who gave the command had sharp eyes, but his hair was a chaotic mess as if someone had torn at it, and there was even a red handprint on his cheek.

“Yes. I’ll send an attendant right away.”

Kevin, the aide, bowed before his superior without blinking at the bizarre sight. It wasn’t the first or second time he’d seen his lord in such a state.

“Not an attendant. You go.”

Issuing a firm order, Ilex turned on his heel without delay and slipped right back into the bedroom.

Unbelievable. Kevin glanced at the beautifully carved door with flat, fishlike eyes as yet another embarrassing sound began leaking through it.

So restless before, and now this.

But before long, Kevin turned away and left the couple’s quarters with a smile he couldn’t suppress.

Finally, freedom from the hysteria.

Sensing it instinctively, his steps down the stairs were as light as payday.

***

The entrance ceremony for the graduate school of Arkansis Royal Academy, the continent’s greatest academy boasting both long tradition and prestige, was held two weeks earlier than that of the undergraduate program.

With winter break having begun, the campus, emptied of students, looked desolate like branches stripped of their last leaves. Ilex strolled slowly across the quiet grounds with his hands clasped behind his back, everything colored in faded gray.

But despite walking through an empty campus, a faint smile lingered in Ilex’s eyes.

Cute. With his neatly combed gold hair, his mind was replaying the events he’d witnessed at the entrance ceremony.

Those perked ears listening so diligently to the dean’s speech that no one else cared about. The round eyes widening in surprise at the queen’s unexpected appearance. That serious face absorbing the queen’s monotonous congratulatory address as if she were determined not to miss a single word.

Like someone had scattered tens of thousands of fireflies only around her, she had shone particularly brightly among all the people there. Ilex recalled that sight as if carving it into memory. Yes, she was lovely.

The reason he had planned to stay by Tilia’s side throughout the ceremony but was now walking alone was nothing special.

For some reason, Queen Fidelia, who had unusually attended the graduate entrance ceremony, requested a meeting with several graduate students. Naturally, Tilia was among the exceptional students called to the dean’s office.

When the assistant informed her that the queen wished to speak with her, Tilia’s face had gone pale as she looked at him.

“Go on.”

Ilex gently brushed aside Tilia’s hair as he spoke.

“She’ll definitely like you.”

His assumption that the queen would suit her tastes had surely been correct.

In this era of upheaval, with everything unstable, Queen Fidelia sought to secure the monarchy by promoting female talent. It was a bold yet wise decision, fitting for someone who had seized the throne over her own younger brother.

There was no way a woman like that wouldn’t appeal to Tilia.

Ilex was imagining Tilia standing before the queen, her already intelligent green eyes shining even brighter, when it happened.

“Mommy!”

A bright laugh interrupted his peaceful thoughts.

Turning his head reflexively, he saw a small child running toward a woman who appeared to be her mother. Perhaps around five years old. The little girl, likely accompanying her family to the entrance ceremony, was bundled in thick winter clothes.

The blue-gray eyes followed the child’s path not because she had an unusually cute appearance, nor because she showed any remarkable running ability.

The reason Ilex watched her closely was because of her pigtails.

More precisely, because of the black hair that seemed somewhat similar to Tilia’s.

But it only resembled hers at a glance. Tilia’s hair was darker, richer, glossier.

After finishing that brief comparison, the man turned away without hesitation. Yet he couldn’t easily deny that the girl’s fluttering black hair kept flickering before his eyes.

A child. A child.

Without realizing it, his steps quickened. The man, who had been wandering aimlessly, only realized where he had ended up after some time passed.

Here…

Ilex lifted his gaze with a dreamlike expression.

His feet had led him to the path behind the Liberal Arts Building. A place Tilia had often visited. A place familiar to him because he had followed her there.

If something had changed from back then, it was that he now stood on the official walking path Tilia used, instead of the secluded back path he’d always taken.

Ilex stared quietly at the route his past self had walked, hood drawn deep.

Made it, huh.

The thought slipped out unconsciously.

Back then, all he’d wanted was to look at Tilia freely, without fear of being caught. He hadn’t even dared to hope they’d become lovers, or that he might get close enough to have a trivial conversation with her. It had all felt like an impossible dream.

Now he could hold her hand, kiss her lips, and do even more. What a successful life.

Ilex smiled like a man who had obtained every treasure in the world. He even felt a tender urge to return to his younger self and tell him not to give up, to keep working hard, keep striving. If he did, a day would soon come when the world would place its light in his hands.

He was in the middle of that uncharacteristic fantasy, grinning to himself, when—

“Ilex.”

As if carried in by his wish, the voice he had been waiting for reached him.

Ilex turned his head slowly on purpose and looked at the woman who had come to find him.

Wearing the thick coat he’d put on her, she looked dazzlingly beautiful even in a landscape devoid of life.

With her green eyes, vivid like the last sprout in a dying world, she walked straight toward him.

“Judy and Susan told me. They said you went for a walk.”

“…But you didn’t know I’d be here.”

He was just about to ask if she knew how wide the academy grounds were, because he wanted her appearance to feel like fate rather than coincidence.

“Yeah, but… I felt like you’d be here.”

Standing beside him, she whispered as she lifted her gaze slightly toward the sky.

“You used to come here often back when you were a student.”

At that moment, a voice—vivid as if spoken only moments ago—brushed past his ear.

“…No. I don’t know him.”

The voice with which she’d firmly answered Judy Wells. Had it truly held nothing but fact?

Just as impatience rose in him to answer the unspoken question he couldn’t name, Tilia looked up at him.

“Hey.”

Still keeping her gaze lowered at an angle, but with her hand gently grasping the area near his elbow, Tilia quietly said, “Lower your head… just a little.”

At the oddly timed request, a brief confusion flickered through him, but it wasn’t enough reason to refuse. As Ilex obediently lowered his waist, Tilia’s lips brushed against his ear.

What followed, carried on the wind like a whisper, was the very word he murmured into her arms every night as he held her.

I love you.

The moment that unfamiliar phrase, when heard rather than spoken, entered his ears and traveled to his mind, finally settling into understanding, Ilex realized he had been deceiving himself all along.

Not caring? Not being affected even a little?

As if. His heart melted and collapsed like butter left on a flame. The affection overflowing from the bowl of his chest spilled over, turning into water that fell from his eyes.

“…Ilex?”

To avoid showing such a disgraceful sight, Ilex covered his eyes with one hand and let his legs give out, collapsing onto the dry grass of the hill. Mistaking it as playfulness rather than truth, Tilia let out an incredulous laugh.

“What are you doing? Get up.”

Her voice, laced with amusement, urged him to rise as he lay on his back against the brittle winter grass. But instead of obeying, Ilex committed the irreverent act of pulling the hand that reached out to help him downward.

Ah!

With a small cry, followed by the soft thud of a light fall, she toppled onto him.

“What are you doing…!”

Ilex silenced the protesting mouth of the woman who had fallen on top of him by covering it with his lips.

There was no other intention. He simply didn’t want to show her that he had cried at hearing the words I love you for the first time.

Or was that a lie too? Perhaps he only wanted to entangle her breath with his, to confirm that this was real.

He didn’t know. And in truth, none of it mattered.

I love you. As if it were the last word remaining in a fallen world, the phrase drifted endlessly between the two of them.

I love you. I love you, Tilia. I’ve always loved you.

Returning his confession in amounts doubled and redoubled, Ilex saw it.

At the tip of what he had believed to be a barren branch, a new beginning of spring was quietly sprouting.

-End of Side Story-