Odalisque - Chapter 129

Dimus returned to the bed with a glass of water, completely naked.

Despite his body glistening with fluids and marked with a reddish hue, he still looked impressive. Liv found herself staring at him, captivated. For a moment, she thought she understood why he had admired her own nakedness.

Of course, her body could never be as perfect as his.

“Thank you.”

Liv accepted the glass and averted her eyes. She noticed Dimus’ long legs beside her, his muscular thighs, and below that, his knee. During sex, she had never paid much attention to his legs, but now, she saw an enormous scar there.

The scars on his torso were all grim, but the long tear across his knee looked particularly ghastly. It must have been a terrible wound to leave such a large scar after so long.

Dimus noticed where her gaze had landed and sighed softly.

“Ah.”

Unlike the other scars, for which he’d immediately provided stories, he didn’t explain this one. He stared down at his knee, his brows furrowed, and his eyes held a distinct sadness.

“You don’t have to tell me about it.”

Though Liv was curious, she didn’t want to pry. Dimus had been trying so hard to share as much of himself as he could. They had only just begun to truly face each other, and she didn’t want to ruin it by being too greedy.

Dimus narrowed his eyes at her words, then, after some hesitation, began speaking slowly.

“My last battle.”

His voice was different from before, no longer the detached tone of someone recounting a distant event. Instead, it was as if he were describing something that had happened just yesterday, his tone strained and heavy.

“…It must have been a serious injury.”

“They said that if treatment had been delayed even a little, I wouldn’t have been able to walk. But I recovered well, considering.”

Although he still carried a cane, he could manage daily life without much difficulty—that alone was a miracle. Liv stared at the scar on his knee, feeling that there must be more behind it than just a bad injury. But she couldn’t bring herself to ask for the full story.

Noticing her hesitation, Dimus smirked.

“If I tell you, will it earn me your pity?”

“I told you, I—”

“It was an operation to raid the enemy camp.”

Dimus began to speak, his tone casual.

“The village was burning, bombs had fallen, and all that remained were the bodies of refugees.”

Liv’s eyes widened in shock. Though she had never been near a battlefield, she at least knew that soldiers weren’t supposed to harm civilians.

“Why…?”

“The commander wanted glory and acted on faulty intelligence. It was a trap, and we got ambushed instead. The aide to that foolish commander took the blame for not properly supporting him and resigned.”

Dimus’ explanation was simple, but the magnitude of the event was anything but. Liv could easily imagine that the omitted parts were filled with complexity.

He had said it was his last battle. Then perhaps the aide who resigned was…

“It happened right before I quit working for that idiot. Everything turned to ashes.”

Clicking his tongue, Dimus glanced at the glass in Liv’s hand. She emptied it at his unspoken urging, and he took the empty glass, placing it on the side table.

Dimus’ hand smoothly wrapped around her waist, making his intentions clear. He wanted to continue what they had paused, but Liv couldn’t easily let herself be swept away again.

“I feel like I made you remember something painful.”

“If that’s how you feel, then pity me. Better yet, stay by my side and take care of me.”

Murmuring indifferently, Dimus buried his face against Liv’s neck. He licked her skin slowly, sucking on it until his cool body warmed up again.

The time for pleasure wasn’t over yet.

***

Stephan thought Dimus had stolen his glory.

He had always pushed Dimus into the most dangerous battlefields, but suddenly decided to lead an army himself, desperate for recognition. Having seen Dimus repeatedly earn accolades, Stephan assumed he could achieve the same if he just went to the front lines.

By the time Dimus learned that Stephan had taken soldiers to raid the enemy, it was too late.

Stephan had brutally crushed the village as if to terrify the enemy. When Dimus arrived with the second wave, he found pools of blood, an unbearable stench, and burning buildings.

Stephan, who had almost no real battle experience, was ecstatic after the one-sided slaughter, and the soldiers were convinced they’d killed disguised enemies. They thought their attack had been flawless, and that was why there had been no resistance.

But the problem didn’t end there. The real enemy soon attacked those drunk on victory. Only then did Stephan realize the gravity of his mistake.

“Dimus! Protect me! We need reinforcements!”

Stephan barely escaped with Dimus’ help, but rather than calling for reinforcements, he hid at the safe rear base for days, strengthening their defenses. He even stopped Dimus from going to help the trapped soldiers, ordering him to stay and protect him instead.

In the end, the isolated soldiers were annihilated, and Stephan’s mistake and the defeat were blamed entirely on Dimus.

The last battle was the most shameful and horrible one Dimus had ever fought. He should have killed Stephan and made it look like an accident. It would have been better to save even one more soldier than protect such a useless commander.

The consequences of that moment’s wrong decision were too severe. It was around then that Dimus began to suffer from the crawling sensations all over his body. He started having nightmares filled with screams and blood, hallucinations that plagued him every night.

“…mus.”

Whenever his knee ached for no reason, the nightmares were even worse. Even the sleeping pills didn’t help on those nights.

“…Dimus.”

Life had lost its meaning. Losing his purpose overnight was bad enough, but Dimus had also lost his will to live. Wandering from one battlefield to another, he eventually found himself forcibly confined to a quiet countryside, a life that made him feel even more powerless. He lived under the weight of that monotonous peace.

No, it had been monotonous, but now it was a little different.

“Dimus!”

With a start, Dimus opened his eyes to the dark room. He could faintly hear the sound of rain outside.

It had been a long time since he had felt like he was truly waking up. His sleep had mostly been a series of shallow naps, interrupted by sudden jolts as if burned by fire.

Dimus glanced to his side. He felt warmth—the body of another person, whom he unconsciously held tightly.

“Are you alright?”

Liv was looking at him with worried eyes. Though the room was dim, she was close enough that he could clearly see her expression.

She was worried about him.

Worried?

Was he dreaming? Dimus gently brushed aside Liv’s hair that had fallen over her forehead. The sensation under his fingers told him that this moment was real.

Liv, briefly flustered by his sudden touch, awkwardly lowered her head.

“You seemed to be having a nightmare, so I woke you.”

“…I see.”

For Dimus, it was nothing unusual, but it seemed it was different for Liv. In Buerno, he had slept peacefully with her by his side, and in Adelinde, he hadn’t slept deeply enough to have nightmares. This was the first time she had seen what his nights were truly like.

He had never shown his vulnerable side to anyone before. Even after reuniting with Liv, he had no intention of revealing this part of himself to her.

But now, at this moment, Dimus instinctively realized that his instability could be of use to him.

“That’s why I always take the pills.”

“Is it a side effect?”

“It’s been this way ever since I was discharged, so probably.”

Liv’s face darkened further. Dimus barely managed to suppress a smile. She was so tender-hearted—he couldn’t let her go. He had to keep her close, lest she scatter her kindness where it wasn’t appreciated.

“But I never saw this in Buerno.”

“I was at peace with you by my side.”

Since it wasn’t entirely a lie, the words flowed easily.

“And now?”

“I must have had a nightmare because I was reminded of the past. But as long as you stay by my side like this, I’ll be fine.”

His words implied that without her, his nights would always be like this. Normally, Liv might have thought he was exaggerating, but having just witnessed his nightmare, she nodded seriously.

“Will that really be enough?”

Dimus couldn’t hold back his rising emotions any longer and pulled her into a tight embrace. Her face was pressed into his firm chest, and though she wriggled uncomfortably, he didn’t relax his grip. He kissed the top of her head lightly, murmuring in a low voice.

“That’s enough for me.”

Dimus had a feeling that if he fell asleep now, he would finally get a good few hours of rest.

And when he woke up, Liv would still be there by his side.

He was sure of it.