Shiomi felt himself enveloped by a faint, lingering fragrance. It was as though he had sunk into a sea of clouds, wrapped in a soft, warm embrace that filled him with an overwhelming sense of peace.
Light seeped through his tightly shut eyelids, however, reminding him that morning had already arrived.
Realizing that a new day had come, Shiomi slowly opened his eyes, and at once understood why, in that half-dreaming state, he had felt the way he did.
He was being held in someone's arms, his entire face buried in soft breasts, with only a narrow gap left for him to breathe.
As his mind gradually cleared, Shiomi recognized the owner of that gentle scent. He turned his cheek slightly and pressed a kiss against the exposed skin where her chest parted.
"Mmm~"
In response to his teasing, Morgan let out an instinctive, alluring hum.
Smiling quietly to himself, pleased that his guess had been right, Shiomi shifted back a little. Only then did he realize that Morgan had been holding him like this the whole night through.
"Waking up and thinking about things like that… my husband really is beyond saving," Morgan teased. "Making someone like you into a god who saves the world might not be such a good idea."
She had clearly been awake for some time already. Instead of getting up, she had kept holding him, lying together on the tatami and passing the time until he woke.
"You're holding me this tightly, with such a magnificent view right in front of me. If I didn't do anything, wouldn't that be terribly disrespectful to you?" Shiomi replied frankly, trying to justify himself.
Morgan's hand slid to the side of his neck. As she stroked him, Shiomi couldn't help but laugh along with her.
"So… I fell asleep like this last night?" he asked.
Late into the night, his master and the others had joined the discussion, sometimes analyzing things seriously, sometimes using Shiomi himself as the butt of their jokes.
As for when he had actually fallen asleep, even Shiomi couldn't say for sure.
He and Morgan had slept right there on the tatami in the room, without even laying out bedding, sharing nothing more than a single blanket draped over them for warmth.
Beyond that, the night had passed, leaving both of them a little disheveled.
"Yes. This was our room to begin with," Morgan said. "So we just slept here. You were sleeping so soundly last night that I couldn't bring myself to wake you to set up the bedding."
Shiomi's hand rested idly at Morgan's waist.
"At least you could've gone and slept on the bed yourself," he said. "Sleeping on the floor must've been uncomfortable."
"Compared to sleeping rough in the open, this is much better," Morgan said softly with a gentle smile. "And holding my husband like this feels rather wonderful. I slept very well last night too."
"That works too?" Shiomi asked, genuinely surprised.
"After all, it's always been you holding me. There was never really the chance or the occasion for it to be the other way around." As she spoke, Morgan shifted and wrapped him up again, settling his head fully against her chest while gently stroking his hair. "Back during our pilgrimage through Britannia, you were always the one who did this for me."
Hearing her say that, Shiomi smiled as well.
"You lost so much, until only I was left by your side. I don't really understand what it feels like to lose things, since I've always been gaining… but I do know how to make you feel at ease. Holding you close and coaxing you to sleep is the best way I could think of."
"Very effective. Extremely effective." Morgan curled in closer, resting her chin on the crown of his head. "Whenever I wake alone in the dead of night after dreaming about the destruction of the Land of Rain, I always find myself already in your arms, firmly protected by your warmth…"
"Only then can I quickly shake off the remnants of the nightmare and tuck myself even deeper into your embrace to fall asleep again. A warmth that will never be lost. A place that is always safe."
"I know," Shiomi said quietly. "When you wake up like that, your body trembles. That wakes me too."
"You knew? But you never reacted," Morgan said, clearly surprised, though not entirely so.
"In moments like that, doing nothing and just holding you is actually better for you," Shiomi replied. "I don't know if that was the right choice—"
"It was absolutely right." Morgan happily rubbed her cheek against his hair. "Compared to deliberately waking up to comfort me, keeping things as they were was better."
If every time she woke from a nightmare Shiomi also woke up, she knew she would inevitably feel guilty, and his kindness would turn into an inexplicable burden.
Fortunately, Shiomi had foreseen that possibility and carefully helped her avoid it.
Now, looking back after everything had passed, the memories that remained were woven only of quiet, lingering happiness.
Shiomi smiled in understanding, let the topic rest, and then asked in a deliberately serious tone,
"My wife, may I ask you something?"
"Ask whatever you like, my husband. There's no need for formality between us," Morgan replied, mimicking his tone.
"What time is it now?"
"Breakfast time has probably already passed."
"Then shouldn't we get up?" Shiomi asked. "If we stay in bed until late morning, setting aside whether my master and the others come to laugh at us, it wouldn't be a very good example for Sakura and the others."
"Once we return and the Singularity is repaired, Sakura and the others won't remember what happened here," Morgan said calmly. "There's no need to worry about education."
Shiomi gave a quiet, agreeing sigh and sat up halfway on the tatami, lifting himself out of Morgan's arms.
As he moved, Morgan sat up as well. The inn's yukata hung loosely on her, the collar slipping open nearly to her abdomen and revealing a generous sweep of fair skin.
"You're right. No one's rushing us anyway—"
Shiomi lifted his hand and let it rest at Morgan's neck, just beneath the edge of her yukata.
"So I really wasn't wrong. My husband truly is beyond saving."
Morgan teased him even as she tilted her face up, allowing his hand to wander toward her shoulder. Even when the yukata slid completely off her shoulder, leaving her smooth, luminous body fully exposed to the slightly damp morning air, she didn't stop him.
"I felt a little bad about yesterday, you know. I'm just making up for it," Shiomi said, defending himself without the slightest hesitation.
"It wasn't bad enough to need making up for," Morgan replied with a lazy smile, leaning in toward him, ready to kiss.
Shiomi suddenly pulled back.
"I haven't brushed my teeth yet…"
"There's no obvious smell. Once in a while is perfectly tolerable," Morgan said softly.
"Sometimes I really envy fairies. Even after a whole night, they still smell so nice," Shiomi murmured, lowering his head to speak near her lips.
"Hehe~"
Morgan laughed, her body trembling slightly. As she did, the yukata slipped free before Shiomi's hand even moved.
She lifted her now-bare arms and wrapped them tightly around Shiomi's neck, her long, slender arms smooth and warm like jade in the morning sunlight.