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The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

Hero Awakening Arc

Episode 245: A Nice Smell

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“…Ru…el…!”

“…Huh?”

As I opened my eyes to the voice calling me, I saw Fiera, Olga, and other friends looking at me with concern.

“What’s going on?”

“What do you mean ‘what’s going on’? Eir, you suddenly stopped talking, and that’s why Fiera here was worried!”

“Yeah. I was worried.”

“Is that so? I’m sorry.”

It seems my sudden silence had caused everyone to worry, so I sincerely apologized for it.

“Mm. As long as nothing’s wrong, that’s all that matters.”

“Right. But it’s rare for you to get distracted by something else. Did something happen?”

“Just thinking a bit about the past.”

“The past, huh? I see. Well, since our last journey has begun, you might be a bit tense.”

“That might be true. But it was unexpected. I didn’t think Olga would come along.”

“Haha. I promised, didn’t I? We’ll smile and send each other off when we die. There’s no way I’d let you go alone.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

While I thought about that promise, I gazed at the dying campfire and squinted at the brightness of the rising sun.

No matter how this journey ended, everyone here felt it would truly be the last.

“Well then, shall we go? On our final journey.”

“Mm. Let’s go.”

“Sure.”

After finishing our break, we each took up our weapons and stood up, starting to walk toward our last journey.

To end this world… our final journey.

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“Mmm… it’s tough.”

As I awoke from a sensation akin to being hugged by someone, I first checked the reason for this uncomfortable feeling by looking to my right.

“Hah. Not again.”

There was Fiera, sleeping soundly while hugging me, her tail wrapped firmly around my waist.

This was the second time she had snuck into my bed, and since the day she returned, she had been sneaking in and sleeping in my bed without me noticing.

“Mmm… El… eat…”

“What kind of dream are you having?”

I wasn’t sure if I was in her dreams, but she tightened her embrace while calling my name.

“Damn. She’s way stronger than me without even using any power.”

Originally, as a beast person, her natural physical abilities were higher than mine, but recently, she had even gotten stronger, making it more common for me to lose in a test of strength without using body enhancement.

“Hah. I somehow managed to get free.”

Fiera didn’t seem to wake up even when I used body enhancement to pull her arms off, as if the fatigue from our journey still hadn’t left her, so I managed to slip out of her grasp.

“Let’s move a bit.”

I changed into some comfortable clothes and left the room, heading toward the training field, leaving Fiera behind.

We returned to Valentine Duchy about four days after wrapping up our business in the disordered nation of Saramāju.

“Welcome back, Lewis. And everyone else too! But first, go take a bath. We’ll have a meal and talk after that.”

“Yes.”

As soon as we got back, my mother caught us and had us take a bath, and after we all finished eating, the questioning began about why we had come back so late.

However, since we couldn’t possibly tell the truth, we explained that we had taken a long route back together and used the food that Shuvina had stocked up during her travels as a souvenir to cover it up.

After that, my mother left with Sharueina, Iris, and Miria, starting a girls’ chat as usual.

Then, my father and I resumed speaking about where we had been and the documents containing information about Saramāju and other nations acquired during that time.

“I see. That happened in Saramāju.”

“Yes. The trigger was learning about people being systematically kidnapped in a village close to the Imperial Capital. We were curious about the reason, so we infiltrated Saramāju and brought back evidence.”

“I understand the situation. I’ll pass this evidence on to His Majesty.”

“Thank you.”

While I could have left everything to Sharueina afterwards, that would mean we’d have to rely on her for information about where she had been, the credibility of that info, and more importantly, such achievements would drag her into a succession battle she wouldn’t want to be a part of.

That was something both she and Rogurando, who worried about Sharueina, didn’t want, so this time, I decided to let my father report it to His Majesty as if he was the one who obtained the information.

“Well done, Lewis. But honestly, this time you’ve gone too far. I trust you, but as a parent, I’m worried. Elize doesn’t show it, but she’s worried about you as well. Just for me, please report to me in advance from now on.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll be careful in the future.”

“Yeah, do that.”

It had been a while since my father scolded me, but the way he laughed while affectionately patting my head indicated he didn’t really intend to say anything more serious about my future.

Afterwards, I relaxed and lazed around in my family home for a while, but three days after we returned, Fiera and the others also arrived at Valentine Duchy.

“El!!”

“Oh, welcome back!”

“El, El, El!”

That day, while I was resting in my room reading a book, the door swung open with force, and in a blur, Fiera jumped on me.

She clung to my chest, happily calling my name and wagging her tail while burying her face in my chest and sniffing me repeatedly.

“Stop. That’s pretty embarrassing.”

“No way. It’s your long-awaited scent, El. It smells nice, but you’ve got Iris’s scent all over you. I need to overwrite it with mine.”

“I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.”

Maybe this was what marking was, but having it done by someone my age of the opposite sex, rather than a real cat or dog, felt awkward enough for even me.

Even after I told Fiera to let go several times, she didn’t budge at all and actually wrapped her arms around my neck, getting even closer.

(You know what? I’m tired of this.)

I gave up and picked up the book I had set aside, but in the meantime, Fiera straddled my lap and buried her face in my neck, sniffing at me.

“Fiera!”

“Hmm?”

While in that situation, I turned to the voice that I hadn’t heard in a while, and there stood Shuvina, looking furious, approaching us with piercing eyes.

“Fiera! You need to greet Lewis’s parents first!”

“Hm. But I wanted to see El quickly!”

“That’s not an excuse! Your tone has changed, hasn’t it! Anyway, let’s go greet them first, so let go!”

“Mmm, no way…”

Shuvina grabbed Fiera’s arm to try to pull her away from me, but Fiera, not wanting to lose, put more strength into her grip, and my neck was getting tighter and tighter.

“Fiera. Seriously, let go. My neck is dying here.”

“I don’t wanna. Let’s go together like this?”

“That’s a pain.”

Fiera looked genuinely sad for a rare moment, not wanting to part, but Shuvina shot a cold truth at her.

“Fiera, I hate to say this, but you smell a bit.”

“…What?”

“You know we haven’t had a proper bath for a while, right? No matter how careful we are, you’ll smell if you don’t take a bath, and you’re a beast person with a tail—so because you haven’t bathed, you smell a bit beastly.”

“R-really?”

It seemed what Shuvina said struck Fiera hard, as she lowered her ears, hugged her tail, and looked up at me with big eyes.

“Not really. But sure, I’d say your tail would definitely feel softer after a bath. And my mother cares about stuff like that, too. We got made to take a bath as soon as we got back.”

It’s true that she did have a slight beastly scent, but it wasn’t enough to be bothersome, and I certainly wasn’t insensitive enough to say someone smelled bad directly to their face, so this was the best response I could give.

“Softness. El’s mom…”

“Yeah. Your tail feels nice to touch, but right now, unfortunately, it seems it’s not, so why don’t you go take a bath and wash it? I’ll dry it for you afterwards.”

“Mm. Got it. I’ll take care of it for El and your mom. Shuvina, I’m going for a bath!”

“Hah. Alright, alright.”

Fiera left me with a determined voice, pulling along a worn-out caregiver, making her way out to greet my mother, and headed to the bath after that.

Afterward, having carefully washed her tail in the bath, Fiera returned to me first and immediately asked me to help take care of her tail.

As I dried her tail, I realized she must have been quite tired because she fell asleep just like that.

“She must have been really worn out.”

After finishing drying her tail and, as a bonus, her hair, I passed her on to the timely returning Shuvina, picked up the book again, and spent another quiet moment.

By the way, Kamael apparently collapsed into bed and fell asleep like a log as soon as he came up from the bath.

Sephiria and Sonia also seemed to have used up too much magic power, as they showed their faces to Iris and immediately went to rest.

(I guess it’s going to get noisy again.)

With Fiera and the others coming back, I thought our quiet rest would come to an end, but strangely, I didn’t feel unpleasant about it; it didn’t feel bad at all.

Well, that was all until she woke up again.

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A new chapter has casually begun!

And a little announcement.

It’s still a bit early, but on April 8th, this work will celebrate its first anniversary since the serialization started.

To commemorate this, I’ve created a social media account as Amber’s Alice, and if you’re interested, I’d be happy if you could follow that as well.

For details, please check the note I posted yesterday.

And finally, I will continue to do my best to write this new chapter, so I’d appreciate your continued support!

You can easily express your feelings of support by clicking the heart (login required).

 

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