Arknights: The Holy Son's Leisurely Life — Chapter 101

Chapter 101: What Has Exusiai Protected?

“I can,” Natalia whispered, her voice barely louder than a breath.

Her face was flushed with an infinite, delicate shyness. Her striking, heterochromatic eyes—one red, one blue—darted around the dimly lit room, refusing to meet his gaze directly. She looked impossibly fragile, and undeniably adorable.

Ah, this. Lucian stared at her, his mind momentarily blanking out. Well, then.

“Can”? What exactly did she mean by “can”?

Could she work out with him? Do a bit of late-night yoga? Ride a spinning bike together? Spot him for push-ups?

No, no, focus. His thoughts were straying into dangerous territory. Lucian quickly shook his head to clear the mental fog.

Natalia was still looking up at him, her expression so pitiful it could melt iron.

Truthfully, Lucian wasn’t entirely oblivious to her current mindset. After surviving such a catastrophic upheaval, it was completely normal for her to be psychologically overwhelmed. She was desperately grasping for an anchor, and that had manifested as a sudden, intense dependence on him.

Unlike Zima and the rest of her self-governing group who had forged a bond of mutual reliance in the fires of the riot, Natalia didn’t have any close friends to lean on. She was isolated. So, she could only cling to her savior. She was terrified that if she let go, he might suddenly disappear into the night and abandon her to the wolves. It was the textbook definition of being paralyzed by the anxiety of loss.

Looking at her trembling shoulders, Lucian was suddenly reminded of Exusiai when the Sankta girl had first ventured out of Laterano.

Back then, Exusiai had undergone a similar drastic shift in personality. She had completely shed her usual energetic, tomboyish aura, becoming incredibly obedient and clinging to him like a helpless koala. She had demanded constant physical contact, needing to touch him every single second, and would burst into tears if they were separated for even a moment.

…And now that he thought about it, this atmosphere was dangerously similar to the very first time he and Exusiai had done… that.

Not good. This is very not good. If this continued, he was absolutely going to make a mistake he couldn’t take back!

In a desperate bid to kill his rising libido, Lucian quickly conjured an image of Croissant’s goofy, grinning face in his mind. The mental flashbang worked perfectly.

Gently stroking Natalia’s soft, snowy hair, he offered a warm, reassuring smile. “I appreciate your feelings, Natalia, but a young lady shouldn’t say such things so casually. What if a man misunderstands your intentions? It could lead to a terrible mistake.”

“Wuuu…!” Natalia let out a soft, distressed whimper. “I-I’m serious! I’m not just saying it casually…”

“Then you need to be even more serious about yourself,” Lucian replied softly, his tone shifting into that of a protective older brother. “You can’t offer something like that to someone you’ve only known for a single day.”

Intent on establishing a clear boundary, he wrapped his arms around her in a purely comforting embrace. “Don’t be afraid. Even if we don’t do those kinds of things, I will still protect you. You have my word.”

“…Always?” Natalia’s voice trembled, her fingers digging into his shirt.

Lucian nodded, his response completely natural. “Yes, always and forever. I’ll be here for as long as you want me around. Frankly, I’m more worried that you’ll eventually get tired of me.”

“No. Never.”

The beautiful, delicate noble girl hugged him even tighter, burying her tear-stained face completely into the warmth of his chest. She let out a long, shuddering sigh, as if a massive weight had finally been lifted from her soul. “Lord Lucian… thank you. Please, just hold me tight. Hold me until I fall asleep.”

Lucian gently tightened his grip, resting his chin lightly on her head.

But she still wasn’t satisfied. “Please… hold me even tighter. Hold me as if you’re going to break me.”

Lucian nearly choked on his own saliva. “Where in the world did you learn a line like that?”

She pouted against his shirt, her voice muffled. “Back in my manor, the maids used to pass around these little romance booklets in their quarters. The princesses in the stories always say that to their knights or princes… If it is you, Lord Lucian, I wouldn’t mind being broken.”

“No, no, let’s keep things steady. Don’t go astray down that path, Natalia.”

What if this sheltered noble girl develops some incredibly strange habits in the future? Brother Lucian was suddenly very worried for her moral development.

For the time being, he simply treated her like a clingy, frightened puppy, holding her securely to satisfy her desperate need for safety.

It didn’t take long. Her breathing soon evened out, the tension bleeding from her muscles as she fell into a deep, exhausted slumber.

Though she had bravely spoken those bold words and even actively made advances toward him, her spirit had already been running on empty. So much had happened today; the violence, the fire, the escape. If not for her extreme lack of security keeping her awake on pure adrenaline, she would have passed out hours ago, huddled up with the other girls.

Lucian gently patted her back, rhythmically stroking her hair. The atmosphere in the room was incredibly warm and peaceful.

“…But seriously, how am I supposed to sleep now?”

Mr. Lucian was far too wired to even close his eyes!

Rationally, he could treat Natalia as a younger sister in need of comfort. But what was a man’s rationality worth when tested like this?

His current posture, wrapping his arms around her, made her surprisingly excellent figure—especially for her age—impossible to ignore. She was completely unguarded, pressed flush against him, essentially having delivered herself right into his hands.

Natalia wasn’t like the seasoned veterans of Penguin Logistics, whom he had long since grown accustomed to. He hadn’t built up any immunity to this particular Ursus noble yet.

“Pardon me, just sneaking past,” he whispered to the empty room.

Moving with agonizing slowness, he gently pried Natalia’s hands off his shirt, carefully replacing his body with a thick quilt for her to hug. Once she was secure, he silently slipped off the edge of the bed.

The young lady’s sleeping posture was lethal enough on its own. Lucian took a deep breath, trying to clear his head, and quietly padded out of the bedroom.

As he stepped into the cool hallway, he couldn’t help but mutter a complaint. “What kind of night watch is Exusiai even keeping out there? If I had exploded from the tension, was she going to take responsibility for it?”

Actually, that wasn’t a terrible idea. Lucian half-seriously wondered if he should go hunt down the Sankta girl to burn off some of this excess energy.

However, before he could go find the angel who had spectacularly failed at protecting his door, he stumbled right into a hidden character event.

“What are you doing out here?”

Zima was sitting at the end of the corridor, straddling the wide windowsill. One leg was propped up in a highly domineering, street-thug posture, bathed in the pale moonlight filtering through the glass.

Her signature fire axe rested across her lap. She truly was inseparable from the weapon, no matter where she went.

Lucian stopped, casually spreading his hands. “Couldn’t sleep. Just taking a walk to clear my head. I assume you’re in the same boat?”

Zima tilted her chin up, shooting him a dark, knowing look. “Didn’t you sleep with Natalia? Or are you already done?”

“Hey, watch your mouth, little girl! Don’t tease an adult like that!” Lucian immediately choked, his calm facade cracking.

Recovering quickly, he narrowed his eyes. “And how exactly did you know Natalia came to my room?”

Zima turned her gaze back out the window, staring at the shattered moon hanging over the ruined city. “It’s nothing. I just couldn’t sleep. I was keeping an eye on the room next door and saw her sneaking out into the hall.”

She paused, her grip tightening slightly on the handle of her axe. “If she had walked toward my room, I would have chopped her down on the spot. But she went into yours.”

“That’s a dangerous mindset to keep,” Lucian said, his tone dropping its usual playful edge. “I know you despise the nobles, Zima, but those girls don’t have the strength or the will to kill anyone right now. You can afford to relax a little, can’t you?”

“…I can’t relax.”

Zima turned her head back to face him.

To say she was expressionless would be a mistake. Her face was entirely numb. It was a stiff, hollow look, as if the muscles required to form any other emotion had simply died.

“I snuck into their dorms while they were sleeping,” Zima said, her voice flat and devoid of any inflection. “I chopped down all those damn noble boys. Every single one of them. Then I set the rooms on fire and burned everything clean.”

She looked down at her hands. “So it wouldn’t be surprising if Natalia tried to do the exact same thing to me in my sleep. Before she gets the chance to kill me, I’ll kill her first.”

Oh, dear… Lucian sighed inwardly, leaning against the wall.

She had finally said it. He had originally assumed she was going to keep that dark secret bottled up inside her forever.

When Lucian had first noticed the smoke rising from Peterheim Middle School, he had rushed in to save whoever was left. But when he kicked down the doors to the barricaded dormitories, all he found were dismembered corpses. There wasn’t a single living soul left in that wing.

He later learned that those specific rooms were where the noble boys had holed up. More, it was where they had hoarded all the remaining food. It was the only place in the entire school that still had supplies, which was exactly why the starving, desperate commoner students had finally snapped and rioted.

The question of who had actually crossed the line—who had slaughtered the boys and burned the room to the ground—had lingered in the air ever since.

Lucian walked over and casually took a seat on the windowsill beside her, joining her in watching the moon.

Zima frowned, clearly dissatisfied with his reaction. “You’re not surprised at all.”

Lucian chuckled softly, the sound warm and grounding in the cold night air. “Don’t underestimate mature and reliable adults, Zima. When you walked out of a burning building covered head-to-toe in blood, carrying a dripping axe… of course I could guess.”