Wiping away the traces at the corner of her mouth, Lailas stood and smoothed the unruly strands of hair over her forehead.
"Renato, you still have the finals tomorrow. Don't do this too often."
"You're young, and you may think you have plenty of energy, but keeping this up will wear your body out. It's time I left anyway. There's still a place outside the city I need to investigate..."
Lying in bed at the Fragrant Words, Renato savored the afterglow.
Having had no chance to find release for so long since coming to this world, he had been like a starving wolf, greedy for the half-elf's lips.
Still, her almost maternal expression always left him a little uncomfortable. Renato was also somewhat puzzled.
"Lailas, don't you... enjoy it? Why do you always..."
The half-elf chuckled and pressed a finger to Renato's lips, cutting off his question.
"You're still too young. Let's talk about that when you're more mature."
"What do you mean?" Renato frowned slightly. "I'm already twenty-six... no, twenty. Plenty of men my age already have several children."
"What about that little mage? Isn't she coming back the day after tomorrow?" Lailas changed the subject. "That girl named Perly likes you a lot, doesn't she? Don't tell me you haven't noticed."
"Perly's too young. She isn't mature enough yet..." Noticing the sly glint in the half-elf's eyes, Renato said helplessly, "That's different, Lailas. I saved Perly once, so she idolizes me a little blindly. That isn't normal romantic love."
Bound by his lingering moral principles, Renato could only treat Perly as a younger sister or daughter for now.
"Oh, really? Then why not wait a few years? Once Perly grows up, you can marry her, have children, and spend a peaceful, happy life together."
*Marry, have children, and