Early the next morning, dawn light filtered through the sheer curtains, scattering across the spacious bedroom.
Eris slowly opened her eyes in the warmth, her mind still hazy with sleep.
She shifted, only to find her arms wrapped tightly around something extraordinarily solid yet incomparably warm.
That feeling... was it a sturdy shoulder?
Or a warm chest?
"Ru... Rudeus??!!"
Eris's CPU instantly overloaded, and she snapped wide awake!
She realized she was clinging to Rudeus like a sloth, completely off guard.
A vivid blush spread instantly from her neck to the tips of her ears.
Shame and panic exploded in her mind, and Eris almost instinctively raised a leg and kicked the person in front of her.
But she had clearly underestimated the terrifying monstrous strength she now possessed, far beyond the reach of ordinary people-
Boom-!!
With an ear-splitting crash, Rudeus, still fast asleep, didn't even grunt.
Like a cannonball fired from a barrel, he smashed through the solid stone-brick wall with a splat and flew backward out of the second floor!
In midair, the magic instinctively circulating inside Rudeus sensed the danger, and a faint blue defensive shield instantly appeared around him.
"Holy shit... what happened?"
"Why am I lying in the courtyard?"
"-Sss-ow, ow, ow!"
Rudeus, who had slammed heavily into the ground, sucked in a sharp breath, feeling as though every bone in his body was about to fall apart.
"Sss-ha-I feel like Zhong Wuyan used her ultimate on me and spun like crazy all night!"
Rudeus rubbed his temples as his memories began to return...
Last night, he had fallen asleep in Eris's embrace, and at first it had been quite cozy.
But in the middle of the night, the girl must have been having some wonderful dream, because her grip kept getting tighter, practically crushing him like a python.
I could even clearly hear my ribs cracking under the strain!
To stay alive, I didn't dare close my eyes all night. I endured the excruciating pain while frantically casting healing spells to repair myself.
I finally made it to morning and managed to doze off for a bit, only to get kicked straight through a wall.
"Rudeus!! Are you okay? I-I didn't mean to!"
Eris called down anxiously and guiltily from the hole in the shattered wall above.
"No biggie, no biggie, just a fatal wound or two~"
I clutched my chest and answered, pretending to be weak, while thinking about how to take this chance to make the young lady feel sorry for me.
However, before he could strike a suitably weak pose, a jumble of hurried, panicked footsteps came from behind him.
Several maids rushed over, brooms and rags in hand, their faces deathly pale.
"What happened?!"
"Ah-!"
"Lord Rudeus!! Why are you lying in the flower bed?!"
"Oh my goodness-!!"
"Why is the wall of the second-floor room in pieces all over the ground?!"
"Quick! Go tell Young Master Philip!!"
The maids cried out in panic.
"N-no... there's no need to trouble Master Philip!"
"We were just... doing some slightly intense morning training!"
Rudeus scrambled to his feet and hurriedly stopped the frantic maids.
"But Lord Rudeus, that wall... that was a load-bearing wall, and it's been smashed to rubble!"
The maid in the lead pointed at the wreckage, her face full of disbelief.
"It's fine. Not a big problem."
Rudeus took a deep breath and quietly channeled the healing magic inside him.
With a barely perceptible green glow, his displaced bones instantly popped and cracked back into place.
Then Rudeus brushed the dust off his clothes.
He gave the maids an elegant wink and an exceptionally gentle smile:
"I'll take care of everything here, so would you lovely ladies please keep this little secret for us?"
With that, he gave the maids present a wink.
In an instant, the delicate young maids were so enchanted that their pretty faces turned bright red, and their eyes filled with pink bubbles.
"O-okay... Lord Rudeus! We absolutely won't tell a soul!"
With that, they covered their faces and hurried away, shy and bashful.
"Phew-safe landing."
Rudeus breathed a sigh of relief.
He turned to face the pile of broken bricks and tiles, his expression turning solemn.
With a wave of his hand, surging magic poured out like a tide, precisely enveloping every piece of rubble.
Under his astonishing control of magic, the shattered wall moved as though time were flowing backward.
The fragments flew back into place, fitting together seamlessly.
Not even a single crack remained; the wall was restored to its original state in an instant.
The miraculous transformation left Eris frozen in place inside the room, trembling with astonishment.
After taking care of everything, Rudeus dusted off his hands and shouted up to the second floor:
"Eris! You have twenty minutes to wash up. Come straight down when you're ready, and meet me at the training grounds!"
"Oh, oh! I know!"
Eris answered in a fluster and disappeared from the window, her face red.