Chapter 7

After changing into my pajamas, I slipped beneath the warm, cozy blankets.

Hero Licht, who had barely slept properly while staying by my side these past few days, would finally be able to get some proper rest tonight.

Actually, he had his own room in the imperial palace.

But he said he didn’t feel comfortable being far away from me while I was asleep and defenseless.

Considering that our lives were connected, I could understand.

So we’d decided to use the room right next to mine. That way, he could come running immediately if anything happened.

After letting out a small yawn, I closed my eyes.

Enjoying the fresh, sun-warmed scent of the fluffy blankets.

I drifted through dreams for several hours before waking up with a strange sensation stirring in my heart.

“Yaaawn… What is it?”

The back of my neck felt strangely tense, and I had the feeling that I’d made some kind of huge mistake.

For some reason, I felt like I needed to see the Hero immediately, so I ran into the room next door.

When I opened the large door, what I saw was Licht collapsed on the floor, writhing in agony.

“Ah! Hero!”

What was happening?!

Poison? A curse?

Whatever it was, I needed to do something immediately.

I instinctively tried to draw out my holy power.

But the power inside my body remained completely still.

Ah, right.

The bracelet Her Holiness Celestia had filled with holy power!

I hurriedly tried to take off the bracelet around my wrist, but Licht, who had barely managed to lift his upper body, grabbed my hand.

“Don’t use it, Pluur!”

I froze in surprise.

Breathing heavily, he pulled me tightly into his arms.

“Holy power… no. I’m fine, so…”

I concentrated and checked Licht’s condition through the body pressed against mine.

Sure enough, just as he’d said, he was getting better.

His breathing had already begun to stabilize.

When I remained still, he let out a relieved sigh and released me from his embrace.

But wait a second.

Looking more closely, I realized that this Hero had just gotten out of the bath.

He was wearing nothing but a single towel wrapped around his waist!

I figured I should at least get some clothes on him first, so I looked around the room.

Oh, there was a robe in that basket.

I stretched my arm as far as I could, and fortunately, I could reach it.

I quickly grabbed it and draped it over his shoulders.

The Hero said he could stand on his own, but I was worried, so I supported him and led him to the bed.

I also made sure he properly put on the robe so we wouldn’t end up in an even more embarrassing situation.

“Judging from what happened, you collapsed the moment you came out after washing, right?”

“Yes. It felt like my soul was being squeezed out of me.”

I looked at the clock hanging on the wall.

Midnight had already passed, and the date had changed.

It was currently 12:30 a.m.

The Hero had been suffering terribly, yet he’d recovered simply from being in contact with me, without me even using holy power.

“I’ll move away from you for a moment.”

Understanding what I intended, he nodded.

I carefully separated our bodies and moved slightly to the side.

Immediately, a deep frown appeared between the Hero’s brows.

Apparently unable to endure it, he unconsciously reached out and grabbed my hand.

So he’s in pain when he’s separated from his master, but he’s fine when he’s in contact with me.

There’s no doubt about it.

This is obviously a side effect of the subordination contract!

Sob, sob!

This is exactly why there is always a reason behind being told not to do something.

The Hero, who had enjoyed all the advantages of the forbidden subordination contract until now, had finally reached the point where he had to endure its painful drawback.

There was no way I was getting a good night’s sleep tonight.

I stood up, figuring I should close the door that had been left wide open.

Of course, I kept holding Licht’s hand the entire time.

“This is an emergency, Hero. At least we’re lucky this happened during a time when there aren’t any maids or servants around. But we need to figure out the conditions of this restriction before morning.”

We put our heads together and began carefully analyzing the situation.

Once we combined the clues we had, we quickly reached a conclusion.

“It seems that, based on a single day—or 24 hours—the subordinate has to remain in contact with their master for a certain amount of time.”

“The problem is that we still don’t know how long that period of contact has to be.”

Yesterday, Licht and I had spent quite a long time apart.

He had gone off to handle paperwork related to the aftermath of the Demon King subjugation.

So this was probably why all of this had happened today.

Considering that even simply touching fingertips was enough to prevent the side effects, the amount of contact probably mattered less than the length of time.

Every ten minutes, we held hands and separated again to test it.

Then, an hour and a half later, Licht nodded and said he wasn’t in pain anymore.

“Does that mean we absolutely have to remain in contact for at least an hour and a half every day?”

“No. It’ll be longer than that. What we’ve filled just now probably makes up for the amount we were short yesterday.”

“It’s a forbidden art, but since it’s technically called a contract… Ah! I think I understand how it works. It’s similar to an employment contract!”

“Yes. The subordinate seems to have to serve their master for a certain amount of time every day, and if they fail to do so, they’re punished. Any hours they failed to fulfill have to be made up the following day.”

Licht took a blank sheet of paper and used a pencil to write down his entire schedule from yesterday morning until night.

Basically, whenever the two of us traveled together, we were almost always in contact.

He would hold my hand as part of his escort or lightly link arms with me.

But outside of those times, the amount of physical contact we’d had was short.

The maids had done everything for me, from washing and changing clothes to brushing my hair.

“It seems we need about four hours of contact.”

“That long?”

“When we were having the meeting with His Majesty and Her Holiness, we were sitting next to each other on the sofa.”

If we added up the time we’d spent talking, walking around the imperial palace, and everything else, we’d been together for about two and a half hours.

Two and a half hours yesterday plus an hour and a half today made four hours.

“Hero, this isn’t going to be easy. Unless we stay in the same room all day, it’ll be difficult to fulfill the requirement.”

“We absolutely have to complete four hours before midnight.”

It would probably take quite some time for the temple to finish preparing the contract termination ritual.

At the very least, they would need to discreetly clear the schedule of either the Pope or one of the High Priests.

Until then, the Hero and I would have to somehow endure while making sure no one discovered our subordination contract.

No matter how hard I racked my brain, there was only one solution I could think of right now.

“There’s no other choice. Hero, let’s sleep together at night.”

“You mean… share a bed?”

“Yes.”

It was embarrassing for me to say it, but it was better than having the Hero rolling around on the floor in agony!

To begin with, a Hero’s body was several times sturdier than that of an ordinary person.

And after fighting the Demon King, Heroes became accustomed to severe injuries and pain.

Eventually, they even developed greater endurance for withstanding pain.

Licht in particular had an even stronger body than the previous Heroes because the subordination contract had strengthened his entire body.

And yet, he had collapsed without even being able to call anyone for help.

“The pain is probably caused by the forbidden art, so medicine won’t work. I’m not even sure whether holy power would work properly. For now, I think this is the most effective solution. It’ll also be easier to avoid other people’s eyes.”

After hearing me out, the Hero hesitated for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.

He accepted it because even he couldn’t think of any better solution.

Then, when I asked him about how the imperial palace maids worked, he answered immediately.

“Imperial palace maids usually work from seven in the morning until nine at night. Three of them rotate shifts while attending to members of the imperial family and honored guests, taking turns eating and resting.”

Apparently, there were also two reserve maids who could immediately be called in as replacements if necessary.

“I’d like to sleep a little longer in the morning, so let’s have them come at eight. And we can have them finish a little earlier, too.”

“Yes. The maids won’t find thirty minutes particularly strange.”

We also needed to report the situation to His Majesty the Emperor and ask for his assistance.

We decided to contact him as soon as morning came.

“Princess, I think you should go to sleep now.”

“What are we going to do tonight? If we don’t complete the required time, the same thing will happen again as soon as midnight strikes.”

“I’ll hold your hand until then and move back to my room before the maids arrive.”

That would mean the third day in a row without proper sleep.

Even a Hero with an incredibly strong body would have his lifespan shortened if he kept pushing himself like this.

Neither of us was so dull that we couldn’t hear an alarm, so we decided to set one and go to sleep.

In fact, ever since I was chosen as the Legendary Princess, I’d almost never slept alone.

Since I was an important person who absolutely couldn’t afford to die, I had always shared a tent with the female knights who served as both my guards and escorts.

I’d even spent more than half a year sharing a tent with Hero Dietrich.

It was safer to have the Hero and the Legendary Princess use a single tent because it allowed us to station our personnel more densely than if we divided them between two tents.

During winter, I didn’t want to freeze to death, so I’d put on every piece of clothing I could and slept as close to everyone else as possible.

The reason was different this time, but it seemed I would once again be sharing a blanket with a Hero for a while.

I returned to my room and lay down on the bed, then patted the empty space beside me.

“Come on, Hero. Let’s get to sleep.”

After hesitating for a moment, Licht slowly moved over.

He lay down with a small sigh and took my hand.

“It’s one in the morning, so let’s set the alarm for five. We both need to get some rest.”

At my words, the Hero obediently closed his eyes.

I counted silently to one hundred, a little faster than usual, then carefully opened my eyes.

As expected, he was already sleeping peacefully.

He had been suffering from severe pain on top of his sleep deprivation, so the fatigue accumulated in his body must have been considerable.

Besides, I figured he would fall asleep quickly because he didn’t have to stay on high alert as long as he was within reach of me.

I needed to get at least a little sleep myself if I wanted to stay conscious during the day.

Just as I was relaxing and trying to clear my mind of all my thoughts, something suddenly grabbed me around the waist and spun my entire body around.

“Huh?”

Licht had pulled me into his arms in his sleep.

Maybe he was fighting the Demon King in his dreams or something, because his arms were so strong that there was no sign of them loosening.

I gently patted his back to soothe him.

Only then did he seem to relax, slowly releasing the strength in his arms.

Good grief.

Whether it was the Hero from 500 years ago or the Hero from the present, they’re the same.

Their appearances, ages, and social statuses are completely different, but perhaps it’s because they share the same soul?

They’re equally troublesome.

A princess can’t get any rest around these people!