My Happy Marriage (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 3.1

Finished with her bath, Miyo headed for the bedroom.

Inside, Kiyoka was sitting on the bed in his sleeping yukata, having already bathed.

“Kiyoka, I’m finished washing up.”

“Got it.”

Kiyoka cleaned up the documents he was reading for work and beckoned her over. Miyo obeyed and gently sat down next to him.

“Kiyoka.”

“What is it?”

During her bath, Miyo had thought back over various things.

Like the fact that perhaps Kiyoka’s words in the park that day, which had seemed so incomprehensible, may have been alluding to Tadakiyo’s behavior. And the fact that Hazuki, who hadn’t been around for their conversation with Tadakiyo, knew it all, too.

However, none of that was what weighed on Miyo’s mind the most.

“Um, it’s regarding…the doll you gave me.”

That appeared to be enough for Kiyoka to surmise what Miyo wanted to say. Vigorously turning to Miyo, he swiftly answered her.

“It’s not like that. I absolutely didn’t have those thoughts in mind when I gave you that doll, and I wouldn’t resort to any tricks like that. I swear to God.”

“Okay…”

At times like these, she was certain that if Hazuki were here, she would have said her brother was just making himself look more suspicious by being so frantic.

But Miyo found Kiyoka’s panicked display heartwarming and endearing.

“I’m serious.”

“Yes, I know. You don’t need to emphasize it so much, I understand.”

As if to continue from that morning, Kiyoka laid Miyo down on the bed as she failed to hold back her giggle. He looked so serious.

“I do think that it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have at least one arts-enchanted item like that among your belongings, though.”

“What…?”

Kiyoka suddenly buried his face in Miyo’s neck. His breath felt hot and ticklish. Before she knew it, her chest was filled to the brim with his scent.

“You’re always at risk. If I don’t give you that, at least, I’ll be worried to death about someone taking you away or hurting you.”

“K-Kiyoka, please don’t talk so much…!”

A strange sound threatened to escape her lips each time Kiyoka spoke, and his breath caressed the back of her neck. She somehow managed to endure it, wrapping her arms around Kiyoka’s head and softly hugging him close.

“If you really think that’s necessary, please just say so, Kiyoka.”

In the end, Miyo would be probably the same as Fuyu.

She might have her activities spied on all day, have all the sounds and words she said listened in on. Even knowing all that, she was sure she’d accept it.

After all, I belong to you.

If that was enough to prove it, if that was enough to put Kiyoka’s mind at ease—she wouldn’t mind if Kiyoka observed her daily life to his heart’s content, even if she found it embarrassing.

“Are you serious about that?” Kiyoka asked in a husky voice, rubbing his face into Miyo’s nape like an indulgent child. Miyo stroked Kiyoka’s hair.

“Yes, I’m serious.”

“I’m not joking, I might actually do that.”

“I know. I don’t mind.”

Slowly, Kiyoka lifted his head. Their lips drew close and brushed against each other. They leaned into a deep, passionate kiss.

They melted in their love together.

“…Darling, I love you.”

“And I, you.”

No one object, no piece of evidence, could capture the totality of their love. But the tokens of their bond, in all shapes and sizes, proved that a small part of the love they shared was real, no matter where the two of them may be.

Miyo yielded herself to the warmth that enveloped her whole body and closed her eyes.