Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up - Volume 2 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue: What Makes a Person Your Type

I woke to the sound of birds chirping.

I feel well-rested.

There was a simple reason I was so happy about that: because this wasn’t my room. It was still my castle, though, so it wasn’t hard to sleep here.

There was, of course, a reason I had been sleeping in another room and not my own bed.

*

“My type?”

“Yes...!”

“Why are you suddenly asking?”

“Because...!”

Euracia got that far and then looked away. Then, looking at the bed, she rubbed her eyes slightly. First with one hand, then with both. Did she still look anything like the icy princess of the battlefield like this?

“I’m starting to get sleepy.”

Then, without answering my question, she lay down in bed. In my bed. In short, she was dodging the conversation. Thankfully, she wouldn’t be pressing me about my taste in women. If I was this exhausted, then she must have had it even worse. She’d slept even less than I had, after all. And yet she’d come all the way to Eintorian in that state.

I don’t understand the need for such a forced march.

Euracia had gone back to Rozern. She could have rested up there first.

“Hey, Euracia! Are you planning to sleep here? You already have the room in the castle you were using before! Wake up!”

This elicited no response. She kept dozing away, breathing softly in her sleep.

Did she just change the topic and then pretend to fall asleep?

I couldn’t understand why. It was a fact that we were both dead tired, and that I’d gotten sleepy as soon as I saw the bed too. But still, could she really fall asleep so quickly in my bed?

If this is just one manifestation of her feeling relaxed around me, then, well... That’s not a bad thing.

This was the woman who’d skewered the King of Brijit through the throat in order to settle her country’s grudge against him. She never hesitated to use her sword. Showed no mercy when it came time to hold true to her convictions. She’d told me that was just a face she put on for others to see.

But the way she was acting now was too far removed from that. Realizing I had been staring at her for a while, I shook my head.

If she trusts me so much, then I can’t possibly betray that. If I were to lay a hand on her just because she fell asleep in my room, then I’d be back to being a villainous lord. And if she’s really just sleeping here because she’s tired, then touching her would be a crime. She’s vitally important to me.

There’s nothing else for it. I’ll have to go to another room myself.

I tried to move, but then realized she was clutching my clothes.

“Euracia? Listen, it’s okay if you want to sleep here. But could you let go of me?”

She didn’t budge.

Seeing no other option, I took hold of her hand and tried to open it up, but she had such a death grip on me that I couldn’t.

Ultimately, it turned into a bit of a battle.

*

And so, that’s how I ended up waking in another room. I yawned and stretched. My stamina had recovered pretty well thanks to a good night’s sleep. So, I headed out into the corridor. I was concerned about Euracia, so I headed straight to my bedroom. I rapped lightly on the door.

Knock, knock.

“Yes!” came the reply from inside. She was apparently awake.

Euracia was sitting on the bed when I entered. Her long hair was still a mess, and her expression was a bit dazed.

“You awake?”

She stared vacantly in my direction, blinking repeatedly before she slowly opened her mouth.

“Why am I sleeping here? And in your bed...?”

Why do you sound like someone who got black-out drunk?

“You’re telling me you can’t remember?”

Euracia blinked some more before nodding.

“Yes.”

“You chased me out. You were sleeping so peacefully, so I slept in another room.”

“Th-Th-Th-That can’t possibly be right!”

“But it is. Now how about you wipe that drool away.”

“Huh?”

Euracia brought a hand to her mouth.

“Eeeeeeek!”

She ran right out of the room. Thanks to that, I was able to reclaim it for myself. The bed still smelled faintly of her lingering fragrance. Feeling stupid for thinking about that, I went over to look at the broken window. The weather was fine—neither hot nor cold. So the lack of a window didn’t bother me that much.

Once I had basked in the sun for a little, staring into space, Euracia returned.

“Ohhh, I’m so exhausted. Listen, it sounds like a lot happened, but please, forget all of it!” she shouted, possibly out of breath from running.

Her previously sleep-addled features were now keenly awake.

“Uh, you can ask me to forget all you want, but it’s not that easy...”

“For-get a-bout it!” she demanded again, enunciating every syllable.

But what am I supposed to forget? The sight of her face when she’s just woken up?

“I already saw drool on your face when we fell into the trap, so...”

“Oh, you’re right. It did happen then too, now that you mention it. How odd.”

“What’s odd?”

She cocked her head to the side, seemingly perplexed, then explained, “I’d never slept in front of another person. Which means I hadn’t let anyone see me like that before... I can’t sleep all that well normally, so the idea of me falling sound asleep in front of another person is just impossible!”

Come to think of it, she felt the need to ask me if she’d really fallen asleep when we were in the trap too.

“You feel relaxed around me, right? Maybe that’s why?”

Euracia fell silent and stared at me. She soon nodded.

“You...may be right. Because I can’t find any other reason.”

“Seriously?”

She accepted that so easily I didn’t know how to respond.

“What’s that reaction for?! Anyway! That’s how it is! I’m going now!”

With that, she ran off, even though I still had more to ask her. Like why she was clutching my clothes in her sleep. She was holding on way too tight for it to have been just an accident.

But with Euracia already gone, I’d missed my chance to ask.

“Oh, well.”

I sank into the bed that still smelled faintly of Euracia and indulged in the luxury of going right back to sleep after waking up—a first for me since coming to this world.