The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 185 - I Always Think Of, Talk About, And Love You… So Shouldn’t You Never Stop Sneezing?

Chapter 185: Chapter 185 - I Always Think Of, Talk About, And Love You... So Shouldn’t You Never Stop Sneezing?

The little dining room turned workshop smelled like leather and wood, though one of the people inside it was too focused on the subtle spice wafting from her beloved. It was a nice smell, but it wasn’t the girl’s natural one... which gave a certain Goltbred the idea of what sort of food a certain Yecine had brought for them to enjoy.

"What exactly do you say about me?"

Qatrand mumbled after they both remained quiet for a while. Elua, still standing on the furniture like she hadn’t been raised in an affluent or respectful family, grabbed the tall girl’s wrist and pulled her grip away.

"Well, it’s not so much about the words. It’s about how they are used."

The heiress rose further up while grabbing and pulling the blonde’s face to her chest, stroking her hair in the way the swordswoman often did to her.

"I spoke about that woman for a fraction of a minute. I regularly speak your name and praise you for dozens at a time."

"What can you even talk about for that long?"

"Oh, you know. How impressed I am by your cultivation progress. How dedicated you are to your training..."

Qat breathed out and hugged back at her.

"I think you’re exaggerating. It’s because of your knowledge that I’m-"

"Not at all. I’m a help to you. I’d never claim not to be. Yet, you’ve taken what little advice I’ve honestly given and turned into who you are now over the years."

The ancient cultivator’s spirit shoved its ’pride’ and ’love’ onto the Yecine. As a spiritualist first and foremost, Elua felt that letting a person find the ways to walk on their own was key to their survival as well as their ultimate desires.

She had spent much longer with much more direct intervention with her old life’s disciples. Some had grown along their paths quicker than Qatrand, but even then she considered it to be due to their own efforts. How could she dare to think any different just because the one she taught was the one she loved?

"I’m also not lying about the length I can talk. If you’d like, you can ask Zyris er Talcres what happened when she asked me about you in private before the wedding. I believe I bragged for nearly an hour."

The ’older’ teen could believe it. She had personally experienced being chatted with about the girl’s days for that long - even when they were younger. If it wasn’t for the letters that felt the same, she might have thought back then that it was just caused by the infrequent meetings.

"Actually, our servants probably know more about you than they do me. In fact, when they think of their young miss..."

The brunette chuckled and stopped the touches on the blonde’s hair.

"They must immediately remember the times I cornered them to talk about you."

"You cornered them?"

They both reluctantly parted each other’s embrace at roughly the same time. The illusionist grabbed onto the retreating hands and shook her head ’sadly’.

"Yes, can you imagine? The absolute tragedy of it. They were just being polite and I spoke of what makes you great until they got tired of nodding."

Elua’s dramatic tone finally drew a soft chuckle from Qat, who understood she herself had gotten too serious. The swordswoman brought their joined hands up and pressed a kiss to her cute wife’s now blazingly warm knuckles. The chill from practicing the Frost mimicry had more than fled.

"Does that mean you’re done with being upset?"

A ’sweet’ voice asked her softly.

"Yes. I apologize. I guess... it was my turn to ruin the mood."

"Nonsense, the mood is very good right now~ My darling, you should never be hesitant to express your displeasure with me, remember?"

"I won’t be. Hesitant."

A firm and sure response answered back without any thought. Qatrand had never been one to stay quiet if she had something to say. The lie her family forced her to live was the one exception.

"Be more careful with your body, El. It wasn’t necessary to let your hands get that cold, was it?"

"Well... no. I just wasn’t thinking."

Manipulating physical energy would function far quicker to warm oneself than holding hands. The Yecine had been too ’hasty’ when she felt the sensation at first, rushing to try and help. Now she idly wondered if her El had not considered this when requesting a ’hand holding a day’.

’No, there’s no chance that she didn’t understand that. Which is why her insistence on it was... irresistible.’

"I suppose we have no choice then. I’ll have to remember it for you."

The small teenager’s eyes became listless once again, even as genuine ’happiness’ leaked through the core of her intense spirit. She returned to her knees on the chair, leaned forward and rested her forehead against their linked fingers. For many seconds, she just sat like that... breathing in the moment.

"My hands may need quite a lot of warming in the coming days."

"Okay. It’s fortunate that I have plenty of warmth for you in me to share."

"...Kiss."

The swordswoman tilted her head, pretending she didn’t hear or understand the quiet demand.

"M-my lips are cold too. Probably."

"Oh. Then we should get you something warm to eat."

The heiress looked like she just bit into something unpleasant at the topic shifting in a different direction... until she felt the ’amusement’ in her husband-wife. It didn’t seem to be about the food she had brought? Mint eyes met the pigeon-blue looking down at her with some kind of ’triumph’ in them.

"Perhaps a quick, warm dessert? Then you can get back to your work."

Elua blinked at the tall girl, feeling like she was missing something. Had her beloved started learning to make sweets with the Goltbred cook? Qat quickly realized that her teasing was not landing as effectively as she had hoped.

"I must have waited too long. Do you not remember when you asked for a kiss when I suggested ordering a dessert?"

A light blush tinged Elua’s cheeks as the memory surfaced. She had indeed made such a playful request before. The fact that Qat remembered and was referencing it made her heart beat and caused her to tilt her chin up expectantly.

"Mm, perhaps I did forget. But I suppose I can’t refuse such a sweet tasting offer."

The swordswoman leaned down and cupped one hand on Elua’s cheek as she pressed their lips together in a lingering kiss. When they parted, the heiress gazed up at her beloved with adoring mint eyes. Her husband-wife really was just too good.

’I wonder who I should corner at the estate and brag to in front of her when we get there?’

---

A woman sneezed twice quickly out of the blue. The personal servant was surprised about it, considering the general lack of dust in the building. She looked around to see if anything new was in the location when the male receptionist of the new branch office looked over at her and spoke.

"Someone must be thinking of you. Isn’t that nice?"

"Hm? Oh. No, I am sure that it is just that I am coming down with a cold."

The man shrugged and nodded without noticing the brief frown that passed over her face. He went back to sorting the latest requests for services for after the Descent. Many had been submitted already - and it was almost overworking the few new hires.

The servant wandered off, thinking that it might be a good idea to go back early today. The young master Qatrand had informed the Goltbred house that he would be going to retrieve their eldest daughter.

’My lady may already be back?’

"Klaytei, do you have a moment?"

The voice of the branch manager called from the stairwell. The woman turned from where she was standing at the window and walked over to where her technical boss was waiting at the foot of the stairs. Dima had taken to using her name ever since the personal servant had cooked for her.

"What do you need?"

"I was hoping you would help me organize some documents that just-"

"My apologies, but unless they are intended for the young miss, I am afraid it is out of the scope of my required efforts."

She bowed and moved past before the other party could speak any more. The former liaison watched the woman leave with a raised eyebrow and then shook her head with a grimace.

"What an odd woman. She will clean and occasionally make sure I’ve eaten, but won’t move on anything else... unless it is for that girl."

Dima returned up the stairs to her document heavy desk, idly wondering if the employee of the Goltbred family would make her an evening snack if she stayed here late again. The branch manager decided it would be better not to risk missing a meal. She would go eat somewhere by herself.

When she sat down, she suddenly sneezed twice and shivered after remembering that Elua was supposed to be returning soon.