Picked Up A Strange Knight Chapter 11

Author’s Note

Thank you for bookmarking, scoring, and giving kudos! I’m so happyyyyy…! If I may say it, it reached second on the BL daily board… This was really a huge surprise…

Upon opening my eyes, the first thing I saw was Ilias’s fretful face. The heck was he doing? And why was I asleep just now…? I vaguely thought back to last night while sliding a warm palm over my forehead.

“Sorry, Azusa… You were so cute that I couldn’t stop…”

The moment Ilias dropped those apologetic and self-reflecting words into my ears, innumerable shameful events popped back into my head. ‘Can you even feel good with another guy?’ I had just been joking but as soon as he heard that he proceeded to eat me up with relish.

Starting with a kiss, he stroked, licked, and swallowed, he jerked me off, and then finally, we ended up rubbing our things together… Just how many times did we do it, even? I had clung to him while crying, ‘I can’t anymore’… then his hands came around to my a.s.s, and…

AAAAAAAAAHHH thinking about it just makes me wanna die; it’s so humiliating…!! Right in the middle of it all, I’d lost my d.a.m.n senses and said some dumba.s.s s.h.i.+t, didn’t I…!

I’m going to die of shame. Actually, I’d like to die now, please. Hauling the blanket up, I buried myself beneath the sheets in order to avoid this guy’s gaze. It’s not like I’d lost my maidenhood or anything, but the this and that that we’d done had definitely crossed a boundary that was clearly off-limits… Like what the h.e.l.l… How could I have just let myself get swept away like that, seriously…!

“A… Azusa? Are you alright; does it hurt anywhere?”

Would it kill you to not make graphic remarks like “I pushed your body too hard”?! It’s making me feel way too embarra.s.sed… Just what type of face am I supposed to show now…

“… Did it disgust you, after all…?”

While I dithered about worrying, Ilias's tight and pained voice drifted through the blankets. When he pleadingly called my name, I didn’t have any choice but to lift my head out of the covers. I saw him kneeling on the floor, looking down in my direction like he’d wanted to catch my eye as soon as possible, with an expression like he was about to cry.

“I’m sorry… I had gotten carried away. If you would rather not see my face again, I will leave at once—”

“I never said anything like that!”

I got up from the bed in an instant and interrupted him, shouting over his words more vehemently than I’d intended.

I was only feeling shy and embarra.s.sed, that’s all. If you were to ask me if I thought it was repulsive, then I’d say it wasn’t like that one bit. Well, if I were asked to kiss any other guy, I’d be grossed out… I guess I didn’t mind if it was with Ilias even though I didn’t have any clue why —maybe it was because I’d gotten addicted to his technique. But the one thing I was certain of was that I didn’t hate it. I felt that from the bottom of my heart.

And yet, I didn’t actually say the rest of what I wanted to tell him even after interrupting him like that. In reality, I hesitated. Ilias stared at me in surprise and after pondering for a while, came closer to my downturned face, lowering his head so that he could look up and meet my eyes.

“… So, you didn’t dislike it?”

Argh… My ears are definitely red right now… So d.a.m.n embarra.s.sing… But, since I didn’t want to be misunderstood, I answered him with a tiny nod.

“Then… it’s alright if I stay here, with you?”

“… I just wanted to go somewhere else for a bit. Don't read into it so much.”

“Azusa…!”

He laughed, looking like he was about to let out tears, and thanked me while saying, “I’m grateful to you!” I replied only with an ‘alright’. When I said that, Ilias took my hand and pressed a kiss on its back. He said:

“To be able to remain by your side… is the greatest happiness I have ever felt.”

“———Tch, y-you… you’re so embarra.s.sing!”

I don’t get it. Just how come I didn’t feel any regret over getting pushed down and crossing the line with him? And how come, when I saw how overjoyed he was to stay with me, I also felt really glad… I’ve completely gotten weird.

Ever since I started living together with Ilias, my life had changed a lot.

For one thing, I now woke up a little faster in the mornings so that I could slowly enjoy breakfast at home, instead of just scarfing down whatever I could with one hand at my desk like before.The amount of time I allowed myself now was truly different.

This morning, Ilias cooked up some French toast that he’d seen on yesterday’s Three Minute Cooking show.1 He knew that I couldn’t eat sweet stuff so early in the day so I felt grateful about how he kept the sweetness in moderation. I got really hyped up when I saw that posh breakfast that looked like something out of a hotel in a Western TV drama.

The month of May quickly came around, bringing with it a change in seasonal clothes. I tossed my summertime suit jacket over the back of the sofa. The minute I sat down on the cus.h.i.+on for breakfast, a hot coffee appeared with perfect timing before me. Ilias himself just had orange juice. Seated next to each other on the couch, we clapped our hands to say ‘Thanks for the food’ and began to eat.

After taking a single bite I let out, “d.a.m.n, this tastes great," making Ilias laugh happily as he picked up his fork. The TV was on while we ate, the news airing a stream of celebrity weddings. Yep, it was May after all, so there were tons of people getting married. Even my friends from high school were sending out messages regarding their upcoming wedding ceremonies, huh… To those poor fellows beginning their unfortunate married lives, I would like to offer my condolences. Haa… Let’s not think about such heavy things, especially while eating such good breakfast food.

“Azusa, why are those two showing the backs of their hands?”

Just as I tried to switch gears, Ilias spoke with a befuddled expression on his face. Even you, Ilias? You would also force an unmarried and single man into a corner like this? Well, I knew he was only asking because he sincerely didn’t know the reason behind it, so I understood, but… It's just, I was honestly feeling a little attacked right now.

“It’s the rings; they’re showing off their wedding rings.”

“Wedding rings…? So people wear rings while marrying?”

“Yeah, you put the ring on the fourth finger of your left hand.”

“Ah, I understand. It’s the symbol of a person's marriage.”

“Yup, exactly that. Men give another ring to women when proposing, too. Do you not have something like that where you’re from?”

“In my country the partners share a pair of earrings, and each person wears one of the two in their ear.”

“Oooh, that’s pretty interesting.”

“The act of sharing a set of something to wear is the same in both places, it seems.”

Ilias stared at the screen with narrowed eyes like he’d seen something dazzling. I glanced at him stealthily and nodded as if to say ‘Yeah, I guess so’.

When it neared the time for me to leave the house, I held my suit jacket over my arm and stood up. Seeing my movements, Ilias said, “So it’s already that time,” and stood up as well so that he could see me off. As usual, I put on my shoes and turned around. Ilias had always bid me goodbye at the door before, but ever since that time we had crossed that boundary over Golden Week, there was another thing that had changed.

“Alright then. I’ll let you know if I can’t make it back on time.”

“Alright. Be careful on your way to work.”

“I will. Ahh, also. Sorry, but if you could iron my business s.h.i.+rt later, it’d really help me out.”

“Not a problem. I’ll starch it as well.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

Seeing his consideration, I sincerely thanked Ilias and was about to open the lock on the door to go outside when he called out my name. As I thought, that really couldn’t have been it, huh…? Honestly, it sure was a problem how he couldn’t settle down while parting… As I thought that, I indulged him and turned around, and right there in front of me was his princely face. Why are you making that kind of longing expression… I’ll be back soon, you know.

“Ilias…”

When I called out his name, his face got closer, and the distance between us naturally vanished. We kissed while standing, our lips making light smooching sounds. The kiss deepened after changing the angle of how our mouths slotted together. Ilias nibbled on my lips, and as if answering his unasked question I slightly opened my mouth, letting his hot tongue enter. Seemingly like it’d been waiting for just this, the tongue entwined itself with mine and started licking and sucking me the way that I liked.

“Haa, mn…”

I couldn’t hold in my voice and moaned, making Ilias push me up against the front door. His elbow landed on the wall next to my face, trapping me in with his body; and while he had me in this kabedon-like position, the kiss intensified. 2

s.h.i.+t, he really knows how to kiss… That was the last rational thought I had before I lost all ability to think. I felt a throbbing sensation in my hips, and without realizing it, my hand had dropped my briefcase so that I could wind both arms around Ilias’s neck, clinging to him. Ilias’s lower half slowly hardened and started to push up against me, but I couldn’t let things go on like this. He kissed me like he was nowhere near stopping, and unable to stand it any more, I chomped down on his lower lip.

“Urk!”

Oooh, that hurt, did it? Well of course it did, since he flinched after getting bitten. Ilias looked at me with a slightly dissatisfied face, and I grinned cheerfully at him.

“You’re sticking to me way too much. I have to go to work now, you know.”

“That’s right… I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, see ya. I’m heading off.”

I opened the lock behind me with the key, picked my briefcase back up, and opened the door just enough for me to slip through. I headed for the elevator after turning my back toward Ilias, who reluctantly watched me go.

On the other side of the wall, elementary schoolers spread out and ran down the corridor, and no matter how quiet you tried to be, who knows if you might be heard. Even so, I ended up falling into the habit of letting this guy send me off with a deep kiss in the mornings—that was another thing that had changed. Sure enough, my life had diverged quite a bit.

Translator’s Note

Hi everyone!!! EXCITING NEWS!!!

The original j.a.panese version of Picked up a Strange Knight () will be published as an eBook by DeNIMO! Starting tomorrow (2/27) it will be available for sale via the j.a.panese Renta! site!

Look at this beautiful cover aaaah~~~

If you’re able and willing to support the author, please do consider purchasing a copy or sharing this info with anyone you think would be interested!!

The free web version of this story will remain online at syosetu and Taro-sensei has also approved of this translation, so overall this is an extremely happy event! Let’s celebrate Taro-sensei’s step into published authors.h.i.+p!!!!

Depending on the price, I’m hoping to purchase multiple copies of the eBook to show my support for Taro-sensei! If that’s possible then I’ll likely give out any extras I buy to readers who are learning/interested in learning j.a.panese but who are unable to purchase their own copy. So, I’ll let you know!

Much love and appreciation to Psyx for the amazing editing as always! In the next chapter Ilias reveals a new side of himself. Please look forward to it.

The Three-Minute Cooking Show is a type of short segment aired between main shows on TV.  ↩ The infamous kabedon is a move commonly seen on TV or in shoujo manga where the male lead kinda captures the female lead against the wall, leaning over her. It’s a very heart-thumping moment.  ↩