Chapter 29: Hug

"Juan."

After some staring contest with Juan, who looked as though he was showing he was innocent, Ceth finally couldn't take it in and called his name; only the two could hear.

"Call me husband."

Juan knew he was being overbearing at this moment and also showing how perverted he was. But he just can't stop teasing his wife.

"H-husband."

Ceth could feel her face started to flush up to her ears as she said this. Not just because of shyness, but because she started to feel weird.

"What is it?"

This made Juan, who saw her like this, even happier.

Of course, he was observing not just her expression but also his surroundings.

"Y-your hand."

Ceth couldn't help but let some stuttering in her voice as she spoke.

She doesn't even seem to notice that she has been starting to tremble from now and then.

"Oh? Which hand?"

Although this might be a bit too bad, and Ceth might raise her voice subconsciously, waking Garu and his wife, who have been sleeping inside.

"R-right...hng~"

Juan could no longer stop at this point. Even if he knew he was in another person's house, at his father-in-law's house at that.

And to know they were sleeping deeply because they hadn't had a wink since yesterday night.

There was no longer limiting the desire that has been long pent-up inside him.

Just like that, Ceth can't stop Juan from doing more since her mind has already started to go blank.

To avoid any slips, Juan's reason naturally had to take care of any incident. Such us being seen from the outside.

Juan lifted Ceth up as he let her legs wrap around his waist while he stood up and moved towards the door as he closed it slowly before locking it.

"No one's around now. No one will see us."

Eyes dazed and misty, and her face flushed red like a tomato while breathing rather hotly as she hung herself with her legs around Juan's waist.

"M-my parents..."

She looked at the room not far from them and said it softly.

"I know they're sleeping, so don't worry too much. I'll be gentle this time."

Juan has already heard from the madam that Garu has been sleep-deprived because of that monster case.

And when he looked at the madam's rather heavy bags in the morning, Juan knew she was the same.

She must have been waiting worriedly for her husband without sleeping.

That's why he has this much courage to do this, despite the place they were in.

"Sorry, I can't take it anymore. Please bear with me."

With that, Juan leaned forward and put Ceth on top of the table as he started with a kiss.

It took no time before the dining table started letting out some creaking noise.

The sounds and cries of spring would escape muffled from time to time.

Yet Garu and the madam never woke up to know that their house had been tainted by these two newlyweds.

...

An hour later or so.

The door to the house opened, and so did the windows.

The foul air mixed with a strange smell inside the house escaped outside while freshness replaced it.

Juan stood before the opened window, breathing in and out of the fresh air outside while looking at the rather dim sky above indifferently.

'Oh my goodness, what have I done?'

It was such a shocking word, yet he spoke it rather calmly at this time.

Turning around, he saw Ceth had already worn her clothes properly, despite her hair still being a bit messy.

She seems to be a bit more tired than this morning.

'Sorry, Ceth, I can't stop this kind of impulse in my gene.'

Juan felt really sorry for Ceth this time because he let his lust take over him once again.

He immediately walked forward and took the piece of dirty cloth used to clean the table from Ceth's hand, seeing how her flush still hadn't receded.

"I will take care of this. All you need to do is rest for now. Don't worry."

Yet what he got in response was Ceth's glare, making him stiffened, which made him evade eye contact instead because of guilt.

'She looked so cute when she glared just now. Oh~! '

Juan was just shy aside from being guilty; this is so sweet for his eyes after all.

Though he didn't seem to notice how the piece of cloth had already been taken back by Ceth from his hand.

A while later.

"I should do that. Your body..."

Juan tried to make her stop cleaning everywhere, even when she's limping and looking rather haggard.

But all he got was her rather stubborn glare. She won't talk to him, but her eyes seem to be blaming him.

For a while, he could only follow beside her and pay attention in case she started to fall down incidentally.

Juan knew he was at fault here. To do it in his parent-in-law's house while the owners were still sleeping.

'Aren't I no different from a beast? I really won't do this again here.'

Shaking his head, after double checking, everything is back to normal and there's no more strange smell or any strange liquid around.

Only then did Ceth and Juan heave a sigh of relief as they sat back at the table.

Juan immediately wrapped his arms around Ceth's waist. This time, before Ceth could react and say something, Juan beat her to it.

"Hug, just a hug. I know it's my fault. I'm sorry. This won't happen again. I promise." 

Ceth was speechless and didn't know what to do next other than close her mouth.

She turned around and gave Juan an unconvinced look.

"I haven't recovered yet. You make me do it once again. And here of all places... husband, next time. Please tell me first so that I can be prepared, and also, please at least take me back to our house first."

Suddenly, after saying that, Ceth leaned forward and bit Juan's neck. Leaving her teeth mark full of anger and shame behind.

Before she turned her back to Juan, she leaned backwards on his embrace. And then she started sleeping before he could even react next.

"I... alright. Rest for now. I'll make it up to you next time."

Hugging her behind, Juan felt at ease hearing and seeing Ceth didn't seems to hate this side of him.

Soon, time passed as the sun was about to set.

Garu and his wife woke up.

The latter has started to prepare for their dinner while the former sits on the opposite side of the table, looking at Ceth, who was sleeping in Juan's arms.

"Juan, do you see that room beside ours? That's Ceth's room. Next time she slept here, make sure to carry her to her room so that she can take a good rest inside."

"I will remember that father."

Juan nodded in understanding.

He really forgot about Ceth's room because he had been conscious of her the whole time instead of his surroundings.

Judging by how nothing noteworthy and strange Garu and his wife looked at him, Juan surmises that they didn't notice anything, which is to his relief.

"Father, I had something to tell you."

"Gulp~ gulp! Ah~ What is it?"

Garu was having some after-sleep headaches, so he quenched his dry throat with some water his wife passed to him just now.

Soon Juan told him about what happened on the river, the strange gaze from afar, the rain, and the possible chaos that might ensue tonight.

Heating this, Garu stood up and walked towards the window as he open it. He looked at the dimming sky at the horizon.

"The sun has already been hidden away behind the clouds. The wind is somewhat calm though, hmm? There are darker ones coming too."

Turning around, he looked at Juan with a rather grave expression on his face before he spoke.

"This is not a normal rain that will be coming; instead, it might be a rainstorm."

Juan's eyes widened a bit.

"A rainstorm? Then, wouldn't this be more dangerous?"

"Indeed, this is indeed a very unfortunate time we are in right now. Not to mention, the shadow monster should have already been moving around the village right now."

Juan wasn't stupid. He had already thought of that possibility.

"Is there proof?"

"It's a monster afraid of fire and sunlight. I saw it blend among the shadows of my compatriots yesterday night, playing us till this morning."

"Only when a tool with fire attaches to it will it evade us. Then there was that morning, when it disappeared suddenly."

"Disappeared? Hehe, I knew it was just in it's retreat. I already noticed how some places with shadows opposite of which the sunlight hits the place were rather moving abnormally."

"Since yesterday, it might have already invaded our village. You must be thinking why I didn't let the villagers know of this, right?"

Juan nodded.

Since such a monster has already entered the village this morning, why do Garu and the other hunters still seem to be at ease?

"First, we decided that it wasn't dangerous nor life-threatening. All the hunters whose shadows the shadow monster has invaded show no abnormalities."

"Second, it has no physical form. It's a shadow monster. Look at your shadow. Can it do anything to you? No, right? It's only use is to follow us and copy our actions."

"Third, it's because we did not suffer any causalities aside from lack of sleep."