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Right now, there is a huge bed right in front of Tatsumi.

The location is a room in the house Tatsumi and Caledonia share. It’s one of the spare rooms they hadn’t originally planned to use.

The bed is even bigger than a double bed that he knows of. It’s probably what you’d call a queen or king size. Tatsumi has never seen a bed that size before, so he might be wrong.

Of course, since this is a bed from this world, it’s not a spring mattress but one of those beds stuffed with that dried hay.

Even so, if you look closely, the wooden parts of the bed feature intricate carvings, so it’s undoubtedly a high-quality piece.

However, Tatsumi has no memory of buying such an expensive bed.

Last night, Tatsumi and Calcedonia slept in separate beds—Tatsumi in his own bed, which he’d brought with him when he was summoned—even though they were in the same room.

“S-so, what’s the deal with the…bed…?”
“W-well, um… this arrived this afternoon as a housewarming gift from Grandfather…”

Chalcedonia’s cheeks flushed, yet she looked delighted as she kept glancing back and forth between Tatsumi and the bed.

It seemed to be that old man’s doing. Tatsumi did take notice how he’d been grinning when he left the temple after the lecture today, and now he finally understood why.

“Still… that’s a really big bed…”

Perhaps to hide his embarrassment, Tatsumi stepped away from Calcedonia and approached the massive bed once more. Examining it closely up close, he could appreciate its size even more.

It was clearly not meant for one person. Sure, sleeping alone in a bed this big might feel nice in its own way, but that wasn’t its intended purpose.

Tatsumi turned back to Calcedonia, his face flushed.

“S-so… y-you want to sleep with me in this bed…?”

When Tatsumi asked that, Calcedonia answered with a beaming smile, “Yes.”

.

“It’s been… a dream of mine for a very, very long time. To sleep in the same bed as you…Master.”
“For a long time…?”
“Yes. Ever since I was little… It’s been a dream of mine for a very, very long time.”

Covering her flushed cheeks with both hands, Calcedonia spoke shyly, yet with obvious delight.

“By little… You mean when you were still Chiiko…when you were a cockatiel?”
“Yes. I was always with you back then, Master. Of course I stayed in my cage when you weren’t home…but whenever you were home, you’d always let me out of the cage.”

Back when she was a cockatiel, Tatsumi would always let her out of her cage whenever he was home.

Naturally, when he wasn’t home, he kept her in the cage out of fear of unexpected accidents, but whenever he returned home back then, the first thing he did was let Chiiko out of the cage.

Chiiko had always been smart, so as long as the cage door was left open, she would return to the cage on her own to eat when she was hungry, and she would go back to the cage to drink water when she was thirsty.

And when she came out again, she would sit still on Tatsumi’s shoulder or lap for an hour or two.

Even so, Tatsumi would put Chiiko back in her cage when it was time to sleep.

What if he slept with Chiiko and accidentally crushed her while rolling over? It was that fear that made him put her back in her cage at night.

“I understand you were looking out for me, Master. Even then… I still felt lonely back then… But now I can sleep with you!”

Clutching her fists tightly, Calcedonia declared emphatically.

Yes. This is ambition. It is the ambition Calcedonia has dreamed of for many years.

.

A young man and woman sleeping together in the same bed.

Only a child would take that literally.

And Tatsumi is no child. Naturally, he associates it with the “physical language of love.” He can’t help but think of it that way.

As long as he lived with Calcedonia, and as long as she harbored romantic feelings for him, Tatsumi had always thought that someday they would become that kind of couple. No, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was looking forward to it.

But that was still a ways off.

At the very least, Tatsumi intended to wait until he had established some financial stability.

Since they were living together, it wouldn’t be difficult for Tatsumi to pin Calcedonia down. And Calcedonia would likely accept him without resistance.

Having never known the taste of a woman before, it was obvious that once Tatsumi tasted the nectar that was Calcedonia, he would no longer be able to suppress his animalistic urges.

As a result, it was inevitable that the fruit of their love would soon take root within Calcedonia.

It’s not that Tatsumi is afraid of Calcedonia getting pregnant. It’s just that, given his current situation where he relies on Calcedonia for absolutely everything, he feels he would be far too pathetic as a father to the child that would be born.

At the very least.

At the very least, he wanted to acquire enough financial stability to support a family, even if not to the same extent as Calcedonia..

Tatsumi believed that both his formal marriage to Calcedonia and their physical union should wait until then.

In a way, it was nothing more than a man’s petty pride and vanity. But Tatsumi wanted to stick to that pride and vanity.

And yet, he honestly never expected that on only the second day of living together, Calcedonia would ask him to sleep with her.

Caledonia, too, surely possessed some knowledge of the intricacies of male and female sexuality.

As a priestess serving the God of Savaiv—and a female priestess at that—she was expected to fulfill the role of a midwife, delivering newborn infants.

The God of Savaiv is the guardian deity of marriage and also the god of fertility. Delivering newborns and bestowing blessings upon them immediately after birth is also a crucial duty of the Savaiv’s priestesses.

For this reason, the Savaiv’s female priestesses receive a basic form of sex education. They are taught by senior priestesses about the process of conception, the physical acts between a man and a woman necessary for conception, and the procedures for delivering a child.

Of course, this world lacks the scientific and medical knowledge found in modern Japan, but it does possess knowledge and experience passed down continuously from the past. Based on that knowledge and experience, the female priests of the God of Savaiv serve as midwives.

In fact, though Tatsumi is unaware of this, while Calcedonia has never delivered a baby herself, she has assisted in the process on several occasions.

There’s no way Calcedonia wouldn’t understand the significance of a man and a woman sleeping together.

But when Tatsumi took a closer look at her,

Calcedonia’s current demeanor seemed to indicate she was simply delighted to be sleeping in the same bed as him.

It seemed Calcedonia had harbored the ambition to sleep by Tatsumi’s side ever since her past life as a cockatiel.

Of course, she had her own hopes as well—the hope that one day she would lie with Tatsumi and bear his child.

But for now, her long-held ambition seemed to take precedence over those hopes.

Watching her, her ruby-like eyes sparkling and the ahoge on her head bobbing up and down like a dog’s tail, Tatsumi realized how foolish he had been to worry so much.

What Calcedonia truly desires is simply to sleep together.

Admittedly, as a man, he felt a pang of regret at not being able to be intimate with her.

But just being able to snuggle up together in the same bed and feel each other’s body heat was enough to make him feel content for now.

So Tatsumi nodded gently, smiling softly at Calcedonia, whose eyes were shining with anticipation.

.

After taking turns bathing and finishing their meal, Tatsumi and Calcedonia found themselves back in the room with the enormous bed.

It was the room they had been considering using as a guest room until yesterday. But from today on, this room would be their master bedroom.

Tonight, they would simply sleep. They changed into light nightgowns and lay down together on the large bed.

Caledonia looked happy, yet slightly shy.

Tatsumi’s face flushed red; he was too embarrassed to look her in the eye.

Still, their gazes met, and they both smiled without a word.

“Well then, I’ll turn off the light.”

As Calcedonia murmured softly, the Light spell reacted and vanished.

In an instant, darkness engulfed the room, but after a moment, their eyes adjusted to the gloom.

In the darkness, Calcedonia’s silhouette emerged faintly.

Without either of them initiating it, their right and left hands clasped together, and they pulled the blanket—serving as a substitute for a futon—over their bodies.

Right now, the season in this country is the Season of Sea, which apparently marks the end of spring. From here, they will pass through the short Season of the Sun and the Season of Harvest, transitioning into the long Season of the Evening Moon.

As they laid down, Chalcedonia told Tatsumi that while this blanket is warm enough now, during the cold season they layer several animal and mabeast furs on top of each other.

In the pitch-black darkness, with only faint silhouettes of each other visible, the two of them quietly exchanged words.

They spoke of the days when they lived together long ago. Of Calcedonia’s reincarnation into this world. Of hopes and expectations for the future.

It was a quiet yet joyful moment, one that made them forget the passage of time.

Eventually, as drowsiness crept up on them both, Calcedonia suddenly pressed her body close against Tatsumi’s.

Feeling her soft, warm body with every fiber of his being, Tatsumi’s drowsiness deepened further at the comfort of the moment.

Caledonia buried her beautiful face in the nape of Tatsumi’s neck, shaking her head repeatedly as if rubbing against him. Eventually, seemingly satisfied, she let out a contented sigh accompanied by a soft “hehehe.” Then, she immediately began to breathe peacefully in her sleep.

Birds such as cockatiels sleep curled up, tucking their beaks into the feathers around their shoulders and folding their legs into the feathers on their bellies to prevent body heat from escaping through their unfeathered beaks and legs.

Seeing Calcedonia’s movements now, Tatsumi was reminded of how Chiiko used to behave.

*—Chiiko really is Chiiko, after all.*

With his mind hazy and foggy, Tatsumi thought about this as he, too, slowly drifted off to sleep.

.

Thud.

In the middle of the night, Tatsumi suddenly felt a jolt to his abdomen and opened his eyes in surprise.

The room was still dark, and he couldn’t see clearly. Tatsumi groped around for the wristwatch he’d left by his pillow and checked the time by the faint moonlight streaming through the window.

The watch’s hands read 2:00 a.m. He remembered checking the time just before falling asleep; it had been around 10:00 p.m.

Generally, the people of this world go to sleep when the sun sets and it gets dark, and wake up at sunrise.

This is because there is no artificial lighting like in the modern world; unless a household has a mage capable of using the Light branch of magic like Calcedonia, everyone falls asleep immediately after sunset.

The reason Tatsumi and Calcedonia had stayed up past 10 p.m. was that they had been engrossed in lively conversation, but by the standards of this world, that was considered quite a late night.

After checking the time on his wristwatch, Tatsumi turned his gaze to his abdomen.

Then, in the dim light, he could just make out a white, log-like object resting on his stomach.

“…What is this…?”

Perhaps still half-asleep, Tatsumi touched the white log on his stomach with his fingertip.

A supple sensation traveled through his fingertips. Increasingly baffled by the object’s nature, Tatsumi tried touching it with his palm.

A smooth, soft, and silky texture spread across his palm. Yet, it felt strangely warm to the touch.

Unconsciously drawn to that vaguely comforting softness, his hand moved on its own, kneading the surface of the white rod.

Then, a soft voice came from beside him. Of course, it was Calcedonia’s voice—she was sleeping right next to him.

However, it wasn’t her usual dignified voice; it was a seductive, lustrous tone. Only then did Tatsumi realize what the white object resting on his stomach was.

It was a leg.

One of Calcedonia’s legs was resting on his stomach.

In the dim light, he could just make out that her nightgown had ridden up to her groin, exposing more than 90 percent of that alluring white leg.

He almost let out a cry of surprise, but Tatsumi hurriedly covered his own mouth.

Just then, a shock ran through his face.

“W-what is this now…? Wait, an arm?”

With tears welling in his eyes, Tatsumi stared at the object that had suddenly fallen onto his face.

It seemed Calcedonia’s arm had struck him squarely in the face.

He gently moved the arm away from his face, then shifted the leg resting on his stomach in the same way.

But Calcedonia immediately rolled over, and her leg attacked Tatsumi once more.

He frantically twisted his body, narrowly avoiding the direct hit from her foot.

Straining his eyes in the darkness, he saw that Calcedonia was still breathing peacefully. She seemed to be fast asleep.

“C-could it be…does Chiiko toss and turn in her sleep…?”

Tatsumi muttered to himself, though he wasn’t addressing anyone in particular. Even as he spoke, Calcedonia’s body shifted, rolling over in the opposite direction from him.

If the room had been lit right now, he would have seen her completely exposed legs, the underwear on her lower body, and the cleavage peeking out from her disheveled blouse—but fortunately or unfortunately, in the darkness, he couldn’t make out those details.

“Don’t tell me…the real reason Giuseppe-san gave us this huge bed was…”

If it were her grandfather, Giuseppe, it wouldn’t be surprising if he knew about Calcedonia’s restless sleeping habits.

Perhaps it was precisely because he knew about her restless sleeping habits that he gave her such an oversized bed.

With this much space, there’s no need to worry about Calcedonia accidentally falling out of bed, and there’s plenty of room to escape her rolling-over attacks.

Apologizing silently to Giuseppe for his strange suspicions, Tatsumi curled up in the corner of the bed and fell asleep once more.