CHAPTER 24: SO... I WON’T GET SPANKED?!

Roxanna gulped. A tight lump formed in her throat, and her heart began racing uncontrollably.

It had been a long time since she felt this shy around a man. Normally, the only thing she ever felt was fear, especially whenever her ex-husband came near her.

"W-We can hug..." Roxanna gathered as much courage as she could to speak. "I promise I won’t do anything bad to you tonight."

Azul gave her a soft smile. He couldn’t help but find it a little cute that she was more scared of accidentally harassing him than the other way around.

But the more he thought about it, the more his mood soured. She could think that way only because she had been harassed by her ex-husband so many times, and over time she must have believed it was normal for her.

Azul quietly gritted his teeth, feeling furious at her ex-husband, but he couldn’t do anything about it because they lived in different worlds.

All he could do now was protect this little angel and hope that one day her painful thoughts about herself would slowly fade.

"Of course. We’ll just hug," Azul said gently.

He stood up straight and walked into the hut. "You can lie down over there, while I’ll lie near the window," he suggested, pointing at the empty spot beside Roxanna.

Without saying anything, Roxanna nodded and slowly shifted to the vacant spot, while Azul lay down where she had been earlier.

Roxanna shuddered a little because the empty space felt cold, as no one had been lying there before. "But... won’t you get cold if you sleep by the window?" she asked, worried.

Azul turned his body to face her. "I have a warm body temperature, so I won’t get cold."

Roxanna’s body also had a naturally warm temperature, especially since her blood was hot. However, because she had lost a lot of blood earlier, her body wasn’t able to handle the cold very well for now.

"I-I see..." she whispered. She peeked at him from the corner of her eye and tried to hide half of her face under the animal-skin cloth.

Now that she was lying right next to Azul, she felt even more embarrassed. He wasn’t wearing any clothes on his upper body, though at least he wore pants made of tiger skin.

"We won’t warm up if we stay far apart," Azul said softly. He stretched out his arm and tapped his bicep. "You can rest your head here... it’s probably softer than the wooden floor."

[Why is he offering the very thing I’ve been wanting this whole time?] Roxanna’s face burned even hotter. [We barely know each other, but he somehow already knows what I need.]

To be fair, even though Azul had known the evil Roxanna for a year, their relationship was always filled with violence and harsh treatment. That was why Roxanna was honestly surprised he could build such a gentle connection with her now.

Did Azul somehow realize she wasn’t the same Roxanna as before? He didn’t even flinch when she was so close to him.

But that couldn’t be possible, right? No one would ever believe her if she said her soul didn’t come from this world.

If she said something like that in the modern age, she would probably be sent straight to a mental hospital. And if she said it in this era... they’d probably chain her up, thinking she was a demon possessing someone’s body.

She didn’t want to be shackled, so she definitely wouldn’t try to tell them she was a different person now.

For now, the best thing she could do was try to be kind—very kind—so people would slowly stop hating her.

"You... you really don’t mind?" Roxanna asked nervously. "I... might be a little heavy."

Azul let out a soft laugh. "I’ve lifted things much heavier than you. Trust me, you’re not one of them."

Roxanna bit her lip, then slowly scooted closer to him. She rested her head on his arm, holding her breath because she wasn’t sure if this was the right thing to do.

[Does Azul really want this? What if he’s only doing it because he feels pressured?]

While she was still drowning in terrible possibilities, Azul suddenly lifted his arm and guided her closer, turning her toward him until she was lying right against his chest, close enough to hear the thump of his heartbeat.

[Wait, wait, wait—why is Azul’s heart beating so fast?! Is he scared?!] Roxanna panicked. [Do I remind him of the awful things the evil Roxanna did to him?]

[I should move away!]

She tried to sit up, but Azul gently pushed her back down, keeping her resting on his arm.

"Shh... why are you trying to get up?" he murmured as he wrapped his arms around her. His hand stroked the back of her head gently, making her heart pound even harder.

Her face was pressed against Azul’s chest, so she could clearly hear his heartbeat again.

If he was scared... wouldn’t he be pushing her away instead of pulling her closer?

[So... he actually likes hugging me?] she wondered. [Oh no... what if he’s developed Stockholm syndrome?!]

Azul frowned. He had no idea what "Stockholm syndrome" meant, but Roxanna’s panicked tone made it sound like something terrible.

"A-Azul..." Roxanna whispered.

"What’s wrong?" he asked gently.

Roxanna hesitated, then said in a small voice, "I... I’m really sorry for forcing myself on you before. I won’t do that anymore. B-but... if you’re still angry at me, you can punish me whatever you like."

Honestly, Roxanna didn’t mean anything inappropriate when she said he could "punish" her, but the way she said it made her sound like the main character of a BDSM novel.

[What if Azul wants to spank me?!]

Azul blinked, completely thrown off. Of all the things she could have said... that was definitely not what he expected.

"Punish you?" he repeated, his voice sounding confused rather than angry. "Why would I punish you?"

[Roxanna froze. Why? Because... that’s what people usually did to me,] she thought silently, her fingers tightening against his chest. [Because that’s what I was taught I deserved when I did something wrong]

But she wasn’t the one who made the mistakes, so it didn’t make sense for her to think she deserved to be punished.

"I just... thought you might be mad," she whispered instead. "And if you are, then maybe you should... do something about it."

"I have forgotten it," Azul suddenly said.

"What?"

"I’ve already forgotten it." Azul closed his eyes and pulled her even closer until it felt like he wanted to merge their bodies together. "I’ve forgotten all of your bad deeds toward me, so I won’t punish you. Now, go to sleep."

Roxanna blinked several times, feeling even more confused. [So I won’t get spanked?!]