Chapter 1

Chapter 1. "Opening"

Early in the morning, once again, I opened my eyes in bed through terrible pain. Waking up at dawn was a terrible agony for me.

After all, I was the kind of person who slept deepest in the early morning. Really, who would ever have imagined, even twelve years ago, that I would one day be waking up this early? Let me see.

Good grief, the morning sun had not even risen yet?

Still lying in bed, I turned my gaze toward the window, then looked back up at the ceiling.

The ceiling, painted in dark tones, was catching the light seeping in from the window, creating a strangely interesting sight.

…I do not want to get up. Just for today, just one day, I want to sleep soundly and do nothing else.

Then, all at once, I heard the sound of someone stirring beside me, and I turned my head to look.

"…Mmm~"

The one responsible for making me wake up early every morning for the last ten-odd years turned toward me, wrapped herself around my arm, and rubbed her cheek against it.

On the sheet, her golden hair and my black hair were tangled together, making a picture that was rather lovely in its own way.

Without thinking, I stroked the head of the person lying beside me. It was soft.

And though it was too dark to see clearly, as my hand swept her hair aside, something pushed out with a little bump through the strands.

Something long and soft—if it were on a human, I supposed one would call it an ear.

I stared at it for a while, then moved my hand and gently toyed with that ear.

It was warm. Soft, too. Just as I thought.

Exactly the same as a human's.

After some time passed, a faint light slowly began to seep in through the window.

The morning sun must have been rising. I turned over, then stared intently at the woman sleeping quietly beside me, still clinging to my arm.
The shadows made it impossible to see her clearly, but her beautiful face looked peaceful.

She looked truly happy.

Even though she had broken the taboo of her people and married a human man,

Whenever I looked at her, it felt as though something inside my heart settled down.

Then suddenly something else began to churn within me, but as I gazed at her face, I barely managed to calm it.

Slowly, quietly, I embraced her.

She who was always beautiful, she who always called my name, she who always smiled at me,

was now resting in my arms, breathing softly. I looked down at her in silence, then kissed her on the forehead.

And in a small voice, I whispered,

"…Thank you, for being with me."

After saying that, I quietly lowered my head. At that moment, I felt something brush softly against the corner of my eye, and I opened my eyes again.

She, who had seemed as though she would go on sleeping, had opened her eyes halfway and was rubbing at the corner of my eye with her hand. Still looking only half-awake, she said,

"Were you crying?"

"Huh? No, um, well, this, uh... It happens when I yawn."

I covered my mouth with my hand and pretended to yawn, but it did not do me much good.

She was an elf with eyes that saw the truth.

At my words, she gave a soft little laugh, wiped the corner of my eye, and said,

"Do not do that anymore. You have me now."

"…Yeah."

With a resigned expression, I nodded, and she smiled warmly. Still lying in bed, she slipped her arms around my neck.

Then, using me like a pillar, she pulled herself upward and brought herself lightly to eye level with me before saying,

"Good morning, dear. Mmm,"

"Huh?"

As she said that, she kissed me on the cheek, and I stared blankly at her face. Then she, who had been quietly gazing at me with a calm expression, tilted her head a little, offered me her cheek, and pointed at it with her finger.

There was a playful glint in her eyes.

Smiling to myself, I was about to kiss her on the cheek, but whether mischief had suddenly taken hold of her or she had planned it from the beginning, she turned her head at once, and instead of a kiss on the cheek, we ended up doing... well, that.

From everything I had felt while living with her all this time, one thing was certain: elves were remarkably affectionate.

Of course, that only applied to the lifelong partner they had chosen for themselves, but to me—who, before I was sealed away, had once made a name for myself as an adventurer and had traveled with elves a few times in those days—the things I gradually came to learn after living with her, and the things she actually did, were truly shocking.

Things like this sort of teasing, for example.

Ah!~ The lofty, quiet, proud beings I had once thought them to be—my image of them had collapsed in a single stroke.

…Of course, after hearing various stories about her own people from my elf wife, the way I looked at elves eventually returned to what it had once been.

In any case, as far as I knew, they were always quiet and composed, but toward themselves—or toward the one they had chosen, meaning their wife or husband, or their own children—they were extraordinarily affectionate.

And as I mentioned before, elves are full of endearing charm.

But since that is something only a man who has taken an elf woman as his wife could ever know, I cannot explain any further.

By the time my brain had finished thinking through that long, long sentence, she had finished kissing me for exactly as long as I had been lost in thought, and then she gave me a wink.

I stared at her blankly, looking as though I had been struck speechless.

It happened every day, but because it always came without warning like this, there was no way I could help being startled.

She looked at my foolish expression for a moment, then began pretending innocence. Sitting up in bed, she turned her head toward the window and said,

"Oh my? It is morning already. We should start getting ready soon, should we not? I wonder what sort of people will come today. We had a group of guests yesterday."

A group of guests...

Well, if a pack of kobolds who had apparently lost their way, run into monsters, and come to us covered in wounds while asking for directions out of the forest counted as a group of guests, then guests they certainly were.

After saying that, she got out of bed, took off her nightclothes, and began putting on the skirt and blouse she wore while working. I sat up and stared blankly as she changed.

First, she took off all of her sleepwear. For a brief moment, she was in nothing but her underclothes.

I turned my head away at once, but... well, I was a man, after all.

Little by little, my head started turning back again.

Mm. It could not be helped. That was simply beyond anyone's control.

In any case, dressed only in light undergarments above and below, she began putting on the skirt and blouse she had neatly folded on the table.

I struggled desperately to keep the blood from rushing to my nose.

At that moment, my wife, who had bent at the waist to put on her skirt, looked at my face, tilted her head, and said,

"What is wrong with you?"

"Ah. No, it is just, well..."

"Because I am too beautiful?"

Dear wife, I am begging you.

She said it with a bright smile, and I gave an awkward smile in return and nodded faintly.

I was saying this earlier and did not finish, but once elves marry, they seem to lose all sense of shyness. At least, that was how it looked to me. My wife once told me that elves could never harbor falsehood toward the person they had chosen, and that they simply showed that person the entirety of their true selves.

What a lovely way to put it.

Their true selves!

While I was thinking that, I saw my wife struggling on her own, reaching her hands behind her back and trying to grab hold of something.

"Do you want me to help?"

"Are you only going to say that?"

As though she had given up, she came over to the bed where I was still sitting, and I crawled closer behind her and tied the strings at the back of her clothes for her.

I truly did not understand why women's clothes always had buttons or ties in the back, but in any case, I fastened them loosely enough for her to move comfortably, and she...

"Thank you."

Mwah.

...did that.

Well, to be honest, it felt good. I was a man, after all.

She looked at my reddened face, giggled to herself, then opened the door and disappeared. A moment later, I heard her voice from outside.

"Haaaan~ Come downstairs, wash your face, and eat breakfast~!"

"Yeees~~! Understood, Your Majesty."

From outside the door came the faint sound of laughter. She was almost certainly laughing so hard she had not even managed to go down the stairs yet.

I got out of bed and went over to the window.

Then I pulled back the curtain that had been blocking it.

A brilliant light poured into the room, and for a moment I shielded my eyes with my hand. Once I had grown used to the sunlight, I looked outside.

Beyond the window stretched an endless forest.

The home she and I shared stood in a place just like this. A two-story wooden building standing in the middle of an endless forest. Anyone seeing it might think it rather strange.

This place was known among humans, elves, dwarves, and all the other races as the Forsaken Land.

The soil was rich, but there were far too many monsters, and because of that fertile land the forest had grown so thick that sunlight barely reached the ground.

For that reason, people from outside rarely came in, unless they absolutely had to.

Except for a few mad travelers and adventurers.

And we ran an inn here for exactly those mad travelers and adventurers—or for monsters who held friendly intentions toward us. It was all well and good, except for one thing: we did not get many guests.

After glancing out the window once more, I changed clothes, brushed my hair back, tied it up, and stepped outside.

Past the corridor with its five doors, down the stairs, there were five tables, and at one of them, a warm breakfast that had just been prepared—and my lovely wife—were waiting for me.

"Welcome. But Han, are you not going to wash your face?"

"Can I not eat first?"

"No. No. Rene cannot forgive Han for eating breakfast without washing his face."

As she said that, Rene wagged a finger, then placed the towel draped over her shoulder on top of my head. After that, she took hold of my shoulders, spun me around, and said,

"There. Here is your towel, and the washroom is over there."

Good grief. When have I ever managed to defy you?

Resigned, I went to the washroom and washed my face, and only then was I allowed to eat the breakfast she had prepared for me.