Reincarnated as a Son of the Sword Saint and the Sage

Chapter 326  Intoning my Feelings

In these past few days, I spent my afternoon training Dane. Since day one, Dane had shown improvements in her body and skills, and she was still progressing. After enduring my hellish exercises, I then brought her to the floors above to slay monsters and gain stats upon leveling up. Even though she was not a High Human like me, she gained an average of ninety stat points per level up. Normally, depending on the effort, humans gain around ten to fourteen stats per level. Not only did I improve her level-up stats, but I had been making her more durable and resilient by exposing her to harsh environments such as the arid lands of the Desert Floors, the harsh blizzard of Polar Floors, and the hellish heat waves of the Lava Floors. By going through those environments, it was not completely avoidable for Dane to feel under the weather. She experienced dehydration, hypothermia, nausea, colds, and more. Nevertheless, she remained determined and just bugged them off. "That's impressive. You lasted longer than last round." "Haa... Thank you, milord..." Using her struck sword as a cane to support her worn-out body, Dane exhaled a puff of white every time she caught her breath. Currently, we were at one of the Polar Floors to improve Dane's resistance to extreme temperatures. So she was basically in her tank top and leggings, barely protecting herself from the bone-chilling cold. The Kingdom of Astley's capital, Richtpole, rarely dropped below subzero during the winter. Only the northwestern portion of the country experienced intense snowfall. Dane was used to that, so when she stepped on the Polar Floors with temperatures that averaged below -20°C (-4°F), she eventually experienced hypothermia and caught a cold the night later. But her body quickly adapted to the temperature, and now she was able to do her swings with minimal cover under the force of Earth's star. Even though she could withstand the cold, I could see that her legs were slightly shaking. She probably tried to be tough in front of me, but she could not contain it completely. I could not see her suffer that much, so I wanted to do something for her. Opening my Inventory, I grabbed a thick coat from it before I walked behind her as she was catching her breath. "Hey, Dane, you seem cold. Take this." "Huh?" I deliberately ignored her confusion and put the coat on her body. After that, I pressed my chest against her back before wrapping my arms around her waist. She immediately realized what I had done and turned her face around. "Um, milord, I stink." "I don't care. I, too, want to warm myself up." "If you say so..." After she turned her face forward, ignoring the cold gust, an awkward silence swirled around us. But about a minute or so later, Dane turned her head around once again before she spoke. "Thank you, Lord Raphael." She expressed her gratitude in a low voice. "Thank you for everything you have done to me." "No worries." "I genuinely appreciate that you spare some time to train me. But as the days go by, I just realized that I have not given you anything yet. With all due respect, milord, were you perhaps expecting something from me when you suggested this thing?" As she said those words, Dane looked into my eyes. I could see various emotions in her, such as fear and anticipation. But her determination to hear my answer prevailed, and I did not want to fail her. "Well then. First of all, I am definitely not going to train you for free; everything has a corresponding price. By that alone, you should know what my intentions are—the thing I am after." Immediately, I slightly tightened my embrace to solidify her suspicions about my intentions. After that, Dane placed her hands over mine, implying she had understood that I was going to make a woman out of her. "So Lord Raphael wants my body, huh?"

"Well, yes, but you know what? I actually want to establish a romantic relationship with you. "...But, milord, are you certain you want someone like me?" "Certainly." "But don't you have Miss Sophia already? Won't she get mad at you?" "She won't since she actually allowed me to take mistresses. I already have been in a relationship with several women as we speak." "Even so, I am more than a decade older than you are." "It doesn't matter. Besides, some of my women are much older than you, and some even have children."

"What...?" "It's true. But seriously, please give me a chance. I am confessing my feelings for you, Dane. I love you." "..." "Do you perhaps hate me? Are you going to reject me?" "No, it's not like that. There's no way I would hate you, milord." Saying that, Dane lowered her head. "I am just confused right now; I don't know how to respond." "If you can't provide a response yet, I can wait. I am sorry for giving you a tough time as well as pushing myself into you." "Don't feel sorry for yourself, milord; you did nothing wrong," she tenderly said with a smile. "We are human beings, and we are emotional. There is nothing wrong when our hearts skip a beat, but I do need some time to think about this." "Indeed. But no need to rush, Dane." "Yeah." From the sounds of it, Dane was just shocked and confused at the same time, so only time could finalize her decision. Putting that aside, there was something we needed to finish. "However, our training was not done yet. So until the next round, let us remain in this position." "That's fine with me." "Thank you." For the next few minutes, I did not let go of her body. After that, we returned to our usual teacher-student relationship like nothing happened, and I continued putting burdens on her shoulders. Once I got home at the Lavender Marquisate, I unleashed my pent-up lust on Sophia, and we made love until she passed out.