As a result, Rossweisse stayed shut in her bedroom from eight in the morning until eleven.
Three full hours passed. What happened inside was… best left undescribed for now. But when the scene finally returned, the Valkyrie lying in the rumpled sheets looked utterly satisfied—and completely blank, like her brain had been turned off and restarted.
It was the expression of someone after intense exercise: all tension wrung out, every ugly thought sweated away, replaced by nothing but warm emptiness and lingering, tingling aftershocks.
Bokue lay behind her, an arm around her waist, holding her close.
"So?" he asked. "Feel calmer now?"
"Calm…?" Rossweisse's voice came out hoarse and offended at the same time. She bit her lower lip, cheeks flushed as she turned slightly in the bedding. Faint tear tracks still clung to her face, and the corners of her eyes glimmered as if she'd cried far more than she wanted to admit. "How am I supposed to be calm after that…?"
"You're the one who kept locking yourself in your own head and drowning in self-pity," Bokue said bluntly.
He reached up and smoothed her hair back, tucking loose bangs behind her ear.
The careful gesture only made Rossweisse flush again. She pouted, half embarrassed, half stubborn.
"It doesn't matter anyway," she muttered. "I'm a washed-up Valkyrie. Even my chief deity abandoned me. What's the point of someone like me…?"
"Mm. Pause," Bokue said, and pinched her nose lightly, cutting off her speech.
Rossweisse blinked, startled.
"Look," Bokue said, releasing her. "Odin leaving you on Itogami Island is a fact. But 'he abandoned you because you're useless'?" He sounded unconvinced. "That doesn't add up."
"Eh?" Rossweisse's breath caught. "What do you mean?"
The idea that she wasn't being discarded for incompetence made something small and fragile in her chest lift.
Bokue thought for a moment, organizing his words.
"Do you remember Lilith Palace?" he asked. "When Odin arrived with you—didn't he immediately try to send you over to talk to me?"
"Mm… I think so?" Rossweisse frowned, searching her memory, then nodded. "Yes… that did happen."
"That," Bokue said, tapping her lightly as if punctuating the point, "is exactly why I'm saying it."
His tone turned matter-of-fact—almost annoyingly casual.
"This might sound rude," he continued, "but I'm pretty sure Odin was trying to push you and me together. Like… an arranged match."
"A-arranged match?!"
Rossweisse's eyes flew open.
Marriage…? The word felt so distant from her life that it almost sounded like a joke.
Arranged marriages weren't about romance—they were politics. Alliances. Faction interests.
And someone like her… someone Odin could discard…
She had the right to be "arranged"?
Bokue rolled his eyes slightly. "I can't think of any other explanation."
Then he added, bluntly:
"You're not weak, Rossweisse. If you were, you wouldn't have been Odin's personal bodyguard. And honestly?" Bokue's mouth tilted faintly. "Odin is probably a little afraid of me."
"Afraid… of you?"
Rossweisse looked genuinely baffled.
From her perspective, Bokue was… relaxed. Almost lazy. He didn't radiate that oppressive "divine king" pressure that made people kneel just by standing nearby. He didn't act like a demon lord either.
Bokue's hand drifted absently at her waist, light and careless, as if this entire conversation was only half his attention.
"I think so," he said. "Your European region had a First Primogenitor—the Forgotten War King—whose side caused trouble for me. Not him personally, more like one of his nobles got arrogant and did something stupid."
He shrugged.
"So I erased his capital. And him." His tone remained casual, as if he were describing cleaning a stain. "I probably did it too loudly. Odin noticed."
"Ah…"
Rossweisse nodded slowly, the scale of it catching up to her.
A "capital" in the War King's Domain didn't mean a single city. It meant territory—the size of a small nation.
If someone had the power to erase something like that without flinching… then yes, Odin would treat him carefully.
Then Rossweisse's expression snapped.
"Wait—so that means Odin… no, that disgusting old man… treated me like a bargaining chip?!"
The delayed outrage hit full force.
Bokue watched her boil for a beat, then tightened his hold and pulled her back against him.
"Probably," he said. "But it doesn't matter anymore."
Rossweisse stiffened.
Bokue's voice lowered—calm, direct.
"You're here now. And you're not going anywhere."
"Eh…?"
Rossweisse's cheeks flared again.
They'd just… done that. And now he was saying something like this, with no hesitation—like it was obvious.
Her mind tried to scramble for a safe interpretation.
"Y-you mean… you'll… take care of me financially…?"
"Is that supposed to be shocking?" Bokue asked, raising an eyebrow.
His hand pressed lightly at her waist—more steadying than suggestive, but it still made her breath catch.
"O-or… you don't want to?" he added, watching her face.
"N-no! That's not—" Rossweisse bit her lip, flustered. "That's not the problem."
If she was honest with herself, Bokue matched the shape of her ideal almost too well.
Strong enough to be unquestionable. Calm enough not to be a brute. And unlike the burly, bearded "Viking warrior" stereotype she'd always dreaded, he carried a restrained elegance that made her heart—and pride—feel strangely safe.
Given that, everything else became secondary.
…Except one reality jabbed her brain.
Money.
"Mm… I still need a job," Rossweisse mumbled, the practical worry surfacing.
Bokue blinked. "Why? You're still thinking about leaving?"
"N-no," she said quickly, cheeks pink again. "It's… my grandmother. She's still in Norse territory. I used to send part of my pay to her each month. If I don't work, I can't send anything."
"I see."
Bokue paused, then nodded.
"In that case, I'm going to Saikai Academy this afternoon anyway," he said. "I'll find you something easy."
"O-okay!"
Rossweisse agreed immediately—still not entirely sure what he meant, but too relieved to argue.
Meanwhile, Bokue thought to himself:
Convenient. This gives her a reason to come to school… and makes it easier to keep an eye on her.
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