Chapter 122: The Stubborn Researcher

"Yes."

Valerian looked at Seraphine for a moment. Her serious expression was evidence enough that she wouldn’t accept the reward if she didn’t feel like she had earned it.

That earnest, serious face caused Valerian to smile when he looked into her eyes.

"You really are the cutest."

Her serious face turned into a grin for a second.

"Of course I am. But you were talking about the game."

She quickly brought the conversation back to the important topic, nailing Valerian down with her eyes, and Valerian sighed.

"It’s just that, from what happened a few days ago, my body changed quite a lot."

"The game was already pitted against you with the time limit, but now... it’s impossible."

Her face turned downwards, but Valerian placed a hand on her cheek, guiding her face to meet him.

"But it’s not because you’re not intelligent enough. Honestly, you are much smarter than me or anyone else I have ever met. It’s more that this body of mine isn’t something that can be found out or documented so easily."

She placed her hand on Valerian’s, leaning into his touch, then bit into his thumb hard.

"Ahh!"

Valerian jumped back at the sudden bite. While it didn’t hurt, the flinch was more because he didn’t expect it at all.

"Valerian."

"I knew that it would be hard, and maybe even impossible. I feel like after weeks of research I have barely scratched the surface of what lies beneath that skin of yours."

"But never, ever tell me I can’t do something or that it’s impossible."

She stood up and walked before Valerian, who still sat on the couch. She leaned forward until her face was only centimeters away from his, her crimson-magenta eyes piercing through his purple ones.

"I will crack that secret of yours, no matter what."

They were incredibly close, so close that their breaths intertwined, and he could feel the heat of her body. But the only thing that took his attention was the overwhelming desire in her eyes.

The researcher within her wouldn’t accept defeat, not under any circumstances.

A smile broke out on his face.

"Then so be it. You still have two weeks’ time. Give it your all."

Her eyes lit up in determination to find out all the secrets she could about Valerian, and while looking at her conviction, Valerian couldn’t help himself but think:

’My girlfriend is really the cutest.’

After that, the examination began like always, and Seraphine wrote down everything she could find into her notebook. Because of the sudden change that happened during the divine awakening, they extended the duration of the session until deep into the night.

During that time, she performed all kinds of experiments: cutting his body, letting her own mana flow into it, and seeing how he would react. That experiment in particular was very important to her studies, because after she gained the title [Touched by the Divine], she felt a strange connection to Valerian.

It wasn’t a romantic connection, but more like her mana was resonating with him. Since he was the cause for her title and her mana pathways were cleansed by the divine mana he released, it gained partial properties of his mana.

And her high mana sensitivity from being an elf and having [Loved by Mana] created a sort of familiarity between their mana signatures.

When they were done for today, it was already past midnight. While Seraphine was writing down the last notes into her book, Valerian’s Body Examination, this time she was already on Volume 10, Valerian stood to the side and put on his shirt, which he had taken off for research purposes, of course.

Looking at the time, a sudden thought came to him.

"Sera, do you want to spend the night?"

Her fingers stopped writing whatever she was previously thinking about, and she looked over at Valerian with a slight blush.

"You mean, here at your dorm?"

"Yes, of course."

He walked behind the couch she was sitting on and hugged her neck from behind.

"But we won’t do anything that would cross the line. Just sleeping."

She felt the weight of his body lean on her from the hug and the warmth radiating off him, something that didn’t help her to calm down in the slightest as she began to panic quietly.

"Do you mean that I sleep in a separate bed or...?"

"Same bed."

She went quiet for a moment and looked down at her hands before speaking in a small voice.

"But I sleep in my underwear normally..."

Valerian turned his head slightly and saw her panicked face as she stared at her hands.

"You don’t have to, if you don’t feel comfortable yet."

"No, no, it’s okay. I want to."

Valerian stood up and walked to the bedroom with a smile.

"Take your time. I’m already going to bed."

With that, he left the room and let her stay in the living room. When he entered the bedroom, he knelt on the ground for a bit and buried his face in his hands.

’God, is this too much? I asked her to wait, and now I ask her to sleep with me...’

After a second more of questioning his choice, he stood up again and looked over at his bed. It was insanely large, so large that two people could comfortably sleep on it and not even know that there was another person there.

Slapping his face with both hands, Valerian walked to the bed and was faced with another decision.

’Should I put on pyjamas? But I don’t have any. I normally either sleep in underwear or naked... I can’t do naked now.’

He took off his T-shirt, threw it to the side, and took off the shorts he was wearing, tossing them aside as well, now standing only in his underwear.

He quickly slipped under the blankets and lay on the bed, closing his eyes. Then he heard the door leading to the bedroom open. He stayed lying down and kept his eyes closed. He heard the rustling of clothes, followed by a soft thud that sounded like fabric being placed on the floor.

Footsteps followed afterwards, and then the sound of the blanket being lifted. Before he could think, he felt the warmth of a body right beside him.

While Valerian was lying on his side, Seraphine placed herself right behind him, close enough to almost touch his back.

She moved in and hugged him from behind, causing their bodies to press against each other.

’Thank God she’s wearing a T-shirt. But why does this feel... oh, right. She probably took her bra off.’

Seraphine had taken off her clothes, leaving only her panties and a T-shirt on, and the thin fabric was pressing directly into his back, causing him to feel almost everything.

Seraphine strangely didn’t seem nervous or embarrassed anymore and relaxed against him. Valerian, on the other hand, was not so relaxed. He was incredibly nervous, and her chest pressing into his back was making him react.

’Not now! Serious thoughts, serious thoughts, serious thoughts!’

His inner mantra was interrupted by the quiet voice of Seraphine behind him.

"Val, can you turn around?"

His body stiffened at the request.

"I don’t think that’s the best idea right now."

She buried her head into his back.

"But I want to see your face, not your back."

Her voice sounded vulnerable, and Valerian began to feel bad for just showing her his back and pretending he was asleep. He turned around and faced Seraphine, who looked at him with her big crimson-magenta eyes.

He couldn’t see anything below her shoulders because of the blanket, but just her lying right next to him, wearing a thin T-shirt that showed a hint of her chest, was enough to make him completely flustered.

She closed the small distance between them and hugged his chest. Their legs intertwined, and Valerian could feel her soft, smooth legs wrap around his.

While he was internally panicking, she seemed entirely content, her eyes beginning to slowly flutter shut.

Valerian watched her calm face and somehow found peace just being this close to her.

As she drifted off to sleep, she let out one last quiet sentence.

"I love you, Val."

He looked down at her fast-asleep face and kissed her gently on the forehead.

"I love you too, Sera."

After that, he tried to sleep and managed to do so after a few more minutes. During the night, their bodies shifted and turned. Valerian in his sleep pulled her close, and she ended up lying on his chest, held securely in place by his arm around her waist.

Seraphine was the first to wake up. When her vision cleared, the very first thing she saw was Valerian’s face just inches away, her entire body resting directly on top of his.

She tried to move away, as the boldness from the evening had completely evaporated, but Valerian’s arm remained firm around her waist, refusing to let her go.

After a bit of struggling, she simply resigned herself and rested her cheek back down on his chest.

’I’m so gonna miss my class...’