When Soma returned once more, the sight that greeted him was Nezuko and Kanao sitting together peacefully, drinking miso soup side by side. The argument and fighting he had imagined never happened.
The two of them looked strangely harmonious.
And that unnatural harmony only made Soma even more uneasy.
Something about this situation felt far too abnormal.
On the way back, he had been thinking the entire time about how he was supposed to handle the two of them once they met.
Deep down, his heart undoubtedly leaned toward Kanao. But now that he had finally gained Nezuko's feelings as well, he could not bear the thought of hurting such a gentle girl.
It left him trapped in an impossible dilemma.
So he cautiously stayed with the two of them for quite a while, carefully observing them the entire time before finally relaxing a little. Their harmony did not seem forced or fake. It genuinely looked as though they had reached some sort of understanding.
Soma had no idea what Nezuko had said to Kanao.
Truthfully, he was extremely curious.
But at a time like this, he could hardly ask directly. Even so, being caught between the two of them still made him deeply uncomfortable. No matter what he did, he found himself secretly watching their expressions, terrified that some careless action might make one of them think he favored the other.
And so, under that suffocating tension, Soma stayed with them until the sun sank beyond the horizon and the moon rose into the night sky. Only then did Kanao return to her own residence.
Soma and Nezuko returned to their room together. The inexperienced young wife immediately busied herself with household tasks. First she laid out the bedding, then she searched through the wardrobe for fresh clothes to change into, tidying the room meticulously until everything was perfectly arranged.
Soma sat there quietly, watching her petite figure move gracefully through the room. Several times, he opened his mouth as if to speak, only to stop himself.
He wanted to ask what exactly she and Kanao had talked about earlier.
But he did not know how to bring it up.
At some point, Nezuko stepped out briefly before returning with a steaming wooden basin in her hands. The girl skillfully wrung out a towel and handed it to him.
"Please wash your face, Soma-san."
"I can manage that myself." Soma accepted the towel and silently wiped his face.
Yet while he was doing so, Nezuko had already brought in another basin of warm water and placed it beside the chair nearby.
Soma immediately sat down, intending to remove his shoes himself and wash his feet, but before he could, Nezuko had already bent down and taken hold of his foot. She removed his shoes and socks for him, then crouched beside the basin and gently lowered his feet into the warm water, carefully washing them with soft, delicate movements.
Nezuko's tender care left Soma feeling strangely unaccustomed to it.
She was simply too devoted.
Although he had only recently come to be with Nezuko, he had already begun experiencing the warmth of her affection. Whenever he was at home, there was practically nothing he needed to do himself anymore. He could sit there like some pampered master while Nezuko took care of everything.
If he wanted water, she poured it for him.
If he needed food, she cooked for him.
When he washed his face, she handed him the towel.
Even when washing his feet, she personally knelt before him, attentively cleaning them with utmost care.
In every possible way, she looked after him flawlessly.
It was a completely different feeling from being with Kanao.
When he was with Kanao, he was usually the one taking care of her.
These past few days, ever since he had accepted Nezuko's feelings, her alluring body certainly captivated him, and the intimacy they shared undeniably brought him immense pleasure—but what enchanted him even more was her gentleness, her tenderness, and the way she cared for him so wholeheartedly.
"I'll do it myself."
Soma pressed his hand gently over Nezuko's small hand as she washed his feet and spoke softly.
But Nezuko did not stop.
Her fingers continued rubbing carefully between his toes, not neglecting a single spot, while she murmured quietly,
"As long as Nezuko is here, how could I let Soma-san do these things himself?"
Her eyes remained lowered.
"If Soma-san still has to do everything on his own even after being together with Nezuko… then wouldn't that make no difference from not having Nezuko by your side at all?"
For a moment, Soma was speechless.
Or rather, he simply did not know what to say.
"This is what Nezuko should be doing in the first place."
The girl gently massaged his toes as she spoke in a soft voice, her cheeks flushed red.
"Nezuko already belongs to… Soma-san now."
Lowering her head further, she continued softly,
"So it's my responsibility… and my duty to take good care of you."
"Soma-san doesn't need to feel uncomfortable or uneasy about it. These are rights you're meant to have."
Soma: "…"
Soma looked down at Nezuko, who was carefully washing his feet with utmost seriousness, and listened silently to her words, his expression growing increasingly complicated.
As soon as Nezuko had thoroughly washed and dried his feet, Soma immediately stood and lifted her into his arms.
A charming blush instantly spread across the girl's face.
Soma-san was being impatient again.
Her limbs softened at once.
For Nezuko, it was not something she disliked. Still, somewhere deep in her heart lingered a faint grievance. It often felt as though Soma-san only desired her body.
Though that made her secretly proud of her figure, it also left her feeling a little wronged, as if he merely indulged in her body while caring little for anything else about her.
Yet the scene she expected—being carried to the futon and thoroughly bullied by Soma-san—never came.
Instead, Soma carried her to the chair and gently sat her down. Then he crouched before her and began removing her shoes and socks.
"Soma-san… what are you doing?"
Nezuko instinctively tried to pull back her feet, but Soma's large hand held them firmly, leaving her unable to retreat.
"I'm going to wash Nezuko's feet too."
Soma removed the girl's small shoes and white socks, revealing those delicate feet, pale and flawless like polished jade.
"T-That… how could that possibly be allowed?"
Nezuko's expression changed in shock.
She had never heard of a husband washing his wife's feet after marriage. At the very least, she had never seen or heard of such a thing.
If other people found out, who knew how they might laugh at Soma-san?
"How is it not allowed? If Nezuko can wash mine, then naturally I can wash Nezuko's too."
Soma lowered her soft feet into the warm water of the wooden basin, his gaze lingering on her fair ankles with obvious fondness.
"That's not how it works… there's no such custom…"
Nezuko shook her head repeatedly.
"Maybe there wasn't before. But now there is."
Soma gently rubbed her slender ankle.
There was not the slightest unpleasant scent. Her skin felt like the finest soft jade in his hands, so smooth that it almost made him want to continue holding and admiring it.
"You really shouldn't…"
The girl spoke softly, lowering her head slightly.
Watching such a tall man bend down and crouch before her just to wash the feet of a woman like herself filled her with embarrassment and unease—
Yet beneath that shyness bloomed a quiet joy, satisfaction, and happiness.
Warm steam drifted upward, blurring the lowered gaze beneath her lashes.
Soma's movements were gentle, as though afraid of hurting her. His fingers moved through the warm water, holding her delicate ankle as he carefully washed it little by little. Thin calluses roughened his fingertips, their texture warm and coarse against her skin, completely different from the feeling of washing herself.
Nezuko's toes curled slightly, like a startled little animal.
"I'm not hurting you, am I?" Soma looked up at her.
"No…"
Nezuko shook her head, her voice so soft it resembled a breeze brushing past the ear.
She stared at the sight of Soma kneeling before her.
Such a tall man, now bent at the waist, earnestly washing her feet as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Suddenly, her eyes felt a little sore.
Nezuko bit her lip and forced the moisture back before it could fall.
In all her memories—or rather, among all the married couples she had ever seen—she had never witnessed a husband treat his wife with such tenderness.
At the very least, her mother had never experienced such treatment.
Ever since she was young, Nezuko had learned by following her mother closely, striving to become a good wife after marriage someday.
And her mother had indeed taught her many things from her own experience.
But Nezuko gradually realized that much of it could not truly be applied.
Even matters between husband and wife in the bedroom were no exception.
The ways her mother taught her to serve her husband were actually… very rigid and traditional, completely unlike what Soma enjoyed. Some things were so embarrassing that merely thinking about them made her want to crawl into a hole and hide.
Those positions.
Those sounds.
Those things she had never once imagined before.
Soma would whisper them softly beside her ear, coaxing her little by little into doing them.
Every single time, she would blush furiously, biting her lip like a helpless little deer being roasted over a fire, trembling from head to toe with embarrassment—
Yet unable to bring herself to refuse him.
Because Soma liked it.
The sound of water softly echoed through the room as Soma lifted her feet from the basin and carefully dried them with a clean towel. He wiped away every trace of moisture, even between her toes, with meticulous care. His hands were large enough to completely envelop her small feet, and warmth spread from the soles of her feet all the way to her heart.
"All done."
Soma smiled, his tone carrying a faint sense of satisfaction.
"This is the first time I've ever washed someone else's feet, Nezuko. You're really fortunate—you got my first time."
Nezuko's little face instantly flushed red.
She did not dare look at Soma anymore as certain thoughts suddenly surfaced in her mind, causing heat to spread through her entire body.
Soma did not continue teasing her. Instead, he simply carried the wooden basin outside to pour out the water.
Nezuko quietly lifted her gaze, watching the man's retreating figure.
She remembered how, when she was little, her father had treated her mother kindly as well, yet he had never done things like this. Her mother had always been the one constantly busy, managing every household matter while her father simply sat and waited for meals to be served.
Back then, she believed that was what marriage was supposed to look like.
So she had followed her mother's example, doing her best to become a virtuous wife, taking every responsibility onto herself and trying with all her heart to care for Soma-san in every possible way.
She thought that was already the very best she could do.
But Soma had turned around and cared for her instead.
He had even washed her feet.
The feeling left her touched and flustered at the same time—happy, yet strangely uneasy.
…
After pouring out the foot-washing water, Soma returned to the room and saw Nezuko sitting there with her head lowered, cheeks flushed crimson, looking exceptionally obedient and adorable.
He pulled over a small stool and sat beside her, gently taking hold of her hand.
Before washing Nezuko's feet earlier, he had vaguely sensed some of the emotions hidden in her heart. Soma was self-aware enough to understand that no girl could calmly accept hearing the man she liked praise another girl right in front of her.
At least, in the world he originally came from, a situation like this would almost certainly erupt into a huge fight—or even something far worse. People parting ways afterward would have been the most ordinary outcome.
Yet Nezuko had not done any of that.
She had merely endured all those emotions silently.
But constantly suppressing feelings was never a good thing. Seeing that Nezuko now seemed no longer bothered by it allowed Soma to finally relax a little.
At this moment, however, he became genuinely curious about what exactly Nezuko and Kanao had discussed earlier for their relationship to suddenly appear even closer than before.
He had originally believed he would end up trapped in some disastrous battlefield of emotions—but reality had turned out completely different from the chaotic nightmare he had imagined.
"What exactly did you and Kanao discuss earlier?" Soma asked in a low murmur, gently massaging her hand.
Nezuko hesitated briefly before honestly recounting their entire conversation without hiding anything.
After listening, Soma was thoroughly shaken.
His expression became complicated as he looked at Nezuko. At that moment, he truly felt just how fortunate he was to meet a woman as rare as her.
"Soma-san… what are you thinking about?"
Seeing him lost in thought, Nezuko asked quietly.
Soma came back to himself and lowered his head, gently kissing her forehead.
"I was thinking… being able to have Nezuko by my side probably means I'm incredibly lucky."
Nezuko's face reddened once more.
But this time, she did not shy away.
Instead, she stood lightly on her toes and softly kissed Soma on the cheek in return.
Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the window lattice, stretching their shadows long across the floor until they overlapped as one.
After a long while, Nezuko let out a tiny yawn.
Soma noticed her growing drowsiness and bent down to lift her into his arms.
This time, Nezuko neither tensed up nor became flustered. She simply wrapped her arms obediently around his neck and rested her face against his shoulder.
"Sleepy?"
"Mmm… a little."
As she spoke, Nezuko lifted her head, her cheeks burning red as she looked at Soma with moist, beautiful eyes.
"I've been thinking about something."
"What is it?"
Nezuko asked softly.
"I was wondering…" Soma looked at her quietly. "If a human and a demon are together… is it possible for them to have children?"
Nezuko's face instantly turned bright red, her small hands nearly twisting together in nervousness.
At that moment, Soma leaned close to her face.
"Then… why don't we try and find out?"
"W-Who would ever with you…"
Nezuko muttered softly as she grabbed hold of the wandering hand moving restlessly over her body.
"You'll keep listening to me from now on, right?"
Soma's voice was low and gentle.
Nezuko did not answer.
Her breathing had already become uneven. She tried to stand, but the moment she moved, her body staggered weakly, leaving her unable to remain steady on her feet.
Soma immediately reached out and supported her against the table.
Nezuko's steps were unsteady. She truly had no strength left at all and could only cling tightly to the edge of the table with both hands. Her pale fingers tightened hard enough for faint blue veins to show beneath her fair skin.
"Nezuko really needs to work on her stamina."
Soma murmured from directly behind her form, his large hand coming down to apply a firm, resonant slap against her skin twice.
At some unknown point, the flickering candle was forcefully extinguished.
The table began to sway rhythmically.
Leaving only a highly monotonous, mechanical sound echoing through the darkness.
Long after the candle had died, absolute silence finally reclaimed the room.
Nezuko leaned against the edge of the table, her flushed cheek pressed against the cool wooden surface. Her chest rose and fell violently as she gasped for breath, like a fish washed ashore by crashing waves.
Her fingers still gripped the table tightly, knuckles pale white. Only after a long while did they slowly loosen, her entire arm falling limply at her side without the slightest trace of strength.
From behind, Soma gently wrapped his arms around her, feeling the girl's body still trembling faintly like flower petals swaying in the wind.
"You okay?" His voice sounded especially soft in the darkness.
Nezuko did not answer.
Or rather, she no longer had enough strength left even to speak.
Soma chuckled quietly before bending down and lifting her effortlessly into his arms.
This time, Nezuko did not even have the strength to wrap her arms around his neck. She merely lay weakly against his chest, her head tilted into the crook of his shoulder like a thoroughly pampered little cat.
Soma carried her over to the bedding that had already been prepared and carefully laid her down.
The moment Nezuko touched the soft futon, her entire body seemed to sink into it. Her eyes were half-open and unfocused, lashes trembling faintly while her lips remained slightly parted, still breathing softly.
Soma lay down beside her and pulled her gently into his embrace.
Her body still retained the lingering warmth from earlier, her skin pressed against his like sun-warmed jade.
"Soma-san…"
Nezuko finally spoke again, her voice hoarse and soft, carrying a lazy, satisfied tone.
"Mmm?"
"Nezuko… is so tired…"
Soma's fingers slipped through her scattered hair, gently combing through the strands while his fingertips slowly massaged her scalp, soothing her like a weary little animal.
"Then you'll need more exercise in the future."
His tone carried clear amusement.
"Your stamina is really terrible."
Nestled in his arms, Nezuko lightly shook her head.
"You're a demon… I'm not… How could a human possibly compare to a demon…"
Halfway through speaking, embarrassment overwhelmed her again. Unable to continue, she buried her burning face against Soma's chest and curled herself into a small ball.
Her reaction made Soma laugh softly, his chest vibrating faintly beneath her cheek. The sound of his laughter reached Nezuko's ears, Somang her feel both shy and strangely safe at the same time.
In the darkness, the two remained quietly wrapped in each other's arms without speaking.
Gradually, Nezuko's breathing calmed.
The trembling in her body slowly faded away, replaced by a deep softness and satisfaction that seemed to seep from her very bones.
With her eyes closed, she quietly felt Soma's warmth.
Felt his palm gently patting her back now and then.
Felt the steady rhythm of his heartbeat through his chest.
All of it filled her with an indescribable sense of peace.
"I'll work hard…" The girl suddenly murmured softly.
"Hm? At what?"
Nezuko's face reddened, and she refused to answer.
But Soma understood immediately.
Smiling, he pulled her even tighter into his arms.
...
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