Following the forest path northward,
Step by step through the snow covering Vol Basin,
Agusheed, who had arbitrarily given Frieren half a day off, walked along this path in search of his wife.
"'Shame,' 'embarrassment,' 'unwillingness,' 'utter humiliation'—"
Recalling Frieren's answers,
Agusheed walking along the road began remembering the expression on his past self's face after awakening.
Thinking of himself rising in resistance under the watchful eyes of all the Grand Demons and the Demon King,
Agusheed still couldn't feel any difference between 'him' and himself.
The emotion of 'shame' was something that Agusheed, as a demon, could never understand.
In fact—
Even during their travels when he multiple times completely failed to avoid Flamme's gaze while bathing,
He still couldn't understand what Flamme meant by 'shameless.'
'Embarrassment' was even more incomprehensible to Agusheed—
He had simply lost to the Demon King due to his weakness at the time...
Even though he hadn't regarded the Demon King highly before that.
But what was there to be 'embarrassed' about?
The 'unwillingness' and 'utter humiliation' that Frieren mentioned were the same.
A loss was a loss.
Being unable to win was being unable to win.
How could the weak feel 'unwilling' about losing to the strong?
Since he lost, he could slowly become stronger in the future and win it back.
Just like how he went from being instantly defeated by the Demon King—
To now, when giving his all,
Even the Demon King had to be suppressed to the point of kneeling on one knee.
Incomprehensible...
I truly still cannot understand humans.
"Superficially?"
Agusheed's wandering thoughts were soothed by that gentle voice in his memory.
"I see..."
His wife's face appeared before his eyes.
That inexplicable smile made Agusheed's index finger tremble slightly.
"Agusheed, so you already know me superficially?"
The soft words from Flamme's lips a few days ago suddenly made Agusheed's steps slow down.
He raised his gaze against the winter wind.
The familiar bronze statue in the distance and the graceful figure before it seemed to have noticed something too.
Flamme, who had been wiping the bronze statue she had left behind, turned around.
Her gaze met her husband's confused and downcast eyes.
He was troubled.
Flamme reached this conclusion in the blink of an eye.
Judging Agusheed's emotions...
This wasn't difficult for her.
Nearly twenty years of living together day and night, never apart—
This made her understand Agusheed better than anyone else in the world.
'Joy'
'Disappointment'
'Fatigue'
'Distress'—
No matter how subtle the emotional change, Flamme could detect it instantly.
It's just that the reason for his distress... that was somewhat harder to guess.
But thinking of the only incident that had occurred these past few days,
Flamme could roughly guess this was caused by telling Frieren about Agusheed's dark history that day.
"Did Frieren say something she shouldn't have again?"
"What a silly disciple..."
Flamme, who had figured out the general situation with a light laugh, shook her head slightly.
She quietly watched Agusheed walk toward her step by step through the winter wind and snow.
The snow fell heavier and heavier.
Agusheed also came closer and closer.
Finally, he stood beside Flamme, who had maintained her smile throughout.
Without a single word, Agusheed naturally took over his wife's work.
Watching those slender fingers brush the accumulated snow from the statue's shoulders—
Flamme looked helplessly at Agusheed, who was as 'doting' on her as always.
"Shouldn't you be teaching Frieren at this time?"
Flamme placed her slightly reddened hands on Agusheed's face for warmth.
The faint white mist from her breath blurred her smiling eyes.
"How did you suddenly find time to come here?"
The smooth surface of the bronze statue reflected Agusheed's unconsciously slightly furrowed brow.
Hearing his wife's inquiry, his movements of wiping the statue paused.
His knuckles unconsciously rubbed against the delicate metal texture, and Agusheed didn't know how to begin.
"I..."
Agusheed opened his mouth but ultimately couldn't voice what was in his heart.
But beside him, Flamme suddenly stood on her tiptoes.
She reached out to brush the falling snow from her husband's shoulders, her cheek drawing closer and closer to Agusheed's.
This action brought them close enough to exchange the warmth of their breath.
It also allowed Agusheed to slowly voice what he wanted to say to Flamme.
"I'm somewhat troubled, Flamme."
He finally said in a low voice, his words drifting ethereally as if from a distant snowy plain.
"Mm, tell me about it."
Flamme gently stepped back half a step, tilting her head as snow particles from her hair tips fell rustling down.
"Flamme, you don't seem surprised."
Instead of immediately raising his question, he first noticed his wife's attitude.
Agusheed looked at Flamme's completely unsurprised expression and asked softly.
"Because I could tell from the beginning..."
Flamme looked up at her tall husband with that charming smile.
"Is it that obvious?"
Hearing Flamme's answer, Agusheed's movements of wiping the statue paused.
"Not very obvious."
Flamme pressed her cold fingers against her husband's neck, feeling the tremor of his blood vessels.
She stood on her tiptoes once again.
Her lips drew near Agusheed's ear, her gentle breath melting the falling snow on his earlobe.
"But being able to detect your husband's changes at every moment is a basic skill for a wife."
"A basic skill..."
Agusheed slowly lowered his eyelids with a shake of his head.
"I can't do that."
Flamme's eyes still maintained that faint smile as she gently caressed Agusheed's face.
Her tone carried its unchanging tenderness.
"That's a basic skill for wives—"
"Isn't it natural that husbands can't do it?"
"Then what's the basic skill for husbands?"
Agusheed turned his head and asked Flamme as their gazes met.
Flamme gently lowered her head as if contemplating.
"The basic skill for husbands is being able to listen to their wives anytime, anywhere."
She spun in a circle in front of Agusheed with a low laugh.
The snow made cheerful crunching sounds under her boots.
"You're trying to comfort me, aren't you, Flamme?"
Agusheed reached out to catch the hair ribbon she had accidentally flung off while spinning.
The simple silk fabric still retained his wife's familiar body warmth.
"But I'm stating facts—"
Flamme drew closer to her husband, her reddened nose tip almost touching his chin.
She slowly grasped her husband's hand and pressed it to her heart,
Letting Agusheed feel that rapid heartbeat even through her clothing.
"If you don't believe it, let's try it."
The snow suddenly fell more densely, and the statue's outline gradually blurred in the snow curtain.
Flamme closed her eyes while meeting Agusheed's gaze.
The snowflakes on her eyelashes still sparkled with tiny crystalline light.
Finally, she made this soft request of her husband:
"Agusheed, kiss me."
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Powerstones?
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