Transmigrated to Game World with SSS Wife-Chapter 48: I’m Sorry

"Ahhh!!!"

The annoying man screamed as Juliana struck him in the chest.

Nick readied himself to summon the [Fang of Finality], not exactly wanting to use it but knowing he might have to. To his surprise, nobody came forward to defend him–

Not even guards or cops or whatever they called them here.

In fact, most people weren't even giving them any attention. Lucky–and there was no reason to press their luck.

Knowing he'd have to resort to manipulation now that the man had 'disrespected her king', Nick said, "Hey Juliana, let's go do some shopping, alright? He's just not worth it."

Juliana gave him one last bolt of lightning before nodding her approval.

...

A few hours and a pint of ice cream later, Juliana was finally calmed down. Nick internally sighed as they continued walking through the stalls, happy that at least the bich phase was over for now.

He didn't really know why she had to be like that, especially how overprotective she was with him. Especially when she zaps him as well!

At first, he chalked it up to her being a Valkyrie–that it combined her initial abrasive attitude with some weird instinctual need to defend him as well. But then Amelia wasn't blushing anyone to death or anything.

She was as shy as ever!

After the whole 'Hey, my name's Juliana, so I'm gonna kill you for saying you'll defeat my king Rawr!' debacle, Amelia had even left them alone. That's because he asked her to, but the details weren't important.

He needed a bit of alone time with Juliana, and not for the reasons he always imagined.

'Who knew hot chicks could be so crazy...' Nick thought as he scanned the market area, wishing it wasn't so full of potential lightning bolt magnets.

Really, he could've never imagined it being so filled with shops. In his previous life, he lived in the suburbs. Because of this, he never visited the strip or any other downtown areas.

Also, it was a game set in medieval times! Those games usually only had like 5 shops and 10 people, not 50 shops and a million people. This stupid world probably had no concept of the word RAM.

"Hey. Nick."

A soft voice cut through his thoughts. 'Amelia?' Nick thought as he looked behind him. She was the only one in this world that knew his name and was that quiet.

But no, she wasn't here. Unless she was hiding from him.

Nick turned his attention to Juliana, wondering if it was possible she learned how to be calm. His heart fluttered the moment he saw her face.

She was blushing and looking slightly away to the side. As if she wanted to hide from Nick but look at him at the same time. Her spoon swirled through the ice cream container, which was now pretty much empty.

A small bit of Oreo remained on her cheek, and Nick wanted to clean it off for her. At the same time, he liked this new calm Juliana.

A few silent eternities like that passed, where Juliana continued fidgeting with her spoon and Nick was entranced by the only imperfection on her face.

Then she stopped her fidgeting entirely and threw away her ice cream. As she walked back to Nick, she took extra care to make sure every stride was dignified and that her face no longer held any of that callous behavior from before.

Nick realized she was completely oblivious to the ice cream left on her face.

Before he could let her know, she whispered, "I'm sorry."

Beautiful scarlet hair hid most of her face as she looked at the ground, unable to face Nick eye to eye. She knew that she had been behaving absolutely dreadful the last few days, and deserved nothing more than a scolding. On a scale between perfect and worthless, she was pretty close to the bottom.

And yet...

Nick had bought her ice cream.

Not only was it a special treat and a gift, but it was also a child's food. One that you ate and became fat. She knew that most men would never let their women eat such a fattening food.

It was very delicious though, so she wasn't complaining. Just confused.

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

And scared.

"N-Nick. Back in the dungeon..." her voice trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

Nick nodded in understanding, though he didn't exactly know what it was like to have a hole through his stomach. He did know how scary it was to face death and knew that such a thing could ruin anyone's emotional spectrum.

Now that he had given it proper thought, he realized just how traumatizing that dungeon would've been for her. Amelia, too. Juliana had gone through multiple life-or-death situations... it was no wonder she had been acting up lately.

He had to apologize too; his expectations were more than unfair.

"J-Juliana..." His words stuck in his throat and his tongue grew heavy. But he had to say this. "J-Juliana... I'm sorry as well. I let you down in the dungeon... you and Amelia... and now I'm doing the same here-"

"No! N-Nick... it's not about that. I-I thought you died!" Juliana exclaimed in a burst of passionate fury before pulling her hair in anxiety. She wasn't going to cry, not here in front of her king!

She wasn't going to cry just because of her lack of perfection!

Nick stood there seemingly petrified. He wasn't expecting that–a level of selflessness he knew he'd never have.

There was no way she was telling the truth though. She really wasn't troubled by dying? She cared more about him than herself?

No... that was the binding talking... her role as his Valkyrie.

It was impossible for anyone to love him as she claimed she did. Not unless something else was controlling them.

"Juliana. When I almost died... well, I almost don't remember it. For me, it mattered so little that it didn't exist. But... when I saw Ethos rip through you like you were nothing..."

"You were ready to lose it all?" She asked as a different hope flashed across her face for just a second–one that yearned for love, not perfection.

Words were at a loss for him, so he merely nodded yes.

"That's dangerous though, Nick. Me- I'm just a Valkyrie. Made to be perfect before that. Even before I met you... well, I don't remember the details exactly but I was molded to be perfect even then."

She took a few shuddering breaths but stepped closer to him as he did the same. Soon, they were right next to each other to the point they breathed the same hair.

"Think of it like a jewel. All you are meant to see is the end process–the perfect gem. That's what I've always known, how it's always been. You thinking different is dangerous. You don't just see the polished end... you try and face all the pressures that crush and shape the jewel."

Nick shook his head more with every word she said. No matter how she felt, he wasn't going to disregard her just to get some perfect Valkyrie.

"I don't want you to be perfect anyway. I want you to be Juliana. My Juliana."

A small tear fell down Juliana's face as she whimpered, "No. I need to be perfect, dignified, beautiful. No matter what it takes."

He shook his head as he raised his hand to her face, wiping off the small amount of leftover ice cream. Then he whispered, "You're more beautiful than all the Jewels in the universe. Perfect or not."