Chapter 98

Inside the carriage, an awkward silence hung due to what happened last night.

Deliberately hiding my chest, which still seemed to have a strange sensation remaining, from Ethan, I quietly recalled in my mind what had happened until now.

The signs of him seriously handling dual swords appeared about three months ago.

It was two months after Ethan started learning dual-sword techniques from Harold in earnest.

After the day Ethan first debuted by showing Harold his dual-sword technique, Harold began seriously teaching Ethan how to fight with two swords.

I was surprised that Harold could teach Ethan dual-sword techniques, but what surprised me even more was the speed at which Ethan learned.

Maybe because of the foundation he had from learning single-sword techniques before, Ethan showed even more effective growth in handling dual swords.

Eventually, two months ago, Ethan won a match against Harold for the first time using dual-sword techniques.

He won in a pure sword-vs-sword duel without tricks or clumsy techniques.

<Y-Young Master Ethan is the victor!>

<Huh…?>

The moment Ethan scored his first proper victory, I felt so dumbfounded that my mind went blank. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

I had thought that this would end without him touching me again until entering the academy, but who could have imagined he’d be able to win another match just three months after learning dual-wielding techniques?

The biggest problem was that he won fair and square with skill, not with feints or tricks.

Since Harold wasn’t a fool, he wouldn’t fall for the same trick technique more than twice, so feints or tricks were essentially one-time-use measures.

But a victory gained purely by increasing the power and speed of the sword and one’s own movement and judgment, only increased the possibility of the next victory.

…And my ominous prediction came true as if it were natural.

Two times, three times, four times.

Up until yesterday’s duel, Ethan had achieved a total of five victories against Harold through ‘pure skill.’

As the number of days Ethan won by purely clashing with skill increased, the number of times I visited his room in the middle of the night also gradually increased.

As the frequency of offering my chest to Ethan increased, his actions in touching me also became increasingly extraordinary.

Recently, it felt like he was focusing more on making me feel good rather than feeling satisfied himself when touching my chest.

<Maid, do you prefer it a bit rough like this? Or should I be more gentle?>

<I, I don’t… know…>

<Or like this, where I focus on a smaller area…>

<Nngh, ah…! Haaah…!>

<I see, so this is your weak spot after all, Maid.>

<N-no… It’s not my weak spot… Ah, haaah…!!>

As the events of last night momentarily flashed through my mind, it became increasingly difficult to face Ethan.

Moreover, looking at his recent behavior, he seemed to have become not just brazen but even shameless. Sёarᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The rule of one minute at a time had long since become a dead letter.

No, had that time limit ever been properly observed even once?

No matter how hard I tried to time it exactly to one minute and end it, every time I came to my senses, five or ten minutes had passed.

…Yes, if I had to say, it’s all my karma. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

If I hadn’t jumped to conclusions that day and hadn’t told Ethan to touch my chest, the situation wouldn’t have become this complicated.

But who could have predicted this?

Probably no one would have expected Ethan, who couldn’t win a single match against Harold for almost two years, to win six times in the past half year.

I judged correctly. This is all Harold’s fault for getting beaten by his son periodically.

Get rid of that Sword Master title, you son-loving idiot.

Anyway, having offered my chest to Ethan about once every two weeks for the past two months, I’ve recently started feeling a strange pounding in my chest whenever I see this guy’s face.

Lately, I’ve been expending considerable mental energy to calm this crazed body down.

Just to be clear, in case of any misunderstanding, it absolutely wasn’t some cheesy emotion like love. 

It’s just that my body reacts because Ethan touches me well, and as a result, my body just shows some strange behavior when I meet Ethan.

If this were called love or romantic feelings, then prostitutes and AV (T/N: adult video) actresses would all be in polyamorous relationships. Of course, there were no AV actresses in this world.

Either way, the fact that my chest was touched by Ethan’s hands wouldn’t damage my firm masculinity.

After all, men often boast and let women touch them when their bodies are built well, right?

This was just something similar but opposite to that.

Since Lilith’s body itself was a very well-made female body, it probably wasn’t much different from a muscular male body.

…It’s not like I wanted Ethan to touch because I wanted to show off this body.

While thinking that and quietly looking at the passing scenery outside the window, I suddenly heard Ethan’s voice carefully calling me.

“M-maid.”

“…What do you need, Young Master Ethan?”

“Are you perhaps angry because of what happened last night?”

…It seems he does feel a bit guilty about excitedly playing with my chest as he pleased yesterday.

Of course, as a servant, I couldn’t nod seriously here, so the maximum resistance I could offer was to deny it without making eye contact with Ethan.

“…No, young master. That isn’t the case.”

“I-I’m sorry, Maid. I really wanted to see you making a more pleasurable face… I think I played around too much, only thinking about my own feelings…”

“…”

Ethan, quickly noticing my strange mood, apologized first.

This kind of thing was what really confused me.

It was this innocent young master of Blackwood’s character to always apologize sometime during the next day if I acted awkward or a bit uncomfortable because of ‘what happened at night.’ [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

Every time Ethan showed such considerate behavior, my heart couldn’t help but become more and more confused.

What is this? If he apologizes first like this, how am I supposed to react?

If I continue to be displeased here, I’ll just end up being the bad woman, the crazy woman.

If he had said something like, ‘What’s wrong with doing as I please with my possession?’ with a shameless and disgusting face like the detestable Ethan in the original game, I could have at least felt hostility.

The current Ethan was so kind and so diligent compared to the detestable Ethan in the original game.

I felt disgusted with myself for comparing him to the original Ethan, even for a moment.

“No, young master. There’s no reason for you to apologize.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. You earned my chest as a reward for your victory in the duel with the master, so whatever you do with it is your choice, young master.”

“Maid…”

“…And it’s embarrassing to say, but how could I hold a grudge against you when I ended up feeling pleasure by your hands, young master? You don’t need to attach any special meaning to what happened at night.”

“…Okay, I understand. Thanks for being honest, maid.”

I just said that because Ethan feeling guilty was actually more uncomfortable for me.

Honest my ass, I didn’t feel good at all.

No, it’s not that I didn’t feel good, but I didn’t want to feel good in that way.

I neither wanted Ethan to touch my chest nor did I expect to feel pleasure from it.

This is an unchanging fact that won’t change even after four years pass until we graduate from the academy.

Well, once we enter the academy, there won’t be any more sword duels between Ethan and Harold anyway, so this strange relationship should finally come to an end. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

Thinking that, I was blankly watching the scenery outside the carriage again when Ethan carefully spoke to me.

“I’m looking forward to the academy, Maid.”

“Is that so…”

“…Aren’t you looking forward to it?”

“…No. I’m looking forward to it, too.”

The main storyline of “Luminor Academy,” the classes in the magic department I’ll learn as Lilith, and even the second life that will unfold after graduation.

Who would say they aren’t looking forward to all of this?

Thinking that, I could quite easily brush off the humiliation of having my chest touched by Ethan last night.

“…You’re saying there’s only one vacant room?”

…Until we faced a new problem at the inn where Ethan and I were to stay that evening.