Chapter 251

The Morning After Accidentally Witnessing Ethan’s Naked Body

The morning after the incident where I accidentally witnessed Ethan’s naked body, things wrapped up rather awkwardly once we confirmed that the rooms we were staying in were connected by a single door.

“Don’t worry too much about it, Lilith. You’ve seen me once—no, twice before, right? And I don’t mind you seeing me either,” Ethan said, trying to ease the tension.

“I will be more careful in the future, Young Master Ethan. If you desire an apology, perhaps you would like to see me naked as well…?”

“N-No, that’s fine! I trust you, Lilith, so there’s no need for that kind of apology. And besides, you’ve already… shown quite a lot… ah, no, that’s not what I meant…”

After a clumsy conversation like that, we agreed that we would knock before opening the door connecting our rooms from now on. But just knowing that Ethan was right next to me, separated by a door that could open at any time, made my heart race in a way that was hard to calm down.

‘I don’t remember feeling this complicated when we shared a room at the Academy.’

As far as I recall, nothing had happened recently that would have significantly changed my relationship with Ethan. Sure, on the last night at the Academy, I had “helped” him with something using my mouth, but we had done that kind of thing before.

We also shared a bed for several nights at the Blackwood estate because I was having nightmares, but that was necessary to maintain the best condition before capturing MacHart.

And then there was last night when the mission went awry, and Ethan saved me just in time from being captured by MacHart… Now that I think about it, that might have been enough to make my heart race.

But honestly, it was unavoidable. If Ethan had been even a little late, I would have been dragged off by MacHart, subjected to who knows what for months, and left as an unrecognizable corpse.

…Honestly, even as a fellow man, I couldn’t help but fall for Ethan a bit after what happened that night.

‘Come to think of it, I haven’t mentioned the wish yet…’

I did say to Ethan that I would grant him a wish after the MacHart mission was over. While it’s up to him when he wants to use it, I wish he’d at least tell me what he has in mind. That way, I could prepare myself, mentally or physically.

Since I limited the wish to something I could grant, I doubt he’d ask for money or material things. That leaves the likely possibility that Ethan, being a man in his prime, would request something naughty.

He knows it’s off-limits to ask for full-on intercourse, as I’ve made that clear multiple times, but I’ll have to fulfill any other borderline request since I promised.

…To be honest, just thinking about the kinds of things he might ask for makes me realize that I wouldn’t be able to accept them with a smile.

If he asks me to rub him with my chest or use my mouth again, I could barely agree to that. I’ve already let him touch my chest countless times, so I wouldn’t mind that too much, and I’ve done it with my mouth once before.

But if he asks me to rub it against his lower parts, or suggests that another “hole” might be okay… what then?

‘…If that happens, how should I react?’

Should I allow it because I made a promise? But wouldn’t that be crossing a line? That would go beyond the excuse of “it’s just similar to sex” and turn into something that’s practically the real thing, just without actual penetration.

If he asks, I’d have to do it, but I’d need time to prepare myself mentally if it comes to that…

‘Ugh, I can’t keep my head straight.’

I just hope Ethan’s imagination doesn’t stretch that far.

By the way, I ended up borrowing a maid’s uniform from the servant’s waiting room on the first floor. The maids gave me odd looks when I insisted on wearing a maid’s outfit, but as long as I’m comfortable, that’s all that matters.

So, after changing into comfortable clothes and finishing breakfast, we gathered in the meeting room where Seraphine and I had met the night before to discuss the “temporary mission” again.

“In ten days, we’ll head to the Witch’s Forest in the southwest,” the Hero announced.

“Huh?” I blurted out involuntarily in response to the unexpected statement.

Everyone turned their gaze towards me at once. Ignoring their stares as best as I could, I tried to cover up my slip of the tongue as naturally as possible.@@novelbin@@

“Ahem, I mean… So, you’re planning to head to the Witch’s Forest in the southwest in ten days?”

“Yeah. There’s something I need to discuss with the witches there. Lara also asked for a favor.”

“I see. If we plan to arrive at the Witch’s Forest in ten days, that means we’ll need to leave the palace in about a week.”

“No, ten days is the travel time. We’ll leave here in about two weeks.”

“…What?”

It was ridiculous from the start, but the more I heard, the more absurd it became.

What? Two weeks later? Is this a joke?

The “Lara’s Secret” episode is supposed to start in six days, and you’re planning to go there two weeks later? Is this some roundabout way of saying you want to skip the episode entirely?

My mind couldn’t help but spiral into confusion. You weren’t like this before.

‘Aren’t you supposed to save at least one of them, either Lara or Lyria?’

If you disliked Lara or preferred Lyria so much that you chose her instead, I could begrudgingly accept that.

After all, the whole point of this episode’s branching paths was to force a choice. The Hero only has one body, so he can only save one of them.

But missing the golden opportunity to start the event and then showing up days later makes no sense. It’s not like you’re avoiding it because it’s far or annoying, so why?

I almost blurted out whether the Hero had forgotten the event schedule, but thankfully, his next words naturally cleared up my confusion.

“So, I want you all to go ahead of me and help Lara with her Witch’s Trial. Serista and I will catch up later.”

‘Ah.’

Now that the Hero had explained his plan, I could finally see his intentions.

His idea of leaving in ten days was based on the schedule for the northeastern plains, not the palace.

It seemed that the Hero didn’t want to give up on either the Barbarian Territory event in the northeastern plains or Lara’s Witch Trial in the southwestern forest.

Of course, even the Hero can’t be in two places at once, so he plans to send us ahead to delay things as much as possible.

Normally, sending other characters wouldn’t help since they wouldn’t know how the episode unfolds, but this time, my presence made it possible. I, like the Hero, had a perfect understanding of how the Luminoir Academy episodes would play out.

In fact, I had progressed over 80% of the Lara route at the Lyria-Lara crossroad, so I knew exactly what to expect and how to help Lara.

As I started to think about how I’d need to buy some bug repellent for the journey, Agnes asked the Hero a question.

“Go ahead? How soon?”

“About six days from now… so you can leave here in about four days.”

“What will you and Serista be doing in the meantime?”

“We’ll make a quick trip to the northeastern plains. Lyria asked me for something during the semester.”

“Lyria? Who’s that?”

It seemed Agnes hadn’t met Lyria yet.

Well, the first formal opportunity to meet her would be during the 2nd-year end-of-term hunting festival.

There might have been a few chances to cross paths if Agnes frequently dueled with the Swordsmanship Club, but typically, the Magic Club’s mock duels were against the Archery Club, so there weren’t many opportunities.

On the other hand, since Ethan is in the Swordsmanship Club, he likely knew of Lyria, the first-year spear-wielding prodigy.

“Lyria… do you mean Lyria Marasendar Galenhar Soraven Fionis Barbaracus of the Spearmanship Club?”

“….”

“….”

“…Yes, Lyria from the Spearmanship Club.”

…I didn’t expect him to know that much about her.