17. Practice

17. Practice

“Haaak, haak….”

As a result of running at full speed, Priscilla collapsed on the street, gasping for breath. Her inherently poor stamina, typical of mages, was holding her back.

However, the reason her face was as red as her hair wasn’t solely due to her running with all her might.

Priscilla thought, rubbing her hot cheeks, which were burning with embarrassment.

‘How can I kiss my sister! I really can’t do it!’

For Priscilla, a kiss was akin to a cute expression of affection. Less intense than a romantic kiss, but more than a casual touch.

However, Skadi’s confident assertion had caused a major crack in the common sense she had always believed in. At first, she didn’t believe a word of it, thinking it was absurd, but seeing Skadi insist so confidently, doubts began to sprout about whether her own understanding was flawed.

In fact, Priscilla herself understood that her relationship with her sister wasn’t good, and having only studied magic within her family, she had never seen other sisters. Therefore, Priscilla couldn’t possibly predict whether Skadi’s words were right or wrong.

Stories about sisters often appeared in books, but Priscilla knew all too well that there was always a gap between reality and books. Perhaps that’s why Skadi’s words, coming from someone who actually had a sister, sounded a little more believable.

After all, the young lady from the Ossen family also said this was common sense!

‘They say this is normal for sisters… What should I do? Do I really have to do it?! But if this can improve my relationship with my sister, then….’

Priscilla squeezed her eyes shut. She was still breathing heavily. Then, from the deep, dark blackness, the image of her sister from childhood gradually flickered and came to mind.

The image of her sister, with her family’s characteristic red hair, her hair curled up. Unlike her younger self, who was merely a child, her sister exuded an old-fashioned elegance in her very stride, the sister Priscilla thought was ‘cool’.

The memory of her sister, who, despite the strict and rigid family rules, had affectionately treated her younger sibling, the sister who had stroked her with love.

Then, she saw the hallway of the mansion, adorned with various artworks.

A young child holding a child’s wand, running towards her sister, and the sister looking back at the child.

The child babbled excitedly, and the child’s sister smiled gently and stroked the child.

“Sister, look at this! I can shoot fire from my wand now!”

“Is that so? Well done, Priscilla.”

Although it wasn’t the ideal sisterly relationship Skadi had described, it was undeniable that they were very close when they were young.

The child looked up at her sister with a smile.

Her sister was so tall compared to the child, who was on the shorter side, that if she tilted her head back to see her face, she felt like she would fall backward. Her sister’s appearance.

Big, cool, and reliable…

If she could see her sister like that again, if she could be that close again, she-

‘Ughhh….’

Did that person really run away so easily when the situation arose? Saying she wanted to improve her relationship with her sister and all?

What is needed in a trial is, above all else, a fair and just heart. To have always spoken of judging sinners with the family name on her back, yet to possess such a hypocritical heart.

Priscilla, looking somewhat composed, found a nearby bench and sat down. Leaning back against the backrest, she looked up at the sky, which, although autumn was still far away, seemed vast and high.

The sky, so immense that she felt incredibly small in comparison.

It was just like her sisters when they were young. They felt so big, always seeming so grand, always seeming like they would give her a warm and cozy smile. Her sisters were like that.

But since when did it stop being like that?

At some point, her sister began to show weakness. Clenching her fists and trembling, she slammed her fist against the wall, breaking it, and expressing her anger.

At some point, the smile on her sister’s face disappeared. Instead, a face filled with anger and a smile composed of lies replaced it.

Since when.

Since when?

As her thoughts churned, she heard footsteps behind her.

“Found you.”

“S-Skadi?”

The white wolf, who leaped over the bench and sat beside her, did just that. The savory scent of Priscilla’s tail brushed past her nose.

“Did you follow me?”

“Of course.”

Priscilla gently closed her eyes and savored the scent for a moment. With every breath she took, the addictive scent filled her mind….

‘No, no! This is not the time for this!’

Priscilla shook her head from side to side. Then, shaking off her distracting thoughts, she offered an apology to Skadi.

“Um, I’m sorry for running away so suddenly. I couldn’t do it when it came time to actually do it…”

“It’s okay, it happens. I don’t mind.”

“Still, you walked all day because of me, and even… held me. But I ruined it…”

“Hey, I said I don’t mind.”

Skadi said it because she truly didn’t mind, but the guilt she felt wouldn’t easily disappear.

Moreover, most of that guilt stemmed from her own pathetic self for wanting to improve her relationship with her sister but running away from the situation.

Priscilla closed her mouth.

Seeing Priscilla’s dejected expression, Skadi pulled her closer and hugged her.

Priscilla was taken aback by the sudden action, but soon, blushing at the savory scent emanating from Skadi’s tail, she calmly accepted the embrace.

Then, Skadi began to speak softly into her ear. At her alluring voice, Priscilla shivered slightly.

“Priscilla.”

“… Yes.”

“If you can’t do it once, you can do it twice. If you can’t do it twice, do it three times.”

“….”

“When you try something new, you often fail several times. It’s impossible for everyone in the world to succeed on their first try, right?”

As if to comfort her, the fluffy white tail tapped Priscilla’s body. The addictive scent wafted along its path, and Priscilla gasped, taking a breath.

Skadi looked at Priscilla, who was held in her arms, and spoke again.

“I learned that from my father when I was learning swordsmanship. Even if it doesn’t work, practice until it does.”

Skadi briefly reminisced about her past.

Being thrown onto the slope of a frozen snowy mountain, facing an avalanche caused by her father slicing the mountainside with his sword….

After being buried in the snow countless times until she reached that point, Skadi was finally able to slice the falling avalanche in half.

Priscilla would be no different.

Skadi called out to Priscilla.

“Priscilla.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s practice.”

“… What?”

Practice what?

Priscilla felt an inexplicable sense of unease at the sentence without an object, but soon, the scent of the tail that brushed past her nose made her head spin. Skadi said to her, who was losing her senses.

“Kissing.”

“Yes…?”

Priscilla had never received an affectionate kiss from anyone, including her parents and sister. Therefore, she was not accustomed to kissing, and this, combined with her shy personality, likely led to her fleeing just moments ago.

While her innate personality was unfortunate and couldn’t be helped, couldn’t she just get used to something she wasn’t familiar with?

There was a good example right beside her.

“Priscilla.”

“Yes… Yes?”

“Look at me. Straight on.”

Skadi released her tail that was holding Priscilla and brought up Priscilla’s upper body, which was half-lying on her side.

Her slightly flushed face was visible. Blue eyes and red eyes met each other’s gaze.

By the time Priscilla regained her senses, their faces were so close that it seemed if they fell, their noses would touch. Priscilla startled in surprise but couldn’t move an inch due to the firm grip holding her.

Then, their breaths intertwined.

Skadi looked at Priscilla like that. Truly harmless and small… Yes, a cute appearance that reminded her of her sibling. Skadi smiled with genuine warmth.

And the fact that Skadi’s alluring smile, and that warm face she saw so closely, was directed at her and no one else-

‘?!?!’

It was as if steam was rising from Priscilla’s face. However, since she had seen it once before, Priscilla, whose resistance had slightly increased, couldn’t even faint and could only face the white wolf directly.

Blue eyes that seemed to hold the sky, a slender and soft face, objectively beautiful features that melted the heart, and the slightly twitching ears and pure white strands of fur tickling her nose and flowing down filled Priscilla’s vision.

She felt a cold wind blowing from her waist, but Priscilla didn’t feel the cold. She was enveloped by a heat like the summer of the southern empire.

She looked forward again, and then-

—Peck.

“Here, Priscilla. It’s your turn next.”

The soft sensation of lips touching her cheek. The warm breath moved away, and she returned to the same distance as before, as if waiting for her. The other person gazed at her intently.

The scent of the tail brushed past.

An addictive scent that blurred the senses.

The last shred of sanity Priscilla had left held her back, but even as she hesitated, the other person calmly watched her. As if willing to wait forever, just watching.

Their breaths and heartbeats were heard all too clearly.

Yes, yes….

This is practice.

It’s practice to get along with my sister.

She’s still not a homosexual. What she likes is strictly her tail, and this is just practice to get along with her sister, to get used to kissing.

Yes, that’s it.

So….

—Peck.

Priscilla lightly touched her lips to Skadi’s cheek.

… Neither of them noticed the fact that a great many people were watching the scene.