Ch.109Scent of a Woman

After finishing my conversation with Ellem, I was given lodging in Rona’s room on the first floor of Seti’s house.

The thick blanket spread on the floor felt as comfortable as lying on a traditional Korean heated floor with bedding, but despite being provided with such a comfortable place to sleep, I couldn’t fall asleep.

‘…What is this? Why am I like this?’

It’s not that I’m not tired or that the bed is uncomfortable.

If I had to compare it to something, it feels similar to when I drank an energy drink while working overtime at the company.

Maybe the medicinal brew of the Cat Folk that I drank earlier has a similar effect.

“Yahoo~ Are you having trouble sleeping?”

“Whoa! You startled me!”

“Shh~ Be quiet.”

Surprised by the sudden voice from the window, I got up to find Rona, Seti’s aunt, climbing through the window into the room.

“Aunt Rona? Why are you coming through the window when there’s a perfectly good door…”

“Oh, just call me Rona. Neither my sister nor brother-in-law are around.”

“No, I mean, why are you coming through the window? This is your room, isn’t it?”

“Hmm~ I just went out to throw away some trash and thought I’d drop by?”

Rona says this while placing a finger on her cheek in a cute pose.

As Seti’s aunt, she must be at least 30 years old, possibly close to 40, but with her twin tails and youthful appearance, it doesn’t seem particularly forced.

“…Haa, I thought my heart was going to stop. By the way, isn’t there too much of a gap between how you act now and how you were in front of your father?”

“Can’t help it. He always nags that I shouldn’t act frivolously in front of my daughter’s friends if I want to maintain my dignity.”

“I think that’s a reasonable opinion.”

When I didn’t take her side, Rona pouted and then plopped down in front of me.

Unlike Lu, who seems gentle and modest, she appears to have quite a casual and active personality.

“Will, was it? You don’t usually talk like that, do you?”

“Well… I usually speak comfortably regardless of age, but I still know when and where to be formal.”

“You know what? In the Cat Folk tribe, men don’t use honorifics with women. So if you want to respect our tribal customs, you should speak casually to me.”

“Even if you say that…”

“You might have to be formal with my brother-in-law and sister since they’re your girlfriend’s parents, but someone like me should be fine, right? Try it. Come on?”

“Sigh… I’ll just try it once.”

It’s disconcerting to have someone break into my room through the window in the middle of the night and ask me to speak casually, but I suppose it would be rude not to comply if she’s teaching me Cat Folk etiquette behind her in-laws’ backs.

“Ahem, Ms. Rona.”

“Just Rona.”

“…Rona, what brings you here in the middle of the night?”

“Oooooh~~~~!!”

When I changed my speech style as instructed, Rona put both hands on her cheeks, trembled, and let out an inexplicable moan.

And at that moment, a tropical fruit-like fragrance suddenly spread throughout the room.

“Whoa!? Wait, is this…?”

“Ah, hahaha… how embarrassing. I didn’t mean to…”

“Isn’t a Cat Folk woman’s pheromone supposed to only come out in front of a man she truly likes?”

“Oh, that’s just something adult women tell girls who’ve just discovered their scent. If they didn’t say that, there wouldn’t be any boys left in the neighborhood.”

“Anyway, we need ventilation. Let me open the window first…”

I hurriedly tried to reopen the window that Rona had closed when she came in, but she grabbed my arm firmly and wouldn’t let go.

“Why are you holding me back!?”

“Um, by any chance… is my scent unpleasant to you?”

“Huh?”

“It might be a lie that we can only release it in front of someone we like, but it’s true that it smells unpleasant to men who have negative feelings toward us. So, I was wondering if… if it smells bad to you…”

Being asked whether her pheromone scent was unpleasant was quite awkward, but since it seemed to be an important issue for Cat Folk women, I decided to answer honestly.

“Not at all. It’s different from Seti’s, but it’s a perfectly nice fragrance.”

“Th-that’s a relief…”

“Besides, why would I have negative feelings toward you? You’re Seti’s precious family, and you haven’t been cold to me even though I’m a colonist.”

“When you put it that way, I guess that’s true.”

“Now that you understand, let go of my arm so I can ventilate. I think I’ve built up some self-control while being with Seti, but if something goes wrong, it could be a real disaster.”

“…What if I said it wasn’t a mistake?”

“Huh?”

Rona, still holding my arm tightly, blushed and lowered her head, speaking in a small voice.

“If I tell you that I came into your room on purpose, that I spread my scent intentionally… would you despise me?”

“No, wait. What are you saying? You’re a married woman.”

“My relationship with your brother-in-law is neither that of a husband and wife nor lovers. I’m just a concubine.”

“Still, you’re Ellem’s… my father-in-law’s woman. You shouldn’t be cheating with your niece’s boyfriend.”

“I didn’t intend to from the beginning. But when I found out that you defeated that scary man all by yourself… I couldn’t help myself.”

“Crow?”

“My ideal type has always been a strong man. That’s why I competed with my sister for Ellem, who was the strongest in our tribe, but in the end, she was the one chosen. Fortunately, Ellem accepted me as his concubine, so I was allowed to stay by his side, but after Seti was born…”

“He stopped paying attention to Rona?”

“It’s not like that. It’s just that as my sister lost her scent, my brother-in-law’s passion in that regard quickly cooled, and they both transformed from lovers into parents. Leaving me behind, still emitting a woman’s scent.”

Rona’s face, looking straight at mine, contained a passion visible even on the surface.

The expression of a mature woman who knows men—a sultry, sophisticated look that Seti is still about ten years away from achieving.

“I don’t dislike Ellem. I know he loves me. But unlike my sister, I can’t be satisfied with just family-like love… And then when I saw you, who single-handedly defeated an outlaw that even Ellem couldn’t handle, I couldn’t hold back anymore.”

“Ah~ I appreciate the praise, but that was just a matter of compatibility between melee weapons and guns. I wouldn’t say I’m stronger than Ellem.”

“I don’t necessarily want you to be stronger than Ellem. It’s just that your strength was enough to stir my heart.”

Saying that, Rona took my hand and placed it on her left breast. Beneath the soft, elastic touch, I could feel her heart beating rapidly.

“Please, Will. Before you commit to Seti, just once, couldn’t you leave a memory with a woman who’s lost her heart to you?”

“…I’m sorry. I really can’t do that with Rona.”

“Is it because I’m so much older? Or because I’ve already been with another man?”

“Age doesn’t matter to me. And I don’t particularly care about your past experiences with other men. But I can’t bring myself to betray Seti, especially not with my father-in-law’s woman.”

Despite my repeated refusal, the sweet and tangy tropical fruit scent continued to fill the room.

Indeed, the pheromones of a Cat Folk woman, especially one putting her heart into seducing a man, are different in their very concentration.

If I hadn’t experienced Seti before, I might have already pushed Rona down and crossed a point of no return.

“If I keep filling the room with my scent until you lose your mind, could I get my wish?”

“I doubt it. Before that happens, I’d pick you up and plant your head into the floor.”

“Do you think you can physically overpower a Cat Folk woman?”

“If I shout and stall for time, someone will come and stop this.”

After my continued rejection, Rona finally seemed to give up and walked past me to open the window herself.

Fresh air entered the room that had been filled with Rona’s tropical fruit-like pheromones, and I could feel my heart, which had been about to burst, gradually stabilizing.

Just as I was about to breathe an inward sigh of relief that the crisis had somehow passed, something completely unexpected came out of Rona’s mouth.

“Sorry, sis. I failed.”

“My, my~ What a steadfast man~”

“…What?”

Turning my head sharply at the sudden gentle voice, I saw Lu’s face peeking up from below the open window.

“Oh, oh-oh-oh, Mother…!”

“My goodness~ Call me Lu too. It’s unfair to treat only Rona like a young woman.”

“I can’t possibly… more importantly, since when have you been…”

“Hmm~ Since Rona climbed over the windowsill, perhaps~”

“That’s from the very beginning! Don’t tell me you two plotted together to trap me?”

“Trap? This is a tradition passed down through generations in the Cat Folk tribe.”

“Having married women sneak into other men’s rooms and seduce them with their scent?”

“We have to do this to know whether you like Seti herself or just the scent of Cat Folk women.”

“Ah.”

Hearing Lu’s answer, I recalled the conversation I had with Ellem in the reception room.

Whether I truly love and cherish Seti as a person, not just intoxicated by a Cat Folk woman’s pheromones.

If not, our relationship would end in disaster when Seti gives birth and loses her pheromone ability.

Though different in approach from Ellem, Lu was also trying to verify my character in her own way.

To prevent her precious daughter from experiencing the misery of being abandoned after being paired with a man blinded by lust.

“…That’s quite a heart-stopping test method. Anyway, does this mean I passed?”

“Of course~ A son-in-law like Will is more than welcome. Oh, but if you’re thinking of having children, you should let us know in advance, okay? Cat Folk have many preparations to make to protect the baby in the womb.”

“That’s probably far in the future, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Then we’ll be off to bed now. Sleep well.”

“Thanks for resisting temptation until the end. Hehe.”

After the two women left the room with quick steps, I sat down on the blanket spread on the floor, trying to calm my racing heart.

The thought of what might have happened if I had given in to Rona’s seduction made my hair stand on end.

Maybe it was my imagination, but I felt like Rona’s scent still lingered faintly in the room, especially on the blanket…

“…Huh?”

Feeling someone’s gaze, I turned around to see two pairs of eyes peeking through the not-fully-closed door.

“What are you doing?”

“We were wondering if you might be lying face down on the blanket, sniffing my scent…”

“If your body hasn’t calmed down, should we call Seti for you?”

“I’m not doing that! I’m really going to sleep now! Really!”

“After taking Grandma Yena’s medicine, you must be feeling all worked up and having trouble sleeping, right?”

“That was an aphrodisiac?!”

“Kyaa~ I told you a man’s speech is most attractive when it’s like that.”

“Right, sis? When he suddenly changed his speech style and said ‘What brings you here in the middle of the night?’ Oh my… I got goosebumps all over.”

Lu and Rona held hands and squealed like idol fans.

Dealing with these frivolous married women would keep me up all night.

I composed myself, walked over to close the door firmly, and lay down on the blanket. Then I heard a gentle knock on the door.

*Knock knock*

“Hey~ Please, just once, won’t you call me ‘Lu’ and speak casually to me too?”

“GOOD. NIGHT. MOTHER!”

At this point, I’m going to force myself to sleep.

I pulled the blanket over my head and tried with all my might to fall asleep.