Ch.113113. Confirmation (4)

After the series of events had been settled, there was only one thing left for us to talk about.

…I thought it would take several months, close to a year at minimum, or even longer if things didn’t align well.

Coincidentally today, Sione had dramatically broken through the wall and stepped into a new realm.

I wanted to ask how she had managed to find the unknown beyond the horizon so quickly.

“Haaah…”

A voice that sounded exhausted just hearing it.

For a while, Sione had been running around the room swinging her pillow in a most unnoble manner.

She collapsed onto the bed and buried her face in her pillow, letting out a groan of fatigue.

That’s what happens when you don’t listen when told to stop.

This was all karma for her tantrum after embarrassing herself.

I lightly ignored her wailing and sat on the edge of the bed.

“You said you had an epiphany.”

I recalled the words she had whispered in my ear when I was supporting her.

─In novels they always say epiphanies are important. I never thought that would actually be true.

Since it seemed her breakthrough was due to some kind of epiphany, my curiosity about the answer she found grew stronger as time passed.

What kind of epiphany could she possibly have had that not only advanced her previously formless mana, but also allowed her to properly shape and fire it?

Even for me, or a sage who has spent a lifetime studying knowledge and understanding the world, such an epiphany that causes sudden development would be difficult to attain.

My calm voice made her lift her face from where it was buried in the pillow.

Respectfully─

…Even though we were already close enough that I was allowed to speak casually, I had been using formal speech all year, so this felt more comfortable. And since this might be a rather serious conversation, I didn’t think it would be appropriate to ask lightly.

Meeting her blue eyes that quietly gazed at me, I continued speaking slowly with formal respect.

“Could you tell me what that epiphany was?”

“It’s─”

After staring at me for a moment, Sione let out a small, meaningless laugh.

“It’s the same. The same as when I cut my hair back then.”

Saying that, Sione twisted and untwisted her hair around her index finger repeatedly.

“…I still remember what you said, brother. That when I believe in myself without wavering, the arrow draws the most beautiful trajectory. It’s exactly the same as that.”

“The same?”

“After clearing away even the last bit of lingering doubt…”

Sione pressed her lips firmly together for a moment.

She seemed to have a lot to say. But instead of chattering in her lovely voice, she revealed her deep feelings only through quiet silence.

She simply rolled across the bed and bumped into me.

“…I just established confidence in myself.”

Since I couldn’t just sit there doing nothing.

I roughly patted her head and said:

“That’s wonderful.”

Confidence in oneself.

Though she spoke as if it were nothing special, when she was lost in that trance-like state shooting arrows, Sione must have been immersed in tens of thousands of thoughts.

She seemed to have summarized the collection of various thoughts simply as confidence in herself.

Some might belittle the idea that breaking through to the expert level is merely about believing in oneself. But for Sione, that trust was probably heavier and more important than anything else.

After enjoying my touch for a while, purring like a cat, Sione began to stir.

“Hup…”

With a small grunt of effort, she sat up and quietly moved to sit beside me.

Yet she didn’t show any interest in me, instead looking down at her feet for a moment, hesitating.

Then she gradually began to inch closer to my side.

…Why is she suddenly acting like this?

It wasn’t the playful atmosphere of when she usually grumbles but still clings to me.

Between us, there seemed to be a subtle warm breeze blowing as if something was about to happen.

She clenched and unclenched her fist beside me, fidgeting with her fingers, until finally she slightly turned her head.

Sione glanced at me.

Through her blue pupils, I could see my own face looking back at her with a hardened expression, wondering what on earth this mistress of mine was up to now.

“…Brother.”

It wasn’t Sione’s usual playful little sister-like voice.

Her voice had clearly changed, from pitch to tone.

I had certainly become her exclusive servant as a nineteenth birthday gift for Sione. She must be twenty-one now by my homeland’s reckoning.

“…Why are you calling me?”

I carefully asked while checking her face.

Without her usual naive appearance, she was infinitely closer to a beautiful woman than a girl.

I was unintentionally taken aback by her suddenly transformed appearance. Watching my reaction from right beside me, the corners of Sione’s lips curved upward.

“I told you before.”

Sione subtly closed the distance between us even more.

“That I would definitely claim it, so just wait a little longer.”

“What are you talking ab—”

Hiss—

Apparently I made a mistake in my line, as Sione’s gaze turned cold.

She extended her left arm to hold me tight so I couldn’t escape, then climbed onto my lap.

Sione was now facing me on my lap, embracing me.

Her heated breath tickled my face.

“Your lips. You said you’d offer them to me. You’re not trying to back out of a promise that never existed, are you?”

“…Could you use that technique from earlier several more times?”

“Of course. My beating heart and mana, all my five senses remember that sensation. I can do it again as many times as needed.”

“……”

Slide.

As she said this, Sione went so far as to wrap her arms around my neck.

Now that things had come to this, there was no escape for me anywhere.

Finally pressing her forehead against mine, Sione embraced me with heated eyes and let her voice flow.

“…Brother, do it.”

The seeds I’ve sown have come back to me as karma.

Seeing her gently close her eyes as if my opinion no longer mattered, I let out a small laugh.

To make sure this laugh I just made wasn’t in vain, and for both Sione and myself, after stirring up a small emotion together.

I pressed my lips against her small ones.

The soft sensation. The hot breath I felt. The heated atmosphere.

The warm breeze of hers entering through the parted lips tasted like tender, yet devoted affection.

Just as that initial touch was about to develop into a deeper kiss.

“Pahah…”

Sione, who had been holding her breath tightly, separated her lips and smiled like a little devil with a deep blush.

“Sione?”

“Heh.”

She pushed me down using her weight.

I helplessly yielded to her force and ended up lying on the bed, with Sione rolling to the side on top of me and hugging me tightly.

“I’ll postpone what comes next for a little while.”

“…Postpone?”

“Because there will be a better day than now. On the festival day, we’ll go to a restaurant together, just the two of us. After enjoying a full date walking around the streets, you’ll do it yourself.”

I quietly nodded at her words.

Then Sione smiled brightly, rubbed her cheek against mine, and quietly began to speak.

“But since it’s a shame to end like this…”

After hesitating for a moment without continuing her words, she slightly exposed her white, delicate neck.

“…Leave a kiss mark to show I’m yours.”

“What…?”

I doubted my ears for a moment.

This is a gender-reversed world.

Even though I had told her my preferences and she had responded accordingly.

I never imagined she would give up her dominance over me and instead ask me to leave a mark claiming her as mine.

“…Really? Even so—”

“Hurry up, it’s embarrassing.”

Sione showed no intention of changing her mind.

“…It will leave a mark.”

“It’s winter anyway, so I’ll only wear clothes that cover up to my neck… and I’ll wear a scarf too.”

After saying that, Sione slightly avoided my gaze and said.

“…Stop teasing me already.”

“Haah…”

I don’t know anymore. Whatever happens, happens.

“This is Sione’s order.”

My mistress slightly closed her eyes.

A sign of affirmation.

I’m just a mere slave following my master’s orders. I bear no guilt.

I gently kissed her neck.

“Mmh…”

Sione’s small voice echoed in the quiet room.

Chu.

After finally creating a small kiss mark on her neck and separating from her, Sione grinned broadly.

She stroked her neck and then buried her face in the blanket. Then she just clung to me, tightly holding onto my right arm.

After quietly staying like that for a while.

Growl—

“Ah…”

Sione’s stomach ruthlessly shattered the ticklish atmosphere, starting to clamor for food.

I gave her a refreshing smile.

Sione burrowed into my arms and hid her face.

Judging by how red her ears were turning, she must have been extremely embarrassed.

Trying my best to hold back my laughter, I said:

“You were in deep concentration shooting arrows. And you used mana all day long, even firing that kind of arrow at the end. It’s understandable.”

“…Shut up.”

“I’ll make you a sandwich like before, so just wait a little bit.”

At those words, Sione nodded slightly.

“…Come back quickly.”

As expected, she doesn’t tell me not to go.

I couldn’t hold back my laughter at Sione’s consistent behavior.

Sione, hiding under the blanket with only her face peeking out, shouted at my back as I was leaving the room.

“Why are you laughing!”

* * *

Sione, who had broken through the wall and entered a new realm before even celebrating her twentieth birthday.

News of her spread quickly and became the hottest topic of conversation in the count’s mansion.

The servants of the count’s family who had experienced Sione’s harsh words in the past or witnessed her incompetence with their own eyes doubted their ears, wondering if they had heard wrong.

For a year, although Sione hadn’t made a show of it, those who had slowly observed her changing all expressed the same astonishment.

And that news reached not only Ainel Sianella and other figures of the count’s family.

But also Aria and those from the Allenar viscounty who were staying at the count’s mansion.

Among them, a magician with dark red hair.

Why she had tried to extract information in such a stiff atmosphere after summoning the male servant of the count’s family.

Although she was severely reprimanded by Siabel Sianella along with Aria, Lavi Cournel couldn’t erase her growing questions and curiosity.

The news that reached her became good prey.

“…Except for a very small number of individuals, it’s established theory that magic and aura cannot coexist.”

So that means the young lady isn’t someone who handles magic.

Unless—

“If the young lady is one of those rare individuals, then…”

A suspicious servant and a young lady who could imbue her arrowheads with powerful aura before even turning twenty.

Lavi Cournel shook her head to chase away her tangled thoughts.

“…Tsk.”

I was looking forward to the count’s winter festival…

Now that she had encountered such a curiosity-provoking story, she probably wouldn’t be able to sleep properly out of curiosity.

It seemed it would be difficult to enjoy the festival with a clear mind.