Ch.159Aftermath (1)

I actually had a certain level of confidence.

It was almost a certainty.

I believed I wouldn’t harbor sexual desires for Melody, wouldn’t fall for her temptations, and would easily overcome such trials.

Deep down, that’s what I thought. And this wasn’t mere bravado.

I had my reasons.

First, I wasn’t inexperienced. And my experience wasn’t with just “anyone.”

Isla, a woman with a sensual body whose mystique came from the subtle differences between her and humans, was quite alluring.

I had shared my body with Isla. And it wasn’t just a one-time thing.

Without needing to recall specifics, we often intermingled our bodies on nights we spent together.

I’d learned about contraception, and when Isla wasn’t looking melancholic, she would do various things.

Like using her tail, or partially transforming her hands.

Or transforming her insides.

Shapeshifters had many skills, and some were worth trying in the future.

That wasn’t all. I had memories from my middle school days.

A time of turbulence in many ways.

Living alone with my older sister, I had to swim through many troubles and pains.

My sister, who used to bathe with me when I was in elementary school, still wanted to bathe together.

The reason was quite rational. Water bills weren’t paid by our ancestors.

As a middle schooler going through puberty, I instinctively felt danger and experienced how difficult it was to suppress the raging desires.

Looking back now, I wonder if that was my sister’s intention all along, but anyway.

I had overcome those countless pains to be where I am now.

I believed I wouldn’t be easily conquered if there wasn’t that fullness that filled my hands.

Of course, I liked Melody.

To be honest, her face and personality were also to my taste.

My manly instincts secretly whispered that I preferred delicate and talented women like Melody.

Even I, who enjoyed vanilla gameplay without installing mods, had considered installing the Melody romance mod, which says a lot.

But Melody lacked what my sister and Isla had.

I was convinced I wouldn’t lust after Melody’s meager physique.

That’s why I confidently agreed and acted upon it, but…

I sighed before even lasting 20 seconds.

And I condemned my self from 20 seconds ago.

Was it because my hands trembled? Melody laughed. Her laughter so close made me feel dizzy.

“What’s wrong? Your hand stopped.”

“…Would it be wrong to ask if you could do it yourself now?”

“My, do you enjoy watching a blind person struggle alone?”

Her long eyelashes cast shadows as her eyes remained closed. I pressed my lips tightly, and Melody smiled broadly.

“Perhaps that’s your preference?”

“No, it’s not. It’s just…”

“Then, I’ll ask you to continue.”

I suppressed the sigh that was about to escape and moved my hand.

In my hand was a damp towel, and right in front of me was Melody, almost pressed against me.

Melody was completely naked.

It reminded me of a story I once heard about medieval women’s nightgowns being their underwear, with nothing underneath.

I had thought she might wear some kind of undergarment, but apparently not.

Well, for someone like Melody who sweats profusely, underwear might be meaningless. It’s not like they had modern breathable, sweat-wicking fabrics.

But I should have asked, and when I did, Melody answered:

“New beastkin naturally have higher body temperatures. We all live like this.”

Ah, I see.

So I was there, pressed against Melody, feeling like I wanted to either poke my eyes out or close them.

“Be gentle, okay?”

Words scattered with a misty breath. I swallowed at the sound of her breath mixed with those words and slowly moved my hand.

The towel in my hand advanced.

First, I wiped her back. I could at least look at her back with my naked eyes. Well, the upper part at least.

If I lowered my gaze a bit, I might see her buttocks and below, and despite Melody’s small frame, her buttocks were properly full, showcasing her femininity.

So I couldn’t look with a clear mind, and I moved my hand while staring at her back.

Even the back wasn’t entirely a safe zone.

It was a back. Something that couldn’t be called erotic… definitely different from my fetishes.

Yet, how should I put it?

Looking at that well-stretched back, without an ounce of fat, glistening with sweat, I felt something rising inside me.

Something might have actually risen. But by desperately moving my divine power to slow my heartbeat, that didn’t happen.

The trajectory drawn by her spine formed a kind of runway.

My gaze naturally flowed downward when it touched her, and I only managed to turn my eyes away after freezing at the sight of her tailbone.

Right, let’s look at the wings.

Looking at the severed wings makes me feel somber. It’s sad. I’m sad. As I frowned, Melody’s breath no longer felt suggestive.

Yes, I’m sad. Sad about Melody’s loss…

“Does it look ugly?”

I heard Melody’s words as I was thinking.

“Since they were cut off, it might be a bit…”

Melody is a bird beastkin. But the wings she should have had as a bird beastkin were cut off by the Dueling School.

Her mother had rebelled, and the wings had been very useful in that process.

Plus, the wings themselves were deemed unnecessary for a duelist.

It was like cutting a dog’s ears for aesthetics or cutting its tail because it might signal emotions to intruders.

It was an unpleasant reason. So I shook my head. Even though she couldn’t see, Melody seemed to sense my movement and softened her face as she glanced back.

“Not at all. It’s not ugly.”

“Really? Then how does it look?”

I took two steps forward before realizing it was a kind of trap.

“Uh, well.”

“It is ugly, isn’t it? I showed you something unsightly…”

“Tsk, really.”

Melody hunched her shoulders. Even knowing that duelists are good actors, I felt uncomfortable.

I sighed for my own comfort and said:

“It’s beautiful.”

“How is it beautiful?”

“No blemishes, no fat, stretched out like a work of art, making the eyes naturally flow downward, and so on.”

“How far down do your eyes go?”

My hand stopped. Melody finally stopped her sad act and chuckled.

“Pervert.”

Indeed, all lyric poets are lechers. I was convinced and mumbled.

“Since I can’t see anyway, you can look if you want. I’ll pretend I didn’t notice.”

“…I won’t look.”

“You say that, but you can look. Since you’ll have to wipe anyway, you can even touch a little…”

I felt my face turning bright red. My face was hot.

“I won’t touch. I really won’t, so stop teasing me.”

“Alright. So you’re saying you don’t even want to touch my body?”

“Are you angry?”

Why is she like this? I looked at Melody intently and diligently wiped her back.

When wiping the lower back, I closed my eyes or turned them away, and when wiping the upper part, I gently wiped to avoid irritating the severed marks.

After wiping like that, it was time for the nape. As I lifted her hair and patted it dry, Melody hummed a tune.

“What about the arms?”

“Would you do them for me?”

“…I’d rather not.”

“Please do. I’d like you to. Please, please.”

With her even acting coy, I had no means to refuse, and I took a deep breath before bringing the towel to Melody’s hand.

Wiping her hands wasn’t difficult. The same went for her forearms and even her shoulders.

The problem was below that. Melody raised her arms as if to make it easier to wipe.

Her armpits were clearly visible. They were clean without a single hair. And the slight bulge that would be visible if I moved my eyes just a little…

“…Wouldn’t it be better if you wiped that area yourself?”

“I can’t see. And because I can’t see, I’m anxious. I’d feel really reassured if the kind and gentle Luwellin wiped it for me.”

“Urgh…”

Melody burst into laughter. Amused by the sound I made, she covered her mouth and laughed, then leaned her body as if asking me to wipe her, and I wiped her with my eyes closed.

Along with the thought that there was more than I had expected, even though I had thought there was nothing.

Well, she is a bird, after all.

Birds have developed chest muscles. This must be like chest muscles too. Thinking that made me feel a bit more at ease.

Even that was just an escape, though.

She probably knows it too. That wiping someone’s body isn’t such an innocent act, and if I had been a little less gentlemanly, things would have gone awry.

It was strange that she seemed to even desire it. I couldn’t hide my curiosity.

“Are you wondering why I’m doing this?”

It was when I was wiping her other arm. I paused at Melody’s words.

She had already sat cross-legged on the bed, using my legs as a pillow, and I was trying not to look at her exposed upper body.

“Honestly, it’s a bit strange.”

I know Melody likes me.

I knew because my sister told me, and when I asked her directly, I got an answer.

Melody likes me. But do people usually go this far just because they like someone?

It seemed different from some kind of barbarism that might be expected in a medieval-level world.

Rather, to put it in words… there was a sense of urgency that couldn’t be explained by such reasons.

What on earth does she want to achieve by going this far? I stiffened when my hand touched the side of her breast, but I kept moving steadily.

It was when I had wiped her entire side.

Her arm moved gently and held both my cheeks. My eyes turned to Melody’s face as my hand moved slightly.

Melody’s face was flushed.

“You did it with Isla, didn’t you?”

I stiffened with a start.

Then I saw the ring on her finger.

A ring imbued with stealth magic. A ring that could even make one invisible when used.

“…Did you see?”

Melody didn’t answer. That silence was as good as an affirmation.

Swallowing, sweating, as I tried to withdraw my stiffened hand, Melody grabbed it.

“You haven’t finished wiping.”

Melody smiled with her eyes. Looking at her, I guessed the reason for her behavior.

This was seduction.

A cunning seduction using something I couldn’t refuse as a pretext. A kind of seduction that others might find strange but couldn’t stop.

But, why?

If she had seen, she would have seen it long ago, so why now?

Melody easily read my question.

“I thought about it after losing my eyes.”

Melody’s hands still held both my cheeks. Those small, calloused hands gently stroked my cheeks.

“We’re doing more dangerous things than we think, and we could die at any moment.”

“I can’t deny that.”

“So it made me think more. What if I… died without achieving what I wanted, left behind alone? That would be really unfair.”

What she wants.

Despite the roundabout way of saying it, it was clear. I moved my lips, but Melody placed her index finger on them, making me close my mouth.

Melody’s finger smelled nice. Even though she must have been sweating.

“So I decided to be brave.”

“…It seems like I need to be brave too.”

“You don’t have to. Wouldn’t it be easier to give up?”

“I want to resist a bit more. I’m not trying to become a scoundrel.”

“Mmm, that’s a shame. If possible, I was planning to roll around all day today.”

No, we have things to do.

As I let out a laugh in disbelief, Melody released my cheeks and hummed a tune as she slightly pulled down the blanket covering her body.

“I’d like to ask you to wipe other places too, would that be okay?”

Other places.

Below her chest was her abdomen, exposed where the blanket had been pulled down.

A smooth abdomen, wet with sweat.

Below that, her thighs were faintly visible, and her wiggling toes could be seen.

…Could I resist that?

I thought it was impossible.

“…I think it would be quite difficult.”

“Really? That’s a shame. Well then—”

Melody’s hand gently wrapped around my head.

Not resisting her pulling hand, I found myself lying on the bed.

Melody looked at my face as if examining it, and then…

With our positions inverted, she overlapped her lips with mine.

The touching lips felt like they were melting, like the heated breath and the hot body temperature I felt under my hand.

Didn’t she say bird beastkin have higher body temperatures? I could definitely tell it was different from Isla.

Even though she was just holding my cheeks and gently overlapping her lips, it felt like I was melting.

In the midst of it all, Melody’s face, lips, and hands were all much smaller than mine, giving me a sense of transgression.

A feeling of doing something I shouldn’t. Yet I couldn’t resist.

My desire made resistance impossible. I closed my eyes and gently extended my hand to cradle the back of Melody’s head.

At that, the corners of Melody’s mouth trembled slightly, and her lips parted.

And what I felt was a small tongue.

A small tongue that dug into my mouth and awkwardly met my tongue.

Melody stretched her tongue as much as possible and then slowly panted as she interlocked her tongue with mine.

To match her awkward kiss, I deliberately lowered the tempo, and Melody didn’t separate until she was out of breath.

It felt like lava was dancing on my tongue. It was hot. But not painfully hot, so my body was responding.

No, not now. I deliberately controlled my breathing and tried desperately to hold back.

Melody moved away, panting heavily as if she had just sprinted.

“Today, shall we, stop here?”

Despite being a virgin…

The change that had occurred as blood rushed to a certain area was filling me with a sense of defeat.

But Melody seemed to read my signs and smiled as she gently stroked my thigh with her outstretched hand.

Her next words were enough to change my sense of defeat into one of dismay.

“I’ll need you to wash me again tomorrow.”

I sighed deeply.