Ch.169Life (2)

After my tryst with Sylvia ended, I found myself sitting dumbfounded on the dirt floor, having just learned that it was none other than Alice who had personally dressed me in my armor while I lay naked.

Where had Alice and Sylvia gone? Why had Sylvia abandoned me? Why had Alice silently dressed me? And how was I supposed to face Alice from now on?

So many thoughts churned in my head at once that it seemed to overload, leaving me unable to think at all.

My head was in turmoil, ready to explode at any moment, and my heart pounded with fear of what might happen next.

“Ah, seriously…”

After suffering for quite some time with cold sweat running down my face, I finally gave up trying to think.

Honestly, with the situation this complicated, it wasn’t unreasonable to feel like throwing my hands up in surrender.

The two of them wouldn’t have left me here forever, and there wasn’t anything I could do alone anyway, so I just sat there blankly, waiting for them to return.

“I should scold Sylvia when I see her.”

Just thinking about the two of them coming back made anger creep up inside me.

Seriously, how many times did I refuse, yet she still demanded sex so forcefully and then just abandoned me?

Of course, falling asleep right after our lovemaking might have been my fault, but couldn’t she at least have dressed me again?

True, I did enthusiastically explore Sylvia’s body once we got going, but how many men could resist such temptation from someone they love?

“Next time, I absolutely won’t allow it. I won’t lift a finger until we defeat the Demon Lord, seriously.”

I muttered in a somewhat sulky tone.

“That was quick.”

Pia mocked me without even showing herself.

“…I really won’t do it again.”

“Who said anything?”

“…”

“We both know you’ll just go ‘hehe, can’t help it’ and give in the next time Sylvia pounces on you.”

“I don’t laugh like an idiot like that.”

Pia was now sitting beside me, hugging her knees to her chest.

With her face resting against her knees pulled up to her chest, she stared at me through half-lidded eyes and continued in a lowered voice with a silly tone.

“Ehehe, gotta kiss Sylvia, that’s what you always do.”

“When have I ever!”

“So you won’t do it?”

“Do what?”

“Kiss.”

“…”

“…?”

“Well… I mean, kissing is…”

“You’re hopeless.”

Pia sighed deeply and shook her head.

I wanted to make some excuse, but Pia disappeared again, clearly not wanting to hear it.

With no other choice, I leaned back against a large tree trunk, tilted my head up, and tried to clear my mind while savoring the sunlight filtering through the leaves.

That’s when I heard footsteps approaching from a distance.

“Ash? You’re awake. Well, yesterday you woke up even earlier than this.”

“…”

I silently turned my head toward the voice.

“Ah…”

It was Alice.

I had expected both Sylvia and Alice to come together, but Sylvia was nowhere to be seen.

I let out a sigh, unable to hide my confusion.

Was it because I knew she was the one who had dressed me when I was sprawled out naked after sex?

My mouth wouldn’t open easily.

I didn’t dare to speak carelessly.

“G-good morning,”

I tried to greet her with a forced smile.

“Get up, let’s get going.”

Alice spoke calmly in a voice that seemed normal yet somehow cold.

I nodded like an idiot at her ambiguous attitude, unsure whether she was bothered or indifferent.

Alice slowly walked past me without even glancing my way as I stood up and dusted off my backside.

After quickly checking if there was anything I needed to gather, I followed Alice, keeping a few steps behind her.

“…”

“…”

An awkwardly painful silence hung between Alice and me.

Or perhaps I was just being overly conscious, and Alice was acting the same as always.

After all, I hadn’t particularly walked and chatted with her during the past two days.

But was that really true?

Had there really been such an awkward silence between us yesterday or the day before?

My head was so muddled that I couldn’t even recall what the atmosphere between Alice and me had been like for the past two days.

I felt like I was already breaking into a cold sweat despite having barely walked.

“Um, Alice.”

“…”

“So, where’s Sylvia?”

I mustered the courage to ask, trying to break this awkward silence.

Alice answered immediately without looking back.

“Is Sylvia the only thing you can ask me about?”

“Ah, no, that’s not it,”

Her voice was somewhat irritable and sharp.

My careless remark seemed to have upset Alice.

Well, if Pia’s claim that Alice had dressed me in my armor while I was asleep was true, it meant she knew I had been having sex with Sylvia while she was out scouting the area.

It’s annoying enough when someone slacks off while you’re busy working, let alone engaging in sexual activities.

That was essentially disregarding your traveling companion entirely.

And then to immediately ask about Sylvia’s whereabouts as soon as I saw Alice—no wonder she was irritated.

“…Sorry,”

Crushed under the weight of Alice’s sharp irritation and my own guilt, I mumbled briefly.

Alice sighed, still looking straight ahead.

“Hah… Sylvia went ahead. About an hour ago.”

“Huh… why?”

I asked in surprise, shocked that Sylvia had departed a whole hour earlier.

“She was excited, said she wanted to clear out all the monsters ahead so you wouldn’t have to exert yourself today.”

“Um… but… why?”

Was the sex that good yesterday?

Of course, being intimate with Sylvia was always mind-blowingly ecstatic and special.

The sight of her—lovely yet incredibly lewd, obscene yet somehow shy—displaying her various charms brilliantly, her hot body writhing dynamically on top of my lower abdomen, was a drama and performance I could watch for a lifetime without ever getting bored.

Plus, yesterday had the added thrill and slight sense of taboo from being outdoors.

But if you asked whether yesterday’s lovemaking was particularly special, not really.

Every intimate moment with Sylvia had been equally wonderful, so I couldn’t say yesterday was especially different from usual.

It made me tilt my head in confusion—was it really good enough for her to wake up an hour early and leave me lying there naked?

“I don’t want to talk about it… Ask her yourself.”

Alice muttered through gritted teeth.

Her intensity was so fierce that I closed my mouth, not daring to ask further.

Well, at least I knew for certain that Alice was in a bad mood.

The cause was clearly my and Sylvia’s debauchery.

If I were in her position, I’d be annoyed too if a travel companion secretly enjoyed sex and didn’t even try to hide it.

Come to think of it, shouldn’t I have apologized to Alice first?

And then thanked her for dressing me.

I struggled to part my lips, carefully choosing my words.

“Um, Alice…”

“…”

“Did… did you put my armor on me?”

I decided to confirm the facts first.

No matter how I thought about it, if Alice had seen me naked, she would have scolded me severely.

In the past, whenever I played pranks or did mischievous things, she would put her hands on her hips, lean forward slightly, and scold me.

It’s not that I didn’t trust Pia, but maybe she had seen wrong.

“Yes.”

So much for wishful thinking.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Pia; I just didn’t want to believe it.

At my age, I couldn’t believe my childhood friend’s sister had personally dressed my naked body after I’d fallen asleep post-sex.

But it had actually happened.

I felt the blood drain from my face.

I rubbed my face with both hands as if washing it, then slowly swept them away.

Rising with shame and embarrassment, I said in a small voice:

“I’m sorry.”

“…”

Alice suddenly stopped in her tracks.

Then she slowly turned around to look at me and asked:

“For what?”

“…Alice?”

“What are you sorry for?”

“…”

Alice strode toward me.

Thump, thump.

With each approaching step, her chestnut-brown bob hair fluttered like flames.

“What are you sorry for? You’re Sylvia’s lover.”

“No, it’s just… while you were scouting the area, we were…”

“And why should you be sorry about that?”

“For not being considerate of you…”

“Ha,”

Alice let out a scoffing laugh as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Having approached right up to my face, she glared at me with a terrifying gaze.

Though I was clearly taller, somehow it felt like she was looking down on me.

With a frown, she chewed on her lip before speaking slowly, enunciating each word:

“You… are truly dense.”

“…Alice?”

“Almost unbearably so.”

“…Yeah, I was wrong.”

“No, you still don’t get it.”

“…Get what?”

“…”

Alice squeezed her eyes shut, then abruptly turned her head away.

Without another word, she walked ahead with quick steps.

I stared blankly at Alice’s retreating figure and muttered:

“What don’t I understand…”