episode_0046

[Episode 46] – Lily’s Day (1)

‘Daily Lover’. Lily was very happy to have drawn the first lottery, but she also felt a little sorry. She would become ‘lovers’ with her mother tomorrow, but she had very little time to think about what to do with her mother tomorrow.

If we were going on a date, the limited time of one day was too precious to spend on a carriage ride to the town and back to the mansion. In order to reduce every minute and second of wasted time, Lily chose to stay home with her mother rather than going on a date.

However, the things that ‘lovers’ could do at home were very limited. I thought that if I was not careful, I might end up just being ‘mother and daughter’ instead of ‘lovers’, and waste the day that was allowed to be ‘daily lovers’. I absolutely could not do that, and I did not want to do that.

‘What are some things that ‘lovers’ can do at home without being like ‘mother and daughter’?’

Lily, who couldn’t sleep because of the pleasant anticipation, tossed and turned, after much thought and choice, decided what to do on Valentine’s Day tomorrow. It was something she hadn’t done since she did it once with her mother when she was little, but it was something that lovers could do together. And it was something that the two of them could do at home without anyone bothering them.

‘Tomorrow… I have to stay with Mom all day… I have to touch Mom all day… I have to hug Mom all day… And… all day…’

Lily woke up and opened her eyes, thinking that she would have to run to her mother right away, and she held her pounding heart in anticipation and forced her eyes shut. When she opened her eyes and got up, her heart would race so much that her mother would be her ‘lover’ for just one day, and she looked forward to tomorrow, and she couldn’t stop smiling in anticipation.

*

“So… is this what you want to do? From the middle of the night..?”

“We haven’t been together since we were kids, right? And you did it with Elise last time! Thinking about it now, I’m so jealous… Ah, anyway! Hurry up and take it off! There’s no time! ”

“Why don’t you do it in the evening instead..?”

“I can’t stay long because I have to meet Sylvia and Elise in the evening! Hurry up! ”

“Haa…”

I sighed as I watched Lily urging me to take off my clothes. As soon as breakfast was over, Lily brought me to a place she had to go urgently, which was none other than the bathroom. Lily had already filled the bathroom with water and began to push me into the bathroom almost desperately.

“Do we really have to take a bath together..?”

“Lovers do this of course. Today, Mom is my lover, right? Today, I’m going to do everything that lovers can do! That’s why I don’t have time!”

Unable to resist Lily’s urging, she finally sighed and began to take off her clothes. Now, she didn’t feel so embarrassed about taking off her clothes and exposing her naked body in front of the kids. Since she had already shown them everything they couldn’t see, taking a bath together wasn’t that embarrassing.

‘…Well, it’s different from what I saw in class…’

As I was putting my underwear in the basket and going into the bathroom first, Lily suddenly gasped in surprise. When I reflexively turned my head to look at Lily, I saw her doing something I couldn’t understand. Is this what an impulsive behavior of a teenage girl is?

“Oh my gosh..! My face is completely in Mom’s bra!”

“……”

I couldn’t help but be surprised at Lily’s face as she buried it in my bra that I had just taken off and was surprised that her face fit inside. Was it innocent, lewd, or purely lewd? When Lily buried her face in my bra and tried to sniff inside it, I felt embarrassed and snatched the bra from Lily’s hand. Then I glared at Lily with a low growl.

“Shall we go into the bathroom, honey?”

“Ae, lover… Hehe…”

“Haa…”

Lily blushed and smiled shyly, slightly lowering her head, as if she was glad that I called her lover rather than getting angry. I was just joking, but seeing her like this made me not feel like getting angry. I sighed and put the bra I was holding in my hand in the basket, and went into the bathroom, where the water overflowing from the bathtub splashed against my soles.

After a quick wash, I groaned involuntarily as I entered the bathtub with warm steam rising above the water. Bathing in hot water in the morning was a luxury I could never have imagined.

It would be a mistake to indulge in such extravagance, but in a place where there was not much to enjoy, the allure of bathing in a huge bathhouse was something that could not be resisted.

I soaked my whole body in the hot bath water, stretched my legs out, and stretched. The languidness spreading down to my toes made me smile pleasantly. As I soaked my body up to my chin, Lily, who had finished washing, checked the temperature of the water with her toes and slowly entered the bathtub.

Lily, who had come over to me through the water, rested her head on my shoulder and let out a pleasant moan as she felt the warm water sloshing inside the bathtub. I was about to ask her why she was so attached to me in such a large bathtub, but since she was my ‘lover’, I knew that we wouldn’t end up talking about this and that anyway, so I just quietly enjoyed the luxurious bath.

Lily, contrary to my expectations that she would come running right away, was still, resting her head on my shoulder. All I could hear was the sound of water droplets dripping from the ceiling of the quiet, spacious bathroom onto the still water in the bathtub. As soon as I thought that it would be okay to just take a bath like this, Lily grabbed my hand in the water and started intertwining us.

“Holding hands is a natural thing between lovers, right..?”

“Right..?”

“… Is it true that Mom will be my lover today? Mom’s expression… is so bad… If you don’t want to do it but can’t refuse… I don’t want to go that far…”

Lily just leaned on my shoulder and rolled her eyes as she looked up at me. Honestly, I had no idea how to answer Lily’s question. I had adapted to this world by thinking of myself as the ‘parent’ of these children. I had adapted to this world by thinking that the reason I came here was to raise these children properly, to become their ‘parent’.

In the midst of the unknown goal, the only goal I held onto was ‘the happiness of the children.’ Trisha wanted her children to be happy, and as an orphan, I also wanted my children to be happy. Just as I inherited Trisha’s goal, I also aimed for ‘the marriage of the children,’ just like Trisha.

I have never once forgotten that ‘goal’, and honestly, the reason I was forced to participate in ‘classes’ that I didn’t have to take was because I thought those classes would have an effect on ‘the children’s marriages’. If I were to suddenly disappear, my children would be sold off as concubines or second wives.

In the midst of living as a ‘parent’, suddenly a ‘daily lover’? I’ve never had a ‘lover’, and Trisha has never been in a relationship or married, so I had no idea about love. At best, the only knowledge I had about love was from dramas or romance novels that my younger siblings had been forced to watch at the orphanage because they wanted to see them.

“Mom…?”

I glanced down at Lily, who was leaning her head on my shoulder and calling me with a worried voice. I couldn’t understand why Catherine had started this ‘Daily Lover’ class. The only thing I could tell from Catherine’s incomprehensible class was that Catherine didn’t have any malicious intentions in making us take this class.

‘If I had been thinking bad thoughts, my family would have been in trouble a long time ago…’

As Catherine had done us a favor, the only way I could repay her favor, being penniless and in debt, was to follow Catherine’s orders. And more than that, I didn’t want to see the children sad because of my refusal. I smiled as I stroked Lily’s head, who was holding my hand tightly.

“…Lily, the truth is, Mom didn’t marry for love either, so I don’t know what to do. She was sold to your father as soon as she became of marriageable age, so she didn’t have time or opportunity to date. That’s why…”

I moved my body closer to Lily, wrapped my arms around her waist, and hugged her tightly. I put both arms around Lily’s shoulders, hugged her from behind, and bent my waist, so that our bodies were pressed against each other. It was embarrassing, but I thought Lily would like it better, and I thought it would be a lover’s position.

“So… Lily, can you tell me? I don’t know much about love since I’ve never been in a relationship before… So Lily is your lover for today, right?”

I felt Lily’s body tremble slightly as I hugged her.

“Me too… I’ve only read about love in books, and the only knowledge I have is what Lady Catherine taught me… Is that okay?”

“I know better than Mom. It’s been a long time since Mom read a book like that.”

“Then…”

Lily took my hand again and began to play with it, gently entangling my fingers one by one. As our fingers entangled and rubbed together in the water, our two hands that had touched were soon completely interlocked. Lily’s hand, which was holding onto my hand with a stronger grip than before, felt hot even in the warm water.

Lily leaned her head down and rubbed her cheek against the nape of my neck, smiling broadly.

It was not the bright smile he usually showed, but a strange and provocative smile.

“Today… I am my mother’s lover.”

Strength continued to flow into the hands that were clasped together.

As if I would never let go.

*