episode_0173

[Episode 169] – Vivian is fooled again

“Ugh.”

Vivian, who had just woken up from sleep, made a foolish sound as she woke up. Her body was so refreshed that she thought she had woken up in the evening again, which startled her. She thought she had slept for about twenty hours.

Stretching her arms above her head, Vivian turned her head to look out the window. She smiled happily at the morning sunlight coming in through the terrace window.

Rubbing her eyes with both hands, Vivian’s narrow field of vision, which had just woken up, began to widen, and then she noticed Titania smiling down at her from the side.

Titania, smiling and patting her own belly as if putting a child to sleep, asked Vivian in a whisper if she had slept well. As memories of last night came back vividly, Vivian took a deep breath.

“Hup.”

“Did you sleep well?”

Titania, who had been patting her belly, changed her gesture to stroke Vivian’s face and asked in a whisper. As she remembered last night clearly, Vivian’s face began to blush slightly.

She had insisted on sleeping separately, but in the end, unable to resist fatigue, she felt so embarrassed crawling into Titania’s bed. Moreover, the damp feeling around her mouth added to her embarrassment.

“I drooled in my sleep…?”

Overwhelmed with embarrassment, she quickly started wiping her mouth with her sleeve. Watching her, Titania chuckled and kissed Vivian on the forehead. It was an affectionate gesture.

Although Vivian pouted at this action as if consoling a child, now knowing that Titania’s behavior was not how one would treat a child, Vivian couldn’t say anything.

Just overwhelmed with embarrassment, she continued to wipe her mouth and, after clearing the drool, she glanced up at Titania with a shy look in her eyes.

As if waiting for an answer to the question of whether she had slept well, Titania looked down at herself with a smile in her eyes. It felt like affection was flowing through her bright red eyes visible between her smiling eyes.

Unable to resist those eyes, Vivian covered her mouth with her sleeve and answered, avoiding Titania’s gaze. It was just a morning greeting, but she couldn’t meet Titania’s eyes.

“Yeah… I slept well…”

After hearing the morning greeting, Titania got up from the bed, stretched with a pleasant groan, and then lay back down next to Vivian, smiling brightly.

“I also slept really well after a long time. Is it because I slept with Mother?”

“Is that so?”

Titania asked as she lay on her side, straightening Vivian’s disheveled bangs. It wasn’t a question about what she was thinking. She had really slept well after a long time, too.

Feeling her mother’s body temperature sneaking into the blanket, she could sleep well by hugging her and falling asleep. If only she could hug her adult mother and sleep.

Titania chuckled and wiped Vivian’s cheek. Still feeling embarrassed about sneaking into the blanket, her mother avoided eye contact and shyly averted her gaze.

Originally, she had planned to tease her a little more, but this should be fine.

Her mother would start to “understand” soon.

“…So, I want to keep sleeping with you in the future. But is that okay? It’s hard for me to sleep alone without you. I guess I can’t be without you.”

“Is that so…? If you say so, shall we do that…?”

Just as I can’t live without my mother, my mother also can’t be without me. Through this experience, it was clear that her mother would slowly “realize.” So, if a real “opportunity” arises—

Titania smiled and kissed Vivian’s forehead once again. My mother, always lovely, always adorable. Now, please realize.

“Yes, please stay by my side in the future. I can’t sleep properly without you, Mother.”

You feel the same way as I do.

You already love me.

Titania earnestly pleaded. She wanted to finally put an end to this yearning heart. Although she thought her mother would have noticed to some extent if she spoke so far, it seemed she was still far from understanding.

Even though she pleaded so desperately, her mother just smiled, raised the corners of her mouth, and sniffed the air. Her expression seemed to say, “Really! Titania can’t live without me!”

No, it wasn’t just like saying that. She was saying it.

“Phew, really. My daughter is helpless, isn’t she? You’re always like a child. I can’t refuse when my daughter pleads like that. Yes, let’s keep sleeping together like this in the future!”

“…Yes.”

At the response that made the tender feelings disappear completely, Titania looked at Vivian with a cold smile, as icy as if she were emitting frost. Is her mind becoming as difficult as her body due to the curse?

With a triumphant expression, even exhaling through her nose, and patting her head, Vivian’s actions made Titania feel like she was burning up inside. What should she do about this oblivious mother?

It’s not like her mother lacks awareness just for a day or two, but today, it felt particularly severe. Normally, she would casually ignore and overlook these emotions, but today, she felt like she couldn’t possibly do that.

Titania let out a small sigh and forced a bitter smile. She really didn’t want to do this to her mother ‘yet’, but she had no choice. If she didn’t do something like this, she felt like she wouldn’t be able to calm down.

This is all because of what her mother brought upon herself.

*

The time when the day’s work was over.

There was nothing special about the day, but Vivian stretched and complained of exhaustion. It’s natural for adults to get tired without doing anything.

As a pleasant sensation spread through her body along her muscles, Vivian let out a small moan. Seeing this, Titania smiled and made a suggestion.

“If you’re that tired, how about taking a bath first?”

“A bath?”

Yes, a bath.

It wasn’t a bad idea. It was time to wash anyway, and soaking in warm water would relieve the fatigue. Vivian got up from her seat, stretched once more, and nodded.

“Yeah, I should. There’s nothing else to do anyway.”

Without any suspicion, Vivian left the room and headed to the bathroom. Watching her leave, Titania smiled mischievously, got up, and untied the ribbon in her hair.

She couldn’t enter the bathroom with the ribbon on.

When her mother took a bath, she never allowed maids to assist. She always bathed ‘alone’ in the small bathroom with a small bathtub.

Yes, always alone.

After her mother remarried and lived here for over ten years, she always bathed alone, so the maids never approached the bathroom when her mother bathed.

In other words, that small bathroom, apart from the bedroom, meant a space where neither her mother nor herself would be ‘disturbed no matter what they were doing’.

No matter what they were doing.

Titania looked at the clock and waited for some time to pass. About 20 minutes was undoubtedly the time her mother would spend soaking in the tub. Her mother always spent an hour in the bath.

After 20 minutes, Titania slipped out of the room and headed to the bathroom where her mother was. As expected, there was no one around the bathroom, neither maids nor butlers. Titania casually turned the bathroom doorknob and entered.

Inside the dressing room, scattered clothes and underwear that mother had hastily taken off were spread out. Titania smiled mischievously, tidying up the clothes on the floor and then unbuttoning her own clothes to start undressing.

It’s common sense to undress to enter the bathroom. After taking off all her clothes, Titania hesitated about whether to cover herself with a towel, but eventually started covering herself.

There was no need to cover her body as there was nothing to be embarrassed about, but she thought it would be more effective to show and then cover herself in front of her mother.

What kind of reaction would her mother have if she suddenly took off the towel in front of her? Surely, she would blush and be embarrassed. Titania wanted to see Vivian’s expression like that.

Her mother’s such expression had a strange charm.

She wanted to make her face red and bring tears to her eyes.

The charm of making her feel embarrassed and not knowing what to do.

So, Titania wanted to torment Vivian, make her restless. She wanted to engrave the embarrassed look that she only showed to herself into her eyes at least once more.

She didn’t intend to behave so provocatively originally, but she was angry because of her mother’s attitude this morning. Unless she saw her mother feeling embarrassed and not knowing what to do, she felt like her anger wouldn’t subside.

Staring at the bathroom door beyond the dressing room where steam rose, Titania grinned mischievously and flung open the bathroom door.

“Mother, may I come in while you’re bathing?”

At the sudden visit of an uninvited guest, Vivian, who was soaking in the bathtub, startled, quickly covered her chest and crossed her legs. Then she hid her body in the bathtub and looked at Titania with a surprised expression.

“W-what, what, what, what?! What are you doing?!”

“What am I doing? Lately, it seems like you’ve been really stressed, so as your daughter, I’ve come to help relieve your fatigue by joining you for a bath.”

“W-what bath?”

“A bath together.”

After hearing it three times, Vivian finally realized the situation and pursed her lips like a goldfish. She was so dumbfounded that she was at a loss for words. However, Titania didn’t give Vivian a chance to regain her composure.

Splash, splash. The sound of bare feet stepping on the pooled water in the bathroom echoed throughout. As Titania approached Vivian, Vivian panicked, covering herself and causing a commotion.

“Wait! Don’t come closer! Why are you coming?”

“If I don’t get close, how can I help you bathe?”

“I don’t need your help! I don’t need iiiit!!”

As Titania casually stepped into the bathtub, Vivian’s last words turned into a scream. The problem was Titania, who had casually discarded the towel she had been using to cover herself right in front of Vivian.

Covering her chest, her lower body, her eyes. Even though a person has two hands, there were three places to cover. Vivian reluctantly closed her eyes tightly and turned her head to avoid looking at Titania.

However, despite her efforts, Titania managed to slip into the gap where Vivian had gathered her legs. Although the bathtub was spacious enough for one person, it began to feel cramped with two people inside.

“Isn’t it possible for family members to bathe together? Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever bathed with my mother when I was young…”

“T-That’s…”

“Just relax. Right now, I’m just here to show filial piety to my mother as her daughter.”

As Titania entered the bathtub, the sound of water overflowing from the tub onto the floor could be heard. Vivian, thinking that she should leave the bathtub in this situation, tried to get up from her seat, but—

“You can’t run away. I told you, I’m going to help you bathe.”

“Wait! Don’t grab my foot! Don’t lift my foot!!”

As Titania grabbed Vivian’s ankle and lifted it, Vivian couldn’t get up from her seat. Not only could she not get up, but as one leg was raised to be supported, her hip slipped, and she sank deeper into the water.

Titania looked down at Vivian’s figure and chuckled, then she lifted one of Vivian’s legs and placed it over her shoulder. Due to the sudden opening of her leg, Vivian struggled with all her might to cover herself.

Seeing Vivian’s helpless state in the bathtub, Titania smirked. “I wonder if Mother knows?”

The fact that her mother’s reaction upon entering the bathroom was not a typical one.

Her mother seemed completely unaware of the fact that her reaction wasn’t that of a typical “mother.”

Yes, only Mother didn’t know.

“You’ve already stopped thinking of me as your daughter, haven’t you?”

So, it’s embarrassing even like this. Just bathing together as a family. When will you realize?

Titania let out a small sigh and lightly kissed Vivian’s leg that was draped over her shoulder. As her lips touched Vivian’s calf, Vivian jumped in surprise and squirmed again.

“Ah…! I said we’re in the middle of a bath…!”

As if that could be true.

If her mother hadn’t reacted at all, it would have ended just as a bath. However…

Titania chuckled and, ignoring Vivian’s protests, firmly held her leg again, pressing her lips against it. Each time the sound echoed through the steam-filled bathroom, Vivian whimpered as if tickled.

Starting with kissing the tips of Vivian’s toes, Titania licked along the inside of her ankle and calf, leaving her own mark on Vivian’s body.

Each time her lips touched Vivian’s leg, she felt her toes curling and her muscles contracting. Titania nibbled on Vivian’s calf and gazed intently at her face.

Is this intentional?

The expression of injustice, blushing face, and a slight sob. A breath that bursts out every time the lips touch the thigh. Shallow moans echoing in the bathroom. All of it driving oneself crazy without even knowing.

Titania, who was staring fixedly at the red marks she had carved, bit her lower lip as she exhaled a breath. She was trying to vent her boiling anger, but for some reason, something else was boiling inside her.

Not anger, but another bitter emotion.

“…Really, it’s hard to endure.”