episode_0263

There was a sense of unease in the air as Ethan’s attitude seemed to have changed.

“Was he always like this? He used to be a bit more timid, right?”

At least, when we were alone together, Ethan was the type to jump at the slightest touch on the bed, as far as I knew. Although lately, our shared bed moments had become more frequent due to various reasons, so his reactions were a bit less pronounced.

Sometimes, he would look cool when he rescued me with unbelievable skill when I was in danger, but when we were alone, he was just a guy who lacked any sense of masculinity towards women.

So, why was this suddenly coming up now, even though I couldn’t even let go of his arm until I was on the verge of dying… No, why was this coming up now?

Somehow, my consciousness naturally drifted elsewhere, so I quickly corrected myself and returned the answer to the question Ethan had asked earlier.

“The wish ticket… You can use it whenever it’s convenient for you, Ed.”

“Really? Well, in that case, you don’t have to worry. Since it’s a precious wish ticket from Lily, I’ll only use it for something really important.”

“…It seems like the tea is getting cold, Ed.”

“Yeah, it seems so.”

“….”

-Swish.

Where does he intend to use it? It’s making me nervous.

And why has he been avoiding eye contact so awkwardly since earlier? You weren’t like this before.

The biggest problem was that I couldn’t avoid Ed’s gaze, so I quietly met his eyes.

Just meeting his eyes made my face flush, but I didn’t want to avoid it. There was nothing particularly uncomfortable about it, but for some reason, it felt like losing if I avoided it first.

I didn’t know why he was acting like this, but I didn’t particularly want to avoid it. Just because my pride was hurt.

“….”

“….”

-Thunk.

…I didn’t avoid it first. I just shifted my gaze downward, afraid that I might accidentally spill the tea.

It was a precious gift from Cashmilly, so it would be a waste if I spilled it, right?

After dividing the mysterious tea received from Cashmilly into two cups, Ed and I both raised our cups and took a sip.

-Glug.

“…What is this taste?”

It tastes like some kind of cosmetic. Is this how it’s supposed to be drunk?

The fact that the color was pink from the start was suspicious, so did I drink it for no reason?

“It doesn’t seem like there’s anything poisonous in it.”

Hmm, I don’t know. Maybe it’s meant to be drunk this way because it’s a unique tea.

And if the taste of the tea is interesting, it could be a good conversation starter. It could be a thoughtful addition to make conversations between lovers less awkward.

Yeah, let’s just casually ask about the taste of the tea and slowly bring up the topic of what wish he wants to make. Start with indirect questions to infer what he wants…

“So, what wish are you thinking of making, Ed?”

“….”

…Wait, hold on.

I was planning to ease into the conversation by asking about the taste of the tea before getting to the main point, so why did I blurt out such a direct question right at the beginning?

“Well, it doesn’t matter.”

I’ve already said it, so there’s no point in denying it. I’ll just have to brazen it out.

I had just asked what I had intended to ask, so there was no need to deny it again. It’s better to skip the unnecessary conversation and get straight to the point.

“I won’t worry too much. I won’t ask Lily for any favors that would make you uncomfortable.”

“I don’t really care about any requests you might have, Ed.”

“Me, really? You’re not going to demand that I repay a debt of a thousand gold coins when I become a top-tier adventurer, right, Ed?”

“Sigh.”

…Wait, why is this happening?

I don’t understand why these strange words keep popping out, completely unrelated to what I was about to say.

Well, I mean, I have thought about it before. Honestly, I’ve worried about how to handle it if someone were to demand something like this, not a lewd request, but something along those lines.

But, I never planned to ask so blatantly. I swear, absolutely not.

“Ugh, what’s wrong? Did Lily really think I might make such a request and worry about it?”

“Well, since Ed didn’t immediately tell me his wish, these thoughts came to mind. Since I can’t think of a wish that can be granted right now, this is the only thing that comes to mind.”

“Well, it doesn’t seem like Lily will ever become a top-tier adventurer.”

“Are you underestimating my skills, Ed?”

“No, I’m not. But you won’t become an adventurer.”

‘That’s not for Ed to decide.’

“…Alright, if Ed says no, then there’s nothing I can do.”

…What the heck.

Why is he so firm about saying no?

And why am I answering to this absurd demand without any control over my own words?

I don’t get it. My mind seems clear, my thoughts seem to be in order, but my body keeps acting on its own, doing things I don’t want it to do.

‘Could it be that the car Cashmilly gave me…’

Is it some kind of confession device or something with similar capabilities? Is that why these thoughts keep popping up in my mind?

No, that can’t be it. If it were, then everything I just said to Ed would be true, which doesn’t make any sense.

And Ed shouldn’t be fine like this. He should at least show a bit of confusion. Except for being a bit more assertive than usual, why is he so composed?

Could it be that he’s always been completely open with me and that’s why he’s reacting like this? That doesn’t make sense. It’s absurd to think that he always shows such a cool image in front of me. It was truly an absurd assumption.

“…Ah, damn.”

I don’t know what’s in the car, but one thing is certain. It’s dangerous to drink more.

My body probably won’t be harmed, but I instinctively felt that this was a dangerous drink.

If I drink more here, I might not even be able to control my own thoughts properly. With that thought in mind, I slowly lowered the teacup in my right hand onto the table to stop…

-Clank.

“…I feel like my body isn’t listening to me properly now, not just my mouth.”

I don’t know. I just have to wait for this time to pass without any incidents.

“So, what wish did Lily think I would make?”

“…?”

“Lily?”

“…?”

Ed, who was sitting across from me, asked me a question, but I deliberately ignored him and quietly avoided his gaze.

I could instinctively be sure that if I answered Ed here, something different from what I intended to say would come out.

So what can I do? I have no choice but to say nothing and do nothing.

By not saying anything, there would be no chance of a slip of the tongue, making it the most perfect response.

“Lily, why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”

“…?”

“You called me because you had something to say. Why are you suddenly silent?”

“…?”

“Hmm, this is strange.”

Since I couldn’t say anything, Ed smiled and teased me.

Honestly, the expression on his face was so infuriating that I wanted to punch him in the face, but I stopped myself because I felt like my body wouldn’t listen to me if I did.

Somehow, I had a strange intuition that I would end up pushing something other than my fist into Edan.

“Well then, let’s do this. If I ask a question and Lily can’t answer, we’ll take that as a yes.”

“….”

“The first question… should we keep it simple?”

“….”

“Did Lily expect me to make a lewd request as her wish?”

What nonsense. Why would I expect something like that?

In response to Edan’s absurd question, I reflexively blurted out a negative response.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“What?”

Wait, what did I just say….

“Oh, I see. So Lily was expecting me to make a lewd request as her wish?”

“Ah, no, no, no.”

I wanted to say “no,” but I just couldn’t get the word out. It was as if something inside me was preventing me from uttering that response.

On the other hand, Edan seemed to interpret my answer as a kind of approval, with a sinister smile on his face as he leaned in closer to me.

*Sigh.*

“Uh, huh?!”

Suddenly, Edan’s lips pressed against mine, catching me off guard. I hadn’t even imagined that he would push his lips onto mine without warning.

And yet, I couldn’t avoid it. My stiff neck didn’t allow even the slightest movement away from Edan’s approaching lips.

Edan continued to lean in, interpreting my lack of resistance as a positive sign, and as his lips slightly parted and his tongue began to explore mine, I…

“Ha, hah…!”

*Smack.*

…tilted my head like Edan and pushed my tongue into his mouth.

At this point, I don’t even know anymore. Just let it happen.

“It’s not like this is the first time I’ve kissed someone.”

Our lips had already met about six times, and I had some experience with French kissing as well.

In the grand scheme of things, a kiss was nothing compared to other things we had done.

…Yeah, it was just a meaningless act.

*Kiss, kiss.*

“Hah, hah…!”

After a few minutes of kissing, our saliva mixed just right, Edan slowly pulled away from my lips.

“Lily.”

“…Yes.”

“If I were to make a lewd request, would that be what you want?”

“As a wish?”

“No, not as a wish. Just because.”

“….”

“Because this is what you want.”

He wants me to fulfill a lewd request? Ridiculous. Just because I did it once doesn’t mean I’m some kind of promiscuous girl in his eyes.

In reality, it was what he wanted. His tightly pulled pants were evidence enough for me to see.

But he’s just making excuses to fulfill his desires. How shameless.

“…Alright, Ed.”

…Well, I guess. There’s no reason to refuse.

After all, Edan had believed in me and risked his life to save me.

He had relieved my biggest worry and trusted me when I needed it most.

And well, I owed him a lot anyway.

If I thought of it as clearing the debt I owed Edan up to now… there was no reason to refuse.

“Really, shameless.”

“…But, one thing. And…”

“I can’t do it myself, right?”

“……….Yes.”

For a moment, I almost blurted out, ‘It doesn’t really matter.’

No, I didn’t mean to say that I wanted to say that, but rather that my body almost blurted it out on its own.

I felt uneasy for some reason, so I concentrated as much as possible to give my answer, thankfully. Otherwise, I almost lost the qualification of a saint that I was about to hand over to Cerista for this absurd reason.

…If it wasn’t for the damn constraint of being a pure saint, I would have just done it and finished it.

Ethan, who was carefully considering something in response to a request to only listen to one thing, cautiously presented his demand to me.

“Then, I want to do it with my mouth.”

“Ah. Um, with your mouth.”

…Well, whatever. It’s just that much.

I’ve done it once, so yeah. I can definitely do it enough.

I thought he might take it easy on me since I said I would listen to anything, but really, wow.

It was a rather timid request compared to the guy who had just pushed his face in and even French kissed a moment ago. Kids will be kids even after a few years, huh?

I had thought about things like doing it with my chest or something like that, but it was much more trivial than I had imagined.

If he had asked for something like doing it from behind, that would have been a seriously concerning issue, so maybe it was a relief in its own way.

Thinking that he must have liked the act of doing it with his mouth that he received from me last time, I felt somewhat relieved.

“Okay, Ed. Then sit on the bed over there. If it’s just with my mouth, I can do it as much as you want…”

“No, not that.”

“Yes?”

“I want to do it with my mouth, to Lily.”

“……….Yes?”

…I’ve never even thought about something like that before…?