Natural Science Exploration (2)

A temporary drying rack made from leftover wood during the process of building a temporary shelter.

It was a simple drying rack made by roughly weaving five wooden sticks with plant stems, but it was enough to hang my soaking wet clothes to dry.

“Are you really going to take them off…?”

“Then should I catch a cold while wearing them?”

“No, I didn’t mean that, but….”

I took off my Academy uniform jacket, which was soaking wet from the river water, and placed it on the rack. Similarly, I hung up my dress shirt and skirt, which were also dripping wet.

“How much are you planning to take off…?”

“I should take off all the clothes that cover a lot of my body, shouldn’t I? If I keep them on, they’ll quickly drain body heat.”

After taking off my gloves and knee-high socks and hanging them up, I tilted my shoes slightly near the bonfire and then dried my wet body by the bonfire, wrapping my arms around myself.

“…Lilith. Are you really going to stay like that?”

“Are you perhaps disappointed? That sounds like a question implying you expected me to take off my underwear too.”

“No, that’s not what I meant….”

“I apologize, but even I am not so shameless as to be naked in such an open space. Just because I allowed you to call me your ‘Lewd Maid’ in bed, it would be troublesome if you truly expected me to engage in lewd behavior in daily life, Ethan-doryeonnim.”

“…Lilith, your current appearance doesn’t seem particularly wholesome either.”

…I agree with Ethan’s opinion this time, but I can’t keep wearing wet clothes.

The only way to keep my clothes from getting wet was to take them all off from the start and use Mana Blast, so in the end, it was just a matter of whether I took them off first or later.

As I sat by the bonfire, drying myself with those thoughts, I noticed Ethan’s face, sitting opposite me, had turned red.

‘Seeing him still get embarrassed by things like this… is a little cute.’

It wasn’t so bad, as I had inadvertently confirmed that Ethan’s feelings were still directed towards me.

Ethan and I were temporary lovers, after all. There was nothing wrong with lovers getting flustered by each other.

‘Somehow, being like this, I feel like I’ve truly become ‘Lilith’.’

It wasn’t that my body had literally become Lilith’s, but rather that the situation itself felt that way. After all, the original Lilith was a character treated so poorly that there were more CGs of her being arbitrarily stripped than of her properly dressed.

There were many instances where she was made to crawl on all fours outside in her underwear by the disgusting scoundrel, or even without that, she was given a headband and tail and taken for ‘walks’ countless times. Since every single one of those scenes couldn’t be described in detail, many parts would have been omitted in flashback scenes.

Considering that such a future might have befallen me, drying myself in my underwear like this wasn’t particularly shameful.

Anyway, the only person seeing me was Ethan, and he had already seen inside my underwear-no, even further inside than that.

‘If it weren’t Ethan but the original disgusting scoundrel… I wonder if I would have been assaulted by now.’

He was a guy who lacked patience in many ways and lived dependent on his lust, so he definitely would have. There’s no way he would have left Lilith alone, seeing her in her underwear right before his eyes.

No, no. Rather, he would have ordered me to take them off. There’s no way he wouldn’t take advantage of a situation where he was alone with his maid in a forest like this.

Lilith, who wouldn’t even have a single piece of clothing left, let alone underwear, would only be able to wear the pre-prepared collar, headband, or a tail with a slightly strange attachment method.

Instead, with only items that were more shameful to wear on her body, the disgusting scoundrel would have dragged Lilith by her collar, making her crawl on the floor, satisfying his perverted desires.

‘If the current Ethan were to do such a thing to me, I would also end up in that state….’

“…Haaht.”

…W-what was that?

A strange pleasure, rising from below, seemed to pierce through my body, accompanied by a sudden shiver.

Caught off guard by the emotions that surged forth without any mental preparation, I couldn’t help but let out an involuntary moan.

‘…Wait, am I, right now, perhaps.’

I only imagined being subjected to pet training by Ethan for a moment, but did I really get aroused by that?

…Nah, no way. No matter how I think about it, that just doesn’t make sense logically.

Even if Lilith from 『Luminor Academy』 was Ethan’s maid for sexual release, that was Lilith from the original story, and she was a completely different character from me, aside from our appearance.

Even that Lilith showed signs of dislike towards Ethan’s lewd behavior, so for me, who even has memories of being a man in my past life, to get aroused by such a thing was truly absurd.

There’s no way I would get aroused by being treated like a pet and crawling around naked in a dangerous situation where I might be caught by other students or professors, without even thinking about the consequences….

“…Ugh, Haaah?!”

“…Lilith?”

“Y-yes?!”

“…Why are you suddenly like that? Did you step on a rock or something?”

“…Ah, no. It’s nothing.”

…This is dangerous.

For now, it’s best not to imagine anything related to this. If I keep recalling it just to deny myself, I feel like I’ll go crazy.

‘It might be a good thing that even my underwear got wet in the river.’

…At least Ethan won’t notice that only a specific part of my underwear got wet.

While I was sitting by the bonfire, adjusting my posture to keep my legs together so my underwear wouldn’t show, Ethan, who had been looking at me with strange eyes, silently got up from his seat and walked towards me without hesitation.

‘…Could it be?’

No way, is he really going to assault me?

Now? During class?

And at this timing, right after I used Mana Blast, when I can’t even resist?

-Dugeun, dugeun, dugeun.

No, calm down, calm down.

I shouldn’t allow it in the first place. Do I want to ruin my grades?

If the professor caught us engaging in lewd behavior during class, it wouldn’t just be a failure to complete the course, but a failing grade and an academic warning.

I couldn’t let such a rare experience point event go to waste so futilely. Even though the professor in charge of Natural Science Exploration doesn’t intervene unless there’s a life-threatening situation, and thus the chance of being caught would be almost zero even if we did something, still.

And of all times, my mana was completely depleted by the Mana Blast I just used, and my only weapon, the dagger, was hanging with my clothes on that drying rack, but still.

…So, if Ethan were to assault me right now, I would have no means of resistance, but still.

-Seuk, Seueuk.

“…….”

As my mind became too complicated to think straight, I heard the sound of fabric rustling behind me.

As I closed my eyes tightly and tensed up, bracing myself for the impending future, I suddenly felt a warm piece of clothing placed over my shoulders.

-Seureureuk.

“Just put this on for now, Lilith. You’ll get cold if you stay like that.”

“……Yes?”

“You seemed a bit cold. And you’ve been moaning as if you’re struggling since earlier.”

“…….”

Right, it is still cold enough to be walking around outside in just underwear. It rained last night too.

Just a moment ago, I hadn’t noticed it due to the heat from my body, but after hearing Ethan’s words, I finally felt the sensation of the outside wind brushing against me.

-Hwiiing.

“Euhheueut….”

As the cold wind pierced through my body, a moan naturally escaped me at the same time.

…Right, I must have just been mistaken.

It wasn’t that I got aroused by having lewd fantasies; it was just a moan that naturally escaped me as a cold gust of wind happened to brush against me at that exact moment.

I must have coincidentally been thinking strange thoughts and then mistakenly linked my body’s reaction at that moment to those thoughts.

The problem was merely that the timing of my shivering from the cold overlapped with my strange fantasies; it didn’t mean I was aroused by imagining being subjected to pet training by Ethan.

…It was fortunate, if anything, that I hadn’t truly become a lewd maid.

“Thank you, Ethan-doryeonnim.”

“If you’re still cold, let me know. I can take off my bottom half if needed.”

“…No, that won’t be necessary.”

Thanking Ethan for dispelling my misunderstanding, I pulled the lapels of the clothes he draped over my shoulders a little tighter.

Perhaps because it was clothing he had worn all day without changing, Ethan’s body scent seemed to linger quite strongly.

If I had any mana left, I could have purified it with Clean Magic, but right after using Mana Blast, my mana, which was over 4,000, was almost completely depleted.

‘Even without that, in this environment, my mana will regenerate slower than usual….’

I couldn’t waste the mana I had painstakingly recovered through meals and rest on something like Clean Magic.

It wasn’t that I absolutely wanted to keep wearing clothes that still carried Ethan’s scent; it was simply that the situation itself didn’t allow for washing, so I had no choice.