Chapter 23
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Emergency (3)
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Tanya carefully stepped around the salt piles scattered here and there on the floor, taking the empty bowl Ian handed her.
"Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah. It was good."
He was pretty exhausted and would have preferred sleep over food, but since Tanya had gone out of her way to spoon-feed him the porridge, Ian forced himself to sit up and eat it himself.
He had no appetite at first, but once he took a spoonful, the hunger he'd forgotten about surged back, and he emptied the bowl in no time.
With food in his stomach, he felt a bit more vitality returning.
Tanya gave a small smile and set the empty bowl down on the floor.
This time, Ian truly felt like his body was improving. A short nap, and he'd probably be fine.
"I think a little sleep will do the trick, so you can head back now, Tanya."
"I'll go once you're asleep."
Tanya reached out slightly to check Ian's temperature.
Heat seeped into her palm against his forehead, along with the faint trace of sweat.
"You've sweated a lot... I'll get a towel."
Tanya picked up the empty bowl and stood.
The sun was setting, and darkness was beginning to fall.
The small lamp's flame flickered, and the liquid barriers Mika had hung here and there cast dark shadows across the room in the firelight.
Ian had waited for Tanya to return, sent her off, and tried to sleep, but exhaustion had reached its limit, and an irresistible deep slumber washed over him.
A short while later, Tanya came quietly back into the room, having returned the bowl to the kitchen and brought hot water and a towel.
Confirming that Ian had his eyes closed, she moved carefully to avoid making any noise.
Ian was asleep, letting out soft breaths.
Was it the cold? Tanya looked down at Ian, who seemed far more fatigued than usual, and quietly set the water basin down.
The reason Ian had caught this cold was surely because he'd fallen into the water saving her. Even if he'd said he was fine, she couldn't just let it go.
Tanya intended to stay by Ian's side and nurse him at least for the rest of the day.
"...Captain?"
Tanya lifted the towel soaked in warm water and softly called out to Ian.
She wanted to wake him briefly for permission since she'd be touching his body, but Ian was in such a deep sleep that he gave no response.
His body was drenched in sweat, so she couldn't just leave it.
After some hesitation, Tanya murmured a quiet "Excuse me..." and carefully undid Ian's shirt buttons one by one.
As the buttons came undone, Ian's skin hidden beneath the shirt was revealed.
Tanya gently wiped the sweat from his body with the towel.
The soft sound of the towel gliding over his skin and dripping water into the basin echoed quietly in the room.
...Up to this point, Tanya thought of it only as nursing.
She felt no particular thoughts gazing at Ian's body.
The problem arose after she'd wiped his entire upper body.
Her hand, naturally reaching for his pants, hesitated.
"......"
A moment of reluctance and deliberation.
Should she go this far...? The thought flashed through her mind, but Tanya bit her lip and eventually gripped Ian's pants carefully.
She was nursing him; stopping midway out of embarrassment was something even she couldn't justify to herself.
The captain was a patient who couldn't tend to himself right now, and this was all for his care.
With that resolve, Tanya steadied her mind against the strange emotions stirring within.
Tanya carefully pulled down Ian's pants.
But if he woke up midway, it would be awkward, so she moved her hands even more cautiously and quietly than when handling his shirt.
"...Hoo."
After peeking at Ian's face countless times, it took several times longer than for his upper body, but Tanya finally achieved her goal and let out a tense sigh.
She wrung out the towel and, with a face as rigid as if she were about to fight a monster, cautiously extended it.
First, from his stomach.
To his thighs.
...Down to his legs.
Tanya's towel worked diligently, but at some point, its pace began to slow, eventually repeating over areas already cleaned.
It was because of... a certain spot the towel hadn't touched yet.
Tanya's gaze, which she'd deliberately avoided, flicked toward that untouched place. Between Ian's legs... there.
...Isn't deliberately avoiding it weird too?
The thought that this was simply caring for a patient clashed wildly in her mind with the notion that even so, that spot was going too far...
After agonizing for a long while, still fiddling with Ian's already clean thigh, Tanya finally steeled her resolve.
Avoiding it on purpose means I'm conscious of it... That would be even stranger.
With the logic that she had no ulterior motives, it was fine, Tanya nodded and gripped the wet towel tightly.
Her slightly trembling hand finally touched Ian's underwear cautiously.
She double-checked he was definitely asleep, then very slowly and carefully pulled down his underwear...
Seeing the object now before her eyes, Tanya swallowed hard with a tense expression.
This is... nursing...
Murmuring that to herself, Tanya closed her eyes and averted her gaze.
She tried her utmost not to look at Ian's member as she extended the towel.
A never-before-felt sensation transmitted through the thin towel.
Tanya flinched but carefully wiped Ian's member with it.
"Uh... hoo."
She tried to keep her mind cool and detached, but the unfamiliar texture of that body part seeped through the towel, swirling chaotically in her head.
Overcoming those feelings, Tanya diligently moved the towel when her eyelids twitched.
She couldn't see, so she had no way to confirm if she was doing it properly.
She needed to check if she'd done it right.
Just... one look?
As Tanya hesitated over what to do, she felt an odd sensation from her hand.
......It's getting hard?
"...?!"
The soft, squishy feel through the towel gradually faded, replaced by something firm gripping her hand.
Startled by the sudden change, Tanya opened her eyes and looked down.
"Ah, uwaa..."
The initial sight she'd glimpsed was gone; Ian's member had hardened and stood erect.
Panicking, Tanya glanced around and checked Ian's face, but he remained asleep.
Flustered, she wrapped both hands around Ian's member.
Th-this... how do I get it back to normal?
Like a child caught doing something wrong, Tanya stared helplessly down at Ian's now-rigid member.
"C-Captain...?"
She called out to him in a tiny voice barely above a whisper, but Ian showed no sign of waking.
Trembling, Tanya let out a small sigh and stared fixedly at Ian's member gripped in her hands.
"......"
After watching him carefully, Tanya tentatively touched Ian's member with her shaking hand.
The initial softness was gone, replaced by a firm resistance pushing back against her fingers.
Even prodding it with her fingertips, Ian's hardened member showed no sign of reverting.
If I leave it like this... won't he notice?
That thought filled Tanya's mind.
In truth, all she'd done was nurse him; she hadn't done anything shameful.
Still, if Ian found out, she feared he'd misunderstand, and her face burned.
Tanya gripped Ian's member with her hand and fiddled with it cautiously.
A hot pulse throbbed within her grasp.
...So hot.
And... intense.
Unthinkingly, Tanya swallowed as she held Ian's member.
Far more than what she'd learned from her hometown friends' naughty tales.
A man's cock... possessed tremendous power.
Tanya forgot her original purpose of nursing and even her worry about returning it to normal.
She found herself staring at it intently, fiddling absentmindedly.
The pounding from her chest reverberated in her head, shaking her reason.
Feeling its shape clearly through the touch, a certain question naturally arose in Tanya's mind.
......So.
This thing... goes in here?
One hand wrapping around Ian's member, Tanya cautiously looked down at her own stomach.
A throbbing heat seemed to climb up her spine.
Here... no, all the way here...?
Tanya gauged its size with one hand on Ian's member while tentatively touching her stomach with the other, comparing.
Each time she confirmed its size by feel, a chilling tingle shot through her lower abdomen.
Like the tense shiver when a blade's edge is pointed at your skin.
The thought of something like this entering her body made Tanya instinctively shrink back.
Deep in that irresistible curiosity, Tanya suddenly heard the door open and froze in place, unable to react.
Mika, who had been looking for Tanya, flung the door open and came in.
"Tanya, there you are? Let's eat dinner."
"......"
What met Mika's eyes upon entering Ian's room was...
Tanya, pants off Ian, fiddling with his member, face flushed red.
A situation that could easily be mistaken for...
The whore secretly fondling her sleeping captain's cock.
"......"
"......"
No... it wasn't a misunderstanding.
She was a whore.
"M-Mika! Wait! This is, it's a misunderstanding..."
......Creak.
Mika backed away, quietly closed the door, and left.