Chapter 234
Chapter 234
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 234
Chapter Title: Homunculus's Night
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"You are beautiful."
"W-what?"
"You are beautiful. More so than any witch I've ever met."
Eloa's pupils began to tremble wildly.
She doubted her own ears as well.
Siu's sweet whisper carried a meaning so intuitive that even a girl who had just hit puberty could grasp it.
He was trying to seduce Tiphereth.
"What sudden nonsense is this?"
Eloa averted her gaze from Siu to hide her agitation.
To come to her at the crack of dawn and throw such advances.
It was utterly baffling.
Could yesterday's sparring have triggered this sudden behavior from Siu?
"Master..."
Just as Siu seemed about to say something, Eloa cut him off.
"I appreciate the compliment. But as I said earlier, I need to change clothes, so please leave."
Though she tried to sound curt and detached, Eloa couldn't fully conceal her embarrassment.
Beautiful...?
It was praise she'd heard endlessly during her apprentice witch days.
But after becoming a full-fledged witch and inheriting the ducal title, no one had ever said it to her again.
Everyone knew Eloa despised flattery and empty words.
Besides, Tiphereth wasn't fond of her own appearance.
She disliked her restless, overly flashy pink hair and her妖-like, glowing magenta eyes.
And her height? When compared to her Contract Sword, there was hardly any difference.
There was nothing about her to take pride in.
"Didn't you hear me?"
Yet Siu remained rooted in place, ignoring her request to leave.
Her bewilderment only grew.
Siu, who always knew how to read the room without her saying a word, was suddenly praising her looks and ignoring her pleas...
It felt off.
"Shall I help you?"
Siu flashed a bright smile.
"Help? With what?"
"With changing your clothes, of course."
"You call that... help?"
Before Eloa could erupt in outrage at the absurd suggestion, Siu suddenly crawled onto the bed.
Their noses nearly touched; their faces were that close.
Eloa, who had been about to sternly scold him, shrank back as if overwhelmed by his audacity.
"I picked it out, but it really suits you, Master. It looks so pretty on you."
"...D-does it?"
"Yes, truly."
Siu leaned in, half-pinning her down, and extended his arm.
She felt dazed.
If she wanted, she could shove him off.
No magic needed—just simple martial arts would subdue Siu easily.
But Eloa didn't.
"Trust me. I'm not trying to do anything bad. I just want to help you change."
"I-I..."
"It's fine. We were often this close during sparring, right?"
Siu gently grasped Eloa's wrist, where she clutched her pajama top at her chest.
Just their hands touching sent a jolt like electricity racing up her spine.
Instinctively, she knew.
This 'contact' held an entirely different meaning from the casual brushes of arms and legs during training.
Eloa's hand fell away limply, like a child having candy snatched from her.
It felt like she'd regressed to before becoming a witch.
Back to those innocent, carefree days of unadulterated happiness.
"We'll start by unbuttoning. I'll help you one by one."
Siu's fingers worked the buttons with magician-like dexterity.
By the time Eloa was stammering "Uh... uh...", five buttons were undone, and the front of her top fell open.
Her flawless stomach, cleavage, and adorable navel were laid bare to the chilly dawn air.
"That's enough now. Thank you, but no further..."
"No, I've come this far— it'd be a shame to stop."
"...And what would I possibly miss out on?"
"I'd miss it."
"Ah...!"
Siu smoothly peeled back the open pajama top.
Her exquisite breasts, perfectly shaped like water droplets, were fully exposed.
She always bound them tightly in a sports bra to avoid hindrance in movement, but they were ample enough to exude femininity.
Ah.
In that instant, she'd exposed her half-naked body right before Siu's eyes.
Eloa slowly realized it, then felt her heart pounding madly in pursuit.
Shameful.
Her breath quickened, her body melting like opium-softened limbs, unable to move.
It wouldn't be hard to say stop, to tell him no—yet her body had already slipped from her control.
"I'll take the rest off for you."
Siu calmly gripped the open collar, even after seeing her bare chest.
He didn't wait for her reply, slowly slipping it off.
Whether intentional or not, his fingertips grazed her skin, sending thrilling tingles.
"Ah..."
By the time Eloa exhaled the breath she'd been holding, the pajama top was already in Siu's hands.
Belatedly, she clumsily covered her chest with both hands.
It suddenly felt scorching hot to realize she'd exposed herself so brazenly to him.
But what Siu did next was far more embarrassing than mere nudity.
"Hmm, looks like you sweat a lot during the night."
"D-don't!"
Siu buried his nose in Eloa's pajamas—surely soaked with last night's sweat and scent—and inhaled deeply, as if to show off.
For some reason, that felt far more shameful than showing her breasts.
Eloa frantically reached out to snatch them back, but her limp arms couldn't even come close.
"Stop it! This is your final warning."
Unable to stand by any longer, she issued a desperate warning.
Siu regretfully set the pajamas down on the bed.
"You've helped enough with changing. Now leave. I won't hold what's happened against you..."
Driven by instinct screaming that enough was enough, Eloa tried to usher Siu out—but her words caught in her throat.
In the blink of an eye, he'd stripped completely naked.
That massive thing she'd glimpsed once before, felt against her back today, stood erect like a ship's figurehead.
Her head spun; she couldn't make out its shape clearly, but Eloa squeezed her eyes shut and spoke.
"What do you think you're doing?! Even you can't get away with this outrage..."
"Outrage? Wasn't it you, Master, who burst in while I was having sex with Sharon? You saw not just her naked body, but mine in full detail."
Eloa's voice sharpened naturally at Siu's half-petulant retort.
Even if she cherished Siu, there were limits to what she could overlook.
She knew spoiling a child too much would ruin them.
"It was an accident."
"This is an accident too. Seeing your body made it impossible to hide my true feelings."
"...That's not what an accident is."
Siu ignored Eloa's growing anger entirely.
With eyes closed to avoid his naked form, Eloa felt a light push on her chest and tumbled back onto the bed.
Startled, she opened her eyes wide—and there was Siu, looming over her as if truly pouncing.
His calm gaze looked down at her, his pupils reflecting her image like a mirror.
Seeing herself—half-stripped, shrunken, flustered—she froze in shock once more.
This was brazen insolence.
Setting everything aside, it was one-sided mayhem without any consideration.
She thought she'd surely be wearing an angry scowl at such behavior from Siu...
But the expression reflected in his eyes was anything but.
It showed weakness, as if she'd yield to any push or pull, hesitating meekly.
"Stop... this kind of thing... Ah!"
Defiantly, Siu's hand seized Eloa's breast without permission.
Hotter, thicker, rougher than imagined—a man's hand enveloped her soft mound.
What worried Eloa most wasn't his hand on her bare chest.
It was him noticing her erratically racing heartbeat.
"I-I'm... your master, as you said."
"And a woman."
"A woman...?"
Her half-suspected certainty solidified.
Siu did see Eloa as a woman.
That's why he'd come to this private space, stripped her, and pushed her onto the bed.
Siu withdrew his hand and slowly leaned his body forward.
His lean, muscled torso pressed against Eloa's soft nudity.
Her tense breaths escaped raggedly through clenched teeth.
"Even if it's still autumn, the dawn air is cold. If we stay together, we can ward off the chill until sunrise."
"N-no, we can't... No... Haa..."
Desperate to push Siu away.
Her powerless arms pressed against his chest, but they went slack like after a tranquilizer dart.
His lips had nipped lightly at the nape of her neck.
That alone left Eloa utterly defenseless.
A sweet sigh burst forth simultaneously.
No pain from the teeth digging in.
Just his scent and sweat filling her nostrils, the heat from their touching skin swelling terrifyingly.
Gooseflesh rose and faded repeatedly, like feathers tickling her entire body.
"Th-this... is wrong... wrong..."
"There's nothing wrong with love."
Eloa futilely pushed at Siu.
Siu pressed closer undeterred.
Realizing what the hot, firm pressure on her soft lower abdomen was, Eloa exhaled shallowly, panting.
"I want to become one with you, Master."
Siu's hand slowly began tugging down Eloa's pajama pants.
Soon, she'd be naked before him.
Would they become one like this?
Like Sharon beneath him, trembling and quivering?
That might not be so bad.
No, it absolutely couldn't happen.
Amid sharply conflicting inner whispers, a thread of dissonance bloomed.
There was no other reason.
Just an inexplicable chill, like ice water dumped over her.
It was the honed instinct that transcended limbs, detecting crises.
Her instincts were ringing alarm bells.
Something was deeply wrong.
Eloa shoved Siu's chest hard.
Her Contract Sword manifested in her right hand at her call.
Feeling vitality and strength flood her once-weakened body, Eloa rolled lightly off the bed, rose, and leveled the blade at Siu.
"M-Master!"
Siu's panicked expression.
His movements seemed genuinely distressed by Eloa's fierce reaction—lifelike to the core.
"I-I must have misjudged. I didn't mean for it to go this far..."
If Siu were truly in this situation, he'd react exactly like that.
Even Eloa, sensing clear wrongness and danger, nearly thought, 'Did I misjudge?' and lower her sword.
But Eloa trusted her battlefield-honed instincts over her hazy reason.
"I contract."
The light of truth, piercing all falsehood and lies, dwelled in Eloa's eyes.