You Seduced Me First! (2)
Crash! Elly dropped the cup she had been polishing. The sharp sound of shattering glass drew every eye in the room. Even I, who had been utterly fixated on Rydia's breasts—which were larger than her head—was no exception.
"Elly? Are you oka...?"
I started to ask if she was all right but trailed off. Anyone could see she was far from okay.
Her face had gone deathly pale. The usual sharp gleam in her yellow beast-like eyes had vanished, replaced by a vacant, trembling haze. Her body, which should have remained strong even after losing an arm from the shoulder down, shook like a drenched puppy.
Her typically cool grey hair and neat bartender outfit now only made her look more pathetic.
If I had to describe the current Elly in simple terms... yeah. She looked like a noble daughter who had lost everything overnight, a merchant whose entire fortune had been seized with red tags, or a novelist who had blown all her prize money on gacha pulls only to discover an empty bank account.
Elly cried out in a voice thick with the denial and desperation unique to someone whose entire world had just been invalidated.
"Y-you were the one flirting first, Yona!"
"...Huh?"
I blinked, utterly confused by the sudden accusation. Rydia had gone completely white and was shaking her head frantically.
But Elly only continued in a voice brimming with betrayal.
"After doing that to me this morning, now you want me to watch you touch Rydia's breasts right in front of me...?"
Her perked wolf ears drooped completely, and her gently wagging tail froze as if it had broken. She looked genuinely hurt.
Only then did I realize how I must appear in Elly's eyes.
A brat who clung to her every day claiming it was all for her body and money, begging her to marry him. This shameless kid had brought some weird underwear, and when she reluctantly put it on, she received her first kiss. On the cheek, sure, but still.
She must have been excited despite pretending otherwise. Of course. She was Elly, the forever-single, pure, loser wolf who couldn't even seize an opportunity that fell into her lap.
Yet the guy had approached her first, kissed her cheek, and left?
I could bet on it. Elly had probably spent the entire day thinking about how many children they would have, what names to pick, who to invite to the wedding, and how to manage the shop if she got pregnant.
And then that very person suddenly got distracted by her close junior's body right in front of her and asked if he could touch her breasts.
This was straight-up NTR... or at best, BSS.
Even I would have been hurt.
In this gender-reversed world, a woman's breasts didn't hold absolute value... but they were still a major erogenous zone. Staring was one thing, but touching was quite intimate skinship.
I had been so captivated by Rydia's sudden bikini armor that I had completely neglected Elly.
It was my fault.
The moment that realization hit, I vaulted over the counter and landed at her side.
"Elly."
"......"
"Look at me, Elly."
I stared at her for a moment before cupping her cheeks with both hands. Normally she would have reluctantly turned her head in whatever direction I guided, but today she remained completely still. She was seriously sulking.
Still, I didn't give up and kept talking.
"Are you really going to be like this? Planning to never look at me again for the rest of your life?"
"...What? Are you trying to tell me not to act like your lover just because I was a little nice to you?"
"Of course not. That's not it, so please calm down."
"Hmph! This is why you brats..."
"Ah, do you realize that was a very dangerous thing to say? If I weren't as generous or as deeply fond of you, we would have started fighting right there. And if that happened, we would have grown apart, wouldn't we?"
"......"
She seemed to realize her slip of the tongue. Elly closed her mouth tightly, relaxed the tension in her neck, and finally turned toward me.
I looked straight into her eyes and smiled brightly.
"But since I'm generous and like you so much, I'll overlook it."
"Those smooth-talking words again...!"
"Then will you believe me if I show you with actions instead of words?"
"...What?"
"What do you mean, what? It means I'll prove it with my body."
I pulled her head down, forcing her to bend over awkwardly. The moment her face reached the perfect spot, I grabbed the hem of my shirt and yanked it over her head.
"There!"
"?!"
With her head now shoved inside my shirt and her face buried against my stomach, Elly froze. Beastmen had keen senses of smell, didn't they? I pressed gently on the back of her head through the fabric so she could properly take in my scent.
Her prominent nose squished against my belly. Her coarse hair tickled my chest, and the breath touching my skin was hot and damp.
In my previous life, there was a saying that the best way to soothe a man's anger was to let him grope your breasts. I didn't know if it was true, but it probably worked to some extent on this continent too.
Elly, face buried in my stomach. Her tail had suddenly shot straight up. I carefully stroked her head.
"Elly. I'm sorry. I made you really anxious, didn't I?"
"Mmph..."
"But please believe me. I wasn't toying with you or anything."
"Mrrph..."
"Hmm. That's right. Like I've always said, my goal is your body and your wealth. ...But that doesn't mean I have no affection for you."
"Haaang..."
"I guarantee that the person I like most and trust most in this world is you, Elly. I don't know what you think of me, but do you really believe I'd do this with just anyone?"
"Heuup..."
"If you think that, you're very mistaken. I've never allowed anyone else. ...Not even Lady Rydia."
"Grrrr..."
Elly was making sounds that had gone beyond sweet and into something almost inhuman. Deciding that was enough, I slowly pulled her head out from under my shirt.
The face that emerged was not fit to show others. Her eyes were glazed over helplessly. Her breathing was rough, almost panting, and a pink tongue poked out between her slightly parted lips.
"Huh? Oh, did you lick me?"
"T-that's...!"
When I casually wiped the saliva mark on my stomach with my sleeve, Elly's face flushed bright red. I chuckled at how heated she looked.
"It's fine. That's why I did it."
"Eh? Ehh? Uhh?"
"Elly, really. How old are you to be babbling like that?"
"...I'm not babbling!"
Elly, who had finally come back to her senses, shouted. It seemed her mood had improved. As expected, the "let me touch your chest (stomach)" strategy was correct.
I giggled and knelt on one knee to match her eye level. Then I wrapped my arms around her neck and pulled her into a hug.
"Yap!"
"I really hate how easily I fall for this..."
Elly's sigh-filled voice. Pretending not to hear it, I rubbed my cheek vigorously against hers. The same cheek I had kissed that morning. My still-soft, youthful cheek pressed and rubbed against her simply soft one, creating a pleasant sensation.
In that position, I whispered into her ear.
"What can you do if you don't like it, Elly?"
"What?"
"I'm asking what else you can do when your mouth says no but your body gets this excited."
"Yona, you... Provoking an adult like that might really get you in big trouble, you know?"
"That's why I'm asking you to cause me big trouble. You're always welcome, aren't you?"
"......"
Unable to find a good response, Elly closed her mouth. I chuckled at her expression before continuing.
"Well, anyway, now you understand how much I like you, right?"
"...Yeah."
"Then it's okay for me to touch Lady Rydia's breasts now, right?"
"...What?"
Elly's face fell a beat late. She grabbed my shoulder with one hand. Her expression turned as bizarre as someone hearing for the first time that a platypus's fur glowed. She opened her mouth.
"What are you talking about, Yona? Why are Rydia's breasts coming up at a time like this!"
"No, but listen, Elly. Lady Rydia's breasts are no joke."
"I don't see what that has to do with anything."
"Men are creatures who see big breasts and immediately want to touch them."
"...Really?"
Elly asked back with a half-doubting look. It was a lie, of course. Men on the Pan Continent had relatively weak sexual desires, so not many got excited over breasts. You could think of them as being in permanent sage time. Once you stepped back, the breasts on the screen suddenly looked like ordinary lumps of flesh. Most men lived with that kind of sensibility.
How horrible...
But since Elly didn't know much about men anyway, she would believe whatever I said. I decided to push forward.
"It's true, Elly. I like you this much and eventually want to claim your body and wealth... but separately from that, I want to touch Lady Rydia's breasts. I want to knead them thoroughly."
"I-I have them too. Can't you be satisfied with mine?"
"Of course I'm interested in yours too, but they're separate from Lady Rydia's, okay?"
"I still don't really get it."
"Let's see. What kind of example should I use?"
After thinking for a moment, I spoke.
"You like me, right, Elly?"
"Who would like a shameless brat like you..."
"Then do you hate me? Stop with the pointless pride and answer with like or dislike."
"...If it's like or dislike, then of course I like you."
"Right? But even though you like me, don't you use other men as side dishes when you masturbate? There are novels, pictures, and even those expensive video recording spheres."
"Never mind the rest—how do you know about the video recording spheres?!"
"If you're going to display magic tools so openly, you should have put them where a child's hands can't reach. This is your negligence in management, you know?"
"Ah, aah..."
In front of the trembling, shame-filled Elly, I declared boldly.
"I like you, Elly! But separately from that, I also want to touch Lady Rydia's breasts! Do you understand now?"
"Uh... yeah..."
Elly nodded blankly like someone whose soul had left her body. Good. Now that Elly understood, all that remained was Rydia's consent!
I jumped up and returned to my previous spot. Then I spread my arms wide and shouted.
"Lady Rydia! Please let me touch your breasts!"
"No."
"Eh."
Rydia firmly refused, pulling out a blanket from somewhere to cover her chest.
That day, my world collapsed.