First Aid with Serafina

"Come visit my chambers next time. I intend to test just how far that insolence of yours… will carry you."

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"……Raving madwoman."

Once I confirmed that Princess Eilit was well out of earshot, I muttered the words under my breath. That this was the Empire's princess, the heir apparent to the throne—I could scarcely believe it.

But thanks to Strong Mind, my head was already running at full speed. Watching her retreating back, I tapped away at my mental abacus.

The bait the princess had dangled was undeniably lethal. The Emperor's bloodline, the next in line for the throne, and devastating beauty. Any ordinary man might have sold his soul right then and there.

But taking her words at face value was a fool's game. Was she truly a femme fatale who toyed with men for sport? Or merely a curious hothouse flower with too much time on her hands?

Information asymmetry had always been my weapon.

'Status Analysis. Sexual experience profile.'

Ring—

"…Ha."

A dry laugh escaped me before I could stop it.

It was past midnight.

The military sedan carrying Serafina and me pulled away from the Imperial Palace, cruising down streets that had grown quiet and deserted.

The capital's roads still glowed with lamplight despite the late hour, but an odd silence hung inside the car on the way back. There were only two passengers. With one hand on the wheel and the other fiddling with the gearshift, I stole a glance at the passenger seat.

There sat Serafina von Reinhardt. In place of her usual rigid uniform, she wore a deep navy evening gown with a daring slit. Perhaps the energy of the banquet still lingered, for her porcelain-pale skin was faintly flushed. The glow of passing streetlamps swept over the smooth line of her shoulders, her collarbone, and the white thighs revealed between the slit of her dress—flashing and vanishing, over and over.

"……"

She rested her chin on her hand and stared out the window. To a casual observer she might have been admiring the nighttime capital, but her eyes, reflected in the glass, were dim and unfocused.

"You look tired, Major."

I broke the silence first. She started, then turned her head.

"…Ah. Yes. It is rather draining."

She hesitated a moment before continuing.

"Those nobles and industrialists… I half suspect they keep poison smeared on their tongues. Excruciating, the lot of them. Blowing an orc's head off on the battlefield is a far kinder pastime."

"And yet… you were remarkably popular. Half the men in that hall lined up just to ask you for a single dance."

"Hmph. Popular, you say."

Serafina snorted.

"They're merely interested in the title of war hero of the Empire. …You never saw how their eyes changed the moment they learned I was the daughter of a backwater barony on the frontier—the Reinhardt barony."

Self-mockery threaded through her voice.

House Reinhardt. A family that had guarded the Empire's frontier for generations, yet in the central political circles, little more than a powerless rural barony.

"Their eyes are simply crooked. In mine, you outshone everyone in that banquet hall tonight, Major."

"……"

To my blatant flattery, Serafina offered no reply. But even in the darkness, I could see the tips of her ears turning red.

She cleared her throat once, then deliberately changed the subject as if nothing had happened.

"And you were the busy one, if I recall. Quite the social butterfly tonight."

Her gaze sharpened a fraction.

"Daughters of noble houses and grand ladies alike pestering you with conversation, dancing with the Stahlberg duchess's girl—and even Her Highness the Princess, no less…"

"Ah."

"And then there's Sergeant Hanna. …You fuss over that girl something remarkable, don't you."

Serafina's voice was calm, but the thorns beneath it were impossible to hide.

'Status Analysis.'

Jealousy.

She hadn't recognized it in herself yet, but to my eyes it was laid bare. An instinctive displeasure at the fact that other women freely enjoyed private time with Max Jäger—time she herself had never once had.

Hanna Meyer, especially. Hadn't the girl emerged from my room's bathroom just the other day? Serafina's mind was surely already spinning through every conceivable scenario.

"Her Highness the Princess was merely… toying with me, the way one plays with a trinket. And Sergeant Hanna is… simply a loyal subordinate of mine."

"…Loyal, is it."

Serafina turned my words over carefully.

"Yes. Loyal enough to come bursting out of your bathroom dripping wet, I see."

"……"

"I have no intention of meddling in your private life. I'm not about to brandish regulations at you either. It's only…"

Her voice trailed off and her gaze dropped. I saw her hand clenched tight around the fabric of her dress.

"…Am I not also receiving treatment from you? And in a rather… private manner, at that."

She lifted her head and looked at me. Her blue eyes were trembling.

"So why is it that I feel like I know… nothing at all about you?"

It was closer to a petty complaint than anything else. We had shared our bodies, shared a deadly secret, and yet the distance between our hearts refused to close—the anxiety of that truth.

This was probably the very limit of the courage Serafina could muster.

I smiled faintly and drew my right hand away from the gearshift. Then, casually, I reached across and laid it on her thigh.

"……!"

Serafina flinched.

"Wh-what are you…! You're driving, aren't you?!"

"I'm watching the road just fine. The streets are empty."

I answered with perfect nonchalance and moved my fingers. The smooth skin exposed through the slit of her dress—no stockings, bare flesh—melted snugly against my palm.

"What if someone sees…!"

She reached to grab my wrist, but there was no strength behind it.

"See what? There's no one in this car but the two of us."

I slid my hand a little deeper, toward the inside ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of her thigh.

"And, Major."

I lowered my voice.

"Your mana circuits are overheating right now."

"……What?"

"The tension from the banquet hall, and… the pointless emotional strain you're putting yourself through—your mana is fluctuating erratically. Left unattended, you could suffer an attack tonight."

I lied without so much as blinking.

'Status Analysis.'

Caught red-handed, and easily at that. Well—had it really been that transparent a lie?

Just as I swallowed my disappointment and moved to pull my hand away—

Serafina bit her lip, turned her head, and looked out the window.

"……If it's first aid, then. …I suppose there's no helping it."

'Ha!'

The instant the words left her mouth, I wrenched the wheel. Screech! The shriek of tires split the darkened street of the capital. The car swung off the main road and came to a stop down a pitch-black alley, tucked into a corner even the streetlamps couldn't reach.

She knew. She knew perfectly well that I wanted to touch her under the pretense of treatment. And yet she didn't push my hand away. Instead, she slowly loosened her grip on my wrist.

"A wise decision, Major."

I unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned my upper body toward Serafina in the passenger seat.

"W-wait a moment…!"

I caught the back of her neck firmly and drew her toward me.

Peck.

At first, it was a light brush of the lips.

"Mmph…!"

Serafina's lashes quivered. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The moment our lips parted, she gripped my shoulders and looked up at me with unsteady eyes.

"Is this, too, part of the treatment…?"

I hesitated a beat before answering.

"…It is."

Then Serafina averted her gaze and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠murmured:

"Then a single kiss… may not quite… be enough."

"…If you wish it."

I cradled the back of her neck and pressed my lips to hers again.

Peck. Smooch.

Her supple lips collided with mine. The second kiss lingered longer, deeper. When I gently nipped her lower lip, she reflexively opened her mouth wider, and I took the opening to push my tongue deep inside.

"Hahh…! Mmmh…"

Wet, obscene sounds echoed through the narrow cabin. In that quiet alley, in that darkened car, there existed nothing but our ragged breathing and the mingling of saliva.

"Nnngh…"

Serafina's response was changing.

The hands that had stiffly gripped my shoulders were now wrapped around my neck, pulling me closer.

Slurp. Suck.

Her tongue wound around mine. Clumsy, yet desperate. The haughty noble officer from the banquet hall had vanished without a trace.

Heat bloomed inside the car. Against the cold air outside, the windshield began to fog over white.

"Hahh… mmh, M-Max…"

Every time our lips parted, she called my name. Eyes gone hazy and unfocused gazed up at me. Her flushed cheeks and glistening wet lips were impossibly vivid.

"You're short of breath, Major."

"……That's, because you—"

"…You don't care for my treatment?"

"Nnh…! Of course I… it's just… never mind."

Serafina cut herself off and went searching for my lips again. This time, it was she who pushed her tongue in first.

Smooch. Smack. Mmmh!

The kiss turned frenzied, nothing like moments before. We drank down each other's saliva, our breaths tangling together. I heard the rustle of her dress as she writhed—unable to contain her arousal, she was grinding her thighs against each other. And all this, without the skill even activated.

Spanning the narrow gap between driver's seat and passenger seat, I was leaning over her now, my upper body nearly pinning her down.

Then it happened.

Lost in the kiss, Serafina's hand groped along the inside of my thigh, as if searching for something to steady herself.

"Mmm… mmh… hahh…"

It had surely been an unconscious gesture on her part.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

But there, that place—stiffened by the succession of kisses, the press of our bodies, and her scent—my member had already swollen to its absolute limit.

Thump.

Her palm closed around the heavy pillar between my legs.