Chloe's Hidden Turmoil
The way Chloe kept stealing glances at me and Eloise felt strangely awkward. It made me wonder if she had seen me groping Eloise. 'We haven't even gotten to proper kissing or anything close to sex yet... but I guess that scene was shocking enough.'
She was someone who stood above others. Always confident and proud, a person who reigned over people thanks to her ducal background and outstanding personal ability. But according to Eloise, she had no one she could truly call a lover. 'She might have masturbated alone... but at least she has no sexual experience.'
What would someone like her feel if she saw her close friend Eloise being toyed with in my arms? 'Uh... I didn't mean for this to happen. Did this just turn into a bit of NTR...?'
Still, it had tasted pretty good, so I decided to let it slide.
“Lady Chloe. Is something bothering you?”
“Eep. No, I’m fine.”
“That’s a relief, but...”
“You don’t look well. Let’s put off the elixir I brought for now.”
“Huh?”
Eloise, who had been standing beside Chloe, turned to look at me with a surprised expression at my unexpected reaction. For a brief moment her eyes widened before returning to normal. But I wasn’t blind either. There was no point in forcing an elixir on Chloe after she had caught onto the suspicious situation between me and Eloise. It wouldn’t be any fun. So I chose to act like it didn’t matter at all.
Given her personality, if she reacted like this...
“...No, it’s a gift after all. I’ll take it. But right now it’s a bit difficult. Can you give me some time?”
“Of course, Lady Chloe. Do as you please.”
“Sorry. Just go for today. I think I need to rest my eyes a little. I’ll take the elixir alone.”
Fortunately, as expected, she didn’t say she wouldn’t take it. But Chloe was clearly ordering us to leave.
“Ah. Yes.”
“Then, please call us again if you need anything.”
There was nothing to argue about, and the visibly confused Chloe didn’t seem interested in talking to us right now. So we simply turned and left her room. Eloise must have noticed something too, because after exchanging greetings with her, she followed me out.
The heavy thud of the door closing behind us had barely faded when Eloise and I, as if by agreement, locked eyes in the empty hallway.
“...She caught us, didn’t she?”
“Yeah.”
Eloise had apparently noticed Chloe’s strange reaction just like I had. Since she was the one closest to Chloe, it made sense she would pick up on it. Seeing the wry smile on my face, Eloise let out a long sigh, then burst into a helpless laugh herself.
In the end, we stood in front of Chloe’s door, exchanging silent smiles as we looked at each other. I glanced sideways at the firmly shut door and imagined what was happening inside. The laughter wouldn’t stop. She was probably trying desperately to sort out her confused mind.
“Well. She told us to go, so we should go.”
“Right.”
We started walking again and returned to the dormitory.
Chloe and Eloise were quite close. No, in fact, the word “close” wasn’t enough to describe their relationship, given how well they knew each other’s tastes. And it wasn’t one-sided. Just as Eloise secretly loved her master, Chloe also trusted and cherished Eloise. That was why she had never hidden her sexual preferences from Eloise and had gotten along with her so well.
From the beginning, Chloe knew how Eloise felt. Saying she didn’t would be ridiculous. Who would happily lick the feet of someone they didn’t like and follow them so devotedly? Chloe knew full well that such behavior couldn’t be explained by loyalty alone.
In Chloe’s eyes, Eloise was a truly charming and hardworking girl. And the fact that such a girl would serve her and like her was something Chloe was genuinely grateful for. So when the mood had ripened enough, Chloe had made a promise to Eloise. That she would give her first time to her.
For nobles—especially women—virginity was a rather important issue, since marriage was taken for granted. Of course, there might be partners who didn’t care, but if it became known that Chloe wasn’t a virgin, most men would pretend otherwise while secretly wondering about it and feeling uneasy.
Even setting that aside, Chloe had chosen to prioritize Eloise. And that virginity would be important to Eloise as well. She also enjoyed being with her. So it was only natural that their relationship grew deeper and deeper over time.
She had trusted Eloise, accepted the fact that Serina had submitted to her, and simply taken the elixir brought as a gift in stride. After all, it wasn’t as if gifts meant to curry favor with her family were rare. Sometimes when she received artifacts whose purpose was unclear or dangerous-looking elixirs, she would simply smile and say she would accept the thought behind them.
Anyway, the sounds she had heard while absorbing the elixir were not hallucinations. Wondering if she was hearing things because of the elixir’s energy, she took a deep breath and tried to return to meditation, but the voices didn’t disappear.
Someone who had reached a certain level could perceive their surroundings through other senses even if one was impaired. In other words, even with their eyes closed, they could roughly judge the situation by listening to sounds and feeling the atmosphere on their skin.
Or rather, in a situation like this, anyone would be able to tell what was going on without much difficulty.
“Mmmph… W-wait…”
“It’s okay. Don’t tense up. Relax.”
She hadn’t been able to understand everything from the start. As the rumors said, while she was absorbed in taking in the elixir’s energy, she had been in her own world and hadn’t known what was happening. What mattered to her was making the energy settle properly in her body.
Some time passed. She had been regulating the energy, checking her circuits, and finishing her meditation when a distracting sound reached her ears. The owners of the voices seemed to be Eloise and Serina.
'Well, of course it’s only those two.'
After all, the only people in her room besides herself were those two. But for a moment, Chloe genuinely doubted whether the voices really belonged to them. Because the content of their conversation—if it could even be called that—and the atmosphere of the sounds were strange.
“Ugh…!”
“Eloise… Why is this part so tense? For someone with small breasts…”
“S-shut up…”
No matter how much Serina had supposedly submitted, Eloise was, in a way, the main culprit behind ruining Serina’s academy life. Of course the real culprit was Chloe herself, but on the surface it looked like Eloise’s doing, and Eloise had made it that way. She even occasionally harassed Serina under the pretext of discipline.
So even if Serina had submitted, it would take a considerable amount of time for the two of them to get along. But judging from the sounds she was hearing now…
'It doesn’t sound like they’re just getting along. It sounds like more than that.'
At the strangely flowing atmosphere, Chloe carefully, very cautiously, opened her eyes just a sliver.
And Chloe saw it. Eloise, buried in Serina’s large breasts and being kneaded all over.
The sight of the relatively petite Chloe and Serina sitting together on a single chair, pressed tightly against each other. Sitting front to back like snails stuck together. Eloise was even twitching as if it tickled, while Serina was massaging the nape of her neck with an amused expression.
At the shocking scene, Chloe reflexively closed her eyes again and began to steady her ragged breathing so it wouldn’t show. But inside, unlike her calm exterior, a whirlwind of chaos was raging.
'…What the hell is this? Is it an illusion after all? No, that can’t be. It’s clearly real. Weren’t those two on bad terms? The atmosphere was icy cold just a few days ago… Could this be the result of Eloise’s training? But even then…'
The unexpected sight left Chloe utterly confused. And after a little more time passed, a small spark ignited in one corner of her chest.
'What exactly are those two… doing?'
But Chloe couldn’t answer her own question. She forced her eyes shut, took deep breaths, and began calmly organizing her thoughts.
'Right… It just means Eloise’s training was that effective. And anyway, it’s not like they’re doing anything too serious. It’s just a massage…'
Of course, Serina’s lewd body made even that massage look obscene, but she told herself it might not be as big a deal as she thought. Of course she wasn’t certain; it might just be what she wanted to believe. At any rate, there were no clear facts yet.
Eventually, after more time had passed and Chloe had grown a little calmer, she opened her eyes. Eloise and Serina approached her as if nothing had happened. She had wanted to ask why they had been stuck together like that, but when she saw their faces, she couldn’t bring herself to speak. In the end, she simply told them to leave and let her rest for a while.
Thud—
'Yeah. Tomorrow. I’ll ask tomorrow. What exactly were you two doing?'
It was an incredibly timid decision for someone as confident and charismatic as Chloe usually was. But having witnessed other people’s sticky intimacy for the first time in her life, she felt a strong sense of reluctance about putting it into words.
In the end, Chloe couldn’t calm the confusion in her head until she finally fell asleep.
And so the next day arrived.