Chapter 229
Chapter 229
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Wolf's Decision (4)
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“It's amazing how the seats are separated for two people each.”
I gazed curiously at the VIP viewing area.
The Emperor had actually wanted to sit with me and talk, but he yielded for the sake of my companion, Irina.
「When it's hard to talk over the music, use this, Sir Vail.」
Leonhardt handed me a quill pen in imperial purple.
It was clearly an item radiating mystical energy.
“What is this...?”
「It's an artifact. It transcribes the words of people in the same space onto paper.」
An artifact that was once a treasure of the royal family.
Now, it had been replicated for nobles with mobility issues or for events like this concert.
「It picks up even quiet speech and writes it down, so you can enjoy the music while conversing in writing like this.」
“I gratefully accept it, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you, Father.”
I took it obediently, though I doubted I'd need it.
Then, I headed to the dim VIP box with Irina.
「….」
The Emperor watched us enter with a pleased expression.
He thought Irina's pure attire was lovely and found himself nodding unconsciously.
「She really takes after Estina, doesn't she, Irina.」
Estina, his second wife—a commoner who had been pure and noble.
If Rozanna embodied sensual beauty, Estina had been gracefully beautiful.
Believing Irina had inherited that purity, the Emperor clasped his hands behind his back and headed to the VIP area with the high officials.
「I wonder if that sly fellow and that timid girl will get along.」
――――――.
“It's amazing such a pen exists.”
True to form, Irina stared at the quill with the curious eyes of a young girl.
Then, she took it from me and placed it on the desk.
At that moment.
「It's amazing such a pen exists-.」
The quill stood up on its own and wrote her words on the paper.
We both gaped at the mystical sight.
“As expected of the imperial family—full of wondrous items...!”
“Right.... I've been to plenty of concerts, but this is a first for me.”
We sat side by side in the viewing seats, watching the quill move on its own.
Afterward, we turned our eyes to the academy students taking the stage—youthful faces.
Among them were female students in black dresses.
“Did Your Highness attend an academy like that too?”
“Hm...?”
Irina let out a small chuckle at my question.
Then, with a faint smile lost in memories, she replied.
“Yeah. Until I was about fifteen, I think? After that, I received private tutoring from the palace.”
“Ah, so that's why when we first met, you'd only ever been in the imperial palace.”
I recalled the pre-regression Irina, always with a lonely expression, confined to the northern palace.
She had wilted away like a flower, alone without a single visitor.
It was so different from now.
“Back then, Your Highness always looked sad....”
“Me?”
Irina was startled by my words and pointed at herself with a finger.
I responded with a fond look, as if gazing at a little sister.
“Yes, you seemed quite fragile.”
“I-I see....”
The Second Imperial Princess wore an embarrassed expression, like her dark history had been exposed.
In the time we hadn't seen each other, her expressions had become so much richer.
She hadn't smiled or cried much back then.
I let out a relieved breath as I watched the happy-looking Irina.
But that breath soon stopped abruptly.
Because Irina was showing a side even more grown beyond mere happiness.
“Seeing me like that must have made you anxious too...?”
I'd expected her to be embarrassed about her exposed dark history.
Unexpectedly, Irina had been considering my feelings from back then.
“Me...?”
“Yeah. You had just entered the palace after your exploits on the northern front.... Naturally, you'd expect a spot in the imperial knights, or perhaps with Lea's light or Lydia's eastern life.”
Irina stared bitterly at the arena.
She seemed sorry toward me, unable to even meet my eyes.
‘Honestly, I did have expectations. After suffering in the cold snowfields, I'd finally entered the glamorous palace.’
But that didn't mean I regretted becoming Irina's knight.
Thanks to it, I'd gained the precious experience of regression and could now sit here proudly.
The cherished bonds I'd formed were worth more than all that hardship.
“As I said before, I have no regrets now.”
I glanced down at Irina.
Then, I affectionately stroked her smooth, silky silver hair atop her head.
“Whenever I look at you, you seem so confident with others, but you shrink only in front of me.”
Irina shrugged her shoulders under my large hand.
As if her whole body had become sensitive.
“Now, have a bit more ‘confidence.’”
“Confidence...?”
She pressed down on the hem of her dress over her lower abdomen with her palm as she sat.
Hearing my words, she looked up at me slowly, her face slightly flushed.
“Yes, you more than deserve it.”
“Confidence....”
Hearing me, Irina suddenly thought of her sisters, brimming with self-assurance—Lydia and Lea.
The two had felt curiosity toward me after my overwhelming display at the appointment ceremony.
In comparison, she hadn't boldly stepped forward to show confidence toward me, too busy forming her own knight order.
Meanwhile, they had approached first.
“I won't miss out this time....”
Irina murmured quietly to herself.
But her words were soon drowned out by the music of the starting concert.
Only the quill on the desk danced, transcribing her words.
――――――.
Beautiful melodies filled the concert hall.
The elegant, noble music seemed to fill everyone's hearts with reverence.
But.
Irina, sitting beside me, was different.
She swallowed deeply, her breathing growing a little rougher.
“Doesn't it feel a bit hotter here?”
Because of the loud music, I whispered into the princess's ear.
At the same time, I glanced down at Irina.
“Yeah.... It is a bit hot.”
She wore a thin dress that clung tightly to her body.
It had certainly seemed light and pure when we first met.
But now, with the enclosed space growing warmer....
Sitting in the chair, it stuck clammily to her skin.
Her inner contours began to show through lewdly.
I'd assumed she wore simple undergarments, fitting her usual image.
Unexpectedly, she wore nothing underneath.
Thanks to that, her sweat-soaked, full breasts stood rigidly erect beneath her ample flesh.
‘Th-that's all showing through...?!’
I hurriedly averted my eyes from the obscene sight.
But then my gaze caught the thin dress fabric clinging to her navel from sweat.
Burying my face in those curves would surely yield a sweet fruit scent.
Even her large, soft thighs from regular horseback riding.
Hidden within the pure dress was flesh more sensual and mature than anyone's.
“...!”
I whipped my head away, pretending not to see.
However, Irina was no longer a child.
She noticed my lecherous gaze, her eyes narrowing.
Sweat-drenched and body aflame, she didn't seem to dislike being ogled.
Rather, the princess found saliva pooling in her mouth unconsciously from the thrill.
She was awakening to lewd instincts she hadn't known.
“Vail.”
“Y-Yes...?!”
‘Did she notice...?’
“Doesn't this make us feel like academy students again?”
Fortunately, she didn't blame me for ogling.
As if oblivious, she asked in a calm voice.
‘Phew....’
“Yes, it does feel that way.”
“Back at the academy, we'd play pranks while hiding from scary teachers.”
Irina smiled brightly as she asked.
Her face seemed oddly flushed.
“Haha.... I know the feeling. Knowing we'd get scolded if caught, but enjoying the thrill anyway.”
Thrill.
Irina smiled in agreement.
“Then, since we're at the academy anyway, wouldn't it be fun to make one such memory?”
“Pardon...?”
But that smile felt different from usual.
“A thrilling, edge-of-your-seat memory.”
Come to think of it, an intense heat was emanating particularly from Irina's side.
And the moment certainty dawned on that guess.
“...!”
I glanced down at the princess's emerald eyes.
The black pupils within seemed elongated, like an animal's.
Like a wolf's.
‘Huh...? Did I see that wrong...?’
I cleared my throat and turned my gaze to the stage.
Then, forcing a smile, I replied.
“Well, sure. Let's make plenty more together from now on.”
Irina stared up at me intently for a moment after my answer.
Then, with a shallow breath, she quietly replied.
“Yeah.”
The quill diligently transcribed our conversation on its own.
The scratching sound was slowly overtaken by the swelling music.
――――――.
A sweet melody caressed my ears.
However, with little interest in music, my eyes began to droop half-closed.
Especially with the hot aura rising from Irina's side.
The heat made my mood languid.
“Your Highness, I'll rest my eyes for a bit. I used up some energy earlier.”
“Yeah.... Sleep well, Vail....”
Irina replied to me a beat late.
Reassured, I slowly closed my eyes.
Perhaps thanks to the beautiful music.
Sleep came even easier.
Drunk on the melody, legs stretched out, deep in slumber.
Then, as the music quieted briefly, strange sounds began.
「Swish.... Swish....」
Unconsciously, pleasant tension gathered toward my legs.
「Ssswish-. Swish-.」
A sensitive sensation in my lower body.
I slowly opened my eyes, following the feeling.
Then, a lewd sound came from my leg area.
「Sssswish―.」
Lowering my head slowly, a white hand came into view.
A delicate, refined hand that had never gripped a sword hilt.
But.
That hand was stroking the pillar inside my pants.
Lewdly, as if intent on coaxing it larger, playing it like an instrument with her open palm over every curve.
“I-Irina...?”
I slowly turned my head.
And....
I faced Irina with her usual lustrous silver hair.
But it wasn't the smooth crown I'd stroked earlier.
Fluffy, perky wolf ears sprouting from both sides of her head....
They made her look like a lewd female fox disguised as a human.
The unbelievable sight left me speechless.
Looking around hurriedly, I saw the quill moving on its own.
And the writing on the desk.
「Haaah.... Haaah....」
「So this is what men have there...? What Lea worshipped....」
「A strange smell....」
「Lewd and delicious...? Wh-what did I just say? Delicious..., no way!!」
「It's getting bigger.... Twitching....」
The paper was filled with Irina's mutterings.
Then, the princess slowly raised her head.
Unlike her usual pure face, her eyes greeted me with a seductive, demonic glint.
“Vail, you're awake?”
「Swish.... Swish-.」
Irina calmly spoke while still lewdly stroking my length.
Even with His Majesty the Emperor in the adjacent VIP box, separated by one wall.
“Your Highness.... Your eyes.... Those wolf ears, what...?”
Even as I asked in a flustered voice, Irina remained utterly relaxed.
As if born a female wolf, she smiled with her eyes.
“Why? I'm exactly the same as always.”
Contrary to her words, her hand devoutly worshipped my pillar.
In the time I'd dozed, she'd teased it so much that the tip was slightly wet.
Irina stared down at it with a wolfish, yearning gaze.
The sight was lewd, like a curious female student full of intellectual hunger.
“....”
The noble princess slid down from her chair.
Then, she crawled on all fours between my legs.
“While you were asleep, this seemed to get bigger, so....”
Her solitary crawling figure.
The soaked dress made her lewd flesh and nakedness show through completely.
“I thought I'd help a little....”
But Irina showed no shame whatsoever.
Rather, like stretching, she arched her back, flaunting her full hips.
Then, as the dress hem rolled up.
A lush, lustrous silver wolf tail unfurled pleasantly, like her hair.
As if erect.
“Sorry, Vail. I'm like this right now.”
In the dark VIP box, the female wolf's eyes gleamed.
Her once-pure eyes narrowed demonically.
“But it's your fault....”
Irina took a deep breath toward my rigidly erect length.
Then, inhaling the thick, musky scent....
“Mm....”
She planted a lewd kiss on the wet tip.
Like a female praising it devoutly.
“You dared to go ahead with Lea without me...?”
Irina wrapped one hand around the pillar inside my pants and pressed it to her cheek.
Then, swishing her nicely erect tail, she said.
“That won't do, Mikhail.”
I blankly stared at her face—same as always, but with wolf ears and tail.
And I recalled Lin's sister, who'd shown the same symptoms.
‘Irina took the elixir...!’
“Y-Your Highness.... His Majesty is right beyond that one wall...!!”
I swallowed deeply, forcing a smile.
But with her wolf ears perked and eyes awakened to wildness, my pants showed no sign of subsiding.
Rather, her jealous swishing tail toward Lea made it throb harder.
“We can't do this in such a sacred place...!!”
I said to her urgently.
“....”
The princess, nakedness visible through her soaked dress.
Hearing me, she pretended innocence with demonic narrowed eyes.
“I see, Vail....”
Then, as if struck by a good idea, she chuckled and stood.
Gazing down at me as I sat, she said.
“It's fine.”
Irina gathered the hem of her thin dress.
“Among our imperial dishes, there's one so delicious even the gods would envy, eaten with a veil over the face.”
And, as if to show off, she lifted it fully over her thighs.
“If you cover yourself with cloth like this, won't you be forgiven too...?”
Irina draped the hem, steeped in her sweat and scent, over my head.
Hiding my face within her nakedness.
“Father will surely forgive you too.”
Along with the female wolf's thick musk came her lewd body, never shown to anyone.
Milky skin glistening with white sweat, trickling down her breasts.
"So I'll spoil you all you want...."
I faced that sight, covered within the dress.
She was no longer the pure daughter her father imagined.