Punishment
Rosewen Henrietta.
That was her name—once the lady of a minor noble house on the frontier, and now the head maid charged with overseeing every servant in this estate.
Ever since the day her mistress had saved her life, she had entered this mansion swearing lifelong loyalty. In all the years since, she had never once questioned a single order that woman gave.
Until now.
"Must we… really go that far…?"
"Yes. So pass the word to everyone. And tell them that if Hera finds out, whoever let it slip had better be ready to lose their head."
It made no sense.
Her mistress had said, quite clearly, that the girl was precious to her.
So why issue a command like this?
"The young lady… will be deeply hurt."
Not at once, perhaps—but as the days wore on, the damage would slowly carve away at her spirit.
Athena only smiled, as if that were precisely what she wanted.
"Then I'll be the one to heal her."
"…Do you want the young lady to break?"
"Rosewen."
The ice in her mistress's eyes told her she had overstepped.
"Forgive me. I had no right to question your will."
"Forget it. Just follow the order."
Athena flicked her hand in a dismissive wave, shooing her out.
Rosewen left the study in silence and began to turn the command over in her mind.
That's right. It isn't my place to judge.
Her mistress's orders often defied understanding.
It didn't matter.
If not for that woman, Rosewen would not be standing here at all—she would be lying in some unmarked grave on the frontier. And it wasn't only her. Every soul in this household owed Athena a debt too great to measure.
Every last one of them would remain unwaveringly loyal.
Hadn't she already pledged her life?
She could obey any order.
Even if that order meant wounding an innocent, lovely young girl.
Rosewen steeled her resolve and walked quietly down the corridor.
"Come to my study tonight."
Athena had caught me in a lie, and this was to be my punishment.
Not knowing what form that punishment would take only made the dread worse.
"It doesn't seem like something worth scolding me over…"
"Pardon?"
Alina, who had overheard my muttering, turned to ask.
"Ah—n-nothing. Just talking to myself."
I was on my way to Athena's study, summoned by her call. Alina, the maid who had come to fetch me, was guiding me there once again. The mansion was so vast that Rosewen had told me to rely on her help for the time being. Without Alina, I almost certainly would have gotten lost.
Just walking these halls, I had already passed dozens of rooms. There didn't seem to be that many servants, and I still couldn't fathom how they managed a place this enormous.
"Here we are, my lady."
Standing before Athena's study door, I felt my hands begin to tremble of their own accord.
She said there wouldn't be any more pain… so it should be fine…
The agony of having mana forced into me was still seared into my memory—a heat so fierce it felt as though my flesh would melt, as if an unquenchable fire were burning me from the outside in.
But she had promised, with her own mouth, that it would never happen again. So it would be all right.
I won't break.
Whatever the punishment, I would endure it without surrendering.
I whispered the vow to myself and opened the door.
Athena sat at her desk, absorbed in a stack of documents. I had taken her for nothing more than a self-indulgent tyrant; seeing her like this—so composed, so intellectual—caught me off guard.
I approached slowly. She lifted her eyes from the papers and looked at me.
"You're here. Sit on the sofa for a moment."
With that, she returned her full attention to the documents.
If you're going to make me wait, why call me now?
A flicker of irritation rose, but I was in no position to voice it. I sat quietly on the sofa as instructed and waited.
As the minutes dragged on and boredom set in, I began fiddling with my hair, scraping idle patterns into a cushion with my fingernail, stretching my arms over my head—anything to pass the time.
"Sorry. Kept you waiting, didn't I?"
Athena settled onto the sofa beside me and smiled. Something about that easy, unhurried smile felt deliberately wicked.
"…Next time, call me when you're actually ready."
I ventured the complaint as timidly as I could. She brushed a strand of hair behind my ear.
"For someone who came to be punished, you're awfully bold."
"…I don't think I did anything that ba—"
"Hera. Because of you, an innocent person nearly lost their job. And you're going to look away from that?"
"Ugh… S-so… what is the punishment…?"
Better to take the beating quickly and be done with it. All I wanted was to get this over with and leave.
"Hera. I hate it when people touch what's mine."
The words had nothing to do with my question. I stared at her, uncomprehending. Her expression had gone cold—nothing like the smile from a moment before.
"What are you talking about all of a sudden…?"
Athena pressed her thumb to my lips and slowly rubbed across them.
"These lips. How many times have they been touched?"
"…What?"
"By those women you treat like family. How many times?"
Was she asking how many times I'd been kissed?
Every day, as a greeting, Lily and Dania each kissed me two or three times… so hundreds, probably. Looking back, it really had been a lot.
But why would Athena care?
When I didn't answer, she pinched my lower lip between two fingers and tugged.
"Eep—!"
"Hera. When I ask you something, you answer. Immediately."
"I-I don't know… just… a lot of times…"
Her face grew colder still.
"So many you can't even count, then?"
As if the answer displeased her, she pulled harder on my lip.
"Mmph—!"
A sharp sting drew my head toward her. Athena seized my face in both hands.
"Hera. I don't want to hurt you."
"…"
Golden eyes blazed inches from mine, pinning me in place.
"But if you disobey my orders, I'll have no choice but to give you a punishment that hurts."
Was she going to put me through that agony again?
No—she had said that experience would be the last. But a person's heart could change at any time.
I clenched my trembling hands and forced down the fear crawling up from that memory.
"Here's what we'll do. I'll forgive what happened at dinner. In exchange—no matter what I do to you from now on, you don't move."
She must have seen the wild flicker in my eyes, because she gave a soft laugh and stroked my hair.
"And if you do move…"
"I-if I move…?"
"Then I'll give you a real punishment."
"Nnh…"
A punishment that hurt. I had no desire to experience whatever she meant by that.
"What… are you going to do…?"
What could she possibly need me to stay still for?
Athena smiled and brought her face so close that our breath mingled. The tip of her nose brushed mine, light as a tease.
"I hate it when people touch what's mine."
"You already said that."
"These lips of yours, dirtied by those women. I'm going to clean them until every trace is gone."
"…What does that even mean…?"
"So don't move. If you do, I'll have to hurt you."
"W-wai— mmph?!"
Her mouth sealed over mine without warning.
I tried to push her away, but she broke the kiss just long enough to issue a warning.
"Haa… Don't move, Hera. That's an order."
And then she claimed my mouth again.
"Wai—! …Hh… mmph… nnh…"
She sucked at my lips hard, as if wringing them dry, and I couldn't offer a shred of resistance. When I finally let my hands fall to the sofa and yielded, her palm slid down my waist in a slow, ticklish caress.
I flinched—
My whole body shuddered at a single touch. Encouraged, Athena kissed me harder, tasting me with growing hunger. Then her tongue slipped free and dragged slowly across my lower lip.
"Hyaah—!"
The unfamiliar sensation made me jolt. She gave my lips one last fierce pull before drawing back.
A thin, glistening thread of our mingled saliva stretched between us, sticky and translucent.
"Hhh… haah…"
I gasped for air. A flush colored Athena's cheeks, and the smile curving her mouth looked distinctly wicked.
As if to say we were nowhere near finished, she took my head in both hands again.
"Hera. We're only getting started."
The moment I had caught my breath, she pulled my face back in.
"Mmph?!"
And invaded my mouth once more.
For a long while after that, the only sound in Athena's study was the wet, mingled noise of two women's mouths.
.
.
.
I had no idea how much time had passed.
Slurp—smack—
"Ha… nnh… haah…"
She plundered every corner of my mouth until I nearly forgot how to breathe. Her dizzying tonguework drained the strength from my limbs; I collapsed bonelessly onto the sofa, and Athena climbed over me, still devouring my lips.
Like a snake coiling around its prey, her tongue wound around mine, licking, stroking, claiming. My mouth—unable to move, unable to fight back—was simply taken.
Smack—smack—
What had begun as soft, sensual sounds grew wetter and lewder as our tongues tangled. Saliva spilled from the corner of my lips in a slow trickle; I could no longer tell whose it was. A damp stain spread across the sofa cushion beneath us.
At last, as if satisfied, she nipped my tongue one final time and released my face.
"Haaah… haah… hnn…"
Half out of my mind, all I could do was drag in ragged breaths and try to remember how lungs worked.
"Haa… whew. Hera… you really didn't move, did you?"
A little breathless herself, she stroked my chin with one finger the way one might praise a well-behaved puppy.
"Ha… nn… hah…"
"Heh. Good girl…"
"Hhh… why… would you do something like this…"
"I told you. I was erasing everyone else's traces from your mouth."
She wiped the saliva from the corner of my lips with her thumb.
"From now on, every night—half an hour. We'll set aside time just like this to clean you up."
The words snapped me fully awake.
"E-every night?!"
I jerked upright in shock. She only shrugged.
"Think about how long you've spent with those women. Did you really believe one session would be enough?"
"E-even so… every night is…"
A kiss so intense it had nearly unmade me—and I was supposed to endure this daily? I couldn't begin to imagine it.
Athena looked entirely unconcerned. She cupped my cheek and stroked it gently.
"What does it matter? Besides…"
A distinctly suggestive smile curved her lips.
"We're both girls, aren't we?"
She said it as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.
.
.
.
Athena had disliked Lily from the very beginning.
A little brat who wore the mask of a cute child while hiding something far more sinister underneath. The "common sense" she had drilled into Hera was so absurd Athena could scarcely believe it.
Kisses between girls are fine, my ass…
How many times had that girl stolen those pure lips under that ridiculous pretext? For all Athena knew, she might have gone even further.
Utterly shameless.
And yet—
As much as she despised her, Athena found herself grateful to Lily, just this once.
Thanks to that twisted "common sense," she could now touch Hera without resistance.
Remembering the taste of those lips, Athena felt heat rise in her cheeks.
Hera was hers now—hers alone.
And at the thought, a dark, hungry smile bloomed deep inside her.