Easier to Beg Forgiveness Than Ask Permission
Late into the night.
Deep in a mountain choked with dense trees, a lone man could be seen.
One hand pressed to his side as though he were injured, he climbed steadily upward.
"Tch. Honestly…"
It was the Sword Saint, Carlos.
"Heartless creature. Beating your own friend half to death like that."
He had gone out of his way to offer her counsel. What he received in return was not gratitude, but a colossal mass of mana blazing like the sun itself.
He had managed to dodge it somehow, yet the attack had come so suddenly that he could not shrug off the impact entirely.
His own words had struck her reverse scale.
He had told her that one day, the things Athena had done would come back to her as karma.
To her ears it must have been unbearable, but it was a truth that still needed saying.
Ever since he had reached the realm of Hyeon-gyeong, he had gained eyes that could perceive a measure of the world's underlying principles.
The woman called Hera and Athena were bound in a relationship that was unstable and precarious.
A bond that could tip into catastrophe at any moment without anyone finding it strange.
If they were simply left alone, he was certain a great misfortune would befall them both.
But this was their affair, and his alone. He had no right to interfere.
So all he had done was leave Athena with those words.
Hoping she might yet recognize her wrongs and turn back.
After climbing for a long while, a familiar cabin came into view.
"Hm?"
Despite the late hour, light still burned inside.
When he had come down the mountain, he had extinguished every lamp before leaving. The culprit behind that glow could only be his disciple.
So she left without tidying up after herself.
Even habits like that affected one's training.
It seemed he would have to scold his disciple tomorrow.
But then—
Whish— whish—
The sound of a wooden sword cutting the air reached his ears.
Following the noise, he found his disciple drenched in sweat, still swinging her practice blade.
"…Have you been training this whole time?"
At his call, the girl stopped her sword and turned her gaze toward him.
"You're back."
Her eyes were endlessly empty.
What kind of past could leave a child so young walking around with eyes like that?
Every time he looked at his disciple, a pang of pity stirred in him.
"You little rascal… Tomorrow isn't even a training day. Why push yourself like this?"
"I'll train the same tomorrow too…. Huh?"
She frowned as she looked at him.
Then she hurried over with quick steps.
Sniff— sniff—
She buried her nose in his clothes and began to smell him.
"Hm? What on earth are you doing?"
"…Master. You said you were going to meet someone, didn't you?"
There was something chilling in the way his disciple spoke.
From time to time, this side of her sent a cold shiver down his spine.
"I told you I was going to see a friend, did I not?"
Hearing that, the girl looked down at the ground and began muttering to herself.
Master's age is…—
But this scent is definitely…—
After fretting alone for a long while, she finally let out a sigh and lifted her head.
"I'm sorry, Master. I thought I smelled someone I know… It must have been my imagination."
"Good heavens. What a strange little thing you are. Hahaha."
"More importantly, I've learned everything you taught me. I want to learn the next stage."
"Hm? Already?"
Even for a genius, it should have taken a good three days at the least.
"Yes. Shall I show you?"
But his disciple had truly absorbed every last scrap of his teaching and made it her own.
A growth rate that would leave other swordsmen aghast.
Astonishing… What astonishing talent.
A disciple whose gift far surpassed even his own as a boy.
If he simply raised her as she was, she would one day surpass him without question.
"Hahaha… Very well, very well. Now you've got me curious too."
Curious just how far you will go.
"Come on. Hurry up, Hera."
"Mmh…"
Athena sat on the edge of the bed with her hand held out.
And I was kneeling on the floor in front of her.
She looked down at me with a strange light in her eyes, her breath already quickening with excitement.
When she stares at me like that, it just makes me feel embarrassed for no reason…
We had done this once before, but facing it again like this still brought a rush of shyness flooding in.
Still, if it made her happy, that was enough for me.
I tucked my side hair behind my ear so it wouldn't get in my mouth, then carefully took the hand she offered in both of mine.
And slipped her longest finger between my lips.
"Hahp."
Tasting her finger again.
The sweetness came through far stronger than any saltiness.
Suck— slurp— churp—
Having done this once already, I could move my tongue with a fair amount of skill now.
Her finger was gradually being coated in my saliva.
I worked my lips back and forth, spreading my spit over every surface, and licked along the whorls of her fingerprint as if tickling them with my tongue.
"Hyaahp… hyah… chup…"
"Haa… Hera…"
Athena gripped my hair tightly with her free hand, as though she were holding something back.
"Hyah… Athena… does it feel good…?"
At my words, her eyes began to tremble violently.
For a moment she simply stared down at me in a daze—then something like fury started to gather in her gaze.
"You little bitch…!"
"Hyaah… mmph?!"
Suddenly Athena shoved her finger deep into my mouth.
I instinctively tried to pull it out at the abrupt motion—but the hand fisted in my hair only dragged my head farther toward her.
"Kehk?! …Hyaat… ugh…!"
The moment I felt her finger brush against the back of my throat, a gag rose up from deep inside.
"Hera… Hera!!!!"
"Ghk…! Kehk… urgk…"
As her finger pressed ruthlessly through my mouth, tears welled up tight from the rising rejection in my gut.
Feeling I couldn't take any more, I patted her leg with my palm, begging her to stop—but she would not let go of my head.
"Ohhk… oegh… ghk…"
Again and again, whatever tried to come up from inside was forced back down by Athena's finger.
The harder her finger moved, the more strength drained from my body, until I could no longer resist her at all.
In the end, like a puppet with its strings cut, my limp arms fell and dangled loosely at my sides.
After ravaging the inside of my mouth for what felt like forever, she finally pressed down hard on my tongue one last time, then slowly drew her finger free.
"Uwaaagh… haaek…"
The instant her finger left my mouth, the thick spit that had been pooling inside came pouring out over my lips.
An unbelievable amount of it streamed down in long strands.
But before it could all escape, Athena's mouth crashed into mine and sealed the exit shut.
"Mmph… hyaahp…"
With nowhere left to go, my saliva naturally began to slide, thick and wet, into her mouth.
Gulp— gulp—
Sounds that could hardly be called kissing spilled from her lips.
Not the soft exchange of spit between two people—only the wet noise of swallowing filled the room.
After taking every last drop of the saliva that had gathered, she finally pulled her face away from mine and languidly licked the corner of her mouth with her tongue.
"Thanks for the meal, Hera."
"Heh… heh…"
"Sorry for being so rough. But really, it's your own fault."
It took me a little while longer to come back to my senses.
"You…!! Youuu, seriously!!"
My face burning scarlet, I started whacking Athena over and over with a pillow.
"Is that any way to treat your master, Hera?"
"D-Do you even hear yourself right now?! A-After doing something like that…!"
But Athena only answered my scolding with a wicked little smile.
"Something like that? What exactly are you talking about?"
"What you just did to me a second ago!!"
She shrugged as if she had no idea what I meant, playing dumb.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Y-You…!"
She was making it clear she would never admit fault until I said it out loud myself.
In the end I swallowed my embarrassment and shouted at her.
"You shoved your finger in and out of my mouth however you wanted!!"
"And? So what?"
"Huh…?"
Her sheer shamelessness left me flustered.
"I-I mean… you just stuck your finger in however you—"
"Weren't you the one who said you'd suck on it for me? So why are you changing your tune now?"
"No… that's different—"
"How is it different? Both of them are just putting a finger in a mouth."
"Huh…?"
"And besides. Women can do this kind of thing with each other. Why are you making such a big deal out of it, Hera?"
…?
Was I… making a big deal out of it?
No, wasn't it different…?
Sure, both involved putting a finger in a mouth, but it still felt… somehow different…
Even between women… ramming it in like that… that wasn't okay, right…?
Or was it…? Was it fine because we were both women…?
The deeper I thought about it, the less I could tell what was right anymore.
Looking at Athena's completely unashamed expression made me start doubting my own common sense all over again.
No.
Even if it was something two women could do together, that didn't make it okay.
If there had been mutual consent it would be one thing—but doing it one-sidedly like that was wrong.
"I-It hurt, okay…? I couldn't even breathe… and I started gagging…"
That misery of being forced to swallow back whatever was rising from inside.
No matter if we were both women, making someone else suffer like that on a whim couldn't be right.
That was basic common sense no matter where you went.
So this was definitely Athena's fault.
Yes. She was in the wrong.
I'm really going to give her a piece of my mi—
"That was my bad. I'm sorry."
"…Huh?"
"I thought it would make me so happy if you did that for me, so I tried it… I didn't know it would hurt you that much. I'm sorry, Hera."
"It… made you happy…?"
"Yeah. Really happy. That you'd go that far for me. It made me so glad."
Uh…
If it made her happy, then… isn't that enough…?
No. What am I even saying. Snap out of it, Hera.
Even so, treating me like an object whenever she felt like it was not okay.
All of a sudden two selves started fighting inside me.
The warm pride of having made her happy clashed with the resentment of her putting me through that pain.
After they wrestled for a long while, I reached a conclusion.
Ordinarily I would never have let it slide.
But she hadn't done it out of malice…
And she had apologized this sincerely. Maybe I could let it go just this once.
I fixed Athena with a sulky look.
"…Don't you dare do that next time."
"……Heh."
Next time I really won't let it go.
Yes. That's right.
….
Huh.
I feel like I've said this before… Must be my imagination.
"Don't you dare do that next time…"
At last.
At last she had landed a blow on that cunning little fox.
Lately she had done nothing but get swept along by her.
Only now did she feel like she had finally found a way to handle her.
That's right. A master being pushed around by her slave?
Unthinkable.
From now on she would thoroughly treat her as a slave and make her submit.
So that she would never again even dream of climbing above her station.
Heh… You'd better prepare yourself, Hera.
"Um… Athena…"
"Hm?"
Hera timidly tugged at the hem of her clothes.
A soft flush colored both her cheeks, as if she were holding back her embarrassment.
"It hurt… and it was hard…"
Was she trying to complain about what had just happened?
Apparently her mood still hadn't fully recovered.
Well. It didn't matter. For her, she could bow her head as many times as it took.
Until her feelings settled, that is.
After all, she was the one holding the leash in this relationship now.
She could afford to be generous with her just this once.
"I'm sorry, He—"
"B-But… if it makes you happy… I can't do it often, but… sometimes… I'll do it for you…"
After all, she was the one holding the leash now.
After all, the one holding the leash was…
The leash in her hand…
The leash…
….
"……Hah."
This fucking bitch.