Master and Slave
The full moon beyond the window cast a soft glow over the night.
An owl's cry only deepened the hush that hung over everything.
"Mom."
"Yeah?"
"What's your ideal type, Mom?"
Mari and I were lying in bed together, getting ready to sleep. Still reluctant to drift off just yet, she nestled into my arms and kept plying me with questions—what my hobbies were, what foods I liked, and on and on. This time, it seemed she wanted to know my ideal type.
Ideal type....
I'd never had a girlfriend, but I'd always had an ideal type. Of course I was in a woman's body now. Even so, I had no desire whatsoever to picture an ideal type in men, so it only made sense to speak of the one I'd carried before transmigrating.
"Hmm.. Mom's ideal type is.."
Mari watched me from beside me with bright, sparkling eyes.
"First of all, someone kind.. and mature enough to accept me as I am?"
The moment the words left my mouth, I realized it. Dania unnie had been exactly my ideal type. The older sister who always looked after me so carefully, who wrapped me up in her warm smile and soft embraces. Sometimes her outrageous breasts left me gasping for air, but even then I'd always felt so safe with her.
.....Not that it would ever be like that again. By now she was probably living quietly and happily with Lily. Whenever the two of them crossed my mind, a dull ache would settle in one corner of my chest—but I'd grown used to it, and could push past it soon enough.
"Kind..? Mari is kind!"
Mari beamed with her eyes and nuzzled her face this way and that against my chest. I gently stroked her hair.
"That's right. Mari is super kind too."
She seemed pleased, closing both eyes and accepting my touch. Come to think of it, Mari hadn't even been born that long ago. It was amazing she already knew what an ideal type was. Was it because she was a dragon, and simply knew more than most?
"Does Mari have an ideal type?"
"Mom!"
She answered without a second's hesitation.
"Pfft. Mom is your ideal type?"
"Yeah. Someone pretty and pure like Mom."
She praised me so brightly and openly that her rambling words left me feeling oddly bashful.
"Mm.. that's a little embarrassing."
We went on trading little bits of idle talk for quite a while. Eventually sleepiness seemed to catch up with her, and Mari began blinking heavily in my arms.
"If you're sleepy, you can sleep."
But Mari shook her head this way and that, eyes wide open as if she still didn't want to fall asleep.
"More.. talk with Mom.."
"Heh.. We can talk tomorrow too, right?"
As I stroked her back, she slowly nestled deeper into my arms and began to drift off. After a little more time had passed—
".....Mari, you asleep?"
She was breathing softly and evenly, sunk deep in sleep. Careful not to wake her, I slipped my arm free and quietly left the room. A dark hallway stretched before me, most of the lights already out.
"Why did Athena call me at a time like this.."
Grumbling a little under my breath, I walked the corridor for a while until I reached her door. Wondering if she might already be asleep, I knocked lightly.
"Come in."
Contrary to my expectations, her voice answered from inside at once. I opened the door and stepped in. The lights were all out; only a few candles lit the gloomy room.
"Did you put Mari to bed?"
Athena closed the book she'd been reading on the sofa and spoke to me.
"Mm. She's sleeping now.."
"Hmm.."
The sultry smile she gave me as she looked my way made tension rise unbidden.
"But.. why did you call me at this hour specifically..?"
When I asked with genuine curiosity, Athena moved from the sofa to sit on the bed. She patted the spot beside her lightly, as if telling me to sit. Without much suspicion, I went over and sat next to her. Athena let out a sigh as she looked at me.
"Hera. Haven't you been getting a little too lazy lately?"
The atmosphere shifted in an instant at her words.
"Huh..?"
"You're not doing any of the things you're supposed to do."
"Th-the things I'm supposed to do?"
Athena took my chin in her hand and pulled my face toward hers.
"That's right. Your duties as a slave."
Her words left my mind blank for a moment. There was only one thing she'd ever wanted from me—to please her Master as a slave.
"Th-that's.."
It was true I hadn't been giving her the affection she liked lately. There'd been the whole thing with Sepheer. And Mari was always stuck to my side, so there hadn't been much chance. Besides, I wasn't the type who could boldly show affection in front of others... And the comfort I'd meant to give her, I'd ended up giving to Sepheer instead. The truth was, I hadn't done a single thing for Athena this whole time.
As I hesitated, unable to speak properly, Athena let out a deep sigh. She stared at me with cold eyes for a long while, then muttered quietly.
"Haa.. Maybe I should just look for another slave.."
Thud—
My heart sank straight to the bottom in an instant.
"....Huh?"
Her voice had been so soft it almost shouldn't have been audible. I wanted to believe I'd misheard. But her words rang far too clearly in my ears.
W-what did Athena just say..?
Another slave.. Did that mean she was going to throw me away..?
......
Athena.. was going to.. abandon me..?
My breathing grew ragged, and my body began to tremble. Something I'd never once considered. The thought of being abandoned by her turned my mind pure white, freezing my thoughts solid.
"Uh... uhh.."
I couldn't be without Athena. She was the only one who accepted and looked after someone as inadequate and useless as me. I never wanted to leave her side. A place without Athena was nothing but hell. I didn't even want to imagine what would become of me if she abandoned me.
I clung to Athena desperately and begged her.
"No... I don't want another slave.."
Please don't throw me away.
"I-I'm already... here..."
You said you'd love me forever. You said you'd take care of me. Panic made my voice hard to force out, but I tried my hardest to convey how desperately I meant it. Even through my pleas, though, Athena only looked at me with that same unchanging gaze.
"...Lately I don't even know why I keep you around."
"A-Athena.."
"The way you keep talking back to me. The way you defy what I say. I really don't like it."
"I-I.."
"Tell me, Hera. What have you done lately that was actually befitting of a slave?"
Every single word of hers drove into my heart like cold thorns. Tears began to well in my eyes, and my hands shook as if in an earthquake.
"If you don't want to be a slave, just say so. I'll find someone el—"
No. Don't say it. I don't want to hear it.
"—se—"
Before Athena could finish speaking, I threw myself into her arms.
Chuu—chuuup
I sealed her mouth with a rough kiss so she couldn't say another word. Athena tried to push me away in surprise for a moment, but I only held her tighter so she couldn't.
Chuup—chup—
I tugged at her lips with mine, and sucked on her tongue whenever it slipped out. Athena's lips began to part little by little. Without hesitation, I pushed my tongue inside.
"Hyaap.. chuu... heup..."
I moved my tongue urgently to catch hers, and our tongues tangled fiercely in each other's mouths.
Churp—churrp—
The sound of lips being sucked soon turned into the wet sounds of saliva meeting. Normally I would have stopped around now, but I was craving more of the saliva flowing into my mouth from hers. For a long while, the only sound in Athena's bedroom was the mixing of our saliva.
When my breathing grew so ragged I could no longer get air, I pulled my face away from her mouth. A sticky, translucent string stretched between us as if connecting us.
"Hyaak... hyaeuk..."
My mouth, now free, gasped desperately for oxygen. Athena in front of me seemed to have been holding her breath quite a while too. Her face was flushed red as she let out slightly excited breaths.
"Huu... Hera. What is this supposed to mean?"
Athena raised one eyebrow as she asked me. I answered her without a moment's hesitation.
"I-I'll do better... so please.. don't say you'll look for someone else..."
"....."
"It might not be the same for you.. b-but for me, you're the only one.."
"....Hmm."
When I looked at Athena with trembling eyes, her lips twitched as if she were holding back a laugh. After gazing at me like that for a moment, Athena finally let out a soft snicker and pulled me into a hug.
"Then Hera. From now on, you're going to make me happy, right?"
Only when I heard her say she wouldn't abandon me did my heart slowly begin to settle again.
"Y-yeah.. W-what do you want? I'll do anything....!"
"Really? Then.."
Athena got up from the bed and walked somewhere in the room.
"Athena..?"
"I'll be watching to see just how diligently our Hera serves me."
When she came back, she held an expensive-looking bottle of wine in her hand. She pulled the cork out with her fingers.
"A-Athena?!"
And poured the entire bottle of wine all over her own body. Her white nightgown was instantly dyed red and clung tightly to her skin.
"Oh dear. I'm all wet."
With a smirk, she stripped off her nightgown, revealing her seductive body left in nothing but underwear. Wine droplets were scattered all over her. Athena flopped down on the bed with her thoroughly soaked body and looked at me.
"Well then, my slave. You ought to clean your Master's body, shouldn't you?"
She gazed at me with a lustful smile. Then she pointed at her own body as she continued.
"Lick up every last drop. Don't leave a single one."