A Cat's Curious Query
The brief farce finally winding down, Vina reverted once more to her cat form. She turned her head back one last time and stared straight at Isaac.
[Before I go, can I ask you just one thing?]
“…You seem to have quite a few questions on your mind.”
How many times had he heard that phrase in this conversation? If put kindly, she came off as a curious woman; honestly, it felt shameless.
But since they’d formed a working partnership, there was no reason to refuse her.
Isaac nodded in agreement.
At that gesture, Vina paused for a moment.
[You know, it’s just that…]
What nonsense was she trying to say with all that hesitation?
Isaac’s brows furrowed slightly.
“You’ve already said everything there is to say, so what is this last question you’re hesitating over?”
[Uh… um.]
“Ask quickly. I’ll answer any ordinary question to the best of my ability.”
With a frustrated expression, he urged her on, and only then did she seem to decide.
Vina finally bit her lip, then spoke toward him.
[……You, you know…]
“Why do you say that?”
[Is it only because of my sister that you’re aroused?]
“…Haa.”
The late-blooming question filled him with irritation as he looked down at Vina.
She mumbled for a long time before finally saying something of this sort. Didn’t she ever get tired of it?
It seemed her interest lay heavily in things that were purely sexual.
He squatted down in place and met her eyes. Just as he was about to give her a light tap on the forehead with a paw—
[Big brother…… Don’t you think that’s not what you want?]
“……?”
[I hope so. Really.]
She uttered a string of incomprehensible nonsense, then whirled around and slipped out of the ruined building, vanishing beyond the bushes.
Isaac watched her tail disappear with a dazed expression…
“What kind of nonsense is that…?”
He muttered in genuine disbelief. Why had she suddenly brought up ‘big brother’?
His siblings had always been singles. His younger sister, Charlotte Havertz, was two years younger.
He blinked several times before standing up from his squat.
A question mark popped into his head for a moment, but hearing a four-dimensional girl say such things wasn’t out of the ordinary.
He quickly dismissed the thought.
He turned around and spoke.
“Caine, Elena.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Let’s head back. It has consumed more time than I expected.”
“I’ll prepare immediately.”
Caine bowed his head in perfect alignment and turned. The ‘preparation’ at that moment meant tidying up the corpses inside the ruined building as best he could.
Isaac watched him work for a short while before turning away.
The young woman in her late teens, wearing a gray robe and idly playing with her fluffy red hair.
Like him, Elena had been staring at Caine blankly, but soon noticed Isaac’s gaze and quickly brightened her expression.
Then she approached with light steps, smiling brightly before him.
“Hehe, Master. Is there something you wanted to say to Elena? Why are you looking at me with such hot eyes, you little…?”
“….”
She was part of the half that he trusted most with his abilities, alongside Caine. A talented mage who had already reached the very edge of the 6th circle at such a young age—at least among those he knew, one of the most outstanding talents.
She had served as a maid in the Havertz family mansion, receiving criticism, until she caught Isaac’s eye and was recruited as his subordinate four years ago.
If Douglas Havertz hadn’t been a man who took no interest in maids, Elena would not be standing beside him now.
That was why he had raised her as a disciple to some extent, yet she still managed to act this bold.
“Elena.”
“Yes! Master.”
Had her head grown too? She had grown increasingly cheeky over time and begun playfully testing his limits.
Of course, the attitude itself was not unpleasant. In fact, he welcomed it.
But that was different from viewing her as a disciple and disciplining her for any wrongdoing.
“Just now, when Vina was talking freely about my relationship with Lottie…”
“Eh… yes?”
“I saw you trying hard to suppress a smile.”
“Eh, um…”
Elena clamped her mouth shut. When her eyes rolled, he placed a hand on her shoulder and continued.
“…Was it entertaining? You thought I was a pervert who only gets aroused by my little sister.”
“Ah, nooo, not at all, Master.”
The laughter vanished instantly from Elena’s face. If she had a tail, it would have been spinning like a propeller… and her bright expression darkened…
“Elena.”
Instead, Isaac called her name with a smile on his face.
“Ye-yes, Master. N-not, Master. Heehee…”
Despite her forced cheerful reply, her face had already gone pale.
She swallowed hard enough that her throat bulged.
Isaac said quietly, “Turn to the wall, hands.”
“Hik…”
Even as she flinched, Elena’s cheeks flushed faintly. She hesitated for only a moment…
“…I, I’ll do it! I mean, I have to, right?!”
As he glared at her silently, she scurried over, one foot dragging.
She turned slightly embarrassed, then walked to the nearby wall and stretched both arms to rest at chest height.
With one hand she lifted her skirt slightly, exposing her thighs and buttocks.
He summoned a water whip with familiar mana.
Elena glanced at it sideways and let out a slightly heated breath.
Slap!
The sharp sound of punishment soon followed, mingled with Elena’s cry.
Her red cheeks were bright red in an instant, and it hurt Isaac’s heart too, but there was no helping it. The hierarchy between mage and priest had always been clear.
Disciplining a disciple was… something that happened quite often in the Magic Tower.
“I, I was joking…… not mocking you, Master. Hic!?”
“Two more, Elena.”
It wasn’t that exaggerated. After five years of enduring this magic society, he had become somewhat desensitized; he didn’t realize his sensibilities had dulled as he raised the whip again.
Slap!
“Haa, uuuugh…!”
The sounds inside the ruined building were two.
The first was the woman’s elegant moan.
And the second was…
“…Haa.”
While his companion and lord played childish games, the lone man tidying up corpses let out a desolate sigh.
*****
Creak…
Entering the bedroom as quietly as possible, Isaac scanned the surroundings and checked the bed, pressing his forehead.
‘Even with a separate room.’
Charlotte, dressed in cute pajamas, was clutching his pillow as she slept.
If he thought of the passionate, sensual scenes of that hot night, it didn’t match at all with how adorable she looked now.
Children who sleep look like angels, don’t they?
It was the same here—the feeling of something that isn’t angelic when awake.
Isaac smiled faintly at the thought that suddenly occurred to him and approached the bedside.
“….”
“Uuun…”
A young girl with light blue hair, breathing softly and muttering in her sleep.
How could she be so unbearably pretty? Isaac, who had only recently come to see his sister as a woman, felt his old feelings stirring once more.
He gently stroked the back of Charlotte’s head with his fingertips.
“Hm… uu?”
It seemed he hadn’t realized his touch would wake her. Charlotte blinked her eyes open, and Isaac flinched.
“Sorry, Lottie. Did I wake you?”
“Brother…?”
“Go back to sleep, okay?”
Isaac tried to put her back to bed, but it was no use.
The moment he saw his face, Charlotte sat up.
“…You said you’d come back early, you know. Haaam. I clearly said that. What time is it now?”
“Sorry, there were some matters that delayed me.”
“Really…… if a commoner is this strong, how strong must you be to take so long?”
“Eh, right?”
At Charlotte’s words, Isaac paused for a split second. The gap was small, but he had been slow to recall the excuse he had prepared before leaving the duchy.
“…Wait a moment.”
Charlotte caught the subtle hesitation instantly. Her eyes, which had lost their spark in an instant, stared at her big brother.
“…Our brother-in-law. You said there were some noisy brats causing trouble in the northern area, right?”
“….”
Isaac couldn’t make a sound, sweat trickling down his back. And Charlotte’s expression turned unsettlingly cold.
“Tell me honestly, Isaac Havertz.”
“….”
“You…… went to see another woman?”