Chapter 56
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Separation Anxiety
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Is she developing separation anxiety towards me now?
"......Ugh, ueee. Ahhhh."
Meaningless sounds that couldn't quite form words leaked from her mouth, and her hazy consciousness refused to sharpen.
The sticky sensation, like swimming through tar, that she felt every time she woke from fainting.
To awaken from the viscous darkness of her mind, she had to thrash endlessly until her senses returned.
"Ugh, uuu. How did I lose consciousness this time......?"
Having already experienced her third fainting orgasm, May Luina was somewhat accustomed to the sensation of her awareness returning while her mind lingered in that state.
She knew the fastest way to clear this muddled mind was to replay the events right before she passed out, so she forcibly churned her sluggish brain—still not fully awake—and recalled what had happened just prior.
"......Uhng♥"
As she kept pushing her foggy mind, the first thing that surfaced was Stay's voice.
"Stay said from now on, he'll call me just by my name......"
To be precise, it was Stay's voice speaking casually to her, using only her first name.
Stay, who had always cared for May Luina in every moment with his thoughtful voice and gentle touches.
But May Luina had felt dissatisfied with Stay's consideration and kindness.
She thought there was a line drawn only for her, unlike with Dain Adamas, who spoke casually without reservation, or Mir Ryuin, who spanked her butt without mercy.
The other two did things to her that anyone could see were intimate, but all she got was her breasts fondled or her nipples tweaked.
This was clear discrimination, so May Luina disliked the gentleness, kindness, and consideration Stay showed her.
"Without a word, he just suddenly slapped my breasts......"
But that gentleness, which felt like it was drawing a line, vanished completely the moment Stay used a treatment meant only for her. That was when she first faced a version of him that didn't hold back.
"He spoke to me so casually...... Ung♥"
For the Saintess May Luina, others' gentleness, kindness, and consideration were a given. The old her would have taken offense at anyone who dared not prioritize her.
But Stay's line-drawing disguised as consideration had completely upended her worldview. Confronting him calling her just by her name without honorifics or gentleness, she felt a shock like lightning racing through her body.
"He called me 'May,' like you would a really close friend, without even my family name......♥"
May Luina had only ever allowed others to address her with her full name, including the family name. So when mere F-rank Stay dared to call her name so casually, she should have been furious.
Even Dain Adamas and Mir Ryuin, who were on her level, used casual speech but always her full name. How dare Stay be so rude.
Her mind told her to reassert discipline, so she opened her mouth to scold him.
"Normally, I should have gotten mad right away...... Ugh, but I just can't get angry at all."
Unlike her head, her heart rejoiced at Stay's treatment without consideration, instantly quashing any anger.
"And then......♥ Ha-ut♥ He treated me with such care......♥ A special treatment just for me♥ That even Dain Adamas and Mir Ryuin couldn't receive......♥"
By the time she reached this point in her recollection, May Luina's mind was almost fully clear.
But not completely awake yet. Her still-drowsy brain, following her own command, vividly replayed what happened during that exclusive treatment.
"He called me a 'perverted bitch' while looking at me......♥ And he didn't stop there, calling me a 'perverted masochist pussy bitch'......♥ This is too much, even thinking back on it♥ I did beg him not to stop the dirty talk, but still, there's a line for everything!"
If May Luina had been fully awake, her mental defenses from shame would have filtered out some of the dirty things Stay said.
But her mind hadn't fully escaped the aftershocks of the fainting orgasm, so she vividly recalled every word Stay had said to her—and with that, she fully awoke.
Now completely roused from the fainting orgasm's lingering haze, the first thing May Luina resolved to do was one thing.
"I have to get an apology! Even if I allowed dirty talk, dirty acts, casual speech, and just my first name! There's still a limit to what people can take! I'm going to hear it from Stay's own mouth: 'This time, I crossed the line a bit!'"
She would make Stay apologize for what happened right before her fainting orgasm.
In truth, her real goal was, after getting the apology: "If you commit a wrong and think a sorry ends it, then why do we have police and laws? Until you prove your sincerity and guilt towards me, that apology won't be easy." Then, receive his "full-body tight embrace atonement," with his lips brushing her ear as he whispered her name softly.
"Hugged tight by Stay......♥ 'May'♥ Whispered so tenderly......♥ Hehe♥"
The first time in her life being called by just her first name was far too sweet for May Luina, who had survived the scheming Vatican by putting up walls against others.
She never imagined it would feel this good, doubling the impact. So she grinned slyly, waiting only for the right moment to extract his apology from Stay.
"......"
But after 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes passed with not even a sound, the smile faded from May Luina's lips.
"......Huh? S-Stay? W-What's going on? W-Where did you go......?"
Her voice, half-melted in happy fantasy just moments ago, froze and trembled.
Even during the 3 days alone, she'd heard Stay's voice through the speaker, so she'd momentarily forgotten—but now solitude and despair crept back in to surround her mind.
"Why aren't you here? W-Where did you go? S-Stay? Stay!"
Just 3 minutes—5 if including the time to wake from the orgasm's afterglow—without hearing Stay's voice, but May Luina felt more urgent than ever.
This was the first time he'd vanished without a word. He'd always said goodbye properly, promising to see her at the next treatment. His sudden disappearance felt so alien and frightening.
"Ugh, hngguk. S-Stayyy...... Stayyyy......"
Saintess, S-rank Awakener, #3 on the World Hero Ranking......
She had countless other titles praising her renown, but the one sobbing here just because she hadn't heard Stay's voice for a mere 5 minutes was simply May Luina.
May Luina the vegetable patient, neither saintess nor anything else, who could do nothing on her own.
Being with Stay—or at least hearing his voice—let her forget the helplessness, loneliness, and fear of despair, reducing her to an ordinary human May Luina.
"Hueeeeng...... W-Where did you goooo...... Don't leave me alooone...... I'm looonely. I hngguk, sniffl. Hwiiing. I haaate being looonely."
The irrefutable terror of the one person she could connect with now vanishing without warning made May Luina cry like a child who'd lost her parents.
"Right now, more than ever. Hwiiing. I caaan't be without you, S-Stay......"
Wuuung-
The familiar, always-welcomed sensation of souls connecting.
May Luina, who had been sobbing so pitifully moments ago, stopped crying at the reassuring connection and quietly spoke into the darkness.
"Sniff. Stay?"
Just 1 second waiting for a response to her call into the void.
That 1 second felt longer to May Luina than any she'd ever experienced, and anxiety gripped her—what if there's no reply again?—as she swallowed dryly and trembled.
"What? May Luina, were you crying just now? Why are you crying? I just went to the bathroom, got thirsty, drank some water—it's been like 5 minutes tops? Did you have a nightmare or something?"
His voice—the one she'd longed for during those 5 despairing minutes without him—reached her ear, and May Luina forgot her firm, sly plan for an apology, replying in the brightest voice imaginable.
"I don't like being called 'May Luina' by you, Stay! Call me May!"
It wasn't even remotely an answer to his question, leaving Stay momentarily flustered, but the aching longing in her voice let him grasp one fact.
Is she developing separation anxiety towards me now?