A Night with the Dancer (1)
The dancers' performance had just come to an end. The woman stepped down from the stage and scanned her surroundings. Far off, she caught sight of Rian's retreating back and hurried after him.
Once he reached the barn that had come to feel like home, Rian threw himself down at once. He was drunk, and he meant to simply drift off as he was.
The instant he closed his eyes, an unfamiliar woman's voice reached him.
"Going to sleep already?"
Rian opened his eyes again and looked toward the entrance. The barn was dark, but the moonlight was bright enough that he knew her at once. The dancer he had seen earlier was looking down at him with a smile. She was young and pretty—the kind of woman who would turn heads anywhere she went.
Rian let out a small sigh and rolled onto his side. He pillowed his head on his arm, shut his eyes, and spoke without a trace of interest.
"I'm tired. Trying to sleep."
"Didn't you notice me watching you?"
When Rian gave no answer, the woman stepped inside the barn, sat flush against his back, and slowly stroked his arm.
"I saw you from a distance, and your body looked rather fine. I wanted to touch it."
With her so close, a sweet fragrance drifted to the tip of his nose—a pleasant scent he found himself wanting to keep breathing in. Unbidden, Audria came to mind.
The Princess had a lovely scent about her too.
A flash of irritation rose in him at this woman trying to shove her way into the place in his heart reserved for Audria.
"Take your hand off."
"Cold, aren't you."
She laughed.
"I'm interested in you."
"I'm not."
"Look how firm this arm is. Impressive."
When she pressed her fingers into his arm, Rian shook off her touch as if it were a nuisance.
"I'm a beggar. Don't have a single coin, so go find someone else."
"Don't worry about the fee. The others already paid. You and I just need to enjoy ourselves, that's all."
Rian sat up with a jolt.
"Who?"
"The people of this village."
"How much did they give you?"
"A chicken and a few bunches of grapes."
"What?"
He was on the verge of asking That's all? when the barn entrance was suddenly blocked by a great wooden board, and darkness dropped over the interior. It was so black he could no longer tell one thing from another. Rian lurched to his feet in alarm.
Giggles drifted in from outside.
"Rian! It's a present! Have fun with that woman!"
Then came the bang of nails being driven home. Rian rushed to the entrance and shoved at the door, but it did not budge. Small wonder—five sturdy men were bracing it with their bodies so it would not give.
"Rian's strong, so hang on for dear life! We're almost done nailing it—just hold a little longer!"
Rian shouted from inside.
"Open this door before I smash it! I'll really break it down!"
In the darkness where nothing could be seen, the woman caught hold of Rian's arm.
"Do you want to throw cold water on the festival?"
She tugged at his arm and went on.
"If a commotion breaks out, people will be in a foul mood. Everyone's out there enjoying the festival. Don't ruin their fun."
Rian hesitated. Thinking it over, her argument was reasonably sound. If the barn came apart, people would be startled, and the festive atmosphere would go cold with it. On top of that, he might be taken for a drunk picking a fight. He had sat beside the village chief and put away that much wine—nobody would believe him if he insisted he wasn't drunk.
"Damn it."
Rian had no choice but to give up. He walked farther in and dropped onto the straw as he was.
"I'm not doing anything, so you go to sleep too."
"My name is Middlelen."
"I didn't ask."
"Why are you treating me so coldly?"
She came up beside him and lay down parallel to him. For a moment she was still. Then, slyly, she reached toward Rian's chest.
Smack.
Rian struck the back of her hand.
"Don't touch me."
"Are you embarrassed?"
He said nothing.
"Not going to answer?"
"Rian?"
"If you don't answer, I'll tease you by calling you a mutt. Is that all right with you?"
"I'm serious."
"I'm going to call you a mutt from now on. Really."
Strangely, he stayed quiet. He ought to have bristled, yet there was no reaction at all.
"...Are you asleep?"
"Hrrnk... snooore..."
A snore rose out of nowhere. The woman was so incredulous she hardly knew what to do with herself.
"Good heavens. He's actually sleeping?"
She reached out and felt over Rian's face. He really did have his eyes closed. He was asleep. Even when she patted his cheek, he showed no sign of waking.
"What kind of man is this?"
A man who treated her this shabbily in bed was a first. Her pride stung, and a hollow little laugh slipped out.
"This one's interesting."
She rose and walked toward the door. Just then the gap beneath it brightened, and something rolled in through the narrow crack. A woman's voice came from outside.
"Sis, did you get it?"
"Yes. Thanks."
"Have a good night."
"You too."
It was an incense candle, the wick already lit. The woman picked it up and breathed in the scent for a moment.
"Ah...!"
The fragrance alone set her heart pounding, and lust surged up hard. Middlelen looked down at the sleeping Rian with a flushed, eager expression.
"Don't be shy. Let's enjoy ourselves together."
She set the incense in a corner and began to work Rian's trousers off.
Once Rian fell asleep, he ordinarily did not wake for anything. He was the sort who slept so deeply he would not notice if someone carried him off. Today, however, was different.
In his dream he had been reunited with Audria, and, astonishingly, he had shared a joyful union with her. On the very brink of climax, he woke. Dreams, ridiculously, had a habit of cutting off at the most important moment—just when accumulated desire was about to be released, as if to tease him. The enormous regret of not having spent himself inside Audria's body had, perhaps, tugged at his body's rhythm and dragged him awake.
"Nnh..."
His eyes opened a crack, but his mind was still hazy.
"...Are you awake?"
"Yeah..."
"...Good."
A woman's voice. The tone was familiar, but Rian could not tell whose it was.
"Nnngh..."
"...It's magnificent. So beautifully formed."
He could not quite grasp what she was saying. Everything was hazy. Just hazy. And through it all, somewhere, there was a continuous sucking sensation, and it felt extraordinarily good.
"Ugh..."
"What was that sound just now?"
The woman chuckled. A warm, soft sensation spread through Rian's whole body, filling him with a languid satisfaction, and he slowly lifted his head. He looked down at his lower half.
Through the blur, something that looked like a person's head was sliding down and coming back up, pumping in a rapid rhythm. Pleasure surged in time with the motion. The dream from a moment ago rose in his mind. Was Audria going down on him again? Then was this still a dream?
"Princess...?"
In that instant his mind snapped fully awake, and his vision sharpened.
"Hah!"
Rian's eyes flew wide.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Middlelen licked her way up the rigidly standing shaft and grinned.
"I'm working."
He had no idea when she had done it, but she was not wearing a stitch. She sucked him with her ample breasts swaying, and honestly it felt good—yet irritation welled up alongside it. That thought lasted only a moment. Rian furrowed his brow and caught a strange smell.
Sniff. Sniff.
"What's this smell?"
He looked around. A single candle was lighting the dark interior, and an unidentifiable smoke hung thick in the air.
"What did you do?"
"Don't tense up. I lit an incense candle mixed with an aphrodisiac."
"Aphrodisiac?"
"Yes. An aphrodisiac."
Middlelen rubbed her breasts against Rian's chest as she climbed up him, then kissed him outright.
"Feels good, doesn't it?"
Her voice sounded especially seductive. His lips were sucked, then his tongue, and Rian took it blankly, unable to summon any will to resist. He had unwittingly breathed in the smoke, and lust had already seeped all the way into the depths of his chest. Looking at Middlelen's naked body, the only thoughts that rose were a dazed rapture and the urge to conquer her.
Ugh. I keep having filthy thoughts.
Rian had never once harbored lust toward Audria—yet the aphrodisiac was making him see her as a sexual object, and commanding him to take Middlelen, here in front of him, in her place. Middlelen looked as if she were Audria.
I can't touch the Princess, so this woman instead...?
Rian shook his head hard.
No. Even thinking of the Princess while looking at another woman's body is desecrating her.
But the urge to drive himself wildly into Middlelen's body surged without end.
No. Don't.
He suffered, and yet a secret thrill ran through him.
Kh—but something I can't refuse keeps—
Every time he shut his eyes and opened them, Middlelen's face became Audria's, then Middlelen's again, scrambling his mind. And then, all at once, an unknown power surged from Rian's body and killed the aphrodisiac's effect in a single stroke. The hallucination cleared, and Middlelen's face began to appear as it truly was. The desire that had been boiling beyond all control dropped to a level he could manage.
Huh?
Rian blinked. Even as he came to his senses, Middlelen's tongue was still stirring through his mouth like a snake.
The feeling of wanting to violate the Princess is gone. Did it get better...?
The aphrodisiac's power to conjure lewd hallucinations had been wiped from his body—but that did not mean his heated flesh had gone cold in an instant. The afterglow still lingered. Middlelen kept kissing him while she stroked his firmly erect member with her hand, and the sweet pleasure she gave him was fanning a hunger that had long lain dormant.
I ought to tell this woman to get off me, but my voice won't come out...
A beautiful woman was completely naked and caressing him. It somehow felt like a chance that would never come again. He had rejected Middlelen at first, but a night with a stranger was something he had never done; starting had been the hard part. Once it had begun, he was not the type to pull a straight face and walk away. If anything, he would only do it better. With both of them already bare, the desire to go all the way began to rise, slow and sure.
He had already kissed Middlelen. She had already taken him in her mouth. The excuse kept flickering that stopping here would change nothing. Besides, he currently had no lover. He was a free spirit, wasn't he?
And then, unbidden, Lacazette's words drifted back to him.
Should you summon me in a space where decadent, carnal energy still lingers, I shall be able to visit you at any time. A steamy room where a man and a woman have just finished the deed, or even outdoors, as it were.
He also found himself wanting to test whether, after smoothly finishing with the woman in front of him, he would be able to call Lacazette.
In the end, Rian decided.
If I keep agonizing over this, I'm the only one who loses.
He could not hold back any longer. He seized Middlelen's breasts.
"Aaahn..."
She let out a low moan.
"That hurts. Be gentle."
The coquettish sound of it tickled his ears. Rian wanted to hear more. He took both nipples in his hands and rolled and rubbed them this way and that.
Wow. That's incredible.