Chapter 14
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Kaen von Dandelrion (4)
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I couldn't figure out her intentions at all.
Even retracing everything step by step from the very beginning once more, the result was the same.
You messed up first, so I need to toy with your body however I please to feel satisfied.
I could understand that much.
The 'introduction' of the story structure passed easily.
But.
"So, you're saying you want me to pet your head?"
That was where the problem started.
"Yeah. Just... pet it with your hand."
"......"
The question Why? welled up in my throat.
Of course, I wasn't entirely free of lewd thoughts,
but normally, shouldn't this flow into experimenting with my body however she wanted?
For example, testing how much pain a person could endure,
or even hitting me with those tiny fists while yelling about what I did last night.
But her request was just to pet her head, of all things.
There had to be some hidden motive.
I had to find it.
To escape this unscathed.
"Is it really okay if I pet you?"
"Yeah."
"Just gently petting it is fine, right?"
"Do whatever. You said you were busy."
"Your hair might get a little messy. That's okay?"
"Pervert. Want me to just beat you until I'm satisfied?"
After a few questions, the back of Kaen's head right in front of me bumped lightly against my collarbone. Thump, thump.
Thanks to her loosely tied ponytail, it felt like she was lightly tapping me with her fist.
No helping it.
I still hadn't figured out what meaning there was in petting Kaen, but for now, caution was my only option.
Be careful.
Don't get excited. Slowly.
"Then... I'll do it."
"...Okay."
After steeling myself, I slowly moved my hand.
The target was Kaen's head.
In this position, petting it while facing her enough to tousle it was impossible.
Instead, I gently placed my hand on Kaen's head.
...It felt like petting a pet I'd taken into my arms.
I tried to push that image out of my mind and cautiously moved my hand back and forth.
"......"
Three seconds in.
Three thoughts suddenly spun through my head.
It's quiet.
It's soft.
And it's weird.
The fact that the usually noisy Kaen was silently letting herself be petted in my arms made me think it was quiet.
Her smooth hair texture, managed diligently unlike her lively image, made me think it was soft.
Those two combined to make me think it was somehow weird.
This wasn't the Kaen I knew.
At the very least, I expected something like, You should feel honored to pet my head.
But the Kaen pressing tightly against me right now was far too quiet.
I debated speaking up first but decided against it.
There must be a reason for the silence.
At least it was fortunate that this approach wasn't wrong.
If it wasn't what she wanted, she'd have yelled at me to stop by now.
I still wondered why she'd asked for this, but if I just spent time like this, I could probably escape safely.
—Swish
Slowly.
Carefully, so my hand wouldn't touch her ears.
I moved my hand gently along her hair, watching Kaen's reactions.
Her bangs were easy since they weren't tied, but her ponytail at the back made my fingers catch occasionally.
A few strands stretched out like cheese, but Kaen remained silent.
Apparently, this much was just barely okay.
Once I got the hang of it, those minor mistakes would disappear with time.
—Swish, swish
In the silent bedroom,
only the quiet sound of my hand meeting Kaen's soft hair echoed.
Petting itself wasn't a big deal, but focusing all my nerves to avoid mistakes was more tiring than expected.
It felt like it was eating away at my remaining mental strength.
If this kept up, weird thoughts might surge like last night.
That dazed sensation where reason snaps.
If that happened again now, it definitely wouldn't end with just a blowjob.
Be careful.
"Hoo..."
How much time had passed?
About three minutes?
The wall clock showed only 30 seconds had gone by.
—Thump
"Kyaa...?"
I'd made a small mistake after all.
The soft, fluffy sensation at my fingertips.
My finger had poked Kaen's pitch-black wolf ear.
"S-Sorry."
I immediately pulled my hand from her head and apologized.
For beastkin, ears and tails were part of their identity and among their most sensitive body parts.
Tails often dulled in sensitivity from constant bumps in childhood, but
ears were different.
Extremely sensitive.
Comparing to other parts,
right after the genitals.
With some exaggeration, it was like touching Kaen's nipples.
"...It's fine. Don't worry about it."
Fortunately, Kaen generously let it slide by twitching her ear a few times where my hand had touched.
Since she'd asked me to pet her first, she seemed willing to overlook a bit of clumsiness.
I inwardly sighed in relief.
"Anyway, let's move on to the next."
"Next?"
"Now that you know what it feels like to be petted."
I barely swallowed the words, Have your parents never petted you?
Narrowly avoiding blurting out nonsense unintentionally, I asked something else instead.
"Um, Kaen-nim."
"Yeah?"
"Sorry for asking so much, but can I ask one last thing?"
"Let me hear it first."
"...What exactly am I doing right now?"
It was exactly that.
She said she'd use my body however she wanted, then suddenly slipped between my legs and asked for a head pat.
Now that she knew what being petted felt like, on to the next?
What exactly was I doing for Kaen right now?
Not even a single word that perfectly fit came to mind.
The closest might be 'sexual service'...
But that felt too childish for the label.
"It's nothing much."
Kaen glanced back slightly as she continued.
The fatigue in her eyes had mostly vanished by now.
If anything,
a small spark glimmered there.
"Curiosity satisfied."
"Curiosity...?"
"Yeah. Back north, in Altiorre, I never got this close to a guy."
If that was true, didn't that mean I was the first guy to get a blowjob from Kaen?
A strange sense of conquest welled up, but I tucked it away in a corner of my heart for now.
"You read those erotic novels, but in romance novels, there's scenes where lovers cuddle like this, right? N-Not that we're lovers."
"R-Right... Probably. Never read one."
"Petting each other... Hugging tight... Stuff like that."
"......"
"The novels say it feels good. I got curious how good."
"...Ah."
"Th-That's it. No other meaning."
Kaen trailed off and turned her head away slightly.
Her ash-gray tail squeezed my waist as if to say no funny ideas.
Her dark wolf ears flapped as if shaking off the earlier touch.
Seeing her more cat-like than wolf-like, I stomped down the miscellaneous thoughts filling my head.
The reason Kaen had toyed with me before.
The reason she overlooked finding a vulgar erotic novel aimed at nobles.
The reason she insisted I was the erotic novel author even after I explained I couldn't be.
The reason she broke into my room late at night and knelt on her own.
The reason she ended it with just slamming me upside down on the bed even when I grabbed her head in excitement and forced my dick in.
And.
The reason she used last night's mistake as an excuse to ask for 'lover'-like behavior today.
"Next..."
"......"
"Wanna try hugging... once?"
I swallowed hard.
Forcing my tongue to the floor of my mouth to stop more saliva.
Still, swallowing the leaking saliva, I slowly bent my waist toward Kaen.
This much was permitted, surely.
A right angle at most, leaning forward a bit was fine.
So even if all this was just my misunderstanding,
this was barely safe.
"Uh...?"
Sticking even closer to Kaen's butt, I cautiously wrapped both arms around her stomach.
Tight enough that just adding force would hug her properly.
Close enough that crossing the line would let me grope her body.
Those actions could wait until I was sure.
"...Hic? Uh? W-Wait, Luke?"
"What's wrong?"
"I-It’s too close..."
My name after so long.
Normally, I might’ve smirked that she didn’t call me plebeian or pervert, but now I didn’t care.
Closer.
So close that the tips of my nose itched from Kaen’s hair sticking out from my touch, I enunciated each word clearly.
"You said you were curious. About hugging."
"Hic..."
Still just clothes touching, but I could clearly feel Kaen’s body twitch.
With so many points of contact, it was natural.
Even at my groin, starting to throb beyond my control.
Even at Kaen’s softly embraced stomach.
Even Kaen’s hair brushing my nose twitched, so only an idiot wouldn’t notice.
"Gonna... do it? Like this?"
"27 minutes."
"What?"
"27 minutes left."
It wasn’t that important.
The 30 minutes was just a rough estimate to escape Kaen earlier.
I could stretch it to an hour or two if needed.
But emphasizing time was a bit dirty.
To not give Kaen time to think.
Meaning, say what you want in this short time.
Hoping for the answer I desired from her lips.
Didn’t I already consider one possibility?
Maybe the erotic novel author wants to be forced like in the novel and is pretending otherwise.
For sluggish witches, maybe, but imagining swordswoman Kaen glued to a desk scribbling was hard even in fantasy.
It’s fine. Just don’t repeat yesterday’s mistake.
One by one.
Gather evidence and uncover the culprit.
Then turn her into the novel’s heroine.
Using her stillness in my arms as proof, I hugged Kaen’s body a bit tighter.
"Wait, kyaa..."
The stiff uniform fabric rumpled lightly in my arms.
Just holding with minimal force, that was the limit.
But with the distance between us much closer now, our body heat began rising.
On this clear spring day warm enough to feel chilly at times, it even felt a bit hot.
"......"
No proper reply, but Kaen didn’t resist and let her body go limp.
Slowly.
I added more strength to the arms hugging her.
The uniform rumpled, pressing firmly against the skin beneath.
Unlike my body firm with muscle everywhere, hers was soft enough to sink into unwittingly.
So this is a woman’s body.
The only women I’d hugged properly were my mom or neighborhood girls as a kid to soothe them,
so I gradually sank into that soft sensation.
My hands, only on her stomach, stroked her sides.
Pretending to adjust position, I ran my hands over her skin through her clothes once more.
Yet Kaen made no sound.
Not even a small breath.
The only thing faintly caught by my ears was the tiny gulp of her swallowing.
Suspicion lingered, unproven.
No evidence confirming Kaen as the erotic author.
No evidence proving she couldn’t be.
Nothing emerged.
In that state, three minutes slowly passed.
24 minutes left.
"Lu... P-Pervert."
Kaen finally spoke after the minute hand ticked three times.
"Yes, Kaen-nim."
"......Wait... Just separate a bit."
Even as she said it, Kaen showed no movement.
The usual her would’ve pushed my arms away and escaped my embrace herself.
"Sticking like this... it’s hot..."
I nodded and released Kaen from my arms.
Her tail unwound from my waist, and she immediately got up, heading to the desk in the corner.
There was a transparent glass half-filled with water.
"Puhah..."
"......"
This won’t do.
Suspecting Kaen as the author made every action suspicious, filling my head with bad thoughts.
Better to calm down a bit.
Always prepare for the worst case.
For instance, maybe Kaen really just sat me as a boyfriend stand-in to satisfy pure curiosity.
Composure. Composure.
I rubbed my face with both hands, then bowed my head and carefully flapped the collar of my shirt.
The cool breeze from below cleared my head a bit.
Right. It’s been hours since I decided not to overthink.
If I wait quietly, the writer will slip up first.
As I kept my head down, a pitch-black shadow approached.
"...?"
Where my hand should’ve been, a fluttering black shadow.
Lifting my head, I instantly knew why it was shaped that way.
"Kaen-nim?"
"I’m gonna sit... move your hand......"
Her uniform.
The navy uniform that always looked stuffy was in Kaen’s hand, who wore only a thin shirt.
She’s got more chest than I thought.
That impression shredded with the next thought.
Her black underwear faintly visible through sweat-damp fabric.
Did she really not know the situation and approach me like this?
Against my wish for rational judgment, blood kept rushing below.
"N-Now it’s cooler..."
Kaen tossed her uniform top carelessly into the bed corner.
Then settled right between my legs again, wrapping her tail around me once more.
If she was sweaty, there should be a bad smell.
Why was her scent so sweetly alluring?
It felt like a patience test; my breath quickened.
"......Not gonna do it?"
A whispering voice.
I exhaled a trembling sigh toward Kaen’s nape, then hugged her body once more.
First impression: moist.
Second: softer skin than imagined.
Third:
Only 23 minutes left.