The Maid's Trap
Half-elf Lorcia was catching her ragged breath, trying to steady herself. That spell that boosted her healing power to the extreme by partially dissolving her body really did restore stamina at an absurd rate. It felt like I'd chugged five liters of some bizarre stamina tonic laced with Viagra.
"Haa... haa... I'm seriously exhausted. I'm going to sleep now..."
Tsk, tsk. Stamina is national power, yet she was this worn out. Her legs were visibly trembling; she clearly wasn't the athletic type.
"I told you to exercise. How can you be this weak?"
"This has nothing to do with exercise or stamina... And whose fault is it that I'm this exhausted anyway..."
"Yeah, yeah, it's all my fault."
"Aah... If you know that... then fine."
Lorcia rang the bell as she spoke. At the clear chime, a golden-haired maid entered and scooped her up in a princess carry. She was quite the beauty, no matter how you looked at her.
"How was it, my lady? My advice was perfect, wasn't it?"
"Be quiet... Yekaterina. And take me to my room right now..."
"Yes, I already sent the others away, expecting this. You've gone twenty-eight years without meeting a man, and you've been living with cobwebs down there, so I figured you'd be exhausted."
"You little... And what about you? You never met a man until you got married either! You're twenty-five years older than me, and you're still clinging to your husband like that!"
"Yes, my husband only knows me, and we have a cute son. At least I'm better off than a lady who fell for a man who sleeps with multiple women and has no children. If you're jealous, go have a child and get married yourself."
Wow, she really knew how to tear someone apart with words.
"You!"
"Besides, my lady, it only took me three years from the moment I fell for him until we slept together. How many years has it been since you started liking him alone? Eighteen years, right? Eighteen years... Now that I think about it, that bitch who's been throwing herself at my husband lately..."
I couldn't help but admire the rhythm and flow of Yekaterina's verbal lashing as she bickered with Lorcia while carrying her away. They must have been close after spending almost their entire lives together. Still, one thing bothered me—Yekaterina had glanced at my face right before leaving the room and smirked. What was that smile about?
"Isn't it funny, Camellia? Even when Lorcia talks so harshly, when we were kids she used to cry and throw a fit whenever her maid got sick..."
"Kuhk..."
Huh...? I could've sworn I just heard something weird.
"Ehehehehe..."
Camellia was laughing with her mouth hanging open. On top of that slurred, unhinged voice came flushed cheeks... and a faint but unmistakable scent of alcohol drifting through the air. I quickly checked the drink she'd been sipping. That bright, fruity aroma mixed with a heavy liquor smell was...
"This... damn it..."
It was the famous and notoriously strong liquor called "Tears of the Water Dragon." And it was over a hundred years old. Who the hell had left this deadly stuff lying around pretending it was a normal beverage... Ah, shit. It was that maid. That crazy woman had clearly set this trap for this exact situation. Now I understood why she'd smiled at me. This wasn't some grand scheme—it was the maid's trap, damn it. And how many bottles of this stuff, which could knock me out after just one, had she downed... Oh. Five bottles. Empty.
"Werneeeer~."
Camellia, completely wasted, grabbed onto my shoulders. Where did this ridiculous strength come from...? This grip rivaled even Orgre's. No matter how hard I tried to pull away, my arms wouldn't budge. Shit, was this what they called drunken fist?
"I've been thinking about it a lot... how I should treat you... Our father was such a bastard... I didn't know what face to show you... I really thought about it a lot..."
"No, sis, first could you just..."
"I found out... that everything that happened to your body... was all our father's doing. How am I supposed to make up for that...?"
My first thought was that I wasn't a fan of guilt by association, and that I'd really appreciate it if she let go.
"Sis, seriously, this first..."
"So I made up my mind. I'll do whatever you want... So... if this is something you're asking for too... I'll give it to you."
The smell of alcohol was overwhelming at this point... Though to be fair, Tears of the Water Dragon had an excellent fragrance as well, so the scent itself was strangely appealing.
"No, sis, wait a sec..."
I tried to stop her, but there was no way a drunk Camellia would listen. She was like an angry elephant. She tore open the luxurious silk gown she was wearing, revealing her snow-white naked body.
"I wonder if Lorcia will say anything about the cost of that expensive silk gown."
I'd only meant it as a joke, but she suddenly pressed her lips against mine. The hot rush of alcohol, the sweet fruity scent of Tears of the Water Dragon, and Camellia's soft, heated, and eager tongue tangled inside my mouth, sending waves of indescribable pleasure through me. It was even stickier and more lascivious than when I'd been with Lorcia, with visible strands of saliva connecting us when we parted.
"I copied what Mother does to Father... Does it feel good...?"
"Uh... yeah."
I was starting to feel a little tipsy myself. Damn it. Since this body was constructed through sorcery, I couldn't use magic, but apparently my resistance to alcohol had weakened too. Everything was being funneled into recovery, after all...
"Werner... I really liked you."
"Yeah, I like you too."
"Not as a comrade or family... I mean as a woman. From the very beginning..."
The first time we met, Werner had been ten years old, though?
"At first I thought of you as family... then I realized those feelings had turned into romantic ones... But now I understand. I just hadn't recognized the shape of it..."
"No, sis, hold on..."
"It should've been like this from the start."
She reached down and touched me there, then buried my face between her breasts. I'd fallen into water as a child before, but I'd never been buried in soft flesh. I knew how to swim out of water, but I had no idea how to escape from this. And I didn't particularly want to learn.
"So... from now on, I'll do it properly."
She aligned herself with me and lowered her hips until our bodies met completely. Warmth enveloped me, and the inner folds gently squeezed in a way that felt incredibly good. Warm blood trickled down. This was cheating. She kissed me as if trying to endure the pain. She didn't want to let out any moans, even if it killed her? In that case, it was only polite to do the opposite of what she wanted. Ignoring the sticky strands of saliva, I kept thrusting into her. She was used to facing spears, but apparently not the kind below the waist.
"Ahn... hnnng... ah... ugh..."
It seemed like I had the upper hand. If the defender couldn't counterattack, the one who kept thrusting without rest would naturally win. But I'd underestimated her.
"Did you think I'd just take it like this...?"
She pushed me down completely and climbed on top. This position was... damn it. There was no way my pleas would reach her while she was drunk. Camellia kept moving up and down, stimulating me relentlessly. I couldn't hold out any longer and released inside her. Ah... Having sex with two people in a row really did feel like the sorcery was wearing off. My childlike body grew, returning to adult Werner's form. The wounds and scars covering me disappeared, and the pain from the mana circuit overload faded as well. As expected of Melissa—no, the effect was definitely reliable.
"Sis, the sorcery's worn off now, so maybe we should stop..."
With the spell gone, my recovery ability clearly had limits. If I did the same thing I'd just done six times with Lorcia again... I'd definitely dry up and die.
"You did it that much with that girl... Are you already tired of me...?"
"No, sis, that's not the issue here..."
This was literally a matter of whether I'd die from exhaustion or not.
"I don't care."
"What?"
"I don't mind if you treat me like a concubine. Our father is a sinner, so I'm a sinner too... But I won't forgive being treated differently. Do the same thing you did with that girl."
No, the premise was completely different. Why the hell had someone gotten her drunk and caused this mess? She started moving her hips again, and I had no choice but to scream silently.
In the forest where rain fell steadily, three figures walked across the muddy ground toward their destination. Melissa, the smallest of the three, sensed that her sorcery had been dispelled and smiled faintly.
"Oh my. Looks like they finally did it. That frustrating girl."
At her words, Melchior, the largest of the three, asked,
"What do you mean?"
"Actually, that spell can be undone with just some intense physical activity. But that would've been boring, so I changed the release condition on purpose."
"Wait, then..."
"Yeah. They didn't even need to go that far. The spell would've worn off if the youngest had just gone for a run."
"Then why the hell did you do that?"
"If I hadn't, that frustrating girl would've spent her whole life agonizing over it and then it would've ended, right? This way, at least she has an excuse to go through with it."
Despite her innocent expression, Melissa's answer was thoroughly worldly.
"But there's still a chance the youngest could've just moved around and undone it, isn't there?"
"Ah, that possibility is zero~."
At Melissa's confident declaration, Melchior tilted his head. She formed a ring with the fingers of her left hand and inserted the index and middle fingers of her right hand into it as she spoke.
"I actually played a little special trick on Camellia too, so there's no need to worry about that."
"You crazy..."
Melchior, who at least had a more normal sense of morality than Melissa, could only sigh.