A New Encounter (4)
Labella licked her lips with a hint of regret. The strangely seductive gesture made Marei turn his gaze away. On the bed, he had ruled over her like an angry lion during their lessons, but it seemed far more effort and time would be needed for his behavior outside of it. Labella gave a mischievous smile as she imagined the Marei of the future.
“Mmm… Then, will you do it with your hand?”
“My hand…?”
Labella approached once more and subtly tilted her head forward. Even as he wondered if this was really okay, Marei slowly stroked her hair. After savoring the soft texture of her locks a few times, he carefully withdrew his hand.
“It’s a little lacking…”
“Pardon? Then…”
When the muttering Labella looked at him like that, he reached out again, but she caught his hand and slyly guided it down toward her lower abdomen.
“Mommy wants to be praised a lot right here…”
“B-but we’re outside…”
Marei flinched hard, hurriedly scanning their surroundings. There was no one in sight. Not even the faintest presence could be felt, so he let out a small sigh of relief and stared at his own hand, which had already been led beneath her skirt.
“There’s no one here. Are you embarrassed, Mommy?”
“No, it’s not that… This is outside, so…”
Marei’s face turned bright red. Labella let out a soft laugh and grabbed his shoulders, slowly pushing him backward. His back and head met something hard. Faced with Labella’s serious expression, Marei couldn’t even properly refuse. He simply squeezed his eyes shut and trembled.
Seeing him look like a fragile little animal until the fire was properly lit made it impossible to hold back. The conflicting urges—to pin him down and make him cry out, and to torment him thoroughly while savoring that spine-tingling thrill—swirled inside her as she gently blew into his ear.
“Hoo~.”
“Hiiik…!”
Marei’s body shuddered violently. When he glanced aside, he saw his penis angrily bulging against his pants. He briefly considered grabbing and teasing it, but it was a shame that the conveniently useful bitch-witch who could be used anywhere wasn’t beside him. Still, having built the mood this far, it felt wasteful to stop now, so she slowly licked down his ear.
“Uuuu… Mommy… This is outside, so…”
“Outside? Does that make you more excited?”
Unable to endure the sensation of his mother’s tongue tormenting him, Marei turned his head completely away. Labella felt a shiver run through her at his adorable reaction. She took the opposite ear he offered and rolled it slowly inside her mouth.
“Hauu… P-please… Mommy… S-stooop…”
At the sight of Marei looking like he might burst into tears, Labella carefully pulled her lips from his ear. Or, to be precise, she had sensed a presence and regretfully drew back.
“Eh…”
Marei, who had cautiously opened his eyes, looked up at Labella with clear disappointment at the sudden end to the caress. Seeing her son—who kept saying no, no, while clearly wanting it—Labella held back her laughter and pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, gently wiping his saliva-soaked ear.
“Do you want to keep going…?”
“Uuu… Th-that’s… I mean… N-no… After all, outside is…”
It was a far cry from the way he had ruthlessly toyed with his female teacher from behind inside the house. She felt proud of herself for training him so well to dominate on the bed, but it seemed more time and effort would be needed to properly educate Marei.
“If you don’t want to, I suppose there’s no helping it… But in return, you’ll have to spoil Mommy a whole lot later, okay?”
“Y-yes…”
At Marei’s shy reply, Labella took out the teaching materials from Idrien that she had already found and placed them on the bookshelf.
After a minor incident at the bookstore, the two of them sat on the edge of the fountain in the square, chatting about this and that. Most of it was stories from before Marei came to Valter—peaceful tales of the countryside—but Labella listened with utmost seriousness.
“When you go there at dawn… by the lakeside… there’s a really nice smell…”
In moments like these, he seemed endlessly childlike. Given his appearance, which hovered on the border between child and adolescent, it was only natural. While she thoroughly enjoyed her time listening to Marei’s constant chatter, a sudden silence fell over the previously noisy square.
Even Marei, who had been talking while only looking at Labella, noticed the abrupt change in atmosphere and turned his head this way and that. He quickly found the cause.
Pleasant vibrations of strings, like someone tuning an instrument, brushed past their ears.
“…Is that a violin performance?”
At Labella’s murmur, Marei nodded and took her hand, leading her quickly toward the person preparing to play.
After asking the crowd for permission and making his way to the very front, Marei spotted the female violinist whose face had been completely covered—the same one he had seen on Monday. Labella crossed her arms and watched the girl preparing to perform. The way her arms pressed beneath her chest only emphasized her breasts more, but she seemed used to it and paid it no mind. For now, she focused solely on the girl who had caught Marei’s interest.
Though she had tried hard to conceal herself, judging by her overall silhouette and aura, guessing her age was quite easy. Assuming, of course, that she wasn’t a professional assassin or master of disguise.
‘A student from Valter School, perhaps.’
Roughly eighteen years old. She could see the subtle movement of the girl’s eyes behind her sunglasses. It was one of the bad habits she had picked up while working at the Audit Bureau. The girl tuning her instrument was looking in their direction. For a moment Labella wondered if she had been recognized, but the gaze was aimed slightly in front of her. Following it, she saw it was fixed on Marei, whose eyes were sparkling with curiosity.
Rather than simple curiosity toward the boy with an eyepatch over one eye, the girl’s behavior revealed far more complex emotions—shock, anxiety, and confusion.
“…Marei, do you know her?”
“I saw her performing in the square on Monday… but I suppose I should say she’s a stranger…”
After hearing Marei’s answer, Labella’s hand carefully settled on her left thigh. Enjoying the cool touch of metal against her middle finger, she kept her tension sharp. Wondering if things would have been fine if Ilien were beside them, she watched anxiously as the girl lifted her violin.
Contrary to Labella’s worries, the girl began to play, and a pleasant melody soon filled the entire square.
As Marei focused intently on the violin’s sound, Labella quietly spoke to the woman beside her who was also enjoying the music.
“That performer… does she come here often?”
“Pardon? Ah… Y-yes, she does… I heard she comes two or three times a week.”
The woman, who had been staring at Labella’s face as if enchanted, shrank back noticeably after seeing her uniform. She answered while trembling as if under interrogation. Labella ended the conversation with a polite word of thanks.
She had worn her uniform as-is because she wanted to look impressive for Marei, but in times like these it was only inconvenient. The hand that had been near her pistol slowly dropped away.
Come to think of it, the girl did seem somewhat familiar. It was hard to tell with how thoroughly she was wrapped up, but there was a feeling that she had seen her recently. Realizing this, Labella nodded several times, laughed inwardly at her needless worry, and firmly took Marei’s hand.
“Do you like the violin?”
Labella spoke to Marei, who had been staring blankly at the spot where the performing girl had disappeared.
“Yes. It makes such a pretty sound.”
“Would you like to learn? There are many excellent teachers.”
“I like listening to instruments, but I’m not sure about playing them.”
I don’t have the dexterity for it.
At Marei’s answer, Labella gave a small nod. Teaching him piano little by little at home might not be so bad.
With platinum hair fluttering, someone hugged Marei tightly from behind. Seeing her bury herself against his chest, Labella looked at the two with an expression that said she wanted to embrace him too.
“Why do you say you have no dexterity, Marei? You play us perfectly every night~.”
“Now that I think about it, it seems Marei has incredible talent. Ilien, you’re here?”
“Yes~ Master, Mistress. Your bitch has arrived~.”
At the sight of the two casually discussing such embarrassing things in a public place, Marei hung his head deeply. He had put up a barrier so their conversation wouldn’t leak out, but to Marei—who hadn’t even learned magic yet—it was beyond his ability to notice. Actually, even if he had learned magic, noticing a spell cast by Ilien with full intent would have been the stranger thing.
Seeing Marei’s embarrassed state, mischievous smiles bloomed on both women’s lips. It was a sight unimaginable just a few weeks ago, but being waited on by his beautiful adoptive mother had already become familiar to Marei.
“You have to chew your vegetables thoroughly, okay? Ah~.”
Labella, dangling her legs off the floor and leaning against the young boy’s chest, scooped salad onto a small plate and attended to Marei. If not for the way she pressed against his chest and looked up at him with a seductive expression, the scene would have looked exactly like a mother feeding her child.
“Marei is in his growth period, so he needs to eat plenty of meat too. He has to grow tall.”
Of course, Ilien—who had only joined the family yesterday—also helped with Marei’s meal from the side. Whether she was acting spoiled or receiving the spoiling, the ambiguous posture made Labella firmly resolve to do it herself at lunchtime next time.
“Marei, do you not have an appetite? Should we order something else?”
It was an incredibly luxurious restaurant, intimidating from the entrance alone. According to Ilien, it was famous even in Valter. Though she felt bad saying it, the food here tasted better than what Ilien and Labella usually made.
However…
“Doing this… in a restaurant…”
If they were at home, he would gladly accept their service while occasionally rubbing their breasts or lower belly, turning the meal into something far more sticky and intimate. But this was clearly outside, and he still felt strong resistance at the thought of anyone seeing the two women like this.
“Why? That’s why we reserved a room, isn’t it?”
Labella simply smiled as she traced circles on Marei’s chest. Looking behind them, the night view of Valter brightly illuminated the streets. It was a room sized for a small celebration party. Strangely, the door opposite the exit led to a small washroom.
“Still… we’re outside.”
Unlike Marei, the two women seemed completely unconcerned. It was the composure that came from Ilien’s absolute trust in her own magic and Labella’s thorough knowledge of her skill. Of course, Marei had no way of knowing that. And because of how flustered he looked, the two deliberately kept silent, thoroughly enjoying his reactions.
“You say that, but it’s already this hard down here……”
“Mommy… If we do this o-outside… Uuu…”
When the tightly clinging Labella subtly moved her body, the stiff rod inside his pants—pressed against her smooth lower abdomen—lifted its head proudly. As her long fingers slowly stroked the bulging fabric, a pleasant sigh escaped Marei’s lips.