Chapter 40
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 038
Chapter Title: Every Day I Met Lady Withbel, I Did It
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Tak.
I set down the chalk.
"Just as I expected."
Two magic circles on the blackboard.
One on me, the other on the Princess.
"They're identical."
The two magic circles matched perfectly.
Except for one part.
In the Princess's circle, instead of a symbol shaped like a uterus, there was one shaped like a man's penis.
This was within expectations, too.
After all, the Princess had turned from a woman into a man.
"Confirming the magic circle is good and all... but ugh."
Figuring out the curse's progress from this alone wasn't easy.
The Princess would get a new line added every time she felt pleasure, too.
I had no idea how many had been added so far.
"How many times have you pleasured yourself since becoming a man?"
I glanced at the Princess, who was casually lounging on the sofa and reading a book.
"Masturbation?"
I'd gone to the trouble of phrasing it politely.
"No need for fancy terms. Try it. Masturbation."
"Just answer the question."
"So prickly. You were overflowing with charm and cuteness just yesterday."
"Don't bring up yesterday..."
To check the Princess's magic circle, we'd done all sorts of things.
'Please cum...! Quick... haah...! Inside me... cum inside me...!!'
If only I could cast a spell to erase those memories.
Truly embarrassing things had been said.
Begging a man for his semen after being born a man.
It was for research, but...
When I came to my senses afterward, reality hit hard.
The aftershocks were still lingering, making my cheeks flush every now and then.
"Hmm... how many times was it..."
The Princess stroked her chin thoughtfully.
She pondered for a moment, then flashed a grin at me.
Somehow, it made me uneasy.
"Every day I met Lady Withbel."
"Every day?!"
"What can I do? It's all Lady Withbel's fault for being so lewdly built."
"L-Lewd?!"
"You were a man once, so you should know. How seductive your body is."
"I-I don't! My body isn't seductive at all!"
In truth, I knew.
How could I not?
Just looking at my ample breasts reflected in the glass window was proof enough.
By all rights, their weight should make them sag unappealingly.
But mine held a perfect teardrop shape, like large water droplets, bouncing plumply and tautly with every step.
"Stop joking and answer properly."
"I'm not joking."
"Huh?"
"Every night before bed, I imagine Lady Withbel naked and masturbate."
"I said stop joking..."
"Plump, swollen areolas with inverted nipples buried in them. A massive ass matched by well-developed hips. Labia soft like marshmallows—actually, they really are that soft."
"Uwaa! Uwaaa! Stop!"
I screamed and covered my body with both arms.
Even though I was dressed, it felt like I'd been stripped bare.
"As royalty, shouldn't you watch your words and actions more carefully?"
I pointed it out, lacing my tone with complaint.
"Ha."
The Princess snorted softly.
"Living life, I've come to wonder what the point of all that is."
"Pardon?"
The Princess gazed off into the distance.
She looked like an old man at the end of his days.
What a presumptuous thing for someone who'd just become an adult.
How much life could she have really lived?
She was probably just playing grown-up since she'd barely entered adulthood.
I got it, though.
I'd done the same when I first became an adult.
Pretending to be a big drinker.
Acting like I enjoyed smoking.
Back then, I thought that was mature and cool.
"I don't know about anything else, but please stop with the sexual harassment. It's hard to respond to."
"Sexual harassment? It's a compliment."
"Another weird logic twist...!"
"Can't I call attractive things attractive? My phrasing might've been a bit casual."
"A bit? A bit? It was way too direct."
And if it makes the other person uncomfortable, it's not a compliment.
Not that it ruined my mood or anything...
It hadn't felt good, either.
"So indirect compliments are okay?"
The Princess grinned, propping her chin on her hand.
"I want to take a bite out of Lady Withbel's juicy peach."
Whoosh.
I slapped my hands over my butt.
I was facing forward, but it felt like the Princess's gaze was poking at it.
"S-Sexual... harassment...!"
The Princess laughed, clearly enjoying herself.
"Is teasing people that fun for you?"
"No."
"Huh? Then why do you keep teasing me?"
"Teasing Lady Withbel is fun. Your reactions are so cute."
"I'm a person! A person!"
"Keep whining like that, and it just makes me want to tease you more."
What was wrong with my reactions?
Wasn't this normal?
I pouted my lips.
"If you're going to keep teasing, then leave. You're disrupting the research."
"Disrupting? Saying it like that hurts my feelings."
"Hmph!"
"I even brought a gift, thinking of Lady Withbel."
Twitch.
My ears perked at the word "gift."
No, no.
She's definitely just going to tease me more.
"Never mind. I don't believe you."
"For real?"
The Princess pulled a key from her jacket pocket.
A plain iron key.
"What's that?"
I tilted my head.
"The key to the Imperial Secret Archives."
"...?"
"You know what the Imperial Secret Archives are, right?"
I nodded.
Of course.
Just rumors, but they say it holds all the knowledge in the world.
Forbidden magic tomes.
Designs for ancient artifacts.
And records of all the world's secrets.
For example, you could verify if the conspiracy theory about the Empire's first Imperial Mage opening a gate to subspace was true.
For the record, I think it's false.
Subspace magic wasn't properly developed until a century later.
If the theory were true, magic would've been developed before then.
Other scholars have presented evidence debunking it, too.
Only the Imperial family knows the truth.
"That's the key to it."
"...Shall I give you a shoulder massage?"
A key to the world's secrets, in the Princess's hand.
Even someone not obsessed with knowledge would be curious about what's inside.
"No need for shoulders."
"Legs?"
"There's something I want you to wear."
"Wasn't it a gift?"
"Haha."
Somehow, it made me uneasy.
"Before that. You owe me one favor, right?"
She meant what happened at the social gathering last time.
"That... wasn't it settled with my body?"
With sex, that is.
I'd taken two creampies because of it.
That's why my curse was at [25/100].
It hadn't decreased; it'd only increased.
If semen didn't worsen the curse, it'd be at 45.
"That was because Lady Withbel didn't check the curse in time."
"Urk."
That was true.
"And I clearly said at the start it wasn't something lewd."
"Huh? Did you?"
"Haha, looks like your head's full of naughty things."
"N-No! Ah! I remember! Yeah, you did!"
I remembered.
She'd definitely said that.
When I said no lewd stuff, she'd replied it wasn't that.
"So, what do you want?"
"The sea."
"Pardon?"
"Let's go to the sea."
I blinked.
"In this weather?"
The spring sun was warm, but it was still too chilly for the beach.
"I miss the ocean after so long."
"Got someone to dunk or something?"
"..."
"J-Joking... it was a joke."
"..."
"I said it was a joke?!"
Her silence was more terrifying.
"Not that. I just really want to see the ocean, purely."
She had sides like this, too.
Unexpected.
She didn't seem the type to appreciate natural scenery.
"The sea... yeah, the sea's great!"
It wasn't.
I nearly drowned as a kid and had been scared of the ocean ever since.
And every time I went, bad things happened.
I'd get hurt.
Bad luck followed me there.
The sea had become a place of misfortune for me.
Still, if the Princess wanted to go, I'd have to.
Even without that...
Seeing her eyes sparkle like a child's, I couldn't refuse.
"Right now, there won't be many people, so we can take our time looking around. Yeah."
Oh, right.
Someone of the Princess's status probably had a private imperial beach.
No need to worry about crowds.
"Thank you."
"Huh?"
Her sudden thanks made my eyes widen.
Had I heard wrong?
I doubted my ears.
"No need to thank me..."
I was supposed to grant her one request anyway, and even without that, if the Princess wanted to go, I'd have to as my current situation demanded.
So the gratitude didn't make sense.
"You have to keep your promise to enter the Secret Archives after we go to the sea."
"That's not it."
The Princess dangled the Secret Archives key teasingly.
"This is separate."
"What do you mean?"
"I said there's something I want you to wear."
Tch.
I thought I'd dodged it.
"Can't dodge it."
Did we just have a conversation?!
"Nothing weird. Nothing lewd."
"It's not weird, and it's not lewd."
"Then... really?"
"Have I ever tricked you?"
I eyed her suspiciously.
The Princess just smiled calmly.
I couldn't read her intentions.
An outfit that was neither weird nor lewd.
I couldn't trust it.
"It's absolutely not weird, so relax."
"Ughhh."
A few days later.
"What's not weird about this?!"
I freaked out at the sight of the clothes prepared in the room.