A Very Light Transgression
My head throbbed with a dull, electric ache.
The buzzing in my ears showed no sign of fading.
The moment I tried to figure out what the hell had happened, I realized I was being carried through the air.
"Master...?"
"You coming to?"
What the hell? Why was I being princess-carried by this bastard?
Ah, fuck, my head felt like it was about to split open.
Right — I'd been drinking. I remembered a burn roughly on par with soju.
But I hadn't drunk that much. I'd eaten churros right before, so it wasn't on an empty stomach, and I'd been snacking on canapés while I drank. There was no way I'd blacked out from that little.
Ah. This isn't my body.
It had been so long since I'd had a drink, and the taste had suited me so well, that I'd completely forgotten. In the end, it was the body that got drunk — not the mind. If Jasmine's alcohol tolerance was on the low side, getting wrecked this fast wasn't strange at all.
I was just resolving to stick to much lower-proof drinks and smaller amounts next time when my body seemed to recover enough for the evaporated memories of the drunken haze to start floating back one by one.
My fingers rose to my lips before I even realized it.
I-I'm insane. I've lost it. Have I actually gone crazy?
The alcohol I'd downed without knowing my limits had hit me with a brutal buzz. Combined with the mint-choco cheese katsu incident right before I'd gotten drunk — which had already softened my opinion of him — it had produced a catastrophe I never could have imagined.
In my drunken state — or rather, in "Jasmine's" drunken state — what I'd intended as a kiss had, mercifully, ended as nothing more than a clumsy peck because my body wouldn't cooperate. Even so, the vivid warmth of his lips and the sheer closeness of his face sent a shiver down my spine.
And the part that irritated me most right now was this: the moment I recalled that scene, my face burned hot, and without meaning to, my heart started racing with a rush of happiness.
"Jasmine?"
"Hhk—!?"
"You okay?"
"Ah, probably?"
Okay? How was I supposed to be okay?
Earlier he'd looked a little flustered himself — so why was he so calm about it now? It felt like I was the only one still hung up on it, and that pissed me off.
I was grumbling internally when something else started to bother me. Even if I hadn't drunk that much, I'd still been wasted enough to black out. Was it really possible to sober up this fast?
"Ah."
Other memories began to surface, slowly, and I realized it wasn't just my imagination — there really was a problem. And the sheer horror of what those memories contained filled me with despair.
Hehe, everyone, do you know how amazing our Master is?
Do you know how much our Master treasures me? I said, do you know?
Me? Of course I like Master.
Hehe, I love you, Master.
Please, please let all of that have been a dream.
The idea that I'd been carried around in his arms, spouting that kind of nonsense for anyone to hear — if it hadn't been replaying inside my own head, I never would have believed it. Hell, I still didn't want to believe it. Drunk or not, that had crossed every line and then some. Starting tomorrow, I was going to be too embarrassed to hold my head up in public...
Fortunately — or unfortunately — I'd retained just enough sense not to do it in front of complete strangers. Of course, the entire Royal Guard and the Dessert Research Club had seen everything, so in terms of future teasing potential, it was still the absolute worst-case scenario.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know my own limit."
"It's fine. These things happen."
Still, this was one of the things I liked about him. A real bastard would have mocked me relentlessly. But with him, there was none of that — just a genuine sense that he understood. Something earnest about him.
No — why am I thinking about his good points again?
This was exactly how my affection kept climbing. When I'd checked yesterday, it had already gone up by five. If I didn't get a grip, I was going to wake up one day rolling around naked with this guy. That nightmare future had to be avoided at all costs.
I needed to think about his bad points. Bad points, bad points...
Fuck. There weren't any. Why was this person so thoroughly decent?
"Honestly, it was cute. I liked it."
"...I'm not cute."
Jasmine was kind of cute, sure. But the person inside — me — was not cute at all. Stop looking at the packaging and look at the contents.
"Put me down. I'm lucid now."
"Okay."
My body still didn't have much strength, but with support I could manage walking. Honestly, anything was better than continuing to be princess-carried around.
"Wow, it's completely night already. I'm sorry. You couldn't even enjoy the festival properly because of me."
"......?"
His expression was one of pure, genuine confusion. Right — this idiot didn't place value on anything except me. How on earth had someone like him ended up making a trash-tier character his favorite? Poor guy.
"I had fun."
"Nngh..."
Anyway, only the most vivid memories were coming back, so I still couldn't recall everything. Had we managed to collect all the stamps in the end? Probably — knowing him, he'd have taken care of it.
"Ah, this."
"Oh my. You even exchanged them already."
"Since it was the last stamp, they swapped it for me in person."
So Cocktail had given it to him. I took the brooch and tried to pin it to my clothes, but my hands were shaking too much to manage it properly.
"I'll do it."
"W-wait a second! Hah—!"
He fastened it exactly where I'd been trying to put it. The problem was that the spot I'd chosen was right over my chest, so the casual brush of contact sent a shiver crawling over my skin.
...Though he himself didn't seem to notice at all.
"Haa. Anyway, I think we've hit all of today's goals."
"Good."
Between me and the Royal Guard, we'd successfully opened the festival that served as the backdrop for the first event. The real event itself would trigger on the second day, so starting tomorrow I'd be too busy dealing with the event proper to think about much else. Which meant I needed to rest while I could.
The reason I'd pushed to get this brooch on day one instead of putting it off was similar — I needed to boost resource-acquisition efficiency before the event started. Taking a loss would just leave a bad taste in my mouth.
"Tomorrow?"
"Yes. Starting tomorrow, things are going to get hectic."
I'd planned the festival itself as carefully as possible with that event in mind, but once it triggered, the venue turning into a mess was inevitable. The grounds themselves would transform into something dungeon-like — it would be weirder if things stayed orderly.
Today had been chaos from bizarre food and alcohol. Tomorrow would be chaos from combat and crisis management.
...Hah. Finally, I'd be able to farm Linger in bulk.
"Anyway, you worked hard today. Everything's done now, so let's head in and rest."
"Okay."
I couldn't help a small laugh at his usual short reply. At first it had just seemed curt, but now it felt kind of endearing.
We watched the festival wind down as we made our way back to the lodging for the night.
Guess I'm just going to sleep like this tonight.
I'd wanted to wash up properly if I could, but I clearly couldn't manage my own body alone. Even with my mind clear, my body was in this state — just how low was her alcohol tolerance? At this rate she was practically as much of a lightweight as Cocktail. The game had never shown Jasmine drinking, so I'd had no idea.
Anyway, I couldn't control my own body, and there was no way I was letting him bathe me. So tonight I'd just sleep. Not much choice.
"Master."
"Hm?"
"There's something I'm curious about."
Now that I was more lucid, a question had formed, and I decided to ask. Honestly, if someone got drunk and smashed their lips into mine like that, I didn't think I'd be able to just let it go. I couldn't understand why he was treating me so normally.
"You're talking about earlier? After you drank."
"Yes."
"......."
"Ah, I'm not trying to pick a fight. I'm genuinely just curious how you felt."
"Hmm..."
"M-Master?"
Why was he suddenly leaning over me like he was about to pin me down?
W-was he thinking I'd sexually provoked him? To be fair, there was room to interpret it that way, and if someone provoked me like that I'd probably get pretty pissed myself...
"I held back. A lot."
"H-held back?"
"I was afraid I'd defile you without permission. So I've been holding back."
"H-holding back what?"
"A kiss."
Ah, fuck.
My filthy mind, stop running wild — he just meant he wanted a kiss.
Still. A kiss. A kiss...
Fuck, even a kiss is dangerous.
I was the one who'd smashed my lips into him first, so saying this made me kind of a hypocrite — but those lips closing in like he might pounce any second were genuinely scary. It felt like crossing a river I couldn't come back from.
"I-I'm sorry!"
I gave him a light push to refuse, and he smiled as he put distance between us. Relief and a twinge of disappointment at not being kissed tangled together messily. Something inside me was starting to break.
"It's fine. If you don't want it, I won't do anything."
Thump. Thump. Thump.
This was truly strange. The kiss hadn't happened — that should have been the end of it — and yet those words made my heart start pounding like it was broken. No matter how much I lost control, this idiot would wait until I wanted him. He would never force something I hated.
That thick, sweet sense of relief swallowed me whole.
"...Okay."
Which made it all the more terrifying. It wasn't my body that was falling for him — it was somewhere deep in my heart.
I need to get a grip.
But I'd been drinking, so I was a little loose right now. Maybe it was okay to be a little happy. Just like the drunken me from earlier had gone wild, if I dumped a little embarrassment onto future-me, I could savor something intensely sweet right now.
"Master..."
Yeah. It wasn't like I was doing anything major. Just holding him tight and sharing warmth and touch. Just nestling into his arms and surrendering my sense of smell to that sweet scent.
That was all it was — a very light transgression.