A Night with a Virgin
"What is this awful smell?"
Ella wrinkled her nose and glared at me.
Well, given what Lily and I had been doing in this room, I supposed she could tell well enough from the scent and the lingering heat. I cleared my throat and told her to sit.
The three of us — Ella, Lily, and I — gathered around a small table. The matter at hand was simple: I was going to ask Lily to become a seedbed.
The very idea of becoming a seedbed was, by any sane person's standards, utterly deranged, so I needed to tread carefully. For all that she was a maid, the difference in station meant Lily didn't know the family's inner workings nearly as well as Ella did.
"So let me get this straight. Duchess Wilhelmina has passed away, and you've inherited the title, Master — but since you can't give birth yourself, you want to ask me instead?"
"That's right. Lily, His Lordship is asking you to take on a sacred duty that has been handed down through the Bestiel family for generations."
She refused to do it herself, yet here she was dressing it up quite nicely for Lily.
"A duty that important... would it even be right for someone like me to take it on?"
"I'm asking you because I trust you. The choice is yours, though. Given what this actually involves, I don't want to force you. I'm sure you'd rather meet a good man and get married — I can't imagine you'd have no reservations about taking a monster as a husband and bearing its young."
Lily lowered her head, fidgeting with her hands. She seemed to be genuinely wrestling with it. The fact that she was even considering it was, frankly, more than I could have hoped for. At least she wasn't slapping me across the face the way Ella had.
"If I accept... what happens to me? Do I keep working as a maid while serving as a seedbed?"
Lily looked to Ella as she asked.
"There's no precedent for this, so I imagine it would depend on His Lordship's decision."
Apparently Ella didn't know everything either. Neither did I, for that matter. I had never seen anyone raise monsters using another person's body.
"Once you become a seedbed, your health has to come first. I'll arrange things so you won't have to do maid work unless you want to."
"But... I don't want to just be locked in a room, doing nothing but giving birth."
Hearing that, I finally understood what was really bothering her. She was afraid of becoming nothing more than a birthing machine for monster offspring.
"You don't have to worry about that. I only said it because I was concerned something might happen to your body. If you're well enough to be active, and if you want to keep working, that's fine."
"I can still work...? To be honest, I'd go stir-crazy if I were cooped up somewhere. And the thought of just pumping out monster babies until I die... it suddenly made me really depressed."
"Lily, please don't worry. This is nothing like being kidnapped by goblins in some wilderness and spending the rest of your life birthing them until you die."
Did she have to put it that terrifyingly? If I were Lily, I'd have run for the hills already.
"But this is the Nest. Bearing and raising monsters in loyal service to His Grace is, in itself, a sacred act. His Lordship knows this better than anyone."
Ella looked at me with something like pride. But with her putting it that aggressively, I found it hard to offer any praise, no matter how generously I tried to look at it. Fortunately, Lily didn't seem too frightened, so I decided to let it slide.
"Well, Ella's not wrong. In any case, we intend to treat you better than anyone here. If you want, I'll even grant you a fief. Becoming a seedbed means becoming my greatest source of strength — and that makes you someone of real importance."
The moment I mentioned granting land, I felt a scorching glare. Awarding a fief to a commoner was tantamount to making them a knight, which was hardly welcome news to Ella, who was already a noble. But what of it? Securing a seedbed was more important to me right now.
"No, I don't want anything like that. I just want to stay by your side, Master. Even if I become a seedbed... I can still do that, right?"
"Of course. You'll probably see even more of me than you did as a maid."
Lily smiled softly at that. She seemed to have made up her mind, and I found myself smiling too.
"Then... I'll become a seedbed."
Success. Relief at having secured a seedbed so much faster than expected washed over me — and with it, a faint, nagging guilt at turning my oldest friend into one.
"I have one request, though."
"What is it?"
Good. I was hoping she'd want some kind of compensation. Anything to ease my conscience even a little.
"Well... it's a little hard to say here..."
"Think of Ella as my brain. I can't exactly live with my head detached, can I? Just say it."
Ella cleared her throat at that, straightened her posture, and crossed her legs. She seemed rather pleased that I was acknowledging her authority — her shoulders had gone distinctly square.
"Even so... what I want to say is..."
"Lily, it doesn't matter. I am His Lordship's advisor. All you need to know is that I am not the sort of person who would leak a secret."
"Then... before I become a seedbed, I want to share a bed with Egon. Not as my lord... but as Egon."
It was a rather bold condition, to be sure. A commoner demanding sexual relations with a noble. The problem was Ella's reaction. As expected, she looked at Lily with undisguised contempt. Lily, overwhelmed by the force of that stare, couldn't even lift her head properly.
"I really should've heard this one alone."
"Heard it alone? Absolutely not. Knowing you — young and full of vigor as you are — you would have agreed immediately!"
"Is it really that much of a problem? It's a little crude, I'll grant you, but—"
The word "crude" seemed to hit a nerve. Lily's face crumpled toward tears.
"A commoner is demanding sexual favors from a noble! From her own master, no less!"
"When you put it like that, it does sound pretty strange."
"It already is extremely strange! And what if she ends up with child? Do you have any idea what it would do to your reputation if you fathered a commoner's baby?"
She had a point. The neighboring lords seized on any excuse to pick at our legitimacy. If Lily bore a child, any offspring born of a commoner mother would have a miserable time of it. And the schedule for her becoming a monster's seedbed would be delayed besides.
"Lady Ella, I'm sorry... I just wanted my first time to be with someone I actually like..."
Hearing that, Ella didn't press any further. She herself had refused to become a seedbed for much the same reason.
"Don't worry, Ella. We can just do it outside, right?"
Ella, who had been looking at Lily with something like pity, snapped her glare back to me and clenched her fist.
I really should have kept my mouth shut. I had the distinct feeling I'd just made things worse.
"Hah. Fine. If it's a young girl's last wish, I can understand. But do not forget — she must not, under any circumstances, become pregnant."
"Thank you, Lady Ella! I won't forget this kindness!"
"Hold on — I haven't even given an answer yet, and you've already settled it between yourselves?"
"You were going to agree anyway, weren't you? I've read that men in their early twenties are like matches — they catch fire at the slightest friction."
"Ella, where did you even hear that?"
"Books contain all the truths of the world!"
Ella tossed her neatly groomed long hair over her shoulder with an air of supreme self-satisfaction. I'd forgotten. Ella read far too many bizarre novels.
When night fell, I finished all my preparations and sat on the bed. Before long, Lily would come to my chambers on the pretext of bringing me a warm cup of tea.
Sharing a bed with my childhood friend... I was nervous enough myself. How much more so for Lily, who was still a virgin?
The truth was, I had already left my virginity behind. The problem was that I couldn't remember who I'd lost it to.
"Master, may I come in?"
"Come in, Lily."
The sound of her voice sent a jolt of tension down my spine. I wasn't a virgin, but I had no idea how to actually go about having sex.
The night I'd lost my virginity, I'd been dead drunk. It was after my coming-of-age ceremony; I'd overdone it at the banquet, and from the moment I downed glass after glass in the hall, everything went blank. At some point I'd woken up naked on my own bed, a nameless woman equally naked, straddling me, rolling her hips. The room had been so dark, and I was so far gone, that I couldn't even tell what was happening. I figured it was a dream — a dirty one, maybe, to commemorate coming of age. Might as well enjoy it, I thought, and let my body follow hers. When it was over I drifted back to sleep, thoroughly satisfied.
It wasn't until the next morning, when I saw the wrecked bed and the angry red marks all over my naked body, that I realized it hadn't been a dream at all.
"I brought cool water tonight instead of tea, Master."
Lily set the cup on the table with a coy little sway and sat down beside me. She had come wearing nothing but a thin underdress, and the fabric clung to every curve of her body. I swallowed without meaning to, and the sound was loud enough to hear.
"What's this, Master? Are you nervous?"
She said it in an awkward, teasing tone, but I was genuinely tense. The way I'd groped her in broad daylight had come naturally enough — I'd just been mimicking the drunks who harassed the tavern girls — but I had no idea how to actually take a woman to bed.
"Well, how could I not be nervous with a girl this pretty sitting here in her underclothes?"
Nice. I'd played that off naturally enough — or so I told myself, voice still trembling.
Lily flushed and leaned in to kiss me. Her saliva slipped into my mouth, a faint, ticklish warmth. I caught her by the waist and laid her back on the bed. To hell with it. If I just followed my instincts, it would work out somehow. And besides, my partner was Lily — the most easygoing person I knew.
"Master, you haven't even had your water yet..."
"Shh. Call me Egon. You didn't come here tonight to wait on your master. You came to share a bed with Egon."
"Egon..."
I kissed her as I took her full breasts in my hands. She was wearing nothing but that thin dress, and the warmth of her skin came through far more vividly than it had when I'd touched her that afternoon. But warmth alone was no longer enough. Desire had already begun to devour my reason.
I want to feel Lily's skin. I want to see her naked. I want to touch every part of her however I please.
Those hungers needled at me, demanding to know why I was still being so careful — telling me to just follow my instincts. With trembling hands I undid the knot of her dress, lifted it, and pulled it off.
Pale, milky skin. Fully naked now, Lily crossed her arms over her breasts.
"It's embarrassing..."
I took her arms and drew them down. Her pink areolae came into view. Oddly, the nipples themselves were tucked inward.
"They look weird, don't they? They go in instead of out..."
"No. They're cute."
It was the first time I had ever seen inverted nipples. It was the first time I had ever seen Lily's grown, naked body at all. Everything was new — and the thought that I would be the one to take her first time was enough to set my blood racing.
I had planned to kiss her throat and work my way down slowly, but the moment I saw her breasts, my mind went blank. I laid her down at once, kneading one breast with my left hand, and began licking the other. Wet, hungry sounds filled the quiet room.
"Hah... that tickles, Egon..."
The noises I was making were a little embarrassing, but Lily's whimpering was louder still. As I worked her breast with my fingers, the nipple that had been hidden began to rise, slowly pushing outward. Proof that her body was growing more and more aroused.
"They're sticking out now."
"Don't say things like that, it's embarrassing... hh..."
Mid-sentence I dragged the back of my hand along her lower lips, and she couldn't finish the thought — a moan tore out of her instead. I'd noticed it before, but she got so wet from so little that she was already soaked. Lily was the one who did all my laundry. I wondered what she'd feel, seeing the traces she'd left on my sheets.
I gave her clitoris a few light slaps with my palm. I hadn't hit her hard, but the sound was not unlike a slap across the face.
"Hyaah... I'm sorry... please forgive me... Master..."
Whether it was the sound or something else, Lily begged as though she were being punished, pleading for my forgiveness. That side of her brought out something crueler in me. The more she begged, the more strength found its way into my arm, unbidden. The more I struck her sex, the wetter she became, until her fluids were splashing against my arm.
"Why are you this wet? You're a complete slut, aren't you?"
"I'm not. I'm a virgin who's never done anything like that..."
"So what? You're offering that virginity up to me tonight anyway."
I said it to be mean, and pushed her legs apart with my arm. Fine, scattered down still grew around her entrance, and the whole of it was already slick and glistening with her juices.
"Egon... take it. Take my first time..."
Lily turned her head aside, shy, and closed her eyes. I came down over her.