The Fading Line
"Mmmgh...!"
The moment Roen opened her eyes, she let out a long, satisfying groan and stretched her arms as far as they would go.
"Cough, hack..."
But mid-stretch, she accidentally choked on the pool of saliva that had gathered in her mouth. After a brief coughing fit, she managed to swallow the rest of it down with a hard gulp.
"Ugh, why did I drool so much?"
She wasn't usually the type to drool in her sleep, and she hadn't even been that tired yesterday. Sure, there had been a brief skirmish, but handling a couple of desert bandits was hardly exhausting work.
"And why do my hands feel so numb lately? Am I tossing and turning and sleeping on them every night?"
On top of that, her hands were incredibly stiff and tingly again today. Even the root of her tongue felt strangely tight and strained...
"Maybe I'm coming down with something..."
There was no reason for her entire body to feel this achy. For her physical condition to deteriorate so suddenly and drastically like this...
"Is it almost..."
Realizing that that time of the month might be approaching, she quickly counted the days on her fingers. The math lined up perfectly. It would probably start in just a few days.
"Oh, that explains it. Nothing to worry about."
Relieved by the simple explanation, she finally got out of bed and headed to the bathroom.
"But why do my hands still smell like honey? It's kind of similar to the scent of the soap, but..."
Had the soap's fragrance somehow stained her skin? Though puzzled by the lingering, sweet aroma of honey, she turned on the tap and splashed cold water onto her face to shake off the lingering drowsiness. After fully waking herself up, she took a thorough shower and stepped out.
"I should wear some proper clothes today."
It was time to get dressed. In her wardrobe, there were clothes Echidna had brought her—begging her to wear something other than those sheer, see-through outfits—as well as a few pieces Roen had bought herself at the desert market because they looked nice. They were mostly light, breezy, and highly breathable garments designed to withstand the scorching desert heat, which also made them perfect to wear during her period.
"Hmm, how's this?"
Roen spun around slowly in front of the full-length mirror in the corner of her room to check her outfit. The bottom half was as breezy and revealing as yesterday's, and the top still showed off a generous amount of cleavage, but... her midriff and belly button were completely covered. Out of all her options, this was the most sensible choice for today.
"Loo, la-la~"
Since the menstrual cramps hadn't kicked in yet, she hummed a tune and headed straight to the kitchen. Her task there was obvious: preparing breakfast. Today, she planned to make Cactus Honey Hotteok using the ingredients she had bought yesterday. Drawing on her experience from making Cactus Flower Pancakes, she kneaded the dough and began shaping the sweet pancakes. Pressing them down firmly on the hot, oiled pan, she fried them until the outside was perfectly crispy, while the inside melted into a sweet, gooey mixture of cactus honey and crushed cashews—a truly exquisite texture!
"Phew, all done."
Today's breakfast menu, the freshly made Cactus Honey Hotteok, was finally complete.
"Roen? Cooking breakfast again...?"
"Yes, I made breakfast, Echidna-nim. I used the nuts we bought in the city yesterday."
"Ah, is that so...?"
Echidna appeared right on cue, looking strangely disappointed. Roen absolutely loved that reaction. Unlike her usual braless, see-through robes, she was wearing ordinary desert attire today, and Echidna's subtle expression betrayed her disappointment. This was undeniable proof that the Lamia was completely hooked. At first, Echidna probably hadn't thought much of it, but now that what she used to see was hidden away, she couldn't help but miss it. Disappointment breeds desire. If Echidna was craving her naked body, it wouldn't be long before she stripped off her own clothes to seduce her.
"Now, now, this is my first time making this, so it's a bit of an experiment... but I'm quite confident it turned out delicious. Please, have a taste."
To hasten that day even by a fraction, Roen offered a sweet, gentle smile and treated her with utmost hospitality. Once these little moments piled up, Echidna would eventually beg to become her personal finger-sleeve. Her plan was progressing flawlessly.
By the time Roen wrapped up her day, filled with a deep sense of satisfaction that everything was going exactly according to her master plan...
"How utterly ridiculous. She thinks she's playing hard to get by covering up? When she usually struts around half-naked without a care in the world for my gaze...!"
Echidna vented her frustration to the softly snoring, fast-asleep Roen, having just injected a fresh dose of sleeping potion through the still-unhealed fang marks on the blonde's neck.
"As if I'd care about a pair of breasts...! As if I'd miss them just because you decided to hide them...!"
However...
"I do miss them..."
She couldn't deny it.
"I really do..."
Even to herself, she couldn't lie.
Since Roen had moved into the mansion, Echidna's masturbation routine had split into a strict two-part schedule. First, she would feast her eyes on Roen's body while eating the breakfast the blonde prepared for her, keeping her aroused all day. During the day, her throbbing, heat-crazed jaji would demand release, and at night, she would spend hours spraying jeong-aek right beside the sleeping woman. Thanks to this exhausting routine, Echidna hadn't been able to conduct a single piece of alchemical research since Roen arrived. Her seemingly bottomless stamina showed no signs of running dry unless she thoroughly bred Roen, filling her womb to the brim and ravaging her tight passage night after night. No, even if she did get her pregnant... her burning lust for Roen was unlikely to fade. Brilliant as she was, Echidna had a vague idea of where this degenerate lifestyle would lead, but her beastly instincts constantly clouded her reason. The only thing that would change was whether Roen was pregnant or not.
"You little temptress... You're nothing but a little temptress who only knows how to bewitch people... How dare you play hard to get and cover yourself up like this...! If you're a female, you should be walking around half-naked like one...!"
Spewing vulgarities she would never dare utter to a conscious Roen, Echidna reached out and squeezed her breasts. Slipping her hand beneath the proper clothes Roen had worn to bed and kneading the soft flesh was incredibly thrilling.
Anatomically, breasts were merely mounds of fat. While the nipples were natural erogenous zones, the areolae and mammary glands required consistent, loving stimulation to fully awaken as sources of pleasure. Furthermore, Roen was currently asleep. There was no feedback, meaning Echidna couldn't enjoy the visual satisfaction of watching her partner react as she would during normal mating. Perhaps that was why the sensation of her hand sliding under Roen's clothes and watching the soft mounds shift and deform under her fingers brought Echidna such immense satisfaction. That satisfaction quickly spiraled into intense arousal, leaving her eyes half-lidded and glazed with lust.
"Haa, ah..."
She hadn't used her jaji yet today. But tonight, she felt like she might not even need to.
"You slutty girl. You covered yourself up on purpose just for this, didn't you? To serve me even while you sleep?"
It felt like peeling a delicious, ripe fruit. Filled with the anticipation and excitement of unwrapping a beautifully packaged delicacy layer by layer, Echidna squeezed and fondled Roen's breasts.
"Fine, then I'll give you a present too."
As if rewarding Roen for the visual pleasure she provided, Echidna slid her hand sideways and pulled down the fabric covering her chest. Since the outfit already featured a deep neckline, exposing Roen's bare breasts was effortless. What followed was her "reward." Echidna leaned down, took one of Roen's nipples into her mouth, and began swirling her long, flexible snake tongue around it with practiced ease.
To be completely honest, using Roen's hand for handjobs was starting to lose its edge. Echidna wanted a new kind of stimulation, but her reason hadn't deteriorated to the point where she would shove her jaji inside Roen's body. A scholar of Echidna's caliber was well aware of the significance of a woman's virginity. Roen was an unmarried maiden, and more importantly, she was Echidna's patient.
"Mnh, nnh..."
"How is it? Does it feel good even while you're asleep?"
In that sense, targeting Roen's nipples was a highly reasonable compromise. For one, a woman couldn't get pregnant through her nipples. If she could satisfy herself by playing with them, she wouldn't be tempted by her lust to think, Maybe I should just slide it in once. Yes, from now on, she would limit her interactions with Roen to her hands, breasts, and mouth. Echidna firmly resolved to stick to this rule.
"Since you've been serving me with your hands all this time, it's only fair that I return the favor. That's just proper etiquette, isn't it?"
Of course, this was a massive irony. Echidna knew perfectly well that what she was doing was wrong. She framed her decision to limit herself to the nipples as a generous favor, but the reality was stark: she was masturbating to the sleeping Roen's face, forcing her hands to stroke her, kissing her unconscious lips, and now, licking her nipples as "repayment"...
"Mmm, ah..."
"You like it, don't you? It feels good... right? I can keep going, can't I?"
She possessed the classic mindset of a sexual predator, endlessly rationalizing her actions while refusing to stop.
"Mnh, slurp... chu..."
She delicately licked the nipple with her split tongue, wrapped her long tongue around it like a lasso to squeeze it tight, nibbled it gently with her teeth, and puckered her lips to suckle on it. In no time, Roen's nipple was reduced to Echidna's plaything. Meanwhile, Echidna's free hand gently fondled the other breast, delivering just the right amount of stimulation to keep things balanced.
"Nnh, mmm..."
Roen squirmed and shifted. With her highly sensitive nipples being so blatantly stimulated, she unconsciously tried to roll over, her thighs rubbing together as her body twitched. Naturally, the sexually inexperienced Echidna paid no heed to her partner's physical cues, entirely focused on ravaging the pink bud. Perhaps due to the immense psychological satisfaction of dominating her partner from a superior position, Echidna spent a casual five hours playing with Roen's nipples before finally returning to her own room to sleep. It had been such a satisfying session that she felt almost no regret about not ejaculating.