A Suspicious Scent
With a rustle, I hastily pulled up my pants. At the same time, Vivian was drawing her underwear back up beneath her skirt beside me.
“Since you’ve planted your seeds so deeply inside me, my lord, I truly hope a child takes root.” Vivian rubbed her belly with a flushed face as she spoke.
“......”
But I couldn’t say a word. To think my first experience in twenty-three years of life had happened while borrowing someone else’s body. It left me with a strange, indescribable feeling.
Of course, it had been heaven. The moment was so exquisite that I almost regretted every second of my life before it. On top of that, my first partner was a beautiful blonde girl. The fact that she wore a maid uniform only doubled the delicious sense of depravity.
“My lord?”
“Uh, yeah...”
I couldn’t even meet her eyes. Why did my voice keep shrinking like that? It wasn’t as if I were broadcasting that it was my first time, yet here I was, acting like it.
“Was that… your first time, by any chance?”
She’d noticed, as expected. Overwhelmed by embarrassment, I simply nodded. Vivian let out a pleased little hum and pulled me into her arms.
“To think someone as lowly as me has taken my lord’s first time. I feel as though I’ve committed a terrible sin against my master.”
“What are you talking about? Why would you call yourself lowly? You’re not.”
“I’m not?”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“......Thank you.”
She wrapped both arms around my neck, rose onto her tiptoes to kiss me lightly, then whispered softly into my ear.
“Actually… it was my first time as well.”
I drew in a sharp breath. I nearly lost my mind all over again. But the rush of excitement vanished completely in less than a second. At the same time, one question flickered through my thoughts.
She claimed to have had that kind of relationship with Serion originally, yet this was their first time having sex? The pieces didn’t quite fit.
Still, when I really thought about it, it wasn’t entirely impossible. In the end, only a vague, uncomfortable suspicion remained.
“My lord?”
“Ah, right. Let’s head back quickly. We need to move early tomorrow, so we should sleep as much as we can.”
“Yes.”
We walked hand in hand. When we returned to our spot, the campfire was still dancing brightly inside the barrier. I wondered what pleasant dream Saren might be having. She slept with a lovely smile, her long lashes curved like delicate crescent moons.
“Sleep well, Vivian.”
“You as well, my lord.”
I lay down beside Saren and gently closed my eyes. But they flew open again almost immediately. At the same time, I swallowed hard.
Because Saren had gripped my hand tightly.
Thump. Thump. My heart hammered wildly, sending a chill racing down my spine. Had she been awake the whole time?
I slowly turned my trembling head to look at her. Yet she still lay with her eyes firmly shut, gazing up at the sky. Not a single twitch.
“......Saren?”
“......”
Even when I whispered directly into her ear, only silence answered. Had she simply grabbed my hand on instinct while sleeping? Or was she deliberately keeping quiet?
If it was the latter, we were headed for disaster. Damn it. My heart refused to settle, so sleep was no longer an option. The fear that Saren might do something while I was unconscious kept surging up.
Crackle. Crackle. In the oppressive silence, the campfire’s sound seemed to scrape at my nerves.
I lay there wide awake, wasting the hours in a daze. Gradually the sky began to brighten, welcoming the sun.
“Huu...”
Having gone without sleep, my eyes stung and my temples throbbed as if squeezed in a vice.
“Brother?”
Saren’s husky voice reached me then. When I turned, I met her gaze. She was rubbing her drowsy, half-lidded eyes.
“Ah, did you sleep well?”
She quickly put on a playful pout and drew closer, wrapping her arms around me tightly.
“My back hurts!”
“Sleeping on the ground after a proper bed can’t be helped. Still, things should improve once we reach the church.”
“Huu—”
The hot breath against my neck didn’t feel entirely welcome.
“Did you sleep well, brother?”
“Yes. It was a little uncomfortable for me too, but I managed.”
“I see...”
“......?”
“You slept… well, then...”
Her tone carried an unsettling undercurrent that made my brow twitch. But I didn’t dare react, afraid it might give me away.
“It’s still early. Get some more rest.”
“......”
Saren offered no reply. She simply pressed her face even closer to my body. Then came the sound brushing my ear.
Sniff. Sniff—
A wave of revulsion swept over me, raising gooseflesh across my entire body. Why… was she smelling me?
“Saren?”
“Yes!?”
Only then did she jerk her head back and answer with a bright smile. That seemingly innocent expression filled me with unease.
“My lord, young lady. You’re both awake already?”
On the other side of the campfire, Vivian rose as well, smoothing her tousled hair with one hand.
“Did you sleep well, Vivian?”
“No. My back is killing me.”
Seeing her frown and stretch, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Ha—”
At the same moment, Saren’s cold, mocking laugh grazed my ear. I could feel her crimson eyes boring into me from the side.
“S-since we’re all up early, shall we set out? We’ll reach the church today, right?”
“Yes. If we leave now, we should arrive before sunset.”
“Good. What do you think, Saren?”
“......”
Once again, she gave no answer. Her pupils had contracted sharply as she stared at me without blinking. She didn’t even seem to be breathing. She looked like a wax doll.
I swallowed dryly without realizing it.
“Saren!!”
“Yes!?”
“What’s been wrong with you since earlier?”
“Ah… I must not be fully awake yet. I’m sorry.”
Only then did she flash a cheerful grin and continue.
“Wouldn’t it be better to go early and rest early, just as brother suggested?”
“......”
I was certain now. This girl had changed overnight. Had her madness switch been flipped again? If so, there was no telling when she might do something insane. If her target was Vivian, I would stop her without hesitation. Because to me, Vivian had become more precious.
......Wait. Hold on.
Wouldn’t it be fine to simply abandon Saren and live with Vivian forever, just the two of us? If we hid within the church, no one would find us. It wouldn’t be so bad to settle down with Vivian, build a home, and live peacefully. After all, back in reality I’d been a friendless, pathetic virgin with nothing to show for it. Here, there was incredible magic, and I held real authority. It didn’t seem like a bad life at all.
“Brother?”
While I was lost in thought, Saren grabbed my hand, her voice laced with concern.
“...?”
“Are you all right? You look troubled.”
“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”
“Resting early is good, but taking care not to overdo it is most important. You know that, right?”
“......Yes. Thank you.”
“Hehe— It’s nothing.”
What the hell had I been thinking just now?
Disgusted with myself, I lowered my head and clenched my teeth.
“Huu.”
I stood up abruptly and began neatly organizing our belongings. Vivian rushed over and snatched the items from my hands.
“I’ll do that, my lord!”
“Hmm?”
“Tasks like this are for a maid like me. Why would my lord do something like this…!”
I probably could have done it better, having just been discharged from the military. Though perhaps that was rude to think about a maid. In any case, it didn’t matter who did it. I had no desire to cling to such authority here. I wasn’t the kind of person who had any real authority to begin with.
“After coming this far, there’s no difference between lord and maid. We’re all just fugitives now.”
Vivian looked shocked.
“E-even so...”
“It’s fine. Hand them over.”
I answered with a small smile and finished sorting my things. Throughout it all, Saren remained completely still, simply sitting before the campfire. In the end, Vivian was the one who organized her belongings. Even in this situation, she still clung to her sense of hierarchy. In a way, it was impressive.
“......Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
The three of us walked on and on. But this time, no one spoke. The reason was simple: we hadn’t eaten anything but water since yesterday.
“Vivian.”
The one who broke the heavy silence was Saren.
“Yes, young lady?”
“You said you grew up in that church before coming to our family, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“Then your family must still be there. You should greet them when we arrive.”
I frowned secretly while staring ahead. If she had family, would she have grown up in the church? Perhaps because she’d spent her whole life shut away in her room, she could be surprisingly oblivious.
“Ah, no. I never had parents. There was only one younger sibling who was abandoned alongside me.”
“Was? Did your sibling leave the church as well?”
Vivian fell silent for a moment. I turned to look at her too. I wasn’t particularly curious, but her blue eyes seemed clouded with sorrow.
“No. Several years ago, when the plague swept through, my sibling lost their life as well.”
Her voice trembled with unshed tears. Damn it. How was I supposed to salvage this atmosphere?
“If you were abandoned together, were you twins?”
Oblivious as ever, Saren didn’t stop there. This was the first time I’d seen the two of them talk for so long. Vivian didn’t seem bothered by it, so there was no need to intervene.
“Yes. Like you and my lord, we were born on the same day, at the same time.”
“Hmm— Now that you mention it, I think I might have heard something about that when I was young.”
“Perhaps. Thanks to master’s kindness, we once stayed at the mansion for a single night.”
“Right? No wonder. The name was… Chloe, wasn’t it?”
My footsteps suddenly halted. Saren and Vivian stopped at the same time.
“W-what did you just say?”
“Pardon?”
“......Chloe? That was your sibling’s name?”
“My lord?”
She died long ago. That couldn’t be possible. Then what about the Chloe I met in my previous life? Was it someone else entirely?