Chapter 607: Rachel's Situation
Chapter 607: Rachel's Situation
“Elder Sister Rachel. Are you awake?”
Knocking before entering someone else’s room is basic human decency.
Even if this was my house, I wasn’t so ill-mannered as to just barge into a guest’s room. What if she was changing her clothes?
Would Matilda have been furious if she heard that?
No. This was different from Matilda. When I opened Matilda’s door and walked right in, I went there with a clear purpose. In fact, it would have been better if she was undressed.
Besides, Matilda hadn’t locked her door, either. The first time might have been a surprise, but honestly, wasn’t she looking forward to it from the second time on?
So, that and this are two completely different issues. Yep.
“…Elder Sister?”
Anyway, I knocked and called out to her, but there was no answer.
After waiting a moment, I knocked again and called her name, but the door remained silent.
That’s strange. There’s no way she wouldn’t be awake by now.
She was so diligent that she was always at her post no matter what time I went to the Guild. It was odd for her to be sleeping this late.
No, wait a minute. What time does she even go to work?
She was always working whenever I went to the Guild. I didn’t know the exact time, but she must start incredibly early… Could it be that she already woke up and left for work?
No. Whatever the reason, she stayed the night at someone else’s house. She wasn’t the type to leave without a word to the owner.
Even if she was angry enough at me to leave without saying anything, she would have at least said goodbye to Diana.
In that case, the only reason for this silence must be that she’s still angry with me.
I really didn’t like that, either.
But if that were the case, waiting here any longer wouldn’t get me an answer.
Then again, if I just barged in, she’d only get angrier.
What should I do?
Caught in a dilemma, I stood there and pondered for a long time.
I thought about it for so long, in fact, that Silvia’s door creaked open again.
It had been quiet for quite a while, so she must have thought I’d left.
But even so, she couldn’t let her guard down. Silvia opened her door just a crack and peeked her head out, scanning the hallway.
It might have seemed overly cautious, but this time, it was definitely the right call.
Because our eyes met perfectly.
“Hello.”
“Heek! Uwaah!”
Since our eyes met, I greeted her, and Silvia let out another strange noise as she tried to slam the door shut.
Of course, since her face was peeking through the gap, the door couldn’t possibly close.
Still, she was way too flustered. I mean, I could understand being surprised, but…
“Oww… Ughhh…”
She must have tried to shut the door with all her might, because the impact seemed considerable. Silvia slumped to the floor, clutching her neck with both hands and letting out a low groan.
She’d never reacted so painfully even to a monster’s attack.
Although her base defense was high, she was the one who had slammed the door on herself with all her strength.
Silvia often played the role of a sub-tank in our party, but she was fundamentally a well-balanced fighter, so the damage from the door must have been significant.
On top of that, it was like taking an unexpected blow in a state of confusion, so there was a high chance it had even landed as a critical hit.
“Hey, hey. Are you okay?”
Worried, I quickly approached her.
For once, Silvia didn't seem to have the luxury of trembling at my touch. As I drew near, she just kept clutching her neck and groaning.
But that, too, was only for a moment.
“Hyaauuuuugh…!”
To check the injury, I moved her hands from her neck and gently tilted her head by touching the top of her head, revealing her long, white neck. Suddenly, Silvia let out another strange sound and began to tremble.
“What? Why…”
“I-Impossible…!”
Before I could even ask what was wrong, Silvia muttered those words and scrambled away into her room, still sitting on the floor.
…Doesn’t your butt hurt?
“What is it? Are you in a lot of pain?”
Of course, her reaction almost certainly wasn’t from the pain in her neck but from her embarrassment at my touch, but I checked just in case.
“N-No, sir! I-I’m fine! Th-this is nothing! It’s noo problem at aaall!”
And just as I expected, my concern turned out to be needless.
Silvia was clutching her forehead, not her neck, as she shouted desperately.
Alright, I get it. Just calm down. I didn’t mean to, but sorry for touching your forehead.
“…Is your neck really okay?”
“Y-Yes, siir! S-So… th-that is…”
Silvia nodded vigorously at my question, then hesitated, trying to say something as if it were difficult for her.
“Yeah, yeah. I get it. I’ll go, I’ll go.”
“U-Ugh… I-I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. Just in case, go get it properly treated by Leia or Matilda later, okay?”
“Yes…”
Should I pretend to be hurt and tease her?
It would be a lie to say the thought didn’t cross my mind for a second, but I’d already wasted a lot of time dealing with Silvia.
My purpose here was, first and foremost, Elder Sister Rachel. I suppressed the mischievousness welling up inside me and closed Silvia’s door.
With the Silvia incident over, I made a decision.
Right. Let’s just go in.
Even if it wasn’t intentional, I had been knocking on Rachel’s door as if to apologize, only to end up bantering with Silvia.
If Rachel had been in her room listening, she would have stormed out in anger. The fact that she was still silent led to only two possible conclusions.
Either she was in the room but in a state where she couldn’t hear my voice, or she wasn’t in the room at all.
Either way, it seemed I needed to go inside and check before I could figure out what to do next.
Besides, if I just kept waiting out here, Silvia would never be able to leave her room.
“Elder Sister. I’m coming in.”
Having concluded that she wasn’t in a state to hear me, I immediately opened her door and stepped inside.
Thankfully, the door wasn’t locked. The well-maintained, high-quality door swung open smoothly, making almost no sound.
And the scene inside the room was quite different from what I had expected.
Well, my guess that she was in the room but couldn’t hear me was correct. I just never imagined she’d still be asleep.
Rachel had such a diligent image that I hadn’t even considered the possibility of her sleeping in this late.
But thinking about it more closely, it was only natural.
She had apparently been suffering sleepless nights from worry for days, to the point where she had dark circles under her eyes that even makeup couldn’t hide. Of course she would be like this now that she’d confirmed I was safe.
Thinking that, her deeply sleeping form felt all the more lovely.
Well, I had no idea how she’d look at me when she woke up.
Relief was one thing, but she was probably still angry.
Still, I should probably wake her up and talk, right?
I slowly approached the bed where she lay.
Her beautiful blonde hair, which she usually wore neatly tied up, was spread out long, likely let down for sleep.
It was the same blonde as Leia’s, but it had a completely different feel.
If Leia’s hair was a deep, brilliant gold reminiscent of the precious metal itself, Elder Sister Rachel’s was a lighter shade, closer to lemon-colored.
Her eyes were closed, and she slept with soft, quiet breaths. The sight was, as always, breathtakingly beautiful.
She was an intellectual beauty who would look amazing in a pair of glasses, yet her sleeping face looked so innocent. Even though she was older, I couldn’t help but think she was cute.
Well, she had a surprisingly affectionate side when she was awake, so she was cute then, too.
Moreover, she was now bathed in the sunlight streaming through the window, not the Guild’s indoor lighting, which seemed to make her snow-white skin stand out even more.
Perhaps because she spent most of her time inside the Guild, her skin looked almost pathologically pale now that I saw it like this.
Ah, I see the dark circles under her eyes are gone.
To think they disappeared completely just from sleeping this soundly. Just how little sleep had she been getting? Well, I guess that’s how much she was worried about me.
In that case, would it be better to let her sleep a little longer rather than wake her up?
I had come here to explain myself, but right now, letting Elder Sister Rachel get more rest seemed like the better option.
I couldn’t be the one to disturb her peaceful sleep after she’d finally been able to rest soundly for the first time in days.
Besides, this was the first time I’d ever seen her sleeping so defenselessly. Since things had turned out this way, I decided to admire the view to my heart’s content.
I carefully sat on the edge of the bed so as not to wake her and gazed at her face.
And then, the conversation I had with Diana yesterday suddenly came to mind.
The one where we talked about just looking at each other’s faces all night.
Of course, Diana had been setting a trap to one-up me somehow, but she probably wouldn’t have minded if we had just looked at each other’s faces without any sexual activity.
After all, she wasn’t wrong when she said it could be an act to prove that you love someone for more than just their body.
Well, Diana and I were long past the stage of needing to prove such things, so it was meaningless for us.
But Elder Sister Rachel was different.
The reason she hadn’t become my woman yet was because she wasn’t sure about me.
So what if I staged something like that right here, right now?
…Wouldn’t this work perfectly?
Not only would it build her trust in me, but her anger might also melt away in an instant.
It was a plan so brilliant I had to admire it myself, and I decided to put it into action immediately.
Careful not to wake her, I lay down as close to her as possible and brought my face near enough to kiss her at any moment.
Using my arm as a pillow for her would have made it perfect, but doing that would probably wake her up.
“Mmm… Haaah…”
As I was thinking that and staring at her pretty face, she suddenly let out a sweet sigh and turned over to face me.
“Guwon…”
And then, burying her face in my chest, she quietly murmured my name.
Huh? Huh? What’s this? Was she awake? Since when?
The unexpected situation made my body freeze for a moment, but I soon realized there was no need to be tense.
Calm down. Calm down and act according to the plan.
“Elder Sister. Are you awa—”
“Haaah… Haa… Haaah…”
I lowered my voice, trying to give her the most charming morning greeting I could muster, but she paid me no mind and continued to breathe softly.
No, to say she was breathing softly… it felt like her breaths were getting quite deep.
Anyway… she’s still asleep, right?
“Um… Elder Sister?”
“Mmm…”
To check, I brought my lips close to her ear and whispered, but the only response was a slightly sultry hum.
This is dangerous. I got a little hard. I need to soothe her anger when she wakes up; I can’t make a mistake like that.
I hastily circulated my mana to will my erection away. Taking advantage of the fact that she was pressed against my chest, I succeeded in sliding my arm under her head to act as a pillow.
Now all that was left was to wait for her to wake up and then act naturally, just as planned.
“Haaah… Haa… Haaahng… Mmm… Guwon…”
And the most important thing in executing this plan was for me to keep my sanity until she woke up.
No, seriously, Elder Sister. You’re really asleep, right? Why does your breathing sound more and more erotic?
Please stop taking deep breaths with your face buried in my chest. Every time your sweet breath tickles my skin, I feel like I’m going to lose my mind.
Dammit. If I’d known this would happen, I would have had a round with Diana this morning.
That girl needlessly provoked me earlier, and now I want it even more.