Blurry Full Moon
June 5th. 5 AM. The sky was still dark, but a faint dawn was breaking.
And on the bed where Ferzen and Laura sat... it was covered in red bloodstains.
Ferzen's shirt hung open, his body crusted with scabs. Here and there, vivid bite marks stood out.
The chaotic combination of those marks was so utterly asymmetrical that Ferzen felt no mental strain—aside from the exhaustion of staying up all night. For that, at least, he was grateful.
“Ah...”
Laura, who had been steadily restrained from tearing into his flesh toward his heart, had just tried to twist her own hand in a self-harming threat... only to snap back to her senses, trembling violently like someone who had committed murder in a fit of rage.
She stared up at Ferzen's torso.
“Is your head working properly now?”
“I...”
Meeting Ferzen's clear red eyes head-on, Laura tried to shrink back slowly. But after prolonged exposure to unspeakable pleasure amid her lycanthropy, her legs had gone limp, refusing her brain's commands.
“Since your reason coexists with it, it seems you can still think.”
Ferzen reached out, wiping her lips gently with his thumb.
His blood smeared across her lips like lipstick, leaving a lurid stain.
“Laura de Charles Rosenberg.”
“Y-Yes... s-sir...”
“I'll return the altar to you.”
A rosario, stained with blood, rested atop her own bloodied hand.
“If you've spilled water, you must wipe it up, mustn't you?”
Laura easily grasped what Ferzen wanted from her now. She opened her subspatial pocket, pulling out a bundle of disinfectants and medicines.
First priority: use one of her possessed elemental mages' corpses to wash away the blood crusting over his wounds.
But she was so flustered she couldn't even think sequentially. She uncorked the disinfectant bottle outright.
The alcohol scent wafted faintly, sharpening the fishy reek of blood filling the room.
“S-Sor... s-s-sorry... s-s-sir...”
Finally dry-heaving, her face crumpling, Laura apologized to Ferzen.
Of course, she knew a single word wouldn't suffice.
She stripped off her clothes almost violently and approached him.
“P-Professor... to m-me too... s-same as b-before...”
“Enough.”
A small, frail, slender feminine body.
At the center of her pert breasts, pink nipples stood shyly erect from the afterglow of pleasure, glistening with sweat like dew.
She might have seemed a bit immature, but amid the heavy scent of sweat, the musky aroma from her crotch unmistakably marked her as a full woman, not a girl.
“If I returned you in that state, could your body even endure it?”
Ferzen chuckled, grasping her slim waist.
“Look.”
“Eek...!”
“Just a little pressure, and it snaps like a flower. And...”
“Ah, it h-hurts...!”
“If I squeeze harder here, it'll leave red handprints on your skin. If I bite that delicate flesh or rake it with nails, the scars would last forever.”
He withdrew his hand and continued.
“Your future husband would surely love seeing those.”
“...”
“Don't flail to ease your guilt. Just treat me obediently.”
With no choice but to assent, Laura summoned one of her elemental mages' corpses and meticulously washed the blood from his wounds.
Then, dabbing cotton in disinfectant, she applied it carefully, followed by ointment and bandages, tending every injury with precision.
“D-Done... s-sir...”
After a long while, she withdrew her hands, kneeling like a puppy gauging its master's mood, hands clasped demurely as she awaited his next words.
“Well done.”
Ferzen inspected himself briefly, then buttoned his bloodied shirt matter-of-factly and rose.
Laura reached out, clutching lightly at his hem.
“At l-least... l-let me... c-compensate... w-with cl-clothes...”
“No need.”
She was Rosenberg's daughter, after all. Holding her leash was one thing, but piling on debt wasn't unwise.
But her face crumpled in refusal.
“Do you crave absolution from guilt that badly?”
“N-Not full absolution...”
As Ferzen finished buttoning up to leave, he gazed down at her steadily.
Aside from her panties, she was stark naked, so she belatedly covered her pink nipples and bowed her head.
Creak!
Ferzen sat back on the bed's edge.
“Roughly nine hours and forty minutes, so rounding up to ten strokes should suffice, don't you think?”
“P-Pardon...?”
She knew exactly what he meant by "ten," but feigned confusion out of shame.
“...”
“...”
In the lingering silence, she glanced once more at his bloodied shirt...
“I-I understand...”
Nodding at last, she crawled forward on all fours like a dog, positioning her belly atop his lap and lying carefully.
Shlick.
“Ah...!”
Smack!
“Hic!”
Compared to her small, fragile frame, her plump, fleshy buttocks reddened under Ferzen's large hand.
But the shame outweighed the pain—the lewd, feminine musk wafting blatantly from beneath her slightly pulled-down panties.
“P-Please... b-breathe through y-your m-mouth... s-s-sir...”
Face buried in the bedding, she pleaded softly toward him.
Smack!
“Augh!”
But her plea went ignored as Ferzen silently struck her cheeks: two, three, four times...
“Hng... ugh...”
Less than five minutes passed.
Clutching her stinging buttocks, Laura sat up and watched Ferzen's back as he picked up his umbrella.
“Change the bedsheets and blankets... and while you're at it, clean the place spotless before returning to the academy. That shouldn't be hard.”
“Y-Yes...”
Nodding in assent, she watched him unfurl the black umbrella, open the door, and stroll out leisurely.
Thud!
The door shut.
Laura exhaled heavily.
As Ferzen had said, she didn't remember everything.
But much of it lingered, especially the early stages right after the lycanthropy flared—vividly so.
I'm insane...
She'd begged him to impregnate her. Promised to burst his heart just before he came.
Recalling her stammered words, Laura tore at her snow-white hair in self-harm that wasn't quite self-harm.
And since her reason had coexisted, she hadn't needed full suppression. She'd threatened him with self-strangulation or fatal wounds.
Thinking of that—and of him silently enduring the wounds...
Her heart grew heavier.
She'd inwardly dismissed him as a novice.
But he was a full adult—a reliable man.
“...”
Hugging her knees lightly, Laura wiggled her toes.
The patter of rain reached her ears.
Listening closely calmed her mind and body bit by bit.
Gazing at the blood on her fingertips—Ferzen's blood...
Lick.
For some inexplicable reason, she tasted it.
As expected, it was terribly fishy.
But as that fishy taste spread in her mouth, faint echoes revived: the feel of clawing his flesh with these hands, biting his body with her teeth.
A strange mood settled over her.
Was it lingering lycanthropy aftereffects?
Her body tingled with faint arousal.
As suspected—sliding her hand down, brushing her crotch...
Clear, lewd love juices coated her fingers.
Squelch.
The viscosity was incredible; rubbing her fingers stretched threads like honey.
“Ha...”
Staring blankly, Laura pressed her forehead weakly and sighed hotly.
I'm such a pervert...
Self-loathing deepened endlessly. Shaking her head, she forced herself up, changed clothes, and—as Ferzen had asked—cleaned the shabby room spotless.
Then she returned to the academy... but without rest, she sat at her desk with stationery in hand.
Vacation period.
To control her lycanthropy, she needed to stay near Ferzen somehow.
But he'd told her to slowly reshape the smokescreen she'd created, given time.
The perfect moment to lay that groundwork was now.
Yet... what to say?
No other connections came to mind.
Claiming she'd go to Ruerg during break to serve as its territory mage wouldn't be taken at face value... it would only mesh with her existing smokescreen, breeding needless suspicion.
But right now, it's the only option...
Tapping the pen nib on the pristine paper, unable to devise better, Laura finally penned it in her beautiful calligraphy.