Lily (1)
Lily (1)
The more I chew on it, the more ridiculous it feels.
That was the thought that came to me as I opened my eyes in bed.
I hated the fact that even though I wanted to loosen up my body and go back to sleep just like this, I couldn't.
And then memories of that day surfaced.
Several days have passed, but I still don't know what I did wrong.
In the end, she didn't even tell me what I did wrong until the very end.
Why were Vien and Rus sulking back then anyway?
Didn't I do nothing wrong? Should I not have offered a Wish Ticket for nothing?
.
.
Ha....
No. It's not. Let's let go of the lingering regrets. Yeah. If it weren't for that, we wouldn't even have been able to clear the dungeon properly.
It was a thing of the past, but it was a question that naturally arose for me as I fought against exhaustion and woke up early.
If I'm this tired now, how exhausted will I be tomorrow when I meet Vien, and a few days later when I meet Rus, and have to do whatever they tell me to do all night long?
Hoo, no, no...!
No matter how much I decide not to think about how many lingering regrets are left, they keep lingering in my head.
But it's already in the past, and agonizing over something that can't be helped now only hurts me.
I raised my heavy body from the bed.
"K-eu-eu-eung..!"
It was hard to pull my body away, as if the bed were a magnet. It must be a magnet, considering I've never woken up easily even once.
Even gulping down cold water couldn't wake my mind up.
Would I wake up if it were bright?
I pressed the switch and turned on the mana lamp.
My room came into view.
A room cluttered here and there.
I'm normally a clean person. But for the past little while, being tormented by those women meant I didn't have time to clean. Returning exhausted and tossing my clothes anywhere, or failing to empty things like the trash can, it was no different from a pigsty.
I opened the window. A chilling wind rushed into the room.
Rummaging around here and there, I roughly grabbed and put on top and bottom clothes that didn't have a damp, musty smell, and stood in front of the bathroom mirror.
Ha-am.. I'm tired.
I rubbed my face dry and picked the sleep out of my eyes.
I checked my face in the mirror.
My face that only looks handsome to me.
Chapped lips. Minor wounds. Black hair and black eyes.
A messily grown beard from not shaving for a few days. Eyes bloodshot from exhaustion.
Dark circles that weren't there originally are also coming down.
It also feels like I've gotten a bit emaciated.
"Stachys. Why are you living like this?"
Even when I asked myself, no answer came back.
Instead, hyung's voice echoes from within my heart.
'Just say you have a girlfriend.'
...Will that really help?
I slapped my cheeks sharply. Let's not think about that right now.
Soon it would be time for Lily noona to arrive.
I just roughly washed my hair.
I thought about shaving my messily grown beard too, but eh, I'm just a porter anyway, so whatever.
You can think of it as a minor act of rebellion.
If you're going to drag me around, I'll at least make you feel embarrassed.
If things go well, I won't be dragged around like a porter, and the days I can rest will increase, right? Kukelkel.
.
.
...Tch.
Even if there was room for us to become lovers, I'd dress up and go out. But since that's not the case.
At that moment,
Ttok-ttok-ttok.
Someone knocked on the door.
Sure enough, Lily noona's voice could be heard.
I expected it, but doesn't she ever actually get tired? Was the person who went into the dungeon yesterday someone else?
-'Stachys? Noona's here. You're ready, right? I'll wait outside?'
Sniffing my clothes, I stepped out the door.
But is this really okay? It feels like it smells way more than necessary.
I made eye contact with Lily noona waiting outside.
Red hair and red eyes.
Noona's slightly wavy red hair boasted silk-like fineness, and her clothes were extremely beautiful. It was a very simple white dress, but whether due to the harmony with her hair, the subtle details of the dress, or noona's figure, it was beautiful anyway.
"Oh, noona, you dressed up nicely."
I offer a trite compliment. Even at such a trite greeting, noona laughs while covering her mouth.
"Thank you, Stachys."
She also flashes a seductive eye-smile.
And amidst that eye-smile, her pupils scan me up and down.
And under that tiger-like gaze, I inexplicably feel ashamed of myself.
It was my plan, but now that it's actually happening, emotions I hadn't anticipated rush in like a tidal wave.
My current appearance is messy facial hair, stinky and ragged clothes, bloodshot eyes, and scar-covered skin.
It's not Beauty and the Beast; it's Beauty and the Beggar.
Didn't they say everyone has a plan until they get punched?
Yeah.
No matter how much I didn't want to go out, I felt like this was a bit lacking in basic manners.
Plan canceled. I can't take this.
"Noona, wait a second, can I go change my clothes real quick? I feel like this smells a lot like me."
But her reaction was something I hadn't expected.
"...Let's see here."
She thrusts her face right in. Panicking, I placed my hand on her forehead to block her approach.
"Uh-uh! Ah, seriously, no. It seems a bit too bad."
"It's fine, Stachys."
"What on earth... No, and why would you sniff it anyway..."
Without answering me, noona changes the subject.
"What are you being shy about, it's not like we're lovers. I can at least check if my younger brother smells bad. I'm your noona, after all?"
Like this. Lily noona frequently reminded me that I was just her younger brother. As if telling me not to forget.
My energy completely drains out. Even if I don't actually have feelings for her, when she draws the line like this, it unnecessarily puts me in a bad mood.
It feels like getting rejected for a confession I never even made.
Since noona put it that way, I felt like an idiot for being shy. Right, well, it's not like we're going to become lovers anyway.
Who cares how pathetic I look.
Resigning myself, I slowly eased the pressure on her forehead.
Conversely, Lily noona's face gradually drew closer to my musty shirt.
As she brought her face to my clothes, instead of my musty body odor, Lily noona's shampoo scent wafted out strongly.
"S-seup.. ha... seup.."
I mean, just a second ago I tried not to care, but I couldn't help it.
It's embarrassing. If she says, "It smells like a pigsty," I think I'll get hurt.
This isn't the embarrassment of opposite sexes; it's embarrassment human-to-human.
"....Haa... hua.."
But she keeps sniffing. What the heck. I thought she'd sniff, pinch her nose, and stop. Her pupils even look a bit unfocused.
"Lily noona?"
As soon as I call her name, she quickly snaps back to her sharp, put-together self.
"Hmm. Stachys. It's a bit ambiguous. Just a moment?"
But what she says is a bit weird.
"No. That's fine now."
"Stay for just a second."
"No. I think I know too."
"I'm telling you it's still ambiguous?"
"Ah, seriously... I'm telling you it's embarrassing..."
"..."
"..."
"....Stay still."
When I said it was embarrassing with slightly reddened cheeks, Lily noona started acting like someone whose internal circuit had suddenly snapped.
"I told you I'd let you know if it's weird, didn't I? Just stay still for a moment. Noona will judge everything."
"I'll just go change. Wait here."
Carefully dodging her close face, I slipped out, turned around, and opened my room door.
I tried to open the door and go inside the room, but
Another arm pushed the door shut. It was Lily noona.
Honestly, I got a little startled just now.
And hearing her voice continue like a tiger's low-frequency rumble, I felt my body freeze.
Her appearance, speaking without even looking at me with seemingly unfocused eyes, was a bit scary.
"Stachys, noona likes this clothes so much that's why. It has a nice fit when Stachys wears it, you know? If there's no problem, I'd like you to keep wearing it."
What is this...? It's clothes so damn shabby that it makes anyone watching feel embarrassed. And didn't she shoot some chilly looks earlier? To each their own, but... that's a pretty weird taste.
"So as long as it doesn't smell, Stachys, you'd keep wearing it too, right? I like this clothes, so I'll judge whether it smells or not. I'll judge whether there's a problem, so you just stay put?"
People sometimes change like this. Usually when they're talking bullshit.
When I closed my mouth in bewilderment, noona approached.
Uh, staying quiet wasn't me saying you could sniff me, you know?
To stop her from approaching, I tried to grab her by both arms.
"Slow."
As she muttered, my body became extremely sluggish.
Lily noona easily dodged my slowed-down arm and instead stepped right inside my arms, into my embrace.
She's even using magic for this? Is this also some kind of joke?
Is she doing this more because she knows I'm embarrassed?
Once again, she sniffs my clothes.
My face flushes with shame. I shouldn't have come out wearing something like this. What kind of humiliation play is this, having a noona smell my sweat odor?
Sniff, sniff. Noona, who had been smelling my scent, took steps closer and this time pressed her body tight against me, burying her nose into my clothes.
And then she started smelling my clothes here and there.
Starting from the chest, going down to the stomach.
The flank, where the smell would be thickest.
Coming all the way up, in the end she pressed right against my neck and was sniffing my collarbone.
There are no clothes there, noona..?
Both her arms wrapped around my waist, pressing against me thoroughly.
Now that I look, her eyes are closed too.
Embracing each other in a hug fit for lovers, she inhaled my scent.
The hair rubbing against the nape of my neck tickles.
What on earth is she doing? Why did asking her to just check if it smells turn out like this?
"Haa... haa... huum..."
"Nooo-naaa?"
Even my words come out slow.
Feeling like this wasn't right, I tried to grab her shoulders with my slowed-down arms.
?
Without even looking, Lily noona swatted away my approaching arm.
My arm flying away slowly.
"Seup, seup, seup."
Lily noona rubs her sharp, pretty nose back and forth, back and forth.
Why is she really acting like this? This easily enters the top 50 weirdest sides Lily noona has ever shown.
"Hua... hua... hue.."
I can see her with her eyes closed and cheeks flushed. The breath she sucks in through her nose tickles my neck.
Then her cherry-like lips part slightly, and a cute little tongue pokes out little by little toward my neck.
At that moment, my arms dropped limply. The magic had worn off. I didn't miss the opening.
"Noona!!"
Right before a suggestive feeling was about to set in.
If you act like this, even if noona doesn't view me that way, I keep ending up looking at you strangely.
I grabbed her by both shoulders and pushed.
"Hue..?"
A blank, dazed sound I'd never heard from my sharp and warm noona echoes out.
With unfocused eyes, her arms stretched straight out toward me.
A thread-like string of saliva connects her lips and my neck.
Ugh, what are you doing getting saliva on me and all.
Is this just checking if it smells? I'm not an idiot.
That's a reaction you'd only get if there was narcotics in my clothes or something!
Now that I think about it, this definitely makes it into the top 30 weirdest sides.
"...Noona, wasn't this a bit... sexually harassing rather than smelling to see if it smells?"
"Uh.. yeah.. se-, sexual harassment?"
When I spoke a bit firmly, the life returned to her previously run-away eyes.
"You said you were just gonna check if it smelled, so why were you doing that?"
"Ah.. uh.. Hmmm!."
"..You even used magic, so I think that went a bit past the level of a joke?"
Lily noona blinked her eyes twice and turned her head away.
And after rubbing her face briskly and fixing her bangs, she looked at me.
"Ah, so... that is... I'm sorry. It felt like there was a dangerous smell coming from the clothes, so I got a bit focused to accurately identify it."
"...A dangerous smell?"
"Yes. Because a faint scent of the Kinta Snake's lethal venom was lingering. I'm a wizard, so I'm knowledgeable about materials, right? I needed to check, but when you pushed me away, I used a little magic too."
Huh...?
Is that it?
Come to think of it, if not for that, the absurd behavior she just showed is completely unexplainable.
Unbelievable actions require unbelievable reasons.
If anything, because the reason is so absurd, it feels even more believable.
"So...?"
"Pardon?"
"...Poison... was it on my clothes?... I don't think I've ever made an enemy of anyone."
"Ah..! Ah! No, no. It was just a misunderstanding."
It was a misunderstanding.
Phew, my mind instantly eases up.
"Not knowing that... noona, doing that without saying anything makes you look like a pervert. Next time, give a heads-up before doing it."
Lily noona's face turns bright red. Like a tomato. Her hair and face become the exact same color. She droops her head all the way down.
My anger-detection radar activates.
...Is she mad?
"...Stachys, what kind of outrageous nonsense is that?"
She's mad.
Ah. Oh crap, what did I just say?
Hearing that lowered voice, I intuited it. I'm doomed.
Hahaha... How much suffering will it take to smooth this over again.
Whenever I look, I dig my own grave.
Guessing the situation earlier was so flustering, my words came out without filtering.
Come to think of it, that's true.
She had buried her nose in my stinky sweat-smelling clothes to find the poison scent because she was worried I might be in danger, yet I treated her like a pervert.
I mean, who would want to bury their nose in clothes like this? No sane person would do that.
"And sexual harassment, earlier? How can actions a noona does to her younger brother be sexual harassment?"
"Pardon?"
"Where on earth is there sexual harassment between family members?"
"...Why wouldn't there be sexual harassment between family members, Lily noona..."
"No? There isn't. Just in case I do something like this..."
Lily noona slips her hand under my clothes and strokes my abs. The touch is somehow suggestive.
"Even if I touch your bare skin. We're not lovers, we're family, so it's not sexual harassment. Do you understand, Stachys?"
I'm utterly flabbergasted.
I mean, even if this wasn't sexual harassment between real family, first of all, we aren't even real family.
Just how much does she view me as a younger brother to...
"What I'm doing to Stachys is not sexual harassment. This is common sense. Got it?"
A menacing aura gushes out from her.
She must be that angry at being called a pervert.
To avoid provoking noona any further, I affirmed her words.
And first of all, I wish she'd take her hands off my body.
I'm a pure-romance guy!! A person who isn't even my lover shouldn't be touching my bare skin.
Honestly I don't hate it, but I have to protect my convictions.
"...Yeah, I got it, noona. My bad."
Only then does Lily noona's hand, which had been stroking my abs, depart.
"That's right. So what happened earlier wasn't sexual harassment, and I am most certainly not some kind of pervert. Even if there had been no poison, that is. Understand? Smelling clothes is something you can just do."
"Yes, noona."
It seems roughly settled. But it feels like ages have passed, yet it's still dawn. The day hasn't even begun.
Phew. It looks like it's going to be a long day.
"Noona, then shall we go now?"
"Ah, before that."
"..?"
Noona creaks my room door open.
"Looking at it now, these clothes aren't very appealing. Do you want to go change? Go shave your beard a bit too. Noona will wait outside, okay?"
This wizard bitch..? What was all that she did until now?
"...Noona?"
"And suddenly I got curious about something."
"...About what?"
"How you would dress if Stachys got a lover. Pretend you got a lover and try coming out wearing the clothes you'd wear then? I'm worried if you'd dress nicely."
Huh, good grief. When was it that she said she liked my clothes just now? Not even a few minutes have passed.
Besides, dressing up in fancy clothes is a hassle... Why worry about something like that.
"Lily noona. If a girlfriend comes along, I'll figure it out and dress well then. Right now, dressing up like that is a hassle."
"..."
Once again, life drains out of noona's eyes. It makes me needlessly walk on eggshells. Don't tell me I did something wrong again..?
"...A hassle..? Is spending time for me a hassle?"
Ah. I suppose she could interpret it that way. My inner thoughts are indeed that, but what I meant to say wasn't that. It's a misunderstanding. My fault.
"N-no, noona. I just mean dressing up like that is a hassle; if noona were a hassle, would I have come out this early at dawn?"
"...Hmm... Still, Stachys's boyfriend look. I want to see it. Isn't there any way? It's just curiosity. You know wizards can't stand curiosity, right?"
It's a bother. I haven't worn pretty clothes like that in forever so I don't even know where they are. And my hair hasn't been styled in a long time so I look frumpy. Even if I dress up, it probably won't turn out nice.
I thought about how I could smoothly refuse.
"Noona, first of all, I've never worn a boyfriend look or anything of the sort. I don't even know where I put nice clothes. If I have to find them, match them, and come out, it'll take a long time, you know? Don't we have a shortage of playtime as it is? Isn't that why we're meeting from dawn?"
Lily noona looks at me with a pensive expression. Why are you so damn curious about my boyfriend look. I actually don't even know how I'm supposed to dress.
"Anyway, noona, I'll say it again, I can't do it even if I want to. I would have had to be someone's lover before to even wear stuff like that."
Her face relaxes a bit.
"I'll still come out dressed nicer than this, so wait a little bit. Okay?"
Yet her reaction is still lukewarm. What should I say to get a reaction and make this awkward atmosphere disappear?
Ah!
"Ah! Lily noona. Even if you're curious about my boyfriend look, like I said earlier, there's no such thing. So can't noona put together a boyfriend look for me just once?"
"Huh..? Huh? Pardon?"
"If what you want to see is me dressed up, we can just buy some outside and try wearing it."
Noona's face relaxes a bit more.
Right, this is it. Show the look, and since it's come to this, buy clothes as a two-for-one deal.
The one who said she wanted to see it was Lily noona, so if I'm lucky, noona might even buy it for me.
If noona, who dresses well, helps me, wouldn't I be able to buy something nice?
"Th-that's not bad, huh..? But it's not that I want to see it, I'm just curious if you'd dress well if you got a girlfriend."
"I know, I know."
Just how many times does she have to draw the line to be satisfied? Even when I speak in passing, she picks at it and corrects it.
"So how about it? Noona, by any chance can you help me pick out some nice clothes today?"
"Ahem-ahem... Since my younger brother is begging me this much, I suppose I should naturally grant at least that much."
"Then that settles it, right? For now, I'll just change into clothes that don't smell and come out. Wait for me."
"Yes. Let's do that for today. I'll wait outside until you change, okay?"
Kkik kwang.
As Stachys went inside the door, Lily felt her face heating up.
Today, she would be able to see it. Stachys's boyfriend look.
Moreover, tailored entirely to her own taste.