The Noble Lady of Lust

Chapter 405: I Understand Very Well.

"Hey, Lily, why the difference? Aren’t you going to feel it or something?"

I found the difference in treatment strange.

"What, dear?~ Are you crazy?"

Lily came up to me and whispered that in a panic.

"~What do you mean?"

"~She’s more than I heard, you know? I sensed a lot of danger."

"~Oh. Good instincts as always, but it’s also because you picked a bad day to come."

"~Huh? Sniff Oh! ... That’s it. I knew something smelled weird. I have bad luck... although I feel like doing something like that would be a death sentence anyway."

"눈_눈 Miss Leyla, could you tell me what you heard about me?"

Yes, Lily was whispering to me, but doing so without any sound barriers while being so close to people of our rank was completely useless.

Elena obviously heard everything.

"Hiii!! so-sorry, I won’t do it again."

"Neither will I."

The cold words, along with that piercing gaze, made Lily react immediately: she knelt down to apologize. And I, almost reflexively, did the same beside her.

"..."

Elena, seeing us both—especially Lily—didn’t know what to do. It was understandable; it’s not normal for someone you just met to be kneeling in front of you.

Eira seemed to notice Elena’s discomfort, so she approached and spoke to her.

"Haah~ Elena, it’s also a little bit my fault. It’s not that I spoke ill of you; I just told her a little bit about how you tend to hit that idiot and the reasons why. And haaa~ that old witch is more like that idiot than I’d like to admit... and, every now and then, I indirectly told her that it was very likely that you would ’correct’ her once they met. B-but it wasn’t meant in a bad way. You saw her yourself, didn’t you?"

"Yes, don’t worry, Miss Eira. I think I understand."

Elena accepted it quite easily, although she still seemed a little doubtful.

"And you don’t have to worry about us; if necessary, go and beat that old witch mercilessly if she crosses the line. In fact, I’d appreciate it. her body is tough, so it will hold up pretty well."

"Hey, dear, don’t sell me like that... besides, I’m a very prudent person. So, big sister Elena, can I probe a little?"

"..."

"Old witch!"

"Stop calling me that! Besides, I asked before doing it! And politely. I don’t want to get hit."

"That’s not the point, you cheeky old woman. Why do you call her big sister?"

"Well, since she doesn’t call me big sister, I’m going to assume that I’m the youngest here. I’m very flexible, I don’t mind doing something like that."

"Of course you don’t mind, you old witch who doesn’t know the— ugh!"

"I told you to stop calling me that. You know, sweetheart, this hurts me too, but if it’s for your own good, I’ll keep doing it... Anyway, unless she calls me big sister, I think it’s okay for her to be the older one. Besides, sweetheart said it didn’t matter much."

"Grrr."

"Honey, growling is not very feminine. You should stop doing that. Well then, big sister Elena, what do you say?"

"No... and I’d appreciate it if you just called me Elena."

"Huh? But you—"

"Just Elena is fine... big sister."

"Unfair!"

"Silence, my lady."

"Yes, /_\"

"/_\ So I’m the oldest again and I can’t probe... well, I guess it’s appropriate to get to know each other better before something like that happens. I understand. Well then, is everyone here? So... uh... dear, what are you holding there?"

Lily thought the introductions were over, but something else caught her attention: and it was obviously the person I was holding.

"Oh, let me introduce her, since she doesn’t seem to—"

"Oh! Another cutie!... Why is she so stiff? A doll? Dear, why are you carrying this in public? I don’t think it’s appropriate."

Before I could finish, Lily had already taken Cordelia from my hands. That’s when she noticed her stiffness and drew her own conclusions.

"No, Lily, it’s not that, she’s—"

"Ah! Don’t tell me! This is the so-called ’George,’ right? It really is a mallet, with a very strange shape. But why did they give it a masculine name when it looks like a pretty girl? Although it certainly looks very hard... it would hurt a lot if it hit me."

"No, Lily, she—"

"Miss Leyla, what do you think you’re doing delaying the students?"

"Ah! bi-instructor Astrid, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to— hiii! W-what’s wrong? Why do you look so angry? Yes, it’s my fault, but I only act like this with the people here. In front of others, I’ll keep up a dignified facade, as I promised you."

As Lily swung that supposed "sledgehammer" around and I tried to correct the misunderstanding, Astrid appeared behind her and placed a hand on Lily’s shoulder.

When Lily turned to look at her, she saw Astrid smiling at her, but the problem was that the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

Lily noticed it immediately: Astrid was very angry with her.

But not exactly for the reason Lily thought... and well, before it’s too late for her, I’ll clarify it.

"By the way, Lily, what you’re holding isn’t a weapon. The person you’re carrying is Cordelia. I think I already told you about her, didn’t I? What happened to being able to recognize them right away?"

"Cordeli—(⊙o⊙!)"

"Miss Leyla, release the student Cordelia immediately and follow me. Classes are about to start, and I need your help with something... and I hope I don’t regret this decision!"

"Y-yes... I’m sorry, I didn’t know and... yes, I’m sorry about that..."

Lily finally understood the problem. She left Cordelia in my care again and, with her ears and tail drooping, followed Astrid.

"Haaah~ I hope Instructor Astris keeps that old witch under control. Seriously, why is she even here?"

With Eira saying that last bit, the group—still a little bewildered by the energy storm called Leyla—headed over to where the rest were.

..

.

"And that’s why it was decided that in the coming days—"

Once we arrived, some kind of introductory explanation about something began before we formally started.

"~Big sister."

Just then, Alice, beside me, spoke to me. As it was clear that there were priorities, I turned my full attention to her.

Click.

"Hm? What’s wrong?"

"Big sister, where are Chris and the others? I don’t see them anywhere."

"Huh? Ah! Now that you mention it... wait, let me—"

"? A silent barrier? No, that’s not important. Hey, where’s the other idiot?"

"Hey, Eira, didn’t anyone tell you it’s rude to enter someone else’s sound barrier without asking?"

"Don’t change the subject. Where are you and the rest of the idiots?"

"I was just about to find out, let me see... Huh? Where am I? I’m flying?... in my underwear? Naked? What the hell is that idiot doing!? What happened last night...? Oh! Wait! Why is my integrity in question!?"

"Calling yourself an idiot means you did something abnormally idiotic. What did you do? Where are they?"

"What did you do now, my lady?"

"Hii! Elena, when did you come in? Did you also come to ask why I haven’t arrived?"

"That’s right. They’ll be taking roll call shortly. Know that, even if it’s not your original identity, I don’t approve of being absent without a good reason. And as far as I know, last night you just went out for a ’drink,’ as usual."

"It was a gentlemen’s gathering... and yes, you’re right, Elena, I absent out without a good reason is wrong. It’s something I shouldn’t do under any circumstances, right?"

"눈_눈 That’s correct."

"Yes, I understand, I understand very well. And I would definitely do everything I could to prevent it from happening—"

"My lady, what was tha—?"

Fwossshhh!

The barrier prevented the sound from escaping, but not from entering, and we all heard it at the same time: a violent sound, that of an object moving at extremely high speed.

It caught the attention of everyone present, including the instructors in front of us. Everyone looked up: a huge stone sphere, surrounded by light, was coming straight at us.

The tension exploded immediately. The instructors began to raise magical defenses, chaos and fear spread among the students... and in the midst of it all, there was one person who was nervous, but for a completely different reason.

That person was me.

"—So I want you to know that what is about to happen is a direct consequence of that, and I don’t deserve to be blamed at all. By the way, do you have any men’s clothes?"

BOOOM!!!!

*****

~Moments before~

"Hmmm~"

He was feeling that comfort, that comfort he liked so much; that feeling of warmth that always kept him going...

Yes, he was clearly feeling that in his arms, but...

’I want more’.

It wasn’t unusual; it was basically a recurring desire and, as always, that feeling of never having enough accompanied by the cozy situation and, as always, he thought he would fulfill it... but...

Yes, there was another problem. There was something strange; he didn’t know why, but he felt danger and a kind of warning.

Something was forcing him to wake up and move away from the pleasant sensation, but he didn’t want to; he wanted more and he would get it...

But it was then, just as he was about to satisfy that desire, that—

"Umm~"

"!!!"◉_◉

He heard a groan and the reaction was instantaneous; his mind cleared.

Click!

Bromm!!!

No, he was forced into high alert, his eyes snapped open, and without even fully understanding, he instinctively cast a powerful lightning spell at the thing that had been in his arms moments ago.

"What the hell?! Where... William? Damn it, what happened? Why am I in my underwear? Why is he too? Ugh... damn, I have a hangover. Damn it, I can’t use the blessing."

Christian got up and quickly assessed the situation. There he was, in his underwear; he looked over at the half-charred William, who was also in his underwear.

He tried to remember, but everything that happened last night was hazy and barely clear from a certain point on.

A sense of crisis was overwhelming him, and the fact that he couldn’t erase the consequences of drinking too much didn’t help.

He looked around and noticed that, luckily, he and William weren’t alone in the very spacious room; Alexander was there too, as were Esteban and Ban, and they were all in their underwear as well, although Alexander at least had a T-shirt on.

"Ugh... no, wait, that doesn’t make it any better... damn it, seriously, what the hell happened? What the hell is going on in this room?"

But as he continued to look around the room, he saw that there were three people in the only double bed, three guys with particularly robust builds: Mike, Ivan, and another guy he didn’t know, with Ivan in the middle.

The three of them were covered with the same blanket, so Chris didn’t know what was underneath and didn’t really want to know.

Even more so because, although it was a double bed, it wasn’t that big, and with three burly guys in it... he really didn’t want to know or look that way any longer.

He was already very concerned that his own integrity was compromised.

Knock, knock!

"Dear customer, are you okay? I heard a loud noise coming from here."

"Ah!"

He heard a knock at the door and, still a little distracted, went to open it. Standing in front of him was a girl his age.

"Dear customer, did something happen?"

The girl said curiously, while discreetly trying to look behind him for some reason.

Christian didn’t pay attention to what she was doing. For him, it was more important that someone had appeared who could clear up his doubts.

"Do you work here or something?"

"Yes, I’m the owner’s daughter."

"Do you know why my friends and I are here? ... Do you know what happened? Did you hear anything?"

"No... /_\, I was spying, but unfortunately nothing happened."

"Unfortunately? Spying?"

"Ahem! I mean, you were drinking at the bar downstairs. Since we’re also a Inn, when you all got drunk, my mother and I brought you here... it was a lot of trouble. Ahem, but a good tip would cover it."

"Ugh... damn pain! Okay, I understand. The important thing is that nothing happened, right?"

"I wouldn’t exactly say that, customer."