The Noble Lady of Lust

Chapter 421: Well-Intentioned Advice

"Eliminate."

Alice repeated herself, and Cordelia, who heard her this time, thought she should provide more details to ensure better cooperation.

"Yes, Elena can stay since I see you two get along well and she’s mainly a servant, but the rest must be—"

"Big Sister Cordelia."

At that moment, Alice interrupted Cordelia’s words, something very unlike her. It caught Cordelia’s attention; she had been seriously considering that she needed Alice’s help to find the rest and get rid of them.

"!!!"

When Cordelia looked into Alice’s emerald eyes, she felt a chill run down her spine, and at the same time, for some reason, she lost her breath.

They were the same beautiful, brilliant emerald green as always, but there was something there that made her feel a strange sense of danger.

Something ominous began to settle in the air, giving Cordelia a slight feeling of pressure.

Alice continued speaking.

"Honestly, you’re not the only one; I also find it hard to understand you—"

Alice’s tone was normal and calm, but Cordelia instinctively felt she had to shut up and listen.

"—So I’m going to assume I didn’t quite understand what you just said and that it’s a misunderstanding due to your inability to express yourself properly, but..."

"..."

"In the event that what I understood was your true intention, I ask that you abandon that line of thinking."

Alice continued; for some reason, every word felt heavy, as if they carried an authority that Cordelia couldn’t contradict.

"Each and every one of them is a member of our family, and we’ll be together forever—and that’s a basic fact you must understand if you belong to my sister’s harem."

There was no anger; she wasn’t raising her voice. It was Alice’s usual calm, gentle voice; she seemed to be simply explaining basic things to the ignorant Cordelia.

But by this point, Cordelia, who was looking into Alice’s emerald eyes, felt that there was something there—a bottomless abyss, beyond explanation.

It didn’t make sense; it was something that didn’t seem to have anything to do with the sweet Alice. It was hard to explain, but that’s what Cordelia felt, and whatever was there made her feel like she was suffocating.

"..."

"Don’t think for a moment that you’re superior to the rest and can ’eliminate’ them just because you want to. That is something that absolutely will not happen."

Even someone like Cordelia understood that by that point. No, that wasn’t it—her whole body realized that Alice was angry, and that wasn’t something to take lightly.

"I know my older sister, and she cherishes and loves each and every one of us—she doesn’t put anyone above or below anyone else."

"..."

"So, big sister Cordelia, let me give you some advice, since I see that in addition to loving her, you admire my sister just as much as I do. Under no circumstances let her hear something like what you just said."

Advice? Yes, that’s what Alice said, but for some reason it didn’t seem like just that.

At that moment, Cordelia didn’t understand a thing.

She wondered: What did she do wrong? What’s wrong with wanting the person you cherish all to yourself? What was this? Why was Alice angry? What did Alice’s words mean to her?

There were many possible answers, but she simply couldn’t make sense of it; she was truly very confused.

And Alice didn’t care about that confusion at that moment and continued speaking.

"If she hears that and misinterprets it, that could be very bad and wouldn’t end well, no matter if you’re the daughter of my sister Astrid. My sister usually nips problems in the bud at any cost, and I think just like her."

"..."

Cordelia was confused, but she definitely understood that. It wasn’t advice; it was undoubtedly a warning, a soft and gentle warning of what would happen if she took that path.

And in those abysmal eyes that no longer seemed to be emerald-colored, Cordelia saw that every word was the truth.

"But it’s lucky that won’t happen, right? Because after all, it’s a misunderstanding—a misunderstanding that arose because you’re not good at expressing yourself, isn’t it? Or maybe it’s me who didn’t understand you correctly. Whatever it is, there’s no way you’d want to say something bad, right? I think what you meant was to separate from my sister those who are with her for selfish reasons or something like that... Or am I wrong?"

Each question seemed lighthearted, but Cordelia felt more danger with each one, and she sensed that she could really only answer one thing—or something truly bad might happen.

"Y-yes...you’re right."

"Phew~... I’m glad that’s the case."

"..."

At that moment, Alice sighed in relief, and the feeling of oppression somehow just vanished.

Until then, Cordelia had truly felt as if the suffocating sensation she had was like someone squeezing her neck.

"I suppose that’s a normal way of thinking, since you don’t know much and are unaware of most of the circumstances, but my older sister knows how to choose, and all my sisters are good, kind girls, so there’s no need to cut ties or end any relationships. Trying to do that is what’s unnecessary."

"Yes..."

her brain was still processing what had just happened; the change was so abrupt and so unreal that maybe it was her imagination or something like that.

"I’m glad that’s the case. Besides, if it ever happened, my }sister could handle it on her own. If she ever brought home someone rotten who would ruin our family, I have no doubt she’d deal with it herself. My sister is very reliable.(^_^)"

"Y-yes."

Once again, Cordelia felt that sensation for a brief moment. She really wasn’t imagining it.

"Well—ah! Big Sister Cordelia, we’re already late. We have to go get changed or we’ll be late."

At that moment, Alice seemed to realize that their conversation had gone on too long and tried to urge Cordelia to hurry, a little worried about being late to get changed.

Cordelia let Alice lead the way, watching her from behind without understanding what kind of person she was.

She was completely lost by everything; what had happened and what she’d heard made her realize she couldn’t act impulsively.

She thought she had to ask for help, and there was only one person she could turn to...

.

..

"Hue~ sweetheart, you really know a lot of useful things."

"Heuheuheu~ of course I do. Having good senses and eyes is a good thing. This mansion has some hidden corridors I found—what do you think? Isn’t it great?"

"Of course it is, honey. Oh! It’s been years since I’ve looked closely, but it’s true that my daughters have grown up well, though it’s a shame Eira didn’t inherit my curves."

"...Hey, Lily, are you thinking about something nice? Are you ready for some mother-daughter bonding?"

"Hey dear, I was just looking at how well my girls have grown up, that’s all. It’s pure maternal curiosity. But did something happen? Eira seems to be in a great mood, and Selene, on the other hand, has a cute pout."

There I was with Lily. Right now, we were both in a place we shouldn’t be, casually seeing what we shouldn’t.

It happened when we happened to run into each other in the hallways and I wanted to show her something nice.

"Oh, well, around noon... I got a little excited and took Eira with me. When I came back, I found out Selene wanted to join us too, but she also wanted to have lunch. And since she couldn’t have both, she was a little sulky."

"Hehe~ that’s cute."

"Isn’t it? Well, even though it’s a shame to take away that cute pout, I’ll make sure to do it later."

"But first, let me play with her a little. Oh! She took off her shirt—they really are big. You said you didn’t have any intentions toward her, right?"

"Yeah, hey, but between us, do you think they’ll grow even bigger and surpass Astrid’s? She’s already very close, and she hasn’t even finished growing yet."

"Oh, that’s true! Yeah, I feel like they’ll grow at least that big. I really see a lot of potential. Sweetheart, seriously, can’t we have her? I want to stand between her and my older sister."

"I want to do that too, but she’s just a friend. But that doesn’t rule out the possibility of what you said happening; you just have to know how to negotiate well—at least with me. I don’t think you can."

"Hey, that’s not fair, ugh, I won’t be left behind—I’ll try to get along better with her too."

Indeed, the place I showed Lily was one that existed within the mansion’s walls—a secret passageway that ran right through what is now the girls’ locker room, which is being used now that outdoor classes have ended.

We were both peering through small holes in front of us.

Why did I find this place? Because Elena always makes me face the wall when we change. In fact, there was my doppelgänger getting dressed, but facing the wall.

Yeah, I’m not doing anything wrong; I’m just doing something I should have been able to do from the start.

"huehuehue~"

"Hmm, but on the other hand, honey, why don’t you look at the other girls?"

"Well, it’s just that hm doing it this way gives it a unique feeling."

It’s true. It’s not like it’s just our group; there are lots of other girls too, but there I was, looking at them.

It seemed a bit pointless, since I see them every day anyway, but I decide what I want to see or not, and I really don’t think I could ever get tired of looking at them—plus, it’s so different from the usual.

Not to mention that Lys, Aurora, Silvia, and Cordelia were there.

’oh!Aurora’s wearing that? How daring.’

"Well, I think I get what you mean... Besides, seeing so many young, pretty girls gives me a feeling that... Hmm, honey, can’t we do it right here once they leave?"

"Good idea. Actually, I was already getting turned on."

Right now, instead of morphogenesis, I was using my blessing. That prevents anyone with keen senses from detecting me instinctively or something like that.

It’s something I learned to do; because if I don’t, the girls whose instincts and senses I sharpened myself might sense me.

In fact, I think they can sense my gaze or Lily’s, but since there are so many girls changing, it’s not unusual for them to feel the occasional glance.

So, as long as I make sure our gazes aren’t loaded with any intention that might alert them, they’d never discover us.

Or so I thought until...

"Huh? Sweetheart, she looked this way."

"Hey, who—? Ah! Oh no, damn it!, Lily, we have to run!!!"