Chapter 54
"Come to my bedchamber next time. I'll test just how far that insolence of yours will get you…."
Click, click, click.
"……Crazy bitch."
Once I'd confirmed that Princess Aelith had disappeared into the distance, I muttered under my breath. It was unbelievable that someone like her was the Empire's princess and heir to the throne.
But thanks to [Iron Mind], my thoughts were already racing. Watching Aelith's back recede, I began calculating.
The bait Princess Aelith had thrown out was undeniably lethal. Imperial blood, the future heir to the throne, and overwhelming beauty. Any ordinary man might have sold his soul on the spot.
But taking her words at face value was something only a fool would do. Was she really a femme fatale who toyed with men? Or merely a sheltered hothouse flower, brimming with curiosity?
Information asymmetry has always been my weapon.
'Check Sexual Experience.'
Ding-
[Sexual Experience]
Kiss: None
Sex: None
Oral sex: None
Anal sex: None
"…Hah."
A dry chuckle escaped me before I knew it.
*
Past midnight.
The military sedan carrying Seraphina and me had left the Imperial Palace and was traveling down the deserted boulevard.
The capital's roads were brightly lit by streetlamps despite the late hour. But inside the car, a strange silence hung in the air.
There were only two occupants. I held the steering wheel with one hand, toyed with the gearshift with the other, and stole sidelong glances at the passenger seat.
Seraphina von Reinhardt was sitting there. Instead of her usual stiff dress uniform, she wore a daringly low-cut, deep navy evening dress. Perhaps some of the banquet's warmth still clung to her, because her porcelain skin remained faintly flushed. The passing streetlamps repeatedly illuminated and then lost the smooth line of her shoulders, her collarbone, and the white thigh exposed through the slit in her dress.
…….
She rested her chin on her hand and stared out the window. To an outside observer, she seemed to be taking in the capital's nightscape, but her eyes reflected in the glass were unfocused and hazy.
You look tired, Major."
I broke the silence first. She snapped back to reality and turned her head.
"…Ah, yes. I'm a little worn out."
After a brief hesitation, she continued.
"The nobles, the businesspeople, and the like… I wonder if they coat their tongues with poison, but they were truly exhausting. Blowing an orc's head off on the battlefield is much easier."
"Even so… you were extremely popular. Weren't all sorts of men lining up to ask you for a dance, Major?"
"Hmph, popular?"
Seraphina snorted.
"They're only interested in the title of the Empire's war hero. …You didn't see how their eyes changed when they learned I was the daughter of Baron Reinhardt, from some backwater corner of the frontier."
There was self-deprecation in her voice.
The House of Reinhardt had guarded the Empire's frontier for generations, but in central politics, it was nothing more than the powerless house of a rural baron.
"There's something wrong with their eyes. To me, you were the brightest person at the banquet tonight, Major."
…….
Seraphina did not answer my blatant flattery. Even in the darkness, however, I could see the tips of her ears turning faintly red.
She cleared her throat once, then deliberately changed the subject as though nothing had happened.
"You, on the other hand… seemed very busy."
Her gaze sharpened slightly.
"All sorts of young ladies and noblewomen came up to speak with you, you danced with the daughter of Duke Stahlberg, and even Her Highness the Princess…."
"Ah."
"And then there's Sergeant Hannah. …You seemed particularly attentive to her."
Seraphina's voice was calm, but she could not hide the thorn concealed within it.
'Status Analysis.'
[Name: Seraphina von Reinhardt]
[Status: Unidentified anxiety; comparison complex activated.]
[Emotion: Feeling inferior while comparing herself to other women, along with jealousy over the time Max Jaeger had spent with them.]
Jealousy.
She did not seem to realize it yet, but it was obvious to me. An instinctive resentment at the fact that other women could freely enjoy private time with Max Jaeger—time she herself had never had.
Especially Sergeant Hannah Meyer. Hadn't she emerged from the bathroom in my room? In Seraphina's mind, all sorts of fantasies must already have been unfolding.
"Her Highness was merely… playing with me as though I were a toy. Sergeant Hannah is… only a subordinate loyal to me."
"…So loyal, huh."
Seraphina mulled over my words.
"Yes, loyal enough to come running out of my bathroom soaking wet."
…….
"I have no intention of interfering in your private life. Nor am I going to start citing regulations. It's just…."
She trailed off and lowered her gaze. I could see the hand gripping the hem of her dress tightly.
"…I'm being treated by you too, aren't I? And in a very… private way."
She raised her head and looked at me. Her blue eyes were wavering.
"Then why do I feel like… I know nothing about you?"
It was almost a complaint. Though we had shared our bodies and a deadly secret, she was anxious that the distance between our hearts had not actually narrowed.
This was probably the greatest courage Seraphina could muster.
I chuckled, took my right hand off the gearshift, and reached over to lay it on Seraphina's thigh.
"……!"
Seraphina's body flinched.
"W-what are you doing…?! Aren't you driving?!"
"I'm watching the road just fine. Besides, it's deserted."
I replied calmly and moved my fingers. Smooth bare skin showed through the slit in her dress. She wasn't even wearing stockings, and the feel of her bare thigh slid warmly against my palm.
"What if someone sees…!"
She tried to seize my wrist, but there was no force behind the attempt.
"Who would see? It's just the two of us in this car."
I slid my hand a little farther inward, toward the inside of her thigh.
"And, Major."
I lowered my voice.
"Your mana circuits are overheating."
"……What?"
"The tension from the banquet, and… the unnecessary emotional strain you're experiencing now, are making your mana fluctuate erratically. If we leave it like this, you could have an attack tonight."
I lied without batting an eye.
'Status Analysis.'
[Name: Seraphina von Reinhardt]
[Status: She instinctively saw through Max's lie.]
But she had seen through it far too easily. Then again, perhaps it was too obvious a lie.
I was just swallowing my disappointment and withdrawing my hand when—
Seraphina bit her lip, then turned her head to look out the window.
"……If it's emergency treatment… I suppose it can't be helped."
'Huh.'
The instant I heard her words, I yanked the steering wheel. Screeeech! The shriek of the tires tore through the capital's dark streets. The car veered off the main road and stopped in a dark corner of a narrow alley, beyond the reach of even the streetlamps.
[Name: Seraphina von Reinhardt]
[Emotion: A conflicted desire to reject my touch despite knowing it was an obvious ploy.]
She knew that I wanted to touch her under the pretext of treatment. But she did not brush my hand away. Instead, she slowly relaxed her grip on my wrist.
"A wise decision, Major."
I unfastened my seat belt and leaned my upper body toward Seraphina in the passenger seat.
"W-wait…!"
I firmly seized the back of her neck and pulled her toward me.
Smack.
The first was a light bird kiss.
"Mmm…!"
Seraphina's eyelashes fluttered. The moment our lips parted, she looked up at me with an unsteady gaze, still gripping my shoulder.
"Is this part of the treatment too…?"
I hesitated for a moment before answering.
"…It is."
Seraphina avoided my gaze and spoke.
"Then just once… I suppose it won't be enough…."
"……If that's what you want."
I clasped the back of her neck and pressed my lips to hers again.
Mwah, smooch.
Her supple lips met mine with a soft collision.
The second kiss was more lingering. When I lightly bit her lower lip, she instinctively opened her mouth wider. I took advantage of the opening and pushed my tongue deep inside.
"Hah…! Mmph…."
Wet sounds reverberated through the narrow car. In the quiet alley and darkened vehicle, there was nothing but the sound of our breathing and the wet mingling of our saliva.
"Hnnngh…."
Seraphina's reaction changed.
The hand she'd kept stiffly on my shoulder now wrapped around my neck, pulling me closer.
Lick, slurp.
Her tongue curled around mine. The movement was clumsy but desperate. The proud aristocratic officer from the banquet had completely disappeared.
The car grew stifling with heat. Because of the cold air outside, the windshield began to fog over.
"Haa… ngh, M-Max…."
Whenever our lips parted, she called my name. Her hazy eyes looked up at me. Her cheeks were flushed, and her lips glistened with moisture.
"You're breathing hard, Major."
"……That's because of you."
"…Don't you like my treatment?"
"Ngh…! Of course not……. It's just…, never mind."
Seraphina broke off and sought my lips again. This time, she was the one who pushed her tongue inside first.
Mwah, smack. Mmph!
The kiss became far more intense than before. We tasted each other's saliva, our breaths mingling. I could hear the rustle of her dress. Unable to contain her excitement, she rubbed her thighs together. The skill hadn't even activated yet.
With the narrow space between the driver's and passenger's seats between us, my upper body was almost draped over hers.
That was when.
While absorbed in the kiss, Seraphina's hand groped along the inside of my thigh as though to steady herself.
"Mmm… Mmph… ngh, hnnngh…."
She must have reached out unconsciously.
But there, reacting to the succession of kisses, our bodies pressed together, and her scent, was my erection, already swollen to its limit.
Thud.
Her palm closed around the heavy shaft at my groin.