Chapter 51
As always, this was a tea party with Velias—or rather, a training session.
[The outline is finally starting to take shape, isn't it?]
I could hear her words in my head, but I maintained my concentration.
Something similar had happened before, and my concentration had scattered for an instant, turning everything to naught.
When I asked later, she said that if my concentration scattered merely because someone spoke to me, I had not truly entered the field yet, which was why she deliberately spoke to me.
The level of mastery she wanted was enough to draw out and use mana at will even while carrying on an ordinary conversation.
It was the high standard peculiar to a genius.
"Well, yeah."
I said that while looking at the exceedingly thin mana thread streaming from my hand.
A special mana thread, thinner than a human hair, created by splitting the original mana thread one more time.
Seeing that the mana thread did not scatter even while talking with her, I leaned back in my chair and sighed.
"Phew... I finally did it."
If there was a problem, it was that this success was merely the starting line.
Still, thanks to this, my ability to control mana had improved, raising the efficiency of my existing techniques, so it was not a bad result.
[Wait a moment.]
"Hm?"
[I think we should check its hardness.]
Saying that, Velias took the special mana thread streaming from my left hand and gripped it with her own hand.
She did not seem to think I would attack her with this mana thread.
'Good grief...'
How should I put it? She was lowering her guard far faster than I could have imagined.
When we had first met, she had kept a certain distance, but after a certain point, she suddenly narrowed that distance explosively, and...
"Hmm..."
Now she constantly kept close enough to me that the slightest wrong movement from either of us while she sat beside me would make our bodies touch.
Her distinctive scent, reminiscent of grape juice and jasmine, brushed past the tip of my nose.
[It is definitely good. I think we can move on to the next step now.]
"Hmm, really?"
[Yes! Oh, but Abel, there is something I want to ask you. Is that okay?]
When I nodded as if it did not matter, she fixed her gaze for a moment on the area around the back of my neck.
[The area around your neck is a little red. Are you all right?]
"...Ah, it is fine. I think my skin got irritated from rubbing against my clothes while I was getting dressed."
At her question, I brushed over the back of my neck as if it were nothing.
She accepted my words without any suspicion.
[Oh, I see. I should tell the maids to prepare clothes made from softer fabric.]
"..."
With Velias speaking as though she knew nothing, all I could do was give a wry smile and nod.
A little while later.
[Now, shall we begin the next step... is what I would like to say.]
Velias lowered her head as if slightly dejected and sighed with an expressionless face.
[Let us call it a day for today's training.]
"Hm?"
Already?
At her words, I looked at the clock hanging on the wall.
It was only just past lunchtime—an early hour—and she was already calling it quits?
Receiving my questioning gaze, Velias looked at me regretfully and spoke.
[Normally it would not matter, but the succession ceremony is tomorrow, you know?]
At her words, I readily nodded.
"Ah, right."
[So we should rest for now. No matter how insignificant the succession ceremony may be, it is where you will be presented as the family's heir. Shouldn't you go in good condition?]
As she said this, Velias brought out desserts with predominantly savory flavors, apparently remembering that I had once said I did not particularly like sweet things, and handed them to me.
[Here.]
"Thanks."
As I ate the desserts Velias had given me, I began spending time chatting with her in a perfectly ordinary manner.
***
A little while later
As I left her room after being seen off by Velias, I heard Mist's voice, sounding puzzled perhaps because I had come out before my usual time.
"You're out a little early today?"
"Ah, since the succession ceremony is tomorrow, she recommended that I stop training and get some rest."
I answered her question appropriately and looked at the Nebula ducal household's servants, who seemed somewhat busy because of the succession ceremony.
"The preparations are finished, right?"
"Yes. The banquet hall has been ready for quite some time."
Mist tucked her hair behind her ear and took a step toward me.
But that was as far as she went.
A suitable distance—close enough to touch, yet not quite.
A distance that naturally made a man conscious of her.
Mist maintained exactly that distance.
Swish.
Whenever I moved closer, she backed away by half the distance I advanced.
Close enough that if I reached a hand toward her, I could touch her immediately.
"Really?"
"Yes."
But neither she nor I moved any farther.
I was in a situation where I could not afford to fall for her seduction in the first place, while she, despite needing to seduce me, seemed to be restraining herself from making the first move.
I gave a small laugh at the sight and walked toward my room.
Step. Step.
As we walked in silence, I began to remember the conversation we had had not long ago.
'You mean, why I don't make a more active move?'
Two weeks ago, on the day she declared that she would seduce me under the pretext of honey-trap training.
But strangely, starting from the day she said she would seduce me, she had behaved much as usual for about three days.
She supported me normally and maintained a certain distance.
'You're asking the obvious.'
Saying that, Mist briefly checked our surroundings, then gently caressed my chin.
'Lord Abel, what do you think seduction is?'
'Hmm?'
'Seduce a man with vulgar or revealing clothes?'
As Mist said this, she began slightly loosening the hem of her skirt and the maid uniform she had kept tightly fastened.
A seductive expression quite different from her usual blank face.
Moreover, beneath that face, a figure so stunning it could fairly be called violent began to dazzle my eyes.
In that situation, Mist gave me a faint smile.
'Well, in the broad sense, I suppose what I just described would count as seduction.'
But.
'I don't think truly lethal seduction is anything like that.'
Saying so, she began fastening the clothes she had loosened again.
'I don't think it is seduction meant merely to arouse sexual desire. Something more fundamental.'
Once fully dressed again, she gently stroked my collarbone.
'Making you want me.'
Mwah.
‘I think that is the more lethal kind of seduction.’
It was not about leaving her mark where everyone could see it.
Quite the opposite.
Her faint lipstick mark began to be carefully imprinted on a part of my body only I could check.
A touch containing her small wish to make me want her as a person, not out of sexual desire.
'Lord Abel.'
She lightly pressed her lips to my slightly bared collarbone and spoke to me in a cautious voice.
'You probably started guarding yourself against me from the day I declared that I would seduce you, Lord Abel.'
'Well, yes...'
'Yes. But if I openly threw myself at a man who was already on guard, I would only make him more wary, and it would be difficult to win his affection that way.'
'Ha...'
Correct.
Mist was an attractive woman—so beautiful that, among all the women I had seen, it would be fair to call her one of the most beautiful.
When a woman like that declared war by saying she would seduce me, it would be strange not to be on guard.
But she had noticed that very point and acted in the opposite manner.
By continuing to attend to me as usual.
She had chosen to gradually dull my wariness.
'...'
Even for someone made of steel, constantly staying on guard against a person they spent every day with was mentally exhausting.
From her standpoint as an assassin, there was no reason to deliberately attack a place under heavy guard.
And the day I asked her that question had been the trigger.
The very fact that I had grown suspicious was proof that my guard had weakened.
Mwah.
As if confirming that my thoughts were correct, she gently brought her lips to the area around the nape of my neck.
'Seduction is...'
'...'
'To strike the decisive blow by targeting the unguarded moment in a place the target never expected—and while doing so...'
Swish.
'To make the other person impatient for more. That's what seduction means to me.'
Saying this, Mist took a step back.
That was when I realized it.
I had thought she had pressed her body close to me as if leaning against me just moments before.
But in reality, apart from the movement she had made herself, there had been no physical contact at all.
'Huh...'
Naturally, when Mist said she would seduce me, I was confident.
Having worked for the NIS in my previous life, I had of course received honey-trap training.
But it was only now that I realized there was a vast difference between women trying to seduce me with the honey-trap techniques of my previous life and Mist standing before my eyes now.
'...'
The reason I had not fallen for the honey traps of the countless beauties in my previous life was that their motives were obvious, making them easy to avoid.
When it was obvious something shady was going on behind the scenes, it would be stranger to fall for it.
But Mist before me now was different.
She was not seducing me for any information or benefit.
Who knew seduction could be so different when it was done solely because she wanted me—the person named Abel?
'This is going to be quite a difficult battle.'
I could not help giving a wry smile at this lethal seduction I was experiencing for the first time.
At my words, Mist licked her lips and replied in an unconcerned voice.
'Hehe. Didn't I tell you? I said I'd seduce you with everything I've got.'
.
.
.
"Lord Abel?"
"... Hmm, ah."
I stopped reminiscing and looked at Mist, who was watching me from beside me.
"Are you all right?"
"Ah, yes. I'm fine."
Saying that, I brushed over the back of my neck, which had turned slightly red from her ambush that morning, and continued calmly.
"The preparations for the succession ceremony were finished long ago, and my clothes have been ready for ages too. Shall we rest for a while?"
"Shall I prepare a cocktail?"
"Hmm... Yes. That sounds good."
Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since I had had a cocktail, what with all the training lately.
The thought of enjoying a cigar and a cocktail together for the first time in a while brought a smile to my face.
Even if it was not an addiction, enjoying the cigar and cocktail together created a synergy that made both taste better.
"Then I'll prepare it."
"Hmm? You?"
At Mist's sudden words, I stopped on my way to my room and turned to look at her.
When we had first met, she had clearly said she had never even tried a cocktail before.
At my question, Mist began whispering calmly in my ear.
"Yes... I've practiced for your sake."
Looking around, I saw no servants anywhere.
The corridor held only Mist and me.
"I'm still lacking in many ways, of course, but I've improved enough to serve one to someone else."
Saying this, Mist spoke to me in a voice mingled with her breathing.
"For you alone."
...
A little while later.
When we reached my room, Mist immediately began mixing a cocktail with practiced hands.
Clink. Clink.
The rhythmic movements of her hands and the sound of ice striking ice inside the shaker as she made the cocktail.
Watching her make the cocktail from a suitable chair, I could not help letting out an exclamation of admiration.
"Oh, you really do look pretty skilled."
"I am still only at a beginner's level, though."
Mist gave a small laugh at my words and began pouring the cocktail through a strainer that filtered out the ice.
A cocktail notable for its black color and rather strong alcoholic aroma.
"It doesn't have a name yet, but it's my own creation."
Click.
"Please give it a try."
"Hmm..."
I accepted the cocktail she offered, carefully took a sip, and rolled it around in my mouth.
A heavy alcoholic aroma and the scent of coffee.
It was a cocktail characterized by the sweet, rich taste of coffee that followed those aromas.
"It doesn't have a name yet?"
I could tell immediately, even from a single sip.
Though hidden by the coffee aroma and sweetness, its alcohol content was far higher than I had imagined.
"Yes. It hasn't been given a name yet."
"Would it be all right if I suggested a name?"
Normally, the person who made something like this was the one who named it.
But Mist readily nodded at my somewhat rude suggestion.
"Yes. I don't mind. It doesn't have a name yet, after all. I'd actually be happy if you named it, Lord Abel."
"Haha... Thanks."
A cocktail characterized by an intense coffee aroma and potent alcohol.
Although the preparation was a little different, it reminded me of a cocktail from my previous life that was famous enough even for me to know.
"How about Black Russian?"
"Black... Russian. That's fine."
At her positive response, I savored another sip of the Black Russian she had made and took a cigar from inside my clothes for the first time in a while.
"..."
Snip.
I carefully cut off the end of the cigar with a cigar cutter, then slowly lit it with the lighter from inside my clothes.
And so I began passing the time slowly, drinking the cocktail Mist had made while smoking my cigar.
Before I knew it, quiet jazz from the gramophone installed in my room filled my ears with rich sound.
The aromas of the cigar and cocktail mingled richly across my mouth and nose.
It was the very definition of a leisurely time.
And so the afternoon drinking session slowly passed, eventually continuing into the night, when the sky was filled with stars.
"It's almost over."
Slosh.
I lifted the cocktail glass she had given me, took a sip, and looked at the darkened window.
Since the succession ceremony would begin tomorrow, the end of the declaration she had made that day—that she would seduce me—was drawing near.
Clink.
At my words, Mist calmly made the cocktail she would drink and opened her mouth.
"Yes. It is."
The condition she had set was that I withstand her seduction.
"For now, I think I've won the bet."
Saying that, I gave a wry smile and exposed the area around my neck hidden by my hair and clothes.
My neck, covered in countless traces of hers, left quietly like an assassin's marks whenever I let my guard down.
"Wasn't seduction just an excuse?"
Smirk.
At my question, she merely smiled like a satiated lioness and gave no answer.
It was the day before the succession ceremony began.