Chapter 38
While they ate together,
Lucy felt strangely detached from reality.
‘I… I’m going to do it soon.’
Right now, it was ordinary life.
An everyday scene of sharing a meal.
But in just a little while…
They would.
Do it.
The union of a man and a woman.
A lewd act.
Becoming one.
A maiden offering herself to a boy.
From now on, forever, the one who would take her first time was set in stone as Gilliam Everchess.
‘…I shouldn’t call him a boy. It makes the image weird. Yeah.’
Her thoughts kept breaking off.
Nervousness.
“Aren’t you eating?”
Lucy realized her spoon had stopped moving.
“…Sorry. I’m just, not very hungry.”
Her body felt restless.
She shivered.
Truly.
Now.
In just a little while.
A surreal feeling, mixed with anticipation, excitement, and fear.
‘What should I do?’
What position? Would they take off their clothes? Wash up? What about the mood? Who would lead?
She wasn’t lacking appetite, but her mind kept wandering, making her spoon stop.
“…If you’re too nervous, should we do it next time?”
Gilliam said, meeting her eyes.
He was serious.
The earnest consideration of a man who liked making women submit and tormenting them.
“N-no. This time. Today, I want to.”
Lucy ate diligently.
“Lucy’s cooking is delicious today, too.”
“Th-thank you. For, enjoying it.”
Would she soon have to say the same thing?
To someone else.
To Lucy herself, as a woman.
Thank you for eating me so deliciously?
‘Aah. U-uh, uaaah….’
And then the actions continued one by one.
They finished eating. Did the dishes. Brushed their teeth. Side by side. Brush, brush.
“What about washing up?”
“We don’t have to.”
I see.
Gilliam likes to smell someone while doing it.
‘…I might like this man’s smell, too.’
She’d once secretly taken one of his clothes and smelled his sweat.
It was strangely the kind of scent that made her want to keep smelling it.
She’d never once thought a man’s sweat smelled good. If she happened to catch a whiff, it was just disgusting.
Gilliam’s scent was addictive.
‘From now on, we’re really going to do it.’
Where would they do it?
On this sofa?
The bed, after all?
Or somewhere else, just to humiliate her?
Anything was fine.
She’d accept anything.
And yet, although Lucy had steeled herself,
“This is what I said earlier might be something you’d like.”
When she saw the object Gilliam took out, she couldn’t help being flustered.
A red collar.
It was elegant and pretty.
But it wasn’t something suited to the scene of her first time.
“…What is this?”
She asked, but in truth, she knew as soon as she saw it.
Who would be wearing that collar.
‘F-from the very beginning?’
If she became Gilliam’s woman.
If she became the one to receive his desires.
She’d already guessed that they would do things that weren’t ordinary.
She’d been prepared.
But.
“…I’m, new to this.”
Didn’t people usually treat you gently the first time, at least?
Wasn’t the moment a maiden gave herself supposed to be ordinary?
“Even so.”
Even so, huh.
‘He’s doing it on purpose.’
Don’t expect special consideration just because you’re a virgin.
If you’re going to be my woman, if you’re going to be my docile concubine, understand that properly.
Being a virgin isn’t a position that warrants special treatment; it just means you haven’t been tamed yet.
‘…That’s cruel.’
But who was it that had fallen for that cruel man?
Who was it that, even after receiving such a cruel demand from him, felt her heart race at the thought she could satisfy his desires?
Whose lower body was growing moist?
“…Yes.”
They say that in love, the one who falls first loses.
If that was true, Lucy had gone beyond losing and surrendered unconditionally.
It was absolute surrender: throwing every gate wide open, the lord himself coming out to load every treasure from the treasury onto a cart, then personally pouring wine and attending to the victor.
“All right.”
But she had one last resistance.
“I want the boy to put this collar on me.”
She didn’t want to give in on this.
She wouldn’t even get a wedding ring.
Because she was a concubine.
Then at least, she wanted him to make her his possession with his own hands.
“All right.”
The boy picked up the collar and undid his belt.
“…Hehe.”
Lucy smiled without realizing it, thinking that at least he was accepting this.
“Stay still.”
The boy’s hand touched Lucy’s neck.
‘Eep…?’
Strange.
A shivery sensation came over her.
‘W-why am I feeling like this?’
The collar touched Lucy’s neck.
A soft lining.
And then.
He pulled it snug, tightening it.
“Ah….”
A sweet breath escaped Lucy’s lips.
Her mouth had opened involuntarily from the pressure on her throat. Saliva gathered on the tip of her tongue and dribbled out.
“…Are you okay?”
Lucy closed her mouth and swallowed.
As she swallowed, the pressure on her throat briefly grew stronger.
“…Yes.”
Surprisingly,
“It’s okay.”
She thought wearing a collar would be painful.
But being restrained made her feel strangely secure.
She felt liberated.
The boy had bound her.
She wore the boy’s collar.
She had proof that she belonged to the boy.
The sensation of being dominated by the boy lingered endlessly around her throat.
“Aah… ah…♡”
Satisfaction.
Fulfillment.
A prickly sensation bloomed between her shoulder blades, and her shoulders twitched on their own.
‘Ah, aaah…♡’
Gilliam had wanted to teach her this.
The reassurance that came at the end of submission.
The happiness that could only be felt by being dominated.
“Heh, hehe….”
Lucy’s lips parted, to call for him.
But what should she call him?
Boy?
No.
Darling?
It would be sweet… but not now.
There was, wasn’t there?
A more suitable word.
A word for someone wearing a collar to call the one who put it on them.
“Heh, hehe…♡”
Along with a sweet breath,
Lucy spoke that title.
“Mas—”
“Yeah. That’s enough.”
Gilliam tried to take off the collar.
Grab.
Lucy grabbed Gilliam’s hand.
“…Why are you trying to take it off?”
“What do you mean, why?”
Because—
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The reason he’d put the collar on her.
In other words.
Because he’d reached Bond Level 2 with Lucy.
Besides, this collar was a special item that only its owner could remove.
If Gilliam didn’t take it off himself, she might have to wear it for the rest of her life.
…Now that I think about it, that’s pretty vicious. Is this what the goddess used her power for?
“I tried it, so I was going to take it off now.”
“W-wait a second.”
Lucy’s head spun.
Why was he doing this? Was he suddenly being considerate, thinking, ‘Maybe putting a collar on a virgin was a bit much after all’?
“I want to do it with it still on.”
“Do what?”
“I-I want to do it with it on…!”
“So, do what?”
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
But the two, engrossed in each other, didn’t hear.
“The collar!!”
“No, what are you going to do with the collar—”
“Boy, aren’t you being too cruel…!? How can you make a woman say that much…! Even if I’ve given up absolutely everything—”
Creak.
“Excuse us….”
“E-Everchess, are you h—”
There was no response, but it sounded like someone was inside, so the two women who’d knocked opened the door.
Shupi Vallier and Terry Marizia, who’d stomped on the scented candle Gilliam had given them that day.
The two who peered inside locked eyes with the two on the sofa, tussling over a collar.
“….”
“….”
“…Ah.”
“…Ah.”
After one second of silence.
“Kyaaaaaaaah!!!”
“A-a-a woman’s s-sin!!!!”
They screamed as if they’d seen a monster that ate only women and ran away.
The box of chocolates in their hands fell and rolled across the floor.
“Uh….”
Gilliam scratched the back of his head.
“Should I pick up the chocolates and give them back?”
“…You can just eat them, boy.”
“Really?”
Ah.
Could they have been trying to apologize in their own way?
“I feel bad now.”
“…R-right. I-I did something b-bad. (Yeah. I did something wrong.)”
“Are you okay?”
“…Sigh.”
Lucy let out a deep sigh.
Honestly, the mood was ruined.
The sweet throbbing that had spread through her lower abdomen turned awkward.
‘What was that?’
She’d been nervous all evening.
And now, all of a sudden, she felt empty.
“Sigh….”
Lucy reached for the collar to take it off.
But.
“…Huh?”
It wouldn’t come off?
It had come off easily when the boy did it just before, hadn’t it?
“W-what’s wrong with this?”
“Wait. Only I can take it off.”
Gilliam meant that literally. The collar was a special item made by a goddess.
But Lucy didn’t know that, so of course she interpreted it symbolically.
In other words,
Since I put it on you, I’m the only one who can take it off.
“How can that be…!”
Lucy suddenly felt rebellious.
‘That’s not true! You think I can’t resist if I really set my mind to it!?’
The fact that it was mere rebelliousness, not resistance, seemed to say a lot in its own way, but.
Anyway!
“Just you wait. I’ll take this off!”
“No, wait, I’m saying that because you could seriously hurt yourself!”
Lucy tugged at the collar, fuming.
Gilliam grabbed it in a panic.
“D-did you tie a knot!?”
“No, I’m telling you only I can take it off!?”
On the sofa, the silhouettes of a man and woman tangled together. Their bodies overlapped, their faces drew close, and their hands moved around each other’s necks and chests.
In that situation, they sensed someone again through the still-open door.
“Sorry! We’ll be done soon, just wait a little!”
I shouted that, thinking Shupi and Terry had come back, but—
“Ah….”
Lucy suddenly fell silent.
“?”
I looked to the side.
Two women were indeed giving us cold looks.
But they weren’t the two who’d come earlier. They were Maron and Elettra.
“….”
“….”
Lucy and me, tangled together while clutching the collar.
The chocolates, rolling across the floor as if the two of us had suddenly been overcome by lust after preparing for a romantic night.
Their eyes grew even colder.
“….”
“….”
“….”
“….”
A suffocating silence filled the house.