Chapter 88 - I Want to be Alone With You (2)

I silently moved my feet, looking at Siren's hand tightly holding mine.

Though her expression seemed expressionless, judging by her face being redder than usual and her palm becoming slightly damp, it seemed she was quite nervous about doing this.

“...”

Perhaps because I could see my precious person being nervous, I also became nervous in turn.

Because of that, I swallowed unnecessarily as I followed Siren.

Siren opened a door in the corner and said to me, "It's here."

Since the castle had been built not long ago, the room inside gave a strong impression of being hastily furnished rather than properly decorated.

It was an empty-looking room, so normally I should have felt emptiness, but perhaps because an indescribable tension arose, I felt trembling strongly rather than emptiness.

As this was my first time experiencing something like this, I was bewildered and feeling reluctant when Siren patted the bed with her palm and said to me, "Sit here."

It was quite awkward to say no at this point.

So I had no choice but to sit on the bed and look at Siren, who was hesitating and looking at me.

Then she touched her reddened ears and said to me, "...Give me your finger."

"O-okay."

Perhaps because tension was contagious, and when it transferred, it burned strongly and greatly, I nodded, stammering without realizing it.

Seeing my reaction, Siren showed a strangely satisfied response and grabbed my finger with both hands, saying, "Then I'll bite it."

"...Okay."

To be honest, if one thought about it, it wasn't anything particularly special.

It was just a playful act of licking a finger with the tongue at most.

But watching Siren shyly biting my finger, the atmosphere was strangely sensual, so I was smiling awkwardly when…

Siren lightly bit my finger and looked up at me, saying, "Hey."

Her pronunciation was quite slurred because she was speaking while biting my finger.

Siren mumbled for a while, then seeming to think this wouldn't do, she slightly parted her lips.

I was smiling awkwardly watching the thin strand of saliva stretching when Siren looked at me and said, "Do you want to lick my finger too?"

It was a surprising proposal, so I was about to refuse, but Siren naturally entered my arms and pressed her finger against my lips, staring at me intently.

I wondered if it was really okay to lick this.

Though I was conflicted, it was awkward to back out now, so I calmly bit the finger.

Siren looked at me with somewhat surprised eyes, then squirmed and said to me, "...It tickles."

"You told me to bite it."

"Yeah. You did well."

I laughed emptily at the somewhat strange answer.

Siren said while in my arms, "Okay, that's good. Let's go back now."

"Huh?"

As it ended more emptily than expected compared to the action, I showed puzzlement.

Siren looked at me and said, "We each licked once, so I think it's good to be satisfied with that now."

Though the intonation was somewhat strange, it was true that we had "licked" "fingers", so I deliberately pretended not to hear and continued speaking.

"I-I guess so? But I'm curious about something. Why did we have to come into the room to do this?"

At those words, Siren tilted her head and said to me, "Loraine told me to."

"Ah... Loraine?"

The moment I heard those words, I grasped the general context.

Loraine must have conveyed a conclusion from her unique romance brain to Siren and made her carry it out.

I don't know exactly what words were exchanged, but…

I was guessing she might have said something similar to "If you bite and lick and so on, you can become closer" when Siren stared at me and asked a question, "So how was it? Did you like it?"

At the question of whether I liked it, I silently patted Siren's head.

Even in this extremely complicated situation, I felt she cared more about my feelings than her own.

The moment I realized this fact, feelings of guilt hit me and my heart became a bit complicated.

It feels like I'm always just receiving.

The moment I realized this fact, I decided to start paying back little by little from now on, when Siren looked up at me, then suddenly looked down and said to me in a voice mixed with depression, "Damian, can I ask you something?"

"Of course. What is it?"

"Does Damian like women with big breasts like Ruen?"

"..."

I never dreamed I would hear such words in my life.

As it was an excessively blatant statement, I was feeling reluctant, not knowing how to answer, when Siren looked at me and continued speaking, "Loraine said that since my breasts are smaller than Ruen's, I should compete with my thighs."

...Loraine.

I sighed, deciding to ban Loraine from tea when we returned.

"From now on, ignore what Loraine says."

"Why?"

"Well... because she only says abnormal things?"

"Okay. If Damian says so, I'll do that."

Siren had been confined by black mages for a long time, and due to her unfortunate childhood, she hadn't been able to form proper human relationships, so from Siren's perspective, she had a strong tendency to completely trust my words, who had saved her.

So she tends to follow my opinion more than her own.

Of course, this was a choice based on affection, but…

Even taking that into account, I was worried because there was a tendency to blindly believe.

So just as I decided to deal with Siren with this point in mind…

"Ah, and one more thing."

Siren suddenly made a confession, "Loraine said if we're going to do it, we should do it properly, so I'm not wearing underwear right n..."

I lightly flicked Siren's forehead and chased her out.

"...?"

Siren seemed to not even know why she was hit.

She crouched in the hallway with both hands covering her forehead.

I shook my head and decided to ban Loraine from snacks as well as tea.

***

"N-no, why? Honestly, Young Master liked it too...!"

When I pronounced Loraine's sins and sentenced her to a ban on tea and snacks, Loraine showed a reaction as if the world had collapsed and expressed frustration.

Seeing that reaction, I clicked my tongue and said to Loraine, "Doing that to Siren of all people crossed the line. Does it make sense to teach such things to someone who doesn't even know how to form proper relationships yet?"

At those words, Loraine looked at me puzzledly and said, "Siren is like that? Um..."

Then she was about to say something but shook her head and turned her gaze away.

Seeing this, the thought suddenly crossed my mind that perhaps Siren was capable of normal judgment unlike what I thought, but I deliberately shook it off and smiled awkwardly.

No way.

If this thought were true, it would mean Siren had deliberately acted like she knew nothing to seduce me.

I shook my head and patted Daisy's head, who was sitting in my arms.

"Myak myak myeong myeong."

Every time I patted her head, Daisy made strange sounds and shook her head left and right.

As I was healing watching Daisy like that, I saw Siren walking over with a very disappointed face.

"..."

Though the pain should have subsided by now, it was quite funny that she was still holding her forehead.

I tried hard to hold back my laughter and pretended not to see, when suddenly Ruen, who had been watching this, looked at us cautiously and asked me a question, "Did something happen?"

Just before I was about to say, "nothing much", Siren lowered her hands and said firmly with an expressionless face,

"We went into a room and sucked each other's things."

"...?"

At those words, Loraine coughed and Liana dropped the teacup she was holding.

It seemed they had quite misunderstood, so I was urgently trying to explain to clear up this misunderstanding when…

"Ah! Are you talking about fingers?"

"Yeah."

Unexpectedly, Ruen found the correct answer and continued speaking, "H-how was it? Did you like it?"

"It tasted bad so I'm not sure."

At the response that it wasn't good, Ruen straightened her back and answered saying, "Hmph, is that so?"

Seeing this, Siren slightly hardened her expression as if displeased and said, "But Damian's finger tasted good so it was fine."

"What? You licked Damian's finger?"

"Yeah. Since he sucked mine, I sucked him too."

At these words, Loraine, unable to bear it anymore, covered her bright red face with one hand and cried out,

"Siren... since it could cause misunderstandings. Could you please add the word 'finger'?"

"Huh? Okay."

Siren nodded, agreeing more easily than expected.

I laughed hollowly looking at the devastated surroundings and was about to sneak away when

Ruen slightly turned back and said to me, "Can I lick it next time too?"

"..."

It was difficult to answer, so I tried to run away without responding.

But Ruen quickly approached me with a beaming smile, grabbed me, and said briefly, "Answer."

I didn't know Ruen had this side to her.

I awkwardly nodded my head to indicate agreement.

Seeing this, Ruen finally seemed satisfied and let me go.

***

My mind was hazy from unexpectedly paying off karmic debt.

As I was resting in my room trying to calm my mind, Liana entered my room and said in a calm voice, "I used Poppy to throw bait to sow discord on the black mage side too."

"Really? Is Poppy alive?"

"Yes."

Hearing those words, I smiled and said, "Then it's time to start in earnest now. First, I should ask Siren to create rifts in large quantities to divert the North's attention."

"Yes. After that, it would be good to make the black mages and church keep each other in check."

Thinking I looked forward to seeing what kind of reaction they would show, I smiled.