—¡Anngh…!~
Paf! The sound of Xingyue falling flat on her back onto the bed, back in the Valvradis Empire, echoed throughout the room.
«Well, I should conquer this empire quickly and go collect a reward from Master», she thought impatiently, only to be interrupted by a hesitant voice coming from the room.
"Xingyue?" Celestia called softly, staring in puzzlement at the movements the woman on the bed was making. "Where did you go?"
Her tone began to sound more demanding, like a childish complaint.
"Where were you?!" she asked again, insisting as her eyes welled up. She immediately burst into tears, throwing herself onto the woman on the bed and hugging her tightly, refusing to let go. "Xingyueeee, don't leave me alone…! This place is scary," she sobbed between tears. "Do you know what the blankets are made of here? Cheap burlap! Filthy rough rags! Tell me we won't stay here long, or at least we have to ask Lilith to bring us better ones… Or would that be suspicious?" She stopped talking, looked around and said: "That woman guiding us here kept looking at me weird when I left the room they assigned me and came into yours… Xingyue, I want to cry!"
The woman who had been calmly lost in her thoughts a moment earlier frowned and muttered:
"You're already crying…"
At the same time, she abruptly pulled away from her and looked at her chest, soaked by the tears, with clear annoyance. Celestia stared at her with a lost expression, rubbing her eyes and wiping away the tears with one hand.
Xingyue let out a sigh, made a set of silk blankets she had brought from the sect appear, and held them out with resignation. The elf's eyes widened, shining with happiness; she grabbed the blankets quickly, set them aside, and shouted excitedly, clinging to the woman again in a hug and rubbing against her.
"Xingyue! Thank you! You're my savior!"
"Celestia, can you act like a woman for a moment? We have something important to do. Were you able to find anything out during your time here?"
The elf blinked several times as she looked at her.
"Find out? But we just got here…"
Xingyue rolled her eyes.
"Don't you think Lilith acted strange?"
"Lilith? Why? I think you only say that because you don't like her…"
"Of course I don't like her," she hissed through her teeth. "That succubus…" Xingyue shook her head. "That's not the point. There's really something strange about her, and I don't plan on falling for it again. You managing to deceive me in the past was already too much, without some random woman coming along and doing it again."
"I think you're overthinking it. After meeting your master, I don't think Lilith is stupid enough to betray us."
"You're the stupid one. That woman is definitely not stupid at all…"
When she finished speaking, Xingyue lowered her gaze, completely immersing herself in her thoughts as she silently schemed the best way to conspire against the succubus and expose her true personality.
Celestia kept staring at her without understanding, and guided solely by her own naivety, she broke the silence:
"What if I ask her? I get along well with her," she puffed out her chest with pride.
"Yeah, sure… Because she's going to tell you she's been lying to us from the moment we met…" Xingyue ironized, without looking away from her plans.
The elf put on a thoughtful expression and insisted:
"But… I'm going to try. I believe in Lilith!"
"Do whatever you want, but don't drag me into your nonsense," Xingyue replied. "Master gave me permission to set the investigation aside. Our only real objective is to take this empire…" She paused for a moment as a cruel smile spread across her face. "And that… that is something I'm extremely good at."
Seeing that smile, Celestia felt a violent déjà vu and a cold shiver ran down her entire spine. She shrank in place, terrified, fearing that the slightest movement might shatter the bubble of the dangerous creature in front of her.
…
Meanwhile, Lumia, Thalassa, and Cassian had returned from their little nighttime outing.
What they had talked about with Mireya remained in the dark, but Thalassa's satisfied expression betrayed that things had gone well.
"Well, I suppose you two won't bother me any more today, so…" Cassian raised both hands toward the door as he headed for the bed and threw himself onto it with complete laziness.
Lumia raised an eyebrow at the total change in the man's attitude upon returning; she turned her gaze to her master, as if silently asking: «You chose this man over Ereon?»
Thalassa shook her head and pushed Lumia toward the door. But before she herself could leave, she froze in place. The princess looked back, confused at seeing that her tutor wasn't following her.
The teacher made a strange expression and said:
"You go, Lumia."
The younger girl's eyes widened in surprise. She looked toward the man lying on the bed, who had now dropped his tired expression and was watching her with mockery. Then her eyes returned to her master's, who was smiling at her warmly. She took a few steps back and fled from there with her face flushed red from embarrassment.
Thalassa, for her part, closed the door and turned on her heels to look at Cassian. He smiled at her with amusement and said:
"Isn't that what couples do? Sleep together, I mean."
"You're going to traumatize the princess."
"She's a girl with enough personality changes to pass for an adult. Learning certain things won't hurt her."
"It seems you already have a pretty clear idea of her, for having known her less than a day."
"Her reactions are enough. She's in love with that dragon."
Thalassa looked at him in surprise and let out a cry of astonishment:
"Huh?! How? She's terrified of him!"
Cassian shook his head and took advantage of the fact that Thalassa had gotten close enough to pull her onto the bed and pin her beneath him. He began caressing the mermaid's body with one hand while using the other to brace himself and leave her no escape.
The change brought nervousness to the woman's gaze, but she didn't show it on her face, still maintaining her calm.
"Are you sure?"
"Mmm," he nodded.
"Then… that man didn't do anything bad to her?"
"I think you're judging him too early."
"Ah!" she cried out again when Cassian pinched a nipple. Thalassa blushed and murmured: "It's my first time…"
He smiled.
"So you're one of those who says that during sex."
The tutor frowned.
"Doesn't everyone do that on their first time?"
"No. Most don't give it that much importance; or at least, they don't with me."
"That's definitely because you treat them horribly."
"Mmm…" He leaned close to her ear to whisper: "Am I treating you horribly?"
At the same time, he sent a current of energy through her body, which vibrated and provided her with a pleasant warmth. The mermaid let it show immediately with a stifled moan.
"Mmmngh… What did you do?" she asked, her voice agitated and her mind already clouded.
"Nothing important, just calming things down so you can have a good first time," he smiled with amusement.
She squirmed uncomfortably and asked:
"Are we really going to do it?"
"Don't you want to?"
"No, I mean… the bet… but even without it…" her eyes avoided his.
He smiled softly.
"We can go slow if you want, 'partner,'" he finished saying, then threw himself down beside her, hugged her, and closed his eyes to sleep.
Cassian, however, never truly rested in those days. Before sinking into his state of total concentration, one last thought crossed his mind.
«Still, I was already with Xingyue today… She'd definitely get angry if she knew that not long after I was thinking of sleeping with another woman.»