Chapter 70: Strange suggestion.

“I’m going crazy. Why did I do that…”

Signo repeated that phrase dozens of times until the next morning arrived.

Signo regretted it as soon as she kissed Ilesha on the cheek and closed the door.

It was such an absurd thing to do that she couldn’t even understand why she did it.

It just… it just happened.

Maybe her crying and pleading appearance was more stimulating than she thought.

Or maybe, after seeing her sister’s pitiful appearance, she had become immune to the self-deprecation of those around her.

Seeing her desperately wailing that she wouldn’t come back again, she wanted to comfort her somehow. She wanted to reassure her.

Such a protective instinct surged up…

And the result was that impulsive act of ‘kissing her on the cheek’.

Signo slowly replayed what she had done with her head not working properly.

She knew it was a thought she shouldn’t have, but she couldn’t stop it.

Just before falling asleep, like when ‘a failed first love confession’, ‘a memory of calling the teacher mom’, or ‘a memory of breaking up with a friend’ suddenly pops up without warning, Signo was in that exact state right now.

What she did was, she stormed out confidently… and pinned her against the wall,

‘It’s an order.’

At that, Signo hit the bed again.

“Order! What order! What nonsense is that?”

It was a futile act.

As soon as she hit the bed, her sensitive skin immediately gave her more feedback than she needed.

“Ugh..! How could I say something like that there! Am I the main character of an outdated morning drama? What am I so proud of in that state…!”

There had been many embarrassing things in her life, but compared to what she had just done, all of that was really nothing.

“I wasn’t even wearing clothes! Saying something like that doesn’t make me look cool at all! It’s just like a cheap slutty act! What have I done, seriously…!”

Ironically, because her body was already heated to its limit, her complexion didn’t change at all, even when she felt this much embarrassment.

“Ugh… Ugh…”

Signo stopped as she realized that hitting the mattress and kicking the blanket would only make her body more tired.

She didn’t know how Ilesha had taken her actions just now, but at least…

Knock knock.

A knock was heard from outside the door.

“W-Who is it?”

“It’s Aisha, Signo-nim.”

“Aisha?”

“Yes. May I come in?”

“Ah, yes.”

Signo hurriedly pulled up the blanket she had been kicking around in a mess.

When you think about it, it should be normal for her not to care about showing her naked body to Aisha now,

But as things stood, Signo was a little confused about that.

‘…For some reason, I’m definitely embarrassed to show it to Ilesha.’

She thought it would probably be the same with Yukomis.

They were all women, so why now?

Signo still didn’t know how shame worked, or where and how much she should be embarrassed.

‘Does shame arise when there’s an agreement between each other that they have… that kind of feeling? What is this?”

But Aisha had no idea what Signo was thinking.

She carefully entered the room and handed Signo something wrapped in cloth.

“What’s that?”

She asked that, but Signo already guessed what it was from its size and length.

“Actually, Her Highness the Princess came here this morning. And she told me to deliver this to you. She said she was really happy to return something she had been holding onto for a while to its rightful owner…”

The thing tightly wrapped in high-quality leather was undoubtedly the Holy Sword Kies.

She had clearly said ‘Please just go back today’, but she really came back the very next day.

Ilesha may have been happy to return it, but it was not a welcome item for Signo at all.

Aisha noticed Signo’s reluctance from her expression, so she leaned it against the bed appropriately and didn’t ask what it was.

“Anyway, how are you feeling?”

“Not good…”

The look on Signo’s face that Aisha saw now had a thick layer of fatigue added to it.

Even though it was usually quite difficult to coexist with excitement.

“Would it be better to call Yukomis-nim after all?”

“We’ve already talked about that. Anyone but her…”

“Signo-nim. But Baron Minon and Karat-nim are also worried. And if this is a magical symptom, as Karat-nim said… isn’t there no other way than to have her look at it?”

Even as she spoke, Aisha blushed as she watched Signo twitch spasmodically several times.

She couldn’t understand why her master was being so stubborn.

…Is she embarrassed to show this side of herself to her sisters? Is it just that simple?

“Were you affected by a spell that Her Highness the Princess accidentally cast?”

“That’s… s-sort of.”

“Then perhaps Her Highness could also resolve the symptoms?”

“What?”

“Actually…”

Aisha decided to be honest.

“Her Highness said that if Signo-nim is okay with it, she would like to check your condition.”

“Didn’t she just deliver this and leave?”

“No, she’s still talking to Karat-nim in the drawing room. Minon-nim is… out for a while.”

In fact, Minon had just run away.

“D-Did Ilesha-nim seem a little strange?”

“Strange how?”

“Anything. Like she’s still a little depressed, or sad, or something.”

“Come to think of it, she was a little strangely submissive. She said, ‘If you see any signs that he dislikes it, please tell me. I’ll go back right away.’ But she seemed to be in a pretty good mood.”

“She seemed to be in a good mood?”

“Yes. She seemed to be expecting something, and her expression seemed a little flushed…”

Aisha didn’t even ask what had happened between the Princess and Signo.

How the reunion was made, what had happened that she had to come and apologize while crying.

Aisha, who had worked for a noble family for a long time as a high-ranking servant, knew that there were times when she had to pretend not to see what she saw. A light person who treated the family’s secrets as interesting gossip could never work in this position for long. It was a bit different if it was just a matter involving her generous and kind master, Signo, but if it involved Her Highness the Princess, the story was a bit different.

“If I may be so bold, I think it would be okay to ask her to take a look.”

But she gave a piece of advice that was close to a request without crossing the line.

Aisha knew that Signo hadn’t slept well last night.

She muffled her footsteps several times, checking Signo’s condition in front of her door, fearing that a big problem had occurred in her body again.

And every time she put her ear to the door, she heard moans and tossing and turning without fail.

Just looking at the sweat-soaked sheets and blankets, and Signo’s disheveled hair, it was obvious that she had spent a difficult night.

She wanted to wipe her body with a wet towel, but perhaps even that would be too much for her now.

“Um…”

Meanwhile, what Signo was last relying on was the hope that this was a temporary symptom.

‘There’s no way such a strong sexual desire can last that long. There’s no need to call Yukomis. If I wait a little longer, I’ll be fine soon.’

Despite looking down on it so lightly,

It was becoming clear as time went by that this was not such a laughable symptom.

As Aisha had seen, her heated body showed no signs of subsiding at all, even after spending a whole night.

This floating sensation and heat that had tormented Signo all night gradually turned into something close to pain when Signo’s stamina reached its limit.

And now she had reached a point where she couldn’t tell which was pain and which was pleasure.

Just like when you come into contact with a temperature that has reached its limit, you can’t tell whether it’s hot or cold.

‘I think that’s called paradoxical coldness.’

Even though this body was in the prime of Thermis’s life, she was running out of energy so quickly.

…The only good thing was that

If it was enduring pleasure, she didn’t know, but enduring pain was something Signo was very familiar with and confident in.

But just because she was confident didn’t mean she could enjoy it.

Besides, as Aisha said, she didn’t know when she would get better, and it was a shame to be cooped up in this room and make everyone worry.

Everyone had come a long way to enjoy their vacation.

Signo, who had been agonizing for a long time, made a big decision.

“Okay. Tell Ilesha-nim to come in.”

As soon as Ilesha entered, the atmosphere in the room immediately turned awkward. Ilesha was almost unable to lift her head because she felt so sorry for seeing Signo’s face,

And Signo, for her part, was too embarrassed to look at Ilesha because of all sorts of things.

“Um… Thermis-nim. I want to apologize again. What happened yesterday was really…”

“D-Don’t worry about it.”

Ilesha, who was examining Signo for a while, carefully said a word.

Anyway, since the reason Ilesha had come was ‘examination’, Signo suggested that it would be better to do what she had to do first, breaking through the awkward atmosphere.

Ilesha’s elegant fingertips caressed Signo’s back, who was sitting with her back turned.

While looking at Signo’s bare back, Ilesha was fighting against the dark impulse that was rising in her heart again every moment.

‘No. Absolutely not. I can’t do that again.’

She couldn’t repeat the same mistake twice.

How could she act arbitrarily with the forgiveness she had obtained?

That was why she was forcibly refraining from talking about the reunion yesterday.

Right now, she had to focus only on the subject of ‘examination’ and ‘treatment’ that Thermis had allowed.

Ilesha felt like the world was collapsing just imagining Thermis rejecting her again.

That was a greater fear than the desire to have her right now.

‘But really…’

It was almost like torture.

Every time her fingertips moved little by little for palpation, Signo would twitch slightly and let out a hot breath.

Ilesha was going crazy, just as Signo was having a hard time enduring her body condition, Ilesha also had to endure this stimulation and concentrate on the palpation.

Twitch.

“Hic…! Haa!”

Startled.

She who had forgiven and scolded Ilesha yesterday really seemed to have returned to her days as a knight commander for a short time.

Today, she had returned to such a helpless state, letting out pitiful moans that she would never let anyone hear normally.

That fact, more than anything else, was setting Ilesha’s heart on fire.

If she didn’t try not to be conscious, she felt like she would hug her from behind with all her might at any moment.

‘Ah… If only I could confess my love again right now, and ask again what she really thought of me, what she meant by saying she didn’t dislike me yesterday…

But Ilesha pulled herself together again and again.

In order to ask that, the first priority was to return the body of the person she loved to its original state.

‘She allowed me to make contact again with difficulty.’

If she forced her feelings on Thermis in this painfully excited state,

It would never be a sincere answer.

Cowardly using this situation was not the love she was thinking of.

There would be a better situation than this to make a proper confession to the person she loved.

Situation? What kind of situation would that be? Ilesha didn’t know well, but

Something… While having a romantic story in a romantic situation, the distance between each other, which had been rational until then, would naturally narrow,

If someone whispered words of love first, the other person would smile and accept it.

Since she didn’t have such a concrete experience, Ilesha’s imagination was very vague, but anyway, it had to be roughly like that.

Whatever it was, rushing at her like a beast consumed by desire like yesterday,

Or unilaterally wailing outside the door and using pity as a weapon was far from the ideal confession, even for herself.

‘When I think about how shabby and lowly I looked yesterday…?

No amount of self-reproach was enough.

But… at the same time.

‘It’s an order.’

It was her order, no, that person’s order, that she had heard for the first time in three years.

There was no word that made her heart beat like that.

Her only master, the person she wanted to serve, the person she wanted to be ruled by. A magical word that bound her.

Signo was regretting saying things that were more embarrassing than dying, but Ilesha didn’t think so at all.

…It was my first kiss… I wonder if Thermis-nim felt the same way. Did she feel as good as I did…

Before she knew it, her thoughts were going back to the scene where she had forcibly taken the other person’s lips.

‘It’s a selfish thought, but… I wish it were so.’

“H-How is it? Ilesha-nim?”

Ilesha snapped back to her senses at Signo’s trembling voice.

“Ah, yes…”

It seemed like her hand had been stopped for a long time.

She must have asked because she felt strange.

“Y-Yes, it’s still difficult…”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I don’t know how you became like this…”

As she said that, Ilesha carefully put down the staff she was holding.

It wasn’t the gorgeous staff of the imperial family that she used during the Great War, but an unremarkable one that an ordinary traveling magician would use.

Of course, it was. It was too conspicuous to bring such a thing here.

Ilesha had just come back from listening to Karat give a brief explanation in the lounge about how Signo had been resurrected.

“Did you say that the permanent regeneration magic has settled in this body as well… Then it’s probably difficult unless you have Yukomis’s knowledge. I’m confident that I have some skill in this field, but this body… it’s really chaos itself.”

“You don’t want to show this side of yourself to Yukomis?”

“That’s one of the reasons… Well, she’s busy, and I thought this would get better with time.”

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like it will get better naturally in this state.”

“Is that so…”

“Did you say that the Holy Sword’s magic is involved?”

“T-To be honest, I can’t think of anything else right now…”

Ilesha turned her gaze to the Holy Sword in the corner.

“What does the Holy Sword say?”

“U-Unfortunately, the Holy Sword isn’t in a good mood to talk right now.”

“Why?”

“It’s a little difficult to say that too.”

Ilesha bit her lip tightly as she looked at Signo avoiding the answer.

“Um, if the Holy Sword doesn’t communicate well, and you’re reluctant to call Yukomis, can I make a suggestion?”

“Yes. Of course. What is your suggestion?”

“I’m… that…”

Signo readily agreed, but for some reason, she seemed to be having a really hard time bringing up the suggestion.

“Before that, let me tell you what I’ve found out first. This is that, I think it’s close to a symptom where magic interferes with the nervous system and forcibly ‘elevates’ and ‘excites’ the body.”

“…Yes.”

She barely said it indirectly, but it was a consideration that didn’t mean much.

“The magic that’s causing it is unique to Yukomis, so she could control it. And she’s knowledgeable enough to correct the nervous system malfunctioning because of magic. But this… there might be a way to correct it without magic.”

“Yes?”

Signo, still sitting with her back turned, glanced at Ilesha.

“So… what Yukomis can do is ‘a way to treat magic with magic’.”

“Then, are there other ways besides magic?”

“W-Well, it’s a matter of possibility…”

Ilesha finally used her self-control and moved away from Signo.

“Um… really, since I did something wrong, I’m really careful about bringing up these words, but…”

“?”

Ilesha, fidgeting with her hands and feet, really didn’t know what to do.

“I still remember the mercy and forgiveness that Thermis-nim showed me yesterday. I don’t know how grateful I am that you said you ‘don’t hate’ someone bad like me. So…”

“We’ve already talked about that. It’s okay…”

“Ah, no. I have to say it again. So this is really, really not what I’m saying out of personal desire… Really. I really feel like I have to. I feel like I have to do this. Right now, I really only have this thought…”

As she listened to the other person’s words going around and around, Signo felt anxious.

“It’s a really shameless and cowardly request, but can you promise me that you still won’t hate me if I say this? That you won’t despise me for saying this…”

“I told you yesterday that I don’t hate you.”

“Ah, how much?”

Ilesha asked back urgently.

“Yes?”

“How much do you not hate me?”

It was a somewhat ambiguous question to answer.

“W-Well, completely?”

“Really? No matter what I say?”

“I told you so.”

Ilesha was a little relieved to see Signo not hesitating to answer.

“And right now, I-Ilesha-nim is a doctor. I have to believe Ilesha-nim’s words.”

“Ah… so. Really, I’m not saying this out of personal desire. Um… Haa, once, once… So… that’s it, if you just keep maintaining this state, it won’t be resolved.”

But she didn’t stop rambling.

The sight of two people stammering for different reasons was quite a sight.

“After all, I think. I’m not even guaranteeing that it’s always like this, but, that is, it’s a shameful thing to say, but, T-Thermis-nim only has to endure this embarrassment, so, here, I think it’s right to tell you honestly…”

“Calm down and speak slowly. W-What are you saying we should do in the end?”

“T-That is. That… should I call it an experience… I also have a lot of experience in this area, so should I tell Thermis-nim about it… Uh-huh, should I call it professionalism on this side?”

She hadn’t had that much experience, but she had a lot of experience in ‘this kind of thing’, so Ilesha closed her eyes tightly, took a deep breath, and finally shouted loudly.

“I think it would be good to properly ‘go’ once!”