Protagonist Drift? (2)
Iriel nodded.
“I see. I understand. Take off your clothes…”
Huh?
She paused, then turned her head and chuckled.
“...Zeke? I think I misheard you. What did you say?”
“I said, you need to take off your clothes.”
“...”
At his words, Iriel froze, her mind going blank.
She had heard him correctly.
‘Is this man really crazy!?’
He's asking to see the naked body of a Duke's daughter right now?
Iriel wondered if some part of his head had really gone haywire after losing his memory.
A heavy silence fell between Zeke and Iriel.
His face was as indifferent as ever.
Iriel's mind raced.
‘Is this, is this sexual harassment?’
Maybe she had been too comfortable with Zeke.
Because she was happy to see him again after 10 years,
And because he had lost his memory,
She treated him nicely, but he was crossing the line endlessly.
This was a separate issue from her cherishing him.
‘...I have to get angry now, right?’
Normally, Iriel would have rebuked him without a second thought, but because this was the first time she had ever heard such a thing, she was flustered.
“You!!!”
Iriel pointed at Zeke, her face bright red.
“Do you even realize what you just said!!!”
“Hmm…?”
Zeke tilted his head, furrowing his brows as if wondering what the problem was.
Iriel's brow twitched.
“H-How dare you! You want to see my, my n-naked body!!”
She stammered, ashamed to even say it out loud.
Zeke shook his head.
“No. Just take off your top.”
“What…? No? Is that so…? Then…”
Iriel, who had almost let it slide because he spoke so nonchalantly, glared at Zeke again.
‘What in the world is he talking about!’
“That’s not the point!!”
Selena, who was watching from the side, giggled and spoke to Zeke.
“Instructor. Iriel doesn't want to do that. Wouldn't it be okay to let this one slide?”
Zeke frowned.
“...But it's better to do it...”
“Even so, I think we should respect the student’s opinion, Instructor.”
“Hmm… But…”
“There are women in this world whose shame is more important than their lives, Instructor. Of course, the sword is more important to me. But Iriel isn't like that, right?”
Iriel's fierce opposition, and Selena's serious dissuasion made Zeke realize that checking mana roads could be considered irresponsible depending on the person.
Zeke pondered. Iriel, who had newly emerged as a candidate for the female protagonist.
Checking her mana road and teaching her the appropriate swordsmanship was a very important task for Zeke.
‘Even without checking the mana road… Is it okay? No, but the appropriate training method… Should I just go with the general training method? I didn't know she would hate it this much. Hmm. They said that the Assassination Captain is quite strong here. If I train her harder… It would be possible for her to reach a level where she can play around with the Assassination Captain…’
After a long time of organizing his thoughts, Zeke finally admitted that he had been careless.
“Yes, I see. I apologize, Iriel. I was being too selfish. Then you can skip it.”
“...”
Selena clenched her fist under the table.
‘That’s right, Instructor! That’s it! That’s what I’m talking about! Hehe, my unattractive body would only be a waste of the Instructor’s hands and eyes!’
Thus, with Selena's help, Iriel avoided being stripped naked.
She was taken aback by Zeke’s quick surrender, but nodded reluctantly.
‘Well, of course… This is right, but why do I feel bad…? And he’s just going to apologize and end it there?’
Selena grabbed Zeke’s arm, subtly pushing her breasts against him, and said,
“Now, now. Instructor! You must be hungry, right? Let’s have something delicious for dinner!”
“Yes, thank you.”
Leaving Iriel behind, Selena and Zeke disappeared out of the drawing-room.
Creak— Thud.
*
Clatter, clatter
Iriel pursed her lips as she ate dinner.
She hated to admit it, but Yohaiden’s food was pretty good.
The food was stimulating and soft, appealing even to her sophisticated palate.
However, what didn't improve her mood was the sight in front of her.
“Instructor, try this.”
“Hmm.”
Selena placed the meat and vegetables on her plate onto Zeke's.
“I've prepared something especially good to eat on baguette bread today.”
“Is that so. Thank you.”
Zeke, with his usual expressionless face, picked up a piece of bread with his small fork.
It wasn't a particularly warm reply, but Selena beamed at the mere sight of him eating.
Iriel put down her fork with a clank.
Selena looked at her with an annoyed expression.
“Hey, Flowerbed.”
“What, Cliff.”
“You still haven’t told me how I can continue attending the academy.”
“Ah, right.”
Selena nodded as if she had just realized.
Then, after a moment of organizing her thoughts, she spoke.
“I told you that Eustia will hold a banquet, right? The sooner, the better.”
“Yes.”
“And that I’m going to announce Instructor Zeke as my benefactor there.”
“...”
Iriel’s lips protruded even further.
As expected, it seemed like she was trying to use her as a supporting character at the Eustia banquet, which made her feel bad.
“That would put Eustia in a difficult position. They wanted to get rid of the Instructor, but now Yohaiden has suddenly stepped in to protect him. So, Eustia would want to gather information about the Instructor, right? But if they approach him recklessly, the fact that the Instructor is Yohaiden’s benefactor will be revealed, making it difficult to approach him openly.”
“...Yes.”
“But, the Instructor is on the academy faculty.”
Selena spoke to Iriel as if she were teaching a slow child.
“In that case, who in Eustia would have the easiest access? A student at Ramielli’s academy who attends the Instructor’s classes.”
Selena pointed her knife at Iriel.
“You.”
“...”
“Besides, you had ‘some’ kind of past relationship with Instructor Zeke, right?”
A vein throbbed on Iriel’s forehead.
She disliked everything about her, from her gestures to her tone of voice.
However, since it made a certain amount of sense, Iriel endured it and listened to her.
“So, you’re going to tell Eustia. That you’ll keep an eye on the Instructor and give them information. Do you think they’d really let go of such a useful pawn to an engagement or a monastery?”
“Hmm…”
“If I were them, I wouldn’t give up. Anyway, after that, you’ll have to keep proving your worth. I want you to be a double agent, feeding Eustia appropriate information while also informing Instructor Zeke.”
Iriel’s face hardened.
“Are you telling me to betray Eustia?”
Selena’s plan—she had brought it up because she knew Iriel’s personality to some extent.
What was important to her was herself above all else.
Iriel was not the type to sacrifice herself for her family.
Moreover, Iriel had already betrayed her family’s will once.
For Zeke, no less.
Selena was shocked when she found out about this.
She must have known that she herself could be in danger.
The fact that she was willing to take such a risk meant that the Instructor meant a lot to her.
Anyway, Selena said to her with a straight face,
“Betray? It’s about protecting the Instructor, and protecting ‘you.’ Can you call that betrayal?”
“...”
"So, tomorrow, take a break from the academy and go to Eustia to set a schedule. Since we can't openly send an invitation to Yohaiden, you can deliver it to us directly, right?"
In the end, Iriel had no choice but to nod.
* * *
Creak—
Zeke’s eyes flew open at the sound of the door in the middle of the night.
‘Damn it, is it an attack from Eustia?’
This was the Yohaiden mansion.
But an assassin from Eustia visiting in the middle of the night?
That meant Selena was also exposed to the danger.
‘As expected, should I have just overthrown Eustia?’
Zeke slightly regretted his choice.
He had sliced bread for dinner, so he didn’t have his weapon right now.
‘It’s less efficient, but they’re just romance fantasy assassins.’
Zeke gathered blue mana in his hand.
With a hardened face, he turned his gaze to the door where the sound had come from.
‘Huh?’
A familiar figure was fidgeting by the door.
Zeke opened his mouth with a slightly bewildered look.
“What brings you here?”
“...”
It was an attack from Eustia.
However, it wasn’t a musty, murderous man, but Iriel Eustia.
“...Z-Zeke, I have something to ask you…”
“...What is it?”
“S-Selena. That Flowerbed… D-Did she do the, the mana road thing…?”
“Yes, she did.”
Zeke nodded.
“So, you saw her whole body…?”
“Yes, I examined it thoroughly.”
“H-How was it…?”
How was it? Well…
Zeke recalled Selena’s mana road that he had seen before and said,
“Well, it was big… clean… and soft…”
Zeke nonchalantly gave the worst possible answer.
Iriel bit her lip.
Ample breasts.
That was something she didn’t have.
Although she had just stuffed cloth into her cleavage to artificially enhance their size before coming to Zeke’s room,
standing next to Selena inevitably highlighted her own lack in that department.
‘Size is completely useless!!! Big breasts make clothes look bad! And they make your shoulders stiff! And you look fat! Men are all the same!’
What was so good about it that he was making that expression?
Iriel glared at Zeke with a scornful look.
“Selena, that foolishly big woman… You like big things too!?”
“Hmm, basically, the bigger, the better. But, that’s not all.”
“...Then what else is good…?”
“What’s more important is ‘quality.’”
Iriel’s face turned bright red, and she screamed.
“Q-Quality!? You trash!!!!! Pervert!!!!”
Zeke frowned.
He was annoyed that her insults hadn’t ended yet.
He thought that he had made the right decision to give up quickly.
‘The Eustia family really holds grudges. Very persistent. To think she’d come here in the middle of the night after what happened this afternoon. Of course, I understand she can’t accept the method… but a pervert?’
However, no matter what, he didn’t like the fact that she was denigrating the quality of mana by calling it “perverted.”
“Iriel, don’t say that. The quality of mana is a very important factor.”
“W-What…? M-Mana… The quality of mana. I-Is that so.”
Iriel’s face turned even redder, almost indistinguishable from her hair.
Zeke looked at her with an uncomprehending expression.
She stammered,
“I-Is Selena’s ches-, I mean, is her mana that big?”
“Yes, her mana road is indeed wide and clean.”
“Then, can mine be that big too…?”
“Well, I won’t know until I check.”
Then, Iriel closed her eyes tightly and shouted,
“Do it!”
Zeke’s eyes widened slightly.
‘Oh?’
Had there been a sudden change of heart? Iriel agreed to have her mana road checked.
‘Ha, is she feeling competitive with Selena? Certainly, if you hear that the guy next to you has better mana than you, you can’t stand it. I get it.’
He had heard that the Eustia and Yohaiden families were rivals, and it certainly seemed to be true.
He had been somewhat bothered that he couldn’t impart mana to her, the protagonist candidate who had suddenly emerged today.
He was quite pleased that she had decided to do it.
“H-How do I do it…?”
“First, turn around and take off your clothes.”
Zeke got out of bed and walked towards Iriel.
Thump.
Thump.
Zeke slowly approached.
‘Gasp!’
As expected, she couldn’t help but react.
The only ones who had seen her naked body were her maids.
To bare her skin in front of a man, especially Zeke…
After dinner, she went back to her room and was thinking about Zeke when she suddenly remembered that Selena must have already had her mana road checked, so she came to him without thinking.
‘Ugh. W-What do I do!’
He said she only needed to take off her top, but the clothes she was wearing were a slip dress.
Selena had given it to her to wear, assured that Iriel wouldn’t be getting her mana road checked.
Iriel glanced behind her and asked,
“D-Do I have to take off my bra too?”
“No.”
That was a relief.
If the pieces of cloth she had stuffed into her bra were exposed in front of Zeke,
Iriel was sure she would bury her face in a bowl of water right then and there.
“Th-Then I’ll take it off…”
“Yes.”
"I-I'm really taking it off?"
"Yes."
After much hesitation, Iriel lowered the straps from her shoulders.
Slip.
Thud.
The thin, white garment fell to the floor.
Her body trembled with shame and embarrassment.
To have her bare body exposed like this, wearing only her underwear…
Her face flushed bright red as she buried it in her hands.
Swoosh.
A man’s large hand touched her back.
Iriel flinched.
“Gasp!”
“Stay still.”
The unfamiliar touch sent shivers down her spine.
And suddenly, something began to enter her.
“Ow!!!”
A sharp pain shot through her entire body.
“Hmm. It’s small.”
“D-Don’t call it small!!”
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