After hearing the hurried footsteps outside the door, Vivian tried to channel her magic for a long time, but she simply could not successfully enter her spirit form.
“Damn it, if Mello finds me like this…”
“Not only will I be suspected, I’ll lose all my dignity!”
It was fair to say that Vivian’s worries were well-founded.
Right now, she was not only soft and weak all over, but her skin was completely soaked and stained with a pink condensate. She looked like a humanoid pink slime.
“I have to hide… anywhere will do!”
For a moment, Vivian searched everywhere in the room for a place to conceal herself.
However, because Arlette was far too meticulous about rules, the room was kept in such pristine order that there wasn’t a single corner to hide in.
“You idiot! Why did you have to keep the room so clean? You’re going to be the death of me!”
Blushing, Vivian cursed Arlette inwardly a few times.
Then, left with no other choice, she took Arlette’s hand, which had been lying flat, and pressed it against his chest, forging the scene to look as if Arlette had passed out while applying the medicine himself.
The next moment, she instantly lowered her body and crawled directly under Arlette’s bed.
As she crawled, the slime on her body left a trail directly on the floor behind her, dragging out a long, glistening smear.
Arlette’s bedsheets were short. If someone simply crouched down slightly to look, they would be able to see the prone Vivian in full view.
To someone like Mello, this was an incredibly clumsy trick.
That vampire lady wouldn’t even need to use magic perception; she could find traces from the messy scene and drag Vivian out herself.
At this moment, the entire room echoed with nothing but that wondrous, fragrant scent and the non-stop thumping of Vivian’s heart.
Though she knew she was merely burying her head in the sand, she had no room to retreat.
Finally, the footsteps approaching from a distance arrived at the door.
But then, the voice that came from outside the door was beyond Vivian’s expectations.
“Sir Knight…?”
The newcomer wasn’t the Mello she feared.
It was the elven girl named “Fluff.”
For a moment, Vivian couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief under the bed.
“No, I can’t let my guard down yet…”
“Since it’s not Mello, there’s still a chance I won’t be discovered…”
“Steady, stay steady…”
After calling out to Arlette and receiving no response, Fluff couldn’t help but grow increasingly worried.
“Has something happened to Sir Knight again?”
Among everyone, Fluff was the most aware of Arlette’s recent physical condition.
Therefore, when she heard movement in his room, she didn’t even put on shoes. Wearing only a camisole nightgown and with bare feet, she had rushed over immediately.
Upon reaching the door, her nose twitched as she caught a faint, sweet scent.
It was like the fragrance of flowers, yet also like the scent of honey.
“Strange, what is that smell?”
Fluff’s brow furrowed slightly as she slowly pushed the door to Arlette’s room open just a crack.
“Sir Knight, are you alright?”
“I’m coming in, okay?”
After asking several times without an answer, Fluff’s heart tightened. She immediately pushed the door open and stepped into Arlette’s room.
In an instant, that already rich and sweet fragrance became several times heavier.
“It’s so fragrant… Did Sir Knight light some incense in the room?”
Fluff took a couple of deep breaths and then focused her attention back on the room.
“W-What happened here?!”
The room was currently a mess.
On the floor was a partially destroyed magic circle, an overturned chair, and glowing dragon scales that had fallen to the ground.
As for Arlette, he was lying flat on the bed, unconscious.
On his bare chest was a large puddle of pink, viscous liquid; the traces of the substance even trailed down to the floor.
Seeing this scene, Fluff’s heart skipped a beat. She immediately began to deduce what had happened in her mind.
She had seen this magic circle before; it was something Arlette used to strengthen his body.
Although she didn’t recognize the pink condensate, she could still tentatively guess it was some kind of medicine.
“Sir Knight… could it be that the ritual failed and he was injured, so he used this pink liquid to treat himself?”
Having made an initial deduction, she quickly stepped forward with her exposed, smooth legs to Arlette’s bedside to check his condition.
As expected, Fluff immediately found a few wounds on his chest that had not yet fully healed.
“He’s hurt… I have to help him right away!”
Fluff initially wanted to turn around and find Mello.
But just as she took a step, the scene from last night flashed through her mind.
That terrifying whipping.
“No, I can’t go to the Captain… If she finds out, Sir Knight might suffer again.”
“Since Sir Knight was applying this stuff to himself before he fainted, it must be useful…”
“I… I can handle this myself!”
“Just by myself, I can help Sir Knight!”
With that thought, Fluff immediately turned back and pressed both of her hands onto Arlette’s chest.
When she touched the warm, moist, and slippery texture of the slime, Fluff’s heart trembled violently.
This sensation was strangely different compared to when she had washed his body before.
Not to mention that Fluff was currently wearing almost nothing.
To her shame, Fluff had a slightly unseemly little habit.
When she slept, she didn’t like to wear heavy clothes.
Thus, most of the time, she slept in only a thin, white camisole nightgown. She wouldn’t even wear underwear.
Tonight was no exception.
With various factors overlapping, even though Fluff knew she was saving someone, she couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of bashfulness.
And those sweet scents unknowingly flooded her nose and mouth, causing waves of feverish heat in her respiratory tract.
***
At this moment, Vivian, lying under the bed, felt completely different.
“Damn it… what the hell is this girl trying to do!”
The witch, who was usually cynical and lawless, daily teasing Arlette, was now shrunk under the bed, not daring to move an inch.
Her body was filled with a surging heat, her cheeks were flushed red, and she was doing everything in her power to suppress the urge to pant loudly.
Vivian couldn’t even see Fluff’s upper body; she could only see those small, fair bare feet and half of her slender calves.
Then, the sound of “squelch, squelch” gradually reached her ears.
It was the sound made by the Resurrection Moth secretions being rubbed and massaged.
“She… she’s helping the little knight with treatment?”
It seemed her previous forgery of the scene had worked.
For a moment, two complex emotions began to swirl and collide in Vivian’s heart.
On one hand, she was slightly relieved.
If this elf girl took over, Arlette’s injuries shouldn’t be a concern.
But on the other hand, she was inexplicably furious.
It was as if prey that was already in her mouth had been intercepted and snatched away by someone else.
Those precious Resurrection Moth secretions were something she had painstakingly collected for over a year.
She was also the one who had discovered and saved Arlette in time.
But now, another woman had come along, barging in halfway through.
Meanwhile, Vivian herself, due to other factors, could only miserably shrink under the bed, watching the other woman touch Arlette as she pleased, not even daring to take a loud breath.
It was as if she had done all the work only for someone else to reap the rewards!
Not to mention, due to the effects of the secretions, Vivian’s current state was quite poor.
An unbearable itching sensation ran through her entire body. Her skin and hair were covered in the pink slime, and her clothes were almost completely soaked, outlining a silhouette of her full, beautiful figure through the fabric that would spark wild imaginations.
Large beads of sweat seeped from her skin, mixing with the slime to form an even slicker, wetter sensation.
“I was the one who was here first…”
Vivian’s teeth itched with anger, her heart itched, and her whole body was itching.
However, Fluff had no awareness whatsoever of the eyes beneath the bed.
She was focused solely on wiping those medicines onto Arlette’s body, constantly checking his condition.
As she wiped, Fluff felt herself relax a lot.
Arlette’s injuries didn’t seem as heavy as she had imagined.
Under the influence of the medicine, the remaining wounds were disappearing quickly.
“Sir Knight’s expression doesn’t look so painful anymore… It seems I don’t need to call the Captain after all.”
“What do you know, I really can do it well on my own, hehe.”
“It’s just… my head feels a little dizzy.”
Unbeknownst to her, Fluff’s originally pale skin had turned a bright, flushing red.
When she had first gotten out of bed, her bare feet had been chilled by the floor.
Now, she couldn’t feel that at all.
On the contrary…
“It’s so hot…”
In an instant, layers of sweat broke out on Fluff’s body, just as they had on Vivian’s.
She was already wearing only a thin white nightgown.
Now that she was sweating, the dress naturally began to cling to her body, gradually becoming translucent as it was soaked by the liquid.
Beneath it, her delicate skin, devoid of any protection, began to show through.
If this were the usual Fluff, she would have immediately covered herself and run away upon seeing herself in such a state.
But now, she had no such thought.
“Mmm… Sir Knight…”
Gradually, Fluff’s consciousness seemed to drift off into the clouds.
Her hands, which had been rubbing him to help with the treatment, gradually slowed to a halt.
Looking at Arlette’s boyish face as if he were in a deep sleep, the fire in her heart that had been suppressed before began to burn anew.
“I have also… always, always… worked so hard…”
“But why does Sir Knight only ever have eyes for the Captain?”
“She’s always so harsh to you… clearly I’m better to you…”
She talked to herself, then slowly stood on her tiptoes. Her unfocused eyes stared intently at Arlette’s face, as if she were afraid he would slip away the next moment.
“I also… I also…”
At this moment, Fluff threw logic, distance, and the Captain all to the back of her mind.
In her eyes, there was only herself and Arlette on the bed.
Her mind was a total blank, leaving only a single thought—
She wanted to be closer…
Even closer.
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