Louis Goldsun.
The second son of the Goldsun Viscount family…
“AAAAAAAAAH!!”
-SPLAT! GLUGGLUG… PLOP…!
He was suffering from diarrhea.
“URGH….”
Shakily pushing himself up from his legs, as he exited the restroom, light erupted from the hands of a waiting mage.
A soft light gently enveloped Louis’ lower half, and the feeling of being torn apart began to subside.
This recovery magic, which instantly healed the wounds and pains of its target, wasn’t foolproof.
Recovery magic came at a cost.
The cost wasn’t just the mana of the caster but also the life force of the target.
Naturally, this wasn’t a power to be used frivolously, but to Louis, it was a most precious magic right now.
Still feeling the lingering sharp pains, Louis awkwardly reclined on the sofa and asked the maid who had recently moved in with him.
“How’s the call to the priest going? What did the city say?”
To which the maid hesitated before replying.
“T-they say this is a busy period for the priests and they want double the fee…”
“Priests are busy? Why are they busy! Is there a war going on? In a country where more than half the population are priests, what excuse could they possibly have?!”
“I-I’m sorry!”
“Hmph… Call a priest no matter the cost. Make sure it’s someone skilled.”
“Y-Yes, I’ll relay the message.”
Watching the maid scurry off with a sigh, Louis looked at the gruel placed before him.
The finely ground porridge specifically made for easy digestion was an insult to Louis’ palate, used to having all three meals comprised of gourmet cuisine.
“Damn it…”
But there was no other choice.
With indigestion preventing him from properly processing any food, his primary concern was now nutrition intake.
-GULP GULP
“UUUURGH….”
The act of drinking tasteless water alone was enough to make his face scrunch up.
It’s only natural for one in pain to recall its cause.
And so he replays, day by day, a now familiar scene.
It had started off fine enough.
After continuously being beaten by some guy, he suddenly became the center of attention after saying he’d obtained a familiar.
That cat-like familiar had indeed split the training ground in two with its horrible beams, but that didn’t sway Louis.
It was surely a trick. There was no way that incapable troll could’ve gained such fortune.
He kept brainwashing himself in this way, waiting for the right moment.
When Louis judged that the familiar had surely run out of strength, he immediately challenged him to a duel.
But before 30 seconds had even passed in the duel…
“AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”
-GLUGGLUG… SPLAT… GLUGEFFECT…
That was the end of his academic life.
In front of everyone, he had defecated, and in his humiliation, sought revenge.
However, the problem was…
“Why? Even now!”
At the slightest signal from his stomach, he would rush into the restroom.
-PLOPPLUG… SLURP…
“UUUUURGH!!!”
Louis had been feeling this stomach pain for days now.
The cause was surely that guy.
A lower-class orphan who lacked mana and had no advantages beyond a needlessly sturdy body resembling a troll.
-GEERRRRRKK
He clenched his teeth and bit out that name.
“Arthur…!”
The thought of his face alone set his stomach churning.
“UUURRGGHH!!”
-BURBLE…
Initially, he had spent the first day devising revenge, but now, all he hoped for was the resolution of this horrible situation.
Even the vaunted infirmary of the Academy hadn’t been able to treat this condition.
Saying it was closer to a curse than an illness.
Even the priests summoned to deal with this curse were no different, more focused on filling their own bellies than anything else, regardless of how serious the situation was.
Returning from the restroom, Louis blankly stared at the gruel.
‘I can’t let this continue. If I do, I might die first.’
Mentally and physically, he had reached his limit.
He needed a way to recover somehow.
Physically, a priest would resolve the issue.
Therefore, if he could just manage the mental side…
“Hey.”
He called out to the mage who had cast the recovery spell on him.
“Can you use a pain relief spell?”
First, he’d cleanse his tongue defiled by the awful gruel.
With such determination, after taking a temporary pain relief drug prescribed by the infirmary, Louis headed to his usual haunt.
“It’s been a while, young Lord Louis.”
“I’ll have my usual.”
The confident Louis was blocked in his stride by an attendant.
“I’m sorry, but the sweet room is currently occupied by another guest…”
“What? You gave my room to someone else?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Oi, do you want to get fired? Don’t you know who owns this restaurant building?”
“H, but…”
Pushing aside the hesitant attendant, Louis stomped towards the sweet room.
“Young Lord Louis, please…”
“Shut up! I’m eating in my room. What’s the problem with that?”
Louis forcefully pushed opened the closed doors of the sweet room.
-BANG!
“Who the hell are you to dare take my sweet room…huh?”
Inside the room…
“…Louis?”
When Louis saw the person inside, he felt the blood drain from his body.
-GURGLURG…
And a signal came from his stomach.
—-
With Louis standing there, having roughly burst through the door looking baffled, Louis’ expression turned rigid.
“……”
“……”
After a brief silence,
“…Enjoy your meal.”
“???”
‘Is Louis saying something like that?!’
While I was gaping at him, Louis slowly and gently closed the door, a stark contrast from his entrance.
After Louis and I were the sole two left in the room, I stammered, unable to continue the conversation.
“Wha…Wait… Wait, did Louis just?!…”
Louis turning pale would be easier to believe than this.
“Louis actually said something nice to me?!”
That day, my world was turned upside down. This had to be another dimension. The rarest dimension where Louis was kind across the entire universe.
With my uncloseable mouth, something entered.
Startled, I absentmindedly chewed what had entered my mouth.
It was meat.
Thanks to the salty meat, my wandering mind returned.
“Damn, curses really are scary. How can a person change so drastically?”
“Heheh, curses are originally powers created to torment others. There’s no way to beat a curse in that regard.”
“…Lilly, can I perhaps learn a curse?”
It was natural to be drawn in after seeing the drastic changes in Louis.
However…
“No, you can’t. Curses can severely injure the user if mishandled. And why would you need to learn when I’m here?”
That’s true… No matter how much I learn, I won’t be better than Lilly, so it’ll be easier just to ask Lilly.
“Well, this is the last one. Ah~”
With the last piece of meat offered by Lilly, the main course ended. Next, desserts lined up, and this time, Lilly herself ate enthusiastically.
Suddenly, I noticed a trail of white cream around her mouth.
She didn’t seem to notice it herself, as she showed no sign of wiping it off.
“Lilly, can I have you check something?”
“Hmm?”
I placed my hand on her cheek while she was nibbling on a cookie.
I gently wiped off the cream and naturally brought it to my mouth…
‘WHAT?! What am I doing eating this so casually?’
Startled, I tried to wipe it off properly with a tissue when suddenly—
“NOM~”
Lilly popped my entire fingertip into her mouth.
Even though it had happened a few times already, I had no way to prepare.
“WAAH~”
The overly cute behavior of Lilly nibbling on my finger was irresistible, and somehow, my hand ended up petting her head.
—Pet Pet
Her stiffening like stone from my actions made me tense as well.
“…”
“…I’m sorry.”
Overcome by her cuteness, I couldn’t help but treat her like a cute cat, absentmindedly patting her head.
“Why did you pet me?”
“…..You were too cute…”
“Who’s too cute?”
“…You, Lilly.”
I couldn’t bring myself to look at Lilly directly and turned my head.
After an oppressive silence,
“Really?”
“…Yes?”
“Really…am I…cute?”
She said, looking up at me slightly.
Under the gentle glow of the magical lamps, looking into her sparkling eyes, I replied,
“Yes, you’re cute.”
“…How cute?”
This much.”
As I kissed her lips and pushed her down, I ended up in a position where I was covering her.
“MM…CHUUP… CHUUP…”
Except for the occasional moments of catching breath, I kissed her deeply for a long time, making Lilly clearly understand just how cute she was.
After a few minutes,
“Haa…Haa…”
Dropping silver droplets from my lips, I was startled.
The expression on the face beneath me, Lilly, was one I had never seen before.
It was a mix of shyness, love, and….
“Haaak… Haaak…”
Her burning gaze directed at me.
In her eyes, the reflection of my gaze wasn’t much different.
As we both instinctively understood each other’s feelings and were about to close the distance again,
-KNOCKKNOCKKNOCK
“Customer? It’s closing time, so the store needs to be cleared. We’d appreciate it if you could leave now.”
We looked at each other for a moment.
The fiery atmosphere had slightly subsided, but the embers weren’t completely out yet.
Ready to reignite at any moment.
Whether to pull the trigger or not…
‘I don’t want to stop here… but…’
As I pulled away, Lilly caught the collar of my clothes.
“Lilly.”
“…”
“Let’s go for now.”
I added a little force to create some distance between us, her hand fell limply.
I took her hand firmly and stood up with her.
After a brief look at each other, we both went out together.
After receiving the staff’s greetings, we stepped into the now partly darkened street.
The cool night breeze wrapped around us, and the heat from earlier dissipated naturally.
We glanced at each other.
After the intense heat abates, comes an awkward atmosphere.
“…”
“…”
I broke the silence by saying,
“Let’s head back?”
Trying to start the conversation, but Lilly remained silent, her head bowed deeply.
As I waited awkwardly through the uncomfortable silence, I could hear a soft murmur.
“…?”
“What was that? It was too quiet to hear.”
Lilly took a deep breath and repeated more loudly.
“Do we have to go home today?”
“…Huh?”
—
When I came to, I was sitting on a plush bed.
‘Plush bed.’ Yes, this wasn’t my dorm room.
This was a fancy inn near the restaurant.
The luxurious blackout curtains caught my eye as I looked around absent-mindedly.
The gentle lighting, the soft bed, even a notice on the wall saying soundproofing magic was in place.
Yes. This was clearly not just any inn.
It was a place obviously meant for… certain purposes.
Then a sound interrupted my thoughts.
-SWISHSWISH
A stream of water.
Someone in the restroom was washing themselves.
Naturally, it was Lilly.
……….Huh?
…….Huh? Huh?
….Huh? Huh? Huh?
How did it come to this?
—-
