I am slightly taller than my peers, but not compared to Lily.
Whenever I kiss Lily, I have to stand on my tiptoes to reach her mouth.
So, when we hug, my face reaches her neck.
But when I held her from behind, I noticed her white neck, partially hidden by her long hair, looked incredibly alluring.
And so…
“Huff~”
I ended up doing it.
The ingredients frying in the pan suddenly disappeared, walking a path from which they could never return.
“Arthur.”
Lily turned her head toward me with a faintly sad smile.
“I’m sorry…”
“Why did you do that?”
“… I just wanted to play around.”
“Was it revenge from earlier?”
It wasn’t… but then again, in hindsight, I couldn’t exactly say there was no basis for it.
As I hesitated to reply, Lily turned her body fully and looked me straight in the eyes.
“Arthur.”
Suddenly, Lily’s hair began to stretch and surround me from all sides.
In an instant, her hair enveloped Lily and me, leaving only a narrow space between us. The strands blocked out the light, creating a dim silhouette, except for Lily’s shining red eyes.
“Hah…”
I heard Lily’s soft chuckle. In the darkness, her hand emerged, propping itself near my head and cutting off any escape.
“Hey, no fair—”
“Leee, Lily…”
Slowly, her crimson eyes approached until they stopped right in front of my face.
Her warm breath tickled my lips, and her radiant eyes filled my vision even in the darkness.
“Arthur, do you have any idea how much restraint I’ve shown?”
“…”
“Is this ‘restraint’? All those times you were teased and accosted?”
“… Hmm?”
The sound of her swallowing could be heard.
“Why do you keep pushing me? Do you want me to make a move? Is this what you want?”
“I… didn’t expect you to interpret it like that…”
In her pupils, I saw the greedy gaze of a predator watching its prey. My legs trembled at the intense emotion I hadn’t felt in a long time.
“Open your mouth.”
“Lily—”
“I know. I won’t cross the line… yet. But still…”
I could feel her lips moving close by.
“This is a warning. A warning that my patience is running thin.”
Each time her lips twitched, her sweet breath stirred my heart uncontrollably, filled with anticipation—no, expectation—for what was to come.
“Then, how about a kiss of reconciliation?”
“Choom.”
Lily whispered as she sucked my lips gently.
“Open your mouth.”
Without realizing it, my mouth opened in response to the passionate tone in her voice. Simultaneously,
Lily pushed her entire body against me and began exploring every part of my mouth with a hunger that seemed ready to devour me whole.
All I could do was barely maintain my trembling legs as I was swept away by the overwhelming kiss.
The kiss wasn’t limited to my mouth.
Her kisses cascaded over my cheek, jaw, nose, forehead, ear, and even my closed eyelids.
For a long time, I indulged in the pleasure, surrendering myself to the intense warmth.
Finally, Lily pulled away, catching her breath.
“Haa… Haa…”
I too took in ragged breaths.
As the strands of hair retreated and light returned to my vision, Lily was looking down at me with a relaxed expression.
“Go clean up. Dinner will be ready.”
“…Yes.”
Glancing at the wall clock, I realized I had been held captive for 30 minutes.
Shakily steadying my trembling legs, I entered the restroom to check my reflection in the mirror.
“Woah…”
I saw Lily’s lips’ marks, saliva that made my face sticky and disheveled…
And my lower body too…
Ah, that’s what she meant by “clean up,” huh?
It took quite some time before I re-emerged from the restroom.
—
Eventually, unable to shake the discomfort, I ended up showering and emerged to a spread of dishes on the table that left my mouth agape.
“What is all this?”
Each of the lustrous dishes looked completely unfamiliar.
Lily pointed to each one with her finger and began explaining.
“This is turtle soup, this is grilled eel, and this is rice. Oh, the golden honey liquor has a slightly different color because I added some goji berries. It should taste good.”
“Rice… Isn’t that the grain they eat in the eastern part of the continent?”
“Yeah. I thought I’d try preparing something a little different today. Also in preparation for tomorrow…”
“Hmm? I didn’t quite catch that last part.”
“Mm, it doesn’t matter. Let’s eat before the soup gets cold.”
Although there was something off about Lily’s attitude, my confidence that she wouldn’t do anything harmful to me led me to sit down without hesitation.
Lily, seated right next to me, handed me a pair of chopsticks.
“Let’s eat.”
“Yeah, enjoy your meal~”
Despite the somewhat burdensome feeling of Lily’s gaze watching me from the side, the scent wafting from the food in front of me was irresistible.
I was already hungry, but the… intense meal with Lily had completely drained me, making me hungrier.
Recalling the eating style I’d read about in books, I took a sip of the turtle soup using the chopsticks.
“Slurp”
“!!!”
My eyes widened as the clean taste danced across my tongue.
“Wow…”
My involuntary exclamation brought a wider smile to Lily’s face.
“What do you think?”
Silently, I raised my thumb toward her.
“Try this grilled eel too. Since it has a strong smell, I recommend eating it with the ginger provided beside it.”
This was the first time I’d seen the eel. As its name suggested, it was a long body coiled on the plate with red seasoning applied on the surface.
Next to it was a small bowl of finely chopped ginger. I had some memory of eating ginger occasionally, but I didn’t particularly like it due to its distinct smell.
But if Lily recommended it…
When I placed a piece of chopped ginger on a bit of the grilled eel and ate it together,
…it was perfect.
At first bite, the strong fishy smell from the eel made me feel a bit repulsed. But by the second bite, the ginger added a balance, eliminating the fishy taste.
“Hey, Lily…”
“Mm? Chew chew… gulp… It was like that at first, but the ginger flavor kicked in, and it became fine.”
“Right? The two certainly pair well. Since this is slightly salty, try eating it with the rice. If the flavor is too strong, take a sip of the goji berry honey liquor; it will refresh your mouth.”
Indeed, the turtle soup and grilled eel left a slight aftertaste due to their fishy smell, but after drinking the honey liquor as Lily suggested,
“Wow…”
Another exclamation involuntarily escaped my lips.
The addition of the goji berries gave the otherwise sweet honey liquor a tangy taste, effectively eliminating any lingering odors in my mouth.
Next, I tried a scoop of the rice. It had a soft yet chewy texture.
I ate the soup with the rice, placed a bit of eel on top of the rice and ate them together.
The rice harmonized beautifully with every dish. As Lily had said, the slightly strong-flavored dishes were balanced out by the rice.
Now I understood why people in the eastern part of the continent made rice their staple food.
After that, I continued eating without any pause.
Even though they were all new foods, there was no resistance; the food itself was just delicious.
The happiest finish was the sweet goji berry honey liquor.
—
“How was it?”
“It was the best. It’s a shame you didn’t eat with me, Lily…”
I felt bad eating alone while Lily watched from the side.
“Maybe I’ll join you for dinner starting tomorrow?”
“Eh? Is that okay?”
“I didn’t say I can’t eat food like this. Don’t you remember the fruit you gave me when we first met?”
Now that I think about it, she ate that fruit without issue.
“It’s just that I didn’t feel the need to.”
“And it’s this good?”
At that, Lily gently extended a hand and pressed it to my lips.
“I like this even better.”
Her lascivious smile that followed made my heart race fiercely.
“… Do you want to eat too, Lily?”
“No, I’ve had enough for today. I just ate a lot.”
Recalling what happened earlier made my face heat up involuntarily.
“Uh, it’s getting hot… How about a post-dinner walk?”
“Hmm… It’s the middle of winter, isn’t it?”
“Exactly! That’s why it’ll be refreshing outside!”
“Hah, alright. Be sure to wear warm clothes.”
I pulled out my lone winter coat and left the room with Lily.
“Should we hide our appearance?”
“Since we’re inside the academy, it’s probably better to hide. Remember how awkward it was when we got photographed by the paper during our date?”
Even though interviews have revealed our relationship by now, I felt it would still be a bit embarrassing to be seen together by someone we know.
Lily naturally slipped her arm around mine, and I naturally opened mine to receive her.
In the past, I would have panicked and tried to escape, but this showed just how our relationship had changed.
Lily must have noticed this too, as she tightened her embrace and closed the distance.
“How much longer until graduation?”
“About… two years?”
“… It’s such a strange feeling.”
“What is?”
“Back then, I would have thought two years was such a short time. But now… it feels too long.”
Lily muttered these words while gently tapping her head against mine.
“It’s your fault.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Take responsibility.”
“I will.”
We exchanged these light-hearted banter while strolling through the park.
Then, after a while, a chain of conversations broke, leaving silence in its place.
The silence was filled only by the cold winter wind.
Maybe I was similar to Lily.
In the past, I would have never dared to take a winter night walk, grumbling about going out in such cold weather.
But now?
No matter how cold the wind tried to cut through me, the gentle warmth I felt from Lily right next to me sustained me.
As we enjoyed this pleasant silence,
“Arthur, may I ask you something?”
An uncharacteristically reserved attitude from Lily.
What happened to her usual forceful persona?
“Of course.”
“… It might be somewhat unpleasant.”
What? Me causing Lily discomfort? That would never happen.
“It’s fine, go ahead and ask. What’s on your mind?”
Lily hesitated for a moment, moving her lips slightly.
“… By any chance… do you have any memories about your family?”
My footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
I stood there dumbfounded as Lily, panicking at my silence, waved her hands.
“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to!”
“… No, it’s just a bit surprising.”
It was completely unexpected, and I doubted my own ears.
“My family… I don’t really know much about them personally. I was handed over to the orphanage when I was just a baby.”
Come to think of it, the day I was handed over to the orphanage was also in the dead of winter, just like now.
“The people at the orphanage told me that a woman left me there. She apparently had gray hair and gray eyes like me, so she must be my biological mother.”
“Then you don’t have any knowledge about those people?”
“I don’t know more than that. Maybe I could find something out by going to the orphanage…”
“The place closed down, didn’t it?”
“Yeah, because of some corruption scandal or something.”
There’s no way those individuals treating the children that way could have run it properly. They all should’ve been arrested and thrown in jail.
“One more question?”
“Sure.”
“Did you notice from before that your wounds healed quickly?”
“Huh? How did you know about that, Lily?”
Indeed, I’ve never been seriously injured in front of you… was it during that incident?
Surprised, I looked at Lily, who was making an unreadable expression.
“Have you had this healing ability since you were a child?”
“Yeah. Even during my days at the orphanage, wounds and illnesses healed pretty quickly.”
It was an extraordinary healing ability, to the point that it almost felt like I had natural healing magic instead of mana.
“How many people know about you having this kind of constitution?”
“There are quite a few in the academy. Back when I was in the first grade, I was in an accident, but I was the only one who came out unscathed.”
That incident was when I got the derogatory nickname “Troll.”
After hearing my answer, Lily had a serious look, as if deep in thought. Is there something wrong with my constitution?
“Lily?”
At my questioning call, Lily, who was deep in thought, turned around.
“It’s getting a bit cold, let’s head back?”
Though Lily had shown strange behavior earlier, not long after, she returned to her usual high energy and continued our casual conversation.
When we reached the dormitory, we decided to go to sleep early in preparation for tomorrow’s date.
As I drifted off to sleep in Lily’s warm embrace, I resolved for tomorrow.
‘I definitely need to measure the size of her ring finger. Especially the left hand. My… will… can’t wait… Zzz…’
