I am back – Chapter 174

The distant sound of music that felt so far away slowly faded away, and it was just my older sister and I who remained aware of each other.

At first, my older sister’s face turned red with embarrassment, but before long, she was solely focused on me, ignoring everything around her.

Honestly, my feet were moving as they pleased.

Having never properly learned how to dance, we were merely spinning around randomly, just going wherever our feet took us. If anyone were to see us, they might question whether we even knew how to mimic a dance, and even I thought our dancing was a hot mess.

But it was fun.

Dancing without a care for what others thought was enjoyable.

Honestly, it felt unbelievable that I was dancing with my favorite older sister in the world.

“…….”

“…….”

As we moved to the rhythm that belonged only to us, our steps gradually slowed down.

Without saying who would go first, we slowly came to a stop.

Suddenly, music I could hear again filled my ears. It was a much faster and livelier tune than when we started dancing. Perhaps it was the musicians playing a song that matched the wild dancing they observed from us.

I was almost not tired at all, but my sister’s breath was starting to come in a bit more heavily.

A few strands of hair clung to her face, and her cheeks were faintly flushed.

I think at one point, we had each grabbed one hand and placed the other on our waists, but before we knew it, we had both hands resting on each other’s waists.

I could feel her moving slowly to the rhythm.

Just before we came out, my sister had shown reluctance to dance. Yet now that we were actually dancing, she seemed to be enjoying it immensely.

In sync with her movements, I too began to move slowly. The music shifted once again, this time to a slow and soothing melody.

“That’s unfair.”

My sister, who had been quietly looking up at me, muttered softly.

“Unfair, you say?”

“I’m the only one out of breath here.”

“Ah…”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at my sister’s petty complaint.

But it was unavoidable.

This body was one fashioned by the goddess. No, even before that, I had put in a lot of effort just to survive on the battlefield. Of course, part of that included conditioning my body.

As long as the abilities gained from that training remained, my sister could never surpass me in strength and stamina.

I didn’t know how she interpreted my smile, but she gazed at me intensely.

Her expression bore a pout that was quite rare to see on her usual face, making my heart skip a beat.

It felt as though I was getting to properly know my sister, whom I had known since childhood, just recently.

…Perhaps that’s a natural thing.

I had tried my best to present myself in a good light in front of my beloved sister. I wanted to appear as kind as possible and to be seen as a good person. Of course, my desire to help someone was genuine.

Had she felt the same? My sister, who claimed to like me, perhaps wanted to show only her good side to me?

After looking out for each other like that, it’s possible we’ve finally realized each other’s feelings and have relieved each other of that tension.

And perhaps we’re taking a step forward in our own way.

“……Didn’t we say we didn’t need to worry about the people here?”

“……Huh?”

When my sister suddenly said that, I tilted my head in confusion.

But after a moment of consideration, I nodded.

“Yeah. No need to worry about them.”

There might still be a few more visits ahead. Perhaps we’d spend quite a long time here before heading back.

Yet, even so, I had no intention of trying to gain anything from this world.

Fighting against evil and meeting comrades; that was more than enough for me.

I could see my sister nodding at my words as she looked up at me.

Then, our bodies moved closer together.

Our bodies, which had been moving rhythmically little by little, came to a standstill. If we pressed this close against each other, we wouldn’t be able to move properly.

Our chests met, and the shape altered.

My sister’s white shoulder and the back of her neck filled my field of vision. It felt like she had possibly put on some perfume before coming here, as an unfamiliar floral scent lingered lightly in the air.

“Sister…?”

When I awkwardly spoke up, she was already looking up at me.

I was taller of the two, but the difference wasn’t significant enough for us to care that much about it.

Thus, our faces were close together.

My sister released the hand she had held around my waist.

Then, she slid her arm up and wrapped it around the back of my neck.

While not particularly tight, the pressure of her arm made me slowly lean my head forward.

And my sister slightly stood on her toes—

“……”

Our lips met. Perhaps it was just moments before when we had been moving so vigorously that my sister’s lips felt hot against mine.

Or rather, on second thought, her lips had felt warm every time they met mine.

My lips were most likely the same.

Her soft lips, pressing down on mine, began to move, carving the shape deep into my mind.

They tilted slightly to the side, tempting me as they parted a little.

And I succumbed to that temptation.

My lips too slowly parted.

The strength in my hands, which gripped my sister’s slender waist, increased. Our bodies were pressed against each other even tighter, to the point we could distinctly feel the warmth radiating from one another.

For a while, we confirmed each other’s presence.

“……”

“……”

After a moment of staying that way, we pulled away and looked at each other again.

My sister’s face was wetter than it had been from our earlier intense movements. Her hair was messy, sticking to her face, and her lips, which had just been touching mine, glistened wetly.

Yet, even that appearance was awfully beautiful.

Or perhaps it was due to the characteristically decadent atmosphere that didn’t seem too different from usual. It even appeared splendid.

“……Ah.”

And it was then that we realized the music playing had stopped.

Though the melody had continued without anyone seeming to care how we presented ourselves, it had unknowingly ceased. When I turned my gaze, the musicians were staring at us with blank expressions.

It wasn’t just the musicians.

Nobles dancing nearby, servants carrying food and drinks, even His Majesty the King sitting far away were all staring blankly at us.

Everyone was gazing at us in a daze.

Well, no matter how you looked at it, two women sharing an intense kiss must have seemed very strange to these people.

“……Sister.”

“Yeah?”

I whispered softly, and my sister responded quietly.

But she didn’t look particularly alarmed.

“Shall we escape?”

At my audacious question, my sister burst into laughter. In the middle of the unmoving ballroom, her laughter rang out clear and bright.

“Alright, let’s run away.”

Seeing her nod, I took her hand.

And we ran.

Of course, it wasn’t like we were risking our lives trying to escape from the battlefield. It was just that feeling of liberation, a light, floaty sensation made me want to run.

My sister in high heels hurried to follow behind me. When I glanced back, I saw her smiling.

As we dashed toward the exit of the ballroom, we passed by our comrades.

They didn’t say anything special to us.

But everyone was smiling cheerfully.

Waving at me and giving me a thumbs-up.

Well, at least they didn’t seem to find our actions particularly strange.

After giving a slight wave to those comrades, we ran straight out of the banquet hall.

As we exited, I caught the bewildered expressions of the guards at the entrance for the last time, and we escaped the ballroom.

*

Well, it wasn’t like we would just keep running.

We were wearing dresses and high heels. Because of that, running felt extremely awkward. My sister, who was weaker than me in terms of endurance, felt it even more.

And I felt the same.

But walking barefoot felt a bit inappropriate, and I didn’t want to trip over my own feet after taking off my shoes.

Once we stepped out into the dimly lit corridor, it felt like all the noise of the world had disappeared.

“Haah…”

After being out of breath for a while, my sister took a deep breath all at once, and perhaps feeling a bit calmer, she looked up and smiled at me.

Then she raised her hand towards me. The back of her hand upwards.

“……”

I smiled and took her hand.

Even though my breathing had somewhat calmed, my sister still felt hot to the touch.

I felt the same.

Holding hands, we turned our bodies and began to walk.

With only the sound of our footsteps echoing in the dim corridor, it didn’t feel scary at all… No, because my sister was with me, there was nothing to fear.

Holding hands, we walked forward without saying a word.

Towards the place where we would be together.