From the Tip of the Tongue of the Lowliest Maid - Chapter 101

This work contains scenes of sadistic coercion and hardcore depictions of BDSM. Reader discretion is advised.

But before dawn broke, what arrived to him was the order to depart.

“…Arzeletta.”

Exion grasped Arzeletta’s hand. The basket she had been holding slipped from her grasp.

The surge of emotions that suddenly overwhelmed him was uncontrollable. Exion stared at Arzeletta’s widened green eyes as if to swallow them whole.

He had to show himself as responsible, to prove himself worthy of being her knight. For that, he was determined to carry out this mission faithfully.

It wasn’t right for a man to disappear immediately after making a knight’s vow. Exion didn’t want to make another mistake. He didn’t want to repeat the countless wrongs he had committed against her. From now on, he wanted everything to be perfect.

He held his feelings down tightly. Restraining impulses wasn’t something that usually described him.

Even so—

“Arzeletta.”

He called her name with desperation.

Not “hey,” not with scorn or contempt, but her name.

“I’ll bring back the gift I promised. So please wait. There’s something I absolutely have to tell you.”

Arzeletta slowly nodded. She had no idea what he meant to do, but the look on his face as he sought her reply was so desperate.

Then, Arzeletta realized a large hand had come to rest on her cheek. The moment she realized it, her face was already held in his hand.

Watching her eyes widen in surprise, Exion spoke in a rough voice. No—he was almost begging.

“…Can I kiss you?”

“What…!”

“Think of it as a blessing. A blessing to return safely, Arzeletta.”

Exion’s breath was hot. So was the hand that held her face. Arzeletta’s gaze trembled.

It was nonsense. She was neither a noble lady nor a saintess. She wasn’t the goddess of the seasonal festival. She was just a lowly maid at a slaughterhouse.

The idea that someone like her could give a blessing to a Holy Knight—impossible.

“Hhp…!”

Then Exion’s lips descended.

Arzeletta grabbed onto his arms. Her ten pale, slender fingers clutched at the gleaming reddish-brown uniform. It was unclear whether she meant to push him away or hold him in place.

Inside Exion’s embrace, Arzeletta blinked.

Where his lips touched was the philtrum beneath her nose. Like a finger pressing gently just under the tip of her nose, his warm lips rested atop that delicate spot. Her soft breath was wholly taken into Exion’s inhale.

His lips, barely brushing her upper lip, burned hotly.

Thump, thump—

She could hear a heartbeat from inside his chest.

At first, she thought she was mistaken. But it was too loud to be her own. As if someone were pounding him with a mallet, the heartbeat thundering from the man’s chest pulsed with an intensity so fierce, it was almost frightening.

Arzeletta’s breath grew shallow. This kind of passion was too overwhelming. If it continued at this pace, it felt as if her heart might truly burst. Exion’s heat, like a blaze, engulfed her completely.

Haa.

Exion’s ember-like exhale warmed the space beneath her nose. Even with his heart pounding so wildly, he never forced himself upon her.

“Grant it to me, Arzeletta.”

“……”

“Your blessing.”

That was why. It was because she was overwhelmed by the pounding of a heart so immense, because she was dizzy from the heat that seemed capable of consuming her, and because despite all the raw and unfiltered impulses pouring from him, the voice asking her for permission was filled with such desperate sincerity.

“……”

Arzeletta tilted her chin ever so slightly.

Exion’s lips, which had been brushing against the bridge of her nose and her philtrum, met hers.

“……!”

The muscles packed tight beneath his uniform bulged fiercely. As his body pressed against hers through the fabric, turning solid like stone in an instant, Arzeletta’s eyes moistened.

…She recalled how the Lord had also reacted to her touch in the same way the night before.

It had been an impulsive act then as it was now. But Exion was asking for her blessing. Arzeletta, to some extent, wanted to give him what he longed for.

Unlike the fierce and rough master, this heart that beat so honestly—it was almost endearing.

If, perhaps, she had once thought of offering her body out of pity for a man she intended to kill, then granting a kiss imbued with a divine blessing for someone who gave her this kind of thrill didn’t seem like such a tremendous act.

“……”

The lips that had brushed against his like flower petals pulled away.