Chapter 17
Although it didn’t seem necessary to be in a bathtub, Ephinia insisted on attending to his bath.
It was probably because she didn’t want to create an awkward scene of sticking close to him and touching his body while he was completely naked.
‘It’s already embarrassing enough as it is.’
Kasselard’s hand, touching her fingertips, was much larger than Ephinia’s. To begin with, he was far taller than she was.
‘I really did shout at someone like this.’
Even setting aside the fact that he was the Crown Prince and a Transcendent, his shoulders were broad and his build was large. Rather than looking bulky, his body looked lean and solid.
“……”
Ephinia paid close attention, worried she might end up swallowing dry saliva audibly. He was already accusing her of having ulterior motives and things like that, so if she gulped down even a little bit in front of him, she would be branded a pervert in an instant.
She first wrapped both hands around Kasselard’s hand and checked whether guiding was working.
Ah. His condition really is bad.
She had guided Meredith, a guard knight, countless times, so she knew how to guide. Unlike Meredith’s waves, which had been like mist on the verge of dispersing, Kasselard’s waves were like damp tar, tangled and piled up.
They were so sticky and intertwined that she could truly feel what it meant for him to have never properly received guiding even once in his life.
“Hey.”
Startled out of her concentration, Ephinia jumped slightly. Kasselard shot her a sideways glance with a face that somehow looked embarrassed.
“Are you just going to keep touching my hand? It’s ticklish.”
It was just holding hands, so what was ticklish about that? She was puzzled, but Kasselard had already pulled his hand away and was scratching the back of his hand with his other hand.
“What are you looking at? T-Try other places too.”
Ephinia grabbed Kasselard’s wrist instead of his hand, which had gone back into the water. He flinched slightly, which seemed like an excessive reaction, but she focused on guiding.
From a tar-like mass, she was moving dust-like specks and gently loosening them. With just the area she could reach above the back of his hand, this was the limit.
‘Ah, seriously, just holding hands won’t work.’
At the very bottom, there was a huge black mass, dark and murky, holding firm, and it was even continuing to pile up. Purifying just one tiny grain wouldn’t make any difference.
Ephinia’s fingertips slowly traveled up along his forearm.
* * *
Kasselard could no longer tell whether this felt good or painful. The way this Guide touched him was, strictly speaking, similar to a physician’s palpation, and yet it felt extremely strange.
He was distinctly aware of it.
‘If I let my guard down, I’ll get hard.’
Normally, in a situation like this, he should shake her hand off or push her away. He should… but it felt so frighteningly good that he just blinked.
Is this possible? Th-this good feeling is guiding…?
Ephinia was careful not to swallow dry saliva, but Kasselard was the one swallowing his. Ever since she had stepped in, he had thought she was pretty, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her half-lowered gaze as she concentrated.
Her eyelashes are long too… and her skin is so fair. I want to kiss her.
‘What! Am I crazy?! What am I even thinking…’
Even as he thought that, the ticklish, pleasant touch kept moving up to his shoulder. If she had just openly grabbed his arm muscles, it might have been easier to endure, but she never did that.
‘Am I the only one feeling this way? I heard Guides feel something similar to Transcendents…’
It seemed like it was because the area of contact was different. He had said it was fine to touch his whole body, but Ephinia was only rubbing his hand or arm at most.
“Ugh…”
Just the change from probing with fingertips to pressing her whole palm against him made his nerves stand on end. At the moan that slipped out, Kasselard almost covered his mouth with his free hand.
When he glanced at Ephinia, she seemed so focused on guiding that she didn’t notice his agitation. Feeling both relieved and resentful at that, he let out a deep breath as her touch passed his shoulder and reached his collarbone.
‘She’s just brushing over my shoulder. Just that, and yet…’
Her slender, soft touch, so different from a man’s rough and coarse hands, made it feel as though blood was rushing through his entire body. Heat was already gathering below, and Kasselard struggled not to breathe too roughly.
While he desperately suppressed his arousal, the chronic pain was very slowly subsiding. It still wasn’t as immediately effective as guiding suppressants, but…
‘Damn it. This feels too good.’
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