Chapter 39 (2/2)

As Aira worked herself up too much, I used my fists to give her a full-strength noogie on both sides of her head. Teary-eyed, she whined and apologized, but I didn’t relent a single percent.

“…Both of you looked like you were having so much fun, so — ”

After Aira collapsed, I took the chance to noogie Palmira with the same amount of force. I’m a staunch believer of equal punishment. But even as she got noogied, she excused her actions without expression. There was no value in punis.h.i.+ng her.

“Oh, come on!”

My mood didn’t lighten a single bit, but I decided to let it go for now and get dressed instead. It was dangerous for me to be before them with my defenses low. Especially mentally.

I looked into the basket in the dressing room, only to find my clothes gone.

I scanned my surroundings. I wondered if it was Aira’s doing, but I spotted her still awkwardly squatting down from that noogie. Looks like it wasn’t her. That’s kind of a relief.

Oh, there was something that looked like clothing folded up and placed on top of the shelf.

Without giving it much thought, I picked up… a dress.

A dress.

For me. To wear.

Well, come to think of it, I did wear dresses at Leon’s estate.

But I didn’t know how to put them on. Back then, this was handled by the maids too. I didn’t learn all the ins and outs of putting them on.

There were three of them.

By what criteria were they chosen, or perhaps, by who? The question bothers me, but this frilly black and white one is Palmira’s size, at least.

Then, the red one with the gaping chest definitely goes to Aira.

So by process of elimination, this rather short one in light indigo is mine?

Alright, seriously, who picked these? Leon? Seems like it could only be him.

At the very least, my gut tells me that no one in the fortress would choose these. No, before that, why does a dress like this even exist? That’s the real mystery here.

As I puzzled over it, there was a knock at the dressing room door.

After a moment’s thought, someone flung it open and barreled inside. Someone with a familiar face.

“Hi, long time no see!”

“Irene!”

It was none other than Irene, the person who disappeared from the estate the day after hearing my confession. Sure, it felt like it’d been a while, but actually, it had only been ten days at most.

Apart from that, I was a bit worried about her as someone who was in on my secret, but learning that it was a completely baseless fear was an astounding let-down.

“Just what have you been up to since then?”

“Whoa, what is up with you guys? At least put on some underwear. By the way, what’re you doing over there, Aira?”

Ignoring my question, Irene strolled right in.

Something about the way she only did things at her own pace put me in a nostalgic mood.

“Big Sister hates me, she… against my will…”

Aira said, still sitting on the ground. Hearing that, Irene gave me a look, like ‘Seriously?’

“Are you an idiot? Quit s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around. If anyone got manhandled, it was me.”

My thoughtlessly chosen words deepened the ‘Seriously?’ on Irene’s face.

“Uh — well — more importantly, what did you come here for?”

“Ah, right. Right now, I’m the only woman here, so Lord Leon told me to check on how things were going… so get your b.u.t.ts moving. Don’t tell me I have to dress you? I’m not a maid, you know.”

Irene World, where everything proceeds on Irene’s schedule. It was comfortable, to a certain extent, but bothersome. Although she’d revised her opinion of Irene, even Palmira was now wearing the same expression she had when she called Irene ‘noisy’.

“Anyway, put your underwear on yourselves, okay? I can see that it’s the dresses you’re having trouble with. Ah, and then makeup. You may be a tranny1, but looks are still important.”

“……”

“What?”

“No, nothing.”

It wasn’t nothing. Honestly, I was a little moved that someone remembered the fact that I was a man.

To tell you the truth, I felt like no one around me treated me as a man anymore, not really. In a sense, this was new for me, and unconsciously, my eyes grew hot.

“Hey, hey, hurry up. The men are coming in after this, so there’s no time to take it slow! Ah–, dry your hair properly!”

“Yes ma’am.”

“‘Kay.”

The two of them obediently started to towel off their hair. Irene was obviously cracking the whip, but much as I hated to admit it, she was right. So I followed suit.

“Mm, right, so I returned to the capital first with the First Platoon. A lot happened, and I got stranded here by myself. Well, I guess I was waiting for you?”

For a moment, I didn’t know what she was talking about, then it clicked: it was the answer to my first question. ‘Wasn’t I asking the questions?’ I thought, but it was Irene. I decided to ignore it as best as I could.

“Waiting — for me?”

Towel covering my head, underwear on, I turned back to Irene.

“Right, that’s right. Master… ah, my magic teacher, I mean. I saw him, but when I told him about you, he gave me something to pa.s.s on to you.”

Paying no attention to Irene roughly rubbing the towel against my head, but when she said something I couldn’t overlook, I asked her in a panic,

“You mean, you told him about me?”

“Ah, yeah. Sorry. But it’s Master, I can’t hide anything from him… I did tell him that it was a secret, and he’s also a reliable person, so I don’t think he’s told anyone.”

“Just knowing it’s [your] master is killing my confidence.”

I didn’t know what kind of person this ‘Master’ was, but as much as I didn’t want to, I raised the number of people in on my secret to six.

But this sixth person. Not only did I know nothing about his true nature, what the h.e.l.l was he trying to p.a.w.n off on me?

“I said I was sorry! Look, I haven’t told anyone else. I’ll give you Master’s gift later. Forget that for now, hurry up and change. Airi and Polly, you hurry too.”

My doubts were endless, but in the end, sucked into Irene’s pace, we did as she said.

Because at the end of the day, I knew very well that it was the fastest way.

Author’s Notes

Ero and guro are the flowers of entertainment…

Because it’s a rare occasion, guro aside, I put that kind of scene into the story.

I didn’t think it could fall apart in barely a single chapter.

Footnotes

1. Still haven’t found a decent replacement. Well, Irene is pretty rude, after all. ↵

This kind of skins.h.i.+p has always mystified me. Do people really do this?

<script>