Chapter 112: A Stalker
Wow.
Look at her cheeks, flushed so red.
Her ears are even steaming, literally!
"Pervert."
After stating the obvious, I clicked my teeth and turned my eyes away from her; you can't do it when I'm awake, so you wait until I'm asleep?
How many times has she done that by now?
While I contemplated the mythical mysteries of our day-to-day lives and Hilda's seemingly perverted, secretive actions-
"Hold on! I didn't do anything like that!"
-Hilda frantically shook my shoulders and pulled my face towards hers.
But I didn't relent.
I kept my eyes turned away.
When Hilda moved her head into my line of sight-
Turn.
-I peeled my eyes off again.
Just then, Hilda's cheeks puffed up like a pufferfish from the corner of my eyes, "Uuu... You bully..."
...Oh no.
"Bully!"
With one outburst, Hilda shouted with grievance in her voice and sucked my body into the suffocating, plushy cushions of her curves. My face was instantly stuffed into the steaming hot, massive pillows. My arms were forced to curve around her tender and succulent waist, whilst my legs lay helplessly on her firmly seductive legs.
I was confidently suffering with success.
'Says you!' Or so I tried to say, but it came out more or less as, "Shesh shoe!"
As I said:
Suffering with success.
"Hmph! That's for bullying me!" Even though each word carried her clear intention of absorbing the body of the one she loved into herself.
Still, I'll let it go this time.
I like it too.
I gave her a minute before I allowed a sliver of Cursed Flames to slip from my scalp. The heat momentarily singed Hilda's clothes before fading away; stop it now.
Hilda reluctantly let me go; I can finally breathe.
"Feeling better? You dumb girl?"
"Much better. And I'm not dumb!"
...Sure.
Delude yourself.
-----
Her clear green eyes swirled with frailty. She stared upwards into the sky, at the three upside-down crosses adorning her crown.
The string of Curses connecting her to the white crown rang vividly in her body. They subtly imbued her with uncomfortable heat from the inside out, a consequence of the lifeline that allowed her to stay alive.
If not for these Curses that Alora had placed upon her Soul, she'd be dead.
And, precisely because of that, she couldn't tell anyone.
Yulei wasn't an idiot.
To Curse someone; to place a Curse, that only the world itself should be capable of doing, upon another-
'It's a catastrophic ability.'
-all would demand her death were they to know what she was capable of.
Nemora, Vanessa, Jill, Elden, and Hildekar.
None would spare her, not even on behalf of Esme's wishes.
'If she reaches higher, soars through the Heirarchy...'
Yulei would rather not imagine the possibilities; each was only more dreadful than the last. It's a plethora of world-ending outcomes.
...She, on the other hand.
"Thank you."
Muttering to herself, Yulei stared at the distant setting Aurora. The peals of orange light washed over her fragile body, bathing her in a refreshing set of colours that sat in contrast to her unhealthily pale skin.
Even as her body was failing; even as she knew that her end was nigh...
She was appreciative.
Not depressed.
Not dismal.
...Just happy.
Happy that she received these few years with those she cared for.
Happy that she had all those delectable treats alongside her bestie, Hilda.
And it was all thanks to Alora that she received these extra few years. For that, she vowed to remain silent—none would hear the truth of Alora's devastating capabilities, not from her, at least. Not for as long as she remained alive these final few years.
Of course, when she first heard the truth from Alora, her world had collapsed. But that was long ago. Only, now, 'Vanessa...'
Vanessa had changed a bit since then.
Not in the manner of her personality, but in the way of her priorities.
'She's taken to stalking Alora.'
Of course, it was a bad thing.
But-
"I can't stop her, can I? That would be..."
-Yulei had to let her be.
That was just the way things had to be.
-----
Things are progressing smoothly.
Hildekar is moving The Canary's progression along smoothly. Elden and Jill, while still fighting him, have been accompanying him, and Nemora is still acting suspiciously kind around me.
The only two people who have had odd changes to them have been Vanessa and Yulei.
Yulei is too happy, and, at times, I can feel a pair of dark eyes staring at me from a distance in the gardens. It didn't need a genius to figure that one out, which, admittedly, I'm not a genius. So that puts it into perspective just how poor Vanessa's surveillance has been.
If only I could grab that big dummy number 2 by the throat and ask her what's up.
...Wait, why haven't I done that?
I genuinely thought it through for a minute before remembering why I hadn't; Nemora's hints. I almost forgot about them.
She's been drip-feeding me reasons as to why I should ignore those prying eyes.
"Little dummy~ Say ah..."
"Ah..."
Nom.
Munching on Hilda's carefully constructed lasagna, I honed my eyes, carefully chewed, and swallowed the food.
Hilda's hopeful eyes stared at me with a tail practically wagging behind her back, "...It was good."
"Yay!"
She jumped with a cute smile. Hopping, twirling, dancing-
The whole collection.
"At this rate, you'll be a top-tier wife by the time we have to leave. Unfortunately, I won't get to watch your wedding any time soon, I'm going to be jealous of your partner when the time comes~"
Thud.
A soft knuckle landed on my forehead, "Dummy." Hilda turned her head away, with her skin all flushed and adorable.
Hehe.
I wonder who your partner will be~
Just then, I paused.
I had to think about a second important point.
Esme.
Right, my dear, cutest, mostest adorablest, sister.
I love her.
Perhaps even to scale beyond that of my love for Hilda.
What do I do when it's time? How do I tell her I also love another woman when we love each other?
Suddenly, I was in a conundrum.
I hadn't even thought about it properly prior to this moment. I used to be monogamous, and a majority of people are still monogamous. So...
Uh...
Am I screwed?
But, genuinely, what do I do?
I love both; two girls, and both girls love me, but neither knows that the other also loves me, and neither knows that I love the other girl.
If anything, love troubles could be my downfall...
"Little dummy?"
Poke. Poke.
"Stop staring at my boobs."
Pft!
My eyes were rattled awake, and, just as she said, both of them were staring at her gloriously ample bosom. And, both, were sadly hidden beneath her white apron; it puts into perspective how massive they are when they look big in an antique maid's outfit.
...Ahem!
"I wasn't looking."
"Oh? But your eyes were staring, you can't lie to me that blatantly, little dummy."
"Yes, I can."
"No, you can't."
"Yes, I can't."
"No, you can't."
I stared at her for a moment, "...See, I just lied to you blatantly."
"..."
Bonk.
"...That hurt."
"You deserved it this time, little dummy."
Fair.
-----
There's somewhere I need to visit today, a place I haven't been to in a while, thanks to Vanessa's assistance; while I do appreciate the help, on what basis has she chosen to stalk me over the past few months?
I don't get it, and I don't think I will get it—not any time soon, at least.
191,091,783Notuntilweescapethishellthatis191,092,000
Scribbling a couple of words onto my Book of Heresy, I gushed in the rush of power pulsing through my veins once more. The non-existent pain brought a brief smile to my face, but, alas, no sense of relief.
It was going to return with compounded debt after my time ran out, after all.
Stretching my limbs, I gripped the railing of the terrace and leaned my waist backwards, "Feels so good!"
I shouted with a relaxed, jubilant voice.
Freedom, this is what it felt like.
Then-
"Let's go!"
-I swung myself over the railing and dropped into the main gardens below me.
I had a black market to visit.
-----
The filthy stench stung my nose once more. But on the bright side, I could handle these scents with relative ease.
Gazing down at the bustling black market, I stared at the only two sections of the black market that I'd visited.
The bar and the drug store.
This time around, I was here for the bar.
Plus, I don't want traces of my presence being tracked to the drug store. As much as I know that Esme could easily find out the truth at any moment, it's better not to speed up that discovery.
I'd like every minute with my favourite hits of euphoria before that lovely sister of mine confiscated all of it.
While these thoughts ran through my head, I strolled down the side of the lookout section of the entrance and walked into the bustling streets with my head covered beneath a black garb. It only took a few minutes before I arrived at the familiar alleyway.
Walking to the entrance of the bar-
Swish.
-I entered the den of filth once more.
I wanted a nice, long chat with that lady.