Chapter 476: Betrayer
"Unngh..." Lucas groaned as he awoke from his ’nap’.
His head was killing him, as was his stomach. His back was also aching despite not remembering being hit there by anyone.
Sitting up with some difficulty, the boy soon realized why his spine felt like it had been pressed flat then folded in half.
He was actually sleeping on one of the sewing stations in the shop, obviously having been moved and then dumped here after his Master decided to deprive him of his consciousness.
Speaking of his Master... "Oh, look who’s up."
The lingering pain and drowsiness being blow away, Lucas immediately tried to assume a defensive stance, only to fail due to extreme muscle pain and cramping in his numb legs which had apparently been dangling off the side of the table.
Finding himself unable to physically protect himself, the young boy’s survival instincts swiftly cycled through his available options and arrived at the optimum solution for this dangerous situation.
"Forgive me! Master!" Lucas lowered his head and begged, "I just wanted to do something nice for..."
Before he could finish, however, the room filled with laughter, mostly from his Master and his two Junior Sisters, though Lucas swore he could also hear Isaac and even Felicity doing their best to stifle their voices.
Opening his eyes hesitantly, Lucas was greeted by the sight of Celestina, Eris, Christina, and his two soon-to-be reduced pay tailors smiling at him.
Not totally sure how long he had been out, or what had happened when he was, Lucas asked with a sigh, "So, I take it everything went... well?"
Celestina looked like she was about to say something, but Eris acted faster, dashing over, throwing her arms around her little brother, and giving him a big squeeze, "Thank you, Lucas! They’re perfect!"
Not knowing how else to express her joy, Eris actually gave him a big smooch that was more like her trying to suck his cheek off than kiss him before giggling happily and stepping back with a shy look on her face.
Christina swooped in next, also giving her Senior Brother a tight hug and whispering quietly, "En, Sister Eris is right, it’s beautiful, all of it."
Perhaps caught up in the mood, or perhaps feeling particularly happy with this silly boy right now, Christina also gave Lucas a kiss, though hers was only a light peck.
When she pulled away, if Lucas’ brain had been working, he might have seen his Junior Sister Tina’s face on fire, with steam coming out the top of her head.
Too bad all his thoughts had been totally blown away and all higher function had ceased in his mind.
Flapping his jaw, Lucas gawked towards Eris, then towards Christina, then back to Eris, then back to Tina, unable to form proper words, much less coherent sentences.
Completely and totally overwhelmed by what had just happened, the young boy turned to the only person in the room he could trust to help, his respected Master.
When he met eyes with Celestina, however, the latter just smiled back at him sweetly and asked, "What? You want a kiss from me too?"
"Wha... bu... uh..." Lucas’ brain froze again as he mumbled incoherently, only to reboot a second later and shout, "N... I mean... ye... uhhh... that... feels like a trick question..."
"It is," Celestina grinned widely.
"Ugh," Lucas groaned, eliciting another round of laughter from the crowd.
Unexpectedly, Celestina then got up, walked over, and actually placed a light kiss on the boy’s forehead, one filled with something akin to motherly affection as she smiled genuinely at him, "I’m sorry, Lucas, and thank you. The clothes you had made for us are worth every Copper you spent."
While it was true that Lucas shelling out something like 100,000 Gold for the three outfits bordered on lunacy, after having really worn them, Celestina no longer felt it was wasteful.
They may not have been on the level of Spirit Armour, but with the quality of materials and manufacturing that went into them, they certainly couldn’t be thought of as ordinary clothing either.
At the very least, Celestina was confident that even if she wore her new undergarments under her armour and fought an intense day-long battle, they wouldn’t rip or tear no matter how intense her movements became, especially if she channeled her Spirit Qi to reinforce them, a feat which was entirely possible thanks to the materials’ Grade.
After rebooting his brain for the third time in the last 3 minutes, Lucas scratched his cheek and blushed, "You’re welcome."
"Good," Celestina nodded, ruffling his hair lightly as she asked, "So, who was it among my people that betrayed us and helped you?"
"Urg..." Lucas choked, knowing he had been caught red-handed.
"Let me guess," Celestina mused, "Was it, Allina?"
"... Please don’t get mad at her," Lucas lowered his head again and muttered.
When she had tried on the bra and panties earlier, Celestina had been too impressed to notice at first, but after a little time had passed, she realized that something was wrong. The sizing for both items, and for the dress, had all been just about perfect.
If it had only been her, Celestina might have written it off as a coincidence, but the fits for Eris and Christina were also spot on.
The only explanation was that Lucas had somehow gotten hold of precise body measurements for all three of them, but she certainly never recalled her First Disciple doing anything like that. It had to have been someone else.
Thinking back on her recent interactions, Celestina quickly recalled a certain morning training session about half-a-month ago where Allina had joined them unexpectedly, saying she had free time and wanted to check up on the girls.
Both Eris and Christina were quite familiar with Allina, so they had no objections, and neither did Celestina.
It had been a productive lesson, and after they were done, her trusty adjutant had suggested they all head to the showers together, a suggestion that, on its face, didn’t seem suspicious at all.
When they got the showers, however, Allina had actually volunteered to wash Celestina’s back, which was highly unusual for her.
Still, having absolute trust in her Vice-General, and thinking Allina was perhaps just trying to be friendly, Celestina agreed and had thoroughly enjoyed it.
While scrubbing her back, Allina had given her a few pinches here and there, which was nothing out of the ordinary given the relaxed playful mood, yet looking back on it now, Celestina realized that her adjutant’s real purpose must have been to confirm her measurements.
As for how Allina was able to get Eris and Christina’s measurements, Celestina had no doubt that she could have done that at any point during their training session while she was ’correcting their stances’.
At that point, she had basically figured out the ’how’, so the only question left was ’why’ Allina had gone behind her back, quite literally, to do this.
Even that, however, only took a little thought to understand, a light laugh again leaking from Celestina’s lips as she asked, "How many sets did you promise her?"