Free Web NovelChapter 234: Interlude – The Spider’s Restraint
After my audience with the Empress, Professor Baldwin and I returned to our room. Ever since we left the audience chamber, no, even before that, Professor Baldwin had worn the same vacant, hollow expression, as though her soul had drifted out of her body.
I stared at her. “What are you thinking so hard about?”
“Why did you do it?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
She bit down on her lip. “Empress Camellia’s proposal. Why did you refuse it?”
“Why? There was no reason to accept it, so of course, I refused.”
Her teeth ground together as she shouted, her voice rising, “No reason to accept it? What nonsense is that? It was a chance to become the Empress’s husband! Maybe you wouldn’t wield the same authority as she does, but you’d still gain power close to it!”
It wasn’t just power.
She continued, “All the treasures stocked in the imperial vaults, the thousands of heroes under the Empire’s command, everything would’ve been yours, Dale!”
“Hm.”
What in the world is she talking about?
“Do you really think I care about that?” I said with a serious tone.
“Well, that’s...”
“To be honest, saying I have no interest at all would be a lie.”
Who didn’t want wealth, power, influence?
I continued, “But that doesn’t mean I’d throw away someone precious to me just to get it.”
That would be like giving up a diamond in search of gold.
Professor Baldwin’s face flushed the red of a ripe apple. She fidgeted, opened her mouth slightly, then bowed her head low. “If... if she hadn’t demanded you cut off your relationships, would you have accepted her offer?”
“No. Maybe I’d think about it a little longer, but I’d still refuse.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to marry someone I don’t care about.”
“Even if she’s that beautiful?”
Professor Baldwin unconsciously touched the scar near her left eye. She hated to admit it, but Camellia was undeniably more beautiful than someone with a scar like hers.
Honestly, it would be the same even if she didn’t have the scar.
That platinum-gold hair that shimmered like molten sunlight and that impossibly flawless face—even as a fellow woman, it was probably hard for Professor Baldwin to look away. Camellia’s beauty was breathtaking.
“Do I look like someone who gets swayed just because a woman is pretty?” I asked.
“Aren’t you?”
“Excuse me?”
Don’t ask that with such an innocent expression? What does that make me?
She continued, “Well, fine. Let’s put looks aside. Empress Camellia is also a hero with the Blessing of the Seven Stars, is she not?”
She was a being who had crossed beyond human limitation, practically a demigod. Her ranking as the first-ranked hero proved that no hero alive surpassed her.
“If you were united with the Empress, she would be a massive strength in your plan to stop the Demon God’s resurrection.”
Camellia would be stronger than someone like herself, whose power couldn’t compare.
I replied, “Well, she would be an enormous help. But still, I don’t want to marry someone for practical reasons.”
“I thought you were a rather rational person, Dale.”
I snorted lightly. “Was I? Efficiency? Great. Calculating loss or gain? Completely valid. But, at least when it comes to human relationships, I don’t want to measure things like that.”
Professor Baldwin closed her mouth tightly and stared at me.
I reached out and touched the scar near her left eye, my fingers gentle. “I didn’t become your lover because you’re the Cursed-Eye Spider. It just happened that the person I fell in love with is the Cursed-Eye Spider.”
“T-that...”
She tried to speak, but suddenly slapped a hand over her mouth. Even with her mouth covered, I could hear her breathing quicken. Her eyes, without any use of her Blessing of Insight, had changed into the unmistakable Cursed-Eyes. Vertical yellow pupils cut sharply across her purple irises.
Breathing heavily, she came closer.
I looked at her. “Professor? Your eyes are kind of scary— Oof!”
She shoved me onto the bed, large enough for six people to lie on comfortably, and I stared up at her glowing, predatory gaze.
“Heh.”
She loosened her tie with rough movements and threw off her suit jacket. With a hard pull of her hands, the buttons on her shirt popped off, and pale skin peeked through the gaps.
“P-Professor?”
“Dale, you really are cruel.”
“What? How?”
“You say things like that and expect me to hold myself back?”
When? W-when did I ever say something indecent?
“P-Professor, calm down,” I said.
“Hmph. After shaking my heart like that, now you want me to calm down?”
With a snort, Professor Baldwin climbed onto my stomach, and her soft weight pressed down on me. She licked her lips like a predator eyeing an irresistibly delicious prey.
“Um, Professor.”
“Elisha.”
“What?”
“Call me Elisha. At least today.”
I was speechless.
“It’s our first night together. You can’t call me Professor for that.”
Ah. She’s already decided today is the day, huh.
“Elisha...”
Her eyes widened. Maybe it was because this was the first time I called her name without her title.
Elisha’s lips curled upward in a strange, twitching smile, like a machine with faulty wiring. “Heh. Heheh. So, this is what it feels like. Not bad. No, it feels incredible. Well, now that things have turned out like this, could you speak casually to me?”
“Alright. I’ll talk casually,” I replied.
She clenched her fists in triumph, tears shining in her eyes like a miner downing a cold beer after a grueling shift. “Yessss! Heh. Now it really feels like we’re lovers.”
“We are actually lovers.”
Elisha chuckled softly. “It’s just an expression. Just an expression.”
She slowly reached out, brushing my cheek with her fingertips. “Dale.”
“Yeah.”
Her touch was gentle and careful, like someone handling a priceless treasure. “I feel the same way. Even if the ‘flame’ inside you suddenly vanished one day. Even if you slipped back to being a bottom-rank hero, weak and forgotten, just like your previous life, I will stay by your side.”
Our eyes met. Those violet pupils looked deep enough to pull me in. Dark hair grazed her shoulders, framing her beautiful face. As if bewitched, I sat up and stole a kiss from her lips.
“Mmph!”
Soft warmth spread from the contact, her sweet scent filling my nose. The pleasant weight of her body on my stomach sent a shiver up my spine.
When the kiss finally broke, after more than ten minutes, Elisha touched her lips dazedly, looking drugged. “Come to think of it, that was the first time.”
“What was?”
“You kissing me first.”
“Huh? That was the first?”
“Yes. Haven’t I always been the one to initiate?”
With a small pout, she grumbled, looking slightly wronged. The sight was so unbearably cute that a laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
“Hmph. What’s so funny?” she asked.
“Nothing.” I wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her again. “I’ll do it more often from now on.”
She quickly averted her gaze, flustered. “Ahem!”
Her ears burned red, and I barely managed to swallow another laugh as I touched her earlobe.
“Ugh, Y-you sure are bold for a cadet!”
Realizing I was holding back laughter, she grabbed me by the collar, face blazing. With surprising strength, Elisha pushed me down onto the bed again. “Heh! A cheeky cadet deserves to be punished.”
Her lips curled up wickedly as she slowly unbuttoned my clothes. Still straddling me, she leaned down and licked the side of my neck.
“Ugh.”
A shiver instantly ran down my spine. She seemed delighted by my reaction, smiling with half-moon eyes as she continued licking her way downward—from the neck, to the collarbone, then chest, stomach, and then to the forbidden area.
“W-wait!” I hurriedly said.
Stop! You can’t go any further!
“Hm? Why?”
“N-no, it’s just...”
“Hehe. What an adorable expression.”
With a teasing grin, she brushed the inside of my thigh with her fingertips in light, delicate strokes. Given where she touched, something reacted instantly. Elisha’s body, still sitting on top of me, suddenly lifted for a moment.
Her eyes flew wide open. “Huh? T-this hard thing... is that, um, your?”
I kept silent.
“I-I knew it’d be big, but this is...”
Her face turned so red it rivaled a ripe apple. She pressed a hand to her chest, breathing unevenly.
“Haa! Okay. I’m alright now.” She gulped visibly. “Dale. I have one request.”
“What is it?”
“T-that... Just wait a moment.”
Thin strands of webbing shot from Elisha’s fingertips, intertwining and tightening until they became a long rope. Holding the spider-silk rope, she smiled sweetly, almost too sweetly. “When we do it tonight, could we use this?”
A rope? For our first time?
“Uh, well, it’s not like we can’t.”
People had different preferences, and I respected that. But for the first time ever? Even Iris and Yurina had never brought me into this unexplored territory.
Elisha looked at me. “If it makes you uncomfortable, we don’t have to.”
“N-no! I’m fine!”
Right, honestly, I didn’t really need to do anything for this. All I had to do was let myself get tied up and wait to become the Spider’s prey. In a way, it was even easier than a normal situation.
Alright. I’ve never tried it before, but I can do this!
I nodded firmly.
Elisha approached with the rope in hand and offered the rope to me. “Good. Then, I’ll be in your care.”
“Huh?”
“You remember how I ran away from the hot springs that time because I got embarrassed?”
Ah, that was what she meant, I thought.
“D-Dale, tie me up so I can’t run away this time. As tight as possible, please. If you can, so tight I can’t move at all. A-and maybe, with a slightly forceful feeling.”
Was this what she was into?
