"Ariel???"

Looking at that unspeakably lewd scene, Liya had, one moment earlier, still been boiling with rage toward that little cheating cat. The next moment, it felt as if her mind had been struck by a massive hammer, nearly knocking the breath out of her.

Who am I? Where am I? What am I even doing?

Why am I seeing Ariel in a place like this?

Could it be that she had been so preoccupied with that little cheating cat lately, and so poorly rested, that she had accidentally fallen asleep before coming here and was now having some bizarre dream?

Yes. This had to be a dream.

Otherwise, how could anyone possibly explain that Ariel Bugaard—strong, independent, confident, stubborn, and the person who hated Muen Campbell most of all—was now swaying lightly in the blond bastard’s arms with a face full of pleasure, letting out soft, winding cries?

This was the kind of image that could only exist in a dream!

Thinking that, Liya hurriedly pinched her own cheek hard.

Hiss—so painful!

She could feel pain.

This was not a dream!

It was real!

That strong, independent, confident, stubborn Ariel Bugaard, who disliked men and hated Muen Campbell most of all, really was swaying in obvious enjoyment in the arms of the person she had once hated most.

And not only that—when Liya looked more closely, she discovered that hanging at Ariel’s ankle was a thin scrap of pink fabric, and judging by the style, it was even bolder and more shameless than the one Liya had picked up two days ago!

What happened to the promised white underwear with little cat prints? How had it evolved into this indecent pink lace butterfly design after only a few months apart?

And the indecency was not limited to that thin scrap of fabric alone. Ariel’s posture itself was full of allure—both hands braced on the dressing table, waist and back arched into a perfect curve, thighs taut, core drawn in, knees bent, making her already lovely little backside lift even higher.

That position let Muen fit against her even more closely, like two puzzle pieces locked perfectly together. And when the distance between those puzzle pieces reached its smallest point, Liya could even hear the crisp, unmistakable sound of impact, and see the rippling tremor running across Ariel’s little backside like waves.

"Core tight, chest up, thighs straight, weight shifted back, lifted high... so that’s the horse stance Ariel was talking about?"

The more she watched, the more Liya began biting her lip. Then she let out a cold laugh.

"Heh. The form is exactly the same. Very standard indeed."

...

...

"Mmph... mm... damn it... Muen, slower... I can’t take much more..."

After a sweet cry that had been rising higher and higher, Ariel’s lovely body suddenly softened. Her hands could no longer support her properly, and more and more of her weight sagged down against the dressing table.

Her two firm, rounded long legs also gradually weakened from that soul-melting numbness, until they could no longer support her body. Her upper half pressed against the dark red woodgrain surface—but unfortunately, because she was too flat in front, there was no special curve to be piled up there.

"What, already not holding up?"

Muen did not slow at all. Grinning wickedly, he said,

"The things Miss Ariel says and the actual results don’t seem to match. Didn’t you say you were going to make me suffer tonight? Why are you the one surrendering first?"

"I’m not surrendering!"

Ariel snapped back, cheek pressed against the dressing table in embarrassment and irritation.

"It’s just... it’s just that this is my first time in a position like this. It’s too embarrassing, and I’m not used to it, so..."

"All right, all right, I understand. So for you, this is nothing, right? Then I guess I’ll have to put in more effort."

"W-what?"

A flicker of panic appeared in Ariel’s eyes, but Muen gave her no chance to refuse.

He bent down, seized her behind the knees with both hands, and lifted her up. Ariel’s body tipped backward along with the motion, no longer supported by the dressing table at all, instead falling fully back against Muen’s chest.

"W-wait... h-how can you do this? This is too embarrassing!"

With her position suddenly changed and all support gone, Ariel instinctively wrapped her arms around Muen’s neck. But the moment she realized what she had done, her already flushed little face turned even redder.

Too... too shameless. It was far too shameless.

This position... Ariel suddenly remembered having seen adults use this sort of position with children for that sort of thing, but how could she do that? She wasn’t a little kid!

She was Ariel Bugaard—strong, independent, and confident. How could she possibly do something like this?

"Put me down!"

Ariel twisted her waist and struggled, but with Muen already in the middle of enjoying himself, how could he possibly let her escape like that?

"Don’t move!"

Muen casually smacked her little backside and threatened her viciously.

"Did you forget last night?"

"Ugh..."

The moment she thought of last night, Ariel immediately softened. It wasn’t that she was scared of this hateful blond bastard—it was just that the burning sensation lingering in her little backside was still there, and that humiliation was still needling at her nerves. Compared to that, this embarrassing position no longer seemed like much at all.

"Good girl."

Right after threatening her, Muen instantly softened his tone and murmured gently,

"There’s only the two of us here now. No one else is going to see. So what’s there to be embarrassed about?"

"But... mmph, jerk..."

Ariel let out a dissatisfied little grumble, but in the end she chose not to keep resisting.

She knew resisting was useless anyway. Right now she could barely even stand, so how was she supposed to summon her strong, independent, confident self to resist the hateful blond bastard’s mischief?

And besides, just as Muen had said... there was no one else here anyway.

So being a little indulgent was probably fine.

"Looks like you’re willing. Then I’m really going to start getting serious now."

Muen bit lightly at Ariel’s ear again.

But compared to what he said aloud, Muen’s body always moved first, so before Ariel could even react to the warning, that renewed sensation of rising into the sky had already made her narrow her eyes in a daze.

"Mmm... mmm..."

Her sweet little sounds continued. At first, Ariel had thought she was still managing to hold back with a bit of restraint, but very soon she let go completely.

As her soul danced upward, a different sort of feeling also began spreading through her heart.

She did not know whether it was just her imagination, but the more embarrassing the position, the harder it became for her to stop herself from sinking into it. And so, not long after Muen’s new round of attack began, her lovely songbird-like cries suddenly rose high again.

Ariel’s eyes gradually lost focus, her little face full of intoxication. Her gaze drifted aimlessly before finally landing on the mirror in front of her.

Since earlier, she had been deliberately avoiding looking into that mirror right beside her, because the version of herself reflected there was simply too embarrassing.

But at this moment, it was almost as though she wanted to seek out that shame for herself, and so her eyes met the reflection in the mirror.

Just as expected, the self in the mirror who was on the verge of floating back into the clouds was unbearably lovely. Though her chest was still regrettably lacking, the unconscious twist of that slender waist and the blank, absent expression of a soul gone far away were so captivating that not only did even her own heart start pounding, but both Muen behind her and Liya hidden beneath the bed seemed equally struck by how she looked in that state.

See? Even her childhood friend, who had known her best, was staring in such astonishment. The changes that hateful blond bastard had brought about in her these past days really were a bit...

Huh?

Wait.

Liya?

...

Liya?

Ariel’s body jolted violently. For a moment, she thought the fact that her soul had drifted too high had warped her senses so badly that she was hallucinating.

How could Liya possibly be here?

This was the Campbell ducal estate. More specifically, Muen’s room. Liya was the Pure Saintess, a flawless being in the eyes of countless believers. How could she possibly sneak into a man’s room in the middle of the night and hide under the bed to peep?

No matter how you reasoned it out, there was simply no way that chain of logic could ever come true. If something like this were told aloud, even the lunatics of the Salvation Society, who made slandering the Church their life’s work, would think it was too absurdly extreme.

But when Ariel’s soul came crashing back down from the shock and clarity returned to her eyes, the girl hiding beneath the bed was still there—still just as familiar and just as real.

Those wide, watery eyes were staring at her without blinking, brewing with some indescribable meaning, as though silently telling her...

This was no hallucination.

It was real.

Liya was under the bed, watching her!

"W-wait, Liya... Liya, why are you here?"

Ariel suddenly began struggling, slapping at Muen’s arm.

"Stop—stop, hurry!"

"What do you mean, Liya?"

Muen, fully focused on his battle, had not noticed the third person in the room at all. He simply assumed this was some little kink of Ariel’s.

"So you shameless little thing can come up with something like this on your own. You’re quite creative."

"I’m not playing... it’s real, Liya is right... mmph... I can’t... Liya, don’t look... don’t look at me..."

Unable to make Muen stop, Ariel suddenly covered her face. Because at the very moment she discovered Liya hiding beneath the bed and looking at her, Muen also sent her crashing into the finish line that had already been so close.

Her lovely body shuddered violently. Her little feet went rigid.

The mirror in front of Ariel suddenly turned hazy, as though a wave of damp heat had swept over it. Droplets slid down the surface, and it could no longer clearly reflect the figures before it.

Liya’s form blurred within it as well.

"Hiss—"

Even Muen could not help sucking in a breath.

"Damn it, why did you bite so hard this time?"

Could this position really have embarrassed her that much?

No way. After these past two days, Muen was sure of one thing at least: whatever else Ariel might be, the toughness of her will was absolutely real, not just empty bravado. There was no way she would be so ashamed by a position like this that she would lose herself completely.

Muen lowered his head.

The girl in his arms had already reached her limit, her taut body melting into a boneless mess.

But she was still murmuring over and over, "Don’t look... mmph... don’t look..."

"Hm?"

Muen frowned, now also ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) sensing that something was wrong.

But the mirror had already been blurred beyond recognition by Ariel’s outburst, so all he could do was hold her and slowly turn around.

And then... beneath the deliberately dimmed golden glow of the room’s magic lights, a lovely girl with a pure, sacred aura crawled expressionlessly out from beneath the bed.

Though her figure was perhaps a bit too ample, and she got stuck for a second while emerging from under the bed, it did not diminish her beauty or her presence in the slightest.

The moment she came out, the entire room seemed to brighten. The Holy Light leaking from her with her unstable emotions not only illuminated her like a backdrop, but also lit up every detail of the shy, sweat-slick, limp girl in Muen’s arms with almost cruel clarity.

"Liya?"

Muen froze for a moment, equally stunned.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to take a look." Liya let out a tiny huff.

"Take a... look at what?"

A jolt ran through Muen.

"How long have you been watching from here?"

"Not long. Just a few minutes, really. But..." Liya let out a cold laugh. "In those few short minutes, I saw some very exciting things."

Exciting enough to almost make her doubt her entire life.

"Liya, listen to me, I can explain—"

"Muen, don’t say anything for now. I’ll punish you properly later. As for right now..." Liya’s face remained stiff. "I have to deal with the most important thing first."

"The most important thing?"

Muen looked completely lost, with no idea what Liya meant.

But the Ariel in his arms quietly parted her fingers and, seeing that Liya was very clearly angry, was already beginning to feel that something was terribly wrong.

Unfortunately, she still had not recovered from her earlier state and was in no position to prepare any sort of defense before Liya suddenly pounced at her viciously.

"You hateful Ariel... so you were the little cheating cat all along!"

"W-what cheating cat? Liya, I have no idea what you’re talking about..."

"Stop playing dumb. I went to see that crystal palace myself. You even left behind fabric that shameless there, and you still say you’re not the cheating cat?"

"Ugh... that was because of Muen..."

"Shut up, you shameless little slut. You used to act like men were beneath your contempt, and now look at you! Aren’t you embarrassed?"

"I... I’m not shameless..."

"Pah. You sprayed this much and you’re still saying you’re not shameless?"

Liya pushed Ariel down in one move, cheeks puffed as she huffed furiously.

"I’m going to punish you!"

She had calculated and calculated, counting practically everyone in the ducal estate into the equation, and yet never once had she counted her own childhood friend.

While she had worked so hard juggling the Church, gathering information, and searching the entire enormous ducal estate in the middle of the night—

Ariel had been here the whole time, doing the things she loved doing with Muen...

The moment Liya thought of that, her chest filled with sour jealousy and her anger surged straight upward!

"Huh? P-punish me?" Ariel asked in alarm. "What are you trying to do?"

"Hmph... I prepared this specifically for disciplining shameless little cheating cats like you!"

Liya let out a proud little snort. As she pulled something out, the surrounding Holy Light suddenly gathered around it, casting a sacred cross-shaped radiance over the object.

"Th-this is?"

"This is the Holy Sword!" Liya held up the cross-lit object, her tone solemn, as though she were reading out Ariel’s crimes on the spot.

"The Holy Sword?"

Ariel’s beautiful eyes widened in shock.

This was too much, wasn’t it?

There was no need to go this far... If it came down to sneaking around, Liya, hadn’t you been doing the same thing before?

Just as Ariel was beginning to think Liya was actually going to wield the Holy Sword to purge her rival in righteous fury...

Bzzzz...

A strange sound came from within the cross-shaped light.

"..."

"..."

Muen could not help rubbing his forehead speechlessly.

So it was that Holy Sword.

He should have known. There was no way that outwardly pure but inwardly filthy-minded Saintess would actually pull out a real sword to cut Ariel down.

"W-what?" Ariel, who had never seen this thing before, was still asking anxiously. "What kind of Holy Sword is it? Which one? Justice? Temperance? Or Tolerance? Has the Church become so lax about guarding Holy Swords that they’re actually letting Liya bring one out for something like this?"

"None of those. It’s an artificial one."

Muen’s expression grew strange.

Looking carefully, this thing seemed oddly familiar.

And yet in some ways, it looked different from the one in his memory. Somehow... more refined?

"Hmph. This time is different!"

Hands on her hips, Liya declared, "This time it’s the ten-times enhanced version!"

"T-ten times?"

Ariel began struggling violently. She had heard of the Holy Sword long ago. Even in an ordinary state, it was something countless evil beings fled from in terror. So what did ten times mean? Was Liya trying to burn her alive on the spot?

Had Liya already come to hate her that much?

No. She had to run!

Unfortunately, Ariel, just drained moments ago, was now no match for Liya at all. After only a few struggles, Liya bound her completely in Holy Light, leaving her unable to move.

"L-Liya, calm down. What are you trying to do exactly?" Ariel asked in terror.

"What else would I do?"

Liya smiled wickedly. "A Holy Sword is obviously meant for stabbing people and purifying filth. Here I come!"

Liya moved sharply, giving Ariel no time at all to react, and directly thrust the Holy Sword into her body.

And Ariel, naturally, was forced to bear that tenfold power, her lovely body trembling as she let out a cry of anguished despair...