“..Huh?”
“What are you doing without taking off your clothes?”
Wait a minute.
Huh, how did it end up like this?
I said I would help Athena as a way to repay her.
And suddenly, she tells me to take off my clothes.
Just as I was confused by such an astonishing request that felt like I misheard her, she started reaching toward my chest.
A chill ran through me, and instinctively, I fled to the bed, wrapping myself tightly in the blanket.
She looked at me with a slight chuckle and climbed onto the bed, smiling seductively.
And so, here we are.
“Are you trying to seduce me, Hera?”
“What.. What do you mean!!”
I clutched the blanket even tighter.
Taking off my clothes?
What is she trying to make me do?
Being alone in a room and being asked to take off my clothes…
Could it be that…
‘N-no way…’
Unspeakable scenarios painted in flesh color began to surface in my mind.
That can’t be true.
Athena and I are both women.
Yet, I couldn’t think of any other reason for her to ask me to take off my clothes.
Could it be that women in this world do that kind of thing with each other?
No. That can’t be right.
Although this place has no qualms about skinship between same-sex individuals, there still must be lines drawn.
No matter how much women are together, they certainly wouldn’t engage in acts of overlapping their bodies.
So then, what is the reason for all this?
Is she… does she like me?
Was Athena a lesbian in the novel?
No matter how much I recall the story, the only character set up as a homosexual was the Saintess.
Rather, Athena was treated as one of Robin’s heroines by the readers.
I’m pretty sure she wasn’t a lesbian.
“What are you doing without taking off your clothes?”
“Eek?!”
As she slowly began to unwrap the blanket that was covering me, I quickly retreated to the edge of the bed.
With her hands reaching into thin air, Athena stared at me in confusion.
As I met her lowered gaze, another chill ran through my body.
‘First, I must reject…’
No matter how thankful I am to her, some things are simply off-limits.
I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted at her.
“Hey… we can’t do that!!”
But the response to my outcry was silence.
An unnerving stillness enveloped the room.
Carefully opening my eyes, I saw Athena staring at me with wide eyes.
“Puh… Puhaha!”
Before long, she began to laugh uncontrollably.
She laughed so hard that tears started to well in her eyes.
After a hearty laugh, she wiped her tears away and said,
“Hera… what were you imagining?”
“…Huh?”
“Did you really think I would ask you for your body?”
“Ah.. no?”
“Pfft!! No way! Were you perhaps hoping I would?”
It wasn’t like that.
I felt my face turn as red as a beet, as if steam were about to erupt.
If there were a mouse hole nearby, I would want to hide in it immediately out of embarrassment.
I couldn’t see it, but my face must be as red as can be.
“W-well…”
“You do have a somewhat perverted side, don’t you, Hera?”
“W-what do you mean by telling me to take off my clothes?!”
I’m not the weird one.
If someone says to take off their clothes, wouldn’t anyone have such thoughts?
I am definitely not the strange one.
Probably…
“Imprint.”
But she actually meant it for an entirely different reason.
“Imprint..?”
“Yeah. I’m going to inscribe the Master-Servant Imprint on your body.”
The unfamiliar term of Master-Servant Imprint.
I’d heard of Slave Imprints, but the Master-Servant Imprint felt somewhat foreign.
They’re probably similar concepts, right?
But is that really necessary…?
I didn’t want any kind of imprint on my body.
After all, I wouldn’t be able to escape from her anyway.
“… Can we not do it?”
But she shook her head firmly.
“Hera. Do you still remember what happened?”
“… Yeah.”
She brought up that incident again.
I didn’t want to think about it.
Even if that man is safe now, the guilt of having hurt him continues to torment me.
‘I’ll definitely apologize once he returns.’
When that person comes back fully healed, I plan to seek him out until he accepts my apology.
“Did you perhaps lose control of your strength then?”
“….Huh?”
She was right.
At the moment when that man’s attack came flying toward me, an immense force surged through me, causing me to injure him without even realizing it.
But how does she know that?
As if reading my thoughts, Athena answered me.
“Sorry, Hera. I should have warned you. I didn’t expect such an incident to occur.”
“What do you mean?”
As I struggled to understand her words, she explained with a serious expression.
“Do you know why people bond in Master-Servant Contracts?”
“… No.”
“It might seem like Master-Servant Contracts only benefit the Master, but it’s not like that.”
Athena spread her palm, and golden sparks began to twinkle around her.
“When a Master-Servant Contract is made, the Servant can access a portion of the Master’s power.”
“….”
“And when a Servant is in a critical situation, they can instinctively draw upon the Master’s Mana inside them.”
She held my shoulders tightly as she continued.
“The incident that took place at the training ground was probably my Mana reflexively flaring to protect you.”
“….What?”
“I’m saying that Dylan’s injuries weren’t your fault.”
Athena hugged me tightly as I remained frozen, her voice carrying a hint of sadness.
“I’m sorry. If I had known this would happen to you, I would have given you the imprint beforehand.”
“…..Ah”
I was confused.
I thought it was all my fault.
I believed that because I hadn’t fully grasped my abilities, such an incident occurred.
But that wasn’t right.
She said that this tragedy arose from her Mana.
A complex mix of emotions overcame me.
I felt resentment toward her for sharing this now.
Yet at the same time, I felt relieved that his injuries weren’t entirely my fault.
I know.
This relief stems from my selfish desire to escape the guilt that was continually torturing me.
This isn’t her fault.
She simply didn’t expect such an event to occur, and the reason her Mana flared was solely to protect me.
If I hadn’t recklessly requested the duel.
Or if during the duel, I had calmed my excitement even a little, such an incident wouldn’t have happened.
Even if it wasn’t me who harmed him, I was the cause of the outcome.
“It’s not your fault, Hera.”
But as she warmly embraced me, saying it wasn’t my fault, everything began to collapse.
The guilt I had bottled up burst out at once, and tears began to flow from my eyes.
Like a child, I cried as I vented my frustrations in her arms.
“W-why… didn’t you tell me… why… ugh..”
But she gently patted my back and accepted all my whining.
“I was wrong. So please don’t cry, Hera.”
“Ugh… Waaa…”
She softly wiped away the tears streaming down my face.
Although I found her so hateful,
for now, I thought it might be okay to lean on her.
.
.
.
After I finished pouring out my grievances in her embrace,
I learned about the Master-Servant Imprint.
Right now, her Mana is residing in my body in its raw state.
The Master-Servant Imprint is meant to facilitate its effective use.
Once the Imprint is inscribed on my body, it becomes much easier to use her strength.
Upon hearing that, I immediately accepted it without hesitation.
The reason Dylan got hurt was because I couldn’t control her Mana.
To prevent such things from happening again, I decided to get the Master-Servant Imprint inscribed on my body.
So now…
“…But… do I really have to take off my clothes?”
“……Of course. How else do you expect to inscribe the imprint while wearing clothing?”
I was only wearing the bare minimum to cover myself, showing my back to her.
I was too embarrassed to even look up, but I was enduring it as it was necessary.
“W-well then, hurry up…”
“Hehe… so you have to stay still, right?”
Nodding, she placed her hands on my shoulders.
“Ugh…”
The cold sensation against my bare skin took me by surprise for a moment, but I quickly adjusted to it.
Until she started to move her hands all around, that is.
“Ahh..! W-wait a moment…”
“Stay still, Hera. It’s all part of the process.”
Every time her fingers brushed against my nape, shoulder, and back, my body twitched slightly.
‘Ugh… why is she being so detailed?’
As she lightly stroked my body as if with feathers, a burning sensation brewed inside me.
Finally, when her hands rested on my lower back, she whispered in my ear.
“Hera, bear with it if it gets a little hot.”
“Wh-what?!!”
Suddenly, something inside me began to stir everywhere.
It felt like all my blood was boiling.
“Ugh… Hah… Hah…!”
As I endured that rising heat, I could feel something that had been rampaging inside me slowly gathering in one spot.
The unknown energy that traveled down from my heart congregated near my abdomen.
Once it all gathered, the energy that had been wildly thrashing about suddenly calmed down.
“Hah… Ugh… Hah…”
“You did well, Hera. It’s all over now.”
After expelling a hot breath for a while, my body began to settle down again.
“Now all you need to do is learn how to use my Mana, and you won’t have incidents like before.”
While gently stroking my abdomen, she said.
“Ugh… is the imprint… all done?”
She chuckled at my words, responding in a sultry voice.
“Yes. It’s beautifully inscribed.”
It seemed the imprint had been successfully placed.
Thank goodness.
Now I won’t recklessly injure others like Dylan.
If such an event were to happen again, I feel I would truly break down from self-loathing.
‘But… where exactly did you inscribe it?’
I hoped it would be in a spot that wouldn’t be visible.
However, no matter how much I looked around, I couldn’t see any signs of an imprint on my body.
Could it be one of those imprints that aren’t visible?
“Puhaha. Hera, where are you looking? It’s right here. This is where our imprint is.”
She withdrew her hand from my abdomen and said,
When I looked down at the spot she had pointed out-
“Uwah?!……W-what is this?!?!!!”
Below my abdomen, there was a distinctly pink, vividly inscribed imprint.
This imprint looked oddly familiar to me.
Yes.
It resembled something that would often appear in the darker corners of the internet.
It looked like something a succubus from somewhere would sport.
Something that would stir desires even in those who never had them before.
It looked oddly erotic.
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