Volume 6, Chapter 10 – The Delirious Fire Cat

“I didn’t expect her to be that dejected…”

Her ruby-like eyes filled with distress, Fia, having just taken off her last piece of pale pink underwear, whispered with a sigh.

This was the changing room of the Twilight Palace bathhouse. Fia, Claire, and Tilulu were in the process of changing. Earlier, the three of them had gone to the dining hall to look for Nola, only to see from afar the desolate sight of Nola sitting alone at the dining table, looking utterly miserable. That scene had stirred sympathy in Fia’s heart. Thinking of Nola’s feelings, Fia had stopped Claire halfway, deciding it was better to let Nola calm down alone. Letting Claire go over at that moment would only make things worse.

For example, Nola might use the alcohol to bolster her courage and confess to Claire. Given Claire’s attitude of only seeing Nola as a niece, she would only gently reject her, stating that there was no possibility between them. This would only plunge the already dejected and depressed Nola into deeper melancholy.

Standing both as a quasi-friend and as the victor, Fia sympathized with Nola and didn’t want to kick her while she was down or add insult to injury. That glazed look in her eyes, her messy hair, her drooping ears—it was just too pitiful.

In Fia’s view, Claire should pick a time when Nola was in a slightly better mood. Otherwise, heaven knows how depressed Nola would become.

Therefore, Fia, Claire, and Tilulu had quietly retraced their steps and returned to the bathhouse.

Tilulu, who had already stripped naked, stuffed cotton into her ears while whispering sympathetically.

“Not only does she have to become a maid in a neighboring country for the sake of her people’s food and clothing, but she also has to watch helplessly as the person she likes gets engaged to someone else. Miss Nola is too pitiful…”

Although I shouldn’t be the one saying this, aren’t you the same, Tilulu?

Looking at Tilulu’s fluffy white beast ears, Fia couldn’t help but think this. Because of Tilulu’s past record in Cold Night, when Fia and Claire were distributing Holy Tree branches to couples that morning, Fia had specifically observed Tilulu’s behavior for any abnormalities, worried that Tilulu might be triggered and start developing in a morbid direction again. As a result, Tilulu showed no signs of strangeness at all. On the contrary, she was helping distribute the Holy Tree branches on the side, either smiling like an angel to bless the arriving couples or clapping gently nearby.

It wasn’t hard for Fia to guess Tilulu’s thoughts. Tilulu was thinking about the “adulthood promise,” believing it was only a matter of time, so she could accept Fia’s engagement to Claire.

In contrast, no such promise existed between Nola and Claire, so Nola could only drown her sorrows in wine.

“Am I now in the position of Little Fia’s birth mother, Veronica?”

Although a faint smile hung on Claire’s exquisitely beautiful face, the bitterness in her verdant eyes could not be hidden no matter what. This matter caused Claire immense internal conflict. As she removed her bra straps, she lowered her head and sighed deeply.

“If I had realized back then that Nola held feelings for me beyond kinship, I wouldn’t have left her with hope, and things wouldn’t have turned out like this today. If I had told Little Nola early on that I only saw her as a niece, maybe the result would have been different. After today, I’ll find time to have a good talk with Nola.”

“There are still differences, surely… Miss Nola must be regretting forgetting Miss Claire back then.”

The bitter smile on Claire’s face deepened.

“To say I didn’t care about her forgetting our promise would be a lie, but so much time has passed, I don’t care about it that much anymore. Anyway, I will handle it properly.”

As she spoke, Claire slid open the door connecting the changing room to the bathhouse. White, warm steam instantly rushed out. She naturally reached for the bath towel that should have been hanging by the door, but her hand grasped only air.

Because Fia had snatched Claire’s bath towel before that.

She draped Claire’s pure white bath towel over herself, then took a few brisk steps forward, turning around with a look of triumph.

“Hehe~ I’m wearing Claire’s!”

“That’s the towel I used before.”

Covering her chest with one hand—mainly to block the parts that shouldn’t be seen—Claire reminded her softly. However, Fia’s next action quickly made Claire pause, and a blush gradually climbed up her beautiful face.

Fia held the damp towel with both hands and took a deep breath right in front of her nose.

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“Sss—ah, it’s all Claire’s scent…”

“Fia.”

Claire was the type who usually looked composed but was actually very easily embarrassed. If it were just the two of them in the bathhouse, it would be fine, but Tilulu was here, and Estelle was sitting a little further away with a stiff expression. Fia’s perverted behavior quickly made Claire shy, and her voice carried a hint of reproach.

Ignoring Claire’s shyness, Fia took another deep breath of the scent that made her spirit soar.

“We’re engaged anyway, just let me use it. I feel like after putting on Claire’s towel, my whole body is much warmer, as if Claire is right here with me.”

“Aren’t I right here with you?”

“It’s not the same. Claire can get a new one from the changing room.”

What I want to express is the feeling of being “entwined” and “closely pressed together.”

In addition, Fia actually wanted to tease Tilulu like this out of a desire not to leave her out, maybe joke about taking Tilulu’s towel. But Tilulu was too small; doing that would truly be perverted. It must be noted that everyone was currently naked. If not for her past experience bathing with Liti and Anastasia, she would have been stiff all over, her expression tense.

Feeling the girl’s body scent lingering around her nose, Fia walked barefoot to the edge of the pool. Estelle was still there, but for some reason, her expression was very unnatural. She was kneeling in the water in a very formal posture, seeming extremely nervous.

“Estelle? Why do you look like you’ve done something wrong?”

“Ha… haha… you guys came back so soon?”

Estelle looked up, smiling stiffly.

“Nola is drinking alone in sorrow. It’s best not to disturb her. But Estelle, your movements are very unnatural.” Her happy mood gave rise to mischievous thoughts. Fia rolled her eyes, bumped Estelle’s shoulder with her own, and said mysteriously, “Could it be you did something unspeakable? Ah~ Ah~ After all, being alone in the bathhouse, it’s understandable to suddenly have the urge to do something naughty . But then we’d have to order Colita and the others to change the water—”

Kneeling in the water, Estelle’s face instantly turned red.

“W-What are you talking about! I am a pure-blood; how could I do such unclean things? You must be thinking that way about me because you’ve done it plenty of times yourself, you perverted elf!”

“Then why do you look so nervous, like a thief?”

“Hmph. I was just taking advantage of this rare solitude to think about the future.”

Fia had just been joking casually; she didn’t really think a young lady like Estelle would be unable to control herself like she was. Wrapped in Claire’s towel, she leaned back against the pool wall in a comfortable position. Originally, she just needed to stay quiet and enjoy the feeling of the hot water nourishing her body, but she noticed Estelle beside her glancing over, intentionally or unintentionally, staring at her bath towel.

“Is my body that good-looking?”

Fia teased. Generally, women lacked confidence because they felt their bodies weren’t perfect enough, but perhaps because she hadn’t grown up with a female identity from childhood, Fia didn’t have such thoughts at all.

Estelle pursed her lips.

“Yours isn’t as good as mine. Why would I look at you? I just wanted to say, isn’t that towel Claire’s? It’s covered in Claire’s scent.”

“You can smell it from this far away, Estelle?”

“I am a vampire. My sense of smell is sharper than some beastmen.”

“That must be nice. If only elves had such a keen sense of smell.”

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No, no, thank goodness elves don’t have such a keen sense of smell, or it would be bad.

Estelle rejoiced in her heart. While keeping a wary eye on Tilulu, who also had a keen sense of smell, she hugged her towel with one hand and moved as far away from Tilulu’s direction as possible.

Better leave quickly.

Thinking this, Estelle stood up with a straight face.

“Since I’ve made the trip to the Silvar Kingdom, I want to arrange the things the Oro territory needs while I’m here, and then have merchants ship them by water. I need to go back to my room and make a list in advance. I won’t get in the way here. You three can take advantage of my absence to be lovey-dovey.”

“L-Lovey-dovey… in a place like this…”

“Tilulu, don’t listen to her nonsense. Estelle is just joking.”

Splish, splash.

Just as Fia finished speaking, a strange sound echoed in the bathhouse, like someone walking barefoot on the floor with wet feet. Everyone subconsciously looked toward Fia.

“Is someone in the changing room?”

“Maybe it’s Anastasia and the others…”

But Anastasia and Milu wouldn’t make such strange noises. Fia pressed her hand down, signaling Claire and Estelle not to worry. She stepped out of the pool and walked step by step to the changing room door.

The Twilight Palace was located in the center of the Royal Castle, and there were special Royal Guards on patrol outside. It was impossible for a ruffian to sneak in. It was probably a flying monster or a bird or beast of some kind.

Thinking this, Fia tightened the towel around her chest with her left hand, while her right hand condensed a cyan wind blade, ready to finish off the intruder the moment the sliding door opened. However, to her surprise, before she could place her [Spatial Hand] on the sliding door between the changing room and the bathhouse, the door slid open on its own. Then, a fiery red figure reeking of sweet alcohol fell directly toward her.

“Nngh?!”

If not for her excellent dynamic vision, Fia would definitely have thought this was a sneak attack and smashed the magic in her hand into it.

But fortunately, Fia reacted quickly. She recognized the identity of the newcomer in a flash of lightning, and then caught this fire cat who was wearing only underwear and was otherwise naked.

“Nola?”

Just as Fia said, the person who came was Nola, with her fiery red cat ears and long hair. However, Nola looked rather strange. Falling into Fia’s arms, she first sniffed vigorously, then, as if she had found her prey and was terrified it would escape, she suddenly hugged Fia’s arms tight and began to sob spasmodically.

“It’s… it’s Claire’s scent… Sob … Claire… my Claire…”

No, I’m not Claire. And Claire isn’t yours either.

While retorting in her mind, Fia also felt a trace of disdain for Nola. Nola reeked of alcohol, and her body was limp like a drunkard’s, clearly delirious.

She supported Nola, who was leaning heavily on her, trying to get her to stand steady. But Nola not only had no intention of standing up, she thought “Claire” was pushing her away. She hugged Fia’s waist tightly, burying her face in Fia’s bath towel, her whole body half-hanging off Fia, while her mouth emitted sobbing confessions.

“Ugh… C-Claire… don’t abandon me…”

“Hey, wake up. I’m not Claire.”

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“Claire, you’ve gotten thinner…” Nola said hatefully as she groped Fia’s arm. “It must be… hic … It must be that bastard Fia mistreating you… I’m going to… going to teach her a good lesson…”

With Nola hugging her waist, Fia found it hard to move; otherwise, she would be dragging Nola along. She cast a glance requesting help at Claire and the other two behind her, but only saw their incredibly subtle expressions—especially Claire’s, which was complicated to the extreme.

In the end, it was Estelle who first stood out of the pool wearing her towel. Knowing the awkwardness of the situation, she coughed loudly twice and reached out to grab Nola’s arm, trying to pull Nola off Fia.

“Nola, you’ve got the wrong person.”

Sniff, sniff.

Nola twitched her nose and sniffed Estelle’s hand. Then, she hugged Fia’s arm even tighter, complaining in a slurred voice.

“Don’t try to trick me. It was you who stole my Claire… I remember both your scents perfectly clearly… Even if you… even if you dress up like a vampire… I can still smell that you’re Fia-ya… hic …”

Estelle froze as if struck by lightning, while Fia tried to push Nola away in exasperation.

“Can’t even tell the difference between Estelle and me? You’ve had way too much to drink. Look clearly: this is the blonde, winged Estelle, not Fia.”

“…Hmm?”

Making a confused sound, Nola doubtfully raised her hazy, drunken eyes toward Estelle. Although her vision was blurry—one could even say the world was spinning and distorted—she did faintly glimpse a bit of gold. Added to the fact that this was “Claire’s order,” she swayed and reached out, grabbing the hem of Estelle’s bath towel and bringing it to her nose to sniff vigorously.

Then, her brows instantly furrowed, and she threw the towel aside with extreme disgust.

“Pah! That’s the smell of that bastard Fia! I can smell that elf stench from meters away!” Not only that, but Nola casually picked up the bath towel on the floor nearby and waved it weakly. “This is… this is that vampire’s…”

This time it was Fia’s turn to be silent. The angle of her eyebrows became extremely strange as her eyes slowly turned to Estelle.

“Estelle… you…”

“Ha… hahaha… she must be drunk,” Estelle laughed dryly, her smile not reaching her eyes. “Better get some water quickly to sober her up. I’ll go outside and find a maid. You guys talk!”

Not giving Fia a chance to investigate, Estelle bolted out of the bathhouse without even changing her clothes, disappearing from Fia’s sight.

Meanwhile, Nola was still clinging to Fia, refusing to let her go. Like an octopus, she hugged Fia’s waist while squirming constantly, gradually using Fia for support to stand up straight. She moved from hugging Fia’s waist to hugging Fia’s neck, entering full-on spoiled mode, rubbing her hair and face against Fia’s cheek again and again, making the look of disdain in Fia’s eyes even stronger.

“Ah~ Claire~ My beloved Claire~~~”

“Have you caused enough trouble? If you don’t stop, I’m throwing you into the pool.”

“Being thrown into the pool by Claire, hic ~ That must be my punishment… If this can… hic … If this can make you change your mind…”

She’s acting exactly like a cat in heat.

Fia frowned deeply. She could figure it out with her toes: this stupid cat had gotten drunk after being heartbroken, then came to “confess” to Claire. But because Fia was wearing Claire’s bath towel and had Claire’s scent on her, Nola mistook her for Claire.

Wait. In a way, did this prevent the stupid cat from clinging to Claire?

“Sob… I… I’ve figured it out… why my heart feels like it’s being cut by a knife whenever I see you with that crow elf… Sob … I’ve realized my true feelings. Because I… because I like you… Claire… Sob sob , my Claire… I shouldn’t have made that promise back then. Forgive me… Sob …”

“Such heavy love. I feel like I’m seeing something incredible… Miss Claire, Miss Nola is so pitiful…”

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Tilulu clutched her bath towel with both hands, whispering with extreme concern.

Claire’s expression remained complicated.

“I’m starting to feel glad my towel was taken by Fia…”

While Tilulu and Claire were talking, Nola still hadn’t let Fia go. Not only did she wrap her tail around Fia’s arm, but she also stuck out her pink, barb-less tongue and licked Fia’s cheek and ear again and again.

“Claire, gulp , my Claire… Slurp ~” With one lick, Nola seemed to taste something. Her movements paused suddenly. She frowned and clicked her tongue angrily. “Tch, dammit. Your face is covered in that crow elf’s scent. Ah~ But even so, I love you… I can’t leave you anymore. I love you… Claire… I love you, mmm-mmm—”

Toward the end, Nola puckered her lips like an octopus, slowly leaning toward Fia’s lips.

This girl is a real pervert.

And “crow elf”? Is that a nickname based on my black hair and dress?

Fia turned her face slightly to avoid Nola’s kiss, but this caused Nola to look as if she were about to cry. Sniffling and weeping, she said through her tears:

“Sob… so… so you really don’t like me… Even if I have to be ranked behind that crow elf, I… I’m satisfied. I just want you to look at me more… Waahhhh … Claire, my Claire…”

No, no, no. I absolutely will not yield Claire to you, not even a little bit. There’s no negotiation on this.

Letting Nola go on would be endless. Moreover, Nola had started wiping her tears and snot on Fia. Her drunken behavior was atrocious. Fia decided to end this farce.

Smooch—

Just as Fia was thinking this, Nola planted a sudden kiss on Fia’s cheek, then started giggling foolishly.

“Ehehehe…”

You won’t be laughing when you wake up.

Clicking her tongue in disgust, Fia planned to use brute force to drag Nola to Colita and have Colita get some sobering herbs. However, before she could do so, Nola closed her eyes and began to retch loudly. She could no longer control her nausea and vomited profusely right there in the bathhouse.

You bastard, you can’t hold your liquor at all!

“Eek!”

“F-Fia, leave her to me!”

Tilulu and Claire instantly jumped out of the pool. Although Nola was vomiting on the bank, it was only a matter of time before it flowed into the pool.

“No, I’ll handle it. Tilulu and Claire, put your clothes on and get out, quickly!”

Until Estelle arrived with Colita and the other maids, Nola continued to retch in disgust. It must be emphasized that even after Fia took off the towel and changed into normal clothes, Nola still clung to Fia like a magnet. No matter how the maids pulled, they couldn’t get her off. It wasn’t until an unbearable Fia hit Nola with a [Mental Shock] that Nola’s drunken farce finally came to an end.