The hem of the garment trembled faintly in the grasp of a hand.
The hesitation conveyed within the trembling made it difficult to act decisively.
“Hurry up~ There’s no time. If you keep stalling like this, Reina might wake up midway, you know?”
Bliss’s subtle words echoed in my ears, and I turned my gaze toward Reina.
Reina was currently taking a nap, her breathing steady and calm.
Normally, she wouldn’t sleep at this hour, but the reason she was asleep now was because Bliss had put her under a sleep spell to spare me from embarrassment while performing the procedure she was about to undertake.
I bit my lip lightly. If I kept wasting time as Bliss said, Reina would wake up soon enough. But if she woke up during the procedure…
Just imagining it was horrifying.
I steeled myself.
‘This is just a procedure… just a procedure…’
Repeating this mantra in my mind, I slowly began lifting the garment I was holding onto.
As the fabric shifted, my exposed skin began to emerge. The air from outside brushed against it, cooling my skin.
The garment felt unbearably heavy. Although it was just a light piece of cloth, for some reason, lifting it now felt incredibly burdensome.
The fabric’s edge gradually moved upward. From the lower abdomen to the navel, from the navel to the lower chest, it kept climbing.
There was a slight resistance at the lower chest, but when I applied a bit more strength, I felt something slide free, and the resistance disappeared.
Eventually, the garment’s edge reached just below my chin.
Finally, as I pulled my arms and head free, a cool breeze enveloped my entire body, and I felt a strange sense of liberation, coupled with the realization that my upper body was now fully exposed.
A shiver ran through me.
I tried to focus on feeling nothing, as if I were simply changing clothes. But knowing that someone was watching made it nearly impossible to detach my emotions.
I closed my eyes and tried to erase the thought of being watched from my mind. However, the sound of Bliss’s breathing in my ears undermined that effort.
The realization that someone was indeed observing me made my entire body feel slightly warm.
My body, which had cooled from removing the garment, was now growing warmer again. Perhaps even hotter than when I had been clothed.
I kept trying to banish the embarrassment from my mind, but my body seemed unwilling to cooperate.
I glanced over my shoulder at Bliss. She appeared utterly indifferent to the situation. Her smiling face was as unchanged as ever.
Seeing her like that, I turned my head forward again, lowering it slightly. It felt as if I were the only one acting strangely.
Logically, given that we were the same gender, I shouldn’t have felt embarrassed. Yet, the peculiar situation of showing my vulnerable body to someone else left me feeling undeniably self-conscious.
“Your skin is truly flawless.”
“Is it…?”
I responded with an awkward laugh, my voice barely audible, like that of a crawling ant.
“Yes, your skin is so white and smooth, without a single blemish.”
Then Bliss smiled and extended her hand toward me.
“It’s soft, too.”
She placed her hand on my back.
The warmth of her touch reached my body, making me flinch and tremble at the unfamiliar sensation.
But her actions had only just begun.
She carefully ran her hand along my back.
“How can your skin be so nice? And you’re so beautiful, too. Your body is truly enviable.”
From top to bottom, slowly.
“R-Really?”
I asked, my voice trembling and weak.
“Yes, anyone who sees you would feel jealous of such beauty.”
“S-Shouldn’t we get started now…?”
I urged her weakly, feeling uneasy about what might happen if this continued any longer.
“Shall we?”
She chuckled softly before moving her hand to the center of my back.
“Alright, let’s begin the transfer now. Relax your mind and release all the tension in your body.”
“Release it…”
I relaxed my body, removing my arm from where it shielded me and letting go of all tension.
“Now, feel the energy flowing from my hand. When you sense it, slowly and gradually accept it into your body.”
As her words ended, a strange energy, resembling demonic energy, began flowing from her palm into my body.
I accepted it into myself.
“I’ve received it.”
“Now, spread the energy you’ve accepted throughout your entire body.”
I let the energy permeate every corner of my body. It seemed harmless.
“I’ve spread it.”
“Good. Now, a pathway has been successfully established between your body and my hand. From this point on, I will channel a large amount of divine energy through this pathway.
This process will be repeated two or three times, and you may experience some slight shock during it.”
Slight shock… I wondered how intense that would be.
For now, I nodded, assuming that “slight” meant it would be bearable.
“Alright, here comes the first one.”
And that assumption shattered as soon as the energy surged through me.
The moment her powerful energy entered my body, I felt an overwhelming sensation reverberate through me.
My entire body warmed instantly, and my mind momentarily felt like it was being jolted by an electric current. The sensation rapidly spread downward, coursing through my entire body.
Because of that…
“Ah?!”
I couldn’t help but let out a small cry.
“Oh, I forgot to mention. The ‘slight shock’ I mentioned leans more toward pleasure than pain.”
“You tell me this now?!”
“Apologies. I forgot,” she replied with a laugh.
She spoke with an apologetic tone.
However, for some reason, I couldn’t help but think she was smiling, contrary to her words.
Though I couldn’t turn my head to see her face, as it was raised high, the thought lingered in my mind.
“Alright, here comes the second one.”
With those words, the energy surged into me once again, stirring up my entire body.
From head to toe, a slight shock spread, and the tingling sensation enveloped my body with an inexplicable pleasure.
My eyes widened, my hands clenched tightly, and my toes curled up as my entire body trembled and quivered lightly with faint spasms.
It was then that Bliss started talking.
“Ruina, have you been praying to Lady Naiath recently?”
“Yes… I’ve been praying without missing a single day…”
I managed to answer her question as best as I could, though my words came out disjointed.
“That’s strange. I haven’t seen you praying during the evening recently.”
“Th-That’s because!”
Admittedly, I had been praying less in front of her due to my recent sparring sessions with Agnes. She must have noticed and was now pointing it out, possibly thinking my devotion was waning.
But this could easily be clarified if Agnes testified for me.
So, I opened my mouth to refute her claim.
“I already know that you and Agnes have been sneaking off somewhere in the middle of the night.”
Her whisper reached my ear before I could respond.
‘How did she know?’
Caught off guard, I flinched, and that reaction seemed to encourage Bliss further as she whispered persistently.
“So, tell me, what exactly are the two of you doing at night?”
“I can’t tell you… Huh?!”
Just as I tried to refuse her question, the energy struck my body once again.
“Answer me. Are you doing something so secretive that you can’t talk about it?”
Her voice echoed in my ears once more. My pleasure-clouded judgment made it difficult to fully grasp the meaning of her words.
But even in my muddled state, I could sense that she was growing increasingly suspicious.
In the end, I decided to tell the truth.
“Swordsmanship…! I’m practicing swordsmanship!”
“Swordsmanship, huh… Just as I thought. I’m relieved to know it’s nothing else.”
With that, Bliss withdrew her lips from my ear and began speaking in a tone laced with feigned disappointment.
“Still, I’m a bit hurt. You spend so much time with Agnes and leave me all alone. It’s been so lonely praying by myself lately…”
“I’m sorry…”
“I hope you’ll pay a bit more attention to me as well. Unlike others, we’re ‘sisters’ who serve the same god, after all.”
“I-I will.”
I mumbled in a slightly slurred voice, feeling as though I had no choice but to agree.
“Good. Then with this, the procedure is complete. You’ve done well.”
With those words, she released her hands from my back, her satisfied smile evident. The moment her hands left me, I was freed from the overwhelming sensation that had been consuming my entire body.
“How do you feel? Did it feel good? I’ve heard that it feels like all the fatigue in your body is released at once. Was it really like that?”
“Yes…”
I nodded weakly in response to Bliss’s genuinely curious question.
“Ahhh! What on earth have I done?”
I quietly screamed as I ruffled my hair, careful not to wake anyone with my voice.
It was nearly midnight, and I was sitting by the campfire, tossing wood into the flames to pass the time.
The reason I was spending my time like this was simple: I was on night watch.
We hadn’t managed to reach the city today, so we were camping instead. As a result, I had been assigned to take the first watch.
Fortunately, others had been considerate enough to let me take the first shift, likely thanks to Reina’s influence.
And Reina was now sound asleep with her head resting on my lap.
This meant I was the only one awake.
The night was tranquil. Occasionally, I thought I heard the sound of a distant animal, but most of the time, it was utterly silent.
So silent that even the rustling of my clothes sounded loud.
Because of this, I dared not do anything. I was afraid of accidentally waking the others.
Yet doing absolutely nothing was unbearably boring.
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