/
“Fuaaaaaaaaaa…”
Marielle, diving into the bathtub, had an expression of pure happiness on her face, her cheeks relaxed and she let out a pleased voice. Serika laughed at this princess who seemed to be at the zenith of her life.
“Hey, Marielle, what a face that is!”
“Ple-Please don’t say that! It’s been several months since I’ve had a chance to soak in hot water! And it feels so good…!”
“Well, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to soak in a tub either, so I understand how you feel.”
Marielle and the girls were able to rent an inn in Melwa, and since their escape from the imperial capital, they were finally promised a way to spend the night that wasn’t out in the open. …This was the women’s bathhouse. There were no other guests, and Marielle, Yui and Serika had the place to themselves.
Yui was submerged in the tub with her eyes closed. Serika was standing in the tub with a towel around her head, stretching. Marielle looked at the two of them and said quietly:
“…I am truly happy.”
“I told you, you’re exaggerating.”
“Hmm, that’s not true. I was forced to flee my country and I lost everything, but… here I am, I met people like you, bathing in the same bathtub as if we were ordinary friends. What else could I call this if not happiness?”
Yui and Serika looked at Marielle, who laughed softly. She was an ordinary princess, but one who had suffered a tragic fate. But, even so, she was no more than a 14-year-old girl. She should have the right to laugh with girls like Yui and Serika in an age-appropriate way.
“You guys even gave me a chance to hang out like a regular girl. I really can’t thank you enough.”
“Marielle…”
“Let me say it again. Lady Yui, and Lady Serika as well. Thank you so much for being by my side…”
“Marielle, have your breasts grown since we met?”
“Eh, is that true!? I mean, why are you saying that so suddenly! I was being serious, you know?”
Marielle got up from the tub with a start and scolded Serika, who was looking at her limbs. Droplets of water fell gently down Marielle’s shiny white limbs, from her collarbone to her thighs, with nothing obstructing them. …Although she was growing according to Serika, it made no difference that she was still developing. Marielle stared at Serika.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Marielle looked Serika’s body up and down. She was tall for a girl, barely over 1,8 meters, and the soft curves that ran from her breasts to her waist and buttocks were sculpture-like. She didn’t shy from Marielle’s steady gaze, and she brought her hands to her hips in an imposing way, something she couldn’t do if she didn’t have confidence in her body. Marielle was 14. Serika was 17. The age difference between the two was nowhere near three years.
“Lady Serika, are you lying about your age?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I think I should be angry.”
“No, no! I don’t mean that in a bad way! It’s just that you have a very mature body!”
Serika shot an incredulous look at Marielle, who was waving her hands in the air and trying to fix things.
“If that’s what you think of me… then what comes to your mind when you see those floats?”
Serika ogled at Yui’s breasts. The tops of these floated out of the water, imposing great dominance. Yui looked down at her own breasts with a puzzled look, where she finally realized Serika’s lousy metaphor.
“…Please don’t call other people’s breasts that way.”
“But that’s what they look like. You don’t seem to know how unusual it is to have them that size. What are you feeding them or what?”
“Don’t say it like they’re pets.”
Yui complained with her eyes closed. …Marielle could say no more. Humans, whoever they were, were becoming powerless in the face of something so great.
Serika slowly immersed herself in the tub, starting with her toes. The quality of the warm water was no different in this other world. A lovely voice escaped naturally from her throat.
“Fuaaaa… But you know, Marielle, you’re still growing, aren’t you? If you eat a lot, lead a healthy life with no inconveniences like us in our original world… hmmm…”
Serika stretched. Marielle clasped her hands together in front of her chest as if anticipating what was to come.
“I wonder if one day… I’ll really be able to live a normal life again?”
“I’m sure you will.” Yui said briefly. Then, for some reason, she said out of nowhere and proudly as if referring to herself. “Because we have Eisuke.”
“Hmph, though I’m not so sure how you can say that so confidently. …Well, when you think you have someone on your team who can send a huge dragon like that flying into the sky, you can have high hopes.”
Serika said with surprise. The image of Eisuke fighting a dragon while laughing nonchalantly flashed through all three of their minds at the same time, and they all laughed.
“I’m not sure how he could become so strong, it makes you wonder if he really is like us. Did he train so hard because he wanted to fight a stronger opponent? What is he, some kind of man of a warrior race or something?”
“Maybe, but there could also be something else.”
“Something else…?”
Yui said, looking at her face reflected on the surface of the water.
“…I think Eisuke wanted to protect the weaker ones by fighting the stronger ones. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have faced only yankees and delinquents…”
At first glance, Eisuke was a frivolous guy who only cared about fights. But Yui already knew him. She knew his true personality was the one who put that expression that wasn’t scared of anything on his face when he gave her words of comfort before.
“I think that’s why Eisuke is helping Marielle.”
Yui’s smile as she said it overlapped with Eisuke’s trustworthy smile that Marielle remembered. Those words of his stuck in her brain.
‘…I’ll give you a hand until you get your country back completely.’
“…I see. Eisuke must be a really kind man.”
Marielle laughed sheepishly. Serika deliberately stuck out her tongue in disgust.
“Hey, really? Wait, you two, aren’t you a little too charmed by him?”
“That’s not true. So I don’t think you need to use me to control Eisuke’s reins, Serika.”
“Bwah!? Ho-how did you know about the plan!?”
Serika was taken aback, and Yui let out a small laugh, then swept her hair aside with a bewitching gesture, revealing her beautiful ears.
“I have hellish ears.” Said Yui, feeling like she was bragging about her power.
If you like what I do, consider support me through Ko-fi.
And If you find some error or something off, please feel free to tell me.