Last night, Himeko had simply buried her face in the crook of Lunelle's neck and fallen fast asleep.
So when Lunelle's consciousness gradually returned to clarity, she became acutely aware of an unpleasant, alcohol-tinged warmth continuously brushing against her overly sensitive, snow-soft neck.
That tingling, ticklish sensation felt like being teased with light, persistent scratches.
It wasn't exactly painful, but the shame of being toyed with like this was far from pleasant.
"Hi… Himeko-sensei? Please… please don't…"
Unable to adjust to such intimate contact, Lunelle instinctively squirmed and struggled, trying to break free from the tight embrace as quickly as possible.
Though a night had passed, the lingering, terrifying allure from mimicking Seele's presence had naturally faded.
Yet Lunelle still severely underestimated just how irresistible her own body—naturally exuding an overwhelmingly sweet and comforting, healing aura—was to someone like Himeko, who desperately longed for solace.
In fact, Lunelle's restless squirming somehow managed to stir a flicker of irritation in Himeko!
"Mmm… don't move, little one… let big sister hold you a bit longer… or else…"
Still lost in sweet dreams, Himeko not only refused to let go of the girl in her arms, but even tightened her embrace, firmly pinning the wriggling Lunelle in place.
Then, with her cheek already nestled in the crook of Lunelle's neck, drinking in that soothing scent, Himeko began to gently nuzzle and trace the curve of Lunelle's throat.
Half-asleep, she suddenly… as if possessed by a vampire!
Sank her teeth right into the soft, snowy skin of Lunelle's neck!
"Eek!!!"
Feeling her tender neck being inexplicably bitten by Himeko-sensei, Lunelle let out a startled cry at the sudden action.
"…or else big sister might not be able to resist…Devouring you~"
Having physically nipped the restless Lunelle in her semi-conscious state, Himeko finally felt that intoxicatingly soft and sweet presence settle down.
"Mmm… that's a good girl… don't run off now…"
Almost instinctively, Himeko gave a little taste to the "wound" she'd just left, then continued to breathe in Lunelle's soothing fragrance with visible delight before drifting back into deep slumber.
After all, holding Lunelle while sleeping was truly "heavenly."
For a frontline Valkyrie like Himeko, perpetually tormented by physical pain, being able to sleep this soundly was an extraordinarily rare blessing.
"Nnngh…"
Suddenly bitten on the neck, Lunelle now worried that if she kept struggling, next time Himeko might actually tear a piece of flesh right off her delicate throat!!
Considering Himeko-sensei's top-tier A-rank Valkyrie bite strength, such a gruesome possibility didn't seem entirely out of the question.
Thoroughly intimidated, Lunelle didn't dare make any more sudden moves and could only lie still, obediently nestled in Himeko's cozy embrace.
Though completely at Himeko's mercy, Lunelle felt a mix of grievance and… just a tiny bit of secret enjoyment.
After all, even though Himeko-sensei hadn't showered last night and still carried a strong whiff of alcohol, being pressed so tightly against an incredibly voluptuous beauty… once she started getting used to this level of contact…
Putting aside the unpleasant smell of liquor, the overall experience wasn't actually all that bad.
Lunelle "endured" the agony of Himeko-sensei's forced cuddling until Mei finished making breakfast and called everyone to eat.
Only then did the concerned trio realize that Lunelle—usually such a punctual and well-behaved girl—hadn't shown up on time!
Worried, they rushed to Lunelle's single room to check on her.
And it was only then that poor Lunelle was finally rescued from Himeko-sensei's clutches.
Strictly speaking, since everyone was staying in Himeko's house, if Himeko were brazen enough, she could have claimed she could sleep wherever she wanted in her own home.
But as a teacher, getting drunk, sneaking into a student's room in the middle of the night, and forcibly using said student as a body pillow against their will…
Was undoubtedly something that made people feel intensely envi—ahem! I mean, intensely indignant.
Thus, regarding Himeko's actions, Bronya and Kiana—who didn't have a key to Lunelle's room—verbally expressed their strong condemnation!
However, after the verbal rebuke, a somewhat sly-looking Kiana then suggested:
"Since Himeko-sensei can't follow the rules, why not let me take care of Seele's room key?" A rather transparent proposal, to say the least.
Now sober, Himeko knew she was in the wrong and didn't dare play the authoritative teacher card in front of Lunelle, the victim of this "drunken cuddle assault."
But Himeko figured that if the key were really entrusted to Kiana, it'd likely be Kiana found in little Lunelle's bed the very next morning.
If only to spare Lunelle from frequent harassment by Kiana, who clearly had designs on her, Himeko absolutely couldn't hand the key over to Kiana.
Among the three, aside from the obviously lovestruck Kiana, Bronya—though her face showed no perverted expression—seemed practically glued to Lunelle every moment, making Himeko suspect Bronya had her own intentions too.
So while Himeko agreed to surrender the key, she ended up placing it directly into the confused Mei's hands.
"Huh…? I… I'll do my best to guard it properly…"
Mei herself found it odd that Himeko-sensei would choose someone like her—who also posed a considerable risk of losing control around little Lunelle.
But since she'd been chosen, Mei could only brace herself and promise to try her best.
Yet, remembering her own past misconduct toward little Lunelle in the hospital room, Mei felt that the key being in her hands might not be a good thing for the girl either.
But what the currently unconfident Mei didn't realize was that Himeko had handed over the key so readily because she could still unlock the door using her fingerprint anyway!
And compared to the well-behaved, sensible Mei, entrusting the key to Kiana or Bronya would undoubtedly raise the likelihood and frequency of Lunelle being "visited" at night.
Moreover, in Himeko's view, that would significantly inconvenience her own future plans for nightly visits to Lunelle!
After all, if Lunelle were alone, it'd be one thing.
But if Himeko secretly slipped into the room only to find a certain idiot or a certain duck already occupying the spot beside the little one…
There was no way Himeko could shamelessly compete with her own students for the right to cuddle Lunelle to sleep, right?
Seeing that Himeko-sensei had indeed surrendered the key—and specifically to Mei, whom Kiana didn't dare challenge—Kiana, who couldn't afford to appear overly obsessed with Lunelle in front of Mei, naturally didn't dare voice any "I object" or other rebellious thoughts.
Though Bronya certainly had her own thoughts on the matter.
Considering every door in Miss Himeko's house seemed to have a second way of opening besides the key, Bronya no longer voiced any overt objections about who should hold the so-called key.
At least, judging solely by the permanently sullen, duck-like pout on Bronya's face, a normal person wouldn't be able to discern a thing.
As for Lunelle, the victim in all this—while she couldn't exactly hold a grudge against Himeko-sensei—the lingering stench of alcohol had been rather unpleasant.
So, in a soft, delicate voice, she offered a gentle reminder to Himeko-sensei.
The gist was: if next time Himeko 'accidentally' found her way into Lunelle's room again wanting to cuddle and sleep, could she at least not repeat last night's performance?
Maybe wash up first, and not just cling to her reeking of booze!
Upon discovering that little Lunelle detested the smell of alcohol so much, Himeko couldn't help stealing a glance at Lunelle's snow-pale, exquisite, flawless skin—like it was carved from fine art.
The thought that she, in such a disheveled state, had indirectly 'defiled' and manhandled this delicate, adorable little Lunelle all night...
On the surface, Himeko-sensei felt rather ashamed, but a rather... impure thought suddenly sprouted in the depths of her heart.
What if she could get a little treasure like Lunelle to carry her own scent...?
Ssssp...
Himeko quickly reined in that sudden, dangerous notion.
After all, to any local of the Honkai world, just looking at Lunelle's absurdly, rule-breakingly exquisite and adorable face, no one would possibly doubt the authenticity of her documented age being merely 14.
But what these Honkai world beauties probably couldn't even dream of was that the current Lunelle—both in mental age and actual skeletal age—was already that of a grown 'adult'!
Because Lunelle's current body, which looked like a perfect, proportional copy of Seele, was fundamentally constructed using her original boy's physique as the 'base material.'
So even though Lunelle appeared incredibly youthful, her bone age was actually that of an adult!
One could only say Lunelle's current situation was similar to that of 'Komoe-sensei' from A Certain Magical Index—the one who looked incredibly tiny and young.
She belonged to that category of being actually of legal age, but unless she revealed it—or even knew it herself—no one would ever imagine it.
So much so, that when this truth, which even Lunelle herself didn't know, was bluntly pointed out by someone one day, poor Lunelle would truly taste just how terrifying the price could be for relying on her immature appearance to flirt with everyone everywhere!!!
But that's a story for later...
With the incident of Himeko-sensei's nightly 'assault' on Lunelle more or less concluded, Lunelle's daily school life in reality settled into a temporary calm.
Considering that even the famously disaster-prone main cast in the original story spent their first month at St. Freya peacefully, then as an ordinary, not-even-top-tier logistics Valkyrie, Lunelle naturally wouldn't encounter any sudden, unexpected plot twists either.
This could be considered a rare benefit Lunelle had managed to reap from being forced to follow the main cast so far.
Also, learning from the lesson of being night-raided by Himeko-sensei after her last pre-sleep simulation, Lunelle decided her subsequent daily simulations would simply start right after breakfast, during her commute to school—when the foot traffic was heaviest!
In Lunelle's view, the reason her 'wives' lost control and got handsy with her probably wasn't because she was too lewd!
It was because every time she just finished a simulation and was radiating charm, she coincidentally gave one of her wives a chance to be alone with her.
Coupled with her current small, Stigma-less frame being completely unable to resist their advances, she was forced to become the one being clung to!
But if she simulated openly, in a truly public setting, then even if post-simulation she left behind that terrifying, wife-specific allure, surely her wives wouldn't be so shameless as to just 'execute' her right there on the street, would they?
The more Lunelle thought about it, the more this idea seemed worth trying.
After all, if she was too scared of her wives' outrageous behavior to even dare start a simulation, how would she ever get stronger?
How would she ever, once she became powerful and capable, turn the tables, sing the song of the victorious underdog, and even get the upper hand over her own wives?
And as it turned out, Lunelle's bizarre idea actually worked pretty well!
Because Lunelle's charm indeed primarily targeted only the beauties she considered her 'wives.'
In other words, only girls whose looks reached a certain level would noticeably start craving Lunelle's body.
As for normal girls, at most they'd find Lunelle soft, delicate, tiny, and very cute.
They wouldn't be inexplicably bewitched by this 'human-shaped little succubus' into wanting to immediately pounce on her and do something outrageous!
So recently, the trio of main heroines had been weirdly noticing that Seele, during the commute to school, would occasionally undergo a period where she suddenly became excessively exquisite and adorable.
Even the originally clear, sweet aura around her would suddenly turn somewhat seductive.
This made Kiana—the one among the trio least able to resist a beautiful girl's allure—repeatedly feel the urge to just pounce and thoroughly 'bully' Lunelle, who was daring to 'preen and pose' so brazenly in front of her!
Unfortunately, even if Kiana could afford to lose face like that, Mei and Bronya—who could still restrain themselves in public—most certainly could not!
And if they really let Kiana pounce and devour little Lunelle, sure, Kiana would be satisfied.
But wouldn't the two of them, who couldn't bring themselves to go 'completely feral,' end up not getting even a 'sip of the soup,' and even have their reputations utterly ruined by being associated with Kiana's antics?
So, for the short term, Lunelle's method of using external circumstances to suppress her wives' frenzied cravings for her did indeed show some effect.
But these suppressed dangerous desires didn't mean they vanished completely!
As long as Lunelle continued recklessly stimulating and teasing her wives' inner longing for her, this continuously accumulating, unreleased desire would eventually have its day of total eruption!
And when that time came, just what her wives might do to adorable Lunelle... well, that's not something to be spoken of lightly~!?
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T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.