Witches don't sleep.
Even though they possess bodies identical to those of humans, witches are spiritual entities formed from mana.
Apart from breathing, they require almost no physiological functions.
Eating.
Using the toilet.
Sleeping.
As long as they have mana, none of it is necessary.
However, Freya sleeps.
There's one reason for it.
Sleeping allows her to forget her sorrow.
Every day was depressing for Freya.
Her face was filled with sadness each and every day, a perfect match for her title as the Witch of Sorrow.
It was because her disciple had left her.
Every time she thought of Zeke's face, she would laugh and cry.
Every time she reminisced about the time spent with him, she would laugh and cry again.
She pushed her emotions to the limit every day, to the point where she worried she might lose her mind and go insane.
In the end, she turned to sleep as an escape.
Because sleep allowed her to turn away from her sorrowful reality.
But even that wasn't a good refuge.
Witches dream too.
When she woke from a beautiful, sweet dream to face reality head-on.
The emptiness, hollowness, and futility she felt then were even more excruciating.
Still, Freya slept to dream.
Because she could meet Zeke in her dreams.
Freya regretted that incident even now.
Eight years ago.
Freya had committed a grave sin.
She had fallen in love with her disciple.
A master's love for her disciple is like a parent's love for their child.
No.
That's not it.
It wasn't that kind of love.
She began to see her disciple as a man.
As a member of the opposite sex.
It was no different from a mother seeing her son as a man—an incestuous sin.
Freya had hidden those filthy feelings well.
But in the end, she couldn't hold back.
That day, she crossed the line.
She took advantage of Zeke being drunk and committed an ugly act.
During their drinking session, she subtly exposed her skin to tempt him and clung to his side, pretending to be drunk herself, letting him catch her scent.
A lascivious atmosphere formed, and Freya mustered her courage to speak.
"Zeke, do you like me?"
"I do."
"Not as your master, but as a woman?"
"I do."
Hearing that answer, Freya clutched her pounding chest and trembled fiercely.
His words were earnest, drop by drop, but they weren't said in a sober state of mind.
Even knowing that, Freya excitedly pressed on with more questions.
"Really? Really, really? Do you really see me as a woman?"
His hazy blue eyes turned toward her.
And he shyly replied.
"Master's full breasts... and the way her hips sway with every step... I think they're really feminine."
His ears flushed red—it was utterly adorable.
So adorable that she pulled him into a hug right there.
Freya wasn't the type to show affection like that, but she too was drunk and couldn't hold back.
She should have stopped there.
She shouldn't have crossed that line.
But Freya crossed it anyway.
She didn't know why she was so exhilarated at the time, but she boldly went through with it.
"Then... would you like to touch my breasts...?"
She slipped the straps of her dress off her shoulders, revealing the beautiful cleavage gathered neatly in a V-shape.
After that, her memory cut off like a broken film reel.
When she came to her senses, the deed was already done.
And Zeke had left.
All that remained was his cold semen trickling from her folds.
Freya believed Zeke had left the mansion because of her.
She thought he must have been disappointed in his master for committing such an ugly act.
So she blamed herself, regretted it, blamed herself again, and regretted it over and over.
"I'm... such a worthless master..."
Leaving the study and entering her bedroom, Freya covered her face with her hands and scolded herself once more.
She was happy.
Truly happy that Zeke had returned to her side.
But at the same time, seeing how much more manly he had become stirred her womanly heart, filling her with disgust toward herself.
His whole vibe had changed completely.
Muscles had formed on his body like a knight's.
He'd grown a bit taller, his build more sturdy.
The faint, spicy scent of tobacco was unpleasant but carried a strange allure.
Looking into his eyes, heavy with fatigue, awakened a fierce maternal instinct to pull him into a tight embrace.
She wanted to hug him.
To hold him.
But she had to hold back.
He had come back to her side—she couldn't repeat the same mistake.
"Haaah..."
Letting out a weary sigh, Freya lay down on the bed.
The hem of her dress fluttered gracefully before settling calmly atop the sheets.
She closed her eyes.
She meditated to calm her excited heart.
But.
With her eyes closed, Zeke's image from moments ago kept resurfacing.
Apart from how handsome he'd become, his apologetic expression reminded her of a puppy whimpering after wronging its owner—it was cute.
His deep, vibrating baritone voice.
The prominent veins on his thick forearms.
Freya's hand slowly slid downward.
Though she had knowledge of self-pleasure from over a thousand years, Freya had never done it—until Zeke left the mansion. Afterward, she occasionally comforted herself thinking of him.
Rubbing her folds over her panties while picturing Zeke brought a fleeting happiness that helped her forget her sorrow.
Her hand, trailing down her abdomen, eventually lifted the hem of her dress and slipped inside her skirt.
At least this time, it wasn't to forget her sorrow.
"Hngh..."
Freya slowly stroked her folds back and forth with her hand.
The soft, lacy fabric of her panties rubbed against her smooth mound.
Just a few strokes ignited a hot flush in her groin.
With her naturally low body temperature, the heat felt even more vivid.
"Hng... ha... I'm... really... ngh... such a worthless master..."
She masturbated while berating herself for loving her disciple as a man.
This pathetic sight.
Zeke would surely despise her if he saw.
But unable to stop, Freya rubbed her folds while imagining Zeke's thick forearms.
How long did she continue?
A moist slickness gathered at her fingertips.
The sinful fluid seeped into Freya's panties bit by bit.
"Haa... ng... I shouldn't... ha... no... ngh..."
Her words said no, but Freya rubbed faster.
Rubbing quickly concentrated the heat in one spot.
That spot swelled plumply.
Her clitoris—she focused there.
The sensation of her hooded clit grinding against the rough lace sent shivers of pleasure through her.
She couldn't stay still, her hips bucking, toes curling.
Inside her dress felt like a humid greenhouse, hot and steamy.
That's when the knock came.
-Knock knock
Scolding herself as a pathetic master pleasuring herself to thoughts of her disciple, Freya swallowed a gasp.
"Master."
Zeke's voice.
"May I come in?"
Freya scrambled up from the bed.
Since she'd pleasured herself still dressed, the shameful fluids had only soaked stickily inside her dress—thankfully.
She could dry it instantly with a flick of her fingers, but in her panic, she didn't think of it and instead hurried to sit in the chair by the window.
C-Come... in."
She took a deep breath and replied.
The door opened.
Zeke entered.
"What is it?"
Freya asked with a prim, nearly expressionless face.
She feigned nonchalance as if nothing had happened, but her ragged breathing and flushed cheeks betrayed her.
And the faint, sweet musk lingering in the room too.
"Ah..."
Zeke stared quietly at Freya, her face flushed and breaths coming in gasps.
He forcibly suppressed a frown.
"Zeke?"
"..."
"Zeke!"
Zeke snapped out of his daze at her call and shook his head.
"What did you come for?"
"Well..."
Zeke mumbled.
"I've prepared dinner."
"Dinner?"
"Yes... Since I always used to... it's been a while..."
Witches don't need to eat.
But humans do.
Zeke, being human, had cooked meals while living in the mansion.
And whenever he cooked, he called Freya to eat together.
At first, she refused.
Saying witches didn't need to eat.
But over time, after tasting his food and finding it delicious, she always joined him.
Freya truly loved the meals Zeke made.
"No need."
Freya refused.
Zeke's cooking.
She wanted to eat it after so long.
But she couldn't stand up right now.
Her shameful juices had overflowed down to her buttocks, leaving everything unpleasantly damp. And her clit, still throbbing with heat, made her body twitch involuntarily.
Above all, she lacked the shamelessness to dine face-to-face with the man she'd just been using as masturbation fodder.
"Is that all?"
"Yes."
"Then leave."
"Understood."
Zeke bowed his head politely and withdrew quietly.
"Huaaaah..."
The moment Zeke left, Freya exhaled the breath she'd been holding.
Tension released, she slumped against the chair.
Sweat trickled down her back.
Her love juices trailed down her thighs.