Chapter 15: The Weight of Hidden Marks

The place we arrived at was a bathhouse located closest to the academy in the city.

It’s quite large, and since it’s the nearest place to the academy, I’ve heard that academy students often use it.

Since there are only showers in the dormitory, if you want to take a bath, you have no choice but to go outside the academy.

“Yeah. It’s a bathhouse. Why?”

Anne’s question about what the problem is. Sure, after exercising, it’s okay to go to the bathhouse with friends.

I, too, used to soak in the guild’s bathhouse with other comrades after finishing my training during my assassin days.

However, since coming to the academy, I’ve only used the private showers in my single room instead of the shared showers primarily used by the four-person room students.

It’s much more comfortable, and there’s no need to be discreet. No matter how much my body has become that of a woman, and even though I’ve become accustomed to my body as a woman that I see every day, seeing other women’s bodies is a slightly different story.

Of course, even if I were to secretly or openly look at other women’s bodies, no one would suspect me.

But I’m not the kind of shameless person who could just brush it off.

And above all, the biggest reason I absolutely do not use the shared showers or bathhouse has a different explanation.

“Um… There’s a nice café we went to last time, you know? How about going there?”

“Oh, really? Then let’s quickly go to the bathhouse and head over!”

No, it’s no good. In Anne’s mind, entering the bathhouse has already become a foregone conclusion.

“Anyway, even if we go into the bathhouse, we won’t have any clothes to change into, so isn’t it the same feeling of discomfort? Let’s not do that…”

“Ah, since this bathhouse mainly serves academy students, they wash clothes with Clean Magic, so you don’t have to worry.”

Yuri’s answer sinks my last hope immediately.

No matter how low-level Clean Magic is, using it for a service in business… is this what it means to run a business in the academy city?

Holding onto my last shred of hope, I turn to Celian.

“You said earlier that it didn’t matter if it was a place I wanted to go, right? Then let’s go to the café…”

Before I could finish my sentence, Celian was shaking her head vigorously.

The force with which she shook her head was somewhat frightening.

Perhaps she shook her head so hard that her face turned red, and with a somewhat excited voice, she spoke up.

“No! I… I also find it uncomfortable because I’ve been sweating! Let’s go into the bathhouse! Yes!”

There’s no sign of escape.

As I hesitated, unable to move in either direction, Anne grabbed my hand and pulled me into the bathhouse.

Having paid the fee at the counter, we entered the changing room.

I stood close to the lockers to minimize my field of vision.

Thinking about other women seeing my naked body made me feel embarrassed from the perspective of the male mentality I used to have, but remembering that the body they were seeing was not my old body but that of another woman made it somewhat less strange.

Since I couldn’t just stand there, I took off my jacket and hung it up.

Next, I slowly unbuttoned my blouse one by one and took it off.

This time, I moved downwards.

I unzipped my skirt and slowly took it off.

Only my underwear remained.

Now, accustomed to putting on and taking off, I moved my hand behind my back to unhook my bra.

As I did, two round breasts, which had been covered, were revealed.

Although it’s my body, I’m unsure whether I feel embarrassed about seeing another woman’s body or if I’m embarrassed because others are looking at this body, but I could feel my face growing hot.

To enter the bathhouse, I had to be naked.

So, it’s only natural that I had to take off my remaining panties.

However, while I had easily removed other clothes, I hesitated to take off my panties.

It’s not just about being embarrassed to show myself to others.

“I’m going in first!”

“Ah!”

Anne, already finished undressing, lightly slapped my back and ran slowly towards the bath area.

The contact of bare skin against bare skin, especially that unfamiliar feeling brushing against my back, made a sound escape from my mouth.

When I turned my head slightly, I saw Celian, who had just barely taken off her jacket, staring at me with a flushed face, perhaps reacting to my moan.

…It’s embarrassing for me to make such a sound.

Anyway, only my panties are left.

Ultimately, I am destined to take them off.

However, I must hide the master-servant mark engraved on my lower abdomen as much as possible.

I’m not sure if it’s because of the influence of magic while undergoing TS magic or if my body was restructured and transformed, but the shape and location of the master-servant mark have changed from before.

What used to be a simple combination of circles has turned into a heart shape with something like wings spread out, and the location that used to be near my heart has moved to my lower abdomen.

Thanks to its size and location, which are barely covered by my panties, it’s been easy to keep it hidden until now.

But the current situation, where I have to be completely naked, is quite dangerous.

There aren’t many places that use the master-servant mark.

However, most of those who bear the mark are people from the underworld.

The most common use is in s*ave trading, but it’s also used quite a bit in assassin guilds like mine, where there’s a fear of betrayal.

If Celian discovers the master-servant mark on me, it could be enough evidence to suspect that I was an assassin dispatched to kill her.

For that reason, I raised the towel I had brought beforehand with one hand to cover myself and quickly removed my panties with the other hand.

Wondering if I had been noticed, I looked around and saw Yuri just now removing her panties, so I quickly turned my head away.

Celian was still staring at me without having taken off her clothes yet.

However, her expression showed some dissatisfaction.

I wondered if it was that strange for me to cover myself with a towel as another woman, but looking around, I noticed I wasn’t the only one doing that, even if there were only a few of us.

So there shouldn’t be a problem.

Fortunately, she didn’t seem to notice the master-servant mark.

“Well, then I’ll go in first?”

I was sure I hadn’t been discovered, but I felt Celian’s gaze fixed on me as I stepped toward the bath.

It’s okay, it’s okay, I thought to myself as I tried to ignore that gaze and entered the bath.

As I stepped inside the bath, I felt the characteristic warmth and humidity on my skin.

Sensitive skin reacts even to this.

It seems that this bath caters primarily to academy students, as I see many kids who look like students.

To avoid looking at their bodies as much as possible, I relaxed my eyes and intentionally blurred my focus.

I wasn’t brazen or accustomed enough yet to confidently look at others’ naked bodies.

In my blurred vision, a small red-haired kid was busily going back and forth between the cold and hot baths.

No matter how much I think of her as Anne, she wouldn’t act like a child like that.

So the little red-haired kid in my blurred vision is definitely not Anne.

…I want to believe that.

Leaving behind the unidentified little red-haired kid, I went to the showerhead in the corner with a partition and washed my body.

I had no choice but to temporarily set the towel aside, but as long as I didn’t turn my body, the mark on my lower abdomen was very unlikely to be exposed.

Still, just in case, I scrubbed some bubbles to cover my lower abdomen.

“El?”

As I was diligently washing my hair and body, Anne’s voice came from behind me.

Preparing for Anne’s potential mischief, I felt her hand digging into my armpit.

Just as I had expected, I lowered my arm and grabbed her hand between my armpits.

I was sure it would tickle.

However, Anne’s actions went one step further than I had anticipated.

“Hyah!”

Anne’s hand, which had burrowed into my armpit, began to knead my protruding breasts.

Rather than being surprised by her touch, I was taken aback by the unfamiliar sensation that tickled my whole body, which was different from when I touched myself.

After a moment of confusion, I felt embarrassment from the unknown sensation and pushed Anne’s hand away, covering my breasts with both hands.

“What… what are you doing…?”

“But El’s breasts look just the right size and softness to fit in my hands, unlike mine, so I was curious~ Don’t you think so, Yuri and Celian?”

Anne sought agreement from Yuri and Celian, who were sitting next to and behind me, respectively.

Yuri and Celian nodded in response to Anne’s words.

“…Can I touch them too?”

“Me too…”

Instead of stopping Anne, they seemed to be eager to join in, fidgeting in their seats.

Their beautiful bodies caught my eye, but I couldn’t focus on that as the intensity of their gazes felt frightening.

I wondered if this kind of physical contact was natural among girls, looking around to see if other groups of friends like us were acting that way, but I couldn’t see anyone behaving like that.

“There’s no way that could happen!”

“Oh! Then let’s wash each other’s backs! That’s okay, right?”

“…If it’s just the backs.”

Feeling like my chest would no longer be mine if I stayed like this, I quickly accepted Anne’s suggestion.

Then, I noticed Yuri and Celian’s disappointed faces.

Why are they acting like this about my chest?

Eventually, Anne, Yuri, Celian, and I sat in that order and started washing each other’s backs.

I placed a towel over my thighs to cover my lower abdomen, just in case, but since we were only looking at each other’s backs, the risk of the mark being exposed was minimal.

As I washed Yuri’s smooth back with the towel, I found myself flinching every time Celian’s hand touched my back from behind the towel.

What am I doing right now?

It’s hard to believe I’ve ended up in this situation…

In fact, this future of washing a girl’s back, even if it’s in a woman’s body, is much better than the future where I might have only blood on my hands.

However, the fact that my mentality is feeling so pitiful is a separate issue.

After washing each other’s backs, I turned around to wash Celian’s back, who had been sitting at the back and hadn’t had hers washed.

Unlike Yuri’s back, Celian’s was firm, built with appropriate muscles.

I could feel how much effort she had put in from her back.

We splashed water on ourselves and all got into one of the small empty tubs located in the corner.

I couldn’t put the towel in the water, but I could slowly sink my body into the water while precariously covering myself with the towel.

After all, the mark wouldn’t be visible over the rippling surface, so I was safe now.

I’d have to be careful when coming out of the water again, though.

However, the thought that I was safe turned out to be naive.

Since my chest was just above the water, I was comfortably chatting without needing to turn my gaze away, when Anne suddenly dunked her head underwater.

Since it wasn’t the first time I had seen Anne’s antics, I tried to let it go.

“Whoa!”

After holding her breath for a while, Anne popped up out of the water and gasped for air.

“How was it? I held my breath for quite a while, didn’t I?”

“Anne, you shouldn’t do that around other people; it could be disruptive.”

Celian scolded Anne in a gentle voice.

Thankfully, we were the only ones in the small tub, but if there had been other people around, it would have been a disruptive action.

Of course, Anne wasn’t devoid of common sense, so she wouldn’t act like that around others.

…Right?

While I was lost in those unnecessary thoughts, Anne tilted her head and spoke to me.

“By the way, El, did you hurt your stomach?”

“Huh…? What do you mean…?”

“But it looks like you have some kind of wound on your stomach?”

“Haha… There’s no way that’s true. You must have seen it wrong. If I had a wound, I would know.”

What flows down my neck now is probably not droplets of water, but sweat.

“Is that so?”

Fortunately, Anne let it slide.

At times like this, I felt lucky to have Anne’s straightforward personality.

“Um, should we head out? Otherwise, the café will close.”

“Ah~ I agree! I agree!”

“Huh? Has it really gotten this late already? Let’s get going.”

Fortunately, both Anne and Yuri looked at the clock hanging in the bath and agreed with my statement as we headed towards the changing room.

Meanwhile, Celian looked somewhat dissatisfied, gazing at me as if she were regretting leaving the tub.

But according to the principle of majority rule, she had no justification to oppose!

Still, just in case, I quickly stood up and left the tub, heading out of the bath, of course, with the towel still covering me.

Celian, who had been looking regretful, followed.

Celian also followed me outside without objection as I stood up.

When I returned to the changing room and opened the cabinet, the clothes I had left inside were indeed dry, thanks to the cleaning magic.

The most urgent thing was my underwear.

If I just put on my panties, I could at least cover the mark.

So, the moment I picked up the panties, Yuri reached out from behind me and, like Anne, started to touch my chest.

“Hey!”

But unlike when it was Anne, I lost hold of the towel and panties due to Yuri’s unexpected attack.

Since her hand reached from the right, I naturally turned my body to the left to swat her hand away, but the angle wasn’t right.

To my left was Celian’s spot.

Naturally, my gaze met Celian’s, and soon her eyes followed the falling towel downwards.

I quickly covered my chest with one arm while using the other hand to cover my lower abdomen.

However, no matter how fast I moved, I couldn’t move faster than the eyes.

She must have seen it.

Of all people, it had to be Celian, the one I wanted to hide from the most, not Anne or Yuri.

“…Did you see?”

I asked in a dying voice, clinging to the faint hope that maybe she hadn’t seen it.

But Celian didn’t answer.

However, I realized that her silence was the answer.

Celian had clearly seen the mark etched on my lower abdomen and must have harbored doubts and disappointment about me.

I quickly picked up the panties that had fallen to the floor, trying not to draw attention from others, and put them on while glancing at Celian.

Her gaze was still on my body, so our eyes didn’t meet.

What should I say to explain this?

How can I get past this?

Should I run away tomorrow, even if I’m wanted?

While a flurry of thoughts raced through my mind, Celian finally opened her mouth.

“I also…”

Huh?

“If I could touch it too…”

Thank goodness. It seems she didn’t see.

But that’s a different issue—

“Of course not!!!”

This is this.


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YourDeadNanForever
YourDeadNanForever
2 months ago

Celian definitely saw, and definitely thinks that she was a former slave who was forced into “unsavory” acts.

kppp
kppp
2 months ago

Celian free your wife asap