You Must Be Punished!

“Hmm…”

My consciousness was hazy.

What was this… firm yet elastic…

The texture was excellent; I squeezed and squeezed.

“Oh!”

The girl’s cry instantly cleared my blurry mind.

Opening my eyes, I saw the golden-haired girl with slightly flushed cheeks.

…Why was I looking up?

Wait, what was this soft thing behind my head?

It took a full ten seconds for me to realize I was lying on the young lady’s lap.

So, what I just squeezed, that bouncy thing, was…?

My gaze fell on the young lady’s thighs, which had become firm from exercise, and my cheeks quickly began to warm.

“Uwaaaah…!”

I tried to get up in a panic, but the young lady pressed me back down.

“Honestly, in your state, you should just rest properly.”

As she spoke, she stroked my head.

Unlike the Duke’s rough palm, the young lady’s hand, though calloused from holding a sword, still possessed a delicate softness.

Being petted by the two of them was a completely different experience, yet both gave a sense of reassurance and relaxation…

But if I had to choose, and I apologize to the Duke, I preferred the young lady’s head pats more.

“You worked very hard this time, you know.”

The young lady was even speaking encouraging words… I felt like if this continued, I’d be spoiled into uselessness.

Speaking of which, wasn’t this a complete reversal of our usual positions?

This made me feel somewhat uneasy.

I could only try to divert my attention by finding a topic.

“How long did I sleep?”

“A whole day. But it’s nighttime now, so it’s fine for you to keep sleeping.”

It was already night? When did I start lying on the young lady’s lap…?

I turned my gaze to the young lady’s face again; she was watching me too, her eyes as calm as water.

Looking at her like this, I wanted to speak, but my throat worked several times, unable to squeeze out a single word.

After much thought, I finally voiced my confusion:

“…Young Lady, aren’t you angry with me?”

…Logically, the young lady should be scolding me right now, saying things like “you don’t cherish yourself,” but today she was unusually calm.

“Of course I’m angry. This time, you could have found a way to escape by yourself, couldn’t you? Yet you insisted on taking the other victims with you, adding unnecessary risk and ending up injured.”

As she spoke, the young lady took my hand, her fingertips brushing over the scars on my arm.

It tickled a little, making me shiver involuntarily.

“But I couldn’t just abandon them…”

If I had escaped and they had been bitten by Vladimir, only a lifetime of darkness and pain awaited them.

“I knew Ailena would say that. Who told you to be that kind of person?”

The young lady said, puffing out her cheeks.

“And thinking about other women also makes me furious.”

“…?”

But soon, as if putting on an act, the young lady’s anger subsided, and she smiled again.

“However… this is the Ailena I know. And you did indeed perform a great service, so I’ll let it slide this time.”

“Then… how are the other victims now?”

“I just said all that, and you’re still concerned about other women? You’re such a disobedient maid.”

The young lady playfully curled her fingers and flicked my forehead, though it didn’t hurt at all.

“The five people you saved are fine. It’s just that there’s nothing we can do for those who were bitten by Vladimir… We can only isolate and control them.”

…Hearing this, my mood grew heavy.

At the same time, the young lady’s tone became agitated.

“That Vladimir is truly too bizarre; our attacks couldn’t even harm him, let alone defeat him… What’s more infuriating is that the scoundrel who hurt Ailena also got away!”

…He is, after all, one of the male protagonists of this game world; he certainly wouldn’t be captured by us so easily.

And Vladimir, as a boss that only appears in the mid-to-late game, is not someone we can deal with right now… and he clearly held back.

However… it now seemed that even if the plot details changed significantly, the overall direction of the game’s story would remain the same.

…I had originally thought the young lady wouldn’t meet a ruinous end, but now I might have to reconsider that possibility.

But if the general direction of the plot couldn’t be defied…

“Ah, speaking of which… Here, Ailena, this is for you.”

Just as I was deep in thought, the young lady handed me something.

It was a letter.

“This is from Gillian… yes, the girl Vladimir caught to threaten you. It’s probably a thank-you letter. You can read it now.”

I opened the envelope and read the letter’s contents with the young lady.

As the young lady had said, it was a thank-you letter.

However… the end of the letter read:

“Thank you, Miss Ailena. I had already given up hope, but your warm embrace gave me motivation… I wonder if Miss Ailena will have time later, and if it would be convenient for us to meet? I wish to thank you in person.”

…No, Miss Gillian, why did you write about the embrace in the letter?

The young lady didn’t know about it!

I immediately got off the young lady’s lap pillow.

“Ailena…”

Looking again, sure enough, the young lady’s face had darkened.

“How could you flirt with another woman again? And didn’t I tell you! Your embrace can only belong to me!”

“Wait, Young Lady… please let me explain, at the time, that was truly the only way…”

“I don’t care about that! You defied my orders, that’s the fact!”

The young lady made her hands into claw shapes and advanced towards me.

“…For a disobedient maid like Ailena, a proper punishment is in order!”

“Didn’t you say you’d let me off today!?”

“That’s a separate matter! Don’t move! Or don’t blame me if it hurts later!”

…

“Wuwu…”

Under the young lady’s coercion, I was forced to put on the clothes and dog-ear headband she had prepared.

…Leaving aside the dog ears for now, what on earth was this maid outfit!?

Not only was it a two-piece, but the hem was terribly short! I felt like a slight movement would reveal everything; the top was even more outrageous, exposing a large area of my stomach, not to mention the cutout in the middle of the chest that left much to the imagination.

It looked exactly like the kind of outfit that increases attack speed in those strange little videos, didn’t it?!

This set was utterly humiliating! I could only press down the skirt with one hand and protect my chest with the other, leaving no hands free!

“Mhm, this set really suits Ailena. But Ailena, don’t block it with your hands! Stand still!”

“No… Young Lady… I can’t…”

Just being in this state was humiliating enough!

“Ailena… you still don’t understand. I told you it was a punishment, so of course, I have to use some special means to make you deeply understand your mistake! So, talking is useless! Hurry and put your hands down! Let me see!”

“Wuwu…”

Unable to disobey the young lady’s command, I could only lower my arms, displaying the full scope of the outfit to her.

I felt my cheeks burning hot; they could probably fry an egg!

Tears welled up from the corners of my eyes… so extreme shame really does make you cry.

“Pfft!”

A strange sound suddenly came from my ear.

I looked over and saw the young lady suddenly burst out with a nosebleed and fall backward.

“Lady Katarina!? We need to call a doctor quickly!”

I was just about to go out, but the moment my hand touched the doorknob, I suddenly felt a chill.

That’s right… I was still wearing the clothes the young lady had given me…

“No, I need to change out of these clothes first…”

This was not something I could wear outside for others to see!

…

(Katarina’s perspective)

Under my compulsion, Ailena changed into the outfit I had prepared.

The form-fitting clothes accentuated Ailena’s outstanding figure, and the black maid outfit highlighted the whiteness of her skin. At the same time, because of its high exposure, it formed a strong contrast with her usual conservative attire… The just-right coverage of her body, coupled with a touch of embarrassment, created a beautiful picture that brought a strong visual stimulus.

She looked so pitiful, yet for some reason, it aroused a desire to tease her.

The little devil in my heart seemed to have been unleashed.

So I found a random excuse to order Ailena to put her hands down.

It was better when she kept them up; once she let them go, the blush on her face deepened, and her eyes became moist.

Seeing her like this, my brain was flooded with countless thoughts, directly overloading and short-circuiting.

“No, I need to change out of these clothes first…”

In a daze, I thought I heard Ailena say something like that.

“No! I haven’t seen enough yet!”

I sat up with a sudden spring.

“Young Lady, are you alright!?”

In front of me was Ailena, full of concern, holding a handkerchief and wiping my nose.

Looking at the red-stained handkerchief, I realized I had just had a nosebleed.

…Ailena in this outfit was truly too lethal.

Even now, as she was taking care of me, my gaze was firmly fixated on the chasm between those mountains…

“Hey, Ailena, how did you get so big?”

If anything, shouldn’t I be eating better? But why was the difference so huge?

“Hmm…?”

Ailena was first puzzled, then followed my gaze, realizing what I was referring to.

“Young Lady… where exactly are you looking…?”

Ailena pouted, and her eyes formed cute half-moons, looking absolutely adorable.

“To be honest, it’s not a good thing at all… It’s very inconvenient; it easily gets in the way of everything… And it’s heavy; my shoulders get tired every day.”

She paused, sized me up, and continued:

“Young Lady is the one to be envied! Slim and slender, without any excess flesh! I wish I had a figure like yours!”

“…”

I subconsciously looked at my still-flat chest.

Was she mocking me? Was this what they called “being presumptuous”?

Perhaps hidden by my bangs, Ailena couldn’t see it, but a clear “#” mark had indeed appeared on my forehead.

“I think you want to be punished, Ailena?”

“Eh? Why!?”

“‘Excess flesh,’ huh? Let me see! Be obedient!”

“Wait, Young Lady! Don’t!”

“Don’t move! Consider it a return favor for you pinching my thigh!”

“Uwaaaah…! Hunyaa!?”

“Wow…”

This texture, I must say, is top-tier.