40—Next Morning

It wasn't the sun's rays nor the birds' chirps, but rather my belly's rumbles of protest that woke me up the next morning with Aina's warm body pressed to my side. My hand was on her perfect ass, and I couldn't help but knead it a little.

"Mhmmm..."

Aina's sleeping moans didn't help the situation, and I just wanted it to continue forever as I groped her with more and more strength. Looking down at her beautiful face, I was shocked to see her awake, but unmoving, simply staring at me.

"A-aina! Y-you were awake? S-sorry about that, I didn't mean to..." I mumbled as I removed the offending hand, but its retreat was blocked by hers, her dainty fingers clasping around mine and bringing my hand back to her ass.

She shook her head. "Why would you be sorry? You can touch my body whenever, wherever, as much as you like. And... I really enjoyed it, too. It made me kinda... wet." She whispered the last word, causing shivers to run down my spine, and my morning wood to strain against my pants.

I was barely able to reign back my desires. However, I managed to shake my head and pry my hand off her soft, inviting flesh. "No, I really don't want to, but we need to stop. We can't have this become yet another R-18 chapter."

Aina tilted her head at my statement, but didn't ask for an explanation.

Instead, she just buried her face in my chest, saying, "Ray..."

"Yes?"

"I... I'm so sorry..."

Startled by the sudden change in tone, and not understanding what she was referring to, I patted her head, in an effort to calm down her nerves. "Don't worry, no matter what you did, I'll forgive you," I told her, wondering what she could ever be sorry for.

She gripped the sheets harder. "The other day, I... was shown where my room was, in the servants' quarters," she said, as if it was an unforgivable sin.

I tilted my head.

"Uh... that's good, I guess? So?"

Aina's face was still pressed against me, so I couldn't see it, but something told me she was smiling bitterly. "Ray, I... I was selfish. I was extremely selfish, and didn't tell you, since I wanted to keep sleeping with you for as long as possible! But, I can't lie to you any longer. People will begin to ask questions and... I can't allow my selfishness to hurt you any further."

I laughed.

"You really think that was selfish and evil? Well, don't. It's normal for people to act based on their interests. We all do it. In fact, I'm flattered that you wanted to keep sleeping with me so much... although, it's be nice if you could be upfront with things like this in the future, okay?" I gave her a warm, reassuring smile, to show her that I really wasn't angry at all.

Aina nodded fervently. "Yes! Yes. I'll never keep anything secret from you, not even the stupidest, smallest thing. Never again. And... thank you, you really are to good for me, Ray..."

My smile grew wider.

"Al right, that's enough sickly sweet words for a morning. Let's get our clothes on and put some food inside us, shall we? You should be able to walk, right?"

Blushing a bit, she nodded, though not without reluctance, and soon we were off, to our separate destinations.

Walking through the mansion's spacious, vaulted, opulent hallways, I couldn't help but scoff at my family's completely overblown, gaudy sense of fashion. Not my direct family, mind, as most of the copious amounts of paintings, statuettes, weak artifacts, embroidered rugs and other decorations that cluttered any and all surfaces, horizontal or vertical, had been acquired by previous generations of our family, definitely before my father was born, perhaps even his father.

Of course, that was probably because we didn't have any money to spare on such things anymore. And my father wasn't much better, not having sold any of said decorations for some much-needed funds to invigorate our dying enterprises and impoverished lands. Not that they were very large, for a duchy.

Such thoughts occupied my mind and, in what felt like moments, I was standing next to the open doorway to the dining room.

'All right,' I thought, as I stepped forth, 'here we go again.'

I walked in without any preamble, not waiting for my new to be announced or anything like that—after all, we weren't entertaining any guests—and found the room empty save for my father, Duke Kybell—from whom my eldest brother had gotten his name—who was eating an exquisite breakfast with his everpresent stoic mask.

I walked over to my seat and sat down, wordlessly nodding to a nearby servant to have him notify the kitchen to prepare my meal, and asked casually,

"So, I see my elder brothers aren't here yet. Are they alright? They're not like me, they're usually always on time."

My father didn't look up from his meal, as he responded, "They told their servants they didn't feel well, and that they wished to stay in bed and not be disturbed. I don't believe they will be able to make it in time to accompany us, unfortunately."

I nodded, perplexed.

'Huh? What's going on? Did they stay up late or something? But why would they? It's not like they could sneak out of the manor to go to a party or anything... well, whatever.

'The reason is probably something stupid, anyways.'