[E] Ch 23 – There’s been some speculation that Ruby is writing these chapter titles, and I can assure you that I most certainly am not!

My roommate’s gaze held a possessiveness to it as she eyed my now mostly-naked body. It wasn’t the sort of look that I was used to having directed toward me, and it inspired both dread and an odd thrill.

I couldn’t help but fidget in place as her eyes flowed down the length of my tail, pausing briefly on the cute, white bow tied near the end. Her gaze slid over the silky ribbon between my legs, covering things in only the vaguest sense, and she lingered on the sheer, black underbust pushing my chest upward, yet managing to cover nothing at all. I fought the urge to cover my bare nipples—worried that she’d smack my hands once again—and instead fidgeted with the white bow that circled my neck.

The whole thing had taken her barely a few minutes to slip onto me. In my dazed state, I’d gone right along with it. Yet now, the exceedingly lewd black and white outfit of flowing silk and ribbon was fraying my nerves near their breaking point. Somehow, I felt more exposed than I had with nothing on at all. Just what did Lilis mean by “true punishment?” Was the spanking really only a warm-up to something much worse? Why was this getup necessary?

And most of all, why am I still so turned on?! My tail gave an involuntary flick through the air.

Lilis gave me little time to ponder my swirling thoughts and feelings, and instead, plowed forward. “While you were out making a nuisance of yourself earlier, I managed to get a few outfits that should hopefully fit you. We’ll need to go to a tailor to get you properly fitted later, but they should do for now, given that you managed to squeeze those hips into my clothing.”

I nodded, eyeing her nervously as she circled around me. The meek response seemed to only encourage her, as a smirk slid across her face.

“Don’t worry, I made sure to get you some proper school uniforms as well. In fact, that was most of what I grabbed. Though I couldn’t help myself grabbing a few… extras. Just in case.”

‘Just in case,’ she claimed. Yet somehow, I’d ended up dressed up like this before I ever caught a glimpse of the rest of the clothing. Part of me wanted to respond, but words still managed to escape me. Her lust, combined with mine, hung thick in the air, building as the silence between us did. The more she looked me over, the more I felt like a conquered prize. I both hated and somehow loved the feeling, though the latter made no sense to me.

“We’re late enough as it is. I believe it’s time we get going,” she said, before strutting over to me.

A foreboding panic gripped me as Lilis finally confirmed we were indeed leaving the room. “I—” My words struggled to come, and Lilis didn’t let my hesitance stop her. She grabbed my arm, guiding me forward toward the door. “W-where are we…” I mumbled out, unable to finish.

Lilis leaned over to my ear.  “This is your punishment, Ruby. Strutting through the academy as a horny, wet mess. On display for everyone to see. No one is going to think you’re anything but the slutty succubus you appear to be after this. But that’s what you want, isn’t it?”

We stopped at the door, though Lilis didn’t move to open it. I gulped, staring at the dark wood in stark terror. It was true that I preferred people think I wasn’t Gellin for the simple fact that it meant my enemies would be less likely to take advantage of my current predicament, but…

Wasn’t this a bit much?

“Of course, I’m not going to force you,” she continued. “You’re going to open the door and walk out on your own two feet.”

I turned staring up into her eyes. “W-what?”

Lilis smiled, letting out a soft hum. “You didn’t think I was going to drag you across half of the academy, did you? No, I do believe you can do this through your own will and effort.”

She couldn’t be serious. I’d been naked before out in the halls of the academy, but never from my own doing. At least, assuming the nightgown didn’t count?

Did it? I hadn’t exactly been in the right state of mind at the time. I bit my lip, staring over at the door. Would she really allow me to just refuse?

As though reading my thoughts, Lilis commented, “I can always come up with some other sort of punishment later, if you’d rather. It’ll be something much more mundane and tedious, I’m sure, but it’s important that you take my rules seriously. In fact, perhaps this was a bad idea. It’s pretty light, as far as punishments go, isn’t it?” She spoke as though to herself, yet her fingers trailed smoothly down my arm.

“W-wait,” I stuttered out, unsure if whatever else she came up with might somehow be worse. Lilis looked at me expectantly. My eyes widened, as if only just realizing that I’d spoken up. “Umm.”

Lilis gave me an encouraging yet eager smile, and her green eyes seemed to sparkle. “Go on.”

“I—I’ll do it,” I muttered, no longer able to meet her gaze.

What was I saying?! Being forced out looking like this was one thing, but to do so of my own will… Surely whatever other punishment she might come up with would be annoying but far less mortifying!

And yet.

I was already here. And it wasn’t as though half the academy hadn’t seen my bare ass already, or worse, when Professor Kheln had carried me through the men's dorm toward the consulum unconscious. Even my shameful walk in the nightgown hadn’t been that bad, all things considered. Didn’t it make some amount of sense to get this out of the way? Lilis had been right that I was trying to avoid drawing attention to the fact that I was still Gellin, son of Althon Zelian, at heart. And what true man would ever agree to something like this?

The thought made me wince. Building my courage, I faced the door and reached a shaky hand toward the handle. My fingers touched the cool brass metal. Lilis rubbed my bare upper back, the gesture of comfort making me jump. With a gulp, I turned the handle, hearing the light click of the door.

Was I really doing this? As the dark and heavy wood eased open, I hesitated, almost expecting Lilis to lead me out.

But she didn’t.

This time when I stepped out into the women’s dorm halls, it felt different. As though something about myself had fundamentally changed. It was a thought I should have taken time to ponder, but the hall quickly distracted me.

As was often the case, several students walked the halls or sat within one of the small study alcoves. Most paid no mind to the sound of our exit, but a few looked over, eyeing me and Lilis with a wide diversity of expressions. Disgust, curiosity, disinterest, surprise, and in one girl's case, obvious interest.

I froze in place.

Lilis walked up beside me and stopped. When I met her gaze, it was clear she had no plans to rush me forward, despite having admitted that we were ‘late’ to wherever we were headed. Things would have been easier if she had. Blaming my predicament completely on her would have been easy. Instead, the knowledge that I chose this myself sat like a heavy stone in my gut.

With a breath, I took a step, followed by another. My feet eased forward at far too slow a pace, slowly approaching those in the halls. Yet I couldn’t bring myself to go faster. More eyes looked our way, and I couldn’t help but meet them as I glanced around. I fidgeted, mortified by what thoughts were surely going through their heads.

This sort of thing was normal for a succubus, I knew. In fact, on a few occasions I’d spotted one walking the halls of the men’s dorm with nothing on at all, save perhaps a leash.

That thought did little to comfort me. It didn’t change the fact that I was dressed up like some horny demonic slut, practically begging any and everyone around to stare at my mostly-nude body. My tail flicked back and forth in agitation, bumping against Lilis’s leg. I fought back the urge to squirm as more and more women looked our way. Each one we passed would stop or slow whatever they were doing, often whispering to another words that I did my best to erase from my memory.

When we turned the corner away from most of the prying eyes and whispers, I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or more tense. It wasn’t truly the women at this academy that most worried me.

As my thighs brushed against each other, they began to feel slick, in what I tried to pretend was definitely just sweat building from my nerves. Their gazes couldn’t be turning me on. I wasn’t sure if I could live with myself were that the case. It was just sweat, or perhaps the lingering wetness from Lilis spanking me to an orgasm.

The reminder that I had not only been turned on by such a thing, but came from it, struck me like a dagger through the chest. There were a number of conclusions I could derive from all this. Instead, I sought to distract myself and turned to Lilis.

“Where are we going, exactly?” I whispered as my eyes continued to dart about.

My roommate hummed. “If I told you, that would ruin the surprise, wouldn’t it?”

I shot the woman a glare, which only served to make her smile. Grumbling, I said, “How am I supposed to lead the way forward if I have no idea what direction to go?”

“I’ll guide you,” she replied, a soothing hand brushing my shoulder.

I frowned, in what Lilis would assuredly claim was a pout, but very much wasn’t. She had to make this more complicated than it needed to be, I huffed. Gathering what little nerve I had remaining, I continued forward and outside. As promised, Lilis gave the occasional direction on where to turn. It was with some relief that she didn’t simply lead me in circles, and that her cold glare kept anyone too curious at bay. Not that it stopped their never-ending leers.

Eventually we made our way to an out of the way garden filled with drooping trees and tall shrubbery. It was only then that the sense of being watched finally ceased, replaced by the cold breeze against my skin and the soft sounds of nature. We crossed an arched bridge over a small, gently flowing stream, and followed the winding stone path forward.

Several minutes passed before we approached a remote and elaborately designed gazebo looking out over a well-kept clearing full of flowers, aged statues, and a trickling fountain.