"Tap... tap... tap..."
Crisp, elegant footsteps approached from far off down the gloomy passage.
Rose's figure stepped calmly out of the shadows. She glanced at Jeanne, who had pretty much finished venting her emotions, then swept her eyes over the corpses sprawled every which way across the ground, and the corner of her mouth curved up. She came up from behind and gently locked her arms around Jeanne's slender waist, letting her hands wander while resting her chin lightly on Jeanne's shoulder, murmuring softly against that reddening earlobe:
"Dear Miss Jeanne, are you... a little calmer now?"
The intimate contact and the warm breath against her ear instantly shattered Jeanne's cool composure. Her cheeks flushed, and her voice took on a flustered, pleading note:
"Nngh... d-don't, don't do that, Rose!"
Rose laughed softly, the tip of her tongue grazing that delicate earlobe ever so faintly as she went on teasing her:
"Hehe, no wonder Leon always loves teasing you. So our Jeanne really does have such a sensitive constitution."
"Nngh..."
Waves of tingling numbness shot through her whole body. Jeanne's lovely pale violet eyes went wide, her body going soft, her legs trembling without stop. Seeing that her gaze had begun to go hazy, Rose finally drew back a little, satisfied.
"Haah... haah..."
Jeanne exhaled great fragrant breaths, her face flushed, turning her head aside to shoot Rose a resentful, sulking glare.
As for that little surge of jealousy she'd felt earlier toward Leon, it had long since been flung off to the ends of the earth.
"Now that you've vented all that emotion and calmed down, shouldn't we be heading home?"
With that, Rose took her hand, winked slyly, and leaned in close to mutter a few words by her ear. The color that had only just settled on Jeanne's face surged scarlet all over again in an instant.
"Y-you you you you... how can you say that!"
"I won't... use my, my feet or anything..."
"N-no... no way!"
"I... I won't do it!"
Rose answered with a meaningful smile, gently pushing Jeanne's back as she steered her outward.
"You see, if you blush this easily, you'll never keep a hold on that fellow Leon, you know? Trust me, do as I say, and I guarantee... this method will absolutely wring that scumbag dry, and after he's had his fun with you, he'll meekly slip into his afterglow with eyes for no one but you."
"S-so embarrassing!"
"I... I can't do it!"
"Well, if you're too shy, then maybe I'll just take the chance for myself?"
"N-no, you can't!"
"Heh heh..."
...
...
Leon, still lost in his little paradise, had no idea of the "crisis" about to arrive. How could he have guessed that Jeanne and Rose, the two most capable right and left hands he had, had not only forged an alliance once again, but had gone a step further and were scheming up plans for the bashful Miss Jeanne?
Especially the cunning Rose's idea for Jeanne, which was practically aimed straight at Leon's weak spot!
That little secret hobby of his had been completely figured out by the cunning big sister Rose, and now she'd even passed it on to Jeanne as a "secret technique." It could be foreseen... that if Jeanne failed to handle the challenge ahead, then for quite a long while to come, Leon would likely lose the initiative in front of Jeanne for good!
By then, if he still wanted to "give Jeanne a lesson"? That wouldn't be his call to make anymore!
...
Creak!
The faint sound of the courtyard gate broke the quiet of the snowy night.
Rose and Jeanne returned silently, one behind the other. Locking the gate behind her, Rose glanced at that familiar window on the second floor, breathed out a puff of white mist, and looked toward Jeanne with a smile.
"Are you really ready, Jeanne~~?"
"The grand Lady Holy Maiden wouldn't be thinking of backing out at the last minute, would she?"
Jeanne's cheeks flushed crimson at once, and like a startled quail she stared fixedly at the tips of her shoes, not daring to meet Rose's eyes.
"H-how how how how how could I!"
Rose took her hand, and the two slipped quietly back inside. She leaned in close to Jeanne's ear, her voice low and soft but carrying a thread of slyness:
"Good, then."
"Come with me. I'll lend you a set of clothes, and after that you just do as I say. One full sequence, and he definitely won't have a good time of it."
"O-okay."
Jeanne answered dryly, her gaze still wandering uncertainly, too embarrassed to look Rose in the eye at all...
The mere thought of what she was about to do made her whole body burn, until she wished she could find a crack in the ground and crawl into it that instant!
...
Half an hour later.
Orario Standard Time, four in the morning.
After Rose's careful styling, Jeanne stood outside the door of Leon's room.
Her eyes were fixed straight on the door panel as she drew one deep breath after another.
There's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's just using my, my, my feet...
Rose can do it, Kureha can do it, so why can't I!
Jeanne, you're the best!
Drawing a deep breath, Jeanne resolutely pushed open the door and slipped in quickly, then swiftly locked it behind her. Only then, by the faint glow of snowlight from outside the window, did she begin to take in the room in detail.
No surprises there. All sorts of clothing, stockings, and high heels strewn in disarray across the carpet.
This was the first time Jeanne had surveyed it all from such a different perspective, and faintly... she actually felt a thrill she couldn't quite put into words.
"Eh? Jeanne?"
Leon, startled awake by the noise, opened his eyes blearily.
When he made out the Jeanne before him, in an exquisite black evening gown with a high slit, paired with long black thigh-high stockings and red-soled heels with side cutouts, clearly having been "dressed up" for the occasion, he couldn't help freezing for a moment.
Then, on instinct, the words slipped right out of his mouth:
"Jeanne, why are you wearing Rose's clothes?"
"...!!!"
...
Meanwhile, the leisurely Rose lounged on the soft couch in the sitting room, legs crossed, dangling a slipper from her toes, reclining lazily all on her own.
She hadn't turned on a light, reading by only the leaping glow of the fireplace through a parchment scroll recovered from those fools Jeanne had dealt with, a commission from the underworld.
...
Commission: Capture the exiled princess: Lydia
Description: The prince launched a coup and successfully usurped the throne, splitting the kingdom apart. The old king fled east with the remnants of his forces to rebuild his power, intending to stage a comeback. However, the kingdom's treasure, Princess Lydia, vanished amid the turmoil. She is believed to have fled in the chaos, and there is word that she recently surfaced in Orario.
Content: Capture Princess Lydia alive and deliver her unharmed to the new king.
Reward: 50 million (Orario standard gold coin: Valis)
...
"Fifty million Valis?"
Looking at the staggering figure in the reward column, even the stout-hearted Rose drew in a sharp breath.
The firelight flickered restlessly, stretching her shadow long and warped across the wall. She lowered her head and stared at that shocking line of commission on the parchment, her expression dark and unreadable.
"Just to recover a princess, this new king is willing to put up an exorbitant fifty million Valis..."
"Weren't the two of them uncle and niece?"
"Heh..."
"Truly a noble. They really do play their twisted games."
She tossed the commission aside and picked up another stack of parchment.
It recorded the intelligence those "bounty hunters" had gathered recently in Orario about Princess Lydia.
"Fell into the hands of a slaver gang and was resold to the Ishtar Familia?"
"A princess green to the world, with peerless looks... tsk tsk, sold off as a slave. I suppose that's the standard procedure for setting foot in Orario."
Rose lightly shook the intelligence in her hand, her face taking on a meaningful cast in the wavering firelight.
After a long while, she let out a soft hum, the corner of her lips lifting:
"Leon, oh Leon. With so many beauties at home already, this Princess Lydia... I think we'll leave her for the Guild to fret over."
"You, now, just need to focus your mind on those fifty million Valis."
[Read 50+ chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/NiaXD]