58- Drawing the line

" Stella, come. "

With a single call from him, he summoned the shadow rabbit girl, which looked curiously around, and when she saw the sunlight traversing the window, as well as how high the sun already was, she did something unexpected.

Stepping closer to him, Arthur just let her do it as he was curious about her silence and the reason behind her actions, but then..

Sniff sniff-

A subtle sound, as she smelled him and the air around him, before suddendly exclaiming.

" Ah, I knew it ! Master, did you had a good time with Mariane as well ? Is that why you didn't summoned me until now ? "

Well, surely, he didn't expected that.

Staring at the girl who had a serious expression, he could tell that she was a bit annoyed by the situation where she was forgotten, or more precisely, put asides, but what could he do about it ?

Mariane didn't wanted to be seen naked, and he was pretty sure that the both of them wouldn't be okay with a threesome, or at least, for now.

" ... We did, actually, but that's not the only reason why you weren't summoned. "

To be frank, there wasn't something like another reason, he just wanted Mariane to be happy and so, he didn't brought another girl in their stories for the time he enjoyed alone with her.

" .. Was there really another reason ? "

And while he didn't knew where his lie would take him at first, as she asked about the reason, he had already found a response he could answer, being to just put it on the back of someone else.

" There is, as Mariane isn't ready yet to share me with someone else, and I can't just force her to put those worries away, I want you to understand that she was here first and naturally, I can't just ignore her or her feelings. "

Seeing her nodding to his words, she could tell that he wasn't done with his explanations, and while she started pouting at him, he kept explaining.

" That's why, even if I can play with you a bit, I won't go too far with it, at least, not as long as you didn't get her approval, do you understand ? "

" I do, but.. Isn't it kind of unfair ? I also love you, and if only I had been summoned to your side earlier-.. ! "

" Alright alright, I get what you mean, but my summoning ability isn't perfect, I don't control who I will summon, and I can just, at most, reduce the probabilities. "

Lifting his hand, he cut her short in her complain as he started patting her head softly, caressing her soft black hair, he ignored her pouting face and lowered himself to have his eyes at her level.

" And like I said, it's not like I won't do anything with you, unlike with the innkeeper which was just a one time thing, you'll stay by my side at every occasions and I understand your feelings for me as well, it's just that for the moment, until you gain Mariane's trust, I will keep my belt on, so can you be a good girl and wait until that moment ? "

Feeling Mariane's warm and loving stare on his side as he took care of consoling the poor priest who was now looking down, as if betrayed, he wanted to sigh, but kept it in.

" ... Yes master.. "

Her usual excited demeanor was nowhere to be found in her answer, and Arthur, who remarked the obvious, silently leaned in and stuck his lips to hers, only to be surprised as she suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and kept her lips forcefully stuck to him, not wanting to let go of such an opportunity.

Looking up, he could see that her eyes were closed, and while she was forcing herself and tried to discover the feeling of a kiss, her childish attempt was nowhere near someone with experience like him.

But since she wanted to play, he had to get to it seriously, lowering the hand that was on top of her head against her cheek, he wrapped his arm around her slender waist, pulling her closer to him before invading her mouth with his tongue.

Such an action, where he parted her lips strangely easily, showed that she was ready to accept everything of him, though lacked any kind of teaching towards it.

Reaching for her tongue with his, his next action was to intertwine them in a slow pace, taking back the lead of such a kiss, he calmed down the excited rabbit who showed an embarassing display of skills and had her learn the correct way of doing it through trial and errors, until finally, she could follow his pace.

And then, it was the time to punish her for forcing such a kiss when she could just have asked nicely.

Stealing her breath away as he raised the intensity of it, he decided to let go of her only when he felt her getting weak in her legs.

Barely able to support herself, even with her arms wrapped around his neck, he kept his arm against her waist to not let her fall down, and pulling his mouth away, he could feel his lips covered in a mix of saliva that he quickly licked and swallowed to get rid of it.

The girl, unlike him, seemed lost in thoughts as she opened her eyes, her pupils looking somewhat blurry as she was clearly not focused on anything.

" ... Are you feeling better now ? "

" Yeeeees.. hehehehe... "

With a small and excited answer coming out of the lips he opened with his tongue, he decided that it would be better to wait a bit before heading out.

And eventually..

" G-good morning, sir.. "

Looking at Luce who went back to work, she seemed in a much better state, but with her face completely red and even stuttering, it was clear that she wouldn't see him the same way she did before.

" Good morning, seems like you got a good rest out of it. "

Her face couldn't be compared to what it was the previous day, as even the dark circles surrounding her eyes disappeared in that single night.

" Mhm-.. ! It's all thanks to you... "

At least, she didn't seemed mad about the fact that he did it earlier with Mariane, but seeing how she was clasping her hand in front of her lower stomach, which made her breast stood out even more, it seemed that she had some ideas behind her head.

" Don't thank me for it, it was my fault from the start, and it won't happen again either. "

Sensing Mariane's stare, even him didn't expected to see such a sudden change to happen to Luce, and maybe he made her remember her youth by going so wild against her just because she could take it and was loving it, so he decided to draw the line where it needed to be.

" .. Heh- ? "

Her expression told him that she was surprised by what he said, but he was sure that he didn't left any hint that he would come back to play with her again, so how did she reached that conclusion ?

" Why act so surprised ? Didn't I told you ? That you weren't mine. "

" A-about that-.. ! "

Cutting her short once again, he couldn't let her finish her sentence, or even him would be tempted.

" About what ? Will you sell your life just to experience a few more nights with me ? I'm not that free of a man, and you surely don't get how I 'own' those two either.. So think again about what you're going to say. "

Killing her mood in a single blow, he couldn't help but feel bad as he saw her disheartened expression, yet he had no choice but to play the vilain here.

" .... I'm sorry, it was misplaced from me to bear such thoughts against you.. "

Hearing her excuses, the feeling in his heart just got worse as he was the one who was supposed to excuse himself for acting like that to an innocent lady.

If only he was still on Earth, he would have accepted her advances anytime, unless the game made an update or released an event, to which he needed to participate, but the thing is, he wasn't on Earth anymore, and he wasn't sure if he could bear the price of someone else's life.

" ... It's alright, we all make mistakes, even I do, at least, I'm glad you got to enjoy that moment to the point of thinking of more, but that's where I draw the line. "

Speaking in a softer tone, as he couldn't just keep playing the bad guy till the end, he could feel words and excuses that he had to swallow to not let them out.

" .... "

As silence stayed since both parties didn't said anything else, Arthur, followed by the two girls, left the inn and aimed his focus at the adventurer's guild where he would take on requests today.