The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 157 - ...Sin? A Misunderstanding, I Assure You, As [My Lady And I] Are Entirely Professional And That Requires No Industrious Defense!

Chapter 157: Chapter 157 - ...Sin? A Misunderstanding, I Assure You, As [My Lady And I] Are Entirely Professional And That Requires No Industrious Defense!

AN: A flattering moment from a fellow platform author deserves an equally visible reply. Especially when it fit right into what I was writing~

---

Pigeon-blue eyes took in the pristine interior of the Coiled Serpent Guild’s newest branch. The space felt larger than it looked from outside, likely due to the ground floor being so empty. But there was plenty of room for the series of desks that would someday house workers... and the shelves that would line the walls.

’She only showed me an example of what she thought it would look like when she was done with it. Seeing it in the middle of that progress is... nice.’

The Yecine had wished she could have seen it being constructed. The day of her wife’s plan coincided with a mission from the Ironclad Order that took her out of the city. The swordswoman had hiked back in that morning - and she had to pretend that she knew nothing about the strange new building in the skyline.

Near the window, the Goltbred responsible for that particular gossip worthy addition to the city sat there, staring at the entrance. Waiting for the person she could sense coming. Qat recalled how the girl was capable of sneaking up on her still, if she chose - like when she was playing with Onya in the nursery the other day.

’She panicked when she couldn’t find me. Gave me this fragment and armguard so that wouldn’t be a true issue any longer. Yet, she still wants to use her ability to sneak around.’

The girl realized that she didn’t really care enough to tell her to not do that again. She had nothing to hide, even if it had been a little embarrassing to be watched without knowing.

Qatrand also wasn’t particularly comfortable anymore with asking her to *completely* stop doing anything... but especially if it was something that didn’t make her feel all that irritable. Because she knew now that Elua would do exactly as she asked - or failing at it, feel terrible.

Her wife’s personal servant was reading in another chair nearby. There was also a table where the new branch manager sullenly processed some documents. She signed and stamped a few of them even as the newcomer’s steps sent echoes into the large stone structure.

Mint eyes waiting patiently were as soft as water... on the surface. The girl’s ’sweet’ side was firmly in place but it didn’t fool the spouse. The spiritual tendrils of the Yecine that reached out - and her El’s fragment - clued her in on the ’restraint’ sitting over top of the girl.

"Darling! What a lovely surprise to have you visit so soon. You must have been thinking of me?"

Something in the knowing way of the brunette’s tone made Qat’s neck heat. It seemed improbable that the ancient cultivator could know *exactly* what she had been thinking about, but the tall girl was not going to fool herself... and she knew her reaction just then was too revealing.

"Yes, I was. More than usual, anyway."

The honest words came out and Dima’s gaze briefly left her paperwork to study the young man in his black suit. She noted the long black hair and rather handsome build that had gotten her in this mess in the first place. She averted her gaze while inwardly grumbling about the unfairness of those ’blessed’ with easy lives.

"I couldn’t wait to see you this evening, so I’m overjoyed you came. I believe someone else wanted to meet with you as well."

The servant quietly turned a page in her book without looking up. She had seen so much of their young romance throughout the years that nothing felt especially worth paying attention to compared to the story she was reading. Even when Elua stood and placed her hand on her hip with a bright grin,

A blur of twilight-hued feathers swept through an open window upstairs and twirled down the stairway. The timing wasn’t all that perfect, because it wasn’t something they had practiced and the reborn cultivator was a little rusty herself.

The Whispering Skydancer circled once before following the subtle gesture of Elua’s finger (and the illusive guiding trail only it could see) to land gracefully on Qatrand’s shoulder. Its white eyes regarded her with recognition and didn’t flinch at all while the tall girl reached up to gently smooth some of its feathers.

"Have you been behaving for El?"

The bird let out a noise in return, responding more to the attention than being able to actually agree.

"Oh yes, quite well actually. I suspect he is hoping you’ll visit more often. A truly shameless creature."

The heiress pretended to be exasperated with the poor creature that did nothing but follow her orders. Meanwhile, the Yecine’s eye twitched along with the fingers of her free hand.

’That would make two. Are shameless beasts in fashion?’

The servant rose from her seat after reinserting a certain kind of silver bookmark between the pages and pressing her romance novel to her chest. She gestured at the space she just vacated.

"Please take my seat, young master. I should go prepare more tea for everyone."

She walked to retrieve the tea set on the table, and noticed that the woman signing documents had let her gaze stick once again to where the Yecine heir stood talking softly beside the young Goltbred’s chair. Her nose scrunched against her will, even knowing she was being watched.

"They do make quite a striking pair."

She tried to compliment naturally, but the liaison’s voice held a note of wistfulness that caught the servant’s attention. She paused in her steps and followed the woman’s line of sight to where her young miss was looking up at her spouse with poorly concealed adoration.

"Would you like more tea as well?"

"Oh, no thank you."

"I warn you... watching young love bloom so perfectly can be hard on the heart. It is one of the most bittersweet moments."

The servant’s low words and distant eyes seemed as if she had her own kind of longing. She adjusted her grip on the book while recalling the deep phrasing about heartache in the novel she read last week. It had been a very moving passage!

However, her motions drew attention to the current work she had been lended and its well-worn cover.

’My Lady and I. That work by the novelist Toobo...?’

Dima’s expression flickered between politeness and something more complex. She’d had no experience with talking to servants in the first place. Part of her had always thought of them a little like henchmen... and she wasn’t actually sure what they did.

For her first experience to lead to discovering one that harbored feelings for their master... she was very out of her depth!

"Actually... thank you. Tea would be lovely. No hurry, though. You can... take your time."

The servant nodded politely and collected the set before she continued toward the food preparation area. She hummed to herself after she exited the larger building. The small dormitory at the back of the building was very nice, in her humble opinion.

’The construction team did a good job!’

With everyone full of many misunderstandings, the former liaison was left to contemplate how some people seemed blessed enough to find their perfect match so young... and how finding it could break the heart of another. Her pen scratched against paper with more force than the documents required. She wasn’t jealous!

By the window, Qat sat down in the empty seat across from the ’lucky young witch’. The mint eyed girl stared at her husband-wife’s lap for a few seconds before sitting in her own chair. She closed her eyes and unhelpfully breathed in an attempt at calm.

’Professionalism is stupid. Any setting that keeps me from being intimate with my spouse should just be destroyed. I wonder if I could grip the supporting wall that doesn’t yet have any defensive sigilry and just bring this whole building down?’

"I was listening to some of your lessons this morning."

A low voice cut through her idle thoughts of making the place into rubble. The Skydancer shifted on the swordswoman’s shoulder. The bird didn’t have an Astralism that gave it its instincts, but it did have enough animalistic wits to feel that an unknown danger had just come and passed.

"Oh? What was I talking about this time?"

The Yecine tapped at her ear and the Goltbred nodded back. The teenager had never used the signal before, but the illusionist had made sure to teach it to her. She closed off the area around them with air pressure shortly before her beloved sat down, so that their conversation wasn’t listened in on.

Elua already had her fill of being heard by Dima.

"The now unknown techniques available to all elementalists. Adhesion, you called it. I also made it to your explanation of Levitation before I stopped your training tool."

"Yes, those are still a little far away from you. But I wanted you to be able to learn about them anyway."

"There is that... but it wasn’t why I found myself... distracted from finishing the recording."

A faint blush edged the swordswoman’s ears as she recalled exactly what had drawn her thoughts away. That desire to make sure her wife wasn’t bullying anyone... while at the same time wanting to come kiss her. Her wife’s spirit gained a ’smug’ edge to it.

"Adhesion is quite fascinating, isn’t it? I can’t wait for the day you can experiment with my theories."

"Y-yeah. Me neither."

Being able to sense that adorable mixture of self-conscious *longing* as she was being looked at by her spouse was torture! Her Astralism became busy with something almost before she mentally approved of it. The Skydancer took to the air.

’It’s no one’s fault. I mean, it’s a little my fault... and a little of hers. Maybe a lot of my fault.’

Her illusions got to work before she started to move. She knew that, in a way, it went against a certain promise she had once made herself - that she would never make an accurate representation of her ’fortress’. But as long as she wasn’t the one potentially viewing or interacting with it, it felt like a loophole.

And she really couldn’t take it anymore!