Lily realized that some people just deepened their misunderstandings the more you tried to clear things out. Lily approached Murasaki and hugged her tightly before she could even react, causing their breasts to squeeze together1.
“Huh?” Murasaki wasn’t expecting Lily to do this, and tried to push her away, but she discovered that it was impossible for her to do as Lily surpassed her in terms of strength. It was as if she were a powerless woman who couldn’t do anything in front of Lily.
Lily’s breasts were like the embodiment of softness, and as a woman, this dealt a major blow to Murasaki who was infatuated with Ayaka.
“What’re you doing?! R-Release me! I hate you; you know?!” Murasaki blushed while showing resistance.
“Just listen to me. I admire your loyalty to Ms. Ayaka and am willing to forgive you for the insults you threw at me just now for that, but you better learn how to tell the difference between loyalty and love. Haven’t you ever felt that these feelings of yours might turn into an obsession if they intensify any further? You might harm Ms. Ayaka and yourself in the future if you continue acting like this!”
“W-What do you mean by that?”
Lily’s charm intent had long reached elevated levels, so it wasn’t that hard for her to make someone as strong as Murasaki blush in front of her even though she was in the same position as her when dealing with Ayaka. It was easier for a person to blush when dealing with someone stronger than them, and this rang true for Lily as well.
“I’m just saying that you shouldn’t let yourself become a burden to Ms. Ayaka if you really love her. You must learn to persevere quietly, you know? That’s what makes you look cuter. You claimed that I go around seducing everyone, didn’t you? Why aren’t you acting cute instead of acting like a jealous b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲, then? You’re just going to incur hate at this rate. Ms. Ayaka will never turn her eyes towards you if you continue acting like this2.”
Murasaki’s pupils contracted as Lily’s words struck her deeply. Lily infused her breath with charm intent as she blew into Murasaki’s ear softly.
“If you wish to learn how to act cute, I’ll teach you all about it.”
“Ngh…” Murasaki felt utterly ashamed that her presumed rival in love had rendered her powerless by stimulating her sensitive spots, and this shame made her sink deeper into the mire.
Her legs softened at a mere charm intent infused breath from Lily at her earlobe and caused her to kneel in the hot spring.
Murasaki realized the truth in Lily’s words, that she had just been incurring hate by sinking deep in the mire of jealousy and attacking Lily verbally. She had forgotten that acting like this was reducing her charm…
She was certain that Ayaka would take Lily’s side if she had chanced upon their argument just now. Murasaki wondered if defeat was just another form of victory and whether falling for a wooer also meant making the wooer fall for you.
She gazed upon Lily’s curvaceous and pliant body as she kneeled within the hot spring.
“I knew it… I have no chances of winning Ms. Ayaka’s affection even if I went behind Lily’s back to pursue her. She prefers a lively and charming young woman like Lily rather than someone like me for sure… You’re right, Lily. Have you realized how privileged you are, though? Not all women are born equal, you know?”
Murasaki splayed her arms within the spring water powerlessly.
“I thought I just lost to you in terms of looks, but it seems that I lost to you in terms of wisdom as well…”
…
Lily worried about running to Ayaka when she returned to the study because she didn’t know how to face her, but fortunately, she wasn’t present now. Lily lit up the lamp and read silently in the dim study as she didn’t know where Shiu had gone.
She thought of striking a conversation with her familiars, but she discovered Kagura and Yuki-Onna resting with their eyes closed when her consciousness entered the mirror space.
Lily’s soul walked over towards Rinne’s room after entering the mirror space, but the reflection on the amethyst mirror she passed by made her pause in her footsteps and check her soul form again. Her soul now had pretty cheeks underneath her lush hair and her forlorn eyes were accentuated by a pair of petite lips and a slender neck that linked her beautiful face to her bountiful body.
Her soul looked girlish now.
She touched her face and thought aloud, “It seems like my soul form is turning feminine by the day ever since I began training in charm intent.”
Lily’s heart skipped a beat as she imagined her soul form turning into a woman completely in the future. It wasn’t that much of an issue within the mirror space, but it still made her wonder if she would remain the same if it happened.
She didn’t see becoming a woman completely in mind, body, and soul as a terrible thing though as she had become a woman thoroughly in the real world. Lily still felt a little guilty about deceiving the world and her sisters for being recognized as the prettiest woman of Heian despite possessing a boy’s soul.
It was just that Rinne liked her male form, not her female form.
Lily put on the elegant and revealing celestial maiden’s dress again and entered Rinne’s room with flushed cheeks. She then kneeled before Rinne and held her hand gently. Rinne’s breaths were still as steady as ever.
“It’s becoming harder for me to endure the loneliness, Senior Rinne. I might just be holding on to the last bit of perseverance still left within me… and am feeling lost about why I am even persevering so hard when there’s not much meaning in doing it… Please give me some kind of sign, Senior Rinne. Can I hope to find an answer from the gods in Mt. Izumo?”
“I’ve recounted all that has happened to me until now to you, Senior Rinne, and have at least brought some good news this time. I’m going to set out towards Mt. Izumo soon and I’ll do my best to climb it so that I can pray to the gods and obtain their guidance to wake you up. I hope you’ll wake up soon, Senior Rinne, or else you might never see my male form again when you wake up.”
…
Lily continued reading books from the library over the next few days and rested her body. She had a lot of worries plaguing her mind these days, but her body was still as wholesome as always and recovered its perfect form soon. Ayaka still hadn’t paid a visit to her, though.
Lily worried whether the argument from a few days ago had infuriated Ayaka and decided that she needed to find a chance to apologize to her. She had no intention of backing down on setting clear boundaries, but she also felt guilty for receiving Ayaka’s deep affection and felt that she owed her an apology for that.
The mansion welcomed a continuous torrent of rain a few days later. Lily had recovered completely by now though and had almost perfected her control of the power boost she had gained from ascending to the Permanence level and had finished applying it to her sword arts. Her preparations for setting out to Mt. Izumo were done and all that was left now was to bid Ayaka farewell. Lily rejected Ayaka’s feelings, but she still wished her happiness since she had helped her out a lot.
This task needed an extraordinary amount of courage, though, and Lily had chosen this rainy day for it. She combed her hair using the mirror’s reflection and had second thoughts about her decision to see Ayaka today since she presumed the latter would be in a bad mood today because of the rain. She even wondered if it was better to push her plans a day forward.
The doors to Lily’s room opened suddenly the next moment though, and a feisty, white-dressed Ayaka appeared from behind them. Lily had to admit that she liked feisty, beautiful, and dominating women like Ayaka the most.
Ayaka being right in Lily’s strike zone was the reason she felt so aroused around her, and why her obsessive love for Rinne felt challenged.
“Ms. Ayaka?” Lily stopped combing her hair and looked at Ayaka while fiddling with her locks. She wasn’t furious about Ayaka entering her room without calling out to her first and even showed slight joy in her eyes.
“Are you that pleased to see me, Lil’ Lyn?” Lily thought Ayaka was still furious at her and wasn’t expecting her to converse with her using such a deep and delightful voice.
Lily was weak to such sweet nothings, and was also weak to hand holding and deep kisses… In short, Lily was weak to anything Ayaka did.
“I’m not that pleased,” Lily stated coyly as she turned her head back and revealed a bashful smile out of Ayaka’s view.
“Did you miss me?” Ayaka sat next to Lily and caressed Lily’s hair.
“Not at all… I just focused on training these past few days.”
“Oh? I must reward you for your diligence, then,” Ayaka whispered sweet nothings into Lily’s ear.
“I don’t need it!” Lily knew that there was no difference between a reward and punishment from Ayaka and wondered if she was really doing the right thing by flirting with her like this. Lily intended to apologize to her, not have a misunderstanding lover-like conversation where she grumbled about her grievances.
“I wish to talk about what happened before, Ms. Ayaka…”
“Oh, yes. We don’t have time for you to dress up leisurely here. Put on the court dress and accompany me to the palace right now,” Ayaka interrupted Lily.
“What court dress?”
“You’re a junior fifth rank court official now and it’s rare for a samurai to hold such a prominent position, you know? I’ve already asked the maid to bring over the court dress, so change into it and come with me to the palace.”
“I’ll be waiting for you in the palanquin at the entrance. You better hurry now since it’s a serious offense to arrive late to the court. You don’t want to arrive late on your first day at court now, do you?” Ayaka stated as she got up.
“O-Of course not. I’ll get ready immediately!” Lily stated and changed into the court dress—which was a fitting, white-lined black outfit—hastily. It had been made to fit her, but she still felt a bit uncomfortable in them as it was menswear. Lily styled her hair into a ponytail and wore the mini hat that came with the court dress before looking at herself in the mirror.
Lily smiled faintly, feeling that she looked quite dashing in the court dress even though it was her first time putting it on, and felt much more confident now. It was just that the court dress also accentuated her womanliness from a distinct perspective on top of making her look dashing.
Lily rushed to the mansion’s entrance after getting ready and rode a white horse, which she was now allowed to ride as a military official and rode beside Ayaka’s palanquin with a sense of pride.
The whole group proceeded through Nijo Avenue in a grandiose yet elegant fashion and stopped in front of the Heian Palace.
Those at the same rank as the Chief Advisor and the Commander-in-Chief were the only ones allowed to enter the Heian Palace via its main gates, and as the current Imperial Inspector, Lily was also allowed to pass through it, but she needed to dismount before entering it.
Lily intended to ride the Demon Hound, but she decided not to do so after giving it a second thought and handed the horse’s reins to the servant before walking beside Ayaka’s palanquin with a white plate in hand and entered the Heian Palace together with her.
“Are you feeling nervous about your first time going to court, Lily?” Ayaka questioned her as she raised the side curtain of the palanquin.
“I-I’m fine,” Lily stated as she puffed her chest out with a flushed face.
