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Emilia was of course well aware that Crystal had been jealous of Randy, but she never expected the sweet, innocent heroine to ever threaten someone like that.
Looking at Emilia's naughty, amused smile, Crystal suddenly had a bad feeling.
"You scared off my fiancé, huh… now who will I marry?"
The blonde girl's face turned red as she looked away, not daring to answer Emilia's question.
Emilia grinned as she held Crystal's chin and forced her to look her in the eye. "My angel has to take responsibility, right?"
Crystal gulped. "R-Responsibility?"
Emilia fluttered her eyelashes at her with a pout. "You want to abandon me now?"
It took all of the blonde heroine's willpower to resist taking a bite of Emilia's temping lips when she pouted like that. "O-Of course I won't abandon you, but—"
Thinking about Emilia's identity, 'taking responsibility' for someone like her was really out of Crystal's league, as she was now.
She couldn't help but be depressed at that thought. 'If her father were to cut off her inheritance or try to make her 'accept reality' by throwing her out for a while, can I even give her a week of her 'normal life'?'
Even if she hadn't seen Emilia splurge much, Crystal was sure that the expenses she did have would still be far from what she was capable of bearing.
She didn't even know what kind of body lotion and shampoo Emilia used to maintain her skin and hair in such perfect condition. Maybe that alone would be enough to empty all her savings, even with the new contract with the Brown's confectioneries.
Emilia had just been teasing the poor heroine because she was so cute when shy, but seeing her make such a dark expression, her own mischievous smile turned into a frown. "Why do you look so gloomy all of a sudden, Crystal? Did I upset you?"
The blonde girl shook her head. "It's not that, Emilia, it's just—"
Emilia fluttered her eyelashes innocently. "Is it the mommy joke?"
Crystal almost choked. "N-No! And I told you to drop that already!"
Seeing the girl raise her hands in surrender with a smile, the heroine sighed in exasperation. "Don't tease me anymore, I won't tell you. I was just thinking about some depressing stuff, but I really don't want to talk about it."
Emilia nodded thoughtfully, much to Crystal's relief. Although she was possessive, she didn't mind her lovers having some privacy of their own. As long as there wasn't any hint of betrayal, she wouldn't pry.
But that didn't mean she was fine with leaving her poor angel depressed. "You want me to help you relax?"
The heroine couldn't help but blink. "R-Relax? H-How?"
Emilia smiled. "I can give you a massage."
Thinking of Emilia's soft, delicate hands servicing her body, Crystal's mind almost exploded. "I-I don't dare!"
Emilia thought that the heroine doubted her ability to do it properly, and maybe thought trying it out would just be an awkward disaster, so she tried her best to look confident and reassuring. "Don't worry, although I've never done it before, I have done my research on the internet!"
Of course, that didn't help Crystal at all. At least, when her face had been buried in that heavenly valley, there had still been a layer of thin fabric there. But thinking of Emilia directly touching her skin… would she be able to contain herself? Impossible.
"I-I didn't mean that I don't trust you, but that—"
Emilia grinned. "Then there's no problem, is there? Just take off your clothes and lie on your back like a good girl, and let big sis take care of the rest."
There were a thousand different thoughts and protests rampaging through the heroine's minds — 'She just told me to take off my clothes!', 'She called me a good girl?!', 'It's big sis now?', 'At least it's better than mommy…?' — but they all ended up colliding against each other, leaving her to just stare at Emilia in a daze.
Emilia had apparently had enough, and just started unbuttoning the heroine's shirt, forcing the girl out of her daze in a panic.
"I-I can do it myself! Y-You wait here!"
Brooking no further argument, the heroine bolted out of the bed and headed straight for the bathroom, leaving Emilia blinking in confusion.
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When Crystal told her to wait, she must have really meant it, because even ten minutes later, she still hadn't returned.
At first, Emilia had been worried that the girl might have overheated and collapsed, so she went to knock on the bathroom door to check. But hearing the sound of water and furious scrubbing, the heroine was apparently bathing.
Lying by herself on the bed, Emilia swung her feet up and down while waiting impatiently. "Crystal sure enjoys bathing, huh? Well… it is quite soothing, especially if tired. But my massage is definitely better than a shower!"
Cynthia couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Tsk. When has a princess like you ever massaged someone?"
Hearing the clear contempt in her partner's voice, Emilia scoffed. "I'll show you later. My massage will be top-notch… Well, maybe not in the first few minutes, but I did my research, and I'm a quick learner!"
Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Isn't your 'massage' just an excuse to mate? You can't fool me, I know you."
Emilia rubbed the tip of her nose in embarrassment. "That's not true. My angel is depressed, I just want her to feel good."
The raven-haired girl sighed. "Well, I wouldn't normally care who you mate with, but have you forgotten about our energy issue? I absolutely forbid you from—!"
Of course, Emilia was well aware of the severity of the matter, and nodded seriously. "Don't worry, I won't let my energy drop. Even if I do some naughty things, I know what I can and cannot do, we won't lose any energy. I promise."
Cynthia couldn't help but feel a little skeptical in her heart. "Do you really understand?"
Emilia nodded. "Yes. I won't let them have any of my bodily fluids, and won't let them make me bleed. That's all, right?"
"…"
Not hearing a response, Emilia couldn't help but tilt her head in confusion. "Well?"
Logically, Cynthia knew that she should have been satisfied already. After all, she didn't really care, as long as they didn't lose energy. But the way Emilia put it, she still wanted to do some naughty things, she would just be avoiding anything that could make her lose energy.
But the raven-haired girl knew that she had no reason to refute her partner, so she could only sigh. "… Fine. Do whatever you want. I'll go sleep."
"Okay, byebye~!"
Hearing the 'click' of her partner going into isolation, Emilia couldn't help but rub her chin in thought.
Since Cynthia's words did make her a little insecure, Emilia picked up her phone to search for 'most pleasurable massage techniques'.
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Ten minutes later, Crystal finally returned after having finished scrubbing every inch of her body as thoroughly as she could, and then taking a long, cold shower. She felt like she was as ready as she could be to face what was to come.
Seeing the completely red-skinned blonde girl wrapped in just a towel, Emilia couldn't help but blink as she put her phone away and patted the bed. Hopefully, the girl's skin was red from being shy, and not from being rubbed too roughly.
Crystal's mind had been burning with both shame and expectation from the moment Emilia had proposed to give her a massage. No, even before that, her head had already been a little foggy from being buried in Emilia's breasts while she was on that call.
Even after she lay belly down on the bed, the heroine still kept the towel wrapped tightly around herself. "Y-You can start!"
Crystal kept her face down and her eyes tightly shut, and Emilia couldn't help but be a little amused. "Why don't you take it off?"
Just the thought of Emilia touching her while she was wearing nothing but a towel was already undoing all the 'effects' of the cold shower. How could she dare to remove that final barrier?
The blonde grit her teeth in shame. "I-I'm embarrassed… can't you do it without taking it off?"
Crystal felt a little strange when she didn't hear Emilia respond to her at all, and suddenly got goosebumps when she heard the rustling of clothes.
She didn't dare to open her eyes to check what was happening, and kept her head down on the bed. "W-What are you doing, Emilia?"
"Big sis is taking off her clothes so that my little angel doesn't feel so embarrassed being naked by herself, you know?"
Even without looking, Crystal could hear the naughtiness in the girl's voice. She was sure that her loud gulp must have been audible even outside their room.
"T-The door is closed, right?"
Emilia grinned as she threw her bra to Crystal's studying chair, and then smoothly slid out of her panties. "It's closed, don't worry."
Crystal breathed a sigh of relief, and then froze as she realized how embarrassing that question was. Wasn't asking that right after Emilia told her she was undressing the same as implying she wanted 'something else'?!
"I-I didn't mean anything strange!"
Emilia giggled as she climbed onto the bed, straddling the blonde till her thighs were right under her butt as she took hold of the girl's towel. "Of course, now I'm going to pull this off. You can let it go, or make big sis work extra hard. But remember, big sis is a little lazy, and might punish you for making her work, okay?"
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