A Fair Match
Theorad was not a fool. He had long since realized that the elf was wary of the women around him, and jealous of them.
She had been discouraging not only Ashley but also the Mage Tower's female students from approaching him.
Even four days ago…
He had seen her sitting at a table with a heap of letters, reading through them before burning them. She had left the Mage Tower's official documents and the nobles' correspondence untouched, so he suspected the destroyed letters were from admirers among the students.
At night, when he exchanged Witch Note messages with Ashley, the elf invariably appeared to watch whenever he left his place for a moment.
This is getting rather obsessive…
Her jealousy seemed to have grown stronger over the past few days.
Still, hearing her speak of it herself was astonishing. It was like firing an arrow at empty sky and somehow bringing down a bird.
For once, he had no idea what to say.
“Well…”
Silence would only make things worse.
Theorad steadied himself, put down his teacup and sat on the sofa opposite her.
“…What made you jealous?”
What an idiotic question.
Asking an angry woman to explain why she was angry was hardly wise.
Her red eyes flashed. He felt unaccountably guilty under that gaze and began to look away.
“Master has…”
Her voice trembled with something between embarrassment and shame.
“You've never invited me to have tea with you.”
Tea?
Was that all?
Theorad couldn't quite understand, but he knew that something trivial to one person could mean a great deal to another.
“I see. From today on, I'll invite you for tea more often. I'll even brew it myself. Would that make you feel better?”
“It's not something that requires forgiveness…”
There was a shy note beneath her indifferent tone. Theorad felt relieved.
He was about to rise when the elf shook her head. Irritation returned to her face.
“Tea isn't what I'm angry about.”
So there's another round.
Theorad settled back into the sofa.
“Then tell me what else is troubling you.”
“There is something. We've been at the Mage Tower for more than two weeks now, Master. We're staying in the same room. Isn't that right?”
It was. The Royal Suite had several separate rooms, but the elf had insisted they share a bedroom—and the same bed.
“You're right. I can't deny that.”
“Then…”
She bit her lip and fidgeted with her fingers.
“Why don't you ever touch me?”
Theorad said nothing. He could have explained himself, but he feared his answer would hurt her.
She couldn't understand his indifference. She was considered beautiful among her own people in the Great Forest, and by human standards as well. Male students had confessed their interest during their stay; some of the letters she had burned had been addressed to her.
Yet she was sleeping directly beside Theorad every night, and he ignored her.
“Two nights ago, I deliberately went to sleep in my underwear.”
Even then, he had barely glanced at her. He'd simply lain straight on the bed and gone peacefully to sleep.
After turning it over in her mind, she had arrived at an explanation.
“Master, you're refusing to have sex with me because you're afraid you'll lose.”
She was sure of it.
Without hypnosis, special devices or coercion, she believed she could overwhelm him.
Then he'll never escape me.
Clearly that was why he had avoided her.
Theorad could scarcely believe what he was hearing.
Who's afraid of losing to whom?
He had plenty of reasons to avoid sex with the elf. One was his worry that another encounter would leave her feeling powerless and miserable.
She insisted that her earlier defeats were caused by hypnosis or special devices. If that belief were shattered, he didn't want to imagine how she would look.
He was not especially affectionate toward her, but he had no wish to see another person crushed by disappointment.
Trying to explain without hurting her, he spoke as gently as he could.
“You've misunderstood. That's not why I haven't had sex with you…”
“Then prove it.”
“Prove it?”
“You gave your last lecture today. I know you have nothing else scheduled.”
She was proposing a contest to decide who held the upper hand through sex.
Theorad hesitated. There were many reasons to refuse, but he felt indebted to her for what she had done for him. It was because of the elf that he had come to the Mage Tower at all; he'd benefited greatly from her help.
That sense of obligation weighed on his decision.
In the end, he resolved to agree to her proposal. But he had no intention of accepting her terms without a safeguard.
“If you want proof, you'll have it. But there will be a price for whoever loses.”
He drew the wand from his waist. With its assistance, he used simple telekinesis to take a sheet of paper and a pen from the shelf, bringing the paper over to the table.
Then he picked up the pen and wrote:
[Contract Concerning Sexual Relations]
- In today's sexual contest, the loser will be designated B, and the winner A.
- In any sexual relations after today, A will take the initiative, while B will relinquish it.
- Sexual relations will occur only when A wishes.
- B may not use force to violate Article 3.
- Both parties swear, by the god each believes in, to abide by this contract.
Theorad turned the paper around and pushed it toward the elf.
“Sign it.”
The agreement carried no legal force. For Theorad, however, its terms could provide a reason to refuse sex in the future.
The elf believed victory was certain, so he expected she would accept the conditions. She nodded and signed.
It was an extraordinary sight: the two of them writing a contract before a sexual encounter.
Thirty minutes later, Theorad approached the bedroom in his underwear after a quick shower.
He sighed with his hand on the doorknob. Knowing the elf would be waiting inside filled him with misgivings, but he couldn't bring himself to back out now.
He opened the door and froze.
“…”
The elf stood near the fluttering curtain, dressed in a black, frilled bra and panties. Her silver hair reached her waist.
She was holding one leg straight up toward the ceiling. The awkward angle had displaced part of her underwear, outlining her body beneath it.
Theorad looked at her face instead.
Why is she doing that?
His blank expression made the elf flush. After a moment she lowered her leg and cleared her throat.
Then she climbed onto the bed and knelt. She bent forward, lifted her hips and held a posture like a cat stretching.
Her lips moved uncertainly.
“Meow…”
It was the seduction she had prepared with such determination.
Theorad only grew more confused.
His silence deepened her embarrassment until it became unbearable.
I shouldn't have done that…
She had been too sure she could tempt him before their contest even began. Instead of winning his attention, she'd received an incomprehending stare.
Tears gathered in her eyes. She held herself still, too ashamed to look up.
Theorad neither approached with a smile nor offered reassurance. He stood with his hand on the knob as though he had witnessed something utterly beyond his understanding.
Then he slowly closed the door.
Creak.
About a minute passed before he opened it again and walked toward the bed.
The elf was kneeling in the middle of the mattress, her head lowered. The red tips of her ears told him how embarrassed she was.
Neither knew how to break the silence. At last Theorad tried.
“You don't have to try so hard. If you learned that pose by watching someone or reading about it, of course it wouldn't feel natural at first—”
“No.”
The elf interrupted at once, clenching her fists. Admitting she had borrowed the idea from a strange library book would be mortifying.
“I…”
She decided to lie. Surely Theorad couldn't know what she had borrowed from the library.
“I thought of it myself.”
She raised her head with an expression of determination. Her voice shook a little, but she thought she'd made a convincing claim.
She might have succeeded with someone other than Theorad.