NOVEL WEB Chapter 35
Chapter: 35
“Rize, am I a pervert?”
“…Huh?”
As I was looking over the notes in my room, that thought suddenly popped into my head.
Just a few days ago, when I was having a midnight snack with Rosalyn, I felt something similar.
“Um… It’s just that I had a weird thought.”
“………”
I knew it sounded a bit absurd, but honestly, I couldn’t help but think it was strange.
She’s definitely my mom, and even if she’s my stepmom, it’s still odd to feel this way.
It had been a solid four years.
Living under the same roof as Rosalyn, spending time as family.
But even so, when I interacted with Rosalyn, I certainly didn’t treat her like a normal mother.
“…Hmm.”
Even though I was a guy, I started to wonder if I was being too weak around girls.
After all, all the people I’m close with are girls.
Even though I technically lived more as a boy in my past life, there were limits to that.
“Rize, give me some candy.”
“Okay.”
“…Hmm.”
Watching Rize pull out candy from her pocket to hand to me, it became clear that I was… awkward and clumsy around girls.
Honestly, if she weren’t as pretty and cute as Rize…
“Hmm.”
“Young Lady?”
“Hmm…”
I couldn’t help but think that it would be even weirder for me, who used to be a guy, to treat girls too casually.
In my past life, I didn’t have many connections with girls, and all the girls around me now happened to be good-looking too.
Thinking this way… could it explain why I was weak around Rosalyn?
Of course, I still seemed especially weak around her.
“Heh…”
“…?”
It was kind of funny.
That I was awkward even though Rosalyn, who I spent the most time with after Rize, was just a regular person.
Well, it was true that it was hard to act comfortably around someone as beautiful as Rosalyn.
I decided I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
I just thought it was something that would get fixed over time.
“Rize?”
“Yes?”
“Do you want to come here?”
“…Young Lady.”
“I’m not trying to hug you like last time; I just want to try something.”
It’s fun to sit Rize on my lap and play, but she always gets so embarrassed.
I wasn’t the kind of bad person to make Rize uncomfortable for no reason.
This time, what I wanted to do wouldn’t be as embarrassing for Rize as last time… just a precautionary training?
“Hehe…”
“…Young Lady, your eyes look a bit strange.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to hug you like last time or anything.”
I figured it might be good to… I don’t know, get a little adjusted to girls?
After all, I was living as a girl myself, and being so awkward around them felt off to me.
Not just with Rosalyn but in many ways… it felt like it would be better to improve.
That’s why I thought the best partner for this was Rize, who was the closest to me and had spent the most time with me.
“Can you give me your hand?”
“…Okay.”
“Is it because you’re taller than me? Rize’s hand feels… kind of long.”
“Really…?”
“Yeah.”
I slowly took the hand Rize offered and looked at it.
Not for any particular reason, but I’d seen girls holding hands with each other a lot.
So I thought it’d be good to get used to that starting from today.
Of course, holding hands with guys is a bit… you know, gross, but holding hands with girls feels different.
“It’s soft.”
It really felt smooth and soft.
Even though I was a girl too, the hands and bodies of girls always felt like that.
“Young Lady…”
“It’s just a hand, right?”
“But…”
I was gently touching Rize’s hand.
Honestly, holding hands wasn’t that weird, and it was just a hand.
Rize didn’t need to get embarrassed as if I were hugging her, and I wasn’t doing anything strange either.
“Rize, is this weird?”
“Well… not really.”
“Don’t girls your age do this sort of thing?”
“…Maybe.”
It didn’t seem that strange after all.
I thought it couldn’t be too weird if Rize herself was saying that.
“Hmm…”
“Why do you ask…?”
“Rize’s hand is softer than I expected?”
“……….”
“It’s fun, running my fingers over it.”
Girls’ hands definitely had that kind of feeling, and Rize’s reaction was also fun, so I kept touching her hand.
I stroked Rize’s hand and interlocked our fingers.
The soft, unique feeling… I found it surprisingly pleasant, and I couldn’t help but touch it more.
Meanwhile, Rize kept getting embarrassed even though all I was doing was holding her hand.
*
Turns out, I had decided to regularly get used to girls through Rize.
It felt like a strange resolution, but I wasn’t really thinking with perverted intentions.
I just wanted to get accustomed to something as mundane as holding hands, just like average girls would do.
Being a guy made it difficult to treat them completely normally.
“Recently, the trend in the academy, including other places, obviously emphasizes flashy magic.”
“Flashy stuff?”
“Yeah, the really flashy kind. But in the exams, we actually deal with practical magic, so the academy isn’t just a place for good grades.”
“Hmm…”
Anyway, today, I was having a lesson with Ashley after a long time.
My magical development had progressed faster than I expected, so I didn’t need to tag along to Ashley’s magic classes anymore.
Now, our magic lessons happened just once a week. In fact, not just magic classes, but all my classes had been reduced.
So now, magic class was simply about consulting with Ashley while she was awake.
“But since Camelia just needs to get good grades at the academy…”
“That’s right.”
In fact, that was one of the purposes of attending the academy.
Essentially, to graduate with good grades and build connections with other nobles.
As long as I handled this, I didn’t care much after that.
Moreover, flashy magic…
“If I use advanced magic, won’t they react to it being flashy automatically?”
“Hehe… That’s true. You really are my disciple.”
“By the way, sensei, among advanced magic…”
Since I hardly ever used magic, I generally hid advanced magic from others.
That’s why I always asked Ashley curious questions regarding magic during our classes.
In reality, I often wanted to ask Ashley about magic, but I couldn’t when I was around her…
So I only got to do it during class time…
“Yawwwn…”
“…….”
And as usual, Ashley’s class ended with her yawning.
Even after four years, I had gotten so used to her sleeping habits.
Rather… if she didn’t get this sleepy, it wouldn’t feel like Ashley at all.
“Sensei, you’re going to sleep, right?”
“Uh-huh…”
Just seeing her trying to sleep in her chair was classic Ashley.
In the past, we had magic lessons in a separate classroom, but since it became cumbersome to move her every time she fell asleep, I intentionally changed the location.
We were in Ashley’s room now, and while it was smaller due to the bed and things, it didn’t matter since it was magic.
There were no major problems.
“Should I move you?”
“Mm…”
Moving to Ashley’s room made this sort of thing possible.
I didn’t have to go through the hallway to transfer Ashley; I could just move her directly from the chair to the bed.
“Hmm…”
[Advanced Magic: Telekinesis]
“Whaaa…”
I slowly lifted Ashley’s body with magic.
I made sure she wouldn’t get hurt; falls could happen, and there were things around to bump into.
Having become accustomed to advanced magic, telekinesis felt almost easy.
It was one of the first advanced magics I learned, and I had enough skill now.
“Sensei, what do you want me to do about the window? Open it?”
“Since the weather’s warm… just… leave it open…”
“Got it.”
“Zzz…”
Seriously… during classes, she looked somewhat cool.
When it wasn’t class time, she got so relaxed that it honestly made me laugh.
It was amusing.
“Sensei.”
“Uh-huh…”
I laid Ashley down on the bed, covered her with a blanket, and just stared at her.
I was bored, and it was fun just watching Ashley’s face.
“Sensei?”
“Uhhh…”
When I poked her cheek repeatedly, she responded with a mumble or two.
She was probably a year older than Rosalyn, yet she was almost more childlike than Ella.
“Um…”
Honestly, if Ashley didn’t have a pretty face, she wouldn’t have lasted as my magic teacher at all.
No matter how much I thought it over, that’s what I would’ve concluded.
Aside from her competence in magic, when she wasn’t teaching, she was just too lazy.
Anyway, I was just watching Ashley as she laid there.
She was already completely asleep, unable to even answer, just breathing steadily.
Because of that, I noticed her chest rising and falling rhythmically.
“Ugh…”
Wow, it’s big.
Yeah, it’s large.
From the size alone, it seemed larger than Rosalyn and Rize’s.
Without taking a closer look, I couldn’t confirm, of course.
“…What am I thinking?”
Before I knew it, I had wandered into that line of thought.
…I really must be a pervert.
I shook my head to clear those strange thoughts and decided to leave Ashley’s room.
If I stayed any longer, I felt like I’d have even more perverted thoughts.
…I already felt like I had enough of those, but I still didn’t want to burden Ashley too much.