Taming The Villainesses-Chapter 375: Survivor of the Old Castle (1)

The lines that appeared across Ayra’s body were clear as circuit paths, extending from her fingertips all the way to her forehead.

As I rubbed my finger lightly over one of the lines that stood out on her soft, supple-looking chest, I asked,

“Does it hurt or anything?”

To that, Ayra calmly replied,

“It doesn’t.”

“That’s a relief. But really, it’s showing all the way down to the tiniest corners. Right now, I feel like I can actually understand how mana flows through your body.”

As I looked at the black lines, now and then a rainbow-colored shimmer would flash across them like a glint. It must’ve been the mana coursing through Ayra’s body. It was beautiful.

I wondered what it would feel like to touch it, so whenever I saw one of those glimmering colors, I would gently rub it with my hand.

When my hand brushed near her smooth navel, Ayra scrunched her brow and let out a small groan—“Ugh.” It was more a noise of pain than of pleasure or stimulation, which startled me.

“Does that part hurt?”

“There are spots where mana builds up strongly. Those parts are the ones that glow brightly in rainbow colors. Normally, they’re invisible to the human eye. But Teo, it seems you can see them.”

I thought I could understand what Ayra meant.

It was like arterial sclerosis, where blood flow gets blocked—except this was happening in Ayra’s mana lines.

Since mana wasn’t flowing smoothly and was instead building up, it emitted that vibrant glow. I thought it was beautiful, but medically speaking, it was probably a bad sign.

“Wouldn’t something bad happen if you left it alone too long?”

“Sometimes I get headaches, but it’s tolerable.”

Headaches, huh.

Somehow, I had a gut feeling that it might help if I touched those spots directly.

There was no real basis for my confidence, but I felt like I could do it, so I took Ayra’s fingertips and began pressing down firmly on the spot where the mana was stagnating.

“Ugh—ah, what are you doing?”

Ayra furrowed her brow tightly as if she were in pain. Did she think I was trying to harm her? I explained honestly.

“I pressed on the stagnant mana in your palm to release it.”

“......”

Swish.

Ayra looked down at her own fingertips.

“...You’re right. It feels lighter now.”

“Instead of leaving it alone, it seems better to press and loosen the blockage. I think I can handle it—would you let me try for a bit?”

“......”

Before answering, Ayra silently gazed down at her fingers.

Then, with a drawn-out hum through her nose, she grabbed a nearby towel, covered her body, and rose from the water.

Shhhh.

Watching the water stream down her smooth skin and curves, I wondered if I had let the atmosphere carry me too far and said something inappropriate.

I was starting to think this nice moment might be coming to an end—

Swish.

Then Ayra sat down on a nearby stone bench and said,

“Then go ahead.”

So she only stepped out of the bath because she wanted to.

I followed her out of the water. I brought over another clean stone bench and sat behind her.

“Um... may I remove the towel?”

Ayra’s back was still wrapped in the towel. If I was going to massage her, I would need to remove it. Ayra didn’t give an explicit answer.

But she didn’t reject me either—so maybe that was permission.

Swish.

Finding my courage, I carefully tugged at the towel.

Just like untying the ribbon on a beautifully wrapped present, the towel unraveled easily in my hands.

And so, Ayra’s smooth, pale back and the striking lines across her skin came fully into view.

It was a beautiful back.

Taut skin with no excess flesh. A graceful curve stretching from her neck to her hips.

Breasts large enough to be seen even from behind, and a waist shaped like an hourglass from her sides to her pelvis. She even smelled wonderful.

“Then, I’ll begin.”

Swish.

I placed both my thumbs, now filled with mana, on Ayra’s back and pressed firmly.

As I rotated my thumbs to break up the stagnant mana clumped below her shoulder blades, Ayra flinched.

“Ugh....”

Was that painful?

Still, Ayra didn’t tell me to stop, or to be more gentle. She probably understood that massage could be painful depending on the pressure.

Press—

My hands moved down from her shoulders to her back and spinal muscles. And I couldn’t help but be impressed by how resilient and vibrant her skin felt.

Truly, with a body like this, it was only natural that Ayra would carry herself like a noble and haughty queen.

Well—she was actually a queen. But even if she hadn’t been, with looks like hers, she probably would’ve lived a life of admiration no matter where she went.

She might’ve ended up as the bride of a king or prince from some kingdom.

No matter what social class she was born into, Ayra was clearly someone fated to stand above others.

***

After a few minutes of pressing her back—

Ayra lay down gently on a long towel spread across the floor. That left her long, graceful body fully exposed before me.

“Lying down like this makes it easier for me to press.”

“......”

Ayra didn’t respond this time either. But she had agreed when I’d said, “It would be easier to massage if you lay down like this,” so I was grateful.

Swish.

I began pressing in earnest along Ayra’s back and waist. Adding my body weight to the strength of my thumbs, the multicolored mana glows across her body began to fade one by one.

“Ugh—ugh.”

Twitch, twitch.

Ayra trembled as she let out groaning breaths. But now I could tell—it wasn’t painful. It was just the right amount of discomfort.

Sometimes pain can feel refreshing, and Ayra seemed to be in exactly that state. My modest half-fairy strength must’ve been hitting the sweet spot.

Huff...

On the other hand, the fatigue was hitting me first. My body wasn’t in great shape to begin with, and massaging someone took more energy than expected.

Something wet—maybe sweat, maybe just water from the bath—rolled down my forehead and landed on Ayra’s back. My hands were starting to lose strength, but I couldn’t stop now.

This was a rare chance to touch Ayra’s body, to share physical intimacy. I didn’t want to back off now just because I was getting tired.

Who knew when I’d get another opportunity like this?

I had to give it my all.

Press—

“Ugh—uh.”

“Does it hurt?”

“No. That should be enough for the back. Try my legs now. I feel a strong build-up of mana there.”

Ayra gave the command rather proactively. That made things easier for me, too. When she just lay there stiff like a statue, it felt like I was working on a mannequin.

Interacting like this made me feel like we were connecting, which felt good.

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

So I started by pressing the tips of Ayra’s right foot.

Just as she said, there was quite a lot of mana build-up in her toes. Maybe ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) because they were extremities? Or because everything pooled downward?

I wasn’t sure of the reason. But what mattered now was that the brilliant glow of mana didn’t disperse even under pressure from my thumb. Instead, it moved—almost like it was avoiding my touch.

If I pressed the left, it shifted right.

If I pressed the right, it shifted left.

“......”

That was irritating.

“Teo, is something not going well? Your hands stopped.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Giving a vague answer, I kept wrestling with the mana block and began to understand how to deal with it.

When I rubbed Ayra’s legs as if squeezing toothpaste, the mana lump rolled in the direction I guided it.

This wasn’t about loosening it.

It was high-purity, impure mana.

Like a pearl—hard, compact. You wouldn’t expect a pearl to melt just from pressing it with a thumb. It had to be expelled.

But how?

Could I prick the clump with a needle and drain it through the blood? No—that was out of the question. I couldn’t bring a needle anywhere near the queen’s body.

So I gathered all the high-purity impure mana I saw in Ayra’s hands and feet and rolled it toward her back.

The final shimmering mass was about the size of a 500-won coin.

“Teo... my back feels heavy all of a sudden. It’s really unpleasant.”

So Ayra had sensed the build-up of impure mana on her back. I hadn’t experienced it myself, so I couldn’t say exactly what it felt like—but it probably wasn’t good.

“I’ll make it better right away.”

I pressed her back and waist with my hands. Under my careful touch, the glowing 500-won-sized mass slid down from her back to her waist, over her hips, and deep into the inside of her thigh.

“...Ik...!”

At the same time, Ayra arched her back and trembled all over. Her hands clenched the towel beneath her and pulled it tight.

I was seriously startled by her sudden reaction.

“Are you alright!?”

Had I done something wrong?

“......”

But Ayra didn’t even let out the kind of groans she had earlier. She simply remained silent. And somehow, that silence made me shiver.

Maybe I’d crossed a line.

And then—

Ssssssh.

The black lines that had been vividly drawn across Ayra’s body began to fade like melting snow. I was still recovering from the shock of that visual change when—

Swish.

With her back still turned to me, Ayra rose, wrapped the fallen towel expertly around her body, and briskly exited the bath.

***

I stepped out of the bath and made my way to the bedroom that had been prepared for me somewhere within the fortress.

Climbing the stone stairs one by one, my mind replayed everything that had just happened.

Just moments ago, I had been running my hands along Ayra’s bare skin.

I’d been certain that if it kept going, things would move in a very good direction—but now it felt like someone had dumped sand on a roaring fire.

She didn’t show it, but her back looked like she was angry with me.

If she was going to get mad anyway, I should’ve just grabbed her breast like a real man.

If I ever got another chance, I swore I wouldn’t hesitate—I’d go for it next time.

That’s when I entered the first-floor hall.

The central hall of the fortress was buzzing with noise.

Chatter, murmur, voices.

It was ten o'clock at night—long past dinner.

Except for the night watch, wasn’t this when everyone should be going to sleep? After today’s siege, surely no one had energy left to chatter.

What the hell was going on?

When I stepped into the central hall, I found quite a number of people gathered. Among them, I saw a familiar woman.

“Lady Stella, what’s going on?”

“Oh, Teo. I was just thinking about whether I should call you. I hired some elf rangers to patrol around the fortress and walls. And we received a message from them.”

Swish.

Stella unrolled a scroll barely the size of my pinky and showed me the writing. Because of its size, the message was concise.

“Beware of night assault. Detected suspicious movements.”

“Night assault...”

Just then, Elga pushed through the crowd.

“That means it’s our turn to defend this fortress. The situation’s been reversed. No wonder it felt too easy to take this place. Maybe we’ve fallen into a trap.”

“You mean... someone drove us into this fortress on purpose?”

I asked, and Elga crossed her arms.

“Who knows. Maybe they plan to corner us and wipe us out. Not that I think those brainless, destructive monsters are capable of strategy.”

“Unless they have a commander...”

“If there's someone commanding the monsters, the story changes. Like a Demon General Ars Nova... or the Demon King himself. But it’s not like you or Professor Balan are controlling them, right?”

To her question, I nodded.

“It’s not me. Probably...”

I wanted to talk about Solomon, who sent assassins and armies from the past. But I couldn’t. There was a reason.

If Elga became aware of Solomon’s existence in the past—

Then Solomon would begin to perceive Elga as well.

That was what Ayra had told me. So it had to be true.

Which meant—for now—I had to keep this information secret.

Just then, someone came running up in a hurry.

“Sis—have you seen my sister!? Teo, do you know where my sister is?”

It was Narmee.

“Is Lady Mirna missing?”

“She said she saw something suspicious in the fortress earlier. Said she was going to check it out... and then she disappeared!”

“Suspicious...?”

“She said there was someone here who wasn’t on the expedition roster. And that person vanished into the wall or something...”

Everything was happening at once.

“I’ll go look for Lady Mirna. Everyone else, please prepare for the possible night raid.”