Chapter 9

Once Riley had left, I finished everything left on the plate. I poked the empty dishes a few times as if I could magically cause more to appear from them, but when that didn’t happen, I could only sigh and get up. I left the room, and it didn’t take long before I was walking through familiar hallways.

“Connor!” I heard a yell and turned to see Willow.

“Willow!” I smiled, holding out my arms.

She ran down the hallway and threw her arms around me. The force of her body striking mine very nearly threw me on my back. I was a bit shocked. Willow’s arms were thicker now, and she had a lot of strength in them. I felt like I was being bear-hugged. As soon as she noticed my struggle, she let go with a blush.

“S-sorry!” She cried out. “I didn’t realize my strength!”

After days of being in a cell, my body was weaker than I had ever been. Meanwhile, Willow had been training nonstop. Even there, she was wearing training armor. She was in the best shape of her life. At some point, the power dynamic between the two of us had shifted, and she was now the stronger one between us. I didn’t know how I felt about that, but I wasn’t going to make Willow feel bad. I smiled at her approvingly.

“You’re doing good with your training.” I gave her encouragement.

“It has been tough. Every day has just been swinging a sword until I collapse unconscious and then get up to swing again. I didn’t even hear you were in jail until last night.” Willow’s beaming smile slipped slightly. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I reassured her, showing her my body. “It was just a misunderstanding. It’s resolved now.”

Seeing Willow’s smiling face, I didn’t have it in me to tell her all of my problems. Willow had always been a bit simple-minded, and she wouldn’t be able to keep a secret like Riley. She would assuredly worry about it, possibly talking to her trainers, who would then pass the word on to the nobles. At that moment, it was better to just see her be happy and carefree.

Upon hearing my words, she relaxed a bit, giving me a beaming smile. “You just wanted me to worry. You’re lucky you got out today.”

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“We’re going on an expedition that will take two weeks. I would have been worrying about you the entire time.” She explained. “There is a small goblin outpost and the soldiers need to go clear it out.”

I frowned. “Is that safe?”

“We’re training to be warriors.” She made a face. “Of course, it’s not safe.”

“But, are you ready? Isn’t it a bit too soon? You could get hurt?”

She took a step back, her smile slipping. “I’m not a complete newbie. I already had a talent for it and my mentor taught us well. Besides, the experts will be there right alongside us the entire time. Don’t you trust me?”

Seeing her originally happy expression sink as I questioned her, I realized I needed to put my doubts behind me. I quickly swallowed them and then smiled at her.

“No, of course, you’ll be great. I just love you and will miss you.”

She blushed, her good humor returning with a bit of shyness. “I missed you too.”

I started to feel a bit excited. Before the transmigration, my relationship with Willow had only recently become open and accepted by my girlfriend. We had been doing it almost every day. Then, we came here and hadn’t touched each other in over a week. It seemed like Willow was having the same idea as me.

“Want to go to my room?” I asked, looking her up and down and thinking she looked pretty sexy in armor.

She had lost weight and gained muscle. She looked much fitter than she had before, and I already found myself wanting to see her toned naked body. She looked at me with desire and temptation.

Biting her lip, she regretfully shook her head. “Not now. I have to head back. I just saw you while I was returning to practice from lunch. I’m already late and will probably be chastised.”

“Oh…” I lowered my head, feeling regret once again.

She leaned forward. “Tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“Come to my room tonight. We can do things then. I promise.”

My eyes lite up. “It’s a promise.”

Willow gave me a smile. After everything that I had experienced since coming to this world, that glowing smile was a like a dehydrated man getting a glass of water in the desert. I drank it in to my fullest, and after she turned the corner, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“What are you laughing about?” My good humor immediately hit a brick wall as I heard a voice I definitely didn’t want to hear.

Spinning around, the princess was standing there once again. She had the same cool, emotionless expression on her face that she always had. Every time she had shown up, it had seemingly been shortly before Kate. Was I just randomly going to be running into everyone? I wanted to meet the princess with hatred and scorn, but I had just been imagining all the things I would do to torture her. She was a beautiful girl, after all, and I was backed up. This awkward situation put me in a strange mindset where I immediately imagined her naked and folded up into various positions.

“What do you want?” I demanded to keep myself from staring, yet unable to keep the strain from entering my voice.

“You were in prison.” She took a step forward, raising her hand.

I took several steps back, eyeing her as I turned away, trying to hide an unwanted erection. “Yeah… a lot good you did to help.”

She cocked her head, her eyes flickering to my pants so quickly that if I hadn’t been looking for it, I wouldn’t have noticed. “I personally requested father release you. I gave a formal protest.”

I sneered, not believing her words a single bit. “Well, it was the church who ended up helping in the end. Willow helped me.”

“The church is… not to be trusted.” She spoke, looking a bit uncertain.

I almost spit hearing her words. She couldn’t be trusted. I had such little trust in her that her telling me not to trust the church only made me trust them more. I just wished my dick would pay attention!

“Oh? Why is that?” I asked.

“They are full of conspiracies and plans. Not all of their plans align with the throne.” She responded with a shrug. “The church only cares about he church, and there is always a cost in dealing with them.”

For a moment, I thought about how Willow had to become a priestess to get the church to intervene on my behalf, but then I shook my head. Maria did not have my best interest at heart. That was already abundantly clear.

“Excuse me, I have to go to work now.” I declared, turning away from her.

“Wait!” She cried out.

Every part of me wanted to run, but for some reason my legs stopped as if I lost control of them. I stood there for a few seconds.

“What?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“The next time you’re in trouble…” Princess Maria spoke lightly. “You can come to me. I will… take care of your problem.”

Had her words been spoken by another, I would have thought she was flirting with me. There seemed to be undertones of seductiveness, but it was all mixed with her emotionless way of speaking. I shuddered slightly.

“I’ll take that into advisement.” I managed to free my legs and escape the situation.

When I turned the corner, I regained my breath. I hadn’t embarrassed myself in front of Kate or did anything else that would cause my trouble. Furthermore, my dick was finally soft again. I had never been the kind of who took care of it myself. Almost since I was able to get hard, I had a girl in my life willing to satisfy it. I shook my head. It didn’t matter. I would finally get some relief tonight. Willow had my back.

Thinking about all the things I was going to do with Willow, my dick returned, but I managed to get to the treasure room without any awkward encounters. The guards let me into it, and I could see it was the same as I left it. There was no sign anyone else had been there or moved anything. I even looked for the arrow I had broken, and it was the only thing missing.

A bit of fear and discomfort weighed on me. Was I being watched? They must have some means of surveillance. At the time, I had been happy they were giving me so much trust. I could have stolen or walked away with any number of magical items. This was how they kept me honest. Yet, I was never questioned about the magic item I had left in my pocket. Was it the act of destroying the item that alerted them?

I really didn’t understand any of this enough. I’d have to make my next moves carefully, or I could end up back in a cell! I decided I had no choice but to lay low. Riley and the church would ultimately have my back. The fact that the Princess warned me against them only made me more willing to listen to them. I did my job, taking the care necessary that not another single magic item was damaged. Although I had already decided I hated the nobles, I took solace in knowing their days would be numbered.

Besides, the dungeon had left a fair amount of trauma deep within my soul. Every time I remembered that dark basement with the rats and the horrifying smells, I shivered a bit. I couldn’t give them any reason to put me back down there until I came up with a surefire way to obtain my revenge. I became so lost in my work and my thoughts of vengeance that it had grown late and I hadn’t even realized it.

“Ah, shit!” I cursed as I realized I had missed dinner, and the time I had agreed to meet with Willow was almost there.

I finished up and left the room, immediately racing for my room. I ran inside, glad to see it was empty of any unwanted intrusion. I grabbed the mirror. I didn’t want to be caught with it, but I also didn’t feel confident making it to Willow’s room. The boys and girls had been placed on different wings. It wasn’t like the boys couldn’t visit the girls or the girls visit the boys, but after everything that had happened, I didn’t want to be caught on the girl’s side, especially this late at night.

After very quickly washing myself, I left the room with the mirror in hand. I naturally made sure that the Princess and Prince couldn’t sneak up on me again, but I also watched for guards or anyone else that might get in my way. I headed over to the girl’s wing. By that point, it was already past the time I was supposed to be there, but I wasn’t going to skip our promised meeting time. A door opened, and I quickly hid behind a pedestal that had an expensive vase on it.

The room felt familiar, and I used the mirror to observe it. When I saw the person, my heart immediately fell a bit. It was Kate. She looked both ways as if she was sneaking, and then started walking quietly away. As she turned a corner, I left my pedestal with a frown on my face. I only just saw the last bits of her hair before she turned a corner. I didn’t know the exact time in this world, but it was probably the equivalent of 11 at night. Where would Kate be heading this late at night? She wasn’t heading in the direction of my room.

Part of me wanted to follow after her, but my hormones won out. Kate could do whatever she wanted. I still had Willow who was willing and wanted me. Feeling a bit of anger toward Kate, I decided I’d vindicate all of my desires on Willow. I snuck up to her room and then lightly knocked.

“I-it’s me,” I whispered.

This couldn’t help but remind me of other times I had snuck into Willow’s room late at night. Although I had lost my virginity with Kate first, Willow and I had done all kinds of intimate things with each other growing up. As we were discovering our bodies during puberty, we naturally experimented with each other. Before I could even get an erection, I had been licking Willow’s bare pussy while she licked my little dick in sixty-nine. She snuck into her mom’s room and watched her play with her boyfriend at night, and then replicated those positions with me. Neither of us realized the ramifications of that play until years later.

I couldn’t help but smile. At least some things would never change.