While I was still deep in thought, wondering how exactly I would lose my virginity to Ethan, the final event of the Witch’s Forest was steadily approaching.

Over the past few days, higher-level monsters had been appearing near the altar more frequently than during the earlier weeks. Well, it made sense—the difficulty was increasing because this was essentially an experience-gain event. The higher the monsters’ levels, the more experience we’d get.

One thing was clear: the only way to complete the "Lara's Secret" event was to defeat the final battle that would happen right before Lara’s Witch’s Trial concluded.

There were two types of boss monsters that could potentially appear during this event.

One was a pair of “Moonlight Wolves” emerging from deep within the northern part of the altar. The other was a lone “Roaring Crescent Bear,” which would show up on the western side, opposite the lake.

Both monsters had similar levels of difficulty, but if I had to choose, the Moonlight Wolves were slightly more troublesome. If we considered the Roaring Crescent Bear’s strength to be around 2000, then the Moonlight Wolves had a combined strength of about 1500 + 1500.

'When I played the Lara’s Secret event in my previous life, having more party members increased the chances of the Moonlight Wolves appearing.'

In short, it was a well-established fact that the Moonlight Wolves were more dangerous. I even remembered writing about it in my strategy guide. Since dummy had read every word of that guide, I had a pretty good idea of what his strategy would be.

“Dummy suggested we should defend both the northern and western areas where the monsters are likely to appear. If we wait until they reach the altar, Lara and Lady Auguste might be in danger.”

“He has a point. Fighting near the altar could endanger both Lara and Lizzy.”

Of course, that was probably just a convenient excuse to avoid suspicion. In reality, dummy likely didn’t want to fight near the altar because then he’d have to see Lara and Lizzy sitting naked during their trial. Worse yet, he might even have to carry or shield them if the fight got too intense, which would violate his earlier stance about not doing anything he couldn’t take responsibility for.

“It does feel a bit risky to assume the monsters will only come from the north or west. If they appear from another direction, we’ll be too slow to respond.”

“The hero is probably right, though, Ed. In the future I foresaw with my power, I saw a pair of wolves emerging from the north.”

“What about the Crescent Bear in the west?”

“I can’t be sure about that. I can only see the most likely futures, but I can’t predict every possible outcome.”

“I see…”

“Still, the highest probability is that the pair of Moonlight Wolves will appear from the north.”

Even though we couldn’t completely rule out the appearance of the Crescent Bear in the west, Ethan quietly nodded at the explanation.

“Well, that works out.”

“Huh?”

“Dealing with the Crescent Bear in the west is our job—yours and mine. We’re not going alone, though. Karaham will join us.”

“…Ah, Prince Auguste is trustworthy enough, I suppose.”

“I was worried the hero might assign you a more dangerous task than he took on himself, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case.”

…How much does Ethan dislike dummy to be this suspicious of him?

I could understand Ethan’s wariness, given dummy's history, but this level of mistrust seemed excessive. After all, dummy had helped with the subjugation of Mekhart not too long ago, even if he had been late to the main battle. Still, he’d redeemed himself during the Evelyn subjugation.

‘The only reason Ethan might still be angry is because I was about to give up my Saintess title, which led to this whole Witch’s Forest excursion.’

We’d ended up spending half of our summer vacation in this forest, after all.

Thinking back, it did seem like Ethan had plenty of reasons to be mad. Thanks to dummy, we were both wasting a precious month here. And considering what had happened at the side palace before we came here…

Right. Ethan had every reason to be upset.

If not for dummy's suggestion, Ethan and I would have crossed that line back then—without worrying about the Saintess title or anything else. I’d already intended to pass my powers to Serista, so there wouldn’t have been any reason to hold back.

We’d gotten to the point of “cleaning the clam soup bowl” and “biting the snake’s tail,” but right before the final moment, we stopped. In a way, dummy had single-handedly stopped us from having sex.

‘Now that I think about it, I’m getting pissed off too.’

If Serista had awakened as a Saintess without my help, there was no reason for me to have held back that night. We should have just gone for it.

Had we done it back then, I wouldn’t be obsessing over how to handle my first experience now. Once we crossed that line, everything else would have been easy. After the first time, it wouldn’t have mattered how often we did it.

'No, no, no! Stop!'

Damn it. My thoughts were going off track again. Sure, I was currently debating how to lose my virginity to Ethan, but that didn’t mean I planned on being reckless afterward.

If anything, Ethan and I had agreed that we’d only cross that line when he won a match against Harold.

…Not that we’d been sticking to that rule very well lately, but still, a bit of restraint was necessary. For both of us.

‘Luminor Academy may be an adult game, but it’s not one of those raunchy games where your stats go up every time you do something lewd.’

Besides, I couldn’t let Ethan, the heir to the Blackwood family, grow up to be a disgrace.

His father, Harold, was one of the Emperor’s top three sword masters, and Ethan would have to reach at least that level.

So I needed to make sure I didn’t distract him from his training.

• Tap.

“Eek?!”

“Lilith, are you feeling okay lately?”

“Huh? Y-yeah, I’m fine!”

Ethan’s sudden touch on my shoulder startled me, and I responded with an awkwardly high-pitched voice.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, clearly sensing I was lying.

“You seemed out of it during the meeting too. What’s been on your mind for so long?”

“N-nothing, really. It’s not important…”

“Are you worried that you’ll grow distant from dummy if you lose your Saintess title?”

“…Definitely not that…”

“Then what is it? What could you possibly be thinking about that makes you zone out like this? Is it some secret you can’t tell me?”

“Well, it’s just…”

Obviously, I couldn’t tell Ethan the truth. If I admitted I’d been debating how to handle our first time, he’d probably think I was some perverted maid.

“Don’t lie. You’re terrible at lying, and I’ll get angry if you try to keep secrets from me.”

“……”

I couldn’t bring myself to lie to Ethan now, not with him saying something like that. Even if his claim that I was bad at lying was just bluffing, it still made me feel like I couldn’t do it.

‘How do I explain this without admitting I was thinking perverted things…?’

If I cut out the dirty parts of my thoughts, the only thing left was one word. With a resigned sigh, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“I-I was thinking about you…”

“…Huh?”

“Th-that is… I-I was thinking about you, Ed. Not in a weird way or anything…”

“……”

“I-I know it sounds odd to say I was thinking about you while you’re standing right here, but it’s true…”

“…Well, judging by your reaction, you’re not lying.”

Thankfully, Ethan seemed to buy my explanation, and he stopped pressing me.

Technically, I wasn’t lying. I really had been thinking about Ethan, just in a more… complicated way.

…I couldn’t help feeling embarrassed that I’d said it out loud, but it was still better than lying and making things worse.

“O-oh, I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions, Lilith.”

“No, it’s fine. If anything, it’s my fault for getting distracted. I kept thinking about you instead of focusing on the meeting…”

“I see. So you were thinking about me ever since we heard Serista became the Saintess…”

“...Huh?”

“…Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?”

Ethan stared at me for a moment as if something had dawned on him. Then, with a gentle smile, he let out a relieved sigh.

“No, it’s nothing, Lilith.”

“…Huh?”

“I get it now. So that’s what you were worried about. Hearing it makes me feel better.”

“…You’re sure you’re not misunderstanding something, right?”

“Don’t worry. And there’s no need to stress over it. In the end, this is something for me, as a man, to figure out.”

“……”

That answer made me feel oddly uneasy. Did Ethan really know what I was thinking? Or was he just saying that without knowing the full story?

One thing was certain: whether Ethan fully understood or not, things were about to get a little more complicated.