Late in the evening, in the Redwing palace, in the royal bedchamber…

In the dim, large room with elaborate decorative patterns on the walls and the ceiling, Straf is sleeping peacefully in the enormous bed. His chest rises and falls in a slow, steady rhythm while his head rests sunken in one of the soft, red pillows. The oil lamps provide soft, weak, and primitive light compared to the magic lamps out on the streets of the capital, barely reaching the bed. The door opens, then quickly closes with only a soft creak.

A black shape deftly makes its way towards the bed.

Stripe stops by Straf's bedside, and her golden, vertically slit eyes blink down at his handsome face. After a few moments of silence, she sits down beside him on his bed, then unfurls the black strip of cloth wrapping her head with one decisive pull. Her fluffy ears on top of her black head twitch a little after they straighten out. Stripe shakes her head slightly to get her disheveled hair out her eyes, before returning her gaze back to Straf's face.

She stares at him in silence for a prolonged moment. Without saying anything, she reaches for his throat with her clawed hand.

「Ahh… It'd be pretty easy to kill you now, wouldn't it?…」

Leaning towards him one hand, Stripe asks quietly, slightly tightening her grip on Straf's throat. Her golden eyes blink at his closed ones.

「…And this is supposed to be a highly secured room? I didn't even need to pick the lock… Not like anyone would actually try to break in and kill you, but…」

She lets out a resigned sigh as she pulls her hand away from Straf, and with her mouth aslant, Stripe turns her indignantly narrowed gaze towards the door.

「…Tsk… My point is, you'll never know. I'd go to those security guys and tell them how to make it harder… But it's not like they'd listen to a slave, right?…」

Crossing her arms, she clicks her tongue in frustration. She lets out another, more annoyed sigh, and turns her eyes back to Straf as she asks. He doesn't reply, remaining asleep.

「…This damn thing… Couldn't you have taken it off before you went and passed out, you bastard?…」

Stripe turns her eyes downward and tugs at her slave collar with her mouth scrunched to the side. She looks down at Straf's blanket.

Her brows furrow, and she quickly stands up. She grabs the blanket and yanks it away to reveal Straf's arm. She then grabs his wrist, and moves his hand to her own neck. Stripe then places her hand on Straf's fingers, and forcibly hooks them into her collar. When Straf's hand is more or less grasping at it, she tightens her grip on his hand and tries to pull it away.

「…Ngh!… Khhnghh!… Come on!…」

Stripe struggles with her collar, tugging at it using Straf's hand. It remains locked around her neck, only loosely flapping around with the slack space it has.

「…Gahhh!… I know I shouldn't have expected much… It was worth a try, at least… Tsk…」

After a brief moment, she gives up with a frustrated groan and lets go of Straf's fingers. His limp hand loses grasp of her collar, and she ends up simply holding his hand in the two of hers. She clicks her tongue, and gently sets it down back where it was, fixing the blanket back how it was as well.

Stripe's head perks up, and her eyes turn towards the door. She hastily slides underneath the bed. After a second, her clawed hand pops out from the darkness below like a monster pulled from a child's nightmare, and her fingers pull away the black strip of cloth that she forgot to take with her below. The door opens with a noisy crrrrrrreaaaaak, before closing.

「I'm back… Took a bath, too… Hope you weren't lonely.」

Cycelia announces as she approaches the bed, but Stripe could tell before she had even announced it, given by the strong smell of flowers and berries coming from afar.

With a soft smile on her face, Cycelia sets the nightgown in her hands down on the nearby chair, and sits down right beside Straf.

「…You know, Straf… I was reading a book of stories my father used to read for me. I remembered a story about a maiden and a knight…」

She leans in a little towards Straf on one arm, smiling slightly while her emerald eyes look at his handsome sleeping face.

「…A maiden was kidnapped by an evil monster that intended to eat her, and a young handsome knight set out to rescue her. He found the monster's dark lair…」

Cycelia leans in further and lies down on her elbows, speaking softly to Straf as if telling him a bedtime story.

「…The maiden was very happy to know she wasn't abandoned, and the knight battled with the monster. After a long and arduous battle, he took its ugly head…」

She continues the story in a gentle, quiet voice. Stripe furrows her brows and listens for an opportunity to make her exit.

「…But the knight was wounded and cursed by the monster's evil. On the way back, the maiden could see the knight growing sicker and weaker, before collapsing as soon as they returned…」

Cycelia lifts her head and rests her cheek on her fist without taking her emerald eyes off Straf even for a moment.

「…She took him into her home. The knight didn't die, but he didn't wake up. The maiden was very sad that she couldn't thank the knight, as he was still asleep…」

She continues, then pauses and lowers her gaze as a light smirk appears on her face.

「…The maiden decided to sleep with the knight. She got into his bed, and they spent the night together. The next morning, the knight opened his eyes…」

Cycelia resumes her story, smirking at Straf as her eyes return to him.

「…And then they lived happily, so on, so on… You know how it goes… I was very young, so it flew right over my head…」

She abruptly concludes the story and sits back up.

「…I remember asking my father if I could do that too. He he… He said that I should never sleep with anyone, no matter how hurt or sick he might be!…」

With a soft giggle, she quotes with her index finger extended.

「…I didn't quite get the meaning until I was a little older. Now, I had a thought… It might be a story for children, but what if there's a grain of truth to it?…」

A small, subdued chuckle that only amounts to rapid air escapes her nose as she adds with a shrug of her shoulders.

「…So, I thought I might as well try it. I'll sleep with you tonight, Straf.」「…Eh?」

Cycelia stands up and picks her nightgown up off the chair, glancing at Straf over her shoulder with a mischievous smirk on her face. Stripe's jaw drops with a confused utterance. Realizing her error, Stripe quickly covers her mouth. Cycelia appears not to have noticed as she turns to face Straf.

「…I'm going to put my nightgown on. I like my pajamas more, but I thought you might like it, so…」

Cycelia announces while holding her partially translucent nightgown up for Straf. He remains asleep.

《Seriously!? You're going to do it!? Right on top of me!? But he's unconscious! You're still going to do it!?》

Stripe claws at the oaken floor beneath the bed with her golden eyes wide open in shock.

「…I'm going to be completely naked!… So… Don't peek!」

Cycelia adds as she turns around again and begins undressing, starting with her shirt.

《What is with this girl!? She's a slut! A slut empress! Not even pleasure house girls are this lustful!… With an unconscious man!? You'd be forcing yourself on him!…》

Stripe stares at Cycelia's boots with her jaw dropped as her shirt falls to the ground.

《…And right on top of me, too!? I'll hear it! Even if I cover my ears I'll hear everything!… What is wrong with you!? That whole story is just a stupid excuse!…》

She clenches her teeth, baring them with her brows raised as Cycelia's skirt joins the shirt. She then begins slipping out of her boots as well.

《…If all it takes is sleeping with a maiden then I could do that too! Damn it, damn it, damn it!…》

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

「…Damn it, damn it!…」

Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump…

With the little space she has left, Stripe begins to hammer her fist on the floor while frustrated curses slip through her clenched teeth.

「Hm?…」

Cycelia tilts her chestnut head while looking down at the ground, wearing only her very decent underwear that covers a lot of her skin.

《Gah!》

Stripe covers her mouth again while staring at Cycelia's bare foot.

「…Weird floor echo. Dad was a real oak maniac.」

Cycelia shrugs her shoulders as she mumbles to herself, dismissing the odd sound, and discards her second boot down to the ground. Stripe lets out a silent exhale of relief.

She clenches her teeth as shortly after, Cycelia's underwear drops to the floor as well. Very faint sounds of rustling fabric reaches Stripe's fluffy ears. With her nightgown on, Cycelia looks over her shoulder at Straf. She lets out a short, quiet little sigh tinged with slight disappointment.

「I thought you'd feel an urge to peek…」

She says with a little pout as she moves to sit back down next to Straf.

「…But you're also a good guy like that, Straf. Still, aren't you a little upset about missing out?」

Cycelia asks with a little cheeky smile, leaning in over Straf. Her nightgown is mostly translucent, except in places where it would be indecent to be so. The mesh is thin around her collar, thickens as the nightgown flows down, then thins below her ribs and above her hips, before once again thinning by the time it reaches her plump thighs, and simply ending with a lacy finish. She stares at Straf's handsome, sleeping face for a prolonged, silent moment.

《…What is she doing? Something indecent!?》

Stripe's gaze idly drifts upward as her fluffy ears swivel like radar dishes.

「…You know, there was another story…」

Cycelia says quietly while leaning over Straf and looking at him with a soft gaze. The bed creaks slightly as she leans in closer, brushing locks of her chestnut hair away behind her ear.

Her face moves to Straf's, close enough to brush their noses together, and stops just short of pressing her full lips against his.

Cycelia pulls away, sitting up, and covers her heavily flushed face with her hands

「…Ahhhh, what am I doing?… I shouldn't do that… Not when you're asleep…」

She mumbles to herself through her hands, shrinking a little from embarrassment.

《Huh? Do what? What was she up to?… That creak!… Did she!?…》

Stripe blinks rapidly with a shocked expression on her face as she tries to piece the puzzles together from sound cues alone.

「…I want you to be awake when we do that. I want you to want to do that. I want to see your reaction, too.」

Cycelia says as she lowers her hands down into her inviting lap, speaking to Straf with a pained smile.

《…Did she try to!?… Suck?… His?…》

Stripe's red face goes through a selection of all sorts of emotions, as if a kaleidoscope of shock, disbelief, disdain, disgust, dismay, indignation, and horror.

「Well… There's no harm if we just sleep together, right? I'm an adult now, I can tell the difference…」

With a shrug, Cycelia peels away Straf's blanket and lies down next to him, then covers herself with it. She shuffles over closer and hugs into his chest, pressing her breasts against him.

《Don't you dare sleep with him while I'm here!- No! Don't you dare sleep with him! You slut of an empress! He had all the power to, and didn't touch me impurely once!…》

Stripe's claws scratch at the wooden floor with her fangs bared in anguish.

「…I wouldn't mind at all if you'd want to do adult sleep, Straf. All you have to do is wake up and ask.」

Cycelia hugs Straf closer, and whispers into his ear. Stripe's ears swivel as they pick up indistinct whispering.

《…Damn it! Stop whispering deviant stuff into his ear! He's too pure for you! You don't get to take his purity away, you!…》

Thump.

Stripe lifts her fist to thump it against the ground again, accidentally bumping it into the bed. Her golden eyes widen, and Cycelia's brows furrow at the bed's foot end.

「…You know, Straf… This is the first time I've ever slept in my father's room. My father slept with me in mine when I was afraid a few times, but never the other way around…」

With her face turning slightly concerned, she hugs her cheek into Straf's muscular shoulder.

「…It's kind of big and scary, isn't it?… It'd be a good idea to bring some magic lamps here…」

She remarks while looking at the enveloping darkness all around them.

《…Scared!? You better be! Taking advantage of an incapacitated man like this!… Utterly shameless! Completely shameless! How dare you call yourself a woman!?…》

「…Hssssss!…」

Stripe seethes through her teeth as quietly as she can while clenching her fist on the black cloth.

「…Eeh?」

Cycelia's frightened eyes turn towards the darkness again as she lets out a stifled yelp. She remains silent and observant with fear on her face.

《…Damn it! I'm not going to stick around and wait until she gets busy! I'll have to use this as a distraction!… The bed is high enough, I should be fine if I just stay low!…》

Stripe angrily and sloppily wraps her head back up in the black cloth, struggling to completely cover her head in the limited space she has. She takes a tentative peek up from underneath the bed, and seeing as the coast is clear, she begins to crawl along the oaken floor like a four-legged spider. Every now and then, she peeks over her black shoulder to check if Cycelia can see her as she begins to merge with the shadows.

Cycelia's emerald eyes blink when she sees something move in the center of the room. She squints, and she sees an inhuman black shape, and what appears to be a roundish head, but jagged and tipped with horn-like protrusions. Her jaw drops, and she begins to tremble. The thing looks at her with its glowing eyes.

「…Hssssssss!」

The monster hisses at Cycelia and skitters away into the darkness with its inhuman gait.

「…Hiiiiieeeeeeeeee! Straf! Straf! There'samonsterI'mscaredStrafpleasehelpwakeupI'mscaredpleeeaaase! Hiiiiiiii!…」

Cycelia squeals in panic, hugging her face into Straf's chest, forcing her eyes shut and hoping the monster will go away.

…Crrrrreak-thud!

The door opens a little with a noisy creak, and quickly slams shut.

「…Ah? It left!?」

Shocked, Cycelia partially sits up and stares at the door which she can't see, blinking into the darkness. She places her dainty hand on her chest, feeling for her rapid, thumping heartbeat.

She takes a few deep breaths and exhales loudly then lies back down, closer to Straf, hugging him tight with her brows greatly furrowed in worry.

《…How am I supposed to sleep with him now?》

Cycelia thinks as her nervous emerald gaze darts around the room…