We exited the chateau and entered the cold night. Decorated lanterns lit up the garden, and in the distance I could see the fountain we’d been standing by earlier this evening. It was beautifully lit by some lights that were worked into its base.

“Where do you want to go?” Em took me by the arm and also took the cane from my hand.

“Not sure, we can just look around.”

Ria took my other arm. “Aileen told me of a path that circles the hilltop. She said it was really good for romantic walks at night.”

“Oh? Do you know where it starts?”

Ria happily nodded. “It’s close to the fountain.”

“Alright, let’s go then.” I smiled.

We walked up to the fountain and a bit past it until we reached a little path that went in the forest. This path was also lit up but rather with tall lanterns it had ground level ones, but they still gave plenty of light for those unfortunate enough not to have darkvision.

The path itself was made of bark chipping which was honestly not the easiest to walk on, especially if you weren’t used to heels, but at least I had two girlfriends to help support me.

“It’s really calming, don’t you think, Auro?” Em asked while she looked around at the forest.

“It’s very different from the city, that’s true.” I couldn’t even hear a single car, which was very rare where I lived.

“Would you like to live in a place like this?” Ria looked up to me.

“Hmmm. I’m not sure.” I looked to my left to the top of the hill, the castle was nicely lit up as well, so it was clearly visible even through the tree cover. “Sounds like I will have to spend a lot of time here either way.”

“What don’t you like about it?” Em was looking at me as well now.

“It’s not that I don’t like it… I just haven’t lived anywhere else except for the city, you know? I mean, if I want to go to the snackbar I’d need to take the car just to get to the village down there.” I nodded in the general direction of the valley. “If they even have a snackbar.”

Em laughed. “I guess that’s true. Snacks are important.”

“They are!” Ria agreed.

“But yeah, I guess those are all fair points. The positive thing is you won’t have to look for a job anymore.”

“How so?”

“I mean, isn’t the position Alessia offered you paid? You are managing the affairs of everyone in the conclave and the castle.”

“Uh, maybe? I don’t know how vampires do stuff, she also didn’t mention anything about it.” I shrugged. “I thought it was like a side-thing.”

“You should definitely ask her that later. It’s not an unimportant detail.”

“That’s true…”

“Oh! Look!” Ria suddenly let go of my arm and ran up to something near one of the lanterns.

“What did you find, Ria?” Em asked as we slowly walked up to her.

“Look! It’s a little hedgehog!” She crouched down next to it.

“Awh, it’s so cute.” I crouched down next to it as well. “I’ve never seen one in real life.”

The little hedgehog was slowly moving away from us, but it didn’t seem alarmed.

“There’s plenty of hedgehogs around my house.” Em crouched down next to us too.

“So you are saying we should visit more?”

“Oh! yes!” Ria replied.

“Well, if you want to… I kinda also already told my mom we were dating…”

Ria and I stopped and looked at each other and then back at Em. “Didn’t you say you were only going to tell Karin?”

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“That was the plan…” Em rubbed the back of her head. “But she kinda overheard when she was bringing us some tea… But she is totally okay with it! And she’s also not going to tell Ria’s mom.”

“Well, I suppose it’s something we had to tell eventually.” I shrugged. “But you could’ve told us a bit sooner, that the cat was out of the bag.”

“I know. But you could also have told us you got shot at by the rifle thing.”

“That’s true… I probably should’ve as well. Next time some crazy mercenaries shoot heavy weaponry at me, I’ll definitely tell you.”

“I’d like it more if you didn’t get shot anymore, Rora.” Ria pouted.

“Yeah.” Em agreed.

“I’ll definitely try.”

In the meantime mister hedgehog had already made its way off the path and into the forest, leaving us three just crouched down like a bunch of weirdos next to a light.

“Maybe we should get going now, though, before someone sees us being weird.” I proposed.

“Sure.” Em got up. “We probably still have quite a while to walk anyway.”

“I hope the path isn’t that long, so we can take a bath sooner!” Ria got up as well with a little jump.

“Yeah…” I stayed crouched down.

“Auro, aren’t you coming?” Em crossed her arms as she looked at me.

“Uhm… yeah, but could I have a hand because I think I might fall trying to stand with these heels.”

“I don’t know, maybe we should let you try by yourself.” She smirked.

“I didn’t know you were one of those ‘chuck them in the water to see if they can swim’ kind of people.”

“I’ll help you, Rora!” Ria reached out her hand, which I immediately accepted.

“Ria, you are way too kind to her sometimes.”

“But if she takes too long we will have to wait for the bath, and I’m already getting cold.”

“Wow, and here I was thinking it was because you love me.” I stuck out my tongue.

“I do love you, but hot baths are more important.”

I laughed. “At least you know where your priorities are.”

The path wasn’t that terribly long, although it did open up to an amazing view point over the valley where the trees had been cleared a little bit. There was also a stone slab barbecue for when people wanted to hold a little picnic here. We could’ve stayed there for a bit longer than we did, but Ria was really getting excited for the hot bath, so we decided to move on after a minute or two.

Having arrived back at the castle, we swiftly, and without issues, found our way back to our room.

“Hot bath time!” Ria excitedly exclaimed as she immediately started to work off her skirt and jacket.

“It’s one of those baths you need to shower first, right?” I asked, slowly unbuttoning my own jacket.

“Yes! Like from my manga!” Ria had already started on her tights.

“Why don’t you go ahead? We can’t all shower at the same time anyway.” Em proposed to our hyper ball of chaotic cuteness.

“Ok!” And just like that, Ria ran to the bathroom, practically already down to her underwear.

“She’s never that fast for P.E.” I laughed.

“I know, right?” Em laughed too as she put her hoodie over one of the room’s cabinets.

In the meantime I sat down on the bed to get my boots off. Luckily the long zipper made that really easy.

“Oh? I didn’t know they were zipper boots.” Em said as she sat down next to me.

“I think you can also unstrap them with the leather ties, but that would take longer. Ain’t nobody got time for that.”

Em giggled. “That’s true.”

We continued to undress until Em suddenly stopped while working on her shirt.

“What’s wrong? Need help with something?”

“Uh… I just thought of something. We are supposed to go in the bath naked, right?”

“Yeah, wh… OH.” I started blushing.

“I don’t know if I’m ready for that Auro…”

“Hmm, well… yea… hmm… I can see where you are coming from… But Ria is going to be very sad if we don’t… you know…”

“That’s true…”

“Are you coming?” On que Ria’s voice came from the hallway. “The shower is free now!”

“I’m really envious of how Ria can be so carefree at times.” Em laughed shyly.

“That makes two of us.” I unbuttoned my shirt and laid it on the bed behind me.

Em stared at me with big eyes. “Wow, Auro...”

“Hmm?” I looked down and saw the lingerie Rosemary had made me wear. -Oh no, I completely forgot about that.-

“Frills… lace… are your panties also....?” Her eyes went down to my pants.

“Uh… y-yeah… Rosemary made me wear them...”

“Goddess, bless that woman.” Em made a cross sign on her body. “Quickly take off your pants and go show this to Ria.”

“I… uh…”

“C’mon, otherwise it’s not fair to her that I’m the only one who’s seen this.”

“Why do I feel I have no say in this?” I laughed and took my pants off. -It was meant as a treat for my girlfriends, so I might as well show it off a little.-

“Because you don’t.” Em pulled me off the bed and led me to the bathroom. “Ria, Auro’s got something to show you.”

“What is it?” I saw Ria peek over the edge of the hot bath. Her eyes almost immediately started to glow once she saw me. “Wow! That’s so sexy!”

“I think you should wear it for a bit after we get out of the bath, Auro.”

“I agree!” Ria said.

“Fine.” I sighed happily.

“Yay!” Ria happily splashed around.

“Anyhow, you go ahead and shower, I’ll go after you.” Em gave me a tap on my butt and walked back to the main room.

-To think she’d almost shut down out of shyness mere minutes ago. The magic of lingerie, I guess.-