Chapter 195

"Everyone understands, right? We just have to stick to the plan."

The event had been planned under Caitlin's lead.

Its purpose was to get Viktor completely drunk, then record the sight with a Recording Crystal Ball.

"At last, I get my revenge for the school trip."

"That bastard just has to get caught on camera. I'll pay him back for everything I went through..."

Caitlin burned with determination to avenge the past.

She had asked the others to cooperate as well.

They had hesitated at first, but changed their minds once they heard what they would get out of it.

"Don't you all want to see it? What he looks like drunk."

"Aren't you curious what cute drunken antics he'll get up to?"

The others fell for it.

Caitlin's plan went as follows.

1. Everyone would invite Viktor to a drinking party together.

2. They would keep pouring drinks for Ranne and Viktor.

3. Once Viktor got drunk, they would enjoy the show or record it.

Ranne's role was important.

Only the two of them were meant to keep drinking, while everyone else would just sip a little.

Ranne couldn't get drunk.

The blessing within her immediately purified toxins from her body.

Alcohol worked the same way. The plan took advantage of that strength.

No matter how capable Viktor was, he couldn't beat Ranne at a drinking party.

The rest would only have a drink or two to avoid suspicion while supporting Ranne.

"The plan is perfect."

It had certainly seemed perfect in theory.

There was just one thing they had failed to consider.

None of them were familiar with alcohol. They barely knew their limits, and they had hardly ever drunk before.

The fruit wine Ranne, Alice, Carmilla, and Caitlin had tasted on the school trip was all the alcohol they had ever had. Rin and Javert had not even experienced that.

In other words, they had no idea where to draw the line.

'One glass should be fine, right?'

One glass each.

And they had poured strong, undiluted liquor.

'Even if we're lightweights, we won't get drunk off just one glass, will we?'

'We drank four or five glasses on the school trip, so we'll be fine.'

The difference in alcohol content between fruit wine and hard liquor was like heaven and earth.

It was a disaster born of ignorance and overconfidence.

"Ugh..."

And so, two hours later.

The girls had been utterly wiped out.

"Th-the world is spinning..."

"Mmm... I'm dizzy..."

"..."

Their glasses were all at different levels.

Some had nearly finished theirs, while others had been knocked out after only a few sips.

"Um, everyone? Are you all right...?"

It had been several months since the school trip, and seeing everyone drunk again felt strangely nostalgic to Viktor.

Tug.

Someone tugged at Viktor's sleeve beside him.

Blue hair spilled down. It was Rin.

Her usual blank expression looked up at the boy.

Still, her behavior made it obvious that she was drunk.

"Viktor, Viktor, Viktor."

"Yes, my lady."

"Pet me."

"Um, I've been petting you this whole time..."

"Oh... you're right. Then keep petting me."

"That makes seven times you've said that already."

Rin looked perfectly fine, but she kept repeating herself.

Viktor dutifully answered her each time.

He had been petting her head for over thirty minutes now.

The atmosphere around them was slowly melting under the influence of alcohol.

'I should wrap this up soon.'

Viktor wasn't completely sober either.

He had already finished two glasses of strong liquor.

His lack of drinking experience was no different from the others'. In his previous life, he had drunk plenty of cheap alcohol like soju and beer, but he had never even tasted expensive liquor like this. After leaving the orphanage, he had spent his life struggling to get by.

'I shouldn't drink any more.'

Viktor put down his glass.

Maybe because the liquor was so strong, he was starting to have trouble keeping himself together too.

"Um... shall we call it a night, everyone?"

"What?"

"I mean, I think everyone's had quite a lot to drink."

"I ain't drunk! Shut up! You sure talk a lot fer a playboy!"

Caitlin's sharp rebuke struck Viktor.

She was even drunker than she had been during the school trip.

Her glass was not even half empty.

The person who had started this whole thing had gone down anticlimactically.

She staggered to her feet, then came over and grabbed both of Viktor's cheeks.

"C-Caitlin?"

"Idiot..."

Squeeze, squeeze.

Her bronze hands kneaded the boy's face.

"You... just how many people are you seducing, huh? How many people are you seducing... idiot, moron, sea squirt, sea cucumber, sea anemone..."

Caitlin's insults became gentler when she got drunk.

Not fucking bastard or son of a bitch, but idiot, sea squirt, sea cucumber, and sea anemone...

"I really don't wanna."

She frowned as if she truly disliked him.

Her hands kept kneading the boy's cheeks.

Maybe because their faces had naturally drawn closer, her alcohol-soaked breath tickled the bridge of Viktor's nose.

Viktor smiled awkwardly, but he still had to soothe the heavily drunk girl.

"Caitlin... um, could you let go?"

"I don't wanna."

"Um..."

"I don't wanna. Don't wanna, don't wanna, don't wanna. What're you gonna do if I don't let go?"

"Well, there isn't much I can do..."

"Why? You don't like it? You don't like me getting close to you? Is that it? You don't like a vicious bitch like me?"

"That's not what I meant. It's just that you're closer than usual..."

"Hmph, so what if I'm a little close? You've already gone way beyond close with the other girls, biting and sucking all over them..."

"W-What are you talking about? How vulgar...!"

"What, vampire? Then you didn't? You didn't bite and suck?"

"N-No... I mean, I certainly did, but..."

Caitlin attacked without giving anyone a chance to breathe.

Carmilla, who was listening beside them, answered every question too.

Caitlin let go of Viktor's cheeks, moved right in front of Carmilla, and spoke.

"So, how'd it happen? Tell us about that time."

"W-What do you mean...?"

"Obviously, when you two kissed!"

"H-How am I supposed to talk about that...?!"

"What? Last time, when it was the blonde girl, you helped interrogatin' her too. So it's fine for you, but not for yourself? Is that hypocrisy? Strict with everyone else but generous with yourself? You always go on about being noble, but you're so petty..."

"A-All right! I can tell you! I will!"

Caitlin was drunk, and Carmilla was drunk too.

The two heavily drunk girls made a perfect pair.

Carmilla's face was red with embarrassment.

Even so, as if she had no intention of backing down, she began describing what had happened.

"Well... while Viktor was taking care of me at dawn..."

It had been a night when her consciousness was hazy.

The kiss she had shared with the boy.

The breaths they had exchanged.

The long strands of saliva, the tears, that moment.

The chest she had fearfully leaned against beneath a dawn that had felt eternal.

"And then, right up until I fell asleep, we kept..."

Even with her face looking ready to burst, Carmilla continued.

When her brief story finally ended.

"......"

Everyone around her had turned as red as Carmilla.

Maybe the details had been a little too stimulating.

"Lips... and then, each other's tongues..."

"You did that for an hour...?"

"And saliva was going back and forth..."

Once Carmilla finished speaking, she shrank in on herself as if she were about to die of shame.

The others, on the other hand, were busy trying to process her words.

"Her tongue and his tongue..."

"The princess climbed on top of Sir Viktor..."

"N-No... I didn't mean you had to explain it that clearly..."

They formed vague images in their heads.

Perhaps things had moved too quickly for them. Heat rushed to their faces, and the group sank into an embarrassed heap.

"..."

"..."

The only ones without a reaction were Rin and Javert.

Rin seemed completely uninterested. She just sat there, asking Viktor to keep petting her.

Javert, on the other hand, seemed lost in thought, her breathing quiet.

Her cheeks were flushed, perhaps from the alcohol.

Behind that faint blush, Viktor could hear the woman's inner thoughts.

[He even went that far with the princess...]

[But he doesn't even see me as a woman...]

Anxiety, sadness, and fear lingered in the emotions resonating from her.

Was the alcohol making her feel stifled?

Javert loosened her crisp uniform slightly.

Her tie came undone, naturally disheveling her appearance.

[...I can't take it any longer.]

[At this rate, I feel like I'll lose Student Viktor forever.]

Grab.

She downed the rest of her drink in one go.

The glass, which had been about one-third full, was emptied cleanly.

Then she abruptly stood and strode toward me.

Viktor looked up at the red-haired woman.

"Um... I-Investigator?"

Thump.

Javert's hands grabbed each of my wrists.

Then the boy was roughly shoved down.

Viktor fell helplessly onto the sofa.

Her strong grip bound him in place.

Javert climbed on top of the boy.

"I-Investigator...?"

"Student Viktor."

The woman's natural scent mixed with the sweet, overpowering smell of alcohol, creating an intoxicating sensation.

Javert looked into the boy's black eyes.

They held nothing but her red hair.

Possessiveness churned inside her like motion sickness.

Gripping Viktor's wrists tighter, Javert murmured as though making an excuse.

"This is all because Student Viktor is the bad one..."

"W-Wait, please calm down..."

Smack.

The next moment, her lips covered the boy's lips.

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