Chapter 464: Hazardous Breasts

The reason Luca was taken aback was because he had always thought of Mavis as the tiniest centaur.

Shorter legs. Smaller frame. A little tail that barely reached her knees.

Everything about her was petite, compact, almost doll-like.

Everything, that is, except her breasts!

They hung from her chest like two ripe cantaloupes, heavy and utterly disproportionate to her otherwise slender frame.

The moonlight traced silver lines across their pale, unblemished surface—not a single scratch, not a single scar, despite the fact that Mavis worked near open flames every day with her cleavage perpetually on display.

The skin was so smooth it seemed to glow.

Her nipples were a delicate pinkish-red, standing slightly at attention now that they were exposed to the cool night air. They were tiny compared to the massive swell of her breasts like rosebuds resting on mountains.

Luca had known she was well-endowed. During her forging sessions, when she hammered away at the anvil with relentless determination, he had caught glimpses.

The way her breasts jiggled with each strike.

The way they seemed on the verge of escaping their constraints.

But he had assumed that the generous display was partly illusion, the result of clever wrapping and a small frame making things appear larger than they were.

Now he understood. There had been no illusion. No clever wrapping.

Just pure, unadulterated abundance that she had been hiding in plain sight all along.

What made the sight truly mesmerizing was the contrast. Mavis’s upper body was slender to the point of delicacy.

He could see the faint outline of her ribcage beneath her skin—not unhealthily thin, but the body of someone who worked hard and ate just enough.

Her waist was narrow. Her arms, while toned from years of smithing, were slim.

And then there were her breasts. Defying all proportion.

Under the moonlight, she looked like a goddess of contradiction.

While Luca was lost in his reverent appreciation, Mavis was dying inside.

She had thought, hoped, believed that showing her upper body wouldn’t be so bad. Especially since he was going to touch her lower half anyway.

What was a bare chest compared to that? She had braced herself for embarrassment. She had prepared for awkwardness.

But Luca’s gaze was not awkward. It was reverent. He was looking at her like she was something precious and beautiful and worthy of worship.

And Mavis realized, with a jolt of something that terrified her, that she didn’t feel violated by it.

She felt...proud like she wanted him to keep looking. Like she wanted to show him more.

The same gaze he had given her sister. The same admiring, utterly captivated gaz and some small, jealous part of her had wondered what it would feel like to be on the receiving end.

Now she knew.

It felt like being set on fire!

Her hands, which had instinctively risen to cover herself, slowly lowered back to her sides. Instead of hiding, she pushed her chest out just enough to make her breasts more prominent.

She then fixed a confident smile on her face, the bravado a thin mask over her racing heart and said,

"Don’t stare too much. I know they’re wonderful. Not quite as large as my sister’s, of course, but still impressive in their own right. You should focus on your job instead of gawking like a dumb chicken."

Luca snapped out of his daze and then let out a warm laugh.

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry." He held up his hands. "I just remembered something."

"Remembering what?"

"You see, a few years ago—well more the a few years ago, I was helping a farmer with his harvest. I was sent to pull up carrots and I saw this tiny little stalk poking out of the ground—barely more than a few leaves—and I thought to myself, This one’s going to be small. Probably not even worth the effort."

Mavis narrowed her eyes, already suspicious of where this was going.

"But when I pulled it up." Luca continued, a grin spreading across his face. "it Was the biggest carrot I found all day. Massive. Absolutely massive! The farmer laughed at the expression on my face for a solid five minutes."

His gaze dropped deliberately to her breasts.

"That’s what I’m thinking right now. I really wasn’t expecting you to pack this much heat into such a small package."

"I—you—" Mavis sputtered, her face cycling through several shades of red. "Did you just compare my breasts to vegetables?!"

"I’m not." Luca’s voice softened. "Carrots aren’t nearly as beautiful."

Mavis’s protest died in her throat.

Before she could recover, Luca nodded to himself, as though confirming a theory.

"But I suppose it makes sense. You and Sigrid share the same blood. She has quite large...carrots...of her own." He chuckled. "I should have known her sister would be similarly blessed."

He then looked her over, measuring her height with his eyes.

"Of course, with your sister, I always have to reach up to play with her breasts or she has to crouch down, since she’s so tall. But with you..."

He smiled lewdly. "This is the perfect height. I don’t have to do anything at all."

"HEY!" Mavis’s embarrassment was instantly overtaken by indignation. "So you have been playing with my sister’s body!"

"Yes." Luca said, without a trace of shame. "I have. What are you going to do about it?"

Mavis opened her mouth and immediately shut herself down as she realised it what none of her business

"...Nothing." She muttered, looking away. "Just...Just start already. Get on with it. It’s getting cold."

"That’s what I thought."

Luca lathered his hands with soap, working it into a rich foam between his palms.

"But don’t worry. My wives say that my hands are quite warm. I’ll make sure you don’t get chilled."

It was a simple comment. Innocent, even. But something about the way he said it made Mavis’s stomach flip.

And then his hands touched her breasts.

"Ah—!"

The sound escaped before she could stop it. A tiny whimper, barely audible, but unmistakably a moan.

Luca’s palms were warm, just as he’d promised—almost hot against her cool skin.

His fingers spread across her flesh, measuring, testing, learning the shape of her. He cupped her breasts from underneath, lifting them gently, as though weighing them.

"They really are quite hefty." He murmured, half to himself. "This might actually be problematic for you."

"What? Why?!" Mavis’s heart lurched. "Is something wrong!?"

Her mind immediately leaped to the worst possibilities. Tumors. Growths. Some horrible disease that only a doctor could detect.

Luca was skilled in medicine, he had proven that many times over. What if he had noticed something dangerous? What if—

"No, no, nothing like that." Luca laughed, and he had the audacity to jiggle her breasts as he said it. "I was just thinking—your lower half is quite small, while you have two substantial weights on top."

He demonstrated, squeezing again.

"So, if you run really fast and come to a sudden stop, the momentum and mass of these would drag you forward...while your body stops...and you’d do a front flip and fall flat on your—OW!"

"You absolute—you ridiculous—" She couldn’t even find the words. "Is that really what you were thinking about?! Front flips?! My safety?! All that concern and you were just making fun of me!"

"I’m serious about the safety part." He rubbed his arm where she’d pinched him. "Physics doesn’t lie, Mavis. You’re a walking center-of-gravity crisis."

"Just—just bathe me already! Stop rambling nonsense and do your job!"

And then he began to wash her in earnest.

His soap-slicked hands glided across her breasts with a thoroughness that bordered on obsessive.

He started from the top, working the foam into the upper slopes, his fingers tracing circles that made her skin tingle.

Then he moved to the sides, cupping the outer curves, making sure no inch was left untouched.

He used both hands simultaneously, one for each breast, mirroring his movements so that both sides received equal attention.

When he reached underneath, lifting her breasts to access the creases where sweat might gather, Mavis had to physically restrain herself from making noise.

His thumbs and forefingers traced along the folds with precision, checking, cleaning, ensuring.

Then his remaining fingers fanned out across her under-curve and began to scrub—gently at first, then with more pressure, his fingertips tickling the sensitive skin.

"Be gentle." She managed. "I’m—it’s ticklish there."

"Ticklish?" Luca’s eyes glinted. "I’ll keep that in mind."

"Don’t you dare—"

But he was already moving on, taking her breasts in his palms and kneading them like dough, working the soap deeper, his hands warm and firm and utterly unhurried.

He squeezed and released, squeezed and released, and Mavis felt something hot coiling in her belly.

Then his fingers found her nipples.

"Wait—" Mavis’s voice came out strangled. "You don’t have to—that far—"

"I absolutely do." Luca’s tone was stern, almost clinical. "The nipples are the most important part to clean properly. They have multiple pores and ducts—far more than the surrounding tissue. If these aren’t kept sanitary, there’s a risk of infection. Bacteria can enter through the openings and—"

He squeezed both nipples between his thumbs and forefingers, rolling them gently. Mavis’s hands flew to his shoulders and gripped tight.

"—cause all sorts of problems." He finished. "So yes. I do have to go this far."

He then pulled a small bottle from somewhere—his pocket? A portal? She couldn’t tell, didn’t care—and squeezed a dollop of lotion directly onto her breast.

"Mmm!~"The cool gel made her gasp.

Then his fingers were working it in, spreading the lotion in circles around her areolas, paying special attention to every tiny ridge and bump.

Mavis was in trouble. Real trouble. The earlier touches had been warm and ticklish, almost like a massage.

But this focused assault on her nipples was something else entirely!

Each squeeze sent a jolt of sensation straight down to her lower half.

Each roll of his fingers made her want to arch her back and press closer.

She could feel herself getting wet—not just from the bath water, but from something else entirely. Something that was beginning to drip down her inner thighs.

’T-This is just a bath.’ She told herself desperately. ’He’s just washing you. This is strictly practical. There’s nothing inappropriate about this. You should not be feeling—’

Luca twisted her nipples gently.

"AHHHHHH!?~"