What did I just hear?
'Breasts…?'
I couldn't believe it, no matter how many times I replayed it in my head, but I definitely heard her.
—If you don't mind... would you like to touch my breasts...?
So suddenly?
But why?
Why would Iris, a woman so beautiful that famous celebrities couldn't even compare, make such an offer to me?
'Could it be that I'm considered handsome by elven standards?'
It was just a wild guess, but just as beast-kin women preferred rugged, muscular men, it was possible I met some elven standard of beauty.
Of course, it was only a guess.
After all, no matter how different the beauty standards were between humans and other races, I didn't think I had any particularly outstanding features.
'...My height?'
I was definitely on the tall side. The last time I checked, I was almost 190 cm. And Iris looked to be well over 170 cm herself.
But even if height was the most likely reason, it was still a pretty weak justification for offering up her breasts.
Had I ever been this confused and flustered in my entire life?
I don't think so.
'...I don't think I'll find an answer no matter how much I think about it.'
I decided to just stop trying to guess her reasons. It was like struggling with a problem you don't know how to solve—a complete waste of time.
Besides, the important thing right now was how to answer her.
To say yes or no, that is the question.
It goes without saying, but my answer was yes.
What man in the world could refuse an offer from a woman as beautiful and well-built as Iris?
If I had the chance, I could grope them all day.
However, one thing worried me: the possibility that this offer was some kind of test.
What if she was testing me to see if I was a truly safe and harmless human?
What if the moment I grinned and reached out, she called me a shameless bastard and started blasting me with magic?
Just the thought sent a shiver down my spine.
It was a real shame, and I really wanted to touch them, but my life was more important than a pair of breasts. As long as I'm alive, another chance will come.
"...I'm sorry."
I pinched the inside of my thigh as hard as I could. If I didn't, I felt like I wouldn't be able to refuse.
"W-What do you mean...?"
"Even so, touching the breasts of a woman I've just met is a bit..."
The moment I saw Iris's face, looking as if her world had just collapsed, my heart ached as if I'd committed a heinous crime.
Should I take it back right now?
But what if that expression is also just an act for the test?
"You don't want to touch my breasts...? Is it because I'm an elf?"
"N-No, that's not it at all!"
I panicked. Plenty of celebrities had their careers ruined by speciesist remarks, and even ordinary people had to be careful about what they said.
It wasn't that I liked other races, but my dislike was limited to the non-humanoid ones.
If a woman was pretty, I didn't care if she had horns or halos on her head.
"Then... you do want to touch them...?"
"That's not..."
A Möbius strip came to mind.
If I said no, she would surely just ask, 'Then you do want to touch them?' again. What the hell was I supposed to do?
I grabbed my throbbing head and fell back into thought.
'Should I just close my eyes and go for it?'
My gaze naturally drifted to Iris's breasts. There they were, proof of maternal love, looking so massive and soft that I'd only ever seen their like in videos or pictures.
If she asked if I wanted to touch them, I could do a shoulder dance until my shoulders dislocated.
It was driving me crazy how they could look so erotic without a hint of exposure, and I was dying to know how white and soft they were underneath.
At first, I'd tried my best to avoid looking and maintain an air of indifference, but Iris's sudden offer had pushed me to my limit.
"Hyun-woo...?"
While I was lost in thought, Iris had somehow drawn much closer, and a pleasant scent wafted from her.
The scent of a woman, one that stirred a maddening lust.
And as I looked at Iris, with bead-like tears welling in her eyes, I thought I could hear the last thread of my reason snap.
"...I want to touch them."
"Huh?"
I've never been a patient person. I don't have much perseverance either.
The rational thought is that no pair of breasts is worth risking my life for, but ironically, I could confidently say my sex drive was second to none.
"I've wanted to touch them since the moment we met. You're not going to refuse now, are you?"
I grabbed Iris's slender, white wrist and pressed her.
From the moment this woman—a literal femme fatale beautiful enough to make a king sell his country—kept pushing herself on a guy who's never even dated a pretty girl, I was the victim and she was the perpetrator.
"Ah, th-that's... t-too close..."
Iris couldn't hide her bewilderment at Kang Hyun-woo's sudden, aggressive change.
Fearing she might be left alone here again, she had launched an offensive that the usual Iris would never have dared to imagine. But faced with his assertive response, she couldn't help but feel intimidated.
Aside from official duties, Iris had never in her life so much as spoken to a member of the opposite sex, let alone touched one.
Like humans, elves married, formed families, and had children.
However, it was tradition and custom for royalty not to marry.
The throne of Peledeia originally belonged to whomever the sole god, the World Tree, designated. This was to eliminate any potential source of unnecessary conflict.
Some might call such a thought blasphemous, but there was a history of those who had rebelled against the World Tree and attempted to usurp the throne, so it was a natural precaution.
The best rallying point for a rebellion is the royal bloodline. The central figure of the rebellion back then had been the son of the second king, so after that, royal marriages effectively ceased to exist.
"P-Please be gentle..."
*
The atmosphere changed in an instant.
Unable to look each other in the eye, Iris glanced at Kang Hyun-woo's fingertips, while he stole glances at her chest.
Only the occasional sound of a water droplet falling from the ceiling could be heard. There was no other sound between them, not even their breathing.
So nervous they'd forgotten to breathe, their minds were a chaotic mess, like a 108-shot firework display going off all at once.
"...Excuse me."
I couldn't deny that I'd acted rashly, but since no magic came flying at me, I decided not to worry about it.
That wasn't what was important right now.
After much hesitation and nervousness, I cautiously reached out my hand. The distance was so short, yet why did it feel so far?
My heart pounded as if it would burst.
Unlike the few times my hand had touched only air before dropping, this time it didn't fall.
Squish—
"Eek...?!"
Along with a cute scream, an indescribable softness filled my palm.
This is insane.
Truly insane.
I can't stop my hands.
"H-Hyun-woo... w-wait a moment...!"
At some point, I found myself roughly kneading her breasts with both hands, but I still couldn't stop.
It felt like I'd lost control of my own body.
The feeling of her tender skin through the thin dress was a drug beyond description.
I could keep touching them like this until a knife was at my throat, and I'd still be able to declare it a good death.
I never knew the feeling of those mounds of flesh, changing shape with every touch before returning to fill my palms, could be so ecstatic. Women are cheating. They can turn a man into an idiot with nothing more than a natural lump of fat.
"Ngh... Hah..."
As Kang Hyun-woo's touch grew rougher, Iris's breathing naturally became ragged as well.
As her tension peaked, a blush naturally spread across her cheeks, and the corners of her eyes turned bright red.
Seeing Iris become even more beautiful, as if she'd instantly put on makeup, Kang Hyun-woo unknowingly swallowed dryly.
'...I want to touch them directly.'
Humans are creatures of desire.
Even while having an experience far beyond what I deserved, I kept getting greedier.
How soft would her skin be if I stripped away this cumbersome clothing and touched it directly?
Just a moment of imagination made my already stiff lower body begin to ache.
My hands, still holding her breasts, tightened their grip.
"H-Hyun-woo... it hurts..."
The moment Iris's tearful voice reached my ears, my sanity, which had fled far away, returned. Only then, startled by how worked up I'd gotten, was I able to pull my hands away from her chest.
'You crazy bastard, you crazy bastard, you crazy bastard.'
Unlike a moment ago when all the blood had rushed to my head, Iris's voice cooled me down, and the image of my excited self flashed through my mind.
The image of a lecher, his eyes bloodshot, groping her breasts forcefully without a shred of consideration.
Of course, I didn't regret touching them. Even now with a cool head, I could declare that moment the best of my life. It was that amazing.
The problem was that I got too excited and almost crossed the line.
"...I'm sorry. I got too excited."
Iris had only given me permission to touch her breasts. Even then, I should have been gentle, carefully watching her reaction. But I hadn't cared about any of that and just grabbed and kneaded them for my own pleasure.
I'd heard that breasts are one of a woman's vital points. I had squeezed them quite hard, so the redness in her eyes was undeniably my fault.
"N-No... I was the one who asked, so why are you apologizing, Hyun-woo...?"
"Still, I was very inconsiderate."
Hearing Iris's voice, trembling much more than before, I was flooded with guilt.
"I'm really okay. So... you don't have to worry so much."
Iris gave a bright smile and looked at Kang Hyun-woo. The moment their eyes met, he felt a wave of emotion wash over him.
An angel. There's an angel right here.
I think I'm falling for her all over again, seeing her generously forgive the mistake of an inconsiderate virgin loser.
"M-More importantly..."
Iris clutched her throbbing chest.
She couldn't say there was no pain at all, but it wasn't just pain she felt. It was as if some other emotion, not the sensation of pain, was swirling in her chest.
It was similar to pain in that it throbbed, but it didn't seem to be only painful... It was that kind of feeling.
Quietly embracing this new, unfamiliar feeling, Iris continued.
"W-Were my breasts to your liking...?"
she asked, her face red enough to burst.
"Yes! Of course! They were incredibly soft."
"Ah...!"
Hearing his honest review, Iris smiled brightly as if relieved.
It was a truly ironic scene, but since the two involved seemed satisfied, there was no one to point it out.
*
Recalling the ecstatic sensation, Kang Hyun-woo fell into uncharacteristically deep thought.
What could he do for his first love, a woman so beautiful it defied description, who had even let him touch her breasts?
Strictly speaking, she wasn't his first love, but that wasn't important right now.
'It has to be breaking her out, right?'
I've never been to prison, but there's no way she wouldn't want to leave after spending 200 years alone in a dark, damp place like this.
"To get out of here, do we just need to deal with the barrier?"
"I'm not certain, but probably. They can't place guards in the holy land where the World Tree resides. The same likely goes for magic or magical tools."
A prison with no guards, no wardens, not even CCTV? I wondered if such a lax prison could exist, but then I thought about how powerful the barrier protecting this place must be for them to be so careless.
'That said, I never thought I'd be seriously contemplating a prison break.'
This probably wasn't the right context for it, but I guess this is what they mean when they say you never know what life will throw at you.
Then, a question for Iris suddenly popped into my head.
"Um, Iris? There's something I'm curious about. May I ask you a question?"
"Ah, yes, please feel free."
This might be the most important question for planning our escape.
"Iris, how many mana circles do you have?"
Having been very interested in mages, I knew about mana circles.
While the influence of a Hunter or Hero was determined by a rank assigned by an association or the state, a mage's influence and skill were judged by the number of their mana circles.
Naturally, the more circles a mage had, the stronger and more skilled they were considered to be.
Two or fewer mana circles meant you were an apprentice mage, while three or more meant you were recognized as a reasonably skilled mage.
With four or more, I knew you'd be welcomed in any country. I'd even heard some nations would treat you as a quasi-noble.
However, mages with more than six mana circles weren't people an ordinary person could easily meet, so I couldn't say for sure, but there were jokes that the state even gave them a license to kill.
They were that rare and valuable. If Iris was a high-level mage, I wouldn't have to struggle to break the barrier myself. There's no reason to watch NewTube tutorials and fix a computer step-by-step when a repair technician is sitting right next to you.
"...I have eight."