Subliminal Wayfarer

Stunned, Grace spoke in a gentle voice, trying to soothe Luki.

“What’s wrong, Luki? Does it tickle?”

She continued to caress Luki’s back and hindquarters, even softer and more tender, as if apologizing. But the gentler her touch, the more rigid the black horse became, overwhelmed by embarrassment and discomfort.

H-Hiiiing!

As Luki shook his head and backed away, Grace said with concern,

“You don’t want to get cleaned? Alright, I’ll just wash your tail a bit then. It’s all tangled with dirt—it won’t take long.”

She gripped the horse’s tail with both hands. Since there was no soap here, she needed to soak it thoroughly to clean it.

However, as Grace held the tail and faced the horse, Lucas’s surprise and agitation grew. He had been worried before, but now, his reaction became more intense.

Bhhrrr! Hiing!

Huffing and puffing, the horse’s resistance was rough, and its jerky strides expressed his mortification even more. Water droplets, resembling morning dew, scattered in all directions.

“Ack, it’s cold!”

Thanks to this, Grace was once again drenched when the horse splashed water all around. As the black horse nudged her with its snout and moved awkwardly, Grace’s shoulders were shaking, and she burst into uncontrollable laughter.

“Enough, Luki! I won’t do it, stop!”

Grace took a step back, gathering her soaked hair to one side. She looked up at the horse’s watchful gaze.

“I just wanted to save my hair, but it got all wet.”

She didn’t sound serious about it though. However, a certain someone might have felt his heart racing due to the perplexity of the situation.

‘Oh, heavens.’

Lucas could feel the stiffened muscles in his hind legs quivering.

His transformed beastly body was overly sensitive.

With very good vision, quickly flushing skin, and blood vessels racing uncontrollably at just the touch of her hands.

In the sharply focused vision that saw every detail of Grace, her wet appearance was a temptation too great to resist.

Lucas felt like he was guilty of doing something sinful, even though he hadn’t actually done anything.

This was dangerous. He needed to get away.

His skin and his heart were both scorching, like a bomb ready to explode.

—Please, Grace, stop now.

He kept shouting, but it seemed his voice never got through to her. Perhaps she wasn’t thinking of Lucas at all right now.

As he was getting frustrated, he was on the verge of losing his composure.

“All right, all right. You’re more sensitive than I thought. I won’t touch you if you don’t like it. Don’t look at me like that.”

Grace raised her hand apologetically as she laughed.

With her assurance that she wouldn’t touch him anymore, he looked at her suspiciously and cautiously approached her again.

Ignoring the approaching Luki, Grace playfully splashed water around like a child. When the black horse came very close, she pulled him close into an embrace.

“Good boy.”

The horse still shivered in response to her stroking, but he didn’t run away or cause a commotion like earlier.

“You’re really amazing. As expected, you’re the cherished horse of His Excellency.”

It was Lucas alone who felt like his insides were burning, thanks to Grace’s casual and melodious voice. There was nothing that he could do.

But then, at that moment.

“Oh, Luki, what’s this…?”

For some reason, Grace’s hand extended straight down toward his abdomen.

…Towards his groin.

Lucas, much more surprised than when his tail was teased just a while ago, almost screamed her name as he shouted and jumped up.

—Gah, please, Grace!

Her hand froze in place.

“…Your Excellency?”

—Can you hear me, Grace? Can you hear my voice?

Perhaps it was because he wished for it so desperately.

The mind that he had never wanted so much to reach actually reached her.

Even underwater, he felt cold sweat running down his back.

“Oh? Are you not asleep yet?”

—Phew… I, um, woke up for a moment.

His voice was a bit hoarser than usual but strangely sounded heated.

Grace thought it was because he had just woken up.

Lucas urgently spoke.

—Grace, going into the water at dawn is dangerous.

“Hm? How did you know?”

—I just heard about it. Someone said they thought you had drowned.

He said this urgently in a strained voice.

Grace laughed in embarrassment but accepted the reason easily.

“Oh, I got caught. I didn’t want anyone to wake up because of me.”

—You’ll catch a cold, Grace.

“It’s okay. It feels refreshing. And I feel really good right now.”

Grace waded into the water up to her waist, the moonlight shimmering on the surface.

She was in such a good mood that she hummed a little tune.

Grace glided through the water, feeling the silk-like smoothness of its surface up to her waist.

She was exhilarated.

This was a perfect escapade, an experience that would never come again in her life.

If she hadn’t come here, she would have missed out on this sensation.

How could a noblewoman, dressed so scandalously, play in the water at the break of dawn?

The gentle current caressing her waist made her heart swell with excitement. Grace, feeling slightly intoxicated by the power of the dawn, said,

“Thank you, Your Excellency.”

—Suddenly?

“It’s not sudden… I’ve always felt grateful. And I’ve always wanted to say thank you.”

He remained silent.

That was fine.

She just wanted to gather the courage to express her sincere feelings to Lucas Blacke.

“Thank you. Really. Thank you for helping me. And…”

—And?

“For guiding an immature person like me who couldn’t muster the courage. Thank you.”

Thus, she could finally experience the emotions she had longed for.

‘Ah.’

At that moment, Grace realized it.

She wouldn’t be afraid to face him in person again.

‘I can’t wait to see him again.’

Ba-thump, ba-thump.

Her heart started racing.

Grace’s heart started pounding hard at just the thought of seeing Lucas Blacke again soon.

‘Hmm.’

Lucas made a low, incomprehensible sound that seemed to blend with a sigh.

—It’s me who should be grateful, Grace. And…

‘I am deeply sorry.’

With an intense, complicated gaze, Lucas turned his eyes away from Grace.

With Grace drenched from head to toe like this, he had nowhere to look.

Clear blood vessels seen beneath her porcelain skin, as blemish-free as a babe’s.

Firm muscles swelled and contracted uncontrollably.

‘Huu.’

But he couldn’t look away.

His intense gaze briefly scanned Grace.

The thin slip clung to her slender body.

The wet silhouette felt even more provocative than bare nudity.

Startled, Lucas quickly shook his head.

His lustful thoughts strayed towards imagining Grace wearing nothing at all.

‘Crazy bastard.’

He cursed himself without reservation.

‘How could she be so pure…’

Lucas glanced at Grace, finding her so incredibly lovable.

While she played with the water, creating ripples in the pond, the sight of her seemed to be embedded into his vision, etching her image onto his retinas.

For a moment, he wished he could tattoo this image on the back of his eyes.

If he could, he would spend the whole day looking at something so pure and beautiful.

‘I must be a real lunatic.’

He chastised himself, turning his gaze away.

Unaware of anyone watching, Grace was free.

So beautiful and lovely.

‘If she finds out I’m Luki later…’

Even the thought of it was dizzying.

He couldn’t fathom what kind of expression or gaze Grace would give him.

If this was how it was going to be, he should have never hidden it from the start. He let out a sigh.

Regrets were always too late.

It had already come to a point of no return.

Now, he had to find a way to return to being a human urgently.

And before that, he had to reveal that he was Luki.

Splash!

“Luki, look at this. It’s so refreshing!”

Grace, who had splashed a few drops of water on Luki with her delicate fingers, burst into laughter.

How could her laughter sound so pure and carefree?

The more he heard it, the more pleasant it became. Maybe it was because her laughter was so rare.

Lucas was half out of it, and he didn’t even realize that he was looking at Grace.

He just couldn’t tear his gaze away.

“What’s the matter? Are you surprised? Come here, Luki. Let’s play together!”

As Grace approached cheerfully, splashing water, she embraced the neck of the black horse and pulled it closer.

Her eyes sparkled with a warm smile as she watched the creature’s careful, affectionate steps to avoid harming her.

Her curved eyes, like the crescent moon, looked at Lucas, and she kissed the horse’s cheek.

“Sweet Luki, I really like you.”

‘…This woman. Are you planning to kill me?’

Lucas clenched his teeth, a desire to cry welling up within him.

It felt good.

Too good to the point of unease.

His impure heart raced erratically.

And his body, free from restraint, burned with desire.

‘Oh, this is going to get me killed.’

With tightly closed eyes, he quietly apologized one more time.

The moonlight clung to her wet body.

A sight that felt dangerously tempting to Lucas Blacke.

 

* * *

 

“Let’s go. Hm? Why aren’t you getting out?”

The dawn, which had faintly risen, was now high in the sky. The early morning had turned into a full-fledged day.

Their brief play in the water had extended longer than anticipated.

No matter how warm the weather had become, it was still a bit chilly in the early morning.

Biting her quivering lips, Grace had tried to persuade the black horse to leave the water, but the horse remained motionless in the water.

Earlier, it had refused to come in, but now it seemed determined not to leave.

Bhrr!

As if to say, ‘You go out first,’ the horse pushed Grace’s back with his snout.

“Seriously, you. Do you want me to go alone? Do you want to stay longer?”

Bhrr!

The horse nodded vigorously, as if agreeing with her.

‘Such a strange horse, really.

Grace then moved away as if there was no other choice.

After enjoying the water for too long, her body temperature had gotten lower.

Fortunately, the morning sun was warming her up.

Her frail body had become powerless, making it difficult to walk properly.

When the river reached her waist, she stumbled unknowingly.

—……!

Surprised, Luki hurriedly trotted towards her and supported her before she could fall back.

“Oh, sorry. My legs suddenly gave way.”

The mansion was right in front of them, and it wouldn’t take more than ten minutes to walk there.

Yet, for some reason, she couldn’t muster the courage to walk those ten minutes.

Did he understand her feelings?

…Bhhr.

The horse let out a sigh, gently patting her back, then he lowered his body.

“We’re going?”

The horse’s deep blue eyes seemed to urge her to get on.

Grace smiled gratefully and climbed onto the horse’s back.

At that very moment.

‘Huh?’

Just before getting on the horse’s back, something unfamiliar briefly passed through her field of sight.

‘What… was that?’

 

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t/n: when i tell you i literally rolled on the floor cry-laughing while translating this chapter XD