Chapter 81 - BathTub

Looking up at her, Ethan was having a small clash in his mind

'I mean, it's fine if she knows, but is it fine to blatantly tell her the truth? Honestly, I don't think she'll be able to withstand it.'

Asking this to himself, the situation quickly turned awkward as Lefiya looked down with the thoughts she was thinking clearly visible to everyone in the room.

Even though Ais didn't care if they come to know what happened, when Lefiya asked, she brought her mind back to that moment, also remembering his lips on her neck and their moment of 'intense passion'.

Sighing, Riveria decided it was better to explain why Ais has that bruise. Standing up, she made Lefiya snap out of her thoughts with a firm tone.

"Lefiya. If you want to know, I'll explain"

With her words echoing in the tent, Ethan nodded in agreement as Ais was still thinking about the moments they had the day before.

Whilst this was happening, Lefiya seemed confused for a moment before understanding it was really something that had to do with Ethan and Ais. Even though she didn't know the extent of their actions, she could still feel, now that she thought about it, that something was different between the two.

'It's not that Ethan and Ais...already...'

With the blush on her face that was pretty evident as always, she stared at Ethan for some moments as he instead, was still deep in thought about what to reveal it himself or letting the situation be like this.

Now that she stared at him, she could see he had the same bruise as Ais, just in the left part of his neck. Even more confused, she returned her focus on Riveria as she was adding

"...And, that's what it is"

"S-Sorry..Riveria..I w-wasn't listening to you...can you repeat it again?"

Her words made Riveria flinch as she closed her eyes, ready to be hit by her staff.

But, instead of hitting her, Riveria turned around while making a 'Humph'. Crossing her arms on her c.h.e.s.t, she added

"I explained it one time, that's enough."

Replying like this, she quickly sat again as she started to eat without a care in the world.

Knowing her for a while now, Lefiya knew that when you weren't listening to her and then you would ask to repeat from the start, she would be so upset to not explain anymore. With tears that were filling her eyes, she quickly went next to her while begging for forgiveness.

As this was happening, Ethan finally decided to let her know. This because, he didn't really want to bother everyone in the tent by giving a rough or misleading information.

'I won't run away. After all, Ais said she didn't mind at all what people think or know about us'

Knowing that this way of thinking wasn't that better, Ethan tried to use it only because Lefiya was a person he trusted.

"Lefiya, I will tell you what really happened, listen to me carefully"

With these words declared, Riveria and Lefiya looked at him as the former was interested in his explanation as well while the latter wanted to know, other than what happened, what an advantage it had to get hurt on the same area of ​​the body. She knew it was something 'romantic' but she didn't know why even she herself thought this as well.

Slowly finding the words to explain what they did, Ethan gulped upon remembering it as well. The only one who noticed was Riveria. With Ais still in her world while Lefiya had her hands on her face as his explanation made her reach 'new heights' in her thoughts...

"You see, Lefiya. When people love each other..they tend to be possessive. One of the ways to express this feeling is this hickey..or bruise as you want to call it"

Touching the area where the 'bruise' was, he looked away while she, after removing her hands that tried hard to hide her face, stared intently at him. Understanding what he meant, she realized the two had already crossed the line.

With a slightly more serious look, Lefiya's mind seemed to have realized

'How c-come I never thought of something so basic..it seemed romantic because...it is"

With her mind travelling to new horizons, Ethan sighed as Riveria continued to eat. Seeing that Lefiya was in her own world again, he decided to let her be like this now that the misunderstanding was cleared while returning to Ais.

Taking her hand in his, he made her snap out of her thoughts. With a confused expression, she stared at him while he 'gave' her a smile.

"You sure have time to spend doing nothing. I will be busy because I have to take care of some things, Lefiya, you'll come to help me as well"

Understanding she wasn't listening to her, again, she took her staff with her hands while glaring at her. 'Feeling' her glare, Lefiya was brought back to the real world as she looked at her surroundings to see what scared her so much.

"Come with me, Lefiya"

Hearing Riveria calmly saying this, Lefiya flinched greatly as she immediately followed her, mainly because she understood she didn't pay attention to what Riveria said, and that was the second time.. in a row.

Looking at him briefly before exiting, she decided it was better to make her mind wander where she was alone..

Having obtained, again, time to spend alone with Ais, Ethan felt very indebted to Riveria but, at the moment, he had more important things to think about. Taking out the rest of the cakes from this morning, his smile became even more evident

"Want to finish these?"

Staring at the few pieces of cakes, Ais nodded quickly while taking a bite of the first piece she had in hand, without minding its actual taste. Taking one as well, Ethan saw as she continued to eat while her 'expressionless' trait seemed completely invisible to him at these times.

Losing himself on how cute she was when she ate something, a thought began to form in his mind.

'I always thought I wanted to make her happy without the help of these tricks. At this point .. why not try to cook...? I'm sure we would both be much happier if I were the one to cook ..'

Deciding it was better not to choose everything alone, his smile didn't fade as he asked

"Ais, what do you think if I'll be the one cooking these cakes for you?"

His question brought her focus from the cakes to him as she tilted her head in confusion. Thinking about it for some seconds, she answered

"I..would eat them.."

Slightly surprised by the answer she gave him, Ethan chuckled while he made up his mind as she returned her focus on tasting the cake.

'I want to make her eat something prepared by me in the same way...I don't know if there is a manual for cooking..?'

Even though he said this, Ethan still searched in the shop for the manual required for him to learn how to cook in general. But, before he could buy it, Light stepped in, surprising him.

[I have a better idea. Once you buy the book, I will absorb it and give you all the necessary advices to improve your dishes step by step. Having a manual that helps you make them exactly like what it explains in the book is very superficial, don't you think?]

Hearing her, his eyes widened as he instantly replied

["...Can you do that as well? You are amazing, Light!"]

Replying with a chuckle, he decided to buy it after the expedition as it wasn't the moment to buy it.

With this, Ethan decided to put this matter aside for now as there were more important things to talk about.

"I planned to go in the Dungeon, but if Riveria isn't here I'm in 'danger' because of the poison. Should we head back to the 17th floor for now..?"

Even though Ais nodded her head, she knew that there was something she missed. Looking at him to try to understand what it was, she managed to do so

Being stared at, Ethan tilted his head as well to understand what was going on in her mind right now, but it didn't take long before he got the answer to his 'question'

"I have to..have a bath before"

With an 'oh' he actually remembered that he, as well, needed to bathe again. Knowing that there would have been other girls if he had decided to go to the place where they usually bathe, the only thing that Ethan thought of was one.

'...It's impossible that she's still bathing, nearly an hour passed from our last encounter'

Deciding it was better to take her in that place as it was the best way he could think at the moment, he smiled at her as he replied

"Yes, that's fine. If you want I can bathe with you"

Nodding in agreement to his question, Ethan saw as she finished the last piece of cake before standing up. Doing the same, the two exited the tent as he prayed internally that everything would be fine.

"Follow me, I'll bring you to the best place I know to bathe"

Even though she knew a lot of 'spots' as well, basically because she went to the 18th floor a lot of times in the past, she didn't really mind if he wanted to take the lead...

Seeing her nod again, Ethan didn't say anything as he led the way.

---

Understanding that Ryuu wasn't anymore bathing here anymore, Ethan sighed in relief as a small smile formed on his face.

"Did you know this place?"

Shaking her head, Ais answered his question

"I only know the place where there is a specified 'bath', but that's fine too."

Nodding, he decided to specify something important.

"We won't use soap if we want to bathe in the lake."

Hearing him, she had a slightly confused expression as she could feel the seriousness contained in his words. Nodding slightly, she decided to not ask and trust his judgment as he sighed again.

'I guess I'll have to take out the bathtub if we want to enjoy it to the maximum extent'

Doing as he thought, Ethan immersed the entire tub in the lake to obtain water faster as Ais stared at him.

"Should we bathe as... always?"

Nodding, Ethan decided to let her choose

"If we want to use soap, that also gives a good smell, in addition to feeling clean, we should enter the tub, otherwise it is okay to even enter the lake. Which do you prefer?"

Thinking about it for a second, Ais decided to enter the bathtub as he took another soap out of his inventory...

While she was undressing, Ethan knew that it wasn't really the time for that kind of actions, but he couldn't forget the moments previously spent together in the tub that was accompanying him almost from the beginning of his new life.

'I never thought that I would find myself in similar situations, of course..life is really unpredictable..'

Thinking this, he started to undress as well while Ais was already done...

---

(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8 If you enter it, you can join the Qienta Familia! play a lot of fun games, but, obviously, that's not all, I post there images regarding things you may see in the story, such as the [Twin's Digimon] and [The Devoted Heart].)

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(Alternate Titles: "L.e.w.d, yet shy. You guessed right, it's L.e.w.d Lefiya!!","if Ethan was in quarantine it would all make more sense <--- I don't know if everyone will get it, if you don't then I'm sorry";"Ethan & Ais will bathe together forever", "My only companion...My bathtub...*sob* *sob* <--- that's what Ethan thought")