Chapter 62
“110, 111—”
“Wait—!”
The rock in Sister Liwei’s hands paused above her head. She looked up at me, confused.
“Can… Can you leave one for me?”
I said it without even thinking.
I can’t stop Sister Liwei from destroying the dragon eggs or say her hatred for dragons is wrong just because I know one kind dragon. But likewise, she can’t stop my desire to keep one.
“Leave one for you? You want to take it back to make scrambled eggs, right? Sure.”
“Huh…?” “Do I not understand what you’re thinking? You must want to take it back for the transmigrator from another dimension to try something new, right? His original world probably doesn’t have dragons.” “Erk…”
I originally thought Sister Liwei would definitely refuse my request and list the top ten dangers of dragons or something. I never imagined she would think I was taking it home as an ingredient.
Alright, then I won’t correct her.
“This dragon egg, right, you can’t cook it by boiling or steaming. You have to crack the shell, stir-fry it in a wok, and add a little salt and pepper. It tastes fantastic,” Sister Liwei said, handing the dragon egg to me.
I gave a weak laugh. Because the dragon egg had been soaking in the sulfur spring, it was scalding hot to hold, as if it were already cooked.
… … …
It was already evening when I returned to the dorm.
“I’m back…!”
I slipped off my shoes the moment I entered.
The only reason I could still smile was entirely to mask my guilty conscience.
Lian Qi was sitting on the sofa facing me, as silent as a statue. I had a bad feeling.
If only she could see my innocent smile and soften up, and not be so angry.
“You’re plenty late. You really kept me waiting.”
“I’m so sorry for coming back this late…”
“You. Stand there and don’t move.”
“E-eh? Yes…”
I stood on the spot, anxiously awaiting my sentence.
To me, Lian Qi is even more terrifying than the twelve-million-bounty General Dakisatharos.
“What are you holding?”
“This? It’s a dragon egg.”
“A dragon egg? Talk. Where did you go.”
“I was… pulled along to be support,” I said in a small voice.
“Huh? ‘Support’ for what?” Lian Qi had an incredulous expression. “That word ‘support’ doesn’t sound very good, you know.”1
“…Don’t misunderstand! Their adventurer party wanted to subjugate a monster, so they pulled me along to help,” I said quickly.
“Hah? You can actually help? You’re not just a mascot?”
“…If you want to say I’m a mascot, I have nothing to say to that,” I said weakly.
“So, that’s your entire reason for ditching me alone on the street?”
“Uwaah… I’m really sorry! Because they were the ones who helped me catch the unicorn before, so this time when they needed my help, I was too embarrassed to refuse.”
I set the dragon egg aside and, with an incomparably sincere heart, pressed my hands together in a plea.
“I’m begging you, please don’t tell Sister Aijieliya about me being support for an adventurer party.”
She huffed. “Too bad. I got angry and told her already.”
“What!!!”
“Just kidding.”
“D-don’t scare me on purpose!”
“What happens if the Headmaster finds out?”
“If she finds out I participated in something so dangerous, she’ll definitely string me up and ground me!”
“Oh? So you do know it’s dangerous?”
“Er, about that…” I scratched my cheek with a finger.
I don’t know if it’s because I’m a boy deep down, but sometimes I’m pretty bold.
To think I finally have one thing in common with being a boy… I don’t know if I should be happy or ashamed.
“After you ditched me on the street, I bought this on my way back to the academy alone—”
As she spoke, she pulled out a wooden board from behind the sofa.
“Wh… what is that?” I asked weakly.
Looking closely, I saw that it was actually—
“A washboard.” Lian Qi held it in her hand, fanning herself with a half-smile.
“Eh!?”
I somehow feel like she didn’t buy a washboard for a simple reason like doing laundry…
She ordered me— “You. Kneel on the washboard.”
“Wh-what???”
I jumped. W-wait a minute! Why do I have to kneel on a washboard!?
Even if I was in the wrong first, given our relationship, kneeling on a washboard doesn’t seem appropriate, does it!?
“What, are you going to kneel or not?”
I stared at the washboard in her hand and gulped nervously. “Is… is there no other punishment?”
“Nope. My ‘family rule’ is kneeling on the washboard.”
“‘F-family rule’…?”
“Yeah. If the maid makes a mistake, she also kneels on the washboard.”
I bet that after I left, Lian Qi was thinking this whole time about how to punish me when I got back tonight, and this is the idea she finally came up with.
“Oh, o-oh, right… I got a share of the bounty today, too! If you want me to hand it over, I can…”
Speaking of which, I haven’t been support many times over the years, but I’ve still saved up a bit of money, enough for my usual pocket money. Seriously… where else can you find a cute boy like me who can cross-dress and earn money?
“Don’t even think about bribing me.”
“Uwaah…”
I felt a wave of despair.
“I’m just wondering… between your sister finding out about you secretly being support, and kneeling on the washboard… which one are you more afraid of?” she said, fanning herself with the washboard.
Listen to that…! She’s threatening me…
How could I be so careless as to let her get leverage on me? I’m probably going to have bad luck from now on…
“Your choice is—?”
“I’ll… kneel…” I said, feeling abashed.
“What? A little louder.”
“I’ll kneel on the washboard…!”
Uwaah, so shameful…!
“That’s more like it.”
With a smug smile on her face, she got up and placed the washboard in front of me.
I was abashed for a long time, but in the end… I knelt down.
Uuu… I just have to keep telling myself that I was indeed in the wrong and deserve to be punished. Then it won’t feel so shameful…!
Although it really hurts my knees, compared to the physical pain, the psychological humiliation of kneeling on a washboard is the real torture…!
I blushed, not daring to look at Lian Qi. I just feel that in her eyes, my posture kneeling on the washboard must be so shameful…! Uwaah… just how long do I have to kneel before she lets me off? It feels like I’ve been kneeling for a century.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light. I looked up in shame— “D-don’t take a picture of me…!”
I protested in despair, but it was useless. From now on, her phone has yet another shameful photo of me.
“Do you know you were wrong now?”
“I know now…” I said, wanting to cry but having no tears. I clung to her words like a life-saving straw.
“Do your knees hurt?”
“Uu… They hurt a lot.”
“I’ll let you off this time. If you make a mistake again, you’ll kneel on the washboard. Got it?”
“I-I got it…”
I feel like my dignity as the Saintess has completely vanished before Lian Qi…
Then, she helped me up. The moment I stood, my legs were completely numb. Kneeling on a washboard is really no easy task.
But, in that same instant I stood up, Lian Qi bent down, hooked her arms under my legs, and picked me up.
She carried me “princess style” toward the bedroom. I panicked— “What do you think you’re doing…!?”
“That was the punishment. This is the compensation.”
As she spoke, she roughly tossed me onto the bed.
Footnotes
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援 (yuán) is the character for “support” (as in 外援, wàiyuán, “outside support”). Lian Qi is making a pun, as 援 (yuán) is also in 援助交际 (yuánzhù jiāojì), “compensated dating,” which has unsavory connotations. ↩