Chapter 273: 273 By Chance

Deep into the dawn.

It was a cloudy day, and even the moonlight was barely visible.

At an hour when everyone else was asleep, Lia had been lying in her bed at the inn for hours, unable to find rest.

Lia, who had been keeping her eyes closed for a long time, let out a deep sigh and slowly opened her eyes in the dark room.

It had already been several days.

Lia, who had been spending her nights unable to sleep until this late hour, finally pushed herself up from the bed.

She gulped down some water, but the faint heat rising within her chest wouldn’t settle at all.

Lia set the water bottle down on the desk with a frustrated thud.

…She already knew in her heart exactly why she felt this way.

A tickling desire blooming inside her body.

It was because of a certain urge that kept resurfacing whenever she lay down to sleep.

“Haa…. Again.”

Lia finally let out another heavy sigh.

…She really intended not to do it anymore.

Lia agonized, staring blankly at the ceiling, before slowly rising from the bed.

Once up, she threw on some light outdoor clothes and a coat that she had hung next to the bed.

A moment later, fully dressed, Lia carefully opened her door and made her way down the stairs with slow steps.

She walked as quietly as possible, but the creaking of the floorboards echoed loudly in the silent, early-morning inn.

Someone sitting in a corner of the first floor with a small lamp lit looked up and toward the stairs.

“Who is it?”

The old woman who owned the inn recognized who it was before even hearing an answer.

It wasn’t the first or second time Lia had snuck out for a walk in the dead of night.

“It’s Lia. Going out for a walk again?”

“…Yes.”

At the sound of her name, Lia flinched, her shoulders hunching as if she had been caught doing something wrong.

She had hoped to leave without being noticed by anyone.

But because the owner had so much trouble sleeping, they crossed paths about half the time she went out for these walks.

“What kind of walk is this constantly in the middle of the night? Are you going to meet a lover?”

“No!”

Lia snapped back in a small voice before wordlessly walking out of the inn.

Talk about a temper.

Behind her, she could hear the old woman’s soft, giggling laughter.

Trading these kinds of jokes was a daily routine every time she went out, but…

The old woman probably couldn’t even imagine what Lia actually did every time she left and returned.

Because she had been seen leaving, Lia felt unnecessarily embarrassed and moved with a quicker pace.

The streets at dawn.

Even though people said the days in Labyrinth started early, it was still an hour that should be called late night rather than early morning.

Naturally, there wasn’t a single pedestrian passing through at this hour.

Lia walked quietly through the empty streets and arrived at a small park near the inn.

The location wasn’t particularly good, nor was there anything special to see.

Thanks to that, it was a deserted and quiet place, and she often visited because she liked the calm atmosphere.

Lia flopped down onto an empty bench and took a deep breath of the cold morning air.

I’ll just stay for a moment and go back.

…It was just a walk for a change of pace since she couldn’t sleep.

If she exposed herself to the cold wind, her heart would settle down.

However, Lia felt that, on the contrary, the lukewarm urge began to burn even more intensely.

A walk, what a pathetic excuse after coming all the way here.

It was a justification so flimsy that even she found it laughable.

…This is truly the last time.

She muttered the final resolution she had made countless times before.

After checking her surroundings once more to confirm no one was there…

She carefully reached for the buttons of her coat.

One, then two.

The clothes Lia was wearing fell away from her body.

After carefully placing her discarded clothes one by one on the bench, Lia was soon left in her underwear.

After a moment of hesitation, Lia’s hands moved carefully, finally casting off even her underwear.

Lia stood in the middle of the park, completely naked.

“….”

Haa.

A chilly breeze swept past Lia’s body as she exhaled a sigh filled with heated pleasure.

The spine-tingling sensation of the cold dawn wind.

A shivering sense of fulfillment climbing up her body…

Lia slowly began to walk.

Her bare feet stepped onto the cold earth, and the icy morning air seeped into her skin.

What should she call this feeling?

Satisfaction? Liberation? Fulfillment?

Lia craved that emotion she couldn’t quite understand herself, walking for a while through the empty dawn park.

Lia discovering this preference of hers was just… a coincidence.

One day, while out on an expedition alone, Lia had the bad luck of encountering a heavy downpour in the forest.

Fortunately, the rain stopped quickly.

However, while she had built a fire and hung her clothes to dry her soaked garments.

In the brief moment she wasn’t paying attention, a strong gust of wind blew, and all the clothes she had hung up flew away.

She ran around the forest naked and fortunately found a few pieces, but in the end, she couldn’t find the rest, including her underwear.

Lia ultimately had to return to the city relying on just a single top and a thin robe, without any underwear.

Walking through streets where countless people passed in such a state, Lia felt a strange sensation.

Since she was wearing a robe, no one would have known there was any issue with her attire from the outside, but…

Lia felt the illusion that the gazes of every person passing by were fixed upon her.

What Lia felt in that moment was shame and… an unusual amount of pleasure.

…She knew this kind of behavior was abnormal.

But after experiencing it, the feeling she felt then kept coming back to her.

To the point it appeared in her dreams.

She had lost count of how many times she had woken up in a start from her bed after dreaming of walking through the streets in broad daylight while naked.

Only after spending several months like that could Lia finally admit that she possessed a peculiar preference that was slightly different from others.

However, she couldn’t exactly do such a thing in front of people.

The method Lia found after much deliberation was to come out at dawn like this when no one was around to release her suppressed desires.

…But even this has to have its limits.

Lia muttered to herself and let out a small sigh.

Whew…

How long would she have to keep doing this?

She thought about consulting someone about her worries, but since she could never find anyone to confide in with such a problem, she always just swallowed it down.

She couldn’t resist the thrill provided by the tension of ’what if someone sees me.’

Of course, there was no way anyone would come to such a secluded park at this hour of the dawn.

Even so, as she walked in such a state, those imaginations would inadvertently come to mind.

What if someone saw her.

If, by chance, someone recognized her face.

If they found out who she was…

Perhaps they would hold a weakness over her.

Commanding her to obey their words if she didn’t want this known.

She might end up like a slave, having to follow any irrational or absurd demand.

It was a terrifying thought just to imagine,

But as she summoned those thoughts, a spine-tingling pleasure rose up, making her body tremble.

Lia shuddered and shook her head vigorously.

Is it really because of stress? I feel like I’m slowly going crazy.

Muttering so, Lia’s steps came to a halt as she strolled through the dawn park.

Just in case, Lia had intentionally circled the area at dawn and investigated if there were any shops that started work early.

Until now, there had never been a single instance of someone passing through this place.

In this location where she was inwardly certain it was safe, Lia had inadvertently lowered her guard slightly.

That was why her reaction was a bit slow.

A person was standing in front of Lia.

Not an imagination…

A real person.

Even when she closed and opened her eyes, the shadow before her did not disappear.

“…!”

Lia was so shocked that she couldn’t even think of doing something and froze like a stone.

Leaving her immobile body behind, countless thoughts raced through her mind.

Maybe he doesn’t know who I am.

He wouldn’t be able to identify me out of the many people in Labyrinth.

Since it’s this dark, he probably couldn’t even see my face properly.

If I just turn around and run, and hide.

It’ll just be a mysterious incident at dawn.

It’ll end as if nothing happened…

“Your name was Lia, right?”

As her name was called, Lia felt a shock as if someone had gripped her heart.

It was someone who knew her.

It was the same for Lia that she couldn’t see the other’s face well because it was dark.

Lia desperately scoured her memory, trying to recall who on earth it was.

Why does he know me? He seems like someone I’ve never seen before…

As she observed his face while agonizing, Lia belatedly and vaguely recalled the man’s identity.

The man… that Ms. Rebecca introduced?

Once again, countless thoughts flashed by.

According to Ms. Rebecca’s introduction, this man was probably a D-rank mercenary.

Even though Lia was currently naked without any equipment, she might be able to win with her bare hands if she ambushed him.

Once she subdued him, whether she threatened him back or negotiated… wouldn’t she be able to settle this situation somehow?

Such thoughts occurred to her, but Lia’s body didn’t move at all.

As if someone was holding a leash around her neck.

Bizarrely.

Lia felt that her body… seemed to want this.

She should be doing something—running away, attacking, threatening—instead of just standing still like this.

Lia’s body ignored her will and remained immobile.

In place of her will, an overflowing desire was ruling over Lia’s body.

Lia felt Ian’s gaze looking at her naked body.

Setiap kali tatapan itu menyapu dirinya, kenikmatan mengerikan yang levelnya jauh berbeda dibanding saat dia berjalan sendirian di tempat sepi melonjak hebat.

Ian took a step toward Lia.

Their faces became so close they were almost touching… and Ian whispered softly into Lia’s ear.

“Come find the mercenary group tomorrow.”

He spoke with a kind gaze,

With a voice that could not be resisted,

And spoke firmly to Lia.

“Answer.”

“Y-yes….”

Lia answered so without thinking.

And until Ian turned his back and left the area, she stood there unable to do anything.

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