“Balian?”

  Estel poked her head out into the corridor and looked around. “Balian, where are you?”

  “Este, look!” Alice called from inside the room, pointing at a note left behind on the dresser. “I think he left that note behind.”

  With a frown, she picked up the note and read it aloud. “My apologies, Your Ladyship, I have to attend to urgent matters and will return te. As I am unable to personally prepare a bath in time, please feel free to use the private bathhouse at the back of the inn…”

  “Ah, Balian, I see that you’re a man of culture as well,” Alice commented with a nod of approval. “You could’ve told me earlier that you prefer the hot spring trope—”

  Estel gave her forehead a good flick with her fingers.

  “—ow! Este, that actually hurts!”

  “You’re talking nonsense again, Alice.” She shook her head in resignation as she unpacked her nightgown. “Let’s go.”

  “Let’s go…where?”

  “Don’t you want to go and check out the bath too?”

  Alice blinked. “Wait, we are actually bathing together? Really?”

  “Isn’t that what you wanted…?”

  Estel felt a sudden urge to sm her own head against the wall in mortification. “…n-never mind, I’ll just go myself first.”

  “Eugh?! No, wait, Este—you got the wrong idea! I was just surprised that you actually agreed.” Alice hastily grabbed her change of clothes from her valise and ran after her. “Este, wait for me!!”

  She cracked up at her panicked reaction. “I’m waiting, I’m waiting.”

  Just as Balian mentioned in his note, the back of the inn connected to an outdoor bathhouse. An inn staff member guided Estel and Alice to the changing room, repeatedly assuring the two that no one would come and disturb them while they were inside the bathhouse.

  “Towels and soap are to your left, dear guests,” the staff member said before quickly closing the door shut. “If you need any assistance, please don’t hesitate to call for me!”

  “…”

  “…”

  “…um, we should change out of our clothes now, right?” Estel asked tentatively.

  “Damn it, why does this feel so much more awkward than I’d imagined?” Alice muttered, turning around and clumsily undoing her dress. “Pass me a towel please, Este.”

  “Mm, here you go—”

  Her eyes widened at the sight of all the scars and burns running down her back.

  “What’s wrong?” Alice asked, turning her head with a puzzled expression.

  “I-I…”

  Estel hesitated, the words she wanted to say dying on her lips in an instant. She should have expected it. Alice was a witch, after all. And nothing that she said now would matter.

  But, still…

  “…do they hurt?”

  Alice blinked, then let out a small, almost sheepish ugh as she pulled her hair over one shoulder. The firelight from the bathhouse nterns caught the uneven ridges and scabbed welts on her skin, painting them in softer, less cruel colors.

  “Hurt? No, not really. I lost all sensation in my back a long time ago,” she said nonchantly, stepping into the steaming bath with a small spsh. “And it’s been so long that it’s just part of me now, you know?”

  Estel stood frozen by the edge of the bath, clutching the hem of her chemise tightly. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the thin, reddish lines that criss-crossed Alice’s back—the consequence of being excommunicated and condemned as a witch.

  For some reason, the sight shattered something fragile inside her.

  It made her furious. It made her feel helpless.

  But worst of all, it made her heart ache.

  “You didn’t deserve those,” she whispered, inhaling shakily. “I…I’m so sorry…”

  “What for?”

  Alice turned, giving her a lopsided smile that was somehow both mischievous and unbearably kind.

  “I was the one who stubbornly rejected this world and its beliefs when I found myself stuck here. If anyone is to be bmed, it’s me.”

  “That’s…”

  “And what’s done is done,” Alice reminded. “I’m here now, am I not? I’m alive, Este.”

  She spread her arms wide as if presenting herself to the stars overhead, her bare skin glowing faintly in the misty night air.

  “That’s all that matters.”

  Estel lowered her eyes, feeling her cheeks redden even more deeply. She slipped off her chemise, folding it with trembling hands, and carefully stepped into the water beside Alice. The bath was blissfully hot, sending shivers up her spine as she sank down to her shoulders.

  For a while, neither of them spoke. They just sat there, letting the steam rise around them like a silken veil, their breaths soft in the cool autumn air.

  Finally, Alice broke the silence, her voice teasing but gentle. “You’re really bad at hiding your feelings, Este.”

  “I-I’m not!” Estel protested, puffing out her cheeks.

  She ughed, and Estel found herself chuckling, too—softly, mostly unwittingly—because somehow, despite everything, being with Alice made it impossible to stay sad for long.

  “Alright, enough with the gloomy stuff,” Alice said, leaning back against the edge of the bath, letting the beads of water run down her face and along her neck. “Let’s talk about something fun instead.”

  Estel blinked, startled out of her thoughts. “Fun?”

  “Yup!” Alice turned to her, flicking a little water in her direction with her fingertips. “Tell me, Este—are you secretly together with Marcus?”

  Estel sputtered, nearly slipping under the water. “W-what?! N-no! Of course not!”

  Alice giggled, a gentle, sweet sound that echoed off the stone walls around them. “Oh, come on! Anyone can see that he had his eyes on you when he was talking to you in the manor. Are you really not interested in the tall and handsome Captain at all? Not even a tiny bit?”

  Estel’s face turned bright red. She hugged her knees to her chest, trying to hide her embarrassment behind a wall of steam. “E-even though we’ve known each other since we were kids, I don’t think…no, he’s too busy for something like a retionship…”

  “Hmph, his loss then,” Alice said, wading to her side.

  She reached out and ran her fingers through Estel’s wet hair absent-mindedly. “If I were one of the male leads, I would’ve proposed to you already—especially if I knew that you were dumped by that bastard of a prince so badly.”

  Estel’s heart gave an odd little skip, and she sank lower into the bath, hiding half her face in the water.

  “You’re teasing me again…” she grumbled, but there was no real anger behind it—only a growing warmth she couldn’t quite expin.

  With a furtive smile on her lips, Alice grabbed her hand and pressed it against her own chest.

  Estel’s words of surprise instantly died in her throat. The quiet, steady throbbing of Alice’s heart against her palm, the soothing warmth of her body, the rough yet tender softness of her skin—everything about her was wonderful, sensuous and all so very near impossible to resist.

  She was suddenly very keenly aware that she was fully undressed, and so was Alice, and there was nothing standing in between their bodies except the hot, sultry steam.

  Then Alice leaned in forward, and she felt her arm wrap around her waist flirtatiously, pulling her in close.

  Her own heart was racing now. Her lips barely brushed against Alice’s, and yet the sudden spark of electricity that seemed to jump between their bodies felt almost visceral. It sent an intense shudder through her mind, eliciting a strange sound from deep inside her, something soft and low and dripping with pure, carnal lust.

  Estel recognised with horror that it was a moan—almost inaudible, but as loud as church bells in her own ears.

  “N-no…” she said weakly, almost whimpering. “We can’t…do this…now—”

  Alice kissed her.

  Slowly, gently, lingeringly, her tongue sucked at her lower lip, teasing her lips apart, probing into her mouth and tasting her. It ignited a blistering swell of heat deep in her belly. And lower, between her legs too.

  Oh fuck.

  She could feel all her inhibitions and fears evaporating like the steam, repced by a sizzling desire that threatened to engulf her. It was dangerous. Intimate. Sinful.

  Lumina be damned, she was turned on beyond belief.

  Just before Estel was about to give in to her temptations and completely surrender her body, Alice abruptly stopped and pulled back.

  “?!”

  The sudden move left Estel confused yet trembling, the blood hot in her veins, and her whole being practically burning and begging for more.

  “So,” Alice whispered, her ruby-red eyes peering into hers intently, “do you think I’m joking, Este?”