3.5

Delphinel threw the book away with relief.

‘This isn’t it either! It’s the most perverted!’

Do erotic novel protagonists follow some average rule of temperament? The male protagonist here is the mildest of all the erotic novels she’s read, but the female protagonist’s temperament is quite formidable. Besides, if she’s a Countess, there’s a high chance of adultery.

‘The male protagonist in this book seemed like Red, so I felt attached… No, I mean, I felt sorry.’

Having thrown the book away, Delphinel reached for the last book without caring anymore.

『How to Share a Childhood Friend Fairly』

The novel’s setting is a peaceful rural estate. The female protagonist is the daughter of the guard captain, pure but unable to overlook injustice. From the first scene, she boldly beats up a guard who harassed her.

‘I like her.’

And the male protagonist also has many merits. Kind, resolute, always willing to listen to the female protagonist’s stories. His future plans are clear, too.

However, the big issue that made Delphinel tilt her head was…

‘Is there really two male protagonists?’

Judging by the title, the male protagonist should be a childhood friend, but the problem is that there are two childhood friends.

One is the youngest son of the lord. The other is the son of a knight who served the lord, and he recently received a knighthood from the capital.

If the two characters had different levels of importance, it would be easier to distinguish them. However, with each turn of the page, the two appeared alternately.

‘Surely, surely, surely…’

Soon, Delphinel’s hand stopped at a love scene.

[Even with Cassie sitting quietly on the bed, neither of the two men was willing to yield an inch.

Cassie sighed deeply.

For grown men over twenty to behave so childishly.

And over something as trivial as ‘who Cassie would kiss first’!

“It’s not like it’s my first kiss with either of you. Can’t it just be anyone?” 

Cassie grumbled, and the two men answered in turn.

“Cassie, I don’t intend to be ‘just anyone’.”

“Right. And doesn’t it feel like whoever kisses first is the main character of the day?”

The childhood friend with the firm voice and the one with the gentle voice glared at each other. This could go on all night.

Finally, Cassie settled the situation.

“Allen will kiss first, and then Benji will kiss at the end.”

“…Fine.”

Allen, who didn’t want to be ‘just anyone,’ nodded and turned to Benji. His eyes held a peculiar sense of victory. However, Benji simply smiled as if he found it amusing.

“Great. The one who goes last is remembered the longest, right?”

“I don’t plan to kiss so poorly that I’d be forgotten.”

Allen didn’t hesitate any longer. Already heated, he roughly took off his shirt, revealing a scarred, solid body. Cassie felt a bit tense, but that tension melted away under Allen’s unexpectedly gentle kiss.

“Mmm…!”

However, their time alone didn’t last long. In Allen’s embrace, Cassie shivered, and Allen quickly found the culprit.

Benji had somehow started sucking on one of Cassie’s br*asts.

His teasing tongue flicked at her sensitive n*pple, drawing a moan from Cassie. Simultaneously, Allen’s kiss grew more intense.

“Mm, ah… Uh!”

Allen firmly held Cassie’s face, as if to swallow all her sounds. He didn’t care who was at her chest, as long as she was looking at him.

Unseen by the other two, Benji bit his lower lip briefly.

‘Ah, indeed. Would it have been troublesome to give up the main character role?’

Though uninterested in wielding swords, Benji also hated to lose.

His lips left her chest, and at the moment Cassie unknowingly let out a disappointed moan, he dove between her legs. Her thighs reflexively tightened, but they couldn’t withstand Benji’s strength.

“……!”

Cassie’s hips trembled. Realizing too late that another game had begun, a small spark flickered in Allen’s eyes. Yet he didn’t release Cassie’s lips. He whispered into her mouth.

“Whose is better?”

Not stopping at just asking, Allen guided Cassie’s hand to his own arousal. It had been waiting for her, fully aroused. At first, Cassie flinched as if touching fire, but perhaps excited by the mouth working below, she soon began to…]

Delphinel paused, closed the book, and prayed for the first time in about twenty years.

‘Oh, God!’

To think the seemingly most decent characters would engage in the most provocative actions. Even the Countess wielding a riding crop seemed wholesome by comparison.

Delphinel considered throwing this book away too.

After all, a book with two men was of no use to her. Red has only one body. Moreover, if Delphinel succeeded in getting pregnant, she’d have even less reason to read this.

But as she closed the book, a new question arose.

‘…What do they do as three?’

This is academic curiosity, academic curiosity.

Delphinel made excuses to herself as she opened the book again.

But before returning to the scene she had been reading, an early episode in the book caught her eye.

It was a scene where the two were talking outdoors.

[Cassie, after ensuring no one was around, spoke to Benji.

“Benji, I’m only telling you this. Lately, I’ve been feeling really strange. Ever since Allen carried me, my heart’s been pounding unusually…”

“Pounding?”

“…I felt a throbbing down there. And it got wet.”

Cassie confessed with a face flushed red.

It was something she could say because Benji was the most comfortable man in the world for her. Also, it was something she could say because they had clumsily touched each other’s bodies for the first time.

Benji listened to her confession with smiling eyes. However, his lips twisted slightly as he replied.

“I see. So, you like Allen too, Cassie.”

“…I think so. The day Allen carried me after a long time, the moment I realized his body had completely changed from when we were kids… My feelings became so strange…”

Cassie’s face turned bright red. Not just her face. Her fingers fidgeted nervously. Benji forced himself to look away from those fingers and spoke, trying to sound as normal as possible.

“It’s natural to feel that way if you like someone. Don’t be embarrassed.”

“Really? I thought I was becoming a pervert… Allen was just helping me purely!!”

“That purity can be appealing too.”

Benji looked at Cassie as if seeing through her.

“The moment you realize you like someone, everything seems new. A face that was ordinary looks prettier, and a simple helping hand feels more thrilling than it did yesterday. It’s inevitable that it leads to those kinds of feelings.”

“…Benji, you know so much. You’re really smart.”

“Of course, it’s because I’m smart, but that’s not all. I’ve felt those emotions too.”

Casually, Benji threw a small spark into Cassie’s heart.

“The day you got drunk and asked me to dance. I got aroused too… just from you fiddling with my hand.”

“…What?”

“It means I like you.”

“No, no way. Benji, that, that’s…”

“I was the one who wanted to deny it most. But I’m not stupid enough to deny my own reactions, Cassie.”

Benji reached out his hand.

“Honestly… I like you.”]

Delphinel closed the book.

And then opened it again, closed it, opened it, and closed it once more. As if that would somehow change the contents of the book.

But Benji didn’t run away from his confession. He only laid bare how stimulating his childhood friend’s simple touch was, with a flushed face.

‘No, no, no.’

A red warning blared in Delphinel’s mind.

It would be better to be a pervert.

Reacting more because you like someone? A face that was ordinary looking more handsome, being more thrilled by a simple touch than yesterday…

“That’s just… nonsense.”

Erotic novels often normalize unrealistic situations.

Like how inserting something into another always feels good for both, or how embarrassing actions lead directly to pleasure.

So, surely this novel too…

“R-really, what a ridiculous and shameful…!”

Her curiosity about ‘how three people engage in intimate acts’ flew to the back of her mind in an instant. Delphinel slammed the childhood friend erotic novel shut with a loud noise. She felt she had to seal this book away for a while.

‘My type is someone thinner, just half a hand taller than me, and intellectual! Professor Larson fits that way more! Not that that insufferable man would ever be an option!’

To bury her pointless thoughts, Delphinel dug a deep hole in the surrounding pile of books and shoved the childhood friend erotic novel inside. Then she piled other books around it like a mound, ensuring she wouldn’t have to see it again. Given the sheer number of books, it wasn’t difficult. It was just a bit noisy.

By then, Delphinel’s rationality had somewhat returned.

She thought she might someday have a reason to look at the remaining books, so she placed them within easy reach.

She buried the perverted priestess book a bit deeper and kept the childhood friend and governess books nearby.

‘I think there was one more… What was it?’

Late realization struck that it was the story of a stable keeper and the Countess. The thought that the stable keeper resembled Red lingered for a moment.

‘This is really a perverted book too! No, I need to stash this away before anyone sees it! Where is it?’

When Delphinel turned her head to find the book, she discovered its bright red cover in someone else’s hands.