Chapter 9: Amorous Assistance

After leaving Cornelia's room, I used the first opportunity I had to change into my other, more permanent, maid identity. I would have preferred to change back into my own identity, as walking around in a dress wasn't something I particularly enjoyed, but it would be hard to explain why the 'Mule' was walking around in the section for the elite portion of the female students.

It turned out to be a prudent choice, as I was distracted by a familiar voice. "Selina," she called, though I would be able to recognize her even if I hadn't been able to recognize her voice. Only one person knew the name of this fake identity.

"Madame Griselda," I said as I turned, curtsying respectfully, a motion which she waved off.

"So lucky," she murmured. "I was just trying to find you, but neither you nor your employer was around."

"He's probably lost," I answered. With the contempt she had in her voice while mentioning my real identity, I didn't think she would have any trouble believing that particular lie. I wasn't really angry at her though, how could I be, when she gave me such an amazing gift the last time. "So, why were you looking for me?"

"Mistress has arrived from the library early, and asking for a bath, and sent me to find you" she explained. "I know that it's a bit sudden, but if you don't have any other task-" she continued until I cut her off.

"I will be delighted," I answered, giving the first true answer of the night to her. I didn't think that I would have been able to contain my excitement if it wasn't for my well-developed subterfuge skill. I had a feeling that Marianne's sudden arrival had been linked to Cornelia's disappearance, cutting their private time short. "I have already completed all my other tasks."

"Excellent. Let's go and prepare the bath."

I didn't exactly welcome her presence in that phase, not with the additional preparations I needed to complete. "I already know everything other than how to prepare that herbal water. Let's go prepare that, and I can handle everything else."

"Such a reliable youngster," she said happily. "The bath water is already boiling in the same room."

"Then there is nothing preventing you from getting a couple of hours of rest, is there? Actually, why don't you just take the night off? I can attend her for the rest of the night."

[+1 Speech]

"You would do that for me?" she said happily. "Still..."

The fight between her desire for an early night and her sense of responsibility was obvious. I had a feeling that, without any external involvement, the latter would come out victorious. Luckily, nothing was preventing me from being that external force. "Don't you trust me?" I added, doing my best to sound fragile, even managing to push a tear from the side of my eyes. Her suddenly growing eyes implied success before she managed to speak.

[+1 Speech]

"Of course I trust you," she answered in hurry. I softened my expression. "Mistress is very satisfied with your service as well," she continued in a more leisure pace, unaware of the type of satisfaction her mistress had experienced.

"Excellent," I answered. "Why don't you go and rest, so that you'll be able to attend her, fresh as a daisy."

She had left, but only after giving me a detailed breakdown of Marianne's nightly ritual, which I memorized in just one repeat, making her relax even more about relying on me about her charge. When she left, I went to the preparation room, where a huge cauldron was filled with hot, simmering water. I filled two buckets, carrying them with a near-dashing pace, wanting to finish the preparations before Marianne lost her patience and decided to resolve her need in a solitary manner.

Several minutes and three rounds of buckets later, I was in Marianne's bathroom, once again dressed in my towels, the room filled with steam for good measure. After one last check to make sure everything in place, I stepped out, and knocked on the door of her bedroom. "The bath is ready, my lady," I called, doing my best to sound tricky.

She said nothing, just let out a dissatisfied grunt to notify she had heard me. I dashed back to the bathroom, just in case she decided to call me in her bedroom. An interesting proposition for sure, but I wasn't ready to be seen by her without the protective curtain of the steam to blunt the edges. My disguise was good, but not that good.

When Marianne walked into the room, wearing a loose dressing-gown, barely held together by a sash, I could read a few emotions on her lovely face. The first was the annoyance. The reason didn't take long to confirm. "The next time, I expect you to wait in front of my door," she said with a sharp tone, with all the entitlement of a noblewoman used to get everything she demanded from the lower classes.

"Of course, mistress," I answered, raising my voice to hide my desire to laugh out loud, because it wasn't only anger I could hear in her tone. There was a strain hidden underneath, one that reminded me of the early stages of her encounter with Cornelia, before the redhead cut loose and satisfied her needs. A task that fell under my purview after my 'accidental' success during her last bath.

And the strain of her voice wasn't the only indicator. With a pull, she got rid of her loosely tied sash, giving me a glimpse of her voluptuous body. Even better, the limited view thanks to the steam cloud hung between us, the view had gained an exotic quality, the resulting beauty enough to strain the capabilities of the towel wrapped around my waist that secured my secret.

[+50 Experience]

When she started walking, her gown flowed behind her, adding to the mystique, but after a shrug of her shoulders, the gown fell on the ground, leaving her in her birthday suit as she covered the rest of the distance with the bath.

[+100 Experience]

Showing off my amazing maid skills, I was already at the edge of the bath before her arrival, my arm raised to help her. She grabbed my hand as her feet touched the bubbles that covered the surface of the water, and helped her to lower herself, no matter how much it hurt to hide that spectacular body in the concealing embrace of the water.

I wore the bathing glove on my right hand with some soap while she soaked in the water. She reached for her wine glass, already filled with a generous amount, and took a sip that noticeably changed the amount inside.

I planned to let her wait a few minutes as she sipped some more wine, mellowing her further in collaboration with the gentle caress of the hot water, but she changed my mind when she sent a glance to my way, biting her lips at the last second to prevent herself from saying something. Likely asking me to start quicker, I presumed. As a humble servant, who I was to disappoint?

I gently grabbed her right arm, the one that wasn't currently occupied with the wine glass, and started rubbing with my gloved hand, while the naked one supported from below. At first, the delivery was restricted to the glove, but soon, the fingers of my naked hand joined the dance, slowly going back and forth in a rhythmic pattern to support the massage.

Even more, when I reached higher parts of her arm, I positioned my left hand carefully, resulting in the back of my hand, resting 'accidentally' on her breast. She flinched a bit on my touch and turned to me, but I kept my eyes on her arm, not giving the slightest indication that I had noticed her gaze. A while later, she took another sip and returned her position, her eyes closed to enjoy the massage, implicitly accepting my touch.

[+100 Experience]

Satisfied with the result, I continued to dally on the upper part of her arm, while continuing to rub her breasts gently, not just for pleasure but also to make her get used to my touch. However, only after shifting into her other arm, I had realized that, in the excitement of the moment, I failed to attend a rather important task, sneakily refilling her wine glass. When I turned towards her, the wine glass was already empty, resting on the side.

"Another glass, mistress," I asked, hoping to fix the issue, but I just received a shook of her head in return. A pity, as her tipsiness would have increased the ease of my task. But a moment later, I shrugged, as the challenge would make the eventual result only tastier.

With that decision in mind, I have subjected her other arm the same stretched out treatment while she enjoyed the gentle embrace of the water, ignoring the signs of her impatience. There was a certain pleasure in watching her as she struggled not to order me to hurry up, not wanting to risk what she thought as successful concealment of her intentions. It was interesting just how easy for her to convince her to the obviousness of the servant class...

[+1 Subterfuge]

Still, internalized class discrimination in the society wasn't the topic I needed to focus right now, not when I had a unique access to such a voluptuous beauty, especially when she occasionally bristled in the water, which raised her breasts above the protective cloud the bubbles, tempting me to dismiss the caution and sink my fingers into their beautiful expanse. But I held back, focusing on slowly eroding her resistance through pleasure.

[+200 Experience]

After another extended treatment of her shoulders, I moved onto her back. On there, I decided to mix things up a bit by applying some of the knowledge I had gained from medical books. After a cursory pass with the glove, I have removed the bath glove from my hand, and pressed my thumbs on both sides of her neck, on the first knot of her spine, and started dragging them down, my other fingers caressing her back to enhance the sensation.

Thanks to my stats, it wasn't exactly difficult to read her body language to fine-tune the pressure and the pattern of the caress I was applying on her back. I dragged my fingers down in a glacial pace, enjoying the softness of her skin while earning a moan of her. With the confirmation that I was on the right track, I focused on her back for a while, until she was straining to keep her moans inside.

I put back the bath glove before moving back to her shoulders, but this time, focusing on the front side while my hands dipped dangerously close to the curves of her breasts. No reaction from her. In the second pass, I made sure the caress the edge, the exact move that had alerted her the previous time despite her tipsiness, but this time, it went without a reaction as well. She had been mellowed enough.

It was the time to give her a full-frontal treatment, I decided as my gloved hand sank into the water, and made a pass over her breast. It was a neutral, clinical pass, easy to defend in case it angered her, but once again, it went unmentioned, with no reaction from her side, her eyes closed. When I made another pass, this time with more pressure, she reacted by a subtle pressing of her lips, but contrary to the last time, it only invigorated to go further, recognizing the sign of a held-back moan.

I continued caressing her breasts exclusively with my gloved hand, just in case of an adverse reaction, couldn't help but feel amazed at the benefits of a well-constructed identity.

[+1 Subterfuge]

[+300 Experience]

As the seconds stacked tall enough to create a pile of minutes, I decided it was the time to push further. Perhaps it was ill-advised, but the glove I was wearing was limiting the sensations, giving me just a taste, making me long for more. My left hand started listening to the orders of my brain as it slowly sunk into the water, and sank into her breast.

[+250 Experience]

The feeling I was getting was heavenly, but there was still one important issue, namely, why a maid was holding her breast for such a long time. I decided to go with a simple explanation, and used my grip to raise her breast, my gloved hand washing the underside of it. Her breasts, despite their largeness, was firm and shapely enough to not to need such a treatment, but she must have been more lost in the pleasures of the flesh, because a moan, a rather throaty one, was the only reaction from her.

I let out a relaxed breath at her reaction. It was one thing to know the implicit reason for my presence, and another to get implicit permission to push even further. My naked fingers started dancing on her breasts, paying lip-service to the excuse of creating the reach, while the gloved hand hungrily danced on the bottom of her breasts.

I decided to leave another layer of caution behind and positioned my hand directly above my hand. Her nipple, hardened with arousal, started to press on my palm, tempting me to twist it toyingly. Unfortunately, that was out of the question, so I limited myself to gently increase the pressure of my palm, adding a touch of friction to the balance. Something she enjoyed, if the sudden arching of her back was any indicator.

[+300 Experience]

But even as she started showing increased signs of arousals, her eyes stayed firmly closed, probably not wanting to be distracted from the heated daydream that was playing in her mind. Why not spice things up more, I thought as a sudden inspiration struck me. Yes, both of my hands were currently busy, not to mention using my other appendage was completely out of question, but luckily, magic was always ready to provide an answer.

It was difficult, trying to use magic this close to another accomplished student, but her rather distracted state helped me a lot, and the lessons I learned from Helga was enough to bridge the gap. I took a deep breath before slowly shaping up my mana into telekinetic force, creating an almost unnoticeable disturbance on the depths of water, just an inch away from where her legs met each other. The water started twirling as an orb, which delivered an invisible message to her most sensitive spots.

Almost, but not quite, evidenced by the increased frequency of moans, not to mention they were a touch louder as well. It was a moan that begged for a final climax.

[+500 Experience]

She was on the edge of an orgasm, and it would take a hard push into the soft flesh of her breasts, or a quickening of the small water trick I was using. And since she was already on the edge, plagued with an unmet orgasm, giving her the release she was seeking would be the nice thing to do.

Naturally, I slowed down.

It was amusing to watch her expression after I dispelled the water trick. A moment's confusion found itself between layers of pleasure as she tried to understand the reason for the sudden loss of pleasure. And I chose that exact moment to move down even further to her stomach. Even with her eyes closed, I could read her internal argument from her expression, considering ordering me to go back to my previous post.

I could easily imagine that order leaving Cornelia's lips, but Marianne was not as forward, even to a servant that was supposed to follow her orders. But it was convenient for me, because it gave me the excuse to dally around her stomach, my arm occasionally rubbing against her nipple under the guise of an accident, keeping her arousal up, but not to a point where she would find the climax she was seeking.

[+500 Experience]

Level UP!

[Select one of the following skills: Advanced Arcana, Basic Fire Magic, Basic Politics]

While another level was always welcome, I couldn't help but feel intrigued by the skill selection. The magical ones were quite clear, but politics was an interesting one. I hadn't seen anything remotely close in all the books I had read in the library. On the other hand, it didn't mean much, as I was still limited to the public parts of the library, which meant that anything remotely controversial wouldn't have a place there. And I could imagine a skill like politics hidden in the depths of the library, accessible only for the most influential noble families. Considering the interesting ways I had managed to use subterfuge, I could only begin to guess the potential for the political one.

I was tempted to choose it as my new skill, but at this point, I could ill-afford to take the risk of it turning out useless. In my circumstances, there was little application for it. I chose to improve my Arcana skill instead, wanting to maximize the benefit from my sessions with Helga. And frankly, arcana magic had too many applications for me to actually ignore.

With that resolved, I barely held back a laugh when I pulled back, only to create a panicked expression on her face. "It's time for your legs, milady," I said preemptively, reminding her that we were still halfway in.

[+3 Speech]

It was nice for the system to acknowledge the trick I pulled with a double-increase of my speech skill. I walked with deliberate slowness, and when I took my new spot, her leg was already up, waiting for my attention.

Since her eyes closed, there was nothing preventing me from smirking darkly as I put my thumbs on the soles of her feet, and started rubbing both of them at the same time. Her reaction was divine. Her back arched once more, in an angle sharp enough to raise her body outside the confines of the pool, enough to give me a glimpse of her most sacred place, making me thankful that I had used a second towel to prevent a view that would have exposed the ruse.

[+200 Experience]

The amazing view she presented tempted me to give her the release she had been looking for, but not enough to break my commitment to the drawn-out route. The minutes passed as I massaged her feet first, then slowly climbing up to her calves, followed by her thighs. I enjoyed the experience, but it was a tense enjoyment, as the situation forced me to stretch my newly expanded abilities to its limits to keep her in that sweet spot, grabbed the tight embrace of pleasure, making it hard for her to think, but never enough to allow her to reach the climax, keeping her on the edge.

The shape of her face as I pulled back was simply masterful, an interesting mixture of shock and disappointment trying to worm itself to her pleasure-addled expression.

[Achievement: Measured Massage. Deliver an extended treatment carefully balanced along the edge without toppling at either side. +300 Experience, +1 Precision, +1 Manipulation, +1 Perception]

[+300 Experience]

"Please stand up, mistress," I asked, but despite the subservient meaning, the tone was anything but so. My voice was laced with the best-implied command I could manage, stretching my speech and manipulation to the limit. It worked for a while, as she stood up, and with my help, stepped out of the bath. I grabbed her hand, and led her towards the showering area to rinse her off.

She started to recover after the shower, though she was still tense with her unmet orgasm. She opened her mouth as I closed in once more, holding a fluffy towel in my hands. "You still look tense, mistress," I said, keeping my eyes away from her face as appropriate. Of course, that had nothing to do with the amazing view I had as I slowly dried her body. "Maybe a massage would be helpful," I added as I wrapped the towel around her torso.

[+1 Speech]

[+200 Experience]

"A good idea," she answered calmly and started walking, but her blush betrayed her nervousness. I stayed a step behind her, watching her hips sway with each step. The view was amazing, because I had intentionally picked a small towel for her, barely covering her generous hips, giving me an amazing view.

[+100 Experience]

There were unexpected perks to being a servant.

[Level: 6 Experience: 16140 / 21000

Strength: 6 Charisma: 12

Precision: 10 Perception: 10

Agility: 9 Manipulation: 12

Speed: 6 Intelligence: 8

Endurance: 8 Wisdom: 17

HP: 234 / 234 Mana: 280 / 354 ]

SKILLS

[Advanced Subterfuge (45/50)

Advanced Arcana [25/50]

Basic Speech 18/25 ]