Chapter 673: Chapter 50: Don’t Play Dumb
Mia sat at the edge of the lounge chair, while Aske straightened up and poured some sunscreen into his palm.
“Hey~” Just as his hand touched her, Mia twisted her body and adeptly dodged Aske’s ‘evil claw’.
“What are you doing?” Aske asked, puzzled.
“It’s ticklish.” Little Mia said in a sweet voice, with a hint of tears welling up in her eyes.
“Really? Is your skin that sensitive?” Aske tried touching again, but Mia twisted away again, quickly evading him.
Aske: ……
“Little sister, something’s off with you.” He put down the bottle of sunscreen, speaking seriously.
“Huh?” Little Mia turned her head back in confusion.
“Being so sensitive to touch, that could become a weakness for you!” Aske pondered.
“It’s not that, it’s unrelated.” Little Mia lowered her head and said softly, “I don’t know why, but whenever you touch me, Aske, I feel my whole body heat up, my face gets hot, and I just want to get away from you… Squad Leader, am I sick?”
“Ah, yes.” Aske said seriously, “You better go see Nora about that.”
Mia: ……
She walked away bewildered. Aske then lay back down, closed his eyes, and had barely dozed off when he heard a steady voice beside him.
“That’s not very nice, you know? Squad Leader.”
“What do you mean?” Aske opened his eyes, and sure enough, saw Eleanor standing beside the lounge chair, looking down at him.
“Little Mia probably has a bit of a crush on you.” Eleanor pointed towards Mia’s retreating back and said, “Since she went through all the trouble to confess to you, the least you could do is respond properly, right? Playing dumb is not very gentlemanly.”
“I was never a gentleman to begin with. Besides, that’s just your assumption.” Aske sat up and silently picked up the bottle of sunscreen, “If she doesn’t mean it that way, wouldn’t it be really awkward for me to respond seriously?”
“It’s just an assumption, but my intuition tells me I’m right.” Eleanor watched him squeeze sunscreen onto his palm and quickly whispered, “Never mind, I can apply it myself.”
“Can your hands reach your back?” Aske asked, somewhat surprised, and then put down the bottle again.
“No, I have a towel.” Eleanor took off the white towel hanging over her shoulder and demonstrated, “I can apply the sunscreen on the towel and then use both hands to rub it across my back.”
“Smart.” Aske remarked.
Eleanor fell silent for a moment, then seemed to casually add:
“But since you’ve already squeezed it out, would you mind helping me apply it?”
“Then sit down.”
“Okay.”
Eleanor sat with her back to him on the edge of the lounge chair, twisting her ponytailed blonde hair around to the front of her neck, revealing her smooth, pale back.
Aske absentmindedly helped her spread it evenly, suddenly noticing that her strap seemed a bit loose.
Uh-oh…
“Done?” When she felt his hands stop, Eleanor turned to get up, and sure enough, the strap snapped, and the already overburdened swimsuit immediately fell off.
Before Aske had the chance to close his eyes, Eleanor quickly covered her chest, and then, as if by magic, Radiance began to flow, completely shielding her.
She could actually conjure Holy Light! Aske was utterly floored. Eleanor, you truly live up to the model of a female knight!
“This… this swimsuit is a bit tight… I felt it was a size too small when I tried it on before…” The blonde knight explained frantically, ashamed enough to wish she could burrow into the sand, “You… you didn’t see, did you?”
“No.” Aske chose to lie.
“Um, could you… could you go buy me another swimsuit?” Eleanor asked with a red face, covering her chest, “There’s a little store just outside.”
“Oh, sure,” Aske thought this was just fine, to avoid a crowd searching for him to apply sunscreen, “What size?”
“37D,” she said, a bit embarrassed, “Thank you, Squad Leader.”
So he let Eleanor lie down on the lounger and picked up the discarded swimsuit for her to cover herself with, while leisurely walking outside in his slippers.
“Swimsuit, 37D.” Upon entering the store, Aske tossed the money on the counter and said.
“Buying a swimsuit for your girlfriend?” The store owner was a Sicilian uncle with a full goatee and started searching through the piles of clothes at the back of the rack upon hearing that.
“Heh,” Aske naturally didn’t respond.
“Do you want the good quality one, or the poor quality one?” the store owner asked.
“Is there a difference?” Aske asked casually.
“Good quality is two dinars,” the shop owner said, “Bad quality is three.”
“Huh?” Aske chuckled in disbelief, “The poorer quality is more expensive? How does that work?”
“It’s like this,” the shop owner said with a teasing expression of ‘you don’t understand, young man,’ and laughed, “The so-called poor quality is intentionally made with a smaller size, and the straps are also designed to be more fragile. Wearing it to a swimsuit party, it might accidentally break, and then… you know. Young people like this kind of thrill, and of course, some play fun games with their boyfriends.”
“These people really know how to play,” Aske laughed helplessly, “Give me a good quality one.”
“Hmm.” The store owner brought out three designs, and Aske examined them before picking the simplest plain white one and paid before heading back.
“Here you go.” Coming under the umbrella, Aske threw the swimsuit to the pretending-to-be-dead Eleanor and said, “Remember to buy the good quality next time.”
“But I bought the most expensive one…” Eleanor was on the verge of tears.
“Cough, sometimes expensive doesn’t mean good quality, you know some luxury lingerie can’t be washed? It’s said to be designed for one-time use, so the quality, of course, isn’t that great.” Aske changed the subject.
“Oh.” Eleanor silently nodded, took over the swimsuit, and the radiance of will immediately wrapped her into a cocoon, blocking Aske’s line of sight.
Half a minute later, the cocoon opened again, and Eleanor, who had changed into the swimsuit, shyly stood up, bit her lip in silence for a moment, and then pointed towards the sea ahead:
“Then… I’m going swimming, are you coming too?”
“No need, I’ll just lie here.” Aske patted the lounger.
Eleanor walked away with a look of regret. Aske sat on the chair but didn’t immediately lie down, as if he was waiting for something.
After a moment, Sigrdrifa with her white long hair came over, handing him an ice cream.
“Thanks,” Aske took the ice cream and took a bite.
“Don’t mention it, in exchange, help me apply sunscreen,” Sigrdrifa said.
Just as expected, Aske wasn’t surprised and dutifully applied it evenly on her back.
“What about the front?” Sigrdrifa turned around and suddenly placed his hand on her chest, “You need to apply it there too.”
“Can’t you apply it yourself on the front?” Aske quickly withdrew his hand.
“No, I want you to do it,” Sigrdrifa insisted.
“Why?”
“Just because,” she said firmly, “I like it. And you ate my ice cream, so don’t back out.”
Aske: ………..
Sigrdrifa seemed to have transformed into a different person, just like Miel from before.
At that moment, Sigrdrifa held his wrist tightly, not letting him go, and of course, Aske couldn’t summon a Longsword from the void to cut her down. After a standoff, he could only compromise:
“How about this, I’ll help you apply it on your arms and legs, and you handle the rest yourself, okay?”
“Okay.” Sigrdrifa nodded her head and then finally revealed a radiant smile.