"Thank you, Mr. Lucas. I will patiently wait for that day," Katerina said softly. Then she added, "In any case, I would like you to start eating the first course I prepared before it gets cold. Meanwhile, I will begin preparing the second course for you," finishing with a brief bow.
Because of the conversation that had just taken place, Lucas had until that moment completely forgotten about the beautiful plate of pasta carbonara in front of him, which fortunately was still steaming.
"Of course," the boy replied, his mouth already watering. He had to admit that he was glad he had managed to push away almost all of his guilt before starting to eat this fantastic-looking plate of pasta, because now he could enjoy it without any unnecessary worries.
He immediately picked up a fork, twirled a strand of spaghetti around it, and placed it in his mouth. The flavor was perfect. It reminded him of a plate of carbonara he had eaten at a restaurant in Rome when he had gone there on vacation with his parents. This dish was a nearly perfect recreation of the recipe from his home world.
"KATERINA, THIS DISH IS TRULY FANTASTIC—YOU'VE RECREATED IT PERFECTLY!" Lucas exclaimed enthusiastically, before immediately returning to stuffing his cheeks with the pasta she had prepared.
"Thank you, Mr. Lucas. I am truly happy that you like the dish I made," Katerina replied in her calm voice from the kitchen. "The second course will be ready shortly."
The second course Katerina had referred to was a top-quality beef steak, accompanied by a sauce that appeared to be made from red wine. It too looked—and tasted—divine. By now Lucas had realized that being a ruler was far from simple, far more complicated than most people imagined. Still, he had to admit that even just for the food, it was absolutely worth it!
While Lucas was enjoying his main course, Katerina had already begun heating the water for the bath, a bathtub that was almost as large as a medium-sized swimming pool.
Once he had finished eating, Katerina gently convinced him to take a bath to relax and wash away the fatigue of the day. Because he truly wanted to relax, Lucas asked her if he could wash himself entirely on his own—except for his hair. When the time came, he would call her.
"Of course, Mr. Lucas. Please call me whenever you feel it is necessary," Katerina replied in her usual monotone and professional voice before opening the bathroom door for her queen.
The moment Lucas entered the bathroom and Katerina closed the door behind him, he undressed with remarkable speed and stepped immediately into the water.
"Ah… this is heaven," Lucas murmured as he sank into the hot bath.
The temperature was perfect—warm, but not so hot that it would burn the skin. It was exactly the right temperature to wash away any lingering fatigue.
In his previous life, he had practically stopped taking baths entirely—aside from the occasional visit to a spa, a swimming pool, or the beach. After he entered middle school, no one in his house used the bathtub anymore, so it had eventually been removed from the bathroom next to his bedroom and replaced with a larger shower. From that point on, the shower had been the only thing he used to clean himself, since it was much faster.
Now, however, he took a bath almost every day, and he had completely reevaluated the experience. A good hot bath, he realized, was not a waste of time at all.
After a couple of minutes in which Lucas drifted into a state of total relaxation without thinking about anything in particular, two enormous floating "objects," as usual, caught his attention.
Those two objects were, of course, Alberia's breasts—something that had technically belonged to him for several weeks now.
Lucas had begun, albeit slowly, to grow accustomed to their presence. At least enough that he no longer became flustered every time he looked down. However, that only applied when he was dressed and someone else was present in the room.
Now, alone in the bath, he found it much more difficult to remain completely calm.
Because of the intense training sessions he had undergone in preparation for the tournament, he had neither the time nor the energy to continue the "exploration" that Katerina had allowed him to begin just a few days after he first found himself in this body. As a result, all those small moments of eroticism caused by living inside such a feminine and voluptuous body—one that was almost always dressed in extremely revealing clothing—had slowly accumulated.
On top of that, he now also had the explicit permission of his new sister, Aislyra. And little by little, Lucas was beginning to see this body as truly his own.
For that reason, in this quiet moment, the lingering traces of embarrassment and hesitation that had been restraining him were beginning to reach their limit.
With both hands, Lucas grabbed the two massive, flesh-colored watermelons attached to his chest and lifted them completely out of the water.
A soft moan escaped his lips as he failed to fully resist the pleasure caused by that simple action.
Then he released them, allowing gravity to pull them forcefully back into the water. Not only did they create several splashes when they hit the surface again, but they also formed a small wave that spread across the entire bath.
A brief "Ouch" slipped from Lucas's mouth when his heavy breasts slammed against the water.
This action caused him pain rather than pleasure, since he had released them so suddenly and without the slightest gentleness.
"Note to self: remember to handle your breasts gently, or it hurts," he muttered in a low voice, stating the rather obvious.
Even so, he had to admit that he enjoyed watching the effect of those heavy yet soft objects as they slapped against the water.
Every time he tried to move them—or even perform any kind of physical activity with those enormous weights attached to his chest—he couldn't help wondering how this body didn't constantly suffer from back pain.
"But it's probably thanks to the fact that this body is fundamentally stronger than that of a normal human being, and above all thanks to Katerina's divine massages that she often gives my back…" Lucas murmured to himself.
Then, glancing down again, he added thoughtfully, "Massages, huh… Now that I think about it, I've never tried massaging them…"
The fact that he was already aroused meant that his curiosity quickly and easily took control.
He immediately placed both hands on his breasts, letting his fingers and palms sink into the soft flesh of the massive curves rising from his chest.
At that moment, a soft "Mmmmm…" slipped from Lucas's closed lips.
Then he began gently moving his hands, buried in that soft warmth, sliding them up and down and causing the two large breasts to move along with the motion.
Another moan—this one louder—escaped from the former boy's mouth.
"W-wow…" he whispered in a trembling voice, completely awestruck.
Soon he began moving them not only up and down but also from side to side. After that, he started kneading the soft flesh more deliberately.
And with that, Lucas's massage of this new and extremely sensitive part of his body truly began.
The sensation his hands experienced reminded him strangely of a memory from chemistry class at school, when the teacher had them knead bread dough. If the former boy had to name the differences, they were the texture of human skin compared to dough—and the warmth. It felt as if his hands were wrapped in a gentle but intensely hot fire.
"…It's a-amazing!" Lucas whispered.
He quickly bit his lip, trying to stop the louder moans that threatened to escape his mouth.
It was true that Katerina would probably say nothing even if she knew exactly what he was doing right now. In fact, considering that he was taking longer than usual to call for her, she had probably already guessed what he was doing.
But even if she had figured it out, the mere thought of letting her hear his moans was still deeply embarrassing for the boy who had become a woman.
That restraint lasted only a few seconds.
In less than ten, the pleasure became too intense, and Lucas could no longer suppress the sounds of pleasure that escaped him, which now turned into soft, breathy cries.
"S-so soft…"
"My body… it's getting so hot…"
The new queen gasped between breaths, completely lost in the sensations.
After about a minute, during which the massage had gradually turned into simple groping, the hand that had been squeezing the soft, firm, and enormous right breast slowly drifted away.
Almost instinctively, it began moving downward—past his waist, between his thighs—toward the place that was currently the warmest part of Lucas's body.
But—
It stopped.
His willpower intervened at the same moment as a sudden surge of fear.
Lucas immediately released the other breast as well. Then he brought both hands up to his cheeks and slapped himself with them at the same time.
"Calm down, Lucas. You know very well that you're not ready to go that far yet," Lucas said to himself in an attempt to regain control. Then, after taking a deep breath, he added, "Come on, wash up and then call Katerina for your hair!"
Even if he would never admit it out loud, what he had just experienced had been a pleasure greater than anything he had ever felt before—something almost heavenly—and he had not even gone all the way.
'Damn, Alberia's body is far too sensitive and, above all, far too erotic…' Lucas thought with embarrassment, though at the same time he felt a certain erotic excitement when imagining how he might have felt if he had continued.
After rinsing the sweat from the parts of his body that were not submerged in the water, Lucas stepped out of the tub so he could properly lather himself with soap.
That moment, however, was far from easy.
Because of what he had just done, his body—already extremely sensitive by nature—had become even more reactive. Every time he touched his skin while washing himself, a small moan slipped from his lips, and each time he risked falling back into temptation.
Still, thanks to a great deal of determination and self-control, he managed to soap his entire soft and sensitive body without starting to "play" with it again.
Once he had finished, nearly every part of his body—except his hair—was covered in high-quality soap.
"Katerina," Lucas called out.
The exact moment the final syllable of her name left his mouth, the bathroom door opened and Katerina entered.
"Mr. Lucas, I assume it is time to wash your hair?" said the half-closed eyed woman in her usual calm, monotone voice.
Lucas nodded.
In an instant, Katerina began working. Her hands, now covered in soap, moved gently yet skillfully through her queen's long and beautiful blonde hair. With remarkable care and professionalism, she removed the small knots that had formed during the day, never causing Lucas even the slightest discomfort.
In fact, the former boy now felt as though he had returned to heaven—though this time it was a far calmer and purer kind of paradise.
But from Heaven, he nearly fell back into the second circle of Hell, when one of Katerina's soft hands slid down his back in an unexpectedly sensual motion.
A sharp, surprised moan escaped Lucas's lips.
He immediately turned toward his maid, his face completely red.
"Katerina!?"
"Mr. Lucas, I felt quite happy when I heard that you were finally beginning to release some of the sexual tension you had built up over the last few days. But then you called me before you went any further, and to be honest… I was a little upset," she said in her usual calm, monotone voice.
Then she added in a much softer tone, one that carried a strangely sweet and sultry warmth.
"So… would you like me to help you?"
Her voice sounded like honey—warm, smooth, and dangerously tempting.
"OF COURSE NOT!!!!!!!!" Lucas shouted immediately, his face burning bright red.
After that brief and rather chaotic moment, the rest of the evening returned to normal.
Once the soap had been rinsed from his body, the particularly steamy bath finally came to an end. Katerina carefully smoothed his hair before bidding him goodnight with an elegant bow and returning to her own room.
Aislyra also headed back to her chambers, after being relieved by no fewer than five members of the Royal Knights. Before leaving, however, she reminded Lucas of something important: although his room was almost completely soundproof, the wall separating his room from the one where she slept was not. So if anything happened, he should call for her immediately.
Lucas, exhausted and now alone—especially mentally—decided that after putting on a nightgown, he would go straight to bed without doing anything else.
Even so, sleep did not come immediately.
Although his concerns regarding Katerina had been resolved for the moment, three other individuals were now occupying his thoughts. Two of them, in particular, were clearly connected to one another.
The first was the mysterious assassin who had already tried twice to take his life: the Silent Gate.
The other two were Minister Scuro—whom Lucas worried about, mainly for his safety—and the terrifying vice-captain of the Dark Knights, Buio.
Those three people represented his greatest current concerns, and their presence in his mind made it difficult for him to fall asleep.
But after about an hour spent thinking about them, his exhausted brain finally reached its limit. His thoughts faded away, and sleep eventually claimed the new queen of the Kingdom of Yggdora.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Golden Trees Arena! The second and final day of The Tournament of The Golden Trees preliminaries is about to begin!" Chiacchera shouted, her voice overflowing with excitement.