Book 2: Chapter 55: A Woman

“What? Sister Uesugi, are you… planning to help me practice the escape technique, or do you want me to teach it to you…?” Lily felt perplexed for a moment.

As Uesugi Rei had a gallant and cheerful disposition that allows her to move as she wished in the Land of East, Lily a.s.sumed that she definitely wouldn’t allow others to restrict her in such a manner. Hence, Lily speculated that Uesugi Rei either planned to bind her with rope or constrain her with these implements customized to torture women. However, this suggestion was really inopportune for Lily. She had thought about it before and came to the conclusion that she would rather have Shiu help her practice it than let Uesugi Rei help her with it as she may find it hard to handle the situation calmly in the latter case.

As Rei approached Lily in her deep-blue yukata, she seemed even more unrestrained than usual and oozed warmth along with a faint after-bath fragrance from her body. It also seemed that she revealed an excess of her cleavage only when both she and Lily wore yukatas.

She smiled faintly then said, “Lil’ Lily, were my words not clear enough? I want to learn the escape technique. Even though I may appear in a certain way, there’s a chance that I might get captured by an enemy, so having such a life-saving skill would come into use at that moment.”1

“But you are so powerful, Sister Uesugi. Would you really ever get captured by an enemy…?”

“Hehe. Lily, you think too highly of big sister. Even I only dared to kill the isolated demons that fell behind during the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. Perhaps I wouldn’t even be able to last a single moment if I were to face the Hundred Demons from the front. The terrors of the Heian Empire are much worse than you can imagine, Lily. Especially so for the regions outside the domain of the Land of East… For instance, even though I can earn an unimaginable amount of wealth by making frequent trips to explore those regions, the journey is fraught with extreme danger! So, wouldn’t that worry you, little sister? Or are you really unwilling to teach that life-saving technique to your older sister?”

“As if! I never knew you were also training yourself in the extreme zones, Sister Uesugi. Lily is naturally willing to teach you everything without holding back!” Lily cared about Rei, so obviously didn’t wish for her to fall into danger.

“Mhm. So, you’ll teach me, right? Where do we begin then? I’m clueless about this,” Uesugi Rei sashayed towards the triangle-shaped wooden horse and observed it with curiosity, “This horse looks so ugly, hehe. How does it work? Do I just need to ride it like this?”

Saying so, Rei spread her fair and slender legs apart with the intent to straddle the wooden horse.2

“Eh! Don’t! Don’t do it!” Lily quickly pulled her back in a fright.

It seems like Sister Uesugi really doesn’t know what this thing is!

The Heian period was unlike the modern era, which had the internet, so a lot of information was out of the people’s reach, and they wouldn’t necessarily know about it unless they had a chance to come in touch with it. As Uesugi Rei had never suffered a defeat ever since she had begun training, she wasn’t aware of what happened behind the doors of the torture rooms in the prisons. Since no one had punished her ever, she hadn’t thought much about these things and paid little attention to them, just like an Emperor who wasn’t aware of what money was and why people lacked it.

“What’s wrong?” Rei looked at Lily, who had pulled her back.

“T-This thing can’t be ridden so carelessly!” Lily said apprehensively as she pulled Rei’s hand with a blushing face.

“Oh? Is that so?” Uesugi Rei stroked the thin triangular edge of the wooden horse and said, “You’re right about that. Sitting on top of this does sound a bit bizarre.”

Lily shook her head feebly.

“But what if I am taken away to place similar to this one and restrained on top of a wooden horse? It should be very painful, right? So how would I escape from it?” Uesugi Rei questioned.

Lily explained nervously with a flushed face, “Sister Uesugi, the escape technique you want to learn is used to escape from bindings and restraints, while this wooden horse is… a torture implement3 that has no restraining features. Generally, the tortured person’s hands are bound behind their backs, and the person is then forced to ride this wooden horse.”

“Hmm,” Uesugi Rei nodded, “That makes sense. Let’s try it out then, you can teach me how to escape after that.”

Saying so, Uesugi Rei raised her leg to straddle the wooden horse yet again.

“No!” Lily pulled her back quickly, “Practicing like that is too dangerous and also meaningless. Sister Uesugi, it’s better for you to just learn the escape technique first.”

Rei placed her finger at the side of her lips and said, “You’re right, it’s best to learn it step-by-step. Will you teach me how to escape from bindings first, then?”

“… Sure, but I do find this a little weird,” Lily stated shyly. “Huh? What’s weird about it?” “That you’re allowing me to bind and restrain you, Sister Uesugi. Do you not feel ashamed about it?”

“Not at all,” Uesugi Rei replied calmly without the slightest blush on her face. She then seemed to have recalled something, so she sent Lily a seductive look and asked, “Huh. Lil’ Lily, you weren’t thinking of something weird, right?”

Uesugi Rei circled around Lily and blew into her ear, “Lil’ Sis, you really are a pervert to have such kind of weird thoughts when you are helping your sister practice.”

“I-I didn’t have any such weird thoughts!” Lily countered in angst. She had spoken those words to Uesugi Rei with kind intentions yet got shamed by her verbally in return.

Lily stopped letting it bother her anymore and stated solemnly, “Since you wish to learn it seriously, Sister Uesugi, Lily will teach it seriously as well! Let’s not think of anything weird then, and whoever blushes first will become the loser! Humph!”

“So be it then,” Uesugi Rei smiled calmly.

“So, where do we begin? I do feel a little curious since I have never practiced something like this in the entire course of my training,” Uesugi Rei raised her hands and braided her long, silver hair into a ponytail, which ended up revealing her charming neckline.

Lily also found it hard to stop now that things had reached this stage. As Uesugi Rei had a n.o.ble and carefree disposition and liked to tease and bully her, it really made Lily a little nervous and apprehensive about restraining Rei…

“Let’s just forget it! Now isn’t the time to think about such things since I promised I’d teach her properly! I should just think that I’m doing this for Sister Uesugi’s safety!” Lily soliloquized.

She then observed the implements in the room and decided to begin with a relatively simpler one since Rei had no prior experience. Hence, she pointed towards the long and shabby wooden bench that was slightly illuminated by the torches and said, “G… G…”

Uesugi Rei revealed a trace of impatience on her gentle expression, “What do you want to say?”

Unfortunate as it was, Lily was too accustomed to pa.s.sively following Uesugi Rei’s intentions, so this was the first time she was instructing Rei… Hence, although the words were at the tip of her tongue, she found it hard to utter them.

Lily’s heart thumped madly, and the entire room seemed to have turned exceptionally quiet, with only the crisp sounds of the burning torches still audible to her.

Soon after, Lily could even hear Rei’s and her own breathing, which seemed to match their heaving chests.

Lily felt like she would mess up the entire thing if this were to continue. She seemed to have returned to becoming that timid boy who followed his senior sister surrept.i.tiously and was unable to call out her name even though he wished to.

Lily felt like Uesugi Rei would lose confidence in her because of the impatience and storm off in anger.

Her heartbeat turned faster and faster.

“Go… and…”

Uesugi Rei gazed at Lily in silence.

“You… should…”

Lily felt really light-headed and felt utterly powerless all over, almost as if she had lost control over her bladder…

“Sister Uesugi… go… and….” “Go and lie face-down on that bench!”

Lily was finally able to say it all out and felt totally relaxed once she had accomplished it. I really said it. I actually said such words to the unparalleled Sister Uesugi who I longed to become ever since I first witnessed her battle like a G.o.ddess of war on the day of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons!

“Mhm,” Rei didn’t mock Lily and turned around to look at the shabby bench that didn’t befit her ident.i.ty at all. She observed it in silence for a moment and walked over towards the bench after nodding affirmatively.

Rei’s lithe back came into Lily’s view in the next moment as she made her way towards the bench silently with no objections, and this made Lily feel a pleasant, indescribable sensation pa.s.s through her entire body.

Lily’s chest heaved up and down along with her heavy breathing. In the past, it was always her back that was within Rei’s view, just like how she could see Rei’s back for as long as she wished at this moment. That graceful and slender back of hers, as well as her entirely rounded b.u.t.tocks enveloped by the yukata, portrayed a breathtaking scene. And she hadn’t even turned back to check what Lily was doing. Although Lily had a.s.sociated with Rei for quite some time now, she had never felt like this or seen such a scene ever before.

Lily watched on as Rei approached that bench and finally stopped before it.

And then, she turned back to look at Lily smiled faintly, “This looks pretty interesting. Lil’ Lily, did you also practice like this before?”

“Ehhh? I…” Lily tried hard to prevent herself from blushing and said, “Sister Uesugi, lie face-down on it first, we can talk about other matters later on… okay?”

“Hmm?” Rei gave a slightly mischievous look to Lily.

“L-Lie down,” Lily tried to state decisively, but she felt her voice turn a bit too soft in the end.

“Fine,” Uesugi Rei acknowledged in a tranquil yet indifferent tone and followed Lily’s instruction. She bent down and placed her hands on the bench to slowly lower her body onto the bench. As her legs were pretty long, her stomach ended up resting on top of the bench while her legs wrapped around the back end of the bench with her b.u.t.tocks facing up. Her legs were suspended mid-air at the back of the bench while her hands extended out at the front.

Her beautiful pair of huge b.r.e.a.s.t.s changed shapes as they squeezed against the thick and old wooden bench.

Rei turned her head back and looked at Lily with the same sharp yet laid-back gaze as always. However, from this angle, it didn’t seem to appear that threatening at all.

“T-Then, I-I’ll be… using that rope to tie Sister Uesugi, o-okay?” Lily asked nervously.

“Mhm, feel free to do so,” Rei seemed a little bored as she laid down on the bench and entered into a state of contemplation, even swinging her legs up and down occasionally.

Lily took down one of the ropes on the wall. Although she hadn’t explicitly practiced binding techniques, as she had practiced how to escape from them so many times, she had a good idea about the ins and outs of it.

However, she still felt a little nervous when she stood before Rei along with the rope, and her hands even began to tremble.

“Hehe,” Uesugi Rei gave a sweet, sincere smile to her and asked, “I don’t feel nervous even though I’m about to get bound by you, so what are you feeling nervous for Lil’ Lily? You are not having some weird thoughts again, are you?”

“I-I’m not!” Lily denied that accusation and crouched before Rei, “Show me your hands.”

“Hmm, like this?” Rei presented her hands towards Lily together.

Sister Uesugi’s hands are so pretty! Lily exclaimed internally. Of course, her hands were also quite beautiful as well.

After that, Lily tied the thick rope around Rei’s hands one loop after another…

Perhaps because she felt Rei was too formidable, Lily had subconsciously tied her hands unusually tight. Once she had accomplished this, she pulled the rope to tighten the loops and then fastened her hands to the leg of the bench. After that, she circled to the back of the bench…

“Lil’ Lily, is it really possible to escape from this?”

After getting bound tightly to the bench by Lily, Rei really found it difficult to move even when she tried to.

“Sister Uesugi, you are not allowed to use brute force to break free from the restraints. Although the ropes and bench here are all made of ordinary materials, if you were to fall into the hands of a powerful enemy, they might use a rope of higher grade that can restrain experts. Hence, you won’t be able to practice the skill if you just rely on brute force,” Lily said.

“Uh-huh, I obviously know that, but the enemy wouldn’t just stop after restraining me like this, right? They would do something to me, yes?” Rei wiggled her bound waist slightly as she asked these questions with the usual laid-back look on her beautiful face.

Lily felt like this Uesugi Rei, who was bereft of her usual overpowered strength and n.o.bility, seemed to have gained some womanly charm, and this caused Lily’s heart to pound harder.

This was the first time Lily had seen her not as an all-powerful G.o.ddess of war or a strong, reliable elder sister, but rather as a woman.

“P-Perhaps they would whip the captive woman or interrogate her via torture?” Lily replied without thinking.

“Hoh? Then, why don’t you whip me a few times as well, Lily?” Rei’s eyes clouded with pa.s.sion as she placed forward this suggestion with a smile on her face.

“Ehhh? No, there’s no need to do that, right?!” Lily shook her head and waved her hands anxiously.4

1. Robinxen: Fumu so Rei is secretly a submarine?
2. Robinxen: Rei-san.
3. Robinxen: Nice cover!
4. Robinxen: Rei….the h.e.l.l is this woman?!