When I Maxed Out the Zero-Star Saintess, a Yandere Confinement Life with Overwhelming Love Began - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

“Hey, Sizzle. Ever thought about the difference between a ‘prisoner’ and a ‘museum exhibit’?”

I was sprawled on the canopied bed in the deepest room of the cathedral, talking to the shadow at my feet.

Sizzle answered from inside the darkness, silently raising her upper body.

“…Whether an entrance fee is charged or not, perhaps. Prisoners are supported by taxes too, after all…”

“Both cost money either way. And both get locked up very politely. That part’s the same. The real answer is… ‘how often the curator touches them.’”

I grumbled while staring at the ceiling fresco.

“Museum pieces have a ‘Do Not Touch’ sign, right? They’re protected inside a glass case. But me? The curator paws at me every single day.”

“Curator… you say.”

“Mostly Celesfia, Celesfia, and Celesfia! Occasionally you and Aira too!”

“That is ‘preservation maintenance.’ If you truly desire a real prison, I can arrange it.”

Sizzle answered with a perfectly cool face.

“Please don’t… I have no idea what kind of torture devices you’d install…”

“Then shall we put you on display in a museum instead? I’ll build glass walls around the room to simulate a case.”

“…Even a completely see-through room would give me more privacy than this.”

I glared at the Saintess’s Eyes floating in the air.

“Fufu. Wanting what you can’t have.”

Sizzle gave a meaningful smile, checked her pocket watch.

“I’ll step out for a bit. And—though it’s a little late to say this—please don’t think about escaping your display case, all right?”

She melted back into the shadow without a sound and vanished.

“…I wasn’t planning to at this point anyway.”

It’s just boring with no one to talk to.

◆

A few minutes after Sizzle left, the heavy door slowly opened in her place.

“…Aah…”

In came Saintess Celesfia—also known as my curator.

But something was off. The usual dignified posture was gone. She pressed a hand to her forehead and staggered in like a drunk.

“Aaah… I feel dizzy… The world is spinning…”

Her delivery was so wooden I couldn’t tell if she was actually sick, but I figured I should at least act concerned.

“H-hey… You okay?”

Before I finished speaking, she toppled toward the bed at a perfectly calculated angle.

“Laa… Lyle-sama, it’s terrible… Sudden mana deficiency… I can’t breathe…”

“…Mana deficiency? What’s that?”

I looked down at her with half-lidded eyes. Her skin glowed with health. She looked the picture of vitality.

There’s no way someone running multiple Saintess’s Eyes 24/7, 365 days a year would suddenly run out of mana. Even now the eyes were staring straight at me.

“If this continues, saintess functions will shut down… Immediate ‘mouth-to-mouth mana transfer’ required… Acklshkshzz…”

She pretended to suffer while sneaking peeks at my reaction with blatant upward glances. Her cheeks were faintly pink with anticipation, and her cherry-colored lips were thrust forward in full readiness.

An obvious fake illness.

“Who taught you that trick…?”

“No one in particular… but there was a scene in a book Sizzle bought for me where the heroine seduced the hero this way.”

“…I see…”

I was probably the one who told Sizzle to get that book. So it circled right back to me.

Besides, Celesfia fights mostly with physical strength—mana depletion is impossible for her. But if I brush her off, she’ll sulk and double the number of surveillance eyes.

And a kiss might actually be one of the conditions for the fourth upgrade.

Whatever the reason, it’s worth trying for the sake of verification.

“…Y-you sure?”

“Yes. It’s you, Lyle-sama.”

She looked up at me from the bed, shy and flushed.

“All right… Stay still.”

“Yes! …I-I mean… ugh… hurry… I’m dying…”

She almost broke into a grin but quickly hid it, closed her eyes, and lifted her chin.

Her lips trembled slightly as she waited. I leaned in close. Long eyelashes. Perfect nose. Up this close, her beauty took my breath away. If anyone belongs in a museum, it’s her, not me.

Is it really okay to… No, it’s just artificial respiration. And she’s the one who suggested it.

I made up my mind, brought my face close—and lightly touched her lips.

*chu*

A dry little sound echoed in the room. A classic bird peck. Barely a moment of contact.

“…”

Nothing happened. No light, no system log.

So… a kiss isn’t the fourth-stage condition… Does that mean it’s something even more intense!?

I frantically shook away the sudden mental image of naked Celesfia and lifted my head in confusion.

“…Okay, done. Feeling better?”

Celesfia opened one eye. She touched her own lips with a finger, looking puzzled.

“I didn’t feel any mana flow in. One more time, please.”

“Of course not! What even is mana transfer!? Can you do that mouth-to-mouth!?”

“In the story I read, they could.”

“That’s because it’s fiction!”

She muttered as if it were the most natural thing in the world, but then her expression melted into a sweet, gooey smile.

“…But it’s strange.”

“Hm?”

“I didn’t get any mana… yet the tightness in my chest is completely gone.”

She rubbed her cheek against my chest and murmured happily.

“It may have failed as ‘treatment’… but as an ‘expression of love,’ it worked perfectly.”

“…Nice way to spin it.”

“Fufu… Lyle-sama’s lips were so soft.”

She gazed up at me with moist, wanting eyes, but didn’t ask for more.

That single light kiss had apparently filled her capacity to the brim—her breathing was rough and her chest rose and fell dramatically despite her words.

“I’ll hold back with just this ‘taste’ for today… The main dish can wait for another time.”

She traced her lips once with a finger as if treasuring them, then stood.

With steps light enough for skipping, she left the room.

“…Phew. The storm has passed…”

I flopped back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. A faint sweet scent still lingered on my lips. When I touched them with my finger, I felt like I could recall the sensation forever.

◆

*Lick lick! Lick lick! Liiick liiick liiick liiick liiick liiick—*

Lyle-sama’s lips! Lyle-sama’s lips!

Once out of the room, I kept licking my own lips nonstop. I wanted to praise my self-control for not sticking my tongue in back there.

If I had done that on impulse, I’d be a nymph, not a saintess. I managed perfect ladylike behavior just now.

“Ufufu… Next time… what should I try?”

On the way, I checked my face in a cathedral mirror.

I was grinning so wide I barely recognized myself.

I’m glad I fled the room when I did. Lyle-sama must never see this face.