58 Pining

"Does being with me...inconvenience you?" asked Cairn.

Making a so-so gesture with her right hand, Elle replied, "Eh, at times. But we also have lots of fun together, so I don't mind it too much."

"Right..." muttered Cairn, resting his arms on the tub's rim and leaning back with a sigh. He didn't expect Elle to lie to him, but seeing her get excited by the prospect of him having sex with another girl was...well, it kind of made him feel like an idiot...

"Did I say something to upset you...?" asked Elle, turning around so she could stare up at him while lying against his chest.

"It's more of a 'me' issue..." answered Cairn. "I mean...you and several others warned me, but I still fell for you despite knowing your true love is your work..."

"Hey, I love you too, you know?" contended Elle. "But my favorite things are fixing and creating things. I could try and 'fix' you, but I think it would just make you even more stressed out..."

"How would you fix me...?" asked Cairn, looking down to meet Elle's gaze. In response, she stuck out her tongue before saying, "Not to sound rude, but it seems to me like you need someone you can depend on and who is dependent on you. I figured that could be Kaia, but if you didn't do it after being trapped in a Dungeon for nearly a month, I'm guessing your love for her is more familial than romantic."

Without waiting for Cairn to respond, Elle abruptly sat up, tracing his well-developed abdominal muscles as she added, "Since you feel guilty about interrupting my work, the simplest thing to do is hire a professional to see to your needs in my absence. You're a very handsome man, and if we pick them out together, we could all have fun."

"So...you want me to hire another Escort?" asked Cairn.

Spreading her hands and shrugging, Elle asked, "Why not? Your biggest issue is that you place too much value on sex when it's really only good for two things, releasing stress and making babies. Even if the two of us stopped having sex completely, at least for a time, would that cause you to hate me?"

"No..." replied Cairn, furrowing his brows as he added, "But I would be frustrated if there wasn't a good reason..."

"That's kind of my point," argued Elle. "We don't have sex 'because' we love each other. Going on dates and having heart-to-heart discussions like this is what brings people close together. Don't get me wrong; I feel super close to you when we have sex. But what I remember most clearly is when you cradle me in your arms, trace your fingers along my body, or kiss the top of my head when you think I'm asleep...sex can be a shortcut to intimacy, but it isn't what makes people intimate..."

"..."

Unable to refute Elle's words, Cairn exhaled through his nose and closed his eyes. Everything she said made sense, but even though he had hired Felix specifically to deal with Kaia's urges, it felt...wrong to hire someone to do the same for him. Not to mention that, if he went through with it, it would feel like slapping Reine in the face...

Thinking of the young Proprietress, Cairn opened his eyes and asked, "Did anything...happen between Reine and Felix while I was away?"

"Are you wondering if they had sex?" asked Elle, tilting her head to the side.

"Something like that..." replied Cairn.

"Hmmm..."

Not sure how to answer Cairn's question without potentially upsetting him, Elle deflecting, asking, "Why, were you thinking about choosing her? If so, I'd advise against it. Reine is pretty nice, and she's a great cook, but you should have kids of your own before involving yourself with someone else's."

Shaking his head, Cairn replied, "I was just thinking it would be pretty messed up if I hired someone after rejecting her and making a big deal out of it not too long ago..."

"How is that messed up?" asked Elle. "You're already doing a lot to help both Reine and her daughter. You don't owe them anything, so while she might feel a bit envious, she would get over it. She's a grown woman with a daughter, after all. Fleur is her highest priority, so she wouldn't say or do anything that might cause you to retract your support."

"That's a very pragmatic way of looking at things..." remarked Cain, but, at the same time, he couldn't deny the logic of Elle's words.

"Not really," contended Elle, no longer seeing the harm in revealing, "Besides, she has definitely benefitted from Felix's services while you were gone. I won't dissuade you from having sex with her, but don't let yourself get taken advantage of. You've already arranged for her and her daughter to be protected for eight years. If they can't succeed after the amount of help you've given them, that's on them, not you."

"Of course..." muttered Cairn, prompting Elle to abruptly pinch his nipples, starling and deterring him from closing his eyes and sinking deeper into the water.

"Stop caring so much about every little thing!" exclaimed Elle. "Instead of fretting over the happiness of others, you should be focusing on your own and having fun! You're the Champion, for Restia's sake! I don't care if you want to keep things as they are or invite a dozen women to share our bed! Just stop moping all the time...!"

Punctuating her outburst, Elle rose to her feet and stormed out of the bathroom, leaving Cairn slackjawed, staring, as he didn't even think she 'could' get angry.

Rising from the tub, Cairn intended to follow after Elle, but his pursuit was precluded by Vira appearing with her arms crossed, asking, "What do you hope to achieve by pursuing her when your words and behavior are the sources of her frustration? Do you think she wants to hear you apologize? Do you even know what you would be apologizing for~?"

"I don't have time for your bullshit...!" shouted Cairn, attempting to push past Vira, but she was like an immovable stone pillar. As a result, he was the one knocked off balance, subsequently slipping due to the smooth tile flooring.

Grabbing Cairn's wrist, Vira effortlessly prevented his fall, but he wasn't too happy about it as she yanked his arm violently and drew him toward her. As a result, they ended up in a situation where she was holding his naked body in a vice-like embrace, her breasts squished against him as she gazed up and into his eyes, stating, "I will release you once you have calmed down..."

"You—gk!"

Before Cairn could shout in her face, Vira promptly squeezed the air from his lungs, her voice calm and steady as she remarked, "I could stand here for the next fifty years, and it wouldn't be a significant waste of my time. I suggest you not tempt me."

With Vira easing the pressure on his arms, ribs, and lungs, Cairn inhaled a gasping breath, his grey-blue eyes containing unbridled fury as he stared down at the much shorter yet exponentially more powerful woman.

"Such a passionate gaze~" mused Vira, surprising Cairn immensely as the voice emanated from behind him. When he looked back, another identical copy of Vira was present, standing in front of the door with crossed arms.

"What the fuck...?" asked Cairn, prompting the Vira holding him to explain, "I'm not omnipresent, and you're not the only one I'm monitoring. It's only natural I employ some of my backups."

As the Vira in front of him offered her explanation, the one behind Cairn approached, wrapping her arms around him so that he was sandwiched from both sides. It was a really...discordant sensation as, despite feeling as immovable as mountains, both Vira's were incredibly soft and supple...

"I'm going to release you now," said the front Vira. "But, when I do, you need to sit down, cool your head, and properly consider your next course of action. Agreed?"

Before Cairn could respond, the front Vira released him. At the same time, the Vira behind him transformed into a fucking chair, overwriting some of his outrage with disjointed incredulity as he found himself forced to take a seat.

"Just what are you...?" asked Cairn, staring at the Vira in front of him, now seated in her own chair.

"Anything you want me to be~" responded Vira, punctuating her sensual words with a wink.

"..."

"Anyways..." droned Vira, crossing her right leg over her left before pulling out a tablet and stylus. Then, like a therapist, she began to ask him a wide array of questions. Cairn initially refused to answer, but when Vira made it 'very' clear he wasn't leaving the bathroom before he cooled his head and properly explained his intentions, he reluctantly obliged...

...

..

.

While Cairn was forcibly receiving therapy from Vira, Elle was in her workshop but found herself unable to focus on her projects. She tried resuming her stitchwork from earlier, but her thoughts were clouded by her inability to understand what pushed Cairn to make things so difficult for himself. He acted like he was constantly being forced and pressured into things, but never once had she, Kaia, or anyone she knew of tried to force him to do anything. If anything, Cairn had excessive freedom, his actions backed by the Church, the Kingdom, the literal Goddess of their world, and his general inability to die...

Exhaling a sigh, Elle picked up her hammer and tried to forge an ingot of bluesteel ore but overheated the metal, causing it to melt and plunge into the furnace. It had been more than two hundred and fifty years since she made such a rookie mistake, so Elle set aside her tools and cleaned up her workstation, understanding she wouldn't be able to get anything done in her current state.

("How can I help him...?") pondered Elle. Cairn was unlike anyone she had ever met, making him easier to remember but also leaving her feeling at a loss as his behavior simply didn't make sense. She enjoyed the time they spent together, but she wished he could enjoy himself without the 'need' for her to accompany him. If Cairn could find a hobby he enjoyed as much as she loved forging, creating, and fixing things, Elle believed he would be a much happier person.

("But he already refused when I suggested teaching him...") recalled Elle, visibly deflating as she exhaled another tired sigh. She knew Cairn would likely agree if she 'insisted' on teaching him, but Elle knew his main desire, at least for now, was to become stronger. To that end, he needed to enter a multitude of Dungeons, slaughtering tens of thousands of monsters and enduring various hardships. He didn't have time to dedicate himself to the arts, so what Cairn 'needed' was a method to make killing monsters easier and a way to relieve the stress that accumulated while fighting and risking his life...

Though the simple solution was to make Cairn a masturbation tool using the flesh of a slime, Elle knew he wouldn't react well to receiving such a device. The second option was accompanying him into the Dungeons, but that was a last resort as, despite her fairly high Level, she wasn't much of a fighter. She could if she had to, but her rightful place was in a workshop, forging the weapons and armor Cairn would need to grow.

("Is this what it means to truly love someone...?") Elle wondered. She just wanted Cairn to be happy, but all the solutions she could think of wouldn't 'fix' the underlying issue. She could stop sleeping with him, making it clear she didn't belong to him, but she honestly enjoyed his obsession. It made her feel important, even more so since he originally refused to let her join him. Now that he couldn't live without her, Elle felt...gratified. At the same time, however, she wanted Cairn to feel the same way. She just didn't feel the same way as he did about her...

...

..

.

(A/N: Any idea on how to solve Cairn's little problem? Should they hire a second escort? Maybe pick someone up off the street that has incredible talent and could seriously use some assistance~? Let me know in the comments section. If I see a particularly interesting idea, I'll find a way to incorporate it.)