Cecilia and Byleth brought me to the garden where we usually relaxed. If there was one difference in this arrangement, it was where I sat.

“What are you doing, Fang?”

Byleth spoke up right next to my ears. I responded to her without missing a beat.

“Flirting with you.”

Rather than sit in my usual spot, I instead chose to sit on Byleth’s lap and cling to her. I wasn’t embarrassed at all. Engaging in skinship with her was at the top of my list of things I wanted to do when I got out of the dungeon.

If anything, Byleth was the one embarrassed by my actions. She had a faint red blush on her cheeks. I happily pointed this out to her.

“You are blushing.”

To my great joy, my voice had lost all of its icyness in front of the girls I loved.

“You are imagining it. There is no way your attempt at flirting could make me blush.”

Byleth acted tough. Unfortunately for her, I had a witness on my side.

“What do you think, Cecilia?”

“Byleth is blushing.”

Byleth grew even redder at the silver-haired Cecilia’s words. She was forced to admit that my flirting was working on her. Evidently, she didn’t like that as she turned her bewitching red eyes on me.

“I’ll show you what happens when you play with fire.”

Byleth activated her [Charm] skill on me, perhaps hoping to get back at me. I wouldn’t say that her skill didn’t affect me, but the protection from my [Ki IV] skill combined with the fact that I already loved her meant that it’s influence on me was very minimal.

“I bet you regret teasing me. I can make you do anything like this.”

Byleth spoke up as a girl confident in the strength of her charms. I couldn’t help but ask back in curiosity.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Things like holding hands or giving me a lap pillow.”

It was hopeless. I couldn’t pretend to be charmed any longer. Compared to the types of thoughts that [Instinct] was filling my mind with, Byleth’s use of her [Charm] skill was too cute.

“You are so cute, Byleth.”

The temptation was too great. I leaned forward and kissed Byleth on the cheek. Byleth rewarded me with her brightest red blush yet. One of her hands reached up and touched her cheek in shock.

“How about it, Byleth? If you command me with your [Charm] skill, I will kiss you however many times you want.”

“I… I…”

Byleth didn’t know what to say. I saw the opportunity to throw her words back in her face and happily took the opportunity that presented itself.

“Is it too late to take up your offer on the day of the intermediate exam? I would love to get to know you more intimately.”

Poor Byleth. It quickly became evident to me that while she was very adept at flirting with others, she wasn’t used to being on the receiving end. I set about remedying that and spent a blissful afternoon flirting with Byleth and Cecilia.