The Seed Thief

She liked Er not just because he was good-looking. Lulu wished he could stay by her side, not the homunculus that looked like him.

‘Once Er leaves, no one will be there for me.’

Lulu closed her eyes, wiping away tears with the back of her hand.

It was the first night since Er’s arrival that Lulu slept alone, away from his arms.

***

Several weeks had passed since that night. During that time, some changes occurred in the house. Ervandas, who had maniacally cleaned inside, now started maniacally cleaning outside as well, as if that weren’t enough.

Ervandas repaired the stairs that had crumbled under the weight of the stone golem’s steps. Thanks to that, Lulu could now enter the home safely, no more struggling up the broken stairs.The front yard, cluttered with rocks and weeds, was transformed as Ervandas and the stone golem worked together to clear it, surrounding the garden with a stone border. There, Lulu planted fruit trees she used to pick from the deep forest. Now, she no longer needed to venture deep into the forest when wanting to eat fruits.Next, Ervandas built a large cage where the bone crow could rest comfortably. Though confined to the ground due to its inability to fly, the bone crow seemed to love its new home. As proof, the day after the cage was built, the bone crow constantly followed Ervandas instead of Lulu—until it was locked in the cage because its presence hindered his cleaning.

And for the scarecrow. Lulu didn’t do much since it was made other than mend its broken parts.

“No wonder people call it a haunted scarecrow.”

Ervandas stared at the scarecrow for a while, then gathered some decent clothes he could find in the house and brought a large amount of straw Lulu had dried with her magic in the barn. Ervandas began to work on the scarecrow.

He filled the scarecrow’s flat body with straw, making it plump, and dressed it in clothes without any holes or tears.

It had now been reborn as a splendid scarecrow that could be placed in a village field.

Pleased by its new appearance, the scarecrow hopped around joyfully until Ervandas warned, “I’ll strip it off,” it suddenly became polite like a gentleman. Of course, it didn’t take long before it got excited again and leaped into the forest.

Changes also occurred for Lulu and Ervandas.

Ervandas, who couldn’t pray when he was first enchanted, resumed his prayers. Lulu, by his side, listening to his prayers.

Clean thoughts, pure body, devoid of carnal desires, and so on.

He muttered such uninteresting words that she quickly lost interest.

And Lulu…

‘It feels light.’

She gazed at the ends of her hair swaying around chest level.

***

Originally, Lulu’s hair was so long that it trailed on the ground. She trimmed it sometimes but mostly left it be.

But when she tripped over her hair while walking through the vegetable garden, she realized it was time for a trim.

Lulu opened the desk drawer. Inside lay pens and stationery Ervandas had neatly arranged. She took out an old pair of scissors. Sitting on the stairs Ervandas had fixed, she grabbed her hair ends and started cutting.

Contrary to her expectations, her hair didn’t easily snip off. The scissors’ blades had rusted due to being left in a damp place by Lulu.

“Ugh, it’s stuck!”

Lulu attempted to free the scissors from her tangled hair, but her struggling only served to further tangle her long locks in the joined blades.

She put more effort into removing the scissors but in vain. Eventually, Lulu drew an offensive spell that could cut as sharply as a knife.

The moment she used this spell on her hair—

BANG!

The cleaned flower vase placed on the shelf, which Ervandas had found in piles of clothes, flew off and shattered. At the same time, Lulu’s hair fell to the floor along with the scissors.

“Ouch.”

Feeling a stinging sensation on her cheek, Lulu touched it and found her fingertip stained with red blood.

“What’s going on?!”

Hearing the sound of glass breaking, Ervandas ran over urgently and noticed the wound on Lulu’s cheek.

“Why are you like this?!”

“I must have drawn the spell wrong. But what should we do about the floor? It was so clean before…”

Lulu anxiously gazed at her hair scattered on the floor where Ervandas would pathologically sweep and mop from morning till night. He had just cleaned the living room this morning, yet now it became a mess. She was certain he would knit his brows in irritation.

“That’s not the point.”

Unlike her thoughts, Ervandas didn’t spare a glance at the hair on the floor and instead examined her face. After bringing a dry cloth, medicines and clearing away the broken glass, Ervandas noticed the scissors entangled in Lulu’s hair.

“Why are the scissors hanging in your hair?”

“My hair was too long, so I tried to cut it, but it didn’t work well.”

At Lulu’s words, Ervandas picked up the scissors and sighed when he saw how blunt the blades were.

“Just wait outside for a moment. I’ll sharpen them and give you a proper haircut.”

“Er will cut my hair?”

“That would be better. If you…….”

Ervandas looked around the living room with a worried expression, specifically at the shattered glass.

“I won’t make any more mistakes!”

“Yes, so please wait outside.”

Lulu shouted in embarrassment, but Ervandas ushered her out as if dismissing her words. After some time, he came out holding sharpened scissors and a large cloth. He placed a chair in the front yard and called Lulu.

“Have a seat.”

“What’s this for?”

“It’s a cloth to keep your hair from getting inside your clothes.”

“If it gets in, I can just shake it off.”

“If that cloth-like rag flutters in front of me…”

“Flutters?”

What did he mean by that? As Lulu stared at him, Ervandas turned away.

“Never mind, just sit please.”

As Lulu sat on the chair, Ervandas wrapped her in the cloth as if packaging a fragile object.

Since it was a white cloth, Lulu’s red hair appeared even more vibrant.

“It looks rather bothersome long, so I think cutting it all at once would help. By the way, did your hair get eaten by rats?? How can the ends be so uneven.”

“……I cut it myself.”

“I figured as much. Even rats would do a neater job of chewing than this.”

Perhaps because of magic’s waning effects, Ervandas’ words became more and more blunt. But his words weren’t entirely wrong, so Lulu stayed silent and still.

Carefully tying the cloth around Lulu’s neck to prevent hair from slipping in, Ervandas grabbed her hair with one hand. Soft, red locks slipped from his hand like silk threads.

For a moment, Ervandas stared dazedly at the long, wavy hair in his grasp.

Recently, Lulu often followed whenever he bathed, saying she wanted to bathe together. At first, Ervandas desperately tried to stop her, saying,  “Are you crazy? How could you behave like this?” But now he had half given up on stopping her, on the condition she wore clothes.

Whenever Lulu entered the water, he turned his gaze skyward, searching for God.

What have I done to deserve this hell every day?

Unaware that he saw her as hell, Lulu clung to Ervandas when she entered the cold water, complaining how chilled it was.

Lulu would rest her back against his chest and enjoy her bath-turned-water play, while Ervandas recited desperate prayers silently in his mind.

He was certain that the number of times he had sought God in this forest exceeded the number of times he had sought them in the temple throughout his lifetime.

As he silently thanked his lucky stars that Lulu had turned her back, concealing her ample breasts, he noticed Lulu’s long hair swaying. A red color that appeared vibrantly in the clear water. Unconsciously, Ervandas reached out to touch her hair.

Despite always being tangled and unruly, her hair felt surprisingly soft.

‘Are they naturally this soft?’

He greedily grasped and lifted her hair. When he came to his senses, his lips almost touched it. He immediately released his grip in alarm.

At the sound of a splash, Lulu turned around, but all she could see was Ervandas’ profile as he averted his gaze from her.

That day, Ervandas had a strange dream. He was enveloped in a soft, red fabric. It was thin enough that he could tear it apart with a little force, yet he found the sensation of it wrapping around him exhilarating, so he just stayed still.

The red cloth wrapped around his bare body moved gently and slowly downward.

“Uhh…”

Ervandas let out a moan as if it were licking him downward. His vision spun, and his mind felt like hot soup, making coherent thoughts impossible. With each brush of the fabric, an excited breath escaped his lips.

Strange. Something was off.

All his senses, honed as a knight, sensed the strangeness and sent warnings, but Ervandas couldn’t lift a finger. No, more precisely, he didn’t want to.

An irresistible sense of warmth had taken hold of him, like stepping into hot water after the bitter cold. And within that warmth, a pleasant stimulation intensified.

A tingling sensation spread to the center between his legs, and his breath grew ragged. In the past, he found this sensation terrible because it was a lowly pleasure thrown by a wicked entity to test humans.

He had never doubted that belief, so why did he feel so comfortable and enjoyable now?

As he surrendered himself to pleasure, the fabric slid further down. When it brushed against his swollen member, Ervandas suddenly realized. There was no red fabric.

Surprised, he opened his eyes and looked below. A vivid shade of red was undulated there. With a sparkle of pure curiosity, eyes twinkling, they met his gaze and softly curved their lips into a smile. The lips, as beautiful and red as the hair and eyes, gently parted…

“Ah!”

It swallowed him whole.

Ervandas let out a guttural sound and struggled to catch his breath. At that moment, he opened his eyes.

“Hah… hah…”

Unlike the shining light just a moment ago, darkness filled his eyes.

Wugh, wugh

. When he heard the chirping of nighttime birds and the buzzing of grasshoppers from afar, Ervandas realized where he was.

This was the forest witch’s house. And the place he lay was his own bed tucked in a corner of the living room.

“…”

Regaining his breath, he looked below, still feeling the lingering pleasure.

Goodness gracious.

He almost screamed. Lulu was burying her face there like what he had seen in his dream a while ago. Of course, it wasn’t the same sight. It seemed she had dozed off in his arms, and due to her bad sleeping habit, she had ended up down there.

The problem was that Lulu’s breath was touching his fully erect penis.

Wiping the cold sweat from his face, he carefully withdrew his body to prevent waking Lulu. Then, he went outside.

Sitting on a large rock nearby, he thought about the dream.

‘I must be crazy.

If not, then…….

Could it be that Lulu cast a new spell without my knowledge?’

If not, how could he have such a lewd, immoral, and outrageous dream?

Ervandas lowered his flushed face in anguish. Although dreams were said to be beyond the control of reason, they were still based on human desires.

Then, what he just saw was what he desired.

“Oh, God.”

I guess I’m truly going insane.

Was the witch’s curse eating away his sanity without his knowledge?

Ervandas desperately called upon God and recited a prayer.

“Oh, mighty divine being, please save this weak lamb… from these… sinful temptations…”

The prayer that used to flow smoothly from his mouth multiple times a day for decades now stumbled awkwardly, repeatedly getting stuck on his lips.

To his torment, Ervandas knew the reason all too well.

Sinful temptations? Lulu? Yes, she freely wielded magic and was the witch who bound himself here.

For those who joined the site's server, you might notice that I haven't been able to ping you guys for new chapters due to irl studies or I forgot ((;ꏿ_ꏿ;)) I've created a server solely for the bot to ping new releases, the link is on my Ko-fi. Thank you.