That evening Arthur waited for the house to grow quiet.
Tessa was already in her room, his parents had put out the lights downstairs, and the only sound left was the distant crackle of the embers in the forge as they died down.
Only then did he take a change of clothes and go down to the small room at the back of the house, where the wooden basin and the bucket of warm water that Ysolde had left ready were waiting.
He closed the door carefully and undressed.
The cool air gave him shivers across his bare skin.
He poured the water over his body and began to wash himself with slow, almost cautious movements.
From the very first handfuls he realized that something was different.
The skin reacted more.
Every pass of his hand, every drop that ran down his chest or back provoked a clearer sensation than usual.
It was not pain.
It was an increased sensitivity, as if the surface of his body had learned to perceive touch more sharply.
The warm water slid away, leaving the skin even smoother than he remembered.
He stopped for a moment, hands resting on the edge of the basin, and inhaled.
The scent was there.
Sweet, clear, impossible to confuse with soap.
It came from him.
It had intensified after the contact with Rhea, and now, bare-skinned, it seemed even more present.
When he finished washing, he dried himself carefully and approached the small mirror hanging on the wall. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
He stayed looking at himself for a long time.
The face was still his, but the features had lost a little of that lean hardness he had always had.
The cheeks seemed slightly softer.
The line of the jaw less sharp.
The eyes—one light grey, almost white, and the other violet—stood out more against the skin that had become more even and fair.
He lowered his gaze.
The chest was still flat, but the skin there was smooth in a way that did not belong to him.
The small imperfections from before were gone.
Even the abdomen and the hips had a slight new softness, almost imperceptible if one did not look carefully, but present.
The shoulders remained narrow, the arms thin, but the whole was beginning to look… different.
Less angular.
He turned sideways, then forward again.
He ran his fingers along the collarbone, then lower.
The sensitivity was the same as when he had washed.
Every contact came back to him stronger than it should have.
“Phase 1…,” he murmured.
His voice sounded strange in the empty room.
A fraction higher, perhaps.
Or maybe it was only his imagination.
He remained in front of the mirror for several more minutes, studying every detail, trying to understand how obvious it was.
Dressed, probably, little was still noticeable. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
But naked, and especially to anyone who observed him up close, the changes were beginning to be present.
In the end he forced himself to look away.
He dressed with slow movements and went up to his room without making noise.
He closed the door, sat on the edge of the bed, and called up the Status.
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Name: Arthur Age: 18 Level: 1 Class: Apprentice Blacksmith (Weak) Strength: 4 Agility: 6 Endurance: 5 Magic: 3 Intelligence: 12 Dexterity: 8 Skills: – Basic Sharpening (Lv.2) – Tool Organization (Lv.3) – Excessive Shyness (Passive) [Curse: Gender Transformation – Blood of Lysara] Phase: 1/4 Progress: 19%
Still 19%.]
But after what he had seen in the mirror, that number felt much heavier than before.
It was no longer just an abstract percentage.
It was smoother skin, features that were softening, a scent he could no longer completely hide, and a sensitivity that made even the most ordinary contact something complicated.
He lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
Phase 1 was not over yet.
A little short of 20%, and after that would come Phase 2.
He did not know exactly what it would bring, but after seeing the current changes he had the clear feeling that it would become much harder to keep pretending.
He closed his eyes.
The sweet scent remained in the air of the room, light but constant, like a reminder he could no longer switch off.
And for the first time, with clarity, Arthur wondered how much longer he would still be able to look at himself in the mirror and recognize the person he saw.