First Kiss (Patreon)

Nicol Ascart was a man described by some as being devilishly beautiful. He, personally, didn't quite see it that way, whenever he looked in a mirror he just saw himself. Were one to ask him the definition of beauty, he'd probably say "Sophia". Maybe if you could get him drunk, he'd admit that he considered Katarina to be up there as well.

"In some ways, being unapproachably beautiful is a curse in itself," his sister had once said, while regaling him with the tale of a spirited romance between a man of impossible beauty, and a woman of impossible innocence. The fact that his sister was telling him her latest fanfiction involving himself and Katarina flew entirely over his head, of course.

Being a simple man, his pleasures in life were simple as well, and two of them were even closeby, right at that moment. Watching his sister and her first and most precious friend, Katarina Claes, be happy was probably among the greatest things he could possibly think of.

He allowed himself a smile of his own. Had it been witnessed by most girls he'd ever met, he'd have a room of fainted maidens, but as he was observing from afar as the girls talked animatedly about a book, a table with tea and biscuits between them, there was no such disaster. The gazebo they were under was distant enough, thanks to the sheer size of the garden, that no issues arose.

He approached a bit closer, to hear their conversation. The interests of the women he was interested in were very interesting to him, and he resolved to practicing tongue twisters at a later date, banishing the idle thoughts from his mind as he applied all the training in trying to avoid hordes of fangirls for his stealth.

The three women seemed engrossed in the situation, and not paying attention to him at all. From a closer distance, he could now see in detail the perfect technique the maid was displaying as she swiftly refilled the teacups of the girls, while they chatted, and at the same time, replaced the snacks that were disappearing down Katarina's mouth, carefully setting them so that the ones Sophia favored were closer to her side of the table.

Naturally, Katarina religiously avoided taking those. 

Such simplistic and clear synchronization, a display of attentiveness, swiftness, logic and kindness, all at once. Katarina truly was an existence worth treasuring...

As he approached, their conversation became clear.

"And that's why it's important that you must learn how to kiss!" 

Sophia's ideas were, of course, radical and weird at the oddest of times. Demure, shy and timid... were not words that you could use to describe the almost fae-like girl, as she excitedly waved her hands about. "The first kiss is super important, too! It has to have the right spark, it'll set the mood for the entire relationship going forward!"

"You're right!" Katarina responded. "It's like in The Prince and the Beastess!" she said, "the first kiss scene was so amazing, you really got the sense that they were truly made for each other."

"I know right?" Sophia gushed. "But!" she said, raising a finger, "this isn't a novel, it's real life! We can't have instant amazing talent for kissing like that, you're not gonna make your partner's toes curl unless you know what you're doing!"

"Y-Yeah, that makes sense," Katarina responded. "But- who could we ask for help? Could we ask- no, there's no way I could ask my mother for help with this," she said raising a handkerchief to her face and wiping off a little bit of jam, then biting down on it in frustration, "I can already imagine that disaster!"

"Maybe we could do practice?" Sophia asked.

"Practice?" Katarina responded. "But it's not like we could just grab one of the guys..."

"It's true. And we can't ask Nicol, even if he'd keep quiet..."

There was a moment of silence.

Nicol wondered if he should actually say something then. He was watching from within some bushes, it would look weird if he just randomly jumped out. It'd look like he was spying on them, instead of just randomly stumbling onto the situation.

"Wait, I got it! Tanya, you've got experience with all sorts of things, could you serve as our training partner?" Katarina's eyes glittered. "That way we can learn to kiss like in the novels!"

"Yeah!" Sophia said. "You'll keep the secret, right?"

"My lady, Lady Ascart, I feel it important to point out that I, too, am a woman," the maid, Tanya, responded smoothly. "It would be scandalous, to say the least."

"But you're my teacher in so much stuff, what's so different about this?" Katarina responded. "And it's obvious that we need a girl, I have a fiancé, kissing another man would probably get me in trouble... I don't want mom to yell at me again..."

The maid sighed, irritation and frustration evident. "My lady... you should really be more careful with this sort of thing. Your first kiss is a precious thing, it should be given to someone you consider worthy of it."

"But- but," Katarina faltered. "Tanya, you're my closest confidant! If it's not you, who else could it be?"

"Your fiancé, Prince Geordo, perhaps? He may well be capable of helping you develop your skills as you wish," Tanya suggested.

Something arrested the beating of Nicol's heart for a moment there. He thought of that kiss, and it bit at him. He didn't like the thought, not at all.

"N-No way! Then all the meaning would be lost! No, it has to be you, Tanya! Please, teach me how to kiss!"

There was a moment's pause.

Nicol almost interrupted, when...

"Fine, if it is my lady's wish, I shall teach my lady how to kiss," she said. "But unlike with academics, this is a practical matter, much like self defense. There is no theory, there is only practice," she said, raising a finger. "Do you understand?"

Katarina grinned. "Yeah! I'm good at learning with my body! Lay it on me!" Katarina said, pumping her fist.

Learning... with her body? Lay it on her..? Nicol's face was beginning to heat up, just a little, at the thought of Katarina and her maid, laying with each other, in only their sheer bedclothes, their fingers intertwined. He tried to clam up, calm himself, restrain his untoward feelings.

Meanwhile, his eyes could not look away from the scene before him.

Turning the chair to the side, Katarina was now facing her maid, who leaned down. From there, it was almost startling how similar, yet different, opposite, they were. The maid had a dignified, almost noble air to her. Katarina was a darker figure, she had slightly slanted eyes that gave her face a severe look, yet an easy, adorable smile that lit up the room around her, that made the contrast even more easily noticeable.

The maid, for her part, had more rounded, softer features. Were one to look at her, she'd look like a cherub, babyfaced and adorable... right up until you saw her toss the princes Alan and Geordo around like ragdolls, and sometimes beating one of them using the other as a club. 

Katarina had all the harsh features, yet was an adorable angel of a person, while the maid had the angelic and soft features, yet was a demon in human flesh, restrained by her mistress' kindness. The contrast, the similarity, the difference... It all came together as their faces drew close, in an image of unimaginable beauty.

"Oh... oh no, I think I'm starting to understand the appeal of those romance novels Sophia loves so much..." Nicol muttered to himself. "I might be turning into a weird person..."

And yet, he could not look away, as the noble lady and her servant's lips met, in a simple, almost chaste, kiss. The maid's hand held her mistress' face, four fingers on her chin, a thumb rubbing her cheek, pressing her lips against her mistress' and pushing against her.

The movements of their lips, of their mouths, of their cheeks, Nicol engraved all of it into his memory. Was that- oh that- that was exactly what he thought it was! Their lips had parted, and they were kissing, not in the innocent way they were kissing before, but instead, the kiss of a pair of lovers!

Nicol's face was burning up, his jaw almost dropped. He felt floaty, and his pants felt tight, as he watched the beautiful image become mind boggingly, staggeringly amazing.

Right at that moment, Nicol discovered what beauty was, what was truly the height, and greatest reaches, of the word, grand beyond all his imagination.

He had reached enlightment, and felt satisfaction, even as the ladies' lips parted.

Tanya's cheeks had a dusting of pink. The strong, stoic, obedient and ever thoughtful maid, only the barest flustering. She, who never let anything get to her, had only one vulnerability, her mistress, an entity of innocence and beauty unmatched...

Nicol had once thought that carrying a notebook and a pencil everywhere he went was a silly thing to do, even when it sometimes came in handy when he had to make a note of something, but now, now he knew he'd be carrying them everywhere he went, as his thoughts flew.

"Woah... I want to try too!" Sophia said.

"B-But, your first kiss..." Katarina muttered, voice a little faint, touching her lips with her fingers.

"My lady, is she not your precious friend? Then, there should be no issue," the maid said. "What would you think, Lady Sophia?"

"Yeah... Yeah, I couldn't imagine a better person to give my first kiss to!" Sophia said. "Go ahead and teach me what you just learned, Lady Katarina!"

Nicol's eyes grew wide, his breath short.

Katarina and Sophia drew close. Katarina was, as she had said, good at learning with her body, and it was obvious that the maid's lesson had been well learned... The harsh features Katarina sported were in full, beautiful display, giving her an air of dignified nobility that she seldom had, and the soft, delicate, almost weak features of his albino sister were put on sheer contrast. A noble lady, a snow fairy...

Nicol's hand didn't stop for a second as he wrote down the stream of his thoughts into paper.

Nobody would ever know that the popular book series about the love of a lady and her domineering maid was written by THE Nicol Ascart, of all people... and he'd be too embarrassed to ever admit it later.