Chapter 146: The Man - 3
Chapter 146: The Man - 3
Enril's bedroom.
Jiha knew the location well enough.
This was where he'd spent his first night with her, after all.
He reached for the firmly closed door, then pulled his hand back.
"......."
Start quietly.
He gave a small nod, then knocked lightly.
"Enril, I'm coming in."
No answer came from inside, but Jiha took the handle anyway.
The door was unlocked.
Sure enough, Enril was in the bedroom. She occupied the two-seater sofa alone, drinking in front of her. Even when Jiha entered, she didn't spare him a glance, just quietly tilted her glass.
"......."
Seeing only one glass, Jiha fetched another from the shelf. Holding the empty glass, he sat down right beside her. Throughout this whole time, Enril never once looked at him. A deliberate snub—purely emotional. As if she had resolved not to speak first, she simply drank her red wine in silence.
"Pour."
"......."
Jiha held out his glass, but Enril acted as if he didn't exist.
"Enril."
Only when he said her name more forcefully did she finally pull over the ice bucket set in front of her. She dropped ice into his glass, filled it exactly halfway with liquor, then touched a fingertip to it and channeled her Mana. The glass chilled instantly, reaching the perfect drinking temperature. Even while performing these motions, she refused to let her gaze touch his face.
'She's thoroughly sulking....'
Jiha realized his anger had dissipated at some point.
Initially, the thought that she'd defied his dominance had privately irritated and angered him. But now, Enril's behavior struck him as oddly endearing. She probably thought she was expressing fury, but this was nothing short of a pout. Was Enril even the type to hold back when truly angry? She was someone who would sooner slash a man's throat with a sword or carve up his entire life. She always appeared aloof and cold, yet she was secretly quite emotional.
'She got angry seeing Leticia being persecuted... And now she's pretending not to care while quietly sulking.'
Jiha drank as he thought. When his glass emptied and he held it out again, Enril wordlessly repeated the same actions. Then she emptied her own glass and refilled it.
Time passed for this man and woman, sitting side by side, drinking without any conversation, not even looking at each other.
A mild intoxication crept in.
'Well, I could just use Mana to deal with it....'
The alcohol in his blood could be expelled if he mobilized his Mana. It depended on the amount, but with his current level, Jiha could probably swim in a liquor vat and not end up dead drunk.
When Jiha shook his head, Enril glanced over. A look to check if he had drunk too much and was getting drunk.
"What, you think it's a good opportunity?"
"...What do you mean?"
He meant, did she see it as a chance to kill him.
Enril, catching his meaning, looked extremely flustered. As she hurried to speak, Jiha gently said, "It's a joke."
"......."
Enril's expression turned indignant, as if she felt mocked. She whipped her head away, trying to stare straight ahead again, but Jiha stretched out his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"...What is this?"
Enril snapped in an angry tone. She swatted the back of his hand as if annoyed, but that was all.
Once Enril accepted his hand, Jiha slowly chose his words. Sweet words were plentiful enough. I'll treat only you specially. I always think of and trust only you. I love only you. Words to deceive a woman were overflowing. Just feed her what she wants to hear.
'I can't do that....'
If this were a simple romantic relationship, a one-time thing, those words might work. With Enril, this needed to go deep.
"We've come a long way."
"......."
As Jiha touched on the past, Enril's expression grew complicated too. In this very bedroom, she had first given her body to Jiha, and now they sat side by side drinking. Even to herself, it was a truly unbelievable change.
"You think I just do as I please, don't you?"
"......."
To best utilize Sincerity, you must use your true feelings without falsehood, at a timing favorable to you. Until now, Jiha had never shown his inner self or weaknesses to others. That was only natural for maintaining dominion. On the rare occasions he did, it was only when doting on a woman.
'This time, more than that....'
Holding his intoxication in check with reason, Jiha spoke calmly.
"I'm just trying hard to look that way."
"......."
Enril stared blankly at Jiha as he confessed he wasn't an invincible superhuman.
"Enril."
"...Why?"
"Dark elf. Right now, I'd still pay a high price for you."
Jiha moved his tongue while pressing his aching, drink-addled head. Enril frowned unpleasantly. She thought he was veering back into work talk.
"I don't want to kill you."
"...So you think I'd betray you or something?"
Enril snapped in an angry tone, feeling suspected. This was why she'd gotten angry—the reason she'd walked out, abandoning even her meal with Jiha. Because now she felt her innermost heart was being doubted, and it offended her. Jiha himself remained composed.
"If every single dark elf were taken hostage, you'd have no choice."
"Such a thing...."
"It's possible."
Jiha spoke while looking straight ahead.
"I'm going to change this world. The existing powers trying to stop me won't choose their methods. A Legend exterminated the incubus race. There's no law saying the same can't happen to dark elves."
"......."
"The times are going to change drastically."
Jiha stated calmly.
"The fact that the two of us are together like this is proof."
"......."
Jiha, a Common human, and Enril, a Unique dark elf, were in one bedroom, drinking and talking as a man and a woman. Even if rumors were spread, people would dismiss them as absurd.
"...Is that the only way you can speak?"
Even while understanding, Enril's tone was angry.
Jiha answered shortly. "Yes."
"......."
As Enril prepared an indignant sigh, Jiha continued.
"It's hard to even have this kind of talk unless it's just the two of us."
"......."
At his uncharacteristic admission that he was showing his true self, Enril swallowed her sigh. Jiha had done so much, yet he rarely revealed his genuine intentions. Even to Enril, who had known him the longest, where he was looking and what he felt in his heart remained shrouded in fog. It had constantly preoccupied her, tormented her. Tonight, she would learn.
"It's precisely because it's just the two of us that I'm telling you this."
Jiha spoke again. "I can't say things like your blue evening dress suits you well, or that I like your new green earrings, or that your light makeup makes you look like a different person, or that your pinned-up hair looks nice."
"...You're saying them now."
Enril's words carried a sigh. She, who had never been conscious of a man's gaze, had agonized over it, spent time on it, and dressed up. Yet Jiha completely ignored it and even voiced suspicions about her—how could her feelings not be hurt? She wondered if she had done something wrong, thought she'd wasted her time for nothing, felt like she was the only one making a fool of herself. Above all, while she had been constantly anxious and had all sorts of thoughts about Jiha, it turned out to be her own one-sided emotion. She felt unbearably foolish, especially for someone as proud as Enril. But Jiha had known all along and pretended not to.
"You know how I've managed everything."
At Jiha's quiet words, Enril inwardly conceded. Jiha made others perceive him as an unknowable entity. Violent, provocative words and actions paired with a razor-sharp mind. Daring initiative, meticulous planning, and quick improvisation. Jiha instilled fear in his opponents to prevent them from recklessly turning hostile, and thereby gained their submission. Jiha's most outstanding ability was not Bloodsucking Mana, but self-control, presentation, and planning. Through self-discipline, he hid his desires from others, presented himself as a greater existence, and planned situations he could win.
"As a man, I think about wanting to just fall for you. Lately, I've been thinking you've become prettier, even cuter. The thought of forgetting everything and just staying with you suddenly pops into my head."
"......."
"But that won't do. Things are only going to get rougher from here on."
As Jiha shook his head lightly, Enril sighed. She had been staring at his profile, then lowered her eyes.
"...If it's this kind of talk, I can listen."
It is the nature of the one who rules to be lonely. Enril finally felt she understood what kind of man Jiha was. Jiha wasn't acting as he pleased; he made others mistakenly believe he acted as he pleased, thereby expanding his power and gaining submission. That he would never say these things when others were watching. That he never revealed his true heart. That the simple act of coming to her and having this conversation was itself exceedingly rare and special. She felt both glad and sorry. Unconsciously, Enril leaned her head against Jiha's shoulder. To Jiha, who was still facing forward, Enril spoke calmly.
"Occasionally... I can at least be someone you can talk to."
The desire to become a support for this man who couldn't open his heart to others filled her chest. It was a soft yet sweet emotion Enril had never felt for anyone else. A feeling deep in her chest tingled, leaving her throat parched. Enril tightly clasped the man's hand that rested on his knee.
As Enril leaned against him of her own accord, Jiha closed his eyes. Was what he'd just said to Enril a lie? Lies can gain a woman's body, but not her heart. Jiha had opened his long-closed heart and poured it out. He had merely selected and shown only the parts that were advantageous to him.
"......."
No, was that really true? The powerful aspect of Sincerity was that it transformed not only the listener but also the speaker to match it. Even as he spoke, he came to believe it was his true heart. Before coming to the bedroom, Jiha had made all sorts of calculations. But after drinking with Enril, shoulders touching, the line between calculation and sincerity blurred. The heart is something formless, something one can never truly know.
'Enough with philosophical thoughts. Right now....'
Jiha sighed and set down his glass. Enril, leaning against him, held his hand tightly and said nothing. Even when Jiha turned to look at her, she did not pull her hand away.
"...Enril."
Jiha called her name softly, tilting his head toward her.
Their lips met softly. It was a kiss to slowly confirm each other. By now, it should have become familiar, yet they closed their eyes, held hands, and quietly became drunk on the warmth transmitted from the other's lips, letting only their breaths mingle. In the silence of mutual understanding, their joined lips slowly parted, and without needing to say who started it, their tongues intertwined. The slick tongues sought each other, yearning to know more, desperately coiling together.
"Hoo...."
"Hahh."
The breaths of the man and woman slowly mixed. Jiha, who had at some point wrapped his arm around Enril's waist, felt his breathing gradually grow rough. The thought of quickly pushing this quietly compliant dark elf down, the desire to sow his seed—in an instant, strength surged into his lower body and his head grew hot. If everything until now had been an act of domination, now he wanted to handle the dominated woman as he pleased.
"Haa...."
As Jiha's tongue work grew rough, Enril, overwhelmed, stopped moving. Jiha subdued her by pressing down her tongue, sucking on her lips lewdly as he lifted her into his embrace.
"Mm.... Hnngh."
Unsteady steps walking backward while being kissed. Though hesitant, Enril was pushed along wherever Jiha directed. Unable to see behind her, she had no choice but to trust only the Jiha before her eyes, clinging to him and surrendering her lips.
Slurp. Smooch. Slrrp.
The obscene sounds of lips being sucked circled the bedroom.
Thump.
Enril's legs caught the bed and, unable to hold on, she fell onto it. Jiha climbed right on top of her, continuing to lick and suck her lips with his tongue. The thought that even doing it endlessly was not enough set his desire ablaze.
"Hahh. Haak...."
The dark elf, her lips relentlessly toyed with and tongue teased to the point of shuddering, finally let out a scream-like moan. Ignoring the woman pushing against his chest because she could barely endure, Jiha persistently continued licking and tenaciously tasting her plump lips.
"Mm, hnnggh. Sto-stop...."
"......."
Only when Enril pleaded did Jiha finally detach his lips and slowly look down. An attractive dark elf with brown skin and silver hair, wearing a blue evening dress, her cheeks flushed with pink, was panting heavily. Toyed with by a long, rich kiss, her face had instantly slackened, and her blue eyes looked up at the man hazily. Knowing that Jiha was more violent than usual, her face held a touch of fear. But even while trembling, she did not try to flee. Because a woman in love naturally wants to accept her man's lust.