Chapter 160: Creating an Opportunity
Chapter 160: Creating an Opportunity
Dawn broke, and Lungtao departed.
Jiha had burned off most of the alcohol with Mana and was heading to his room alone.
'Maybe I should find a woman...'
The thought flickered by, but he was too far gone. He decided to crash by himself and sleep it off.
But someone was waiting in front of his room.
Even at a distance, her figure was slender yet voluptuous—the kind of woman who made men drool and stirred raw lust. Her pale blue skin, bathed in moonlight, was arrestingly beautiful.
It was Asira Hellrunner.
As Asira turned to face him, he struck first.
"I'm drunk. I was planning to enjoy the after-party quietly on my own, you know?"
"I came here on a spur of rare courage, so retreating is a little difficult right now."
Asira was unarmed. Jiha had allowed her to rest at the barracks but hadn't returned her weapon. Surveillance under the guise of recuperation.
Seeing his gaze, she spoke.
"Lijin, who kept me company, did nothing wrong. I slipped out after studying the camp's security."
"Was it that sloppy?"
Jiha gave a bitter smile.
Asira was a Unique. Even without a weapon, if she was determined to get away, Common soldiers had no way of stopping her. He'd kept the watch deliberately light and set up a system to alert him the moment anything seemed off. Yet Asira had seen through it and countered.
She shook her head.
"No, the guards on duty were all perfectly alert. They simply didn't expect me to do this."
"Makes sense."
He hadn't imagined she wouldn't try to slip away, but would come straight to him instead.
Jiha made a glib remark.
"If you wanted to see my face, just tell Lijin. I would've come."
"I didn't want to wait. I wanted to seek you out myself. Is that not good enough?"
Asira gave a bitter smile as she looked at him.
Jiha moved toward her casually, then placed his good hand against the door beside her. Their bodies drew close. Even when their noses almost touched, Asira quietly held his gaze.
She was different from before.
She had come here after steeling her resolve during that rest.
"Stop being childish—"
Smack.
As she tried to scold him, Jiha pressed his lips against hers. Asira, not expecting it so abruptly, widened her eyes. Her body went rigid.
Jiha trapped her against the door and kissed her, pushing his tongue inside.
"Hah, ah..." A warm breath. The demon knight who had arrived so boldly instantly had her breathing grow ragged. The moment he thrust his tongue inside without warning and tangled it with hers, a coy, involuntary sigh escaped her lips.
Jiha narrowed his eyes and rubbed Asira's chin with his fingertips.
"S-Stop. Just for a moment..." Asira snapped to her senses and tried to speak, but he pressed her tongue down with his, making it impossible.
Smooch. Smooch.
He sucked hard on her lips, kissed her cheek, then licked down her neck and kissed there.
"Hah, ah. Let's... talk..."
Asira tried to push Jiha away with trembling hands, but she wasn't using Mana.
Lick. Lick.
Like a playful puppy, he kept licking her neck and tickling her. He shamelessly licked his way up to her chin, then pulled back and looked at her.
"Hah, haa. W-Wait..." Her pretty lips glistened with the man's saliva as the demon knight gasped for breath. A blush rose on her light blue skin. When Asira reflexively raised an arm to hide her face, Jiha pressed down on her shoulders and stopped her.
"I'm not a guy who's all talk, remember?"
"..."
Asira had probably assumed he'd at least listen to her. She had come with her own determination, but she never imagined he'd do this the moment he saw her.
"You're... drunk."
"I hate that cheesy line about 'tasty alcohol and your lips.' Annoying." Jiha flicked his tongue out and stared at her blatantly. Like a predator eyeing a delicious piece of meat. Asira, her shoulders pinned by his hands, was caught and couldn't move. Then she sighed.
"Fine. But before that, let's talk..."
"You don't get it. How much I've been holding back." Jiha spoke bluntly. "I've been trying really hard not to just mount you like a beast in heat. And then you come walking right up to me of your own accord?"
"..."
Asira's face reddened even more at the deliberately vulgar language. She hesitated, her words trailing off.
"...Don't use such crude expressions. Especially in front of Yura."
"Right now it's just the two of us, isn't it? So you came here to get fucked by me, right?"
"..."
"Answer me."
He pressed her with a smile. It didn't matter what she said—he was going to do it regardless.
Asira looked at him and spoke quietly.
"If you were really going to do that, you would have done it long ago. This place is already no different from your territory, and I am no different from your prisoner."
"Looks like you've braced yourself..."
"Is it because of Yura's face?" Asira suddenly asked. She might be overly righteous, but she wasn't stupid. Considering she hadn't seen Yura while resting, and that the barracks were Jiha's base, she had realized Yura must have kept various truths hidden from her.
Asira pressed down on the hand holding her shoulder and let out an earnest sigh. "This will be a long conversation. I will do as you wish once we're done, so will you let me in?"
"...Fine."
Jiha dropped the act. It was time for a more serious talk.
Jiha's room.
He entered first, deliberately stumbling. It was a feint to test her reaction.
"Oh, are you all right?" Asira grabbed his arm to steady him. She saw the sling and shook her head. "You must be injured. It looks like a broken bone..."
"I got basic treatment. Don't worry about it." Asira had healing abilities, but they were for combat, not delicate work. Still, she summoned Mana. A cool energy swirled, and the faint pain in his arm subsided.
"It's a mild local anesthetic effect. You'll be fine until tomorrow morning."
"Okay." Jiha pulled his arm free and sat on the bed. Asira carefully pulled up a chair and sat before him. The demon woman in a tight white leotard was exquisitely beautiful. As Jiha looked at her with drunk eyes, she spoke.
"I heard the Unique Narsha arrived. And that you clashed with her subordinates."
"..."
She knew more than he expected, even while practically a prisoner. She really was no ordinary knight.
Asira spoke carefully. "If you wish, I can mediate."
"The war has already started, and it has to end. No, more than that..." Jiha said with a smile. "You've already figured some of it out, haven't you? The fact that Enril and Yura stay quiet no matter what I do. That I'm not your average man."
"..."
Asira, who had swept across battlefields as a commander of Blue Seal, would have caught on by now. That the Blue Seal barracks—indeed, most of Waris—was in his grasp. And even that her own life hung on Jiha's whim.
Asira asked quietly. "I already knew you were a big shot. But isn't this enough? With the skill you showed taking over Waris, Lady Cheonho would take note and grant you a grand reward..."
"I'm not working under anyone else." Jiha cut her off firmly. "Asira, the reason I didn't leave you in the dark and saved you from Kamain... is because I want you, obviously."
"..."
If Jiha had kept pretending not to know, Asira would have been bitten by Kamain's venomous fangs and suffered a terrible fate.
Asira nodded slowly. "I know. That you even revealed the circumstances you were hiding to help me."
"Because I want to fuck you, I said."
"...Stop saying that. I know you're joking."
Asira was a striking beauty, but she had low self-esteem. She didn't believe Jiha was acting this way because she was genuinely attractive. She assumed he had helped her because Yura asked him to, or for some other reason.
"In truth, I must be a hindrance to what you're doing. You should have killed me long ago."
"Yura would be sad. I don't want that."
"...I don't want to do anything that would make Yura sad, either." Asira shook her head gracefully. Eliminating Jiha had never been an option for her from the start.
Jiha grinned. "You don't want to make Yura sad, but you're fine being under me?"
"You keep wording it like that..."
"I liked it, though?"
"..."
At his words, she fell silent. Her red eyes subtly tested the waters.
Regardless, the fact that Jiha and Asira had slept together was established. She was secretly curious about how she was perceived as a woman. Jiha could sense a hint of relief and delight at his words. Because of Kamain's schemes, Asira had never been courted by a man. She mistakenly thought she wasn't very attractive, so she secretly devoured romance novels instead.
It was a ridiculous misconception. Asira was beautiful. Her ample breasts, overflowing a hand, her slender waist, her ripe hips, and long straight legs captivated a man's gaze even while she simply sat there. Her face? Her features were neat and cleanly arranged. She wasn't just beautiful; when she smiled brightly, the viewer felt radiant, and when she was angry, the viewer was swept up in a righteous surge of emotion. She had the power to convey feelings vividly.
'And she doesn't even think her appearance is attractive...'
One might take issue with her black sclera that dyed the whites of her eyes, but to Jiha it gave her a more unique beauty. A bewitching quality that contrasted with her chaste personality.
"And sitting here talking with you like this makes my heart pound."
"..."
When Jiha said it seriously, Asira opened her mouth, then closed it. Her face was at a loss for words. She was weak to this kind of directness. The things she had prepared to say, the arguments to persuade him, the bargaining chips she'd brought—all of it froze on her tongue under his gaze.
When two people are alone, they are ultimately a man and a woman. And having seen how he handled things, she had grown fond of him as a man. It was just that she tried not to show it because he was Yura's man, and Yura was someone she treated like family.
"Enough talking. Come here."
"...Huh?"
"Take off your clothes and come here."
What to do when a woman hesitates?
Shove her down hard and make her yours.
