Chapter 224 Melting Night -7
Chapter 224 Melting Night -7
A spine-chilling surge of carnal hunger shot up to the crown of his head.
The desire to pin down the woman right in front of him, to make her writhe beneath him—a predatory male instinct sent heat blazing through his entire body.
Feeling the sudden hardness pressing inside his trousers, Jiha closed his eyes.
He took stock of why he'd become so aroused out of nowhere.
'Is it the alcohol?'
Sirel was an attractive woman, of course.
Her breasts pushed against her thin shirt as though lifting the fabric.
Her legs were smoothly tapered below a navy skirt.
She had an urban beauty that suited her bob cut perfectly, yet carried herself with such easy familiarity.
Refined but approachable—a woman any man would naturally desire.
But Jiha had kept his hands off her until now.
"What's with you, closing your eyes all of a sudden?"
"......."
Sirel, completely unaware of what was going through Jiha's mind, remained perfectly at ease.
He could pounce on her right now and she wouldn't be able to do a thing. Even if she panicked and resisted, one bite would settle it.
No, he didn't even need to bite. He could melt her in any number of ways.
He could crush her in an instant and leave her thrashing on the bed.
She stood within the distance a man could close the moment he decided to take what he wanted. The defenseless beauty called out with a touch of concern.
"Jiha?"
"I'm holding back because I'm turned on. Don't talk to me."
At Jiha's blunt answer, Sirel grew flustered, unsure what to do for a moment before straightening her back.
She cleared her throat and gave his shoulder a light slap.
"This kid. They call you Sookmaek for a reason. Who says something like that so openly? You shouldn't do that. Okay?"
"It's the drinks."
"Ahem......."
When Jiha opened his eyes, Sirel was fanning herself self-consciously, looking thoroughly embarrassed.
Watching her, the lust that had blazed all the way to his fingertips gradually began to subside.
'If I can help it.......'
He didn't want to touch Sirel if he could avoid it.
It wasn't that he felt no desire.
But once he took her, there would be no turning back.
The road Jiha walked was a bloodbath.
A fight against the secret organization Ouroboros was already on the horizon, and Blue Seal and Purple Liberation still needed to be smashed to pieces.
World conquest. He would slaughter every enemy in his path, and plenty of his own subordinates would die.
Was he supposed to drag Sirel into that sea of carnage and blood?
"Sirel."
"Yeah? Yeah?"
Sirel, who had been pointedly looking elsewhere, turned back to Jiha with a flustered expression.
Seeing such an innocent reaction from a woman who had always treated him like a friend, Jiha laughed inwardly.
Because he liked that about her.
"Thank you. For a lot of things."
"......Why are you talking like that? Like you're never going to see me again."
"I got this far because you saved my life more than a few times."
Before he acquired his Vampiric Mana, Jiha had nearly died over and over while fighting recklessly in the Summoning War with no real understanding of what he was doing.
Right after being summoned to Warsland, he had tried to put up a fight at first.
After seeing his own limbs torn off and his guts spill out over and over, he figured he ought to at least survive, so he started surrendering unconditionally.
Enril had responded with contempt and beatings, telling him he'd be better off dying in battle. It was enough to drive a man insane.
With nowhere to anchor his heart, Sirel had healed him, treated him like a person, worried about him, and encouraged him not to die.
Without Sirel, he wouldn't have endured it.
Okram had become a subordinate now... and the only person Jiha could still treat with anything resembling personal warmth was Sirel.
He didn't want to impulsively take the one person he could let his guard down around and be at ease with.
If he was going to take her, he would do it with resolve.
"Whew......."
At the sudden farewell-like words, Sirel looked a little taken aback, then soon smiled softly.
"Even now that he's such an important man, our Jiha is still the same."
"......."
"A good guy. A really good guy."
Sirel gently stroked his hair.
A soft touch that trusted the beast before her would not bite.
"Sleep at the barracks tonight. If the duty room is uncomfortable, tell Uben—he'll sort out a room for you."
"We haven't finished drinking yet."
"I'm done now."
"......."
Sirel stared at him quietly at that.
The eyes of a man and a woman meeting in the silence.
Perhaps thanks to the strong liquor, a faint flush of intoxication lingered on Sirel's face.
She hesitated a moment, then managed an evasive smile.
"Could it be... you still feel that way?"
"......."
She'd left out the subject, but no idiot could fail to grasp the meaning in this atmosphere.
Jiha sighed and rose from his seat.
Thud.
He planted both hands on the table to either side of Sirel's thighs and stared straight at her.
"......Uh."
Under Jiha's gaze, Sirel's face turned flustered.
With his hands caging her in on both sides, Jiha tilted his head slightly as he looked at her—in a single instant, she was cornered against the wall.
If she got up from the desk, she'd be pressed right against him.
If she stayed still, Jiha's eyes were far from innocent.
A heated stare.
"......Uh, um, uh?"
Sirel let out an awkward, painfully strained laugh.
Not that Jiha reacted in any way.
'Shall I make her a little tense...?'
He had no intention of taking Sirel right now.
But maybe he should let her know just how dangerous it is to act this way when she doesn't really understand men.
Knock knock!
A knock sounded at the door right then.
"Ah!"
Sirel gave a startled jolt, then scrambled hurriedly off the desk.
"Sorry, you must be busy with all sorts of things and I've been bothering you."
She was trying to brush it off, as if the question she'd just asked had never happened—as if it were a drunken slip.
Jiha caught her by the wrist and stopped her.
"......Uh. Uh."
When Sirel looked at him in confusion, Jiha sighed inwardly and let go.
"It wasn't a bother. Thanks for giving me your time."
"Ah, yeah......."
"Go get some rest."
Sirel, who had been brimming with tension, soon showed a smile free of any shadow.
"I'm glad I wasn't a bother, then. Shall we drink together in secret next time? Just the two of us?"
"When I find the time."
"Don't look so grim. Let me know whenever you have a free moment. I'll make time too."
Sirel spoke in a playful tone.
"But you're such an important man now, you probably won't have time, right? Stay on your toes, because you never know when I might barge in again like I did today."
"I'll come find you first."
"Huh?"
"We'll meet then and have a drink, or I'll set a date later, so wait for me. Things will settle down for the most part."
"......Okay, should I trust you this time? If you stand me up, I'll hold a grudge, you know?"
Sirel playfully pressed his forehead with her finger, then pulled it away, turned, and walked off.
Watching her walk away, Jiha closed his eyes.
What he would do about Sirel was a decision he would make later.
Part of him wanted to take her. Another part wanted to leave her as she was and keep her as someone he could be at ease around.
Either way, it was a decision for him to make.
As Sirel exited and the door opened, Lijin entered.
Lowering her head slightly, Lijin spoke quietly.
"I apologize for interrupting your rest, Lord Jiha."
"Report."
"As Lady Sirel likely already told you, Lady Mayan's treatment is complete. The progress is smooth, and she is expected to fully recover in a few days."
"Next?"
Lijin wasn't the type to repeat what had already been said.
She wouldn't be so tactless as to barge in while he was alone with Sirel—the one person Jiha treated without reserve—without a reason.
"Lady Asira is asking to see you."
"What about?"
"She didn't specify her business. She said it's urgent and that she's waiting in her room. Lady Asira acting this way is rare, so I judged it couldn't be ignored."
"Right, she wouldn't."
Jiha rose from his seat.
It seemed there was still work left to handle.
Asira's room.
The moment Jiha opened the door and stepped inside, he sensed no presence and reflexively went on guard.
The room was empty.
Summoning him and then being absent meant a state of alert—he drove out all the lingering alcohol fumes with his Mana.
The indoor air shifted.
"You came, Lord Jiha."
Yura, hovering slightly in the air, wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and whispered sweetly.
Yura had used Asira's name to call him out.
"Do you remember what you promised before? When you come back, you'd dote on me and Asira together."
"Where's Pairan?"
"I confirmed she's in the next room. She's probably talking with Lady Asira right now."
"What's the plan?"
Yura didn't answer immediately. She asked carefully instead.
"Are you all right, Lord Jiha? If you're tired, we can put it off until next time......."
"No."
Jiha shook his head.
He wanted to sort out his feelings and take a woman for himself, one way or another.
Yura was perceptively reading his mood.
She'd been so forward lately, actively putting herself out there, that it was easy to forget—but Yura was fundamentally a passive and gentle-natured person.
After being taken by Jiha and completely subordinated, she had become more assertive in her own way, but her core nature hadn't changed.
"What's the specific plan?"
"Well, so... when Lady Asira returns, Lord Jiha, you greet her and spend the night with her. I'll be hiding inside the wardrobe, and then......."
"......."
"......Should I hide outside instead?"
At Jiha's silence, Yura was bewildered.
Jiha sighed.
"Don't try to gloss this over."
"......Pardon?"
"In the end, we deceived Asira. We pretended the two of us couldn't be together and tricked Asira. And now you're trying to corner Asira even further so you can gloss over what we did."
Asira had been feeling sorry toward Yura for having embraced Jiha.
Hit directly in a sore spot, Yura went rigid.
"......L-Lord Jiha. Are you... displeased?"
"If we were nothing but a simple man-woman relationship, it wouldn't matter. But you have some idea of what I'm aiming for, don't you?"
Nod.
Yura carefully nodded her head.
That Jiha was not a vessel who would be satisfied with mere Waris—that he would conquer this city, grow his power further, and keep expanding.
"For what I intend to do, both you and Asira have to play major roles. But if we try to gloss over what we've done now, it'll cause problems later."
"......."
Jiha sat down on the edge of the bed.
Yura, her hands demurely folded together over her stomach, looked at Jiha with unease.
It was the reaction of a little child caught playing a nasty prank.
Even though her body was that of a fully mature adult.
"You're a wicked girl. Not satisfied with deceiving Asira, you're even trying to cover up your wrongdoing."
Jiha had already mostly caught on, but he'd been letting it slide.
The reason why Yura, so passive and gentle, had turned proactive—of course, being completely subordinated to Jiha was part of it, but...
She only became particularly assertive when it involved Asira.
"Don't try to gloss over the fact that you deceived Asira and sold her off to me."
"S-Sold her off? How can you say something like that?"
Yura looked so deeply wounded that she seemed on the verge of tears.
But Jiha cut her off flatly.
"That's exactly what you're trying to do. You're planning to conveniently burst in on the scene where Asira and I are pressed skin to skin, so you can seize the moral high ground."
"......."
"You've been bothered deep down by the fact that you deceived Asira from the start and handed her over to me. You can't honestly face that, so you're trying to shove the blame onto Asira. You're trying to pin this entire situation on Asira."
Yura covered her mouth and trembled.
Jiha's sharp words pierced through the shadows in her heart that even Yura herself hadn't fully realized were there.
Yura, with her demure face, voluptuous body, and gentle yet passive nature, was a work of art designed to enchant men.
But that didn't mean she was virtuous.
'A quiet kid doesn't necessarily mean a good kid....'
Yura's view of Asira was complicated.
She respected and followed Asira, but at the same time felt jealousy.
She loved Asira as family in everything but blood, yet... she also harbored an inferiority complex.
The reason Yura had grown up so passive and withdrawn was surely, in part, because she'd been living in Asira's shadow.
"The last time we were together was in this room too, wasn't it. Tonight's going to be even more fun."
"......Lord Jiha."
Now that her hidden heart had been completely exposed, Yura didn't know what to do with herself.
With the mask of assertive appeal gone, she was once again the timid, self-conscious Succubus.
Seated comfortably on the edge of the bed, Jiha crooked a finger.
"Come here. We've got work to do."
An order to offer her body.
"B-But Asira is right next door......."
"Yeah. I intend to let her hear."
Jiha smiled.
"That the person she trusted more than anyone deceived her completely."
Even when he was going along with a plan, he did it on his own terms.
Tonight, he would pin both of them down and take them completely.