Chapter 298 Independence -27
Chapter 298 Independence -27
The night swept past in a storm of blood and pleasure.
Morning.
Jiha opened his eyes and sat up in bed.
Beside him, the platinum-haired celestial lay asleep, exhaustion written across her face.
"Hoo..."
After four rounds without a single break, Gashiel had passed out. Jiha had kept going three more times even after that.
Only after pinning down her unconscious body and driving into her for a long while, like a man possessed, did he finally feel satisfied enough to let himself subside.
"..."
Drinking celestial blood had sent him into a rut.
'So bugra's ingredients include celestial blood.'
Jiha's intuition was immediate.
Bugra was a downgraded form of vampiric Mana.
Even Taigirl, who never hesitated to say whatever outrageous thing popped into her head, had kept the recipe for bugra a secret. That would explain why.
The celestials were a species they didn't want as enemies, given their unusually high proportion of Rare Grade individuals.
Aside from an exceedingly small handful, celestials kept entirely to themselves—a closed, insular race.
Blood that would be hard to come by. Alex had probably procured it somehow, or drawn it himself.
'My Mana's perfectly fine, and the only effect was going into heat. So it's not just celestial blood—there's something else in it too. The other ingredient is probably something from one of the exiled, imprisoned races. Alex becoming a high-ranking officer, one of the Five Kings, probably had something to do with his celestial origin.'
What would Ouroboros do now that they'd lost Alex?
They'd try to secure another celestial.
'I'll confirm this when I call Taigirl, but the logic holds. If I'm right, then dealing with Ouroboros from now on just means keeping an eye on the celestials.'
Holding Gashiel had yielded more than just the act itself.
His thoughts sorted, Jiha propped himself up and glanced around.
Gashiel's thrashing during the night had scattered white feathers across the bed.
Jiha picked one up and gently tickled Gashiel's nose with it. Sleeping like the dead, Gashiel's nose twitched.
"Ah, mm..."
She sat bolt upright. Before her eyes were fully open, she was already folding the bedding in a formal, kneeling posture.
The deeply ingrained reflex was so absurdly polite that Jiha didn't know whether to be baffled or amused.
"..."
Still half-asleep, Gashiel's hands paused mid-motion, the blanket creased with razor precision.
It was only then that she realized she was not alone in bed.
"Sharp creases. You'd be popular in the barracks."
"..."
Gashiel's mouth fell open. Then her eyes flew wide. She clapped both hands over her mouth and let out a silent scream.
Jiha offered helpfully, "Go ahead and scream. Happens to me all the time."
"It wasn't... a dream?"
"For you, it must have been a night like a dream."
At Jiha's grin, Gashiel yanked the blanket she'd just folded around herself in a single motion.
Jiha tapped his own bare thigh.
"Hey, you think covering up is going to fix everything?"
"...Ah."
Realizing Jiha was completely naked, Gashiel turned deeply flustered and looked left and right.
Spotting his clothes far across the room, she spoke with a shaky voice.
"Th-there. Your clothes are over there."
"I don't feel like getting up. Too far."
"..."
Hesitating, Gashiel started to rise, wrapped in the blanket. A silent offer to fetch them.
Jiha, naturally, seized the blanket and pulled.
"Wh-what are you doing?!"
Clutching the cloth around her, Gashiel fought desperately to keep it from being stolen.
"We spent the whole night under the same blanket anyway. Come on, share."
"..."
"I said I'm cold."
At his words, Gashiel hesitated, then shifted her posture.
She sat with her arms covering her chest and her thighs pressed tightly together, lifting her wings to shield her body. Then she handed the entire blanket over to Jiha.
"I suppose I have no choice. Use it."
"..."
Seriously? He'd said they could share, and she just handed it all over?
Sure, she was covering her nakedness with her wings and arms, but a woman who'd been a virgin until last night would never normally do such a thing.
Maybe she was so disgusted she'd rather not share a blanket with him?
"..."
But Gashiel, head bowed and cheeks flushed with embarrassment, showed no sign of that emotion at all.
Only benevolence radiated from her, like a righteous soul taking off her own coat for a beggar on the street.
"...No, come on. Share it. A little."
"My wings are sufficient. A human male Normal can't help it, I suppose."
"..."
Benevolent, but arrogant.
With a dry laugh, Jiha forced half the blanket back over Gashiel.
She tried to refuse, but after he insisted several times, she reluctantly accepted.
Quickly pulling the blanket up to her chest.
She really had been horribly embarrassed after all.
'She prioritized my being cold over her own shame?'
Her words were cheeky and arrogant, but her actions were kind.
As Jiha regarded her with fascination, Gashiel spoke quietly.
"...We should have breakfast now. I'd like a cup of tea beforehand."
"And you're telling me that so I'll prepare it?"
"No. Someone else prepares it for me. I should ask them..."
Gashiel trailed off, freezing.
Because Jiha had suddenly leaned in close beside her.
"...Wh-what is it? Move away."
Her white wings unfolded, trying to hide her face.
Jiha brushed the wings aside with his arm and studied her with curiosity.
He'd spent the night with many women, but this was the first time he'd gotten this reaction.
"I want to go again."
"...Pardon? P-pardon? You—we did it all night."
A test probe. Gashiel's fluster deepened.
Glancing at Jiha's eyes, his gaze, she quickly corrected her expression and spoke with definitive firmness.
"...Bedroom matters are for the night. It is morning now. Restrain yourself."
"So if I restrain myself, does that mean you'll do it again tonight?"
"...That's not what I meant."
Gashiel's words trailed off into ambiguity.
Her tone didn't convey refusal of the act itself; it was more that there were other things to take care of first.
Evidence of that was how, even with Jiha staring at her from point-blank range, she only blushed and looked away—showing no sign of displeasure.
Though the embarrassment kept making her try to hide her face.
"...Please stop looking. What is so fascinating?"
"That I spent all night with such a pretty angel. Hard to believe."
"..."
Gashiel's cheeks reddened further.
Under Jiha's gaze, she swallowed hard and spoke again.
"Not an angel. A celestial. Since things have come to this, you too must conduct yourself with purity going forward and learn a great many things from me—eep?!"
Muah!
Jiha kissed her cheek mid-sentence. She recoiled as if burned and tried to cover herself with her wings again.
But since Jiha was right in front of her, the wings only draped over his back.
Gashiel yanked the blanket up to her face and shouted.
"...I—I said it's morning! Stop! You mustn't!"
"So then it's okay at night?"
"It—it is! After all the proper steps have been taken, at least! But no more than this! It violates the precepts!"
Another entertaining reaction.
As Jiha watched in amusement, Gashiel lowered the blanket to her lips, her expression a mix of high anxiety and... a faint flutter of anticipation.
"It's a celestial precept that bedroom matters only happen at night?"
"...It's the natural order of the world and the proper path. Commit that to memory."
When Jiha asked as if he had no idea, Gashiel answered in a lecturing tone.
The air of someone educating a clueless, ignorant bumpkin and turning him into a decent person.
Jiha said, completely deadpan, "Thing is, I got horny."
"Pardon? Ah! Ahh! D-don't look! Don't let me see it!"
Jiha pulled his morning erection out from under the blanket, and Gashiel immediately pulled the covers over her head.
"Indecent! Vulgar! Cover it up!"
"You were touching it just fine last night."
"...It is morning now!"
With Gashiel showing no sign of emerging, Jiha asked slyly, "So what do you expect me to do? Just get dressed and walk out like this?"
"Wh-what else would you do?"
"This is seriously painful and uncomfortable."
Jiha feigned discomfort, and Gashiel slowly peeked her head out.
Only her head, her eyes above the blanket's edge, studying Jiha carefully.
Tensely, she asked, "...It hurts?"
"If it stays like this, yeah. Really."
Maintaining an erection too long naturally caused problems.
Morning wood usually subsided after a while.
But curious about her response, Jiha deliberately didn't mention that.
"...Th-then what—what should we do?"
"You know, from last night. If we do that..."
"Morning is not permitted."
Gashiel's voice was adamant.
Absolutely no yielding on this point.
Truthfully, Jiha had no real intention of going further anyway.
After taking a woman's virginity, the next day belonged to tenderness—that was Jiha's principle.
His act now was only because Gashiel's reactions amused him.
"...Is it truly, very painful?"
"It's dangerous. If it stays like this, it'll have to be cut off."
"That can't be."
Gashiel's face flooded with shock.
She stared at Jiha's erect member with genuine sympathy, visibly distressed.
The gaze of someone looking at an invalid.
"...What should we do? Should I call a healer?"
"You could use your hand."
"...It's morning. I cannot do such a lewd thing."
The refusal remained, but her initial iron wall had softened. A tone that said she couldn't just leave a suffering person unattended.
Her gaze toward his cock was no longer embarrassment, but pity.
"Then I know a method. How about I try it?"
"...Nothing lewd."
"So you'll just let me stay in pain?"
Gashiel's expression grew complicated before she sighed.
"...What is it?"
"First, sit on the edge of the bed with your back to me. And put your wings down."
Gashiel, holding the blanket in front of her, did as Jiha said.
Without the faintest suspicion.
The platinum-haired angel sat on the bed, and the sight of her back, slender waist, and the beautiful line of her hips hit him instantly.
Mostly hidden by her hair and wings, but the glimpses of skin stirred excitement.
"Alright, then..."
Jiha crawled toward her on his knees from behind.
Gashiel, a little uneasy, adjusted the blanket covering her front and started to look back...
Sluuurk.
His cock pushed through the smooth hollow of the celestial's armpit.
"Ah?! Eeek!"
The sudden contact made Gashiel jump in fright, but Jiha pressed down on her shoulders and held her.
"I said stay still."
"Wh-what are you doing?! Right now! Take it out this instant!"
"If I thrust a few times like this, it'll settle down. It's a treatment method."
When Gashiel still tried to protest, Jiha purposefully lowered his voice.
"Or would you rather just leave me in pain?"
"Th-that's..."
Gashiel stared at the cock lodged in her armpit with a trembling, fearful gaze.
For someone who only knew of coupling through texts, she couldn't have imagined an act like this.
Jiha asked shamelessly, "This doesn't fall under those lewd acts you mentioned, does it?"
"...Well."
Gashiel's knowledge probably extended to "don't mix bodies in the morning."
There was no way it included a detailed prohibition like "don't use your armpit."
As she fell silent, Jiha murmured, "Just a little..."
"Ah, hn."
A soft gasp escaped her. Jiha wedged himself into her armpit and began rocking his hips.
The feel of her slender arm, the pressure of the side of her breast.
He'd started this to tease her, but... it felt surprisingly good.
"Mm."
"..."
Gashiel kept her head bowed, staring at the floor, utterly unprepared for this.
But each time the dark shaft bulged through the gap of her armpit, a fine tremor ran through her.
From his angle, thrusting and withdrawing in long strokes, Jiha had a clear view of Gashiel's breasts.
Large enough to fill a hand and more, their pretty shape from above would instinctively draw any man.
Jiha bent his upper body forward and grabbed them.
"Ah?! Y-you can't touch—!"
"This makes it end faster."
Jiha spoke while moving his hips faster.
He reached down and kneaded Gashiel's breasts, snapped his hips, violating her armpit.
Shhk. Shhhk.
The more he rubbed, the more sweat beaded and precum slicked the motion into something smoother.
When Gashiel's body trembled and her arm tensed tight, the pressure squeezed him even harder.
"Mn, mm..."
"..."
The clench of her armpit pressing down.
It defied description.
A ring of soft, tender flesh pressing and gripping tight, and with every movement the warm side of her breast rubbed directly against him for added stimulation.
"Hm, mm..."
"..."
Jiha's breathing changed. His hip movements quickened. Gashiel looked up with tense eyes, anxious about what would come next.
A man who starts doesn't stop until he's satisfied.