Chapter 278: Pride
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 278: Pride
“What in the world is this place…?”
Had she mentioned it before? This was Iris’s bedroom. It was supposed to be the attic of a magic item shop—a building that already had fairly high ceilings—yet the ceiling here was impossibly loftier.
Since she was the Vampire Lord, he figured it was some sort of spatial magic, but the sensation was still surreal.
“By the way… Iris, are you sure about this?”
“About what?”
“Well, you know… doing this with me. I just thought there might be, I don't know, other vampires or something.”
Clack.
In the very center of the strangely vast attic, Iris stopped dead in her tracks as she headed toward the solitary bed.
“Is that what you think?”
“Huh? Uh—well….”
Yoo Eon understood on some level that Iris had feelings for him. If she didn’t, she wouldn't have done things like masturbating in front of him in the first place.
The very fact that he was allowed inside this magic item shop could be seen as proof of her favor. However, he hadn't realized that favor was of a romantic or sexual nature.
After all, weren't vampires supposed to view humans as an inferior species? It made sense; vampires lived for centuries, and Iris sat at the very pinnacle of their kind as their Lord.
A mere human was someone she could flick away and kill with a single finger.
‘Did I have the wrong image of her in my head?’
“Do I have to say it plainly?”
“...Pardon?”
Without looking back, Iris quickened her pace toward the bed.
Clatter…
As she lifted a knee onto the bed and her high heels fell to the floor with a sharp thud, the environment shifted.
Specifically, the area around the bed changed. Black curtains descended from the empty air, encircling the bed in a ring, and a moment later, they unfurled with a crisp shhhhk sound.
“...I want to.”
As always, her voice was quiet and composed, never raised, but today it was even softer than usual. When Yoo Eon stood there awkwardly, having failed to catch her words, Iris looked at him and spoke again, her voice a fraction louder.
“I want to have sex with you.”
* * *
“When did you prepare those clothes…?”
“I didn’t. I’m basically naked all the time anyway.”
For someone of the Vampire Lord’s stature, actual clothes were unnecessary. Since she could manifest whatever attire she desired at any moment, there was no reason to drape her body in fabrics that were prone to getting soiled.
Because her clothes were woven from mana, she considered herself essentially naked at all times.
“And how did you even learn about an outfit like that?”
“I’m smart.”
Iris usually wore rather provocative clothing, but today she looked even more voluptuous. If one were to ask what had changed, the answer was: not much. She had simply shed the outer dress she usually wore over her base outfit.
She had merely revealed the long gloves and stockings she always wore, along with the lingerie he had never paid much attention to before.
“...Do you have much experience?”
“Plenty. Ten billion times.”
“Uh….”
“In books.”
“Ah.”
The volumes on her shelves, which looked like nameless grimoires, were surprisingly mostly books that described sexual relations between men and women. Even if sex wasn't the primary plot, she had read almost every book that contained such scenes from cover to cover.
Unaware of this, Yoo Eon had simply assumed she had a lot of books because it was a magic item shop, and those must be grimoires. Since most of the books Iris read had nothing written on their covers, he had remained in the dark.
“Come up.”
Without him noticing, the temperature in the attic had risen comfortably. In the air that had grown sultry but not unpleasant due to Iris’s magic, Yoo Eon approached the edge of the bed as she beckoned.
As he drew closer, Iris’s skin became vividly visible. Once he was within range, the black curtains surrounding them drew shut in a circle, their thin fabric turning opaque to shield them from the outside world.
Sinking in…
Atop the snow-white bed that contrasted sharply with her black lingerie, Iris’s body gave a small, visible shudder as Yoo Eon slowly approached.
“Iris?”
“What.”
“...It’s nothing.”
Though she was the Vampire Lord, Iris possessed the outward appearance of a slender, delicate woman. In contrast, Yoo Eon’s body was a mass of ferocious muscle that rippled beneath his skin. As he stripped off his shirt, Iris broke into a cold sweat just looking at him.
Rustle.
“Huu….”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“What of it.”
As usual, Iris’s expression was difficult to read, perhaps even more so now. Her pupils were shaking with unprecedented intensity as she watched Yoo Eon’s clothes fall to the floor one by one. When he moved onto the bed with only a single layer of underwear left, Iris bit her lip ever so slightly.
“Hi.”
A tiny sound escaped her throat, one she had been trying to suppress. Generally, the standard for ‘beauty’ was perceived similarly by most demi-humans, including those from ancient times. In that sense, Yoo Eon’s current physique was the pinnacle of masculinity—something that words in a book could never fully convey to her.
His broad shoulders, the thick veins bulging on his forearms, and the potent scent of a male wafting from his muscle-bound frame.
The way the muscles in his thighs were carved into distinct sections, and how obscenely firm his well-defined abdominals stood their ground.
Unable to bear the silence as Iris stared at him blankly, Yoo Eon spoke first.
“Iris. Should I start?”
“...No. I’m better at this.”
Even after saying that, she hesitated for a long time. Her fingertips twitched invisibly before she finally made up her mind and reached out. Her target was Yoo Eon’s dark gray underwear as he sat half-turned away.
She crawled across the bed toward him, and as she slid her hand between the fabric and his skin—
“Hick.”
The sound leaked out despite herself. The ‘thing’ she had only read about in books. There was nothing she could really compare its shape to, though she recalled some descriptions mentioning it was like a mushroom. Iris shook her head inwardly.
‘It’s a log.’
Only after shifting her gaze and focusing on the very tip did she understand, just a little bit, why some authors described it as a mushroom.
“Is this… the glans?”
“...Y-yes, it is.”
Now she understood what it meant to ‘scour the vaginal walls.’ Iris owned several prosthetic phalluses, so it wasn't as if she was completely ignorant, but this felt like it was on a different level entirely. It was like the difference between a household hammer and a war mace. Until now, she had only used things that were, at most, smaller than the span of her hand.
While Iris’s mental world was a bit difficult for a normal person to grasp, she still possessed the common sensibilities of pride.
Yoo Eon was a man who had lived for maybe twenty years. She was someone who had spent centuries reading erotic novels. In Iris’s mind, it was already decided who should take the lead in this battle atop the bed.
Yoo Eon sat leaning his back against the pillows by the headboard, and Iris knelt between his thighs. Her hands, clad in thin chiffon gloves, softly wrapped around his member.
Contrary to what she had read, she found it unexpected that her thumb and middle finger couldn't even meet when she gripped him.
‘I see, real life is slightly different from the books,’ she thought. The knowledge from the countless adult novels she had read began to flash through her mind like a storm.
“Mueh.”
A vampire’s body temperature is usually slightly lower than a human’s, but when they are aroused, it rises above the standard 36.5 degrees Celsius—to a warmer 38 degrees.
As Iris’s warm, moist lips parted slightly, a drop of saliva, heated to her body temperature, fell onto the tip of his glans.
“Does it feel good?”
“Um.”
Yoo Eon found himself in a bit of a spot at her question. If she was asking about his current mood, well, Iris was undeniably a beautiful woman.
But if she was asking if he was feeling pleasure from the sexual stimulation, he wasn't sure what to say.
‘She’s clumsy.’
Her technique felt much like her usual dazed personality. It was almost cute, in a way. She was clearly trying her best, but to him, she looked like a foolish virgin who had stuffed her head with theoretical knowledge and curiosity but had zero practical skill.
Thump.
Yoo Eon, being generous, placed his large palm on top of Iris’s head and began to slowly stroke her silky silver hair.
“You’re doing great.”
“Ugh.”
Iris, who had been vigorously moving her hand up and down, lowered her head, her eyes spinning as she began to think.
A man leaning back comfortably against the headboard with his arms draped arrogantly over it, exposing himself. And her, kneeling modestly between his legs, working hard with both hands to stimulate him.
‘No.’
This was not the image of a woman taking the lead that she had envisioned for this night. If she had to describe it, yes—it looked like a woman serving her master.
Shaking her head, Iris shifted her body and leaned against his right side. She reached out with one hand and gripped him again, moving it up and down.
This was it. A woman taking the lead. The ideal she had pictured.
‘No, not this either.’
Now she looked like a dancer or a harlot from a novel set in the southern deserts, wearing heavy makeup and perfume while fawning over a male ruler. She looked like one of those women who always surrounded a ‘Sultan’ in the southern lands.
In the end, she returned to her original position, kneeling in front of his crotch.
“....”
“What’s wrong?”
When she looked up at him with a slightly resentful gaze, Yoo Eon, unable to fathom her internal struggle, tilted his head and asked.
“Tch.”
Ultimately, she decided her experience was superior. If it came to this, she would go all out. According to the knowledge she had gained from female-oriented erotic novels where the woman stands above the man, a man’s ejaculation was synonymous with his defeat. Since it wasn't time for the main event yet, she would use the most stimulating act in her repertoire.
“Haum….”
Taking the tip of his glans into her mouth, she worked her tongue vigorously while her hands pumped the shaft. This would surely break his stoic expression. He would groan in pleasure, his face would melt into a pathetic mess, and he would be dominated by the sheer veteran skill of an experienced reader (who had finished 10 billion erotic novels).
Iris narrowed her eyes and looked up at him while he was in her mouth.
‘No way.’
He was just grinning at her as if she were cute. And that massive forearm was patting her head again.
‘This isn't how it’s supposed to go.’
Iris’s pride had just suffered its hundredth scratch of the night.