The Lady Knight Ygritte (2)
Thud.
Bran and Ygritte landed on the ground at the same moment. She dipped her head with a faintly shy expression.
"Thank you for saving my life... truly, thank you, Young Lord."
"When someone of our own House is in danger, I can hardly pretend not to see it."
Bran answered matter-of-factly and walked over to the Single-Horned Python's carcass. Squelch, squelch. He parted the scales and drove his hand deep inside—
Flash!
A golden orb gleamed up at him. The essence of the Single-Horned Python. Unlike the Chauwang's, it was an ingredient famous in elixirs far and wide.
Jackpot. This one thing alone is worth a year of a knight's salary. Bran pocketed the essence and turned back to Ygritte.
"I'm keeping this. No objections?"
Ygritte nodded. She hesitated a moment, then brought out the question she'd been holding.
"Young Lord, how long have you had such astonishing skill...? Could it be you've been hiding it deliberately all this time?"
Bran brushed the question aside and drew a gourd from his belt.
"That story can wait. First I have to treat your wounds."
Rrrroll.
Ygritte stared at the pill that had rolled into her palm. A subtle, luminous fragrance drifted from it.
"This is...! A mid-tier elixir!"
She shook her head, eyes wide with astonishment.
"Saving my life was already more than I deserve. I couldn't possibly accept something this precious as well."
Bran held up the gourd, brimming with elixir, as though it were nothing at all.
"No need to refuse. I have plenty more."
Ygritte's eyes grew wider still.
Even House Stark's elixir hall manages only a gourd or two a month... How does he have this much elixir?
She refused again and again, but in the end she accepted his kindness.
"...Then I will receive it gratefully."
Ygritte looked at him now through entirely new eyes.
A man who shares something this precious without a second thought... I've been misunderstanding the Young Lord all along!
Gulp.
The moment Ygritte swallowed the elixir, a warm current raced along her vessels and spread through her whole body in an instant. Her mana core swelled; warmth wrapped around her like an embrace. She could feel broken bones knitting and torn flesh closing rapidly.
Her complexion visibly brighter, she exclaimed in wonder.
"Incredible. Not only are my wounds completely healed—my mana core has even expanded. Young Lord, how could I ever repay a debt like this...?"
Bran waved a hand lightly.
"It's nothing."
He studied her a moment longer, then abruptly dropped a pointed remark.
"Though it seems even that elixir won't cure the old illness in your body."
Ygritte's expression froze solid in an instant.
"...I beg your pardon?"
"Lately a chill has been rising from inside you and robbing you of sleep, hasn't it? Which is why you've been drilling your swordwork from the small hours of the morning—trying to hold that cold down."
Her eyes went wide with disbelief.
"How could you possibly know that...?"
Bran thought of the future he knew awaited her.
She does overcome the illness in the end—but the ordeal is so brutal that it puts a hard ceiling on her growth.
Cold Blood Disease was a fatal shackle cast across the road ahead of her.
Bran made his offer in a low voice.
"Cold Blood Disease. I can cure it. Care to be treated?"
Ygritte gasped at the sheer audacity of it.
How does he know about my illness?
That he could cure Cold Blood Disease—something even celebrated physicians had shaken their heads at—was a claim she could scarcely believe. And yet, having just witnessed his overwhelming swordsmanship and those rare elixirs, she could hardly dismiss it as empty talk either.
So he really was hiding his strength... Could it be because of the fight over the succession? If so, what a terrifyingly calculating man...
She sank into thought for a moment.
If only I could truly escape this wretched Cold Blood Disease!
Ygritte had already tried everything. She had brewed and drunk precious herbs, sought out physician after physician of great renown—and the illness had shown not the slightest sign of yielding.
"Even the finest doctors of the elixir hall couldn't cure it. Young Lord... do you truly mean to say you can treat it?"
Bran answered without a heartbeat of hesitation.
"Yes."
That unwavering gaze. That resolute voice. Ygritte could find not a trace of doubt or unease in his face. She swallowed quietly and, slowly, nodded.
"Then... I am in your hands."
Bran took a step toward her.
"But the treatment requires physical contact. Will that be all right?"
Her eyes wavered for a moment. Never once in her life had she bared her skin to a man. Yet her resolve came quickly enough, and she nodded.
"Yes. It's all right."
The fierce battle had already torn her martial uniform in several places. Her already-pale skin caught the moonlight and threw off a mystical radiance. Through the rags of the fabric showed smooth, sculpted abs, and breasts so large they looked soft as marshmallow.
Rip!
Bran tore the garment away without a flicker of hesitation, and Ygritte's beautiful upper body lay utterly bare. Her pupils blew wide for an instant—but she mastered herself soon after.
Calm down, Ygritte. The man before you is no longer the degenerate young lord of the past. Think of it as nothing more than being treated by a gifted physician.
Meanwhile, Bran opened his GPT window. He connected to the shop and searched for Medical Arts.
Medical Arts (Basic)
Price: 50 Coins
Bran hesitated a moment, but the decision came quickly.
A bit of a waste, but call it the price of gaining a person.
Ygritte was a female knight whose beauty and skill ranked among the very best in the House, held in high esteem even among the common soldiers.
If I mean to carry out my plans from here on, I need a solid bloc of support inside the family.
Besides, he happened to have the 50 Coins he'd earned not long ago from beating Jackal to a pulp.
Click.
Medical Arts (Basic) is being absorbed.
In that instant, knowledge of medicine came flooding into Bran's mind. He raised his hand and laid it on Ygritte's smooth shoulder. Warm. Soft. He let his mana flow, slow and careful.
Follow the meridians... send the energy along like this... stimulate that acupoint there...
Bran's mana, steeped in yang energy, sank deep into Ygritte's body. And then, little by little, the cold yin energy rooted deep throughout her frame began to melt away.
Thirty minutes later.
Shaaaah...!
Warmth washed through Ygritte from head to toe. The chill that had tormented her for so long was gone, and her body felt immeasurably lighter. The sensation of Bran's mana reaching into every last corner of her felt good—so good that, without meaning to, a moan of pleasure slipped past her lips.
"Haaahh..."
Ygritte jolted and clapped a hand over her mouth.
Just then—
Ding.
The GPT window popped up before Bran's eyes once again.
! Mission: Devour Ygritte.
Reward: 50 XP, 50 Coins
"...!"
Bran's eyes narrowed.
And here I was, already fretting that my level refuses to budge...
It seemed the system only granted experience points when a sex mission was completed.
Either way, I can't let this chance slip by. I'm devouring Ygritte, no matter what.
Bran's treating hands grew bolder by the moment. Like a massage, he worked softly over her body. Squelch, squelch. Before long, the hand settled beneath her breast brushed across her nipple with a flick. Her huge breasts swayed up and down, and a moan spilled from Ygritte's lips.
"Hahh!"
She knit her brow.
...This really is treatment, right?
A flicker of shame stirred in her—but it felt far too good for any thought of pushing him away to take root.
As the treatment went on, Bran's hands turned only more daring. Now he began to work the insides of her thighs. His thick fingers lingered near that most secret place—and then, abruptly, plunged inside her pussy.
Schlip!
At the same time he teased her clit with featherlight strokes. Soft. So soft.
"Mmmnnngh!"
Her pussy gushed sticky juices.
Throb!
Ygritte shivered delicately—and her eyes met Bran's. Only then did her senses come rushing back. She seized the hand that was trying to push deeper.
"Young Lord. I don't think we can go any further than this..."
Bran spoke with grave earnestness.
"The final stage of the treatment is the joining itself—your yin flesh mating with my yang member, steeped in my yang energy."
Ygritte's eyes went round as a rabbit's.
"What? Even so, that's a bit—"
Bran's gaze went cold.
"Do you want to keep suffering like this for the rest of your life?"
His voice carried an iron steadiness.
"Yin energy must be treated with yang energy. You do know that?"
Her eyes began to waver.
"Well—do as you like. I was only trying to help. If you don't want it, I won't force you."
When Bran coolly drew back, Ygritte was seized, all at once, by a sense of loss. The pleasure his hands had given her still lingered, an ache that refused to fade.
Then her eyes caught on the bulge swelling at the front of Bran's trousers. A cock, hugely and fully erect.
Oh! So that's a man's member...? How can it be that big!
In that instant her body flushed hot, and an irrepressible want surged up through her. Her lips quivered—then moved at last, as if confessing defeat.
"Haa... Young Lord. Please... finish the treatment."
Bran had heard her perfectly well, but feigned deafness and asked again.
"What was that?"
"The sex treatment... please do it. I'm begging you."
A victorious smile spread across Bran's lips.
"Good. You've made the right choice. This is treatment, pure and simple—so don't worry about a thing."
He lowered his trousers slowly. His cock, swollen hard and proud, filled her vision with its sheer presence.
Ahh... magnificent.
Her slender, jade-like fingers drifted, unbidden, to rub at her clit. At the sight of that thick cock ridged with bulging veins, her mouth pooled with saliva.
Slurp.
