The Power of Harmony and Motion (5)
Her eyelids felt heavy.
As if wet cotton had been placed over her eyes.
Her entire body ached as though pierced by fist-sized thorns, making even the thought of moving unbearable.
But despite this, the warmth beside her coaxed Hwa-young to lift her heavy eyelids and sit up.
Sitting up, she turned her head toward the warmth beside her.
"Koo..."
The man she loved was sleeping peacefully beside her.
Really... I did it with Seong.
She had been carried into her room in Seong's arms, body and soul united as she vowed to become his woman.
And that... honestly, it had felt good.
It had felt good to feel with her entire body that Seong wanted her.
It was like finally receiving a response to the love she'd always harbored while watching over him.
Of course, during the process, her heart had ached as if it might burst, and the act of making love had been so intense it had made her beg for mercy.
Still, it had felt good... hehe.
It had been a difficult and exhausting night, but one where she'd been repaid in full and felt wonderful.
Her sore body bore witness to the beastly night she'd spent in his arms.
Hwaah!
As memories of last night suddenly surged back, her face grew hot and her vision blurred.
Through her blurred vision, she saw the red bite marks and scratch marks scattered across his body.
They were the marks she'd left on his body last night.
And when she lowered her head to look at her own body... she saw the marks he'd left all over her, in hidden and precious places.
Thinking of his familiar actions made her feel a little regretful and jealous, but since she was undeniably the third party who had inserted herself between Yuna and Seong, who got along well, she decided to leave the regret as just regret.
And above all, since she was satisfied now, how could regret ruin this happiness?
"Hehe, my boyfriend's so handsome."
She'd felt it the first time she saw his face too—Seong's face was so perfectly to her taste.
It was as if the saying about being able to live forever just by devouring his face had become reality.
"But more than that, he's so pale. I didn't notice much yesterday because it was dark, but isn't he whiter than me now?"
She'd heard he'd consumed the World Tree's sap. Seong, who had already been on the pale side for a man, now displayed skin so white it made her wonder if it was painful.
Hwa-young's gaze traveled down from Seong's face, past his neck and chest, to the part of him hidden under the blanket—the morning symbol of manhood standing tall.
Gulp.
Hwa-young's throat moved involuntarily as she swallowed dryly.
She hadn't noticed last night because it was dark and she'd been out of it... but in the light, Seong's... was impressively larger than she'd imagined.
It was so huge she couldn't believe it had really gone inside her.
Is... is it okay?
Hwa-young's face turned bright red as her hand crept toward Seong's... just as she was about to grab it, hot as a red-hot iron rod.
"You're already in heat this morning?"
"Waaah!"
The voice of the one she'd spent the night with last night reached her ears.
Startled by Seong's sudden voice, Hwa-young forgot her body ached and jumped, only to curl up as pain surged through her.
"Ouch..."
"Hey, nice move. Geez."
"Ugh, I was startled because of you!"
When Hwa-young blamed him for her pain, Seong replied with a tone of exasperation and a look of helplessness.
"So you were in heat this morning and started touching the person who was sleeping?"
"Ugh, I wasn't in heat!"
"Then why are you holding on right now?"
When Hwa-young protested that she wasn't in heat, Seong pointed to her arm holding his... and when her gaze followed his hand, she realized her own hand was still gripping it and screamed in shock.
"Kyaaah!!"
Hwa-young screamed, pulled her hand away from Seong's..., and tried to get up to escape.
But.
"Ugh! Ouch..."
Forgetting her body ached again, Hwa-young couldn't even sit up, let alone escape, and collapsed onto the bed. Watching her live show, Seong sighed and raised white mana to envelop her body.
"You were just curling up in pain, and you forgot about it already?"
Though his words seemed to tease Hwa-young, there was a tenderness in Seong's voice that showed he was worried about her, and Hwa-young blinked.
With Seong's healing, the pain of being pierced by fist-sized needles gradually faded, along with the lingering fatigue. With a slightly flushed face, Hwa-young cautiously asked the Seong who was healing her.
"U-um. We... did that last night, right?"
"Why? Feels like a dream?"
"U-uh... yeah."
Hwa-young knew this was a pointless question since it had already been confirmed, but she wanted to hear it from Seong's mouth regardless.
At Hwa-young's question, Seong raised his head and looked into her red eyes with his black ones, then answered.
"If it felt like a dream to you, then what we did all night wasn't enough, it seems."
Tssss...
At Seong's words, white steam rose from Hwa-young's head.
Though he hadn't answered her question directly, Seong's words confirmed that what happened yesterday was real.
And since he implied that if she felt it was insufficient, he'd give her more time like yesterday right now, Hwa-young lowered her head to avoid his gaze.
But even so, Hwa-young didn't show any negative response to Seong's question.
Seong slowly reached out to Hwa-young, and just as she tensed and squeezed her eyes shut.
Tap!
A small pain on her forehead made Hwa-young look at Seong with a confused expression.
Seeing Hwa-young's confused look, Seong smiled and replied.
"I'm sorry, but no. It's time to go to the academy."
"A... yeah..."
Hwa-young checked the time at Seong's words and realized it was really time to go to the academy, feeling very disappointed. Seeing her disappointment, which he found cute, Seong kissed her lips and said.
"I'll do it again when there's time, so be careful not to pass out next time."
At Seong's words, Hwa-young's face grew redder, and Seong leaned in to whisper in her ear.
"This time, you passed out in the middle, so we couldn't finish."
"Y-yeah..."
Hwa-young could only respond quietly, her face bright red as she recalled last night.
......
Since becoming Yoo Hwa-young's lover, time had passed quickly.
I received a disciplinary action and penalty points for attacking during sparring to the point where a student's life could have been in danger.
Receiving this disciplinary action three times is treated the same as one academic warning.
If you receive three academic warnings, it leads directly to expulsion from the academy, not suspension.
Expulsion from the academy.
Even though there's nothing left to learn at the academy, it's now a place I must be, since so many of my precious ones are there.
For someone like me, a disciplinary action can't be good, but thinking about what I did, it wasn't bad at all.
Honestly, it was good, not bad.
Even though I received a disciplinary action and penalty points, which were the highest in the entire grade, my actions clearly crossed the line.
The punishment was so light that it was a relief it ended this way.
The academy places great importance on interaction between students.
One of the academy's absolute rules is that harming other students is strictly forbidden.
As an institution for training heroes, some damage is inevitable, but attempting to harm another student's life is a serious offense that leads to immediate expulsion.
Fortunately, the man I sparred with—was his name Sando?
Sando forgave me, saying my actions were unavoidable, so it ended this way. If he had held a grudge and held me accountable, I would have faced at least suspension, possibly expulsion, with no way to defend myself.
So it's a relief that it ended with just a disciplinary action and penalty points.
And above all, 'that' was coming soon.
This was an event I couldn't miss, even if it meant sacrificing my country.
I had to endure not drawing attention when I shouldn't have, but now that it no longer mattered, there was little time left before I had to participate.
"You all know about Arcadia, right?"
At Ryu Se-rin's words, the noisy classroom fell into a cold, tense silence as if the disease of silence had spread.
Arcadia
An event more popular than the Olympics, where the top five students from all academies worldwide are selected to compete.
Arcadia, which current famous heroes and Korea's only Transcendent, Divine Flame Yoo Han-jin, had participated in when they were young, was not far off.
Participating in Arcadia offered honor and fame, various elixirs, and the opportunity to choose one of the world's strongest to learn from and receive advice.
Honor and fame were unnecessary.
What I needed was the latter.
The elixirs and the chance to learn from the strong.
Among them, the opportunity to learn from the strong was what I desired most.
And the one I wanted to learn from was a woman who had remained veiled for decades, even centuries, only to reveal herself after hundreds of years.
The 'Sage,' a woman who, though not a Transcendent, possessed power comparable to one and displayed magic akin to miracles.
Meeting her was my goal.
And to meet her, the first step I had to take was participating in Arcadia.
"The schedule for the all-grade survival, one of the two procedures to select the five participants for Arcadia, has been announced."
Gulp.
Sounds of dry swallowing came from all directions.
"Next week, exactly the first day after the weekend ends. The survival will start that day, so make sure you all remember."
Only three days remained until the first procedure to select participants for Arcadia.