But It's Not a Lew...d Party
But It's Not a Lew...d Party
In the end, Lee Seo-yul fell asleep.
I'd been expecting it from the moment her head started bobbing.
I caught her gradually slumping body with the Sky Wing Feather.
"Mmmnn..."
I wrapped Lee Seo-yul up like a bundle with the Sky Wing Feather and plopped her onto my lap.
Even in her sleep, she flailed her hands and clung tightly to Lee Ha-yul.
She even buried her face against my chest and started nuzzling.
[Heeheehee]
The sight was exactly like a baby kitten acting spoiled, and a goofy grin spread across Lee Ha-yul's face all on its own.
I rested my cheek on the crown of Lee Seo-yul's head and nuzzled her back.
The hair tickling under my chin was unbearably soft.
From her body pressed right against mine came the sound of soft, snuffling breaths and a steady heartbeat.
[Mmmnn...]
[I'm sorry...]
Savoring that feeling, Lee Ha-yul found himself whining an apology through the necklace before he even realized it.
His body felt oddly warm, his head fuzzy and light.
He hadn't touched a drop of alcohol, nor could he smell any, yet here he was.
The only scent he could feel was their own mingled body scents lingering in the room—so what was making his head float like this...
[I'm sorry...]
The Calamity Flame, dampened by this unnoticed intoxication, flickered up in a sulky, subdued way.
Groundless guilt and regret surged up.
I hadn't done nearly enough for such a pretty, lovable child.
Instead of the things I'd worked so hard to give her, all I could think about were the countless things I'd failed to provide—lacking the ability, and so much else.
Lee Ha-yul had never called himself a parent.
He'd never called himself a dad, and he'd never called Lee Seo-yul his daughter.
He hadn't even defined what Lee Seo-yul was to him yet.
Whether consciously or unconsciously, it was because he couldn't bring himself to see himself as a proper guardian.
The material environment, the mindset of a guardian.
It's difficult to raise a child when nothing is properly prepared.
I knew that, and I'd had absolutely no intention of having one, but...
As often happens with the way things go, the world hadn't gone according to plan this time either.
[I'm sorry...]
Even if I hid behind all those excuses, I should have taken better care of her, and by my own measure, I'd been far too inadequate...
"Uh, umm..."
A damp apology echoed through the now-quiet room.
The voice clicking out of the necklace was thick with sincerity.
Seeing this—and Lee Seo-yul now asleep—even Hong Yeon-hwa, who had been radiating delight, flinched slightly and discreetly withdrew her hand.
"Oh dear, she's fallen asleep. Though, normally, she would've been asleep long ago."
Amidst all this,
Ellia smiled quietly and rose from her seat.
She moved to the spot beside Lee Ha-yul that Lee Seo-yul had been occupying and reached out with both hands.
"Here, Seo-yul would probably be happy being held like this too, but if you want her to get some more comfortable rest, we should lay her down on a bed, shouldn't we?"
One hand patted Lee Seo-yul's lower back while the other gently stroked Lee Ha-yul's cheek.
The gesture, as if soothing both a big and small child, looked quite practiced.
[Okay...]
Now it was Lee Ha-yul who was nodding off as he sank into thought.
'Should I leave too...'
Normally, he'd lie down on the bed with Lee Seo-yul and fall asleep.
But the situation wasn't good.
The meal was roughly winding down, but everyone was still drinking heavily.
By now, the food had long since become more of a drinking snack than a meal.
From the moment the meal started to wrap up, they'd been laying out dishes billed as going well with alcohol.
In other words, the gathering wasn't over yet, and as the host, it would be a bit awkward for him to get up first.
But he also didn't feel right leaving Lee Seo-yul all alone...
"Shall I go put her to bed?"
At that, Ellia thankfully made the offer.
[Mmmnn...]
[No]
[It's okay]
Lee Ha-yul blinked for a moment, then shook his head.
[You should, enjoy yourself, Ellia]
"Then would you like to go put her to bed, Ha-yul?"
[Um...]
[No...]
[I should, keep serving...]
"No, when you say 'serving,' the implication is a little..."
Hong Yeon-hwa, who was beside him, murmured with an awkward frown.
She wasn't wrong. Right now, a drinking party was in full swing all around them.
Everyone was leaning back against their respective sofas, and the table was littered with snacks and alcohol bottles.
The interior, tinted by the orange light pouring from the ceiling fixture, had until just a moment ago harbored a rather cloyingly intimate atmosphere... but now that he'd said something like that, it unavoidably sparked some shady imaginings...
[Yeah yeah...]
Ignoring that, Lee Ha-yul gave a listless shake of his head and wiggled his finger.
Riiiip— the air split open.
It was a space similar to the often-seen subspace, but different—a space familiar to Liana and Ellia, who had learned spirit arts.
- Pyopyobyong!
As if in affirmation, a multicolored cluster of light came spilling out of the torn space in a rush.
The spirits, bursting out like a waterfall from a collapsed dam, immediately attached themselves one after another to Lee Seo-yul's body.
The spirits Lee Ha-yul had contracted with were extremely fond of Lee Seo-yul.
Perhaps thanks to her species being a fairy, they'd also generally followed Lee Seo-yul's words from the start, even without a contract.
"The spirits have grown immensely too! It looks like they'll all be reaching the intermediate rank soon, don't you think?"
While everyone was staring blankly at Lee Seo-yul buried in the light of the spirits,
Liana, who had been glancing around while nursing a bottle of alcohol, checked the spirits' condition and let out an exclamation of admiration.
At first, they'd all been lower spirits whose every action was instinctual, but now they had developed a fair degree of self-awareness.
She could sense signs that they would soon reach the intermediate rank, where they would begin to properly open their consciousness.
[Yes...]
[There's that, and also]
[The necromancy issue, I was thinking of, consulting with you...]
"Ah, right. Because spirits and undead have terrible compatibility."
Spirits, which could be considered part of the natural cycle.
And undead, which in a sense are beings that go against that cycle.
No matter how you looked at it, the compatibility between the two couldn't possibly be good.
[Last time, too, they wrecked a corpse I'd painstakingly prepared for necromancy...]
"Ahaha, they do have a strong tendency to do that."
Strictly speaking, spirits have an especially strong aversion to the undead.
Just like when Liana had been in China, and the spirits she'd released to be on guard had gleefully sliced up the undead scattered everywhere.
And just like how they would secretly destroy the possession corpses Lee Ha-yul had put so much effort into making for his necromancy.
"A person who has mastered both necromancy and spirit arts... to my knowledge, there isn't one."
[I was hoping, to get some help, with that...]
"Yes, yes, it's certainly unprecedented. I'll have to think about it."
[Yep...]
Shaking his head side to side as if shaking off the intoxication, Lee Ha-yul gestured languidly with his hand.
Surrounded by spirits, Lee Seo-yul's body floated up into the air.
As if trying to recapture the lost warmth, Lee Seo-yul's hands flailed about, and got filled with handfuls of spirits instead.
And she let out a small, ambiguous groan, as if to say, this isn't quite right...
But the spirits, unable to understand that, carried Lee Seo-yul out of the room.
- Click.
The spirits, who had opened and closed the door with their own power, laid Lee Seo-yul down on the bed in a nearby room.
'Mmm...'
Lee Ha-yul, who had been observing the scene with the Authority of Observation, nodded his head.
He wasn't particularly worried about her safety.
This was Siyoram, and this mansion had incredible security features applied to it.
Moreover, the hundreds of spirits surrounding Lee Seo-yul were all on the verge of becoming intermediate rank.
Thanks to being supplied with Lee Ha-yul's mana, which was the very essence of purity, they were far stronger than ordinary spirits.
Even just deploying them alone would be enough to utterly crush lower-rank monsters even if they swarmed in droves.
Additionally, Lee Seo-yul's body was outfitted with protective magic and magic tools that Lee Ha-yul had personally and meticulously placed.
And the crisis-detection observation was currently applied to her at a higher priority than even Lee Ha-yul himself.
If any hint of an emergency were to be observed, it would be erased without a trace under remotely fired saturation magic.
"Uh, uhm...?"
Still, just in case, I was in the middle of rechecking her safety measures.
That's when hands slipped under my armpits and suddenly lifted Lee Ha-yul up.
A light body lifted effortlessly.
Dangling limply, Lee Ha-yul was placed down on Hong Yeon-hwa's thigh before he could even think of resisting.
The flesh supporting his bottom was plush. It was much softer and squishier than the top-grade sofa he'd been sitting on until now.
For a moment, Hong Yeon-hwa looked down at the blinking Lee Ha-yul with complicated eyes.
Soon, she let out a deep sigh.
"Sheesh..."
Then, she swept up Lee Ha-yul's bangs and planted a kiss— smooch— on his now-fully exposed forehead.
It was a kiss imbued more with sweet affection than sticky desire, and Lee Ha-yul's eyes went round in surprise.
"Why does this kid get so gloomy so often, hm? Like back in the kitchen, and now."
Smooch smooch smooch—
Kissing his forehead repeatedly, she pulled Lee Ha-yul into a tight hug and stroked his back.
No matter how inflamed by lust Hong Yeon-hwa might be, she at least had a modicum of conscience.
She wasn't such a piece of human trash that she'd take the fact that his child had fallen asleep as an opportunity to molest Lee Ha-yul when he was feeling depressed and berating himself for being a lousy parent... a lousy guardian...
So, she set aside her desire for a moment and simply comforted Lee Ha-yul, pouring only affection into it.
"Ha-yul, you're doing your best from your own position, aren't you? You don't need to blame yourself like that."
"She's right. Just the other time, you spent days making a magic tool to give to Seo-yul... There now, what a good boy. Shall I wipe your tears?"
"That child knows your sincerity too, which is why she's so attached to you..."
The others seemed to share the same sentiment, as they too momentarily set aside the cloying atmosphere and busied themselves with soothing Lee Ha-yul.
.
.
.
Before I knew it, Lee Ha-yul began to be passed around the laps of the meal's attendees, receiving comfort.
Before he could even express his intent, his body would be lifted up and placed onto a plush thigh.
A hand would settle on his straight back and gently stroke it.
It would travel lower, patting his bottom as if putting a baby to sleep.
As I was blankly drinking in the touch, a large chest would be offered up soon after, as if telling me to lean in and bury myself comfortably.
Once I was buried deep in that soft chest, feeling the warmth and the heartbeat, a hand would land on my head and stroke it...
'Bliss...'
Under the care that was messily chasing away the guilt that had suddenly descended, Lee Ha-yul went limp.
Not only that, but the pain he'd been feeling from his circuits, damaged from secretly fiddling with them, seemed to be subsiding little by little too...
"Ji-yeon, what's been up with you since earlier?"
"Huh? Ah, ahh... Well, everyone else was doing it, so I just unconsciously..."
While Lee Ha-yul was comfortably recovering his mental and physical state,
a few dissonant notes occurred among the others.
Lee Ji-yeon, who had been subtly opening her arms just like everyone else, visibly flinched at Hong Yeon-hwa's remark and withdrew her arms.
At this, Hong Yeon-hwa narrowed her eyes.
"Something's been... You've been suspicious. Even last time, it was weird how you suddenly grabbed and hugged him, making some excuse about vitality energy or whatever. Is that shameful method of yours even real?"
"Yeon-hwa, aren't you one to talk? Spreading the warmth of the Calamity Flame, what was that about rubbing bellies..."
"Shut...! Zip it. The kid might hear something indecent."
"So that method really was bulls... nonsense after all."
Atra, who had been listening quietly, gave a derisive snort.
She cracked open a new bottle of alcohol, took a large swig straight from the bottle, and jeered.
"As if simply transferring body heat required stripping clothes and touching bare skin... it was strange from the start."
"Ha! What would an outsider know to spout off? Have you even read our family records? An ignorant bitch who doesn't know anything, picking a fight with what the heir of the Calamity Flame says..."
Even superhumans can get drunk.
Since they were guzzling expensive superhuman-grade liquor, their rising intoxication occasionally sparked fiery friction.
"Yeon-hwa... Master... you mustn't fight..."
"Ah, I get it... Aaah! D-don't cry. I'm sorry..."
"We weren't fighting. It's just... a minor difference of opinion..."
Such friction was instantly resolved with a single sniffle from Lee Ha-yul.
"Pfft..."
The sight of them, who had been bristling and bickering just moments before, instantly tucking tail like that.
Witnessing that unsightly display firsthand, Baek A-rin smirked at Hong Yeon-hwa, while Liana did the same at Atra.
"......"
Atra's eyes trembled slightly, unable to even grind her teeth in case it made a sound.
"Hoo..."
And then, as if she had been thinking something over for a moment, Atra suddenly pulled out new bottles of alcohol from under the table one after another.
"What's this?"
She held one out to Hong Yeon-hwa, who was sitting opposite her.
At the sudden offer of a bottle, Hong Yeon-hwa tilted her head, and Atra gave a rather provocative smile.
"No confidence?"
"What?"
"Well, I guess a brat... a child wouldn't have drunk that much."
She hadn't finished the question, but with that infuriating smile, the curl of her lips, and the way she jingled the bottle, I could grasp her intention.
"No confidence? Ha!"
It was a blatant provocation.
Mockery saying, 'You're just a dumb kid who can't hold her liquor for shit.'
Hong Yeon-hwa, who had let out an incredulous scoff without realizing it, snatched the offered bottle— smack— right out of her hand.
"An old hag who's got nothing going for her but age, so brimming with baseless confidence... Shouldn't you be putting down the bottle and looking for a cane by now?"
"All mouth and no trousers types all say the exact same things. Can't you show me with actions?"
Sparks flew between the two.
Everyone blinked at this truly sudden, out-of-nowhere war of nerves.
.
.
.
"Urgh..."
Thud— Hong Yeon-hwa, who had slammed her head onto the table, let out a dying groan.
On the edges of the table, underneath it, near the sofas... countless bottles stood and rolled about.
"Uurgh..."
Thud! An identical sound rang out. Atra's shoulders trembled faintly, having likewise slammed her head onto the table. There were just as many bottles rolling around near her too.
The result of the game of chicken waged by these two prideful women was mutually assured destruction.
"Good grief..."
Liana, who had been watching this sorry spectacle from the beginning, shook her head from side to side.
They had even blocked their mana's purification function and proceeded to chug bottle after bottle, until in the end, they were both completely sloshed.
"Good grief, dear child? Come here."
Having finished her own share of alcohol, Liana scooped Lee Ha-yul into her arms.
Hong Yeon-hwa and Atra had just slammed their heads down, and Lee Ji-yeon, who had gotten unwittingly caught up in the chicken race, had also sunk into the sofa and fallen sound asleep.
Baek A-rin and Ellia had also momentarily stepped away from the table.
All that remained were Liana and Lee Ha-yul, who was nodding off.
"None of them seem to have any intention of cleaning up..."
Clucking her tongue, Liana took a small medicine bottle out from her pocket.
It was the hangover remedy she always kept on hand.
Even someone called a seasoned drinker like Liana wasn't immune to hangover fatigue.
For the sake of clean and happy drinking, she considered a quality hangover remedy an essential item to carry around.
"Here we go, dear child? Ah~"
She gently lifted the chin of Lee Ha-yul, whom she was holding in her arms, and pressed his cheek to open his mouth.
Lee Ha-yul hadn't drunk any alcohol, but he was definitely intoxicated.
- Gulp, gulp...
She slowly tilted the expensive hangover remedy.
The liquid, first touching his pink tongue, trickled down his throat.
It was a warm gesture of consideration from Liana, worried that Lee Ha-yul might suffer from a hangover the next day.
That consideration gently tapped on a small, ingrained habit within Lee Ha-yul's mind.
Liana holding him in her arms and feeding him medicine...
The sensation that used to fill his hand every time...
Lee Ha-yul's hand, which had been still, twitched once, then impulsively rose out of instinct.
Before long, he took a firm, full handful of the ample flesh that couldn't quite fit in one hand's grasp.
- Squeeeeeze...
"Ah—mn...! Mmn...!?"
At the sudden jolt of electric pleasure, Liana's eyes flew wide open as she straightened her back.
Huh. This was something she'd experienced somewhere before...