Persuasion (2)
Persuasion (2)
The living quarters were clustered in the mansion's central section.
The west wing held the recreational facilities, while the east wing held the training facilities.
Each had its own basement level packed with additional amenities.
With the first floor of the central section mostly taken up by multipurpose spaces like the living room and dining hall,
the rooms to choose from were on the second and third floors.
At first, I planned on taking a corner room on the second floor.
The stairs down to the first floor were close, and more than anything, I liked that it was tucked away in a corner.
- Hmm... Wouldn't the third floor be better than the second? Looking around, there's even a room that seems like the master bedroom.
But someone argued that as the head of the household, I ought to take the top floor, the third floor.
- A corner? If you do that, the room next to it would be... well, wouldn't it be better to take a room in the middle?
Another person said it wasn't really right for the head of the household to hole up in a corner, and so on...
Nobody said it outright, but the general reaction around me was that they weren't keen on me claiming a corner room.
I was a little puzzled by why, but in the end, I picked a nice room on the third floor, right in the middle.
The middle room on the third floor was... even larger than the others.
It was probably what people would call the master bedroom.
Once my room was settled, everyone else chose their own rooms, making all that earlier hinting and hesitating feel pointless.
The room to my left was Seo-yul's.
Of course, in practice, she'd been staying in my room.
Her body was growing rapidly, but it seemed she wasn't ready to be apart from her guardian just yet.
Still, knowing she might want her own space someday, I assigned her the room next to mine.
The room to my right was Hong Yeon-hwa's.
The room directly across was Ellia's.
And the others... they all picked rooms packed tightly around me.
...With a mansion this huge, I wasn't sure we really needed to cluster together like this, but it felt cozy, so I had no complaints.
- Ha-yul, don't just lie around on my bed. Wait properly.
I had no complaints.
Hong Yeon-hwa, on the other hand, seemed to have plenty...
.
.
.
Hong Yeon-hwa was seriously fuming.
Sitting demurely on her bed, I didn't need to deliberate to know that.
Hong Yeon-hwa was seriously fuming...
[Fear]
[Unease]
[A chill]
A shiver ran through me as I remembered the rough grip that had seized my wrist and the terrifying words whispered right into my ear. Still feeling the chills, my hand, which had been feeling out the bed, clutched the blanket tightly. I considered pulling it over myself, but I figured it wasn't right to mess up the bedding before the room's owner arrived, so I let go.
'Ugh...'
I'd tried everything to soothe Hong Yeon-hwa's anger.
Hovering by her side, acting cute.
Putting extra effort into dinner to make all sorts of side dishes Hong Yeon-hwa liked...
Even trying to hand-feed her the food myself...
- Ah-ah, hold still
But in the end, nothing worked.
Sure, her lips might have twitched into a smile, she might have squirmed a bit, but the root issue was still there.
And the result was this current situation.
Which was how I ended up in Hong Yeon-hwa's room, despite having just picked out my own...
- Rustle
'...!'
Suddenly, the presence on the other side of the bathroom door felt loud and clear.
It almost felt like thunder booming.
My heart thrashed in time with it.
- Click
The bathroom door opened, and a cloud of white steam billowed out.
It was whiter than the fog that always obscured my vision, but still a kind of smoke all the same.
Hong Yeon-hwa stepped through it, dressed in a bathrobe.
[!]
For a moment, I forgot to breathe.
The top of the pure white bathrobe wasn't fully closed.
Because of that, the valley between those soft mounds was completely exposed.
"......."
I was dragging my blankly fixed gaze upward when my eyes met Hong Yeon-hwa's.
Her cheeks were damp and flushed, and her eyes were languid and relaxed.
She stared at me, frozen stiff as I was, then without a word strode over and plopped down right next to me.
The mattress dipped slightly, and at the sensation of her presence so close, my body flinched.
- Pat-pat-pat
Hong Yeon-hwa began drying her hair with the towel draped around her neck.
She'd apparently wiped off the excess water inside, because the strands weren't dripping wet, and her movements were gentle enough that no stray droplets flew off.
I glanced around for a moment.
An awkward reflex, since the only thing filling my perception was Hong Yeon-hwa anyway.
After some deliberation, I reached out a hand.
'Manifest.'
Fwooong— A warm breeze flowed from my fingertips.
A household magic spell that required no special calculation process; its wind brushed against Hong Yeon-hwa's damp hair.
"......"
Her crimson eyes gave me a sidelong glare.
I swallowed nervously.
After a brief moment of eye contact.
Hong Yeon-hwa closed her eyes and turned the back of her head toward me.
Brightening at that, I quickly set my hands to work.
I dried her hair while simultaneously using both hands to tidy the strands.
I'd never formally studied cosmetology, but with the combination of Observation Authority and the All-Rounder trait, I could manage most things passably.
[Hair]
[Softness]
The strands wrapping around my fingers were impossibly soft.
Even the finest silk woven by a master artisan couldn't match that feeling.
Just as I was inwardly marveling at that, Hong Yeon-hwa, who'd been enjoying my touch with her eyes closed, suddenly spoke up.
"Is it softer than my chest?"
[No]
"Huh? Ah, no, I..."
Ah.
I'd answered without thinking, completely unfiltered.
"Hehehe, ah, seriously..."
My hands froze mid-motion as I realized my mistake, but mercifully, Hong Yeon-hwa just let out a giggle.
The sound of her laugh finally breaking through made my expression brighten too.
Shaking her head, Hong Yeon-hwa touched her own hair.
Her hair was dry in no time.
Once she confirmed that, she suddenly turned to face me.
I flinched at the abrupt movement.
Before I could even react, her hands slipped under my arms and lifted me up.
My floating body was naturally settled onto her lap.
[Soft]
[Warmth]
[Cozy]
In that moment, all the things I'd been trying hard to ignore started hammering into my head one after another.
The soft cushion of her thighs. The slick warmth of bare skin on skin. The vast expanse of her chest threatening to spill from the robe.
Steam rose right in front of my nose, drifting from the swaying valley between them like fresh rice cakes.
The moment that wafting steam brushed the tip of my nose, her uniquely sweet, savory scent made my head go light.
Saliva pooled in my mouth of its own accord, and I felt parched.
[M... milk?]
"Pffhaha..."
Midway through, I flinched at the sound of a laugh tickling my ear.
I'd gotten completely distracted by her chest without realizing it.
When I stealthily lifted my gaze, I saw Hong Yeon-hwa giggling.
"Seriously... even when I want to stay mad, you act so much like a baby that it's hard to be angry. Actually, is there even a reason to be angry...?"
Shaking her head as if it was all ridiculous, Hong Yeon-hwa gently stroked my hair and asked,
"You're not really twenty, are you? You're supposedly part fairy, too, so did you lie about your age to get in here? You're really about ten or eleven, right?"
[No...]
"No..."
"Mmn... I'm not..."
"Ha-yul, you like being treated like this, don't you? Being taken care of like a baby. Right? My little baby, are you gonna eat num-nums later?"
[I like that...]
"No...! No...! I really don't..."
"The necklace says otherwise, though?"
[I like that... snap]
"No..."
My face flushed at the teasing, and I shook my head vigorously.
I yanked the necklace clean off, since it kept spilling my true feelings.
"Hehe, what can I even say to a baby?"
Hong Yeon-hwa let out a soft laugh.
Right after, as if apologizing, she patted my bottom lightly and then lay down on the bed.
She offered me her arm as a pillow and pulled my head into her embrace.
I was nestled against her. Her body heat seeped through our contact.
"Sniff, sniff sniff..."
Most of all, the milky scent wafting up was doubly thick with my nose buried against her chest.
Between the relief that Hong Yeon-hwa's anger had faded and the scent that naturally unwound my mind, my thoughts helplessly drifted into a haze.
Peck— A damp sensation touched my forehead.
With a small shiver, I buried my face as deeply as I could.
[I like you]
"Mmn... I like you."
"I like you too, really..."
All the while Hong Yeon-hwa kept her arm under my head, ... er... I'm not sure if this is the right way to put it. She looked down at me with an expression that was almost maternal, gazing at me as if I were the most adorable thing.
"...So, is it dangerous?"
After I'd been mindlessly soaking in Hong Yeon-hwa's scent and touch for a while, patting my back and waist with her other hand, she asked again.
Her words poked at my deeply sunken consciousness, and I pulled out the answer I'd prepared in advance.
"No, it isn't dangerous. It's just a place where I'll be cooped up studying magic, like a library."
"And that's why you won't be able to come out for a while?"
"Yes... probably..."
In the original story, whenever someone entered the Tower of Knowledge, they were always unable to leave for a certain period.
Strictly speaking, one could leave, but re-entry would be impossible.
It might be different here compared to the original, but I couldn't be sure of that.
"Haah, the Tower of Knowledge, huh... They're really showering you with support, aren't they. A whole mansion, magic study in a Tower..."
Hong Yeon-hwa muttered, sounding a bit dumbfounded.
The Tower of Knowledge. It really was too weighty a place to be spoken of so casually.
Hong Yeon-hwa, who'd been patting my back and pressing her chest against me, buried her nose in my hair and murmured,
"I'll believe you. But just like you promised, you absolutely cannot get hurt. Got it?"
"Yes, I'll keep that in mind."
"Alright. Have a safe trip. But if you break that promise and come back hurt... you know, right?"
"......Yes......"
Shivering under the murderous gaze aimed at the top of my head, I buried my face deeper into Hong Yeon-hwa's bosom.
I was happy.
I'd gain everything I possibly could from the Tower of Knowledge, if only to protect this very happiness.
As I was sharpening that resolution once more, my conscious mind slipped into sleep.
.
.
.
The weekend passed and the weekdays came.
Most people had gone out, and silence settled over the once bustling mansion.
"I, Eriel, firmly believed that you would succeed, young master."
That silence was soon broken.
Thanks to the words Eriel spoke upon arriving at the mansion and looking around.
[It's been a long time, Eriel]
"Yes, it has been some time since I last saw you, young master."
Eriel bowed politely, her movements angular and precise, yet her demeanor remained gentle.
Her neat, maid-like uniform, immaculate as always, stood out.
[Are you finished with the work you were assigned?]
"Yes. I reported the results of my last mission to the returning family head, and there were also a few internal clan matters to attend to."
It really had been quite a while since I'd seen Eriel.
After she'd disappeared a while ago saying she had other duties to take up for a time, I hadn't been able to spot her at Siyoram at all.
[But, Eriel, weren't you originally Yeon-hwa's bodyguard?]
Tilting my head at the fact that she had been operating apart from her charge, I asked. Eriel shrugged her shoulders as if it were nothing.
"This is Siyoram, after all. The idea of a bodyguard here is a bit of a joke."
[Ah, well, certainly...]
"In truth, the bodyguard role was only a nominal pretext. Practically speaking, everything I did was simply looking after young lady Hong Yeon-hwa's needs."
It really had been a foolish question.
A bodyguard in Siyoram?
If things here got violent enough for that to matter, the outside world would have already turned into a demonic realm.
"Then I shall attend to young lady Lee Seo-yul."
[Yes, please do]
"Hmph...!"
[...Seo-yul, I'll be back soon, okay?]
I had already told everyone else, too.
They'd been shocked at first when I said I was entering the Tower of Knowledge, and jumped up in alarm when I added that I might not be able to come out for a good while, but I had ultimately gotten their permission.
...Calming down a sulking Seo-yul had been incredibly difficult, though.
Honestly, since I've messed up plenty myself, I didn't have much room to talk either...
At any rate, Eriel went inside the mansion with Seo-yul just like that.
My heart ached seeing Seo-yul still visibly upset.
'But this time I truly have no other choice...'
Running through that excuse internally, I checked my observation range.
The Tower of Knowledge was on the Floating Island.
The Floating Island. As the name implied, it was a landmass drifting high in the sky, and it was safe to say no one knew its location.
That was just how well-defended it was, and its position was kept strictly confidential.
'So it's up there.'
I'd been sensing the Floating Island for a while now.
I already knew its location from my knowledge of the original story, but once I perceived the Authority my observation range and quality increased astronomically, I truly began to feel the Floating Island.
The Floating Island was directly above my head.
It drifted slowly through the skies over Siyoram.
'Something that huge sailing through the sky... Even by the standards of this world, it's absurd.'
It was much smaller than the artificial island holding Siyoram, but still large enough to qualify as a proper island.
Even with Observation Authority mobilized, I could only faintly trace its outline; the inside was an ultra-secure location too difficult to penetrate.
'Is the entrance over there?'
A single opening existed in all that defense.
To be precise, it was open to me because I possessed the key.
Without this key... without the entry authorization, you'd have to smash your way through that insane barrier.
Factoring in its counterattack functions, that was an effectively impossible feat—though the 11th Iteration just went and tore straight through it from the front...
In the original story, the Vice Headmaster had accompanied the protagonist.
Normally, she would have transported me via Spatial Movement, but I could move directly using the Authority of Space.
That was probably why the Vice Headmaster didn't come out to meet me separately.
'Haah... Hm?'
The moment I let out a long sigh from the tension.
A scent drifted up that instantly loosened my stiff, rigid mind.
I stood blankly for just a second.
After confirming there were no eyes watching, I quietly sniffed the air.
A fragrant scent of skin, sweet and savory...
'Yeon-hwa's scent...'
It was Yeon-hwa's scent.
That scent had completely soaked into my body.
After spending all last night snuggled up against her and acting spoiled, it seemed her natural scent had rubbed off on me heavily.
Come to think of it, the same thing happened with my teacher.
'This is nice.'
Being filled with that scent, it felt as if Yeon-hwa was hugging me tightly.
Thanks to that, my tension eased quite a bit.
'Let's go.'
The Tower of Knowledge.
Sure, I'd improve my magic skills.
But fundamentally, it was a place where I might be able to uncover a piece of the countless secrets surrounding me.
Swallowing my nervous sigh, I manifested the Authority of Space. I triggered a Spatial Leap toward the specially prepared entrance on the Floating Island.
- KWA-BOOOOOOOM!
A massive golem's fist came crashing down.