Crossroads of Choice
"Haha, good day, Minister."
"For you to come to my home—now that's something unusual, Cedric."
"It's perfectly normal for a subordinate to visit his superior's home to check on his well-being."
Cedric scratched the back of his head as he spoke.
"Since when were you the type?"
"Haha, I can't exactly refuse a superior I respect..."
"Enough with the pointless flattery."
"Yes, sir."
Cedric gave an awkward laugh and sat on the sofa in the drawing room. I took a seat across from him, facing him directly.
"So, what's this about?"
"First off, I'm thirsty. Mind if I have some tea?"
Cedric rubbed his throat.
"It'll be here soon."
Not long after, Seria opened the door and entered.
"Oho, so this is the one from the rumors..."
Cedric's eyes gleamed as he scanned Seria's body from head to toe while she carried in the tray. His shining pupils laid bare his raw lust.
"What tits, what an ass. The Empire's flower indeed. You must be thrilled, Minister. So, how far have you gone with her? Not all the way, right?"
"Is that why you came here?"
"No, not at all."
He waved it off, but Cedric still stole glances at Seria. His face, swallowing hard, brimmed with the desire to do something to her right then and there.
"Just a courtesy visit. And to give a work report while I'm at it."
"I see."
A courtesy visit. I eyed Cedric. Cedric Volpart. He was from the emperor's faction, slightly at odds with the moderate Solarion Duke. Among the hardline emperor faction that advocated wiping out the nobles, he was the rising young star. A vice minister of the Magic Department wouldn't show up at my estate without purpose.
"I'm not naive enough to buy that."
"Hahaha."
Cedric chuckled briefly.
"Sorry. I just get the sense you're the real deal, Minister. You hate long preambles at home too, huh."
He wiped the corner of his eye and openly ogled Seria's breasts as she poured the tea.
"She's stunning, isn't she?"
"Stunning. She was once called the Empire's flower, after all."
"Seria Siegfried—oh, wait, not Siegfried anymore. What should I call her? Lowly bitch?"
I caught Seria biting her lip at Cedric's condescending words.
"Cedric."
"Yes, Minister."
"I don't like people talking carelessly about things I value. Do it again, and I won't forgive you."
My tone was ice-cold. For a moment, I considered ripping his mouth apart. The nerve. Who the hell evaluates my possessions?
Cedric, meeting my gaze, bowed his head.
"Ah, forgive me. I meant no disrespect to you, Minister. I just wanted you to grasp what it means for His Majesty to bestow such a woman upon you."
I wanted to know too. Why he'd handed her to me. Whether he knew she was half-transcendent.
"It's time to make up your mind. How long will you straddle the fence in neutrality?"
"Is that what you came to ask?"
"Yes. That's why I'm here."
Cedric showed no signs of backing down.
"Join the emperor's faction now. I hear the fallen neutral nobles are plotting to build their strength under you. No need to settle for snake's head when you could be the dragon's throat."
"Cedric."
"Yes, Minister."
"Didn't I tell you last time to shut up?"
"...Pardon?"
Cedric blinked.
"That mouth of yours is too noisy. It's giving me a rash just listening."
"You're refusing?"
"I have no intention of joining the emperor's faction. Nor the nobles'."
"So you'll build the neutral faction after all?"
"If necessary."
Bam!
"How can you say that? You, who earned the greatest merit seating the current emperor on the throne—why refuse the emperor's faction?!"
Cedric slammed the desk, shouting. Fitting for a fire mage—hot-blooded.
"You know what kind of man the current emperor is."
I knew him better than anyone. In the novel, he was dubbed the Blood-Calling Prince.
Now he's the Blood-Calling Emperor, I suppose.
If I joined his faction, war was inevitable. Same if I sided with the nobles. Those dissatisfied with the emperor wouldn't sit idle. The empire would plunge into civil war again. It had only been months since the last one ended.
Not yet.
Civil war was off-limits until I'd sorted the myriad issues. At least while I was Magic Minister, I'd prevent it.
"Who do you think gave you your position? His Imperial Majesty himself! Think of all the policies being enacted now! Who truly cares for the people?!"
Veins bulged in Cedric's neck, his eyes bloodshot. The look he gave me was that of a zealot.
I planned to send the excited Cedric on his way calmly. Then—
"Even the woman attending you in this estate right now!"
"Kyaa!"
Cedric grabbed Seria's shoulder and yanked her. Pushed by his rough grip, her body pressed against his.
"This woman, stripped of all noble status and treated worse than human—it's all from the emperor! See? Even as I toy with her like this, she can't resist! Who made her this way? The emperor himse—"
And Cedric groped Seria's ass. Her scream rang out. Daring to touch what's mine. Without permission. I felt reason snap in my mind.
"Didn't I warn you?"
Slash!
Before my words finished, I severed Cedric's wrist—the one still gripping her ass. A razor-sharp mana blade sliced it clean in an instant.
Cedric realized a beat too late.
"Gaaahhh!"
He screamed.
"I said I forgive only once."
"Guhk, glrk."
Cedric clutched his severed wrist, gasping. Shock from the sudden pain.
Crunch! Cruuunch!
I crushed the hand that had just fallen to the floor. Ground it to pulp with my heel—no healing potion could regenerate that.
"Don't you dare touch what's mine without permission. No one lays a hand on my people or possessions until I allow it. Got it?"
"You think you'll get away with attacking me like this?"
Cedric glared up at me with bloodshot eyes.
"Still got some fight in those eyes."
I sensed sharpened killing intent. Natural— he'd lost a mage's lifeline, his hand.
I wanted to gouge out those eyes and mount them in my basement dungeon. Yes. Morris's urge.
"You trust that combat mage unit you drag around? Or the emperor you so revere?"
"How dare you... against His Majesty! That's treason."
"Who do you think the emperor will believe? Or rather, whose value will he weigh higher?"
Volpart was a storied magic house, but irreplaceable? Hardly. But me? Different story. Until he found my replacement, he'd heed my words.
At least on the surface.
"Volpart and the emperor's faction won't stand idle."
"I'm looking forward to it. Wonder what attacks and threats you'll throw at me."
"Don't expect noble help. With that woman in your hands, the nobles won't back you."
"So the hand wasn't the issue."
I flicked my fingers. Whirling mana forced his mouth open.
Cedric frantically chanted a spell. Flames erupted around us.
Slash!
"Gaaahhh!"
But he couldn't stop me slicing off his tongue.
Whoosh!
Fire blazed, scorching the drawing room furnishings.
"Kyaa!"
As Seria curled up, I restructured mana into water, extinguishing every flame.
"Huuuuhhhng!"
Cedric blocked his bleeding mouth, staring blankly at his severed tongue. Half-burnt by his own fire. He could no longer cast magic properly.
A mage needed hands for formulas and words to chant them. Without one hand and his tongue, even if he could cast again, his former prowess was a pipe dream.
"And you said the nobles won't accept me?"
I whispered to Cedric, who was holding back tears.
"You really think so?"
I don't know what my eyes looked like then. But Cedric, meeting them, trembled violently.
"Get out. I never want to see your face again."
He shuddered, grabbed his severed tongue, and fled.
I went too far.
I'd planned to send him off gently. But the moment he touched Seria without leave, I lost it and chopped off his hand.
I'd pulverized it beyond repair. Relations with the hardline emperor faction were shattered.
"Tch."
I watched Cedric flee the estate. He hadn't said it, but the emperor's will was likely involved. Otherwise, he wouldn't barge in unannounced.
Emperor's faction, nobles' faction. Neutral. How long since the civil war ended? And the hardliners wanted to draw swords again.
Time for me to decide too.
Before, to see the novel's end, I'd sided with the emperor. But now, post-finale. A new story, a new life granted.
Did I have to stick by the emperor?
No.
No need. From the moment Seria survived, the original plot was gone. Plus, the emperor wanted to monitor me. A checking emperor.
Can't follow blindly.
But openly defying him? No. My noble ties were toxic. Because of Seria. I could return her to the Siegfrieds. Repel the emperor, restore her status.
But.
I'd rather avoid that.
If I didn't know she carried transcendent blood. Until I grasped the duke's schemes.
Can't trust the nobles either.
What's left?
The neutrals.
Now I had to live in this world. Months since seeing the novel's end. Time to choose.
"Hoo."
I looked at Seria. Symbol of the emperor's trust—and a fine tool to pressure me. A gift and a shackle.
If I allied with the neutrals, what to do with her?
"No idea."
Truly none.
Thump-thump.
Back in her room, Seria struggled to calm her racing heart.
The hand that groped her ass had flown off in an instant, courtesy of Morris.
From the moment she'd entered the drawing room, she'd sensed that man's desire. Familiar. Back when she was a duke's daughter, she'd felt it too—from countless men, their gazes heavy with lust.
Then, it hid in the shadows of the Siegfried glory. Now, stripped of that light, it bared itself filthy and overt.
Not just gazes—toying too—she couldn't utter a word.
Seria knew. She was no longer Siegfried. Nothing left to her. Grateful even for a name.
She'd endured on pride alone. At least Morris never looked at her with that sleazy hunger.
He tormented me, sure.
But it felt like solving an assigned task.
But why...?
Why slice off that man's arm?
Morris's face then—it matched the day she'd wrecked his stuff on the second day. No, fiercer.
Why that face over someone touching the guy who torments you?
As if he cherished her.
That's cheating.
She'd resisted him, pleasure and all, guarding her last pride against the man who saw her as less than human.
So she'd figured this was just another round of their game.
If he'd told her to submit to Cedric, she'd have done it.
But.
Things veered off-script. Cedric's arm and tongue severed. For touching her. For his insulting words.
Perplexing. Why? Why act like he cared now? You'd mocked me moments ago. Why protect me like this?
Possessiveness? Conquest? One of those typical male urges? Why rage like I'm yours?
She should hate it. The worst—her tormentor treating her like property.
Yet when he called her his, profound relief washed over her.
That single fact—he'd protected her—erased all her pent-up anxiety in a flash.
Why the comfort? She couldn't say.
Who sent you here?
Morris's old words echoed.
Did I?
No, the emperor executed your status.
Your father abandoned you.
I just received you.
Not entirely wrong. She'd half-admitted it. Not his fault she was trapped and tormented here.
Should I accept it?
Politics? Beyond her. Even as a duke's daughter, she'd stayed far from it. That's why she'd believed her father would rescue her.
Still clueless now. But one thing: the only one she could rely on was this estate's master. Morris.
Seria recalled Morris casting magic to shield her. Her lower belly heated.
Mine, he said.
His thick arms from the spell. Mage yet toned chest from steady training. His naked body, fully exposed.
Unbidden, she imagined. Morris embracing her. Her embracing back. Fiercely, like that day. Holding her, ravaging her.
Before she knew, her fingers hiked her skirt, rubbing her pussy through her panties.
As pleasure soaked her body, Seria snapped to.
"Wh-what am I doing?"
Shocked at her unconscious act.
Get a grip!
She shook her head.
This isn't real. Just an illusion from hardship.
But she didn't notice. The lewd crest below her navel glowing fiercely. The brighter it shone, the wetter her pussy grew.
From her subconscious, a devilish whisper tempted her.
It's just fantasy. Not real.
Do it. Do it.
He wants you.
Enjoys your resistant pride.
Unknowingly, her hand crept lower.