Chapter 521: Resolve (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 521: Resolve (2)
I had originally planned to stay at a hotel, but at the Tower Lord’s suggestion (coercion), I ended up staying at her mansion. I walked through the dark, quiet corridor toward my room.
There wasn't a single person in sight, and the mansion hadn't been properly maintained in a long time, giving the entire place a desolate air.
Creeak—
“It’s clean, huh?”
Fortunately, the room itself was tidy.
Moreover, on the table was a steaming steak, various Russian dishes, and a bottle of wine, all perfectly set.
The savory scent of meat and the fragrant aroma of rosemary tickled my nose, stoking my hunger.
‘…Don’t tell me the Tower Lord made this herself.’
There was obviously no chef in the mansion.
And given her personality, it didn't seem likely she would have gone to a restaurant to get takeout.
Half-suspicious and half-worried, I sat down at the table.
Clink, clink—
I skillfully used a knife to cut the steak.
It was a perfect medium-rare, on par with a steak I’d had at a three-star restaurant in London.
Chomp—
The moment I put a piece of steak in my mouth, I was at a loss for words.
“…Why is this so good?”
I felt as if I were in a famous restaurant.
And it wasn't just the steak.
The borscht, a soup with a beef broth base accompanied by beets, cabbage, potatoes, and sour cream; the beef stroganoff, made of thinly sliced beef sautéed in a cream sauce; and the Olivier salad, a mix of potatoes, carrots, peas, and ham tossed in mayonnaise.
Every single dish was delicious beyond words.
With sauce smeared around my mouth, I tilted my head in confusion.
“Seriously, does this even make sense…?”
I just couldn't believe that the cold and haughty Tower Lord had personally cooked these dishes.
After quickly clearing the plates, I rinsed my palate with wine and sank into the sofa.
My mind was a mess because of the last thing the Tower Lord had said to me.
—When you’re done eating, come to my room.
“…She can’t beat me up in front of her daughter, so is she planning to beat me half to death when we’re alone?”
Thanks to Anastasia’s active defense, I had managed to escape the situation, but the Tower Lord hadn't let go of her suspicions about me until the very end.
The fact that dinner was unusually delicious suddenly made sense when I thought of it as a final meal for a death row inmate.
It was the Tower Lord’s own version of a last mercy.
Pfft—
“I must be tired. Having all these weird delusions.”
I knew the truth.
I knew how much the Tower Lord was humbling herself before me, and that all of it was for the sake of lifting her daughter’s curse.
Even if Anastasia hadn't stepped in to defend me, the Tower Lord wouldn't have done anything to me.
At worst, she would have given me a light smack and left it at that.
Of course, the story would have been different if I had actually tried to rape her.
‘She probably called me because of the curse. I never explained exactly how I was going to break it.’
Even in a hospital, before a surgery, they briefly explain the patient’s condition and the surgical procedure to the guardian.
In truth, hearing such an explanation doesn't directly help with the surgery.
Nevertheless, it’s a legal obligation and a minimum humanitarian measure to alleviate the guardian’s anxiety.
Sniff, sniff.
“…I should wash up before I go.”
The distinct, bloody smell of magical beasts clung to my entire body.
I tossed my clothes into my inventory and headed straight for the bathroom.
*
Among the hundreds of races on Earth, the Ice Fairies were one of those with the longest lifespans.
They possessed a lifespan that was practically eternal, but their mortal egos could not endure it and would eventually collapse.
Thus, they would one day choose to return to the embrace of nature.
This was also why the environment around the holy land of the Ice Elves was particularly harsh.
Over tens of thousands of long years, their countless accumulated remains had ultimately formed a massive mountain range.
And perhaps because their origins were of elves, their desire for procreation was faint compared to other races. They gradually declined with the flow of time, until finally, only Valentina was left.
But Valentina felt no sense of crisis about this.
She believed it was the law of nature for the unfit to fade away.
Above all, she had long since accepted the fact that the moment her own life ended would be the end of her race.
She felt that struggling for the revival of her people was not her role, so Valentina devoted herself day after day solely to magic research.
She believed it was her only reason for living, her everything.
But on the day she visited the holy land for what might have been her final ritual, from the moment she discovered the pure white ice crystal placed upon the altar, Valentina’s life was turned completely upside down.
When winter passes, the snow and ice melt away.
And under the warm sunlight, new plants sprout.
But after spring and summer pass and winter arrives, the snow is bound to fall once more.
—Giggle.
—…
Looking at Anastasia, who was smiling brightly in her arms, an indescribable emotion bloomed in a corner of Valentina’s frozen heart.
At the time, she didn't know the exact name for that feeling.
But now, she could say it with certainty.
It was love.
When the demon worshipers demanded her soul in exchange for lifting her daughter’s curse, Valentina accepted their absurd proposal without a moment’s hesitation.
Even though she knew better than anyone the meaning of selling one’s soul to a demon, she never once regretted her choice.
Because a parent is someone who would willingly throw away their own life for their child.
So this, too, is nothing.
Knock, knock—
“…Enter.”
With that thought, Valentina permitted Kang Hyun-woo to enter her bedroom.
*
Arriving in front of the Tower Lord’s bedroom, I took a deep breath to calm my pounding heart.
It might have been different during the day, but the thought of entering her bedroom late at night was making me nervous.
Honestly, for any man, it was a perfectly natural reaction.
The Tower Lord, true to her race as an Ice Elf, was a stunning beauty so dazzling it was hard to even look away.
On top of that, she possessed a cold gaze that drove men wild and a certain rich allure like that of a married woman. As a man in his prime, it would have been stranger not to feel something for her.
‘Well… nothing will happen. She seems like the type who’s lived a life without any connection to men.’
Besides, the Tower Lord’s favorability toward me had hit rock bottom and was buried deep underground.
If I didn't want to be disappointed, I had to drop my expectations early.
Knock, knock—
“It’s Kang Hyun-woo.”
—…Enter.
Hearing the Tower Lord’s voice from beyond the door, I briefly straightened my clothes before slowly turning the doorknob.
Creeaak—
With the sound of an old hinge turning, the door opened, revealing a bedroom with a tranquil atmosphere.
The room was dark.
Only a lamp on a table cast a soft glow.
My gaze naturally fell upon the Tower Lord, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Whoa…”
The moment our eyes met, an exclamation escaped my lips against my will.
Dressed in a thin silk negligee and a robe, she was so provocative that even a high monk from the Shaolin Temple would have been unable to control his lust.
I was mesmerized for a moment, but then the Tower Lord frowned and glared at me.
“What are you staring at so blankly? If you don’t want your eyes plucked out, you’d best watch where you put them.”
“My apologies.”
At her murderous warning, I quickly sat down on the sofa.
But the Tower Lord called out to me in an icy voice.
“Who said you could sit?”
“…Pardon?”
“Stand before me.”
“…?”
It was a completely incomprehensible demand, but seeing that her mood was clearly unusual, I didn't raise a single question.
I carefully got up from the sofa and approached her.
‘…This is insane.’
Her milky-white breasts looked like they would burst if I squeezed them, her slender shoulders made me want to grab them and lay her down on the bed, and her fair thighs kept stealing my gaze.
From top to bottom, everything about her stimulated a man’s primal instincts.
I inwardly chanted Buddhist scriptures, trying to suppress my boiling desires.
But such efforts were meaningless.
Thump—
The Tower Lord suddenly lay back, staring at me with an unreadable expression as she began to slowly stroke her lower abdomen.
“Touch it.”
“……Pardon?”
“Do not make me say it twice.”
The moment I heard her words, my brain ceased all function and froze.
I thought I must have misheard, but her expression and gestures directly refuted that idea.
Cold sweat started trickling down my spine.
‘Don’t fall for it. This is a trap.’
Even though it was a misunderstanding, she was inviting a man she had accused of trying to rape her daughter just hours ago into her bedroom to do… that?
It might have been plausible with another woman, but this was the Tower Lord.
Even if the sky were to fall, such a convenient thing would never happen.
This had to be some kind of test.
I didn't know the exact purpose, but for now, the most likely possibility was that she was trying to see how firm the sense of chastity was in the man who would take her daughter’s first time.
‘…I want to believe it’s not true, but if I fail this test, she might kill me after I break Ana’s curse.’
You think she wouldn't go that far?
Well.
I don't know about that, but I do know that there’s no such thing as ‘never’ in this world.
Who could say with certainty that she wouldn't try to silence me to hide the fact that her daughter had lost her virginity for the sake of her future?
‘The best thing to do here is to politely refuse and show a gentlemanly side—’
“Hah, you were ogling my body like a dog in heat every chance you got. Now that I’ve set the table, you don’t even know how to eat?”
Whoosh—!!
“?!”
In that instant, the Tower Lord shot up from her seat, grabbed my wrist, and pulled my hand onto her lower abdomen.
Perhaps because of the thin silk, the soft texture of her skin was clearly transmitted through the fabric.
I was momentarily flustered by her sudden action, but then I was taken aback by an unfamiliar sensation beneath my palm.
‘This is… don’t tell me?’
There was no mistake.
“…A curse?”
“It seems your eyes aren’t just for decoration.”
As if confirming the answer, the Tower Lord looked me straight in the eye and continued.
“I am afflicted with the Curse of Raging Flames. The curse is located in my womb, just like Anastasia’s. In six hours, my entire body will burn to death.”
Unlike the Tower Lord, who spoke nonchalantly as if it were nothing, I couldn't remain calm.
It went without saying that someone on the level of an Archmage had immense resistance to curses.
No matter how high-level the Curse of Raging Flames was, it was definitely not strong enough to pierce her curse resistance.
That meant the Tower Lord had cast the curse on herself.
“Why on earth would you do something like that…?”
“A verification.”
The Tower Lord murmured in a calm voice.
“The time limit is six hours. You may do whatever you wish within that time to break the curse on me. If you fail, I will die. But I cannot entrust my daughter to a man who cannot even solve a problem of this magnitude.”
Flop—
With those words, the Tower Lord threw herself onto the bed as if collapsing.
The moment I saw her eyes staring at the ceiling, I knew it instinctively, even though I didn't want to.
She had truly bet her life on this.
Seeing her appearance, devoid of even a speck of lingering attachment, I scratched the back of my head and let out a deep sigh.
The situation had just become several times more troublesome than when I had assumed it was a test.
After a moment of thought, I finally leaned forward.
At a distance where our breaths could touch, I looked at the Tower Lord and gave my usual confident smile.
“You’re the one who said I could do anything, right, Tower Lord?”