Chapter 526: A Desperate Resolve
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 526: A Desperate Resolve
Shhhh—
Warm water cascaded over her head.
Valentina stared blankly as the semen clinging to her body washed away.
But the ‘marks’ Kang Hyun-woo had personally carved into her body showed no sign of fading.
Every time she saw them, the memories of the previous night resurfaced with vivid clarity.
The humiliating moments of being pinned beneath a much younger man, forced to helplessly play the role of a broodmare.
“How dare you…!! How dare you…!!”
Smack, smack, smack!!
Valentina’s small fists repeatedly struck the bathroom wall.
Since she had deactivated her physical enhancements, the tiles remained unscathed.
In stark contrast, her expression was more savage than ever, a twisted mask that mirrored the turmoil in her heart.
A vortex of complex, indescribable emotions churned within her, tangled and twisted.
“…Hooo.”
Valentina took a deep, calming breath, then used magic to erase the marks from her body.
Healing magic was said to have been wielded only by the First Tower Lord, but any high-ranking mage could easily perform simple treatments on their own body.
For an archmage like Valentina, it was as simple as basic magic.
But while the marks on her body vanished, the memories in her mind did not.
A mage’s memory was several times stronger than an ordinary person’s.
And the memory of an 8th Circle Archmage—one of only three in the world—was tantamount to perfect recall.
- Haaah, ahh, ahn!!♡
- Tower Lord, does it feel that good?
- I-It feels gooood…!!♡ Hngh?!!♡
- Then try tightening your pussy for me. Who knows? I might be so moved I'll give you a reward.
SLAM!!
“This is insane, insane, insane, insane, insane, insane, insane…!!”
Valentina collapsed to the shower floor, clutching her head.
Her face was flushed as red as a ripe persimmon.
But a hundred days of regret wouldn't erase what had already happened. She knew this, yet she couldn't suppress the overwhelming emotions.
She had panted out moans like a common whore, smiled wantonly in ecstatic pleasure, and even acted coquettishly for Kang Hyun-woo.
It would have been one thing if he had used some trick to make her act so disgracefully.
But just as Kang Hyun-woo had regained his senses midway through, there had clearly been moments when she, too, had acted of her own free will.
Shhhh—
The water cascaded over her head.
“…”
Ice Fairies had a naturally lower body temperature than other races, so they tended to prefer soaking in warm water, like in a shower or bath.
Valentina was no exception. Before liquidating her assets, she’d had hotels built all across Russia just to serve as her personal hot springs.
She had a routine of taking a shower, however brief, whenever her mind grew cluttered from magical research.
Today, however, the water cascading over her head felt unusually cold.
Trickle—
“Ngh…”
Perhaps because she was squatting, a thick stream of semen leaked from between her legs.
She thought she had washed most of it out, but each time, a fresh wave of it would inevitably flow from some deeper place.
“Just how much did he cum…!!”
Valentina bit her lip and pushed her fingers into her swollen pussy, scraping out the semen.
Squish, squish—♡
“Hngh, ugh, ngh…♡”
A plaintive moan escaped her lips against her will.
Valentina clamped a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle the sound, but a reflexive moan burst out every time her fingers scraped against her vaginal walls.
He had pounded her virgin pussy all night with that monstrous club, yet instead of pain, she felt only an unwanted pleasure.
Moreover, her lower abdomen kept throbbing.
As if it wanted something more.
Without realizing it, Valentina found herself watching Kang Hyun-woo’s semen swirl down the drain with a look of longing.
Though she was disgusted by his crude way of treating women as mere tools for sexual gratification, the warmth he had given her was more profound than anything she had felt in her past several hundred years of life.
A conflict between reason and emotion.
Her instincts as an Ice Fairy craved his warmth, his yang energy.
Born with the greatest talent of her clan, Valentina had always subconsciously looked down on others.
She found it pathetic how others wasted months learning a single spell, and she saw men blinded by lust as nothing more than beasts.
To her, the dictators, tycoons, and massive cartels of Russia were less than a laughable pack of hyenas.
She had proven this was no empty boast by reaching the 8th Circle in a mere few decades.
But Valentina had no intention of stopping there.
She never doubted that she would one day reach the 9th Circle.
Her arrogant and self-righteous personality was a large part of why she came to be known as the Witch of the Snowfield.
But faced with the powerlessness of watching her only daughter slowly die, her pride crumbled like ice before the sun.
The magic, honor, and wealth she had accumulated over centuries meant nothing in the face of the demon's curse.
In the end, she had no choice but to bow her head to the demon worshipers she despised and beg for her daughter's life.
It was then that Kang Hyun-woo appeared before Valentina.
Her first impression of him was that he was no different from other men.
Moreover, he was much younger than her, and his skills were far inferior.
He wasn't even worth considering as a potential partner.
His only redeeming quality was his promising future; otherwise, there was nothing remarkable about him.
And yet, this man had not only arrogantly vowed to save her daughter’s life but had also spent the previous night taunting and defiling her in ways she couldn't bring herself to speak of.
Despite his utterly vulgar behavior, she found herself unconsciously drawn to his superior, masculine presence.
The fact that she hadn't killed him after what he’d done all night was proof enough.
Of course, she told herself it was for the sake of saving her daughter, but—
Squish, squish—♡
“Ahht, heuk, heuk…!!♡”
—the sight of her now, still prodding her pussy and lost in masturbation even after scraping out all the semen, made that excuse utterly unconvincing.
*
Kicked out of the bedroom, I returned to my room and went straight into the bathroom.
My entire body was sticky after a night of sex.
By the time I had scrubbed myself clean of any strange smells, the sun was already high in the sky.
I took some food from my inventory to fill my empty stomach, but I couldn't taste a thing.
‘…Am I going to be okay?’
I was sure the Tower Lord was going to kill me.
She was obviously a virgin who’d never even held a man’s hand, and on top of that, she was so conservative she’d make a Joseon Dynasty nobleman blush.
And I’d subjected a woman like that to being lifted and fucked, doggy style, spanking, deep-throating, forced orgasms… for her first time.
Even I had to admit I was a crazy son of a bitch.
Things had turned out surprisingly well, but that only made me more anxious.
I’d survived for now, but as the old saying goes, a woman’s heart is fickle.
There was no telling when the Tower Lord might change her mind.
‘…Should I bolt for Korea right now?’
I shook my head.
Even I didn't have the confidence to just fuck and dump an archmage.
Besides, if I ran away without breaking her daughter's curse, she would surely chase me to the other side of the planet.
Ting~
Just as my mind was getting tangled in all sorts of worries, a familiar chime rang in my ears.
It gave me an idea.
I shoved the rest of my sandwich into my mouth and shot to my feet.
“If I want to get my sentence reduced, I’d better start working diligently.”
Leaving my room, I strode quickly down the hall.
For the record, the room I’d been assigned was the one farthest from Anastasia’s bedroom.
I wasn't sure if it was because there were few rooms left intact, or if the Tower Lord had ulterior motives.
I was betting on the latter.
Knock, knock—
“Anastasia, may I come in?”
- Ah, w-wait a moment…!
A rustling sound came from beyond the door.
A moment later.
- Y-You can come in.
“Excuse me.”
Creeak—
I slowly opened the door and went inside.
My eyes met Anastasia’s, and I offered a gentle smile and a slight bow.
“Good morning… no, afternoon. How are you feeling?”
“I'm fine. I feel especially better today.”
“That's a relief.”
I pulled a chair up to her bedside and responded in the earnest, unadorned voice of a dedicated doctor.
‘Lying without a change in expression. She would have been a great actress. What a shame.’
I knew her words were just a brave front.
Thanks to ‘Lelia's Little Key’, I could clearly see the curse that was slowly eating away at her body.
The curse’s corrosion was worse than yesterday, not better.
At this stage, she had to be feeling excruciating pain, as if sharp needles were piercing her entire body.
Most tanks would be drenched in a cold sweat just trying to endure it, yet Anastasia’s expression was surprisingly serene.
Just like yesterday, her endurance was nothing short of astounding.
Of course, the Tower Lord was likely using artifacts to reduce the pain and elixirs to dull her senses, but from my perspective, it was like putting a band-aid on a gaping wound.
“The Tower Lord showed me the greenhouse, so I went to see it. The tulips, iberis, and veronicas were blooming beautifully. I heard they are your favorite flowers.”
Bringing up the curse out of nowhere would only make things awkward, so I decided to change the subject.
I couldn't break it right now anyway.
‘To use Tam like I did when I broke the Curse of Raging Flames on the Tower Lord, I have no choice but to have sex with her.’
Right now, my only goal was to raise Anastasia’s Affection score.
Even if it was for a cure, what woman would want to give her virginity to a stranger?
My current task was to get close enough that she wouldn't feel repulsed by me.
“Yes, that's right. It was a seventh birthday present from my mother. The gardener and the maids and I used to tend to it together… I'm not sure what condition it's in now.”
Anastasia gave a bitter smile.
It seemed I had touched on a sore spot.
‘Makes sense…’
The gardener and maids were nowhere to be seen in the mansion.
The reason the Tower Lord fired them wasn't simply a financial one.
As Anastasia had said, her curse affects those around her.
Unless a person had considerable resistance to curses, simply being near her and tending to her needs would drain their yang energy.
And they would die before long.
“You don't need to worry too much. The Tower Lord is tending to it diligently.”
“I told her she could just leave it…”
I had said it to try and lighten the mood, but Anastasia's expression only darkened.
It seemed I had misspoken again.
As I awkwardly scratched the back of my head and turned my gaze out the window, an icicle hanging from the windowsill caught my eye.
“Is there a flower you particularly like?”
“Pardon?”
Anastasia seemed to ponder the out-of-the-blue question for a moment before speaking cautiously.
“…I like iberis the most.”
“Iberis?”
Anastasia nodded with a faint smile.
“Because it resembles my mother.”
“You mean the Tower Lord? Her hair is certainly pure white, but…”
Other than that, I couldn't really see the resemblance.
It's not like there are only one or two types of white flowers.
“It's elegant, eye-catching, and pure, and it's indifferent to everything but magic and me. Don't you think they're exactly alike?”
“…I'm not so sure about the 'pure' part.”
“Hehe, other people say that too.”
I seemed to have unintentionally insulted her mother right in front of her, but thankfully, her mood seemed to have lightened.
But I wasn't satisfied with just that.
“Would it be all right if I showed you something interesting?”
“Something interesting…?”
“You can look forward to it.”
Just as the element of lightning was derived from the element of fire, ice too branched off from the element of water.
Of course, being able to handle the origin element didn't mean one could also handle its derived elements.
On the contrary, it required far more talent and effort.
Even for me, who could now handle all elements, dealing with derived elements was an extremely tricky business.
However, if one had spent the last three days witnessing and personally experiencing the magic of the most skilled ice mage on Earth, that was a different story.
Crack—
Freely dancing water molecules linked together as if holding hands, freezing into hexagonal shapes.
I then began to carve the newly formed ice, sculpting it meticulously.
After successfully completing the process, which required immense concentration and mana control to the point of breaking out in a cold sweat—
“Wow…”
An iberis crafted from ice was complete.
It was my first attempt, but even to my eyes, it looked quite convincing.
“A gift for you.”
Fortunately, it wasn't just my imagination; Anastasia's eyes sparkled as she accepted the flower.
“Anastasia.”
“?!!”
I slowly lowered myself, gently wrapped my hands around hers, and met her gaze.
“As I told you yesterday, I will break the curse on you, no matter what. I will make it so you can meet your gardener and maids again soon. So even if it's a little hard, please trust me and follow my lead until the very end.”
Looking at Anastasia, whose face was so red it looked like it might burst, I made a firm vow.
That no matter what, I would absolutely break the curse placed upon her.
‘…If I fail, the Tower Lord will kill me.’