Chapter 531: Signs of Change
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 531: Signs of Change
It’s not easy for a mage to get drunk.
The magic power in their body rapidly breaks down alcohol. Even a 3rd Circle mage could drink spirits all night and only end up feeling a little tipsy.
So, what would it be like for the Lord of a Magic Tower?
There is a liquor called ‘Spirytus Rektyfikowany.’
It’s not a specific brand name but rather a term for rectified spirit—alcohol that has been extremely concentrated through repeated distillation.
Its proof is a staggering 95-96.5%.
If an ordinary person were to drink it, they could die from acute alcohol poisoning.
In essence, it’s the final stage of drinkable alcohol.
But to the Tower Lord, it was no different from bitter water.
It wasn't just her magic power; the mana circle of an 8th Circle Archmage, a truly great realm, would instantly detoxify any poison that entered her body.
It was fair to say she had reached a state of Immunity to All Poisons.
And yet, her cheeks were flushed redder than usual, her eyes were unfocused, and the sharp smell of alcohol stung the nose. To anyone looking, the Tower Lord was clearly drunk.
I checked the labels of the bottles scattered messily on the table.
Ritbellish, Hareba, Château Buera… They’re high-proof wines, but not enough to get her drunk.
Besides, it didn’t look like she had drunk that much.
About four bottles?
That meant she had willingly shut down her body’s detoxification functions.
“…Are you all right?”
“…”
The Tower Lord didn’t answer.
She simply stared at me with an unreadable expression.
“Tower Lord?”
“…You need not concern yourself.”
Her voice, cold and subdued, was as cynical as ever, making it difficult to even start a conversation.
But I could see it.
I saw her eyes tremble faintly at the sound of my voice.
Only then did I realize she was trying her best to act composed.
The memory of my first encounter with her in the back alleys of London came to mind.
It hadn’t even been that long, but it felt like a lifetime ago.
Clink.
While I was lost in thought, the Tower Lord placed a small vial on the table.
“What’s this…?”
“A Neutralizer.”
The Tower Lord glared at me, her eyes a mixture of various emotions.
“It’s a potion to stop you from running wild like you did yesterday. Drink it now.”
“…Ahem.”
I subtly turned my head away.
I couldn’t feel any killing intent from her, but her gaze was more suffocating than any I had ever faced.
But honestly, what happened yesterday was beyond my control.
Who could have imagined that the bodily fluids of an ice fairy would have such an effect?
Besides, didn’t the Tower Lord herself say she didn’t know?
Well… I did run a little wild even after I came to my senses, but that’s just what happens when two grown adults have sex.
Avoiding the Tower Lord’s gaze, which seemed to hold a mountain of unspoken words, I picked up the Neutralizer.
It had a pinkish hue, reminding me slightly of strawberry milk.
Gulp.
Of course, it tasted nothing like strawberry milk.
Phew… It’s getting a little hot.
Before long, my body began to heat up.
I finally had a rough idea of what the Neutralizer did.
Does it forcibly condense the yang energy in my body to partially offset the effects of the ice fairy’s fluids?
I didn’t know the exact recipe, but it was something only a brilliant alchemist would even dare to attempt making.
However, it didn’t seem to nullify the effects completely. That was probably why my body temperature was rising uncontrollably.
My Immunity to Cold and Heat wasn’t working properly, likely because the heat wasn’t from an external source, but from the amplified yang energy within my own body throwing its balance off.
As I moved to take off my outer coat, feeling hot for the first time in a long while…
Flinch!
The Tower Lord shuddered violently, as if she’d just seen a scene from a horror movie.
She was clearly tense.
“…Let me make this clear. This is solely to replenish the yang energy necessary for Ana’s treatment. It is by no means a concession to your vulgar demands. If you behave as wantonly as you did yesterday—”
“Tower Lord.”
Flop.
I moved to sit beside her.
At the sudden proximity, the Tower Lord’s eyes widened and shook.
Her clear, translucent skin was flushed red, and a jasmine scent, even richer than the smell of alcohol, pleasantly brushed past my nose.
Her uncharacteristically flustered state only seemed to draw me in more.
“You know it’s not that easy, no matter what you say, don’t you?”
*
Swoosh—
Inside the bathroom, filled with warm steam.
As Valentina’s toes dipped into the water, it overflowed in all directions.
“…Haaah.”
A languid sigh escaped her lips as she fully submerged herself in the tub.
In contrast to her sigh, however, Valentina’s expression was anything but bright. It was all because of Kang Hyun-woo’s absurd demand.
Of all things, he wanted her.
Valentina had never imagined she would be proposed to by a man hundreds of years her junior, and her mind was a tangled mess.
She had been about to refuse him flatly, but when he said it was absolutely necessary for Anastasia’s treatment, she was left speechless.
The reason she was soaking in a bath before noon was because of the weight of this dilemma.
“How did it come to this…”
They say the first time is the hardest, and the second is easy.
But that didn’t apply to Valentina.
If anything, the second time felt several times more difficult.
Just as they say the devil you know is scarier, until yesterday, sex to Valentina had been nothing more than a physical act between a man and a woman to relieve base desires.
The thought of being pinned beneath a man, panting out vulgar moans like the women in those filthy videos, was something she could never have imagined.
She had believed it was all just exaggerated acting to attract viewers.
But as if to mock her assumptions, the shock of her first time was enough to completely shatter her values.
—Haa, ah, ahng…!!♡ N-no, no, nooo…?!?!?♡
Crack—!!!
In that instant, the entire bathroom was covered in a layer of pristine white ice.
Sitting in a bathtub colder than the Antarctic sea, Valentina’s face was flushed as red as a heatstroke victim’s in midsummer.
“…I can’t go on like this.”
Splash—
Leaping up from the tub, Valentina returned to her room without even properly drying herself and reached for a bottle of wine.
She wasn’t one to drink during the day, but right now, she didn’t have the confidence to face this sober.
She continued to drink without any food, and before she knew it, the red sunset was fading outside her window.
Not long after, Kang Hyun-woo arrived.
Valentina could have sobered up in an instant if she wanted to, but she deliberately chose not to as she greeted him.
The memories of the previous night flickered before her eyes, making it difficult to even meet his gaze.
Her heart was in turmoil.
As emotions she had never felt before swirled chaotically within her, the moment he suddenly sat beside her, Valentina’s mind went as white as the northern snowfields.
“Still, since you’ve asked, Tower Lord, I’ll do my best to restrain myself.”
Kang Hyun-woo offered a sly smile.
Valentina, on the other hand, was visibly rigid.
“May I hold your hand?”
Hoping to ease her tension even a little, Kang Hyun-woo decided to approach as cautiously as possible.
As if handling a priceless work of art.
Valentina hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding.
Slide—
As Kang Hyun-woo’s thick hand covered her slender white one, Valentina flinched.
Perhaps due to the Neutralizer, his yang energy, now even stronger than it had been during the day, flowed into her through his touch.
It’s warm…
It was warmer than soaking in a hot bath, warmer than drinking high-proof liquor.
To an ice fairy, who innately craved warmth, Kang Hyun-woo was nothing short of a drug.
“You’re a little cold. Are all ice fairies naturally low in body temperature?”
“…Yes.”
But a strange sense of defiance rose in Valentina, and she responded even more coldly than usual.
Of course, Kang Hyun-woo wasn’t the type to be intimidated by something like that.
Instead, he closed the distance until their shoulders were touching.
A peculiar atmosphere naturally settled between them.
A premonition that something was about to happen.
Whoosh!!
“?!!”
In that moment, Kang Hyun-woo suddenly wrapped a thick arm around Valentina’s slender waist and pulled her in for a kiss.
His completely unexpected action made Valentina’s eyes go wide.
“Mmph, mmmph…!!”
Thump, thump!!
Valentina frantically beat against his shoulder, struggling.
But there was no strength in her fists.
Kang Hyun-woo forced her tightly sealed lips apart and pushed his tongue inside. And just like that, Valentina’s precious first kiss, which she had kept for hundreds of years, was stolen by him.
Of course, it wasn’t that it held some great meaning.
She just never imagined it would be taken from her so forcefully.
Thud—
Kang Hyun-woo pushed Valentina down onto the sofa, continuing to kiss her as their tongues tangled fiercely.
“Mmph… chp, slurp, mwah…”
Faced with his ravenous intensity, Valentina clutched at his collar and responded as best she could, if only clumsily.
It was the only way she could breathe.
My body’s so hot…
Like ice melting away, Valentina couldn’t think straight.
But the moment Kang Hyun-woo’s hand gripped her buttock…
Smack!!
Snapping back to her senses, Valentina shoved him away.
She glared at him murderously, breathing heavily.
“Hah, hah…! I believe I made myself clear! This is an act solely to replenish the yang energy needed for Ana’s treatment! I warned you to be prepared if you behaved as wantonly as yesterday!!”
Crack—
Her emotions running high, frost crept across the room, freezing the windows and floor.
But Kang Hyun-woo, who had tumbled onto the floor below the sofa, looked up at her nonchalantly, as if it were no big deal.
Because in her disheveled state, he couldn’t see a trace of anger.
In fact, it was quite the opposite.
“It seems you’ve misunderstood.”
As Kang Hyun-woo slowly got to his feet and sat on the edge of the sofa, Valentina watched him with wary eyes.
“…If you think you can get away with some pathetic sophistry, I will cut out your tongue.”
“Sophistry?”
Kang Hyun-woo chuckled softly and held out his hand.
After a moment’s hesitation, Valentina cautiously took it.
?! Th-this is…?
Valentina couldn’t hide her surprise as she checked Kang Hyun-woo’s condition.
His yang energy, which had been weaker than yesterday just moments ago, had increased noticeably.
The Neutralizer only temporarily amplified existing yang energy; it didn’t have the effect of increasing the absolute amount.
Unless he had taken an elixir, it was difficult to understand how such a change could have occurred in that short time.
“Chamber Arts are not limited to sexual intercourse. It’s also possible through a kiss. Of course, the effect is usually minimal, but it seems to have been amplified by the compatibility of our bodies.”
It was fair to say that Valentina was born with a body of extreme yin.
And Kang Hyun-woo, though it was acquired, met some of the conditions for a body of the sun.
As the energies of these two intertwined, they generated an immense amount of power.
Of course, that didn’t mean a kiss alone would be enough to supply the necessary yang energy.
Anastasia’s treatment required far more than that.
“Did you really think I forced a kiss on you to satisfy my own selfish desires?”
“…”
Valentina fell silent.
Because honestly, that was exactly what she had thought.
“I’m a little taken aback. I was just trying a different method to finish this as quickly as possible before you had to suffer any more…”
Needless to say, Kang Hyun-woo had kissed her to satisfy his own selfish desires.
Everything he had just said was an ad-lib he’d made up on the spot.
To keep her from finding out, he feigned a slightly troubled expression and let out a small sigh.
“Well… I understand. Let’s go to the bedroom, then.”
Kang Hyun-woo scratched the back of his head and was about to stand up.
Grab—!
Valentina urgently caught his arm.
With a flushed face, she looked up at him and stammered, something she rarely ever did.
“W-wait a moment…”