Mother-Daughter Conflict
"What the fuck? Why the hell is Lee Hyun's cum leaking out of there?"
"Master... wait, no, Lee Hyun. Did you bed that woman too?"
Yu Ryun and Yeoryeong stared at me, their eyes wide with sheer disbelief. In response, I merely smirked and gave an easy shrug.
"Hey! What gives?! Explain yourself!"
"Well, you see..."
I gave them the rough breakdown of events: how I had stepped out for some fresh air at dawn, only to bump into Baek Soyoung clad in nothing but chest bindings; how she had been in utter, frantic heat, stroking my lap; and how her dripping-wet cunt, drenched from masturbating all night long, had clamped down tight around my cock.
All of that had gone down just a few hours ago.
Naturally, I kept Harin's yin energy being the real reason for Soyoung's uncontrollable arousal to myself. Watching Baek Soyoung squirm in embarrassment was far more entertaining that way.
"And that's pretty much what happened."
As I wrapped up the story, weary sighs echoed from every corner of the room.
"Haaah... Should I have stopped you when you said you were going for a walk?" Cheonghwa muttered, blaming herself for failing to prevent my early morning stroll.
"Darling, do you really have that much stamina left after going at it all night? Sneaking out at the crack of dawn just to chase skirts..." Elena chided me with a coy, sulking glare.
"Hey, she seduced me, alright?"
"If you go sticking your dick into everyone who seduces you... how the hell are you gonna survive when we visit the Vermilion Bird Hall?" Yu Ryun snapped, crossing her arms.
"Huh?"
"Our hall is crawling with sluts. If they flash their pussies at you, are you just gonna happily ram your cock right in?"
"Yu Ryun, dear, what a way to put it..."
Fucking Baek Soyoung so aggressively had been partly motivated by my bet with Harin. In other words, unless there was a damn good reason, I had no intention of expanding the harem any further.
"At this rate, you're gonna say you'll fuck our Hall Master next."
"Yu Ryun... you shouldn't speak about your own mother like that."
"My mom's dead, though?"
"...?"
Ambushing me with a dead mother joke was a bit much. Come to think of it, Yu Ryun had mentioned before that she didn't know her father. If her mother had passed away too, who the hell was their current Hall Master?
"It's true. During the last incident, she got hyped up fighting and kicked the bucket, so my oldest sister is the acting Hall Master right now."
"...Sorry."
"Forget it. It's practically a Vermilion Bird racial trait, so nobody makes a fuss about it." Fortunately, Yu Ryun waved it off without a care in the world.
While the rest of the room buzzed and murmured, thoroughly entertained by the spectacle of Baek Soyoung's disgrace, the one who took the hardest hit was none other than Seolhwi.
"H-How could this be..." Seolhwi hung her head, looking utterly shattered.
"...Vice Hall Master, that is not the truth."
"Is it truly not?"
"...Please, believe me."
Soyoung pleaded desperately, yet she couldn't offer a single shred of proof to turn the situation around.
"Then... what is this 'truth' you speak of, Mother?"
"..."
"Answer me. You have branded my Master's words as wild fabrications. Either prove your innocence with the truth, or pay the price for your disrespect."
"I-I understand."
Soyoung's eyes darted frantically before she finally parted her trembling lips.
"...Everything is Harin's fault! The night you all first arrived, she drank with me and did something strange to my body!"
"Lady Harin, is what my mother says true?"
"I did do something, yes. But all I did was gather the turbid yin energy lingering in Soyoung's body into one place."
"Could you demonstrate it on me?"
"Of course. Come here, dear."
Seolhwi stepped before Harin and offered her lower abdomen.
A soft, humming vibration rippled through the air.
"Ngh...!"
Seolhwi shuddered faintly. The surging yin energy inside her belly was bound to cause a mild sexual flutter, but she quickly composed herself.
"So this is how it feels. It certainly does not drive one into uncontrollable heat, however."
"N-No, that wasn't all...! Harin injected a concentrated mass of yin energy into me as well..." Soyoung stammered, scrambling for excuses, but Elena firmly cut her down.
"It was well within your power to dodge or deflect. I watched the entire exchange with my own eyes, so I know."
"B-But...!"
"Enough. I believe I have heard all I need to."
Every single one of Baek Soyoung's defenses collapsed. She tried to say more, but Seolhwi's heart was already hardened into stone.
"I never imagined my own mother could be such a vulgar woman." Seolhwi looked down at Soyoung with deep contempt burning in her eyes.
"...!"
"Were all your teachings—to shun carnal desires and prioritize the discipline of mind and body—nothing more than lies?"
"T-That was...!"
"Did it bring you joy to covet your own daughter's man?"
"..."
"Even if the yin energy stoked the fires in your flesh, you should have endured it. You should have withstood it through that vaunted mental discipline of yours!"
Seolhwi's razor-sharp tongue, tempered through countless brawls with Yu Ryun, viciously carved into Baek Soyoung. Crushed by the scathing onslaught from her own flesh and blood, Soyoung's eyes grew red and rimmed with tears.
"Hic...! Uuuugh..."
"Haaah... I shall treat this incident as a momentary lapse of judgment. Forget everything that transpired with my Master, and return to being the mother you once were."
Forget it all. Fulfill your duty as the chaste Hall Master of the White Tiger Hall.
That was what Seolhwi demanded of her.
Originally, my plan had been to establish a Master-Servant contract with Baek Soyoung and take her back to the Mortal Realm, just as Harin had intended. But seeing Seolhwi react so fiercely... was it better to drop it this time?
Just then, tears spilling freely down her cheeks, Baek Soyoung spoke up.
"...No."
"Pardon?"
"I said no!"
"..."
"The rift has finally been resolved, and the shackles that bound me are gone... Why must I return to that suffocating prison of a life...?!"
Soyoung whipped her head toward me, staring straight into my eyes.
"You... you asked me this morning, did you not...?"
"Asked what?"
"...You looked at me and asked if I harbored romantic feelings for you!"
"Oh, right. I did."
She had claimed it was impossible to feel aroused by a man she held no feelings for, so I had merely thrown her own logic back in her face, but I certainly had asked.
"Ngh... ah..." Meeting my gaze, her eyes darted away in embarrassment. Her face flushed crimson, and as if arriving at some monumental resolve, she blurted out, "...Take me... with you."
"Mother...?!"
Seolhwi's cry was laced with raw anguish. The idol she had revered her entire life was crumbling before her eyes, begging to surrender her body to her daughter's own man.
"...Have you lost your mind?! Did I not tell you to forget everything and return to who you were?!"
Even faced with her daughter's bitter reproach, Soyoung did not waver. In fact, she looked at me with an even fiercer determination.
"You... you know nothing, Seolhwi! Nothing of the suffocating torment I endured my entire life, crushed beneath the weight of that damnable cultivation and the rift!"
"Even so... how could you possibly covet my Master...?!"
"Lee Hyun!" Cutting Seolhwi off entirely, Soyoung pleaded with me once more. "I... I no longer wish to live as the White Tiger Hall Master. Let me live as your woman... as your servant!"
"Well, well..."
"You may ravage me brutally, if you wish. My body desires it. So please... grant me the justification to cast off these shackles!"
Damn, now this...
I let out a dry laugh at the absurd turn of events. When Seolhwi pushed back that hard, I honestly thought the deal was off. As much as losing the bet with Harin stung, I had no desire to tear a mother and daughter apart just to add one more to the harem. Yet here she was, clinging to me of her own accord—and right in front of her daughter, no less.
"My, my." Harin, who had been quietly observing, covered her mouth with a delicate chuckle. "This turned out even more delightful than I expected. You're quite bold, Soyoung."
"Holy shit... that auntie is the real deal. Wagging her tail shamelessly right in front of her own kid?" Yu Ryun muttered in disbelief.
"Master...!" Seolhwi turned to me, desperation bleeding into her gaze. "Surely... surely you aren't actually going to... take Mother in?"
Her eyes pleaded for me to say no.
I looked slowly between the two women. One stared with desperate hunger, begging not to be cast aside; the other stared in despair, pleading with me not to accept her mother.
"Hmm." Caressing my chin, I took a step closer to Baek Soyoung.
She flinched slightly, but she didn't look away.
"Are you serious about what you just said?"
"..."
"You're willing to throw away your status as the White Tiger Hall Master, your honor, and even your daughter—all to follow me?"
"...Yes."
"Mother!" Seolhwi shrieked, but Soyoung's mind was made up.
A smirk touched my lips as I lightly brushed a finger against Soyoung's flushed cheek.
"Very well."
"...!"
"...Master!"
"On one condition, though." I glanced over at Seolhwi before fixing my eyes back on Soyoung. "First off, naturally, we need to form a Master-Servant contract..."
"U-Understood."
"And I'll be delegating some of my command authority over you to Seolhwi."
"...T-That is..."
"Take it or leave it. It means don't fight with each other, and obey Seolhwi when she tells you to. Understand?"
"...I understand."
At Soyoung's resigned compliance, Seolhwi was the first to react.
"Master, what does that mean?" Seolhwi asked, her face a storm of confusion.
"I despise it when my women bicker amongst themselves. She might be your mother, but you're her senior in the harem. Manage her properly."
"You... you mean I am to control Mother?"
"Exactly. I don't think this will smooth over as easily as it did with Jinyul and Harin."
"...Do as you please."
I gave a satisfied nod and turned back toward Baek Soyoung.
"Good. Then let's make the contract."
"Just a moment, Lord Lee Hyun." Harin, who had been watching the scene unfold, stepped between us with a knowing smile. "As her 'senior,' shouldn't I lend a helping hand?"
Bypassing Seolhwi and me, Harin walked over to where Baek Soyoung was still kneeling.
"Soyoung, dear. A contract requires the proper mindset."
"..."
"You can't sit stiff and upright like that. You must adopt a posture of absolute submission when serving your Master."
Harin lightly pressed down on Soyoung's shoulders. Soyoung shuddered, but offered no resistance, surrendering her body to Harin's guidance.
"Come now. Prostrate yourself at Master's feet."
Harin guided Soyoung toward me. Soyoung's face flushed crimson with shame, but on her knees, she crawled over to where I stood.
"Touch your forehead to the floor. Fold your hands respectfully before you. Yes, just like that."
Soyoung pressed her forehead to the floor, prostrating herself entirely at my feet. The proud, untouchable matriarch of the White Tiger Hall was bowing low before a man, right before her daughter's eyes.
It was already humiliating beyond measure, yet Harin wasn't satisfied.
"Now, repeat after me. Understood?"
"..."
"Master is listening."
Soyoung's shoulders trembled faintly. Through the corner of her vision, she saw Seolhwi staring at her, her daughter looking as though her very soul had been torn away. Soyoung hesitated for a brief second, then squeezed her eyes shut as if abandoning all remaining shame.
Following the words whispered by Harin into her ear, a trembling voice echoed through the room.
"I... I, Baek Soyoung..." She drew a ragged breath. "As of this moment... cast aside my rank and honor as the White Tiger Hall Master..."
"..."
"And swear to serve... only Lord Lee Hyun as my 'Master'..."
Her voice grew increasingly drenched in heat and moisture.
"Offering this vulgar body..."
"Mother...!" Seolhwi's anguished cry rang out, but Soyoung did not stop.
"And this lowly soul... entirely to my Master..."
Forehead pressed firmly against the floor, she begged.
"So please... please accept this lewd woman...!"