Weekend? (5)

So white...

Elise's skin was white as snow — fragile and beautiful, as if it might vanish at a touch. The curve of her bare back and the thighs peeking from beneath her skirt only made her more alluring.

I pulled a pouch of mana stone powder from my pocket. Even if this was supposed to be a mana massage, I figured I ought to show up with something. Elise had her face buried in the mattress, so she didn't seem particularly concerned either way.

"I'll start."

I laid my hand gently on her back. I'd touched this body a few times during the survival exam, but it felt different on a bed. The atmosphere wasn't even comparable.

Hoo... Don't get nervous.

What was I even nervous about?

I focused mana into my hands. I'd practiced with Liliana yesterday, so I hadn't lost the feel from the survival exam. I sent mana flowing into Elise's body and began stimulating her mana circuits one by one.

Thump. Thump.

It was hard to tell whose heartbeat was echoing through the room. Probably hers.

"Hh...!"

I worked my hands along her back, teasing each circuit in turn, then carefully guided the mana down toward her sex. Thanks to her Congenital Mana Disorder, Elise was even easier to massage than Liliana. Her ability to perceive mana was that much weaker.

Tap. Tap.

Which meant that, unlike with Liliana, I could stimulate her pussy directly and get away with it. I kept working her mana circuits while scattering mana around her womb at the same time.

"Haaahn... hhnn..."

The faintly vibrating mana kissed her womb, and a sweet moan slipped from Elise's lips.

"You okay? Want me to stop?"

"N-no... Keep going."

Poke. Poke.

I fed a little more mana into her womb and toyed with her body as I did. She seemed to think she was hiding it, holding herself as still as she could, but the little twitches running through her were painfully obvious. There was no question she was a virgin. No sexual experience at all.

"Hnnn..."

"That spot's good, huh."

This time I sent mana gliding along the surface of her skin and slipped it inside her panties. I found the clit hidden there and kept the massage going, rolling it with nothing but mana.

"Haa..."

Push harder, or call it here?

It was her first time. Going too far too fast felt like a risk. If I soured her mood, I was the only one who'd lose.

"Then how about... here?"

I was putting everything I had into the massage when a familiar, crawling chill swept over my skin. I looked up at the ceiling on instinct.

Scarlet was up there, body pressed flat in that pose I knew too well. Our eyes met. Her pupils blew wide for a second, then she jerked her gaze to the side.

"That feels good too... hoo."

"Y-yeah."

Elise let out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a pleased little sigh and sank into the massage. My eyes stayed locked on the ceiling. Scarlet put a finger to her lips — keep quiet — and tapped the piercing on her right ear.

That's a miniature camera.

She was recording this? Plenty of things about that didn't add up, but I could ask her later, in person.

"Ah — that hurts..."

"Sorry. Too hard."

I'd lost focus staring at Scarlet. Time to concentrate.

Press. Press.

I worked her mana circuits one by one, hands moving over her body, and I didn't forget to keep shifting mana into her sex.

This should be enough.

I poured every scrap of concentration I had into the tips of my fingers. Mana slipped secretly into Elise's pussy and began to vibrate, teasing her clit, her labia, the entrance itself.

"Ha — hnn... ah, ahh...!"

Elise squirmed, arms and legs rubbing together, her whole body twitching as she gushed. I pressed down harder on her back and made a show of focusing on the circuits, as if the massage were all I was thinking about.

Rustle, rustle—

Still facedown, she shifted her hips and rubbed her chest against the blanket.

"Ss... haa. Hoo, ahh...!"

I touched her gently, slowly, and leaned in to whisper while she tried so hard to swallow her moans.

"Relax. Just let the mana move through you. There's nothing strange about this."

"...Okay. So this is... how it is."

A lifetime of Congenital Mana Disorder, and she swallowed it whole. Of course, she might only have been pretending to buy it. What mattered was that she'd agreed.

I decided I was on safer ground and started touching her in earnest. I rolled her clit with mana as softly as a tongue. I thrust against her entrance the way fingers would, hard and insistent, and struck her womb as if my cock were driving into her.

"Ahh — ha, ahn... hnn!"

Elise closed her eyes and gave herself over to a pleasure masturbation had never given her, sobbing softly into the sheets. We'd been at it long enough that we were both sweating. I'd been doing the work, so of course I was tired — but Elise was on the receiving end of a continuous caress, and that had her glowing too.

She didn't smell like sweat, though. What rose off her was the lewd, heated scent of a woman in season, the kind that drives a man out of his mind. She didn't seem to notice it herself, but I could feel the damp heat gathering inside her skirt.

I pressed the last of my fingers in and rubbed her clit with mana, slow and thorough.

"Hh — hnn?! Hnnh! Ahh—!"

The sudden spike of pleasure was more than she could take. Elise buried her face in the pillow and finally let the moan out. Her hips arched, that snow-white back going taut with the strain before it melted loose again.

"Ha... haa... hoo... haa..."

She drew a long breath and opened her eyes. Her gaze was unfocused, like she'd just woken up — and it found mine.

"It's over."

"...Mm."

The look on Elise's face at the peak was, I had to admit, pretty cute.

Maybe winning her over wouldn't take as long as I'd thought.

"Thank you. You worked hard. I'll send the deposit and the fee to your account."

"Got it."

A short rest, and Elise was more or less herself again. The moment the massage ended, Scarlet had crawled away across the ceiling and vanished somewhere. The two of us stayed in the room a little longer, catching our breath.

"Come to think of it, things have been pretty noisy lately."

"Hm? Oh, it's fine. I already talked it over with the academy."

A lot of people had been tearing me down recently. I figured that was what she meant. I'd met Su-rin yesterday and gone over it with her, so it ought to be handled.

"Really? It's been quite the commotion. You should check again."

"...? All right."

"You worked hard today. I'll contact you next time."

"Yeah. See you later."

I said goodbye and, on the way out, quietly set the spare smartwatch from my pocket on the chair. The desk hid it from view; it would take her a while to notice. The gift I'd prepared for just this occasion.

I left the room, activated a perception-blocking barrier, and walked out of Elise's mansion. For safety's sake I put a good stretch of road behind me before I dropped the barrier and turned on my real smartwatch.

"What's the big deal that she'd say it like that?"

If Elise had gone out of her way to warn me, there might be something new I didn't know about. I scrolled through the posts until I found one with my name stamped right across the top.

"What the hell is this bullshit?"

Why would I get disciplined? I deserved a commendation, if anything.

I pulled up my smartwatch and sent Mun Su-rin a message.

"...Hnn."

The reply came fast, but it didn't do much for my mood. This wasn't like the usual rumors. This time, one of the academy's own professors was maliciously spreading a lie.

These bastards. You do everything for them and they still put a knife in your back.

"Should I contact the professor too?"

Professor Lim Sol had told me to reach out anytime things got hard. She might actually be useful. And if I didn't say anything, she'd probably ignore the whole mess out of sheer laziness.

There. That made me feel a little better. If two people with real power at the academy were on my side, this would quiet down soon enough.

Hoping the whole thing would wrap up before it became any more of a hassle, I headed back to the dorm.

THUD THUD THUD!

"Open the door! Right now!"

"Su-rin? What's all this about?"

Mun Su-rin stormed into the chairman's office with fury written all over her face. Her beautiful platinum-blonde hair swung behind her as if it were angry too.

"Chairman. No — Grandfather. What is the meaning of this?"

"Explain why you're so angry first, child."

"Look at this."

The screen she thrust at him showed the article: Academy Discussing Disciplinary Action Against Lee Ho-yeon.

"What in the..."

"The source is one of the academy's own professors. This needs to be dealt with. Properly."

The chairman watched the screen with a hardened expression, then gave a slow nod.

"...Understood. I'll look into it and take action. Don't you worry."

"Yes. Please make sure of it, Chairman. Excuse me."

Only then did Su-rin look satisfied. She nodded once and left the office.

After the door closed, Chairman Mun Jae-cheol sank back into his chair and let out a long breath.

"Why is the Shinyoung Guild suddenly doing this?"

Mun Jae-cheol, Chairman of Victoria Academy. Of course he already knew everything that happened inside these walls. He had simply pretended otherwise, because he didn't want to fight with his granddaughter.

He already knew who had raised those suspicions, too. Every last one of them was a Shinyoung Guild plant.

"Haa... Lee Ho-yeon."

He couldn't understand what that young man had done to make his granddaughter cling to him like this. His head had started to ache.

The Shinyoung Guild on one side. Lee Ho-yeon, who might have someone standing behind him, on the other.

The chairman had already received a report that a fairly large organization sat at Ho-yeon's back. It had come from a secretary he trusted, so the information was solid.

What to do?

Mun Jae-cheol dragged a wrinkled hand down his face, then made his decision.

On this matter, no matter how he turned it over, siding with Lee Ho-yeon was the correct move. Slandering a hero who had stopped a terrorist attack was simply indefensible. He hadn't intended to let it sit even if Su-rin hadn't come bursting through his door.

That didn't mean he had to resolve it immediately, though. The chairman never let a chance at political gain slip through his fingers.

If there really is something behind that boy, they'll handle it before I even lift a finger.

A few days' delay wouldn't do any real damage to the academy's image. He could always say he'd been keeping quiet for the sake of a thorough investigation.

Lee Ho-yeon as an individual was a different story. Every day that passed would chip away at him. Once the public locked in an impression, even a clean explanation rarely put things back the way they were. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Celebrities who got caught in a real controversy almost never made a full return — the controversy itself was enough to keep the image from healing. Hunters were no different.

If there was a faction investing in Lee Ho-yeon, they would never leave an incident like this alone. This was a chance to find out whether the boy was an empty shell, or whether he had backing that could stand beside the Shinyoung Guild.

"I wonder how they'll play this."

Whether he ended up handling it himself ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠because they lacked the ability, or whether he uncovered the background lurking behind the boy — either way, it wasn't a bad outcome for Chairman Mun Jae-cheol.