Hibiscus Blooms: Serazad's Forbidden Love
‘You said you’d show me the hibiscus! So that… that was the hibiscus…!’
The hibiscus flower has bloomed.
It was the sudden, out-of-place whisper Geum Taeyang had given the flustered priestess Serazad Estevan during the blessing and baptism ceremony. Yet to Serazad, the words were anything but random. For her, “The hibiscus flower has bloomed” was a familiar phrase, a secret signal carrying a promise.
‘A hibiscus meant to please me…’
Whenever the hibiscus bloomed, something joyful always happened to Priestess Serazad. That was why she had been drawn here. Every time she heard those words, she experienced something far too delightful in this very place. The memories must have been powerful indeed.
Clearly, what was unfolding before her eyes looked crude and vulgar when viewed through the lens of a priestess’s image, yet Serazad was trying her best to see it in a favorable light.
“Huhu…! As expected, even with a vent, the airflow isn’t great, so our Great Mother’s juices are just pouring out… It’s so wet… Truly a lewd and stimulating body.”
Thrust…! Squish…! Plunge…! Thrust…!
Regardless, Geum Taeyang was thoroughly enjoying the barbarian female’s body that had gone wild. After all, wasn’t Sophia Barbara the dignified and pure Great Mother of the Mohican tribe? The sight of her, lost in ecstasy and greedily tasting cock in this hidden spot, was nothing short of beastly.
“Sophia is a beast…! Hoo-eung! Right now, I want to be a beast before the Great Khan… Tur-heung! Heo-heung!”
Squish…! Squish…! Shake…! Shake…! Jiggle…! Shake…!
Yet Sophia showed no resistance whatsoever. Since the male she loved, Geum Taeyang, was immensely satisfied, the barbarian female power surging within her made her want to endlessly please the alpha male before her. So, like a wanton slut, she kneaded and squeezed her own breasts.
“A slut…! The Great Mother of the Mohicans is a slut…! A bitch who can’t keep her wits about her while taking the Great Khan’s cock…!”
Thrust…! Plunge…! Squish…! Thrust…! Thrust…! Slap! Slap! Crack! Slap!
“I’m a slut…! Heung! Hoo-eung! Sophia, the slut who feels the Great Khan’s cock…! Hoo-eung! Ha-eung! I like it…! Hoo-eung!”
Geum Taeyang slapped Sophia’s buttocks while treating this noble milf like a common whore. Just why was this man acting so outrageously?
“No matter how elegantly you wear a dress, you’re still a barbarian female, Sophia. A lump of flesh that can’t live without this beastly massive cock! A body in heat, addicted to sex!”
Thrust! Plunge! Squish! Thrust! Thrust! Thrust!
“Hoo-eung! Ha-eung! Even while standing elegantly before the nobles! Hoo-eung! Sophia only thought of the Great Khan’s cock! Ha-eung! Heung! Because Sophia is a barbarian female, heo-heung!”
Sophia in her major ceremonial dress exuded an elegance that surpassed even noble ladies and rivaled royalty. At the social gathering, countless high-ranking noblewomen had gathered, yet Sophia shone the brightest among them. Geum Taeyang possessed such a woman, so at least in bed, he had to break that elegance to truly savor it. After all, only he could indulge in this kind of outrageous act. That was why he was going wild like this.
‘The Great Khan… I thought he was always composed and dignified. But to think he had this side to him.’
Witnessing the scene, Priestess Serazad clicked her tongue in a refined manner. During the blessing and baptism, the man Geum Taeyang had appeared as the most handsome and god-like figure among all the noblemen present. Not only that, he had displayed manners and composure rarely seen in a barbarian. But now, his appearance was the very embodiment of savagery, the pinnacle of crudeness.
‘Really… could it be, just as the prophecy said…?’
Yet Serazad found herself rather fond of Geum Taeyang’s crude side, almost hoping that this was his true nature. At the same time, she recalled the prophecy.
‘Are you watching, Priestess Serazad?’
Indeed. The reason Geum Taeyang was causing this uproar was not only for the reasons mentioned earlier, but also because he knew Priestess Serazad was watching his and Sophia’s sex. From the beginning, he had whispered “The hibiscus flower has bloomed” to Serazad with the intention of drawing her here.
‘From this Geum Taeyang… will you find your forbidden first love, your elder brother Cloud?’
The hibiscus flower has bloomed. That was the event her cousin Cloud used to do for her.
‘Elder brother! Is it truly like a divine oracle that you’ve returned to me…???’
In Geum Taeyang, Priestess Serazad was seeing her beloved cousin Cloud, who had once left her side.
‘Hmm… The more I look at my face, the more it resembles someone.’
After reincarnating, Geum Taeyang enjoyed gazing at his own god-like features. Being handsome really was the best. No matter how many times he looked, he never grew tired of it. Yet somehow, it was starting to feel oddly familiar.
‘Ah! I remember now. He looks like Cloud. Cloud Estevan!’
Eventually, he recalled it. Geum Taeyang’s face resembled Cloud Estevan, one of the male characters from the original World Conquest Chronicle. It wasn’t an exact match, but someone who knew him well might have noticed the similarity.
So who was Cloud Estevan?
‘He’s the distant cousin of Serazad Estevan, who has a high chance of becoming the next priestess of Memphis.’
The priestess’s family name was Estevan. Naturally, there were men in the Estevan household as well. Cloud had been one of the characters belonging to that lineage.
‘Among the female characters, I liked Leona the most, and among the male characters, Cloud was my favorite.’
They weren’t just ordinary characters. In World Conquest Chronicle, there could be multiple protagonists, each with their own mode. The same applied to the Memphis arc. If the Velua family was the center, Antoine was the protagonist. If the Estevan family took center stage, Cloud or another priestess character would become the protagonist.
‘That crudeness resembled me. It allowed for perfect immersion. I was Cloud, and Cloud was me, in a state of complete unity.’
Cloud Estevan could be summed up in a single phrase: a handsome scoundrel. In his previous life, being handsome hadn’t been an issue, but the fourth-dimensional scoundrel part matched Geum Taeyang perfectly.
“Today, I’ll make the two of you laugh more than ten times!”
And yet, there was romance in him. Originally, there had been three candidates for priestess, and in Cloud’s protagonist mode, Serazad was third in line. Third place meant her chances of becoming priestess were extremely slim. Thus, Serazad had lived a carefree life in a quiet countryside village in Memphis, and the ones who stayed by her side were Cloud and Victoria Saint-Pierre.
Cloud was seven years older than Serazad, and Victoria was six years older. In other words, the two girls’ big brother Cloud worked hard to keep them entertained.
‘Waaah! Elder brother is too mean…!!’
“Kahaha! If you’re that scared of a grasshopper, you won’t survive in this harsh world, Serazad!”
“What are you doing to Lady Serazad, Young Master Cloud!”
“I prepared a centipede for you, Victoria.”
‘Waaah!’
Serazad was a gentle and pure child, while Victoria, though rigid, was loyal and innocent like a true Saint-Pierre. That made the two girls the perfect targets for the mischievous boy Cloud.
“Elder brother… Can I sleep next to you during my nap…?”
“Sure, I’ll lend you my arm as a pillow. Just don’t snore.”
“Serazad doesn’t snore…”
Even so, Serazad and Victoria adored Cloud and followed him like pets.
“Idiot. Training while sick is poison, Victoria. I brought medicine, so apply it and sleep well.”
“Th-thank you…”
“Not calling me ‘oppa’?”
“Hah, what’s with a one-year difference! Besides, my mental age is clearly more mature than yours!”
Cloud’s talent was more than enough to become the guardian of either of the two promising priestess candidates. He was revered as a once-in-a-generation prodigy. If a priestess emerged from the Estevan family, what role would the men play? Though not all were given roles, those with exceptional awakening abilities became the so-called guardians of the priestess. It was a priestly position far more prestigious within the Church of the Goddess of Light than even the commander of the Velarium Guardian Order. Especially since priestesses appeared regularly, but guardians did not. Once one appeared, they drew immense attention.
Cloud possessed the talent to inevitably become a guardian, so both promising priestess candidates wanted him. Yet Cloud Estevan chose friendship instead. So how could the two girls not adore this scoundrel’s mischief, no matter how much it made them shudder?
‘I like Cloud elder brother so much… When I grow up, I’m definitely going to marry him…’
She had come to like him very much. Though they were distant relatives, if Serazad didn’t become a priestess, she could have married Cloud without issue. At ten years old, Serazad had already begun dreaming such a mature dream. The crude yet warm elder brother Cloud who always stayed by her side, living together as husband and wife for life.
But the young girl’s dream could never come true.
“The next priestess will be Serazad.”
When Serazad turned twelve, defying everyone’s expectations, the third-place candidate was chosen as the next priestess.
‘Ah… I want to stay with elder brother…’
Still just a child, Serazad’s immediate wish wasn’t despair over the future, but that her connection with Cloud would continue. The free-spirited Cloud seemed like he would hate temple life.
“They say there are so many pretty older sisters in the temple. It’d be a real sin to waste this god-like face.”
Yet Cloud decided to follow Serazad and Victoria into the temple. It was such a typical excuse from him, but deep down, he was worried that his beloved cousin would struggle to adapt to that unfamiliar place.
“I don’t like it.”
With his natural talent, Cloud rose rapidly. He grew stronger and stronger, and with his leadership, many people followed him. He wasn’t just a figurehead; he became a true guardian with real power, the first in two hundred years, and naturally received even greater treatment. The effort-driven Victoria was the same. Especially since she was the true blood of the Saint-Pierre family, the moment Serazad was chosen as priestess, her status soared. Serazad herself also blossomed in talent day by day, proving the previous priestess’s judgment correct.
Yet Cloud remained full of complaints.
“That face isn’t Serazad’s face.”
He lamented seeing Serazad lose her bright, innocent expression as she was molded by priestess training.
“Serazad, when this elder brother says ‘The hibiscus flower has bloomed!’, you come running to our secret hideout.”
“Why, elder brother…?”
“Why else? To mess with you, of course.”
“If you told me in advance…”
“You’d still fall for it anyway, puhaha!”
But there was no helping it. Serazad had to become a priestess. So what Cloud chose to do was carve out time whenever possible to make her happy. In the countryside fields where the three of them used to play, there had been hibiscus flowers. Because Serazad loved them so much when they bloomed, the code became “The hibiscus flower has bloomed.”
“It really happened, you know? So everyone just burst out laughing!”
‘Kyaaah! Elder brother is really impossible~!’
He made her happy, surprised her, and even left her dumbfounded. Cloud had created a space where Serazad, exhausted by dignity, could breathe through his own mischief.
‘Ah… So this is what love is…’
Then, as she entered puberty, Serazad realized it.
‘I… I’m in love with Cloud elder brother…’
While studying love and happiness through priestess lessons, she had asked herself the question. And the one who appeared in Serazad Estevan’s heart and mind was Cloud. He was the only one who matched every word in the scriptures, every word from the current priestess, and every thought in her own mind.
‘But next year, I have to become a priestess… Then elder brother and I can never be together…’
In the year she turned fifteen, Serazad would ascend to the position of priestess. According to the laws of the Church of the Goddess of Light, even as distant cousins, Cloud and Serazad would be forbidden from marrying.
‘There’s no helping it. Still, Cloud elder brother will stay by my side. I should be grateful for what I’ve been given.’
After much agonizing, Serazad tried to accept reality. Cloud had been by her side since childhood. No matter the situation, Cloud Estevan would maintain that mischievous appearance and stay with the young Serazad. Even if they couldn’t marry, he would always show her that bright smile from beside her. Serazad wanted to be content with that happiness.
Yet—
“Elder brother… is dead…?”
Cloud had suddenly left Serazad’s side.
‘Now, I am the undisputed number one in Memphis.’
The psychopath, narcissist, and lunatic Antoine de Cell Belua had cut down the priestess’s guardian with his blade.
‘If Antoine is strutting around as the supreme power right now, that means Cloud is dead. In other words, this is when Antoine is in protagonist mode.’
When Cloud was the protagonist, he obviously didn’t die. He conquered the world, rewrote the laws of the Church of the Goddess of Light, and married Serazad. That was the ending. But when Antoine was the protagonist, Cloud died. He was poisoned through Antoine’s schemes.
‘By eliminating the holy Cloud, Antoine becomes Memphis’s number one power.’
Having seen his own potential during the Galatea Memphis massacre, Antoine had steadily eliminated the other princes. But an unexpected obstacle appeared: Cloud, who had taken the position of guardian after Serazad was chosen as the next priestess. Not just a nominal guardian, but one with truly formidable power. So in the year Serazad became priestess, Antoine, fearing he would be devoured if he left things as they were, took a gamble. And it paid off, eliminating his final rival.