#14 Though Dreams Shine, Reality is the Abyss (3)
Emilia's reaction was lightning-fast. She sensed someone's presence in an instant. Without even turning around, the moment she realized a hand was reaching for her shoulder, she spun like the wind and clamped down on it hard.
Thwack—hiss—
At the same time, the hand clutching the diary flung it forward like a weapon at the intruder, her enemy.
Emilia's hand chop—a hero's strike that could shatter and tear off a monster's head in one blow—flew straight toward them—
"Wha...?!"
And it stopped dead just before it hit. Not blocked by anything, but by her own will.
Because the one before her was someone she couldn't hurt.
"Oh my my, how scary~ You gave me such a fright~."
Standing behind Emilia was Mona, the succubus bound by contract to Count Melrn, one of his most trusted minions. Disguised as usual in her plain brown braided maid outfit. With her typical shameless grin, she waved her captured arm at Emilia, facing her squarely.
Oh no!
She'd been caught. Caught red-handed. Doing something she shouldn't. Peeking at something that might be important in a place like this.
And to think someone had gotten this close without her noticing...
No, I wasn't letting my guard down. But I didn't sense a thing.
Was this the power of a demon? Maybe some spell.
As Emilia glared at Mona with eyes full of wariness and hostility, Mona brushed it off with her usual nonchalance and wiggled her free hand.
"Lia~ I saw you weren't in your room~ I was worried you'd gotten lost somewhere~ But here you are~ What a mysterious spot, huh~?"
"......You came looking for me?"
"Yup~ As long as you're in this mansion~ I can tell right away where you are~."
"......."
—This is bad.
What the hell... She knows where I am, what I'm doing... everything.
It meant there was no escaping this damn succubus's eyes. Nothing she could do in secret.
While Emilia reeled from the new information, Mona kept chattering away to herself, looking endlessly amused. Emilia's insides were burning, but Mona just seemed delighted.
"Hmm~ But what's that you've been staring at~?"
"......Ngh...."
The diary she'd tried to hide with her body—Mona peeked around and spotted it. As if she knew exactly what it was, her eyes narrowed the moment she saw it, and she let out a pleased "Hmhm~."
"Did you read it, Lia?"
"......Who knows."
"Haha, come on, answer straight~ Or is it that you can't lie? I bet you'd be no good at excuses anyway~."
"Tch. Yeah, I read it! I read the damn thing! Sorry for peeking without permission!"
"Oh dear. Pot calling the kettle black? Getting mad at me? Well~ It's not my diary, so I don't care~."
Mona chuckled and slipped around to Emilia's side, picking up the diary she'd desperately tried to hide with her fingertips. She dangled it from below, swinging it back and forth.
"This~ Is Master's diary~ Did you read the contents? Not that it matters much~."
"......."
"Too bad, the earlier pages were torn out and burned, so without those, it's pretty meaningless~."
Mona swung the diary teasingly with a grin. Then she said, "Here," and handed it to Emilia.
Emilia took it absentmindedly with both hands.
"Huh...?"
"You can read it. Master would hate it, but~ It's a gift for our Lia~."
Emilia would learn nothing useful from it anyway, Mona emphasized again.
Flustered by the words and actions, Emilia glanced between the book and Mona.
"No, this..."
"I said if you want to read it, go ahead? It's sneaky, sure. You can't take it, have to leave it here like you found it, but you can look now. Oh, no time, so if you're gonna read, hurry up."
"......What's the meaning of this?"
"What meaning? I'm just saying you can look."
Emilia carefully set the diary back on the desk and glared at Mona. At the woman still wearing that inscrutable, frivolous smile.
"Is this Count Melrn's will?"
"Nope~ Just my whim, my wish~."
"Then—"
"Why do this? Can't I just say 'just because'? Is your head too stiff to get it, Lia?"
"...Kh...."
From the hem of Mona's maid skirt, a familiar succubus tail slithered out with a soft rustle. Mona approached Emilia and embraced her naked body with both arms. Soft flesh. Warm human body heat radiating through. She clutched her like a spider seizing prey.
Emilia couldn't resist.
"Lia. Yesterday... was fun, right?"
Mona shook her supple succubus tail in front of Emilia's face. The sight flooded Emilia's mind with memories of yesterday. How she'd been toyed with. Humiliated. And... how good it had felt.
All of it. Everything.
......No, don't... I don't want to remember... If I do...
Yesterday's events. The lewd pleasures she'd indulged in. The obscene acts she'd discovered for the first time.
The ecstasy Mona had etched deep into her body. The endless possibilities of her own flesh she'd never known but now understood.
It all resurfaced in Emilia's mind, hugged in Mona's arms. Just from being held. Just from seeing that tail that had tormented her so.
"N... Ngh... Ah...."
Drip....
Emilia's pussy grew soaking wet in an instant, love juices trickling down her thighs from the drenched folds. Down her thighs, to her calves, all the way to her ankles.
And still not enough—more fluid dripped, forming sticky threads from her crotch to the floor.
Emilia's face flushed red before she knew it. Her breath came a little ragged.
Held in Mona's arms, feeling the maid's body heat and curves through the thin fabric. Emilia sensed her reason and body being swept away by something.
She couldn't escape. Couldn't push away.
She could only watch herself slowly sinking into the mire, sweet like poisoned honey....
"Lia, Lia. I really, really like you... I adore you... Pretty face... Big breasts... Strong... A hero...."
"You... like me...? Me...?"
"Yeah. A lot. I like you, Lia. Mona likes Lia so much~."
Mona whispered. Right in her ear. Her breath and voice invaded the sensitive ear canal, numbing Emilia's brain.
A succubus's specialty was seduction. Not just men—their targets could be anyone with emotions and reason. Even women. Voice and body made for it.
—A succubus's voice held demonic allure. Sweet words laced with special magic to melt and entice.
Whispering at full power. The body heat, the scent—all melting Emilia's reason.
And yet.
"......Shut... up...!"
But Emilia bit her lip until it bled, rejecting Mona. Her blue eyes pierced Mona like daggers.
Her steely gaze declared she'd never be Mona's prisoner.
"What are you planning, demon?! Spill your scheme!"
Emilia shouted, shaking off the seduction and resisting.
* * *
"......Oh my. A true hero after all. The spell doesn't take well."
"So it was a spell...! Get off me!"
Emilia figured Mona would cling harder, ignoring her words.
But surprisingly, Mona backed off easily.
"Hmm, as expected of the Lia I'm smitten with. After such a hot~ night, I thought there might be a chance."
"What were you trying to do?"
"Well, I was gonna turn you into my doll~ My own, personal doll~."
Like what she'd done to the guild members to trap Emilia—Mattis, Guild Master Terry.
She'd tried to make Emilia a puppet dancing to her strings, but it failed.
Her body already moves under the spell, but...
It wasn't enough for her goals. She'd aimed to dominate her completely, make her an easy puppet....
Ah, no good. She's fully on guard.
With her strong will and the unknown Hero's Blessing protecting her, pushing further would be pointless.
Stronger spells might violate her contract with Count Melrn.
Weighing it, Mona gave up on her simplest plan.
"Hmm~ Too bad~ No helping it~."
"What have you been muttering about...?"
"It wouldn't have been bad for you, Lia? Would've been easier if you'd just accepted it."
—Her guts twisted. Lungs burned.
—Throbbing. It hurt. Hurt so much.
Pain stabbing from within her seemingly fine body. The organs Count Melrn had wrecked with his contractual power, still not fully healed, kept sending agony.
But Mona savored the pain, showing no sign of it, grinning as she—
made her proposal.
"Lia, let me ask you something."
"Do you... plan to escape from this mansion?"