Show Me Your Panties
I stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling, no time to even process what was happening.
A blunt, crystalline voice sounded from beside me. When I turned my head, a black-haired beauty in a maid uniform stood there, so stunning she drew an involuntary gasp of admiration.
What the hell…? Is this a dream?
Why is a woman like her in my room?
And what did she just say…??
The head of the family’s orders? Monitoring my every single move?
I was blankly drinking in her beauty when I suddenly realized her face looked strangely familiar.
There was no way I wouldn’t recognize her…
“…Seohwa?”
“…….”
My call must have displeased her greatly. Seeing her eyebrows twitch upward in clear irritation, I felt certain this was the Seohwa I remembered.
The name of this cold, beautiful woman—who could make a man hard with nothing but a glance—was Seohwa.
She was one of the characters from Estonia, the game I used to play obsessively.
……
Reid Hesed.
The second son of Count Hesed and a notorious scumbag—the main villain who rampaged through the early parts of the story with zero restraint.
He didn’t stop at secretly draining the family fortune for gambling; if he saw a woman he liked, he reached for her regardless of status. A complete piece of human garbage.
The head of the family, who had endured his behavior for far too long, finally drew the line.
“As of today, I am stripping you of the Hesed name. You are no longer permitted to set foot in this fief. Please… just leave.”
After being banished from both name and territory, Reid harbored a grudge and joined hands with the demons.
Later, he launched an attack precisely when the protagonist’s party was visiting the Hesed fief. He put up a decent fight alongside the demons and even seemed to awaken his talent… but he was ultimately defeated.
Captured, executed, and hung from the castle gate—that was Reid Hesed’s miserable ending.
“Haa……”
But that guy is me now?
For real…?
Why…?
How…?
“Sighing alone will not change the situation.”
“……”
“I recommend engaging in more productive activities.”
Seohwa watched me sighing so heavily it seemed the bed might collapse beneath me, then spoke with a face utterly devoid of interest.
Yeah, it really was Seohwa.
The black-haired maid, Seohwa.
The owner of a breathtaking appearance that felt like it purified your eyes just by looking at her.
She was the representative of early-game fanservice in Estonia, the queen of lewdness, and the Goddess of Contempt who had spawned countless masochistic degradation fetishes.
Those breasts that strained proudly against her maid uniform, the hips made even more prominent by the tightly cinched corset, the firm thighs wrapped in black stockings and garter belts, the way the tight fabric pressed into her flesh, and the secret place that peeked out ever so slightly with every step…
Damn… I really had loved her back then.
I jerked off to her plenty of times, too.
Hearing a word from that very Seohwa made an even stronger desire to hear harsher things well up inside me.
Nope. Can’t go there.
Get a grip.
Productive activity… productive activity…
Come to think of it, the story had mentioned that Reid finally began to awaken his talent right at the very end.
Of course, he was executed by the cold-hearted head of the family before he could ever spread his wings.
And I recalled that the talent itself was definitely not the heroic kind.
Since he was a throwaway character who only showed up early and then died, the details were fuzzy, but probably something like…
The scumbag Reid of the Hesed Count family finally confronts a fragment of his latent talent. The power that lets him toy with his opponents however he wishes, indulge in forbidden desires to his heart’s content without regard for anyone’s watchful eyes. And then—
With a heavy thud! Overcome by ecstasy, Reid took a staff to the back of the head and blacked out on the spot.
To toy with others as he desired, to satisfy forbidden cravings without caring who was watching.
What kind of talent would be described that way?
Considering Reid’s usual behavior—how he’d lose his mind at the mere sight of a pretty woman—it wasn’t hard to guess the direction was something dark and perverse.
In that case, Reid’s talent might be… perhaps……
“Seohwa.”
“You called?”
“Show me your panties.”
“……”
“……”
“……”
It was freezing……
That expressionless, murderous gaze filled with contempt.
Eyes like a predator debating whether to simply ignore whose son he was and beat the living hell out of him.
Normally I would have shouted, “Whoa! This is exactly the look of contempt I wanted!” but I held back. Saying that here would probably get me actually punched.
Wrong direction, apparently.
“Just kidding.”
“…Please refrain from such jokes.”
Whew… For now, let’s head outside.
Staying here racking my brain would only give me a headache, and there were things I needed to confirm.
“…Where are you going?”
“Outside.”
“The Countess has strictly forbidden entry to brothels and gambling dens. Should you violate this…”
“I’m not going there, so don’t worry.”
“……”
I lightly ignored her distrustful stare and finished preparing to leave.
“You’re going to follow me anyway, right?”
“…Correct.”
“Then let’s go.”
“Yes.”
……
The scenery that unfolded once I left the mansion was familiar.
Trees lining the streets, magic-stone streetlights designed to glow, rows of shops.
It was exactly the Hesed fief I had seen countless times while playing the game.
Since it belonged to a count’s family, the territory was vast. More importantly, the current head—Reid’s mother—possessed both great popularity and a generous heart, so the residents always wore relaxed expressions.
……At least until I showed up.
“Hiiik!”
A woman who made eye contact with me let out a choked gasp, turned deathly pale, and bolted into the house right beside her.
Th-that’s not even your house…!
Save me…! Th-the scumbag Reid is outside…!
Ah… she’s hiding in that room.
Thank you… thank you so much…!
Wait, she opened the door so naturally I assumed it was her own house. It wasn’t?
And why is the owner covering for her?
At this rate I’m going to get my feelings hurt, you know?
Seohwa, walking behind me, said nothing—as if this kind of reaction was completely natural.
The people we encountered on the way showed various reactions, but they all shared one common behavior.
—Run away as fast as possible!
The way they acted, as if they had seen something that must never be named, was almost enough to make me laugh bitterly.
Just what the hell did this bastard Reid do?
It didn’t seem like simple gambling and groping women anymore.
Tsk… Let’s start with the places I remember.
This alley… no. Not here either.
Do I need to go deeper?
This area feels familiar…?
After turning down several alleys while tracing faint memories, I finally spotted it.
“Oh.”
There it was.
A dark, narrow entrance deliberately hidden beneath a shabby tent.
This was the place where the blind fortune-teller lived—the old woman who would later awaken one of the protagonist’s many potentials when he visited the Hesed fief.
“…What is this place?”
“Wait outside.”
Leaving the questioning Seohwa behind, I stepped inside. An old woman with a mysterious aura sat before an orb emitting an eerie light, her eyes closed.
I approached and sat down in the chair across from her.
“Hello. I’m here for a reading.”
“Hmm…?”
The old woman lifted her head in response to my voice.
Her eyes remained closed.
This woman was blind.
She had been that way in the game too, so nothing had changed.
The Awakening Stone I came for… was right there.
Next to the large orb in front of the old woman sat a small stone. I breathed a sigh of relief.
Good. The protagonist hasn’t come yet, so it’s still here.
One of the must-have early-game items that could awaken a portion of the player’s latent talent.
…The protagonist had plenty of other opportunities and events anyway.
Stealing just one wouldn’t hurt, right?
It’s not like the world would end if I took it.
“…You’re here for a fortune, you say?”
I offered a friendly smile and nodded at the old woman’s words.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll pay generously, so could you take a look for me?”
I naturally reached out and picked up the Awakening Stone beside the orb.
“……”
“?!”
I was startled when the old woman’s head snapped toward the exact spot where the stone had been, but when her head turned back again I secretly relaxed.
Hmm… In the original story, she had simply given the stone to the protagonist when he came for a reading.
Still, taking it for free felt a bit wrong…
I quietly placed a silver coin from my pocket where the stone had been.
The old woman stared in my direction for a moment as if observing something, then spoke.
“Ugh… Tsk tsk. No business here.”
“Pardon?”
“Didn’t you hear? I’ve got nothing to show you, so get lost! Greedy little bastard.”
“Huh…”
Wow, isn’t that a bit harsh just because I’m not the protagonist…?
And what does she mean, greedy?
For a second I considered taking the silver coin back out of spite, but I held it in and left the tent.
I returned to the mansion together with Seohwa, who had been waiting silently.
All the while clutching the Awakening Stone tightly in my pocket.
…………
Late that night.
“…Seohwa.”
“I greet the Countess.”
Iris, the current head of the Hesed Count family and Reid’s mother, lifted her head from the documents she had been organizing in her office.
“…How was Reid today?”
Though she tried to hide it, a faint trace of hope lingered in her voice.
Seohwa calmly reported everything she had observed from morning until night without adding or omitting a single detail.
“Today he addressed me by my proper name rather than ‘hey’ or ‘you.’ While walking through the fief we encountered several servants and residents, but he did not cause any trouble or make unreasonable demands.”
“…Is that so.”
For the briefest moment, relief flickered across Iris’s eyes.
Truly only for an instant.
Seohwa did not miss that tiny change and immediately doused it with cold water.
“However, it would be unwise to let your guard down.”
“……”
“People do not change overnight. There is still the possibility that today’s behavior was merely a temporary act.”
Iris closed her mouth without a word.
Because Seohwa’s words were correct.
She had hoped countless times, only to be disappointed countless times.
She could no longer easily hold onto the hope that this time might be different.
“…Seohwa. Do you think my method of education was wrong?”
Iris muttered weakly.
A heavy silence settled over the office.
The eldest daughter of the Hesed family had grown into a flawless young lady who could hold her head high anywhere and was working for the family’s sake.
The youngest child was already receiving praise as a genius despite his tender age.
Yet only the second son, Reid, continued to spiral endlessly out of control.
He secretly drained the family fortune for gambling, laid hands on any woman who caught his eye, abused servants with violence and insults as if it were normal.
Every time he caused an incident she had scolded him, coaxed him, and given him another chance.
Believing that someday he would understand a mother’s love.
But all that ever returned was even greater disappointment.
“…Was I too soft on him?”
Seohwa remained silent for a moment.
It was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
The result of embracing him, waiting for him, and believing in him every time he strayed was the current Reid.
She should have taken a whip to him long ago and taught him how to act like a human being.
But she could not say those words aloud.
Seohwa knew all too well the pain Iris had endured after losing her beloved husband, how she had held on and held on.
Therefore, she could never bring herself to stab a dagger into that already wounded heart.
“…It is not something that should be blamed solely on you, my lady.”
All she could do was offer quiet comfort.