Chapter 102 — Two — Faced (4)
Chapter 102 — Two — Faced (4)
A tangled rush of emotions swept over him.
Curiosity about Fiora.
Longing for the Former Empress.
And guilt.
The mother who bore this body was unquestionably the Former Empress, so as long as he inhabited it, there was nothing wrong with calling her mother.
Then why had she sealed Fiora?
If he showed her what lay inside this box, how would Fiora react?
For the first time in a long while, Roan wanted to speak with Fiora alone.
With a languid expression that concealed his feelings, Roan promptly left the office and returned to his chambers.
The emperor's bedroom, arranged during his stay at Zeno for the treaty and the mine exploration.
Roan sat on the edge of the bed and gripped Fiora's hilt.
Ever since she had drunk blood at the New Year Festival, Fiora had been in high spirits. When she was brimming so full of energy, she would start chattering away the moment he grasped the hilt.
But there were moments, like now, when she went silent.
She had closed her mouth after her final grumble in the mine, complaining that the place kept draining her mana.
Roan set Fiora down beside him and examined the object inside the box.
"...A gem with a seal...?"
It was a large, faceted jewel.
Its color, if he had to describe it, was a peach shade somewhere between pink and red.
He had never seen a jewel this large even on Erenier's or Grünent's necklaces.
And, strangely, the shape felt familiar.
"They said it holds Fiora's power...."
More than that, the jewel was warm, and it pulsed.
As though a heart beat within it.
A rhythm that ought to have been unpleasant, yet oddly brought a sense of relief.
Staring into the jewel, which was larger than a five-hundred-won coin, Roan at last realized where it belonged.
The end of Fiora's hilt—the pommel.
A setting shaped like a ring, but precisely speaking, it had never been a perfect circle.
The oddly angular hole had always made him fidget with it whenever he held the hilt.
"So it was meant for this."
It seemed the pommel had originally held a gemstone.
When he held the jewel to it, the shape of the empty setting and the shape of the gem clearly matched.
Roan lifted the jewel and fitted it into the end of the pommel.
Without any adhesive or clasp, the gem slipped into the hollow of the pommel as if by magic.
Through the grip in his hand, Roan felt the jewel's warm energy spread across the sword.
And a moment later.
Fiora's voice gushed forth like a flood.
[Good heavens, good heavens! Oh my, I never imagined!! Roan, what on earth is going on!!]
Fiora, who had been pouring out words in tremendous excitement, abruptly stopped mid-sentence.
"...Fiora?"
[....]
A short silence.
Then the answer came from somewhere else.
"Roan!!!!!"
Something hurtled toward Roan at blinding speed. Roan, for once unable to react, toppled backward onto the bed.
And then, pressing down upon his face—
A pair of soft breasts.
"Ahhh, it's been so very, very long, the smell of open air!!!!"
Large, very large—Fiora's breasts.
"......Mmrph...?"
Roan mumbled something, his mouth pressed into her chest.
"...Oh my. That was almost a disaster."
Fiora, who had been looking down at Roan buried in her bosom, straightened up.
Thanks to that, Roan, who had briefly struggled to breathe, gulped down air in a hurry.
Is this what they call death by bliss...?
"Your body is far more solid than I imagined. And a trace of Roan's face from his childhood remains."
A smile rose on her neat, elegant features.
Her refined, urban features resembled those of a modern high-flying career woman.
She was a beauty with eye color unusual in a human.
The light pink of her irises, softer than a ruby, matched the jewel set in Fiora's pommel.
And her hair—
draped over him, spilling in every direction—
was a shockingly long, straight fall of dazzling silver.
Even without meaning to, the most striking feature of Fiora's naked body was surely that chest.
Past all the A, B, C, Ds—it seemed even larger than Erenier's I-cup.... Could it be... a K...?
Fiora noticed Roan's gaze, and with a sharp glint in her eyes, she folded her arms.
Because of her excessively large breasts, her crossed arms automatically propped up the melon-sized mounds.
They looked heavy.
"Hmm, you wouldn't already be sizing up my chest the very first time we meet face to face, would you, Roan?"
Her eyes, radiating a bewitching gleam, looked straight at him.
Roan felt a sting of guilt.
He averted his gaze without meaning to.
"...Not really... hrm."
"This is our first real conversation. Though I didn't think your core would be different, once I finally saw this face."
Both Roan, who had spoken, and Fiora felt a little bitter at his words. Fiora apologized for her lapse.
"I'm sorry. It isn't Roan's fault."
The voice that had always been so vivid in his mind sounded even clearer in person.
Fiora grinned and held out her hand.
"It's been a long time since I've shaken hands. I'm delighted to meet you...."
Fiora, who had not quite finished her sentence, hesitated for a moment. With a curious look, Roan took her hand and shook it.
"Do you remember last time, when I asked for your name?"
"Mm."
"May I know your name now?"
"...."
Roan's eyes widened.
A question far more startling than Fiora taking human form.
Here in this place,
someone had realized that a true "I" exists,
someone who wondered about the true "him."
For Roan—no,
for Kim Yong-cheol, this was something profoundly new.
He had learned after becoming the Demon King,
that a name was a most precious thing to demonkind.
The powerful need not reveal their name.
To give one's name was to show another the vessel containing one's soul.
A family name became the foundation that held inherited familial power, and a personal name symbolized a demon's identity.
That was why the curses and sorcery of demonkind always began with knowing a person's surname and given name.
In this nation now, Erenier was the only one left who dared speak Roan's name,
and she alone had the right to know Roan's true name.
With the Former Emperor and Empress dead, Roan's true name was now a fact that even Roan himself did not know.
Even in the history books, Roan would be recorded not by name but by an alias or epithet—like Archduke of the Red Rampart, Dark Archduke.
Unless one was a woman, a demon did not casually reveal their name to another.
Did Fiora know this?
Roan hesitated, then spoke.
"My name is...."
Fiora understood the weight of her words.
She seemed to assume that the core within Roan belonged to some member of demonkind, and she said gently,
"You're still uncomfortable, I see. Very well. A name is a precious thing to your people. But if that's the case, please understand if I continue to call you Roan."
Roan nodded.
"That's fine for now. More than that, I'd like an explanation of the current situation."
Roan had now fully righted himself on the bed and sat cross-legged.
Seeing this, Fiora wore a slightly surprised expression, then seated herself demurely on the edge of the bed.
Her pelvis and waist twisted slightly, emphasizing the slender line that connected to her large hips.
Even when he tried not to focus on it, her figure was so captivating that his eyes were drawn against his will.
The very definition of a "dynamite body."
Feeling his gaze, Fiora smiled as if to show off.
"Heh heh, a magnificent figure, isn't it?"
"...Honestly, I'm enormously impressed."
"Still, this body won't last long."
Regret colored Fiora's voice.
"I'm short on blood."
Was it his imagination?
A sudden sense of something bewitching in the way she licked her lips.
Roan recalled Fiora's reaction the last time she had cut someone.
"Does drinking someone's blood become your power, then?"
"Yes. It extends the time I can remain in reality."
"And what can you do in reality?"
"A welcome question."
Fiora shrugged, her arms still folded.
At the motion, her massive breasts swayed.
"Starting with the simple matter of wearing clothes."
"...Hmm."
A function that gave him pause. Her naked body was a pleasure to the eye.
"And I can also perform my original purpose, can't I?"
"Your original...."
Roan, who had been lost in thought for a moment, furrowed his brow.
"...You mean pestering me?"
"Ah, how rude. That expression."
Fiora put on a slightly angry face.
"It was a valuable period of training, I'll have you know. With a body, I can improve Roan's skills. Being struck in person is far, far more effective for learning than simply being told where you're wrong."
Her red eyes glittered with a strange passion. Roan felt a slight chill.
It certainly seemed like it would be effective, but...
this feeling that he really didn't want to do it....
Watching the conflict in Roan's eyes, Fiora laughed out loud.
"You truly do resemble Kiruina. How can even that reaction be so exactly alike?"
The smile faded from Roan's face.
It was the first time Roan had heard the name, but
the moment he heard it, memories surfaced in his mind.
And fierce emotions.
Fiora was looking at Roan with a nostalgic expression.
"You, then... you're the Former Empress's...."
"Yes. I was Empress Kiruina's sword."
Roan's eyes grew wide.
Who could possibly know the Demon King's family history better than this!
The true names of the Former Empress and Former Emperor were never recorded in the histories. Only close friends and family would know them. Even Roan himself hadn't discovered that fact in the (former) Demon King's memories until Fiora told him.
And Fiora is a sword.
Her memories of those urgent moments would be clearer than anyone else's alive.
Whether he needed to look into those memories was a decision for later.
For now, he had gained a clue toward answering questions he could never ask anyone else, because these were family matters.
Roan felt his spirits lift a little.
Since Fiora knew that the core within Roan was not truly Roan, she was the only one who could understand this feeling of his.
As though she grasped his joyful surprise,
Fiora spoke gently.
"You must have many things you're curious about, but I'll tell you one by one, slowly. Right now, I want to satisfy my own curiosity first—after being shut inside a sword for over ten years."
As if he could not understand, Roan asked in return.
"Your... curiosity?"
"Things I can only learn by having a body."
Suddenly, ever so slightly,
Fiora's upper body inclined toward Roan.
A smile hung on her red lips.
"A life of abstinence is difficult, you see."
Very slowly,
Fiora began to close in on Roan.
"You are a different person from the Roan of before."
Her long silver hair trailed along in a whisper, spreading like a hem or a tail, a sound that stirred the heart.
"I love those who make an effort."
Before he knew it, her face had drawn up directly before Roan's own.
Roan felt a pounding heartbeat.
It belonged to Fiora.
A rhythmic pulse that radiated a powerful vitality in all directions.
Only then did Roan register the fact that her Affection was +55. A stage where no one would think it odd if they were called lovers.
Based on Affection,
she already loved Roan.
"I also like a person who knows how to use his strength. The Roan who fed me so much blood was Kiruina's lovable little boy, but he wasn't the type of man I prefer."
Fiora's pale white index finger traced the line of Roan's lips.
Roan's slightly heated breath
touched her fingertip and broke apart.
"Cruel Kiruina."
Yet there was no resentment in Fiora's smile.
"She said she sealed my body for a while, afraid that the young Roan might lose his mind to the sword. I think it was a good decision on her part as a mother. But this desire built up for over ten years... hmm. Though of course, I do have a separate all-time record."
Fiora giggled.
Her eyelashes were silver, like her hair.
Because of her white skin and white body hair, the only thing carrying a hint of blood—her eyes—were half-hidden behind long lashes.
A mystical atmosphere.
"My having a body might be an advantage for you as well. No need to cart around a carriage and Grünent every time, right? The old Roan would have used a sex slave, or grabbed any woman and used her before tossing her aside—but you aren't that kind of man."
Fiora whispered.
"It'll be a good opportunity for us both."
In every single word she spoke, Roan could feel the affection she held for the body she possessed.
And for Roan to take that body into his arms—
Fiora desired that deeply, desperately.
At the ends of her swaying breasts,
her light pink nipples already stood stiff, as though yearning for something.
"I want to know more about you."
Fiora did not notice the wariness that had crept into Roan's eyes, which at first glance always seemed drowsy.
Fiora had merely spoken her desires with honesty. There was no falsehood in her words.
Despite that, Roan could not easily drop his guard.
Something hard to name....
If he had to say, it was simply a "feeling."
"What is your name?"
The finger that had been tracing his lips now brushed along Roan's cheek.