Chapter 207: Artemis's Silver Bow (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 207: Artemis's Silver Bow (7)
Five minutes had passed since Jung Hae-in placed his hand on her lower abdomen and pressed down.
The air in the room was heavy.
The only sounds were the dry swallow of a nervous Yoon Chae-ha and the sound of Jung Hae-in’s focused breaths.
Unable to bear the silence any longer, Sion slowly rose from her seat.
“…Hae-in, maybe we should stop soon?”
She added slowly, her voice laced with worry.
“The Head of the House seems to be in a difficult position…”
And indeed, Rin was flustered.
For the first time in her life, a strange man’s touch was on her, and on her most vulnerable area at that—her lower abdomen.
The warmth spreading from his hot palm, the subtle pressure he applied as if searching for the curse.
She was so bewildered it felt as if all the blood in her body was rushing to her face.
However, Rin chose to pursue future gain over her immediate embarrassment.
“I’m… alright…”
She managed to answer, her voice trembling.
The man before her was no ordinary person.
He was the hero who had defeated Belial and Barcus.
A being who had achieved a feat considered impossible in human history.
Though his methods were strange and incomprehensible, she decided to trust in his actions for now.
For the future of the Yatagarasu.
“…Okay.”
Since the person in question said she was fine, Sion had nothing more to say.
An unidentifiable anxiety was all that welled up inside her.
And so, another thirty minutes passed in suffocating silence.
“……”
Only then did Rin slowly raise her head to meet Jung Hae-in’s eyes.
She, too, was beginning to feel that something was strange.
But.
His eyes were looking at her, yet at the same time, they were looking through her, at something beyond.
Eyes filled with an intense fervor; he was madly engrossed in something.
Overwhelmed by the heat in his gaze, Rin found herself unconsciously grabbing his sleeve and leaning her head against his shoulder.
She had lost even the will to resist the heat.
It was being transmitted.
His will wasn't conveyed through words.
It was transmitted solely through the hand resting on her stomach.
‘Focus.’
He was roaring at her to focus on her lower abdomen.
In the end, Rin had no choice but to give in and accept it.
She closed her eyes and focused all her senses on her lower abdomen, on the very spot where his palm rested.
– Press… Deeper…
As if to say, ‘Well done,’ Jung Hae-in began to press down on her lower abdomen with a steady, heavy rhythm.
“……”
Another thirty minutes passed.
“…This is driving me crazy.”
In the end, it was Sion who broke the silence. She shot up from her seat as if she couldn't take it anymore.
It wasn't easy to watch the man she loved spend an hour kneading a strange woman’s stomach with a clear head.
It felt strange, and a little bizarre…
But she knew she shouldn't disturb Hae-in when he was concentrating.
So she had no choice.
She approached one of the Yatagarasu attendants waiting by the door and gave them her contact information.
“The people inside… when they’re finished, could you please give me a call…?”
With those words, she returned to the room, intending to take Yoon Chae-ha with her.
However, Yoon Chae-ha didn't move an inch, her eyes fixed on the scene, refusing to get up.
“Hey, you’re not getting up?”
To Sion’s irritated question, Yoon Chae-ha answered without even turning her head.
“…Nope.”
It wasn't that Yoon Chae-ha seemed particularly bothered by the situation.
“Ugh.”
In the end, however, Yoon Chae-ha was dragged out screaming by Ha Sion.
As the two of them left and the door clicked shut, a complete silence fell over the room.
Rin had a rough idea of the relationship between them and Jung Hae-in.
Not that she particularly cared.
But now that those sharp, watchful eyes were gone…
The sensations she had been trying so hard… to exclude… to suppress…
Slowly began to rise to the surface.
At first, it was just a heavy pressure on her lower abdomen, but now, from the very spot his palm touched, a hot, languid heat began to bloom.
The heat traveled up her skin, past her stomach, and into her chest.
Her heart began to pound uncontrollably.
From there, the heat spread again, to her face, and then… finally, throughout her entire body.
The feeling of warmth spreading through her.
A pleasant helplessness, as if her whole body were melting.
This was different from the unpleasant fever of a cold.
It was a sweet heat that made her body feel relaxed… her mind slowly uplifted…
‘Focus.’
Just as she was about to become intoxicated by the sensation, Jung Hae-in’s will once again flowed directly into her mind through his palm.
It meant she shouldn't run away, but focus entirely on this pleasant sensation.
“Yes… I will…”
I will.
I’ll… focus.
She bit her lower lip to suppress the moan threatening to escape, but a hot breath slipped through the gap anyway.
“Ngh…”
In the end, Rin let out the sound she had been holding back.
“Hae-in… nim…”
“Ngh… hnn…”
Without even knowing the source of the sensation that was stimulating her.
She simply melted away into this sweet heat, a feeling she had never experienced before, blooming from deep within her abdomen.
The moment her reason began to fray was precisely.
One hour and thirty minutes after he had started applying pressure.
There was still a long way to go until the ten-hour mark.
*
Ten hours. It had been ten hours.
I lowered my head.
“Hic… sob…”
Rin’s body, her face buried in my chest, was trembling uncontrollably.
The fine tremors wouldn't stop.
She was desperately holding her breath to stop any sounds from escaping, then letting it out in ragged gasps, over and over.
I removed my hand from her lower abdomen.
Her bare skin—no, her entire body—was drenched in sweat.
Her kimono was soaked, clinging damply to her body.
Her forehead and the nape of her neck were as wet as if she had just been pulled from water.
As my hand left her, her body gave one last, powerful shudder.
Then, she exhaled all the breath she had been forcibly holding back at once.
“Haaahhh…”
What was that?
All I could surmise was that for the past ten hours, she had been desperately enduring something I knew nothing about.
I had no idea how ten hours had passed.
I hadn't realized the abyss of the curse was that deep…
“First of all, I’m very sorry. I didn’t realize so much time had passed…”
“Hic… It’s… alright…”
Rin desperately shook her head, denying it from within my arms.
I opened my mouth to explain that I hadn't just been pressing on her stomach for ten hours for no reason.
“But we’ve made progress. I’ve identified the source of the curse.”
“?!”
Even though her body was completely drained of strength, Rin’s eyes widened in surprise at my words.
“Is that… truly… the case?”
Instead of answering, I picked up a towel that someone must have placed nearby.
Then, I began to gently wipe the sweat from her drenched forehead and neck.
“Yes. And removing it… seems possible now.”
At my touch, her shoulders trembled once more.
To reassure her, I continued my explanation in the calmest voice I could manage.
“The source of all curses is, in the end, a malevolent energy.”
“Their types and forms may differ, but their essence is the same.”
“I… see…”
The hand holding the towel naturally moved downward.
Past her neck, to her sweat-dampened collarbones, and finally… to her lower abdomen, where the cursed tattoo was.
I continued speaking as I wiped the sweat beading on the most flushed part of her stomach.
“And so…”
– Wipe… swipe…
It was at that moment.
“Hnngh!”
The instant my hand touched her, her body jolted, arching halfway up.
My hand froze awkwardly above her stomach.
I had only meant to wipe away the sweat.
She looked like she had no strength left in her at all.
I cleared my throat once and continued as if nothing had happened.
“And so, I have a sacred creature that feeds on that malevolent energy.”
“I believe it might be able to handle your curse as well, Lady Kisaragi.”
It was a guess, but one that was likely to be true.
Flapper was quite a mystical being, after all.
Of course, I’d have to think a bit about how it would eat the curse…
“Thank… you… Sir Hae-in…”
At my words, Rin looked up at me, still breathing heavily.
She opened her trembling lips, as if to say more.
“Just… finding a possibility… is enough…”
But her words stopped there.
“Ngh…”
Rin’s eyes closed.
Her head slumped limply into my chest.
I reflexively pulled her body into an embrace to support her.
– Hah… hah…
Held in my arms, she was breathing evenly and peacefully, as if nothing had happened.
It seemed she had fainted.