Aftermath of Desire
"……."
Left alone, Eirin stared up at the ceiling with a vacant gaze utterly unlike her usual sharp intelligence. She was the living embodiment of the phrase soul left the body.
As if she still could not believe it, she turned her eyes toward the bed. The dried stains of semen stood out starkly against the sheets. Then she checked between her own thighs. Traces of what had spilled from her remained there as well.
"What… what did I just do……?"
Exposure to the Lust Emperor's Qi had let raw sexual hunger devour both reason and instinct—but it did not erase memory. She remembered every single thing she had done with perfect clarity.
How she had overpowered Jincheon by force, straddled him, and rolled her hips however she pleased. The image of herself enjoying that massive cock like a common whore—no, even more wantonly than that—was so vivid it tormented her.
And yet, even as her mind recoiled in horror at what she had done, her body was still riding a quiet wave of exhilaration. A woman in her mid-to-late thirties whose body had only just begun to awaken to a man, Eirin's flesh was thoroughly satisfied by a cock far larger than her late husband's had ever been.
"Ahh… ahhhh……."
She combed back through her memories, half-convinced Jincheon must have pulled some underhanded trick. But all that surfaced was the crystal-clear recollection of herself lunging at him first—and overpowering him by sheer strength.
If he makes this public, I have to invent an excuse no matter what it takes!
The moment Jincheon so much as mentioned what had happened, a scandal of catastrophic proportions would erupt. Her brilliant mind scrambled desperately for any scrap of a pretext she could use.
No—should I just kill him? But on what grounds? Claiming he's a spy sent by the traitors is impossible…
She had been driven so far into a corner that she was already plotting Jincheon's murder.
Meanwhile, the man who had thoroughly satisfied her and slipped out of the captain's private quarters was strolling the corridors of the warship with an utterly unbothered expression, inspecting the interior of the Rastold Silverion.
Interesting. I gave her a push, sure—but I never expected her to be hiding that much raw lust.
Eirin had granted him free rein from the start, so aside from critical areas like the engine room, he could wander most of the ship at will.
I wonder if my own women felt something like that…
Having been on the receiving end of a thoroughly frenzied Eirin, Jincheon found himself tilting his head, wondering for the first time how all the things he had done so thoughtlessly must have looked to the women involved.
First I need to figure out how to use this recording. If she's got any brains, she'll stick close to other people so I can't leverage it. Open a channel? No—something like this has to be pushed face-to-face…
He was still turning over strategies for the sex recording of himself and Eirin when someone stepped deliberately into his path, as if they had been waiting.
"…Is there something you need?"
Jincheon wore a leisurely smile that would have told Eirin instantly she had already lost. The person blocking his way was Beatrix—similar to Eirin in features, yet where her elder sister carried an elegant, commanding charisma, Beatrix possessed a haughty pride of her own.
Like Eirin, she had undergone biological modification, but far more of it had been combat-oriented than her sister's imperial enhancements. That was why she could appear before Jincheon without an escort. With her well-trained, stylishly athletic build, a single punch from her would have burst a Terran's skull like a ripe fruit.
"I'm here to give you a warning."
"Because you think I'm an enemy spy?"
"Do you take me for a fool?"
If Jincheon truly were an enemy agent, there would have been no need for such convoluted schemes. Without his group's intervention, the loyalists would already have been annihilated by the mercenaries. Even those who disliked Jincheon's party did not entertain the idiotic notion that they were spies.
"The Rastold Silverion is a warship only the Emperor of the Giranlek Empire is permitted to use. Every single crew member is the absolute best in their field."
"I was under the impression that saying what you mean briefly and clearly is essential in this day and age?"
"Kh…! Simply being allowed aboard the Rastold is an infinite honor for a mere mercenary like you! So show a little more respect!"
She had disliked him from their very first communication. Watching him run his mouth so freely in front of her revered elder sister, she had decided a warning was in order.
"Ah, so in the Giranlek Empire, not saying thank you even after receiving help is considered good manners. How enlightening. This humble body learns something new every day."
"You insolent—!"
Beatrix nearly threw a punch at the naked mockery on Jincheon's face. What stopped her was reason—and the fact that he had not undergone biological modification.
Jincheon had introduced himself as unmodified, claiming his high-mobility combat capability came from a Calsorn Empire relic. If she struck him in anger, something would definitely break. So she could only clench her fists until they trembled.
"I cannot fathom the source of that arrogance. If it rests on the favor of having saved our lives, remember that the limit of that debt is rapidly approaching."
"How strange."
Jincheon genuinely looked puzzled at her warning.
"I may have spoken arrogantly, but I've never insulted anyone, have I? Saying that I'm better than others—is that a capital offense now?"
He was right. Arrogant and cocky, yes—but he had never actually insulted anyone. Being treated with this much open hostility left him tilting his head.
"I simply don't like you."
Beatrix finally confessed the real reason she despised him so thoroughly.
"You're hiding something. Other people may not notice, but I can feel it."
At the reason for her hatred, Jincheon felt a guilty twinge deep inside.
"For now we need to work together, so this is only a warning. But the moment I learn you're pulling some scheme, I will deal with you myself."
With that, Beatrix shot him a look of pure contempt and vanished with a sharp turn of her heel.
Sharp instincts.
Her feminine intuition was probably sounding every alarm at his very existence.
There are women like that sometimes. Ones whose female instincts are razor-sharp.
A woman's intuition and a sense for danger were two different things.
That one stays on hold for now. She's already this wary—if I approach carelessly, I'll get burned.
Jincheon decided to focus on Eirin instead, and to conceal as thoroughly as possible that he was targeting her. The moment Beatrix sensed him trying to get close to her sister, she would glue herself to Eirin's side and obstruct him at every turn.
He had received an internal map of the Rastold Silverion via Bio Device, but looking at a map and seeing the real thing with his own eyes were entirely different. So Jincheon wandered the warship's interior, confirming everything visually, before finally heading to the quarters assigned to his group.
"Ah, you're back? Later than I expected—hm?"
"Welcome ba— sniff sniff."
Heliane and Calsira, who had just finished exercising and showering, brightened at his return—then immediately frowned and started sniffing the air. Their senses, heightened several times over by Inner Qi, had caught the scent of semen.
"What the hell is this?"
"You didn't cause some kind of incident, did you?"
"Heh heh. Let me show you something fun."
Jincheon transmitted the recordings he had taken. After checking the contents carefully to ensure no surveillance cameras would catch them, both women's eyes went round as saucers.
—Y-you… this… how…….—
=How did you do that to the Empress Dowager…….=
The two women could not hide their shock at the sight of Jincheon having sex with the Empress Dowager in what seemed like no time at all. Even more shocking was that the Empress Dowager herself was the one reverse-raping him in a lust-crazed frenzy.
Instinctively recognizing that this fact becoming public would be catastrophic, both women pressed him via telepathic transmission.
[Her guard was too tight, so I stirred her lust—and this is what happened. Thanks to that, I've secured quite an entertaining video.]
—You didn't do something weird, did you?—
=If you used drugs or something, it'll only cause bigger problems later.=
[I didn't use any drugs. I simply released a bit of the energy I normally keep locked away.]
They had already heard that the man once called the Lust Emperor kept his Qi sealed. But they had never imagined it was this potent. The sight of the Empress Dowager driven mad with lust was pure shock.
"I'll fill you in on the meeting first."
He went on to explain the conference proceedings, making it clear he would handle the Eirin situation himself. Since there was nothing useful they could advise on even if they knew the details, the two women focused on the meeting's contents instead.
Both nodded when they heard the decision: they would pass through the star systems controlled by the traitor nobles and head for loyalist territory.
"Playing it safe isn't bad, but the traitors can still rattle the loyalists—so of course they'd want to get there as fast as possible."
"Either route has clear pros and cons, but personally I prefer this one."
Calsira, who once fought purely to survive, now found genuine fun and fulfillment in combat that brought rewards. Her skills were growing faster than ever. She had become what people called someone who enjoys the fight.
Once they decided they had heard everything they needed from Jincheon, the two women exchanged a meaningful look.
"Looks like you've got something to say. Are the people here giving you trouble?"
"They're watching us openly, but that doesn't matter."
"There's a more important conversation I want to have."
Calsira took the lead and began to explain. She talked around the point for a while, but what she ultimately wanted to say was this:
"You want to do something that means something."
"Yes. Exactly. Building a mercenary company and growing its scale, receiving territory and developing it—anything, really. I want to feel the satisfaction of moving forward, of heading toward a better life."
A mercenary's life—blowing money on food and pleasure, then taking another contract and heading back to the battlefield—left nothing behind in the end. Calsira wanted to escape that cycle and live a life with more meaning.
The women of this world really are different from the ones in the Murim world.
Every woman Jincheon had claimed in the martial world had focused entirely on living happily with him. The Pacheonhui had shifted their goals for a time, but ultimately their happiness and purpose had been supporting him and bearing his children.
Here, though—perhaps because social awareness had advanced further than in the Murim world—Calsira wanted the fulfillment of moving forward rather than simply staying in place.
Helping the Emperor and the Empress Dowager could get us territory. But then mercenary work becomes difficult, and whatever we do, we'd be stuck inside the frame of Giranlek Empire nobility…
Jincheon's own goal was simple. Make money as a mercenary, buy a bigger ship, travel the galaxy collecting women who caught his eye. Wander the cosmos, and at the right moment become a mercenary company captain, or rule a planet—whatever felt right.
"Heliane, what about you?"
"…Honestly, I feel the same as Calsira. I know how pathetic it sounds. For someone who used to be consumed by nothing but the hatred right in front of her to start craving a future is…"
"It's not pathetic."
"Hm?"
"People make every kind of mistake and suffer every kind of failure. But paradoxically, those experiences are exactly what let a person grow and move forward. The ones who find their path through failure are far finer human beings than those who deny their past failures and freeze in place."
Jincheon offered advice steeped in hard-won experience, gently stroking Heliane's hair with a warm smile.
"Be ashamed of your past if you want. Regret it if you want. But if you can use those things as nourishment to grow yourself, then every mistake and failure you've made already has value. Don't blame yourself more than you need to."
"Ah……."
Heliane felt her face flush under the gaze of a man who seemed ready to accept every part of her.
Jincheon confirmed that both of his women wanted the same thing—to live for a better life.
"For now, we're in a situation of kihojise. So…"
"Kihojise?"
"It means you're riding a ferocious carnivore and can't get off. If you dismount, the beast eats you—so to avoid being eaten, you have to keep riding. That's the situation we're in."
"True. We've already helped the Emperor's party, so until this is finished, we can't even imagine doing anything else."
Having spent far too long in the Murim world, Jincheon casually dropped classical idioms that modern people would have called old-man talk. He suggested they discuss the larger question later and set it aside for now.
Heliane and Calsira both understood that for the moment they needed to focus solely on the crisis in front of them, and accepted it without much complaint.
Having postponed the matter, Jincheon then—
"Woohoo~ Look at that waist work~ Next time I'll be the one making those hips shake. Heh heh heh~"
—began cackling with vulgar delight as he rewatched, from a first-person angle shot somewhere free of surveillance cameras, the Empress Dowager's ferocious hip-rolling.
"……."
"……."
The mature composure and intellectual presence he had displayed only moments before vanished in an instant. Heliane and Calsira found themselves wishing he would just shut his mouth. When he kept quiet and carried himself with weight, he was a magnificent man overflowing with every virtue. The second he opened his mouth, every one of those virtues lost its shine.
Four days later, they arrived at their target: the Pelos System, controlled by the traitor nobles.
It was a star system anchored by a yellow-white sun larger and brighter than Terra's Sol, with seven planets in total—only two of them inhabited. The rest were either uninhabitable or simply worthless.
"As expected, they've stationed a fleet."
Eirin had spent the past days in constant anxiety, dreading what Jincheon might say at any moment. When he showed no reaction at all, she found it strange—but at least she could focus on the crisis in front of her.
If I could deal with him during this opportunity…
The moment they entered the Pelos System and confirmed the enemy fleet that had spotted them and was already closing in, a dark thought began to surface in her heart.
No—what am I even thinking…! We're barely holding on by uniting every scrap of our strength just to survive…!
But he's piloting that glaring red Gareld, isn't he? Give him just a little push and the enemy will handle him for me. Everyone will just think he brought it on himself with that arrogant attitude.
I have to use every asset efficiently! My future and my child's future hang on this battle!
Inside Eirin's mind, a fierce debate raged over whether she should kill Jincheon or not. She felt almost as if she had developed a dual personality, her thoughts growing tangled—when suddenly:
"Captain, the enemy is advancing on our position. Your orders."
Her adjutant's voice snapped her back to herself.
Right now I have to focus on surviving for my child's sake. Time is on my side anyway. Even with the same amount of time, the range of options he and I can exercise are completely different.
"All prepared pilots—launch!"
Once they broke through here, she could deal with Jincheon whenever she pleased. Holding that thought, she ordered the mechas out and checked the enemy forces displayed on the main monitor.