Knight and Guardian (5) - It Was a Dangerous Drug
"Haa... Aah... More.... Please, deeper...."
Her vision flashed red.
Her mind was already empty,
and her body was burning hot.
How much time had passed?
How many times had she cried out like a beast, spilling her fluids?
"Haak! Good... So good... Penetrate me more... A little more... More...!!"
Nevertheless, an endless thirst.
An insatiable, infinite Lust.
[ Jjigeut, Jjibbeut, Jjigeok- Jjigeok- ]
Fingers delving into her thoroughly wet and squelching inner walls.
However, the movements were careful and delicate, as if considerate not to harm Rose's body.
Now, having lost her reason, such consideration was rather a tantalizing torture.
Rose tightened her inner walls as if to swallow the invading fingers,
then firmly grasped the smooth wrist connected to those fingers with both hands.
She began to thrust her hips herself, roughly moving it back and forth.
[ Chwap- Chuap- Chwap- Chwap- ]
"Harder... Harder...! Penetrate me deeper...!! Please...!"
The owner of the hand offered no resistance, meekly surrendering their body to her lewd urging.
Instead, they extended their other free hand—
and gently cupped Rose's chest, which was heaving wildly and scattering sweat.
"Haa-euk! Good...! My breasts too... Press them harder... Tighter... Hngh..."
As if responding to her explicit request,
pressure was gently added to the hand gripping her round breasts—
and a tingling thrill surged up Rose's spine as she was teased in two places simultaneously.
"Aah!! Hwaaang-!! Hngh!"
She finally trembled violently, falling into the abyss of an orgasm, the nth one this night, she didn't know.
"Ha-eup...!"
The sensation of a tongue gently silencing her screaming lips and subtly delving in.
Rose clung to the kiss, wrapping her tongue around the other's as if to swallow it.
[ Jjyuup- Jjup- Chueup- ]
A sticky kiss where lips explored lips, and tongues intertwined wetly.
After the long, suffocating kiss ended,
and she finally pulled her face away from the other person.
"Haaah......"
A long, hot breath escaped—
the heat of the aphrodisiac finally subsiding.
The tangled Mana slowly returning to its place.
Her blurry vision regained focus, and the face of the person looking down at her came into view.
"......Risolde..."
"Are you feeling better now?"
Risolde carefully wiped the sweat from Rose's forehead and the saliva from the corner of her mouth with the cuff of her sleeve.
Rose, as if momentarily dazed, blankly surrendered her body to that gentle touch.
But soon, as the memories of the past few hours flashed through her mind like a panorama—
"Ah... Aah..."
She hastily bowed her head deeply and buried her face in Risolde's chest.
"W-What have I... what have I done..."
"It's alright. Don't worry. I know it was all because of that filthy drug. He confessed everything."
"!! He... Theodore is...!"
As Rose flinched and raised her head,
in a corner of the room Risolde indicated with her chin—
"Kkeueueu... Eup... Eueu..."
Theodore lay there, in a state that could only be described as utterly gruesome.
His entire body was covered in cuts and torn wounds,
a blood-soaked cloth was stuffed into his mouth, preventing him from even screaming.
Both his arms and legs were tightly bound with thick ropes, but the most horrifying thing was—
the massive holes pierced through both his palms.
However, Risolde, turning her head away as if completely uninterested in the horrific sight she had created, merely gently stroked Rose's exhausted face.
"It'll take a little more time for the drug's effects to completely subside. Relax and rest comfortably."
As she said, Rose's body still felt heavy.
Was it the after-effects of the aphrodisiac, or was it because she had screamed and exhausted herself all night?
'No, wait a minute. Then just now....'
Before the drug wore off.
Does that mean Risolde was the one who had been gently exploring and stroking her entire body just now?
And she had grabbed Risolde's wrist and thrust her hips, begging her to penetrate harder instead of teasing her—
"...I'm sorry."
Rose apologized in a tiny, mouse-like voice.
A very faint blush spread across Risolde's usually stoic face as she looked at Rose.
Risolde, too, whispered in a voice so low it was barely audible.
"...I... I enjoyed it too..."
"......"
A strange, pinkish atmosphere flowed between the two—
...shattered by a single memory.
"Balthazar... Lord-nim!!"
"...Hm?"
"He said it! That he was going to give a stronger drug to Lord-nim! That woman... Sherin was targeting Lord-nim...!"
Rose hastily tried to get up, but—
her legs gave out, and she almost collapsed, but Risolde quickly wrapped her arms around her waist and supported her.
"Rose, you still need more rest. If you move like that now..."
"Risolde! I'm telling you Lord-nim is in danger! I need to go quickly...!"
As if about to rush out, Rose tried to pick up the cloak that had fallen to the floor and put it on, but she stumbled again and fell into Risolde's arms.
'My body still won't move as I want it to!'
'But why is Risolde so relaxed!'
Whether she knew Rose's frustrated feelings or not, Risolde pulled Rose back onto the bed with force.
"It's alright. Lord-nim is fine. Don't worry."
"......How do you know that..."
"As soon as he confessed, I already went there. Lord-nim is very... healthy, so you don't need to worry."
"But he said they used a drug... much stronger than the one I took..."
Risolde didn't answer that question and simply turned her head.
With a face much redder than before.
Recalling the scene she had witnessed with her own eyes.
- Lord-nim! Are you safe...!!
What she found in Balthazar's bedroom, after urgently opening the door and rushing in, was—
A cold, dead body!
An assassin holding a blood-stained sword!
...No, it wasn't—
- Haa-aang! Aah! Stop... Stop now...!!
Sherin, groaning in pleasure and pain on the bed, and.
Balthazar, passionately thrusting his hips while on top of her.
- Oh... Risolde. Hup...! You came at just the right time.
- Ah... Lord-nim... By any chance... Is anything wrong....
Words that didn't even need to be asked.
Balthazar now looked more energetic than usual,
and if there was anything 'wrong,' it seemed to be with Sherin, who was pinned beneath him—
tearing at the bedsheets with half-lidded eyes and sobbing.
- ......
Balthazar, sensing Risolde's gaze towards Sherin, spoke as if making an excuse, without stopping his hip thrusts.
- No, no. Hup... hup...! This lady was quite cunning, trying to feed me something bad. Something that stimulates Mana... Hmm! Never seen before... Hwoot! I'm planning to keep her up tonight as a slight punishment. Hup! Hup! I haven't tormented her too severely separately.
Saying he was overflowing with energy—
Risolde had left Balthazar, who had told her to come join them if she felt better,
and rushed back to Rose.
"Anyway... Lord-nim is safe, so you can rest easy and relax."
Rose didn't know what was what, but since Risolde said so—
she could only nod her head.
***
The next morning. Balthazar's office.
"...You look like you're in a very good mood."
"Hm? Do I? Well, yesterday I was finally able to let loose to my heart's content after a long time. Actually, my back is a bit sore. I guess I'm getting old, wahahaha!"
...You don't look tired at all—
Rose shook her head, seeing Balthazar, whose skin was practically glowing.
'For this man, was it just a high-performance aphrodisiac?'
She, on the other hand, had lost her reason and experienced hell with just one sip of that drug—
"Hm? Now that I think about it, Miss Rose, you must have suffered terribly at his hands yesterday. But you don't look so bad?"
"Huh?? Ah, yes. I'm... just..."
Rose mumbled her words and avoided his gaze.
Because her body of Lust and various passive skills had completely erased the traces of yesterday.
She had been mentally shaken for a moment—
but seeing Theodore's completely ruined state, and thanks to Risolde who had comforted her by her side all night, she was able to quickly regain her composure.
'......It's not like I'd be that shocked anyway.'
Even being mentally shaken,
was purely due to the helplessness of not being able to use her Mana and Lust skills freely.
Being forcibly violated is nothing—
Is it abnormal for me to think that—
when she was deep in such complex thoughts.
[ Deoleok- ]
"Oh, Risolde. How did the interrogation go?"
"He confessed everything."
Risolde, who had approached, said in a subdued voice.
"It seems they intend to wage an all-out war with the Royal Faction. Before that, they tried to eliminate the threat from behind, Deluna... by assassinating Lord-nim to remove any future worries."
"Hmeeeum—"
There was no particular change in Balthazar's expression as he listened to the grave news.
Rather, he just grinned as if amused.
Rose, with a similar expression, recalled the equally grave stories Balthazar had told her.
- A civil war??
- That's right. It's a conflict between the Royal Faction, centered around King Lumen in the capital, and the Eastern Alliance, centered around the First Prince.
- No... but... why would they do that? If he's the First Prince... wouldn't he inherit the throne just by waiting?
- King Lumen is a Lord who can manipulate Mana. He lives much longer than ordinary humans. There are probably three of his children who have grown old and died waiting for the throne by now, wouldn't you say?
- ...Ah....
- Tyranny this and that, a human kingdom should be ruled by ordinary humans this and that. The pretexts are plausible, but in reality, it's just a boring power struggle that could happen anywhere.
Balthazar grinned at Rose, who was speechless.
- Pathetic, isn't it?
- Excuse me?
- Monsters are swarming everywhere, and you never know when or where a Gate might open and Magical Beasts might pop out. On top of that, there are wicked Lords tormenting the people.
That Lords and Knights, who should be protecting the powerless, are shedding each other's blood and fighting for such pathetic reasons.
- ......
Balthazar picked up the small glass bottle on his desk—the drug Sherin had used—and shook it.
"It was useless on my body, but it wasn't just an ordinary potent poison. Even I clearly felt a faint, unpleasant sensation that stimulated Mana. Whoever made it, it's a dangerous item deliberately created to deal with Guardians or Lords."
"...Will you make them pay the price?"
Risolde's voice was filled with killing intent.
But Balthazar, who had been sitting with his chin propped up—
"No. If we needlessly start a fight, the people of Deluna will suffer. It would also look like we're getting involved in the civil war for no reason. I'm quite disinclined."
he said, then added with a smiling face.
"However, if we let this pass quietly, they might underestimate Deluna and try something else—so I should send a letter as a warning. Something so terrifying that Lord Helius will piss his pants and lose sleep. Wahahaha!"
And one more thing.
"Yes, that Knight, Theodore, wasn't it? You said his hands were completely ruined? I should cut off his wrists and send them with the letter."
"Should I cut off his right hand?"
"No, since we're sending them anyway, both."
"......"
The two of them exchanged terrifying words about cutting off people's wrists with perfectly calm faces.
Rose, who felt a chill watching them—
"Then, should I cut off that woman's wrists too?"
could no longer remain silent at Risolde's subsequent words.
"Um... that person... Sherin, she seemed to have been used against her will. Against her own intentions..."
"Regardless, she targeted Lord-nim. We can't just leave her be."
"No, but still..."
Rage towards the one who tried to harm her Lord.
Turning to Balthazar instead of Risolde, whose gaze was colder than usual,
"Ahem. I, too, would prefer not to harm that lady if possible. If she wasn't the mastermind but merely used, then if we talk to her well and make her one of us—"
...make her?
So you can enjoy her like last night?
You want to think such lewd thoughts in this atmosphere?
"...we could use her as a force for our side—something like that... Ahem..."
"If it is Lord-nim's will, I will obey. However, that woman hasn't opened her mouth at all since her capture. She doesn't seem to have any intention of defecting."
"Hmm... Is that so. What a pity. A valuable asset... Ahem..."
She didn't know why he was licking his lips while thinking about assets—
but anyway, it's better to be alive with intact wrists, even under a lecherous Lord—
"...I'll try to persuade her."
"Oh? Miss Rose?"
The lecherous Balthazar suddenly brightened.
"How do you intend to persuade her?"
Risolde narrowed her eyes, as if unconvinced.
"Well... if I talk to her nicely, perhaps she'll listen to me, since we were together for a few days... There's nothing to lose, right?"
Clenching her fists, Rose got up.
Yes, even if it's a bit drastic—
it'll be better than having her hands cut off.