If All This Were a Dream (2)
A violet sky. Seolhyang gazed up at the heavens, their color so strange it went beyond merely overcast, and wondered whether the sky she remembered had always been this shade.
Perhaps her memory was faulty, or perhaps the sky had changed while she had been blind… Of course, neither was true.
"Welcome puff!"
"…Where am I?"
"This is the world where all desires writhe and stir! It's Monghwanhyang puff!"
"Monghwanhyang?"
She had never heard of it. Not surprising, really. Matters involving succubi were fundamentally men's secrets. A woman like Seolhyang—let alone a noble daughter who had lost her sight—would have no way of knowing.
The only thing she could tell was that this world was hardly welcoming to women. Just looking at the female before her—the succubus dressed in bunny-girl attire—made that clear enough.
"What is this place? Why am I here… No, first of all—why can I see?"
"Ah-ha—perhaps, customer, you did not masturbate outside puff!?"
"…I did not do such a thing."
"No need to hide it puff puff! This is where all desires flow in! And the easiest desire to manufacture is lust puff!"
"Is that puff-puffing speech pattern mandatory…?"
"It is mandatory puff!"
After hearing the succubus's explanation, Seolhyang had no choice but to accept that she had come here because of something she had done.
The truth, of course, was that the business card Evan had hidden beneath his pillow had activated upon contact with her desire—but someone already inside Monghwanhyang had no way of realizing such a thing.
And what mattered now was not how or why she had ended up here.
Desires flow in… So that's why I can see.
Seolhyang had always lived with the desire to see the world before her. If that desire had been the one that responded, then being able to see in this world was, in a way, only natural.
And if that were the case—then she could satisfy other desires here as well.
"This is a dream world… something like that?"
"Similar puff!"
"Then—I can do whatever I want, right?"
"Whatever is impossible puff! But most things, you can do puff!"
"What about being intimate with the man I want?"
At Seolhyang's words, the succubus curled the corners of her mouth into a sly smile and nodded.
"—Anyone."
"…You said it was mandatory?"
"Puff puff."
The succubus, satisfied at finally receiving a customer after a long while, grabbed Seolhyang's hand and led her toward the space prepared for lower-rank succubi.
Being a woman was a slight drawback—but for a woman to come to such a place meant she harbored considerable yang energy or lust. In other words, she was a far better client than the run-of-the-mill men.
Excited at the thought of harvesting both yin and yang energy simultaneously, the succubus was skipping along puff-puff toward the coupling room when—someone appeared and stopped her.
"Hold on. That one is my client."
"…Again?"
Seeing Penelope appear before her, the lower-rank succubus put on an aggrieved expression. She felt a strange sense of déjà vu, as if she had been through this exact situation before…
But aggrieved or not, a designated client was a designated client. Touching a client marked out by the higher-rank succubi was a violation of the rules, so the lower-rank succubus meekly handed Seolhyang over to Penelope.
"Welcome, customer. I am Penelope, the owner of the business card you used. I serve Master Evan Kalshutter."
"…Master?"
"Yes. I serve the divine Transcendent, Swordmaster Evan, my Master. Among those who attend to him, I am a rather special one—let's say, a night maid."
Penelope said this while giving her maid uniform a slight flutter. That alone made it easy to understand what kind of special service she was referring to.
Yet Seolhyang looked at Penelope and let out a soft laugh.
"Special service… For something like that, our Evan is a completely inexperienced virgin."
"…Our Evan?"
"Excuse me. I am Seolhyang, who has promised to take responsibility for Evan for the rest of my life. For now, I live in Evan's household."
Looking at Penelope, whose expression had stiffened, Seolhyang curled the corners of her mouth upward.
"Naturally, we've shared a bed."
"…Ah, ahaha—M-Master seems to have a broad heart, then."
"Evan does have a broad heart. He even donates to people wandering the streets and all that."
"We seem to have a lot to talk about."
"Indeed."
The two women smiled at each other. The corners of their mouths were raised to the fullest extent, yet their eyes were not smiling at all.
The lower-rank succubus, already depressed at having lost her client, began to tremble at the sight of them.
T-terrifying…
She thought it might have been better not to have accepted such a client.
—Krrraaaarrrr!—
A transparent wyvern roared. Birds that had been flying toward it, unaware, heard the cry and quickly changed course.
The wyvern, having driven the birds away without colliding, fluttered its wings with satisfaction and moved forward. Inside the large carriage, Evan watched the spectacle and let out a gasp of wonder, his eyes sparkling.
"Wow… That's amazing. No rider, and it flies like that all on its own."
"Haha—our kingdom's trainers are truly remarkable, aren't they? Even I am sometimes taken aback when I see them."
The Second Prince expounded to the awestruck Evan on how great the kingdom was, and how impressive it was to train the wyverns that pulled the aerial carriages.
People with a bit of a stiff head might ask what the trainers' greatness had to do with the Second Prince himself, and why he was so excited about it—but Evan was not quite that stiff-headed.
He looked at the Second Prince with pure admiration.
"That's incredible. If you had something like this, you could use it in war too!"
"Hm?"
"You could drop stones from this height, or have mages cast spells—then the enemy wouldn't be able to counterattack at all, right?"
"Ahaha… That would be nice, if it were possible."
Seeing Evan, who in an instant had latched onto the clue about the aerial warships the kingdom was secretly developing, the Second Prince realized that Evan was not simply stupid.
After all—if he had been that stupid, he would already have been brainwashed by the Prince, other nobles, or His Majesty, and manipulated this way and that, regardless of whether he was a Transcendent or not.
His actions came from the heart, not from intelligence. From a purity that moved without considering losses.
"We'll arrive at the Royal Capital soon. His Majesty wants to see you very much."
"Ah—I want to go home quickly."
"Then you can ride this on the way back too. You'll get there in no time."
"Oh, that's great then."
Evan had expressed a slight complaint at the sudden news of going all the way to the Royal Capital, but at the offer of a ride home in this aerial carriage, he had no choice but to let go of his grievance.
After all, a teenage boy like Evan had no way of enduring a flying carriage for that long.
Watching Evan smile happily, the Second Prince realized that this was his chance to get close to Evan.
"Swordmaster. Do you remember what you said to me last time?"
"Hm? What did I say?"
"You said you would teach me swordsmanship. How—might I ask, if it's not too much trouble, could you teach me now?"
At those words, Evan tapped the carriage he was standing on a few times. It didn't seem like it would break even if he stepped on it a bit harder.
After all—if they had made it so weak that it would shatter upon accidentally colliding with a flying bird, they would have made it sturdy enough to handle that, right?
Realizing there was no risk of falling, Evan nodded and gestured for him to come at him.
"Come at me. I need to gauge your level first."
"Thank you. —Then I will go with all my heart."
"Yes, yes—come quickly."
Against the Second Prince, who had drawn a real sword, Evan lightly raised an empty hand. The Second Prince, who thought even so, isn't this too dismissive?, quickly unleashed the kingdom's swordsmanship—and in the next instant, he was rolling on the ground.
"—Huh?"
"Wow—you're really terrible… Ah, sorry."
"B-but just now… it was clearly empty-handed…"
An empty hand that held nothing. Clearly so, yet it had parried and deflected the Second Prince's sword as if something were there.
The Second Prince fell silent at a phenomenon he could not believe even with his own two eyes.
"I learned it from No-Sword Master. It's sort of like the No-Form Sword… but it doesn't quite sit right with me."
"…It doesn't sit right with you? What do you mean?"
"Yeah. It can't change shape, and it can't cut anything… It just feels like a moderately sharp blade."
An invisible sword. That alone was an extraordinary feat, yet this Swordmaster was not satisfied with that much.
And the important thing was not that point at all. What had that Swordmaster said? He said he had learned it. He had learned something from another Transcendent.
In other words, he still has room to grow…?
A chill ran down the Second Prince's spine.
If that Swordmaster still had room to grow—
If someday he surpassed his father and became the world's strongest swordsman—
"—Please, one more time."
"Eh—are you okay? I think I hit you pretty hard."
"I'm fine. It's a body trained for combat. This much is… nothing."
"Oh, then I'll go a bit harder?"
If that time ever came, it would be better to have even a slight connection with Evan. Having Evan personally teach him swordsmanship would be a tremendous political weapon.
The Second Prince learned swordsmanship from Evan for such practical reasons.
Of course, unfortunately, he did not possess talent like Evan's.
Inside the bedroom, thick with lewd scents and atmosphere, Seolhyang sat on the bed and chatted with Penelope, who had taken her place at the table.
"—How about this one."
"Hmm. Not bad."
"Good. Then we'll make the contract like this? It's a demonic contract. Break it, and you'll be cursed by heaven."
"A demonic contract, and the punishment is a heavenly curse…"
Seolhyang let out a hollow laugh and made the contract with Penelope.
It was a contract to bring Evan to his knees.