Ch.101Caressing

“M-my lord. This is… hic!”

“Stay still, Serena. That’s an order.”

“B-but… hnngh!”

Serena trembled violently. Sweet warmth mixed with her exhaled breath, and tears welled up in her eyes.

As my fingers traced her taut, lean stomach, Serena’s body shuddered as if struck by lightning.

“Serena, you’re the one who asked me to do this, right? So you need to endure it. Should I continue?”

“J-just pause for a moment, ple— hnnnngh?!”

“I don’t want to.”

I brought my head to Serena’s shoulder.

Her hypersensitive senses—capable of detecting even a single drop of blood falling into a vast lake—immediately recognized what had touched her shoulder.

Serena let out a death wail.

“My loooord?!”

I rested my chin on her muscular shoulder. In my right ear, I could hear Serena’s excited breathing growing more rapid.

Her interlocked fingers tightened. Judging by the fact that the bones in her hands weren’t broken yet, she seemed to retain some measure of rational control.

The place where Serena and I were now was an enormously large and magnificent mansion.

The kind of grand estate where it takes nearly 10 minutes just to walk from the main gate across the yard to reach the entrance.

For reference, I am the owner.

Inside this massive mansion, there were only two people: Serena and me. There wasn’t a single servant like what you’d call a butler or maid.

In other words, when I wasn’t around, it was simply an empty house.

For someone like me who wandered the entire continent looking for ways to commit suicide, I was rarely at the mansion, making it awkward to employ anyone.

Last time, I was holed up in a frontier city for almost 8 solid years.

Of course, despite being empty, anyone who dared enter without permission would immediately have to say farewell to this world, so even after all this time, the place remained largely untouched by human hands.

The last time I visited this grand mansion was nearly 40-50 years ago.

I rarely came to the kingdom’s capital as it was, and when I did, I spent most of my time in the royal palace, leaving virtually no time to stop by the mansion.

On top of that, I owned dozens of such mansions. Naturally, the interval between visits to each mansion stretched to at least a decade.

But there was no need to worry about security.

Charlotte took care of the mansion’s management during my absence, and no one who foolishly intruded upon this place could leave alive.

My buildings and lands were protected by defensive magic more powerful than most fortresses.

“Please, please reconsid— ahh?! No more, hah?!”

Unable to endure my touch any longer, Serena opened her mouth wide and leaned her head back against my shoulder.

A scent that could be described as fruity, or perhaps grassy—Serena’s unique fragrance wafted gently.

To put it bluntly, it was simply Serena’s scent.

“Didn’t you say you could handle it? So you lied to me?”

“N-no, *sob*, no, my lord. I can endure m— hic?!”

At the word “lie,” Serena desperately tried to straighten her body, but when my fingers caressed her side, she jumped again.

Her reflexively extended leg broke the table in half. That was quite expensive.

‘Well, I can just buy another one, so it doesn’t matter.’

That table must have cost several gold coins.

I had no particular use for money and no reason to desperately accumulate wealth, but if I wanted to, I could amass a fortune that would put most ducal or comital families to shame.

I simply stashed away seemingly valuable items in my preservation-enchanted tower, and after a few hundred years, they would sell for outrageous prices as relics or antiques.

It didn’t matter whether they were fake or real in the past.

After hundreds of years, when everyone who knew the backstory of the items had died and disappeared, whatever I said became the truth.

Items purchased from street vendors for a few copper coins would acquire elaborate legends, and copper-coin necklaces would become treasures that once warded off their owner’s curse before decaying.

And all those fakes were for the swindlers.

I sold fakes to those who tried to deceive me and genuine antiques or relics to those who truly sought to collect them. Simple.

It wasn’t limited to antiques; I also had plenty of real treasures like gold bars and jewels. Those barely changed in value even after hundreds of years.

And that’s not all. I had collected and stashed away legendary weapons from old tales in my tower.

Most of those typically demanded human lives or blood in exchange for wielding them, but for me, such conditions were essentially free.

I didn’t collect them out of some hoarding instinct. I simply gathered these legendary weapons on the off chance they might be able to kill me—for suicide purposes.

Well, the results speak for themselves.

With dozens of buildings and vast lands in the kingdom’s capital, plus a magic tower in my name filled with all manner of antiques, treasures, and legendary weapons, there’s no need to further explain my wealth.

‘Though I didn’t actually buy the mansion and land with my own money.’

After Charlotte ascended to the throne, during the bloody purge throughout the kingdom, a massive number of noble families were either exterminated or fell from grace and were exiled to the frontier.

Naturally, the mansions and vast fortunes of these extinct and fallen noble families became Charlotte’s property, and I received only a portion of them.

The fact that just this portion was so substantial gives you an idea of how many nobles participated in the rebellion against Charlotte.

And how many nobles were swept away.

For reference, the remaining lands and mansions went to lower nobles who were suddenly granted titles of count or duke because the upper ranks had been emptied.

Most were nobles who lacked the resources to participate in the rebellion. Regardless of what they might have been thinking.

Or perhaps those who sided with Charlotte’s brother deliberately excluded them because they didn’t want to share power with nobles who wouldn’t be of much help anyway.

Either way, the result was the same—they didn’t participate in the rebellion and suddenly found themselves elevated.

Of course, even nobles who received titles, mansions, and lands weren’t immune to death, so ownership changed dozens of times over the years.

“Well, one minute left, Serena. Just a little longer. You weren’t trying to lie to me, were you? I believe you can endure it sufficiently.”

“Y-yesss, hic. My lord. I will, live up to, your trust, hnnngh?!”

The simple reason I could possess such vast wealth in the kingdom’s capital—not some random territory but the capital itself—was straightforward.

The nominal owner of these assets was Charlotte.

Of course, I was the real owner, and that fact would never change. Nevertheless, Charlotte was the nominal owner to avoid troublesome matters.

Who would dare question why mansions owned by the Blood Queen remained empty for decades? Even if someone did, they wouldn’t for long.

Confirming that the minute I had mentally counted for Serena had passed, I stopped my hands. As the pleasure from the constant stimulation of her abdomen and sides disappeared, Serena went limp.

“That’s the remaining minute done. Well done, Serena.”

“Hic. Thank you… haah… for your praise… my lord…”

The reason Serena was making such suggestive moans in this mansion with such a background was because I was caressing various parts of her body.

Serena was sitting on my lap, breathing heavily.

At first, she sat properly despite her stiff body, but after a while, she could barely even keep her waist straight, let alone sit properly.

By the end, she had completely slumped against me, resting the back of her neck on my shoulder and her back against my chest.

Her back felt damp against my chest, likely from sweat. Serena wore simple clothes—a short-sleeved top and shorts made of ordinary fabric.

Her ponytail, which gathered her brilliantly golden hair, remained intact, but the silver armor symbolizing the Royal Knights was carelessly tossed in the corner of the reception room.

The table in the center had been shattered by Serena’s kick. It was fortunate there hadn’t even been light refreshments on it.

If there had been, we would have had to replace the carpet underneath as well.

The World Eater that Serena usually kept at her waist was placed on the sofa opposite to the one we were sitting on.

I told her she didn’t need to remove it since I knew it was a magic sword, but she said it would make it uncomfortable for me to embrace her from behind.

The World Eater vibrated ominously as soon as it was separated from Serena’s waist, but when she gripped the handle with a stern look, it immediately quieted down.

It seemed quite docile for a magic sword.

“Still, you did well not to faint, Serena.”

As I stroked Serena’s hair, I enjoyed the sensation of her locks slipping between my fingers.

To explain why I was doing this, we need to go back a bit.