Ch.45Chapter 45 – Inflection Point (4)

“Verdandi was thrilled that her moment to shine had finally arrived.

It was even better that she didn’t need to kill anyone—just subdue them.

For that moment on stage, she truly felt recognized as a hero by everyone.

The crowd’s cheers, opponents acknowledging her strength, the mutual respect—she loved it all.

“Master! I won!”

But above all, the reason Verdandi had come to love the Dragon and Phoenix Tournament was because she could impress her master Bing-yeon, who had taken her in.

Until now, she thought she had no chance since Bi-wol kept making aggressive advances, and she herself was slightly lacking in figure.

The two had spent a long time as master and disciple. No matter how hard she tried to wedge herself between them, she couldn’t make any progress.

After all, Bing-yeon had completely blocked her approach since that one lucky kiss.

“Well done.”

“Pat me harder! Touch my cheeks too!”

But now, she had a legitimate reason to be praised. She had defeated a scion of the Namgung Family, famous for their swordsmanship, with her own sword.

“…”

Verdandi grabbed Bing-yeon’s wrist and made him caress her face as she pleased. He accepted her childish behavior with a resigned expression.

To Han Do-hyeon, the original creator, they were more precious than anything. They were people he wanted to protect even at the cost of his insignificant life.

They were also like daughters, carrying traces of Yoo Seol-hwa, his lover in his previous life.

“If sister hadn’t won, I would have had a chance to shine…”

Seeing Verdandi’s goofy face, Azazel bit her tongue slightly as she spoke. The tentacles behind her back changed from gently writhing to a trembling form.

“If you’re jealous, junior, just honestly ask Master to pat you too!”

Verdandi looked at Azazel’s face, understanding that she was hiding her desire to act cute with Master Bing-yeon.

“W-why are you saying I want to be patted by a man like him…?!”

“If you don’t like it, then forget it!”

With eyes that could distinguish truth from lies, Verdandi gave her a warm smile.

What she was doing now was childish love rivalry.

It was like watching each other to see who would eat the last strawberry cake first.

She was taking advantage of the brief moment while their strongest competitor, Bi-wol, was in the restroom to claim Bing-yeon’s embrace.

“My, my, Azazel. Why not be a little more honest? When that Bi-wol returns, you won’t even be able to approach Bing-yeon.”

Morgidian spoke with a small sigh toward Azazel, who was still pretending to be aloof.

The honey dripping from her eyes as she secretly glanced at Bing-yeon, and the way she blushed and quickly turned away when their eyes met, clearly showed she was a girl in love.

Everyone else knew it, but she didn’t.

A new wind of love was blowing for the girl who had been pining for years.

“I-I never said I didn’t like it!”

Azazel closed her eyes and shouted as she rushed into Bing-yeon’s arms. Morgidian skillfully moved her tentacles to grab Bing-yeon’s arms and make him embrace her.

“…?!”

“Eh? Morgidian…?!”

The two stuck together like cicadas on a tree. As their bodies pressed against each other, feeling each other in various places, Azazel’s cheeks and ears turned bright red.

Firm muscles. The well-trained male body from head to toe was too stimulating for Azazel, who was like a blank canvas knowing nothing.

“Azazel, I can’t breathe. Could you please loosen—”

“I-I’m not doing this because I want to!”

She couldn’t pull away. Rather, their bodies were pressing even closer together, as if filling the gaps between them. She hated it. The tentacles on her back wouldn’t move as she wanted.

“What a troublesome child indeed.”

It was all Morgidian’s scheme, who was watching the two with an exasperated gaze. If things continued like this, she would lose to Bi-wol and Verdandi.

If he didn’t give her this push, she would pretend not to know her own feelings and keep her distance forever.

“Huh-huaaah?!”

As flesh pressed against flesh creating a soft, ticklish sensation, and they were close enough to feel each other’s breath, Bing-yeon tried to regain his composure with a deep breath, but…

“D-don’t move! You’re forbidden from even breathing…!”

That only made Azazel’s imagination run wild. She started picturing the situation she had seen in the future last time.

“Huh…?”

When Azazel met Bing-yeon’s eyes again, she saw a different future before her. With her reason about to snap, she couldn’t help but have another nosebleed.

* * *

“Brother, do you know what divine revelation came to me a few days ago?”

Unlike the previous situation, in a pitch-black room where nothing could be seen, only the silhouettes of a man and woman flickered slightly in the darkness.

“What is it, Azazel?”

“Hehe, are you curious?”

Rainbow-colored eyes that shone even in darkness. Seeing them, Azazel immediately realized that the person before her was her future self.

The present Azazel swallowed hard as she listened to the voice that seemed more mature and saw the shadow that had grown taller than her current self.

This was the first future vision she’d had since things went bad with Kang Si-woo. Last time she was interrupted by future Bi-wol, but now there seemed to be no such interference.

“Prosper widely and bring peace to the world.”

“…?”

As if melting into him, her future self was speaking to Bing-yeon in a low, soft voice, trying to seduce him. What kind of situation would make her speak in such a tone?

“Do you know what that means, brother?”

“I don’t.”

“It means you and I must leave behind descendants.”

Her future self smiled seductively with a sweet laugh. If she thought about it now, she would know this moment would be seen by her past self.

‘I’ll really say such outrageous things in the future…? Really…?’

She couldn’t understand why she would say such things despite knowing this. She had clearly learned that babies were brought by storks or found floating in water.

Why would she say such lines in this dark room?

In the situation where only the voices of the two could be heard, the present Azazel stomped her feet in frustration.

“Why does it mean that? Surely…”

“Shh, brother, you really are clueless.”

Future Azazel made a shushing sound, as if speaking for her past self to hear.

“Right now, there are four women after you, including me, aren’t there? If I wait my turn, I won’t have any part of you to claim for myself.”

Four women? At this strange number, Azazel suddenly raised her head and looked in the direction of the voice.

Bi-wol, Verdandi, and Azazel.

No matter how she thought about it, there was no room for a fourth person. Weren’t these three the only women around Bing-yeon?

“I’m quite greedy, brother. Enough to set up this situation to seduce you.”

Who could the fourth person be, that made her future self so restless that she would take such a drastic measure to be alone with her master in the dark?

“Why are you suddenly acting like this? You said you had something to consult with me about your worries…”

Bing-yeon’s voice seemed weaker than now. He was panting as if about to lose his breath, and his shadow flickered as if he was limping.

“Yes, that’s right. I have no way to handle my burning love for you.”

Her future self was calmly expressing her true feelings toward such a Bing-yeon.

“You saved me from almost meeting a garbage man. Without expecting anything in return.”

As if asking him to look only at her now, her rainbow-colored eyes were fixed on one spot.

“Perhaps, do you have ulterior motives toward me? I think I’m not bad-looking myself.”

“How could that be?”

“Hehe, just as I thought. I had already confirmed it through sister Verdandi, but I wanted to hear it directly from you.”

Watching her future self laugh with coquetry, the present Azazel covered her face with her hands.

Azazel peeked through the gaps between her fingers at the two figures that were gradually becoming visible.

“Won’t you take responsibility for the rest of my life?”

“…”

“You’re not answering. Then perhaps…”

She felt her face getting hotter and couldn’t bear it anymore, even thinking she wanted to get between the two, when…

“Why don’t you remove that hand? You still need to wait your turn.”

At that moment, an unfamiliar voice rang out, and she felt her consciousness floating away to somewhere else.

* * *

“Are you alright, Master!”

At Verdandi’s urgent voice, she was able to separate the two only after cutting several tentacles on Azazel’s back with her holy sword.

“Thank you, Verdandi.”

“I’m so glad you’re not hurt!”

Verdandi sighed in relief.

After all, they had been in a fierce embrace in this public space, and Azazel had even fainted with a nosebleed.

“Th-thank you. I almost lost consciousness.”

“But why did junior act so impulsively?”

“M-Morgidian suddenly…”

“Couldn’t you have resisted anyway!”

Verdandi couldn’t understand.

She had been told that the tentacles on Azazel’s back were connected to an Outer God, so was it that god who tried to grab Bing-yeon?

It wasn’t a lie, but it felt like a convenient excuse, which annoyed her. After all, she hadn’t gotten to hug him yet either.

“Then hug me too!”

While Verdandi was expressing jealousy toward Bing-yeon for the first time, someone’s presence was felt.

“…What did you just say?”

Bi-wol, who had returned from the restroom, was glaring at Azazel and Verdandi with predatory eyes as if she wanted to kill them.

“Who did what with Master?”

Her voice was filled with killing intent, so strong that some people in the area were crying or collapsing. Bi-wol’s possessiveness was truly incredible.”