Ch.85Queen of the Back Alley – 11

Marietta leaned back against the black leather chair. Her enormous breasts swayed precariously, threatening to spill over.

Sweat-dampened hair clung sporadically to her forehead and cheeks. Her intermittent breaths carried unmistakable traces of ecstasy.

Her half-hiked dress, soaked with various fluids yet still maintaining its pitch-black color, was on the verge of losing its function as clothing.

Something sticky trickled down the leather chair. The soft flesh of her thighs made squelching sounds as it stuck to the leather surface.

Marietta’s widely spread thighs contracted. The hem of her dress, which had rolled up to her abdomen, slid down to her pelvis.

She picked up a long pipe that had been carelessly tossed nearby. After rubbing her fingers in the air a few times, gray smoke rose from the end of the pipe.

Bringing it to her lips, Marietta took a drag and spoke.

“Are you certain?”

“Yes, ugh… I… am.”

On the desk in front of Marietta’s chair lay a woman. She wore tight black clothing, with black hair and black eyes.

While her upper garments clung tightly to her body, revealing every vulnerable curve without restraint, her lower half was completely bare, exposing her flushed skin.

Her lower body faced Marietta, while her head hung limply over the opposite edge of the desk. Her slightly protruding chest rose and fell with each breath.

The woman’s eyes were unfocused. She merely trembled occasionally, letting out faint hiccups. Her speech was slurred, as if her tongue were tied.

Marietta rose from her chair. The hem of her dress fell to her thighs, covering her legs.

With a soft exhale, she walked halfway around the desk to approach the woman’s head, then blew the smoke she had been holding directly into the woman’s face. The gray smoke was drawn into her mouth and nose.

“Well done. Now, rest.”

“No, please! Hah, keek! Hic! Kya, hak…”

The woman’s pupils dilated dramatically after inhaling the smoke. Blood vessels burst in her eyes, turning the whites red, and saliva dripped from her widely opened mouth.

Leaving the woman who could barely control her body as if struck by lightning, Marietta walked to the window, her high heels clicking against the floor.

Standing by the window covered with black blackout curtains, Marietta received the faint sunlight filtering through the gap and looked down at the boulevard through that thin opening.

‘There was no falsehood in the report.’

Marietta briefly glanced at the woman who was writhing in pain from the violence surging through her mind after receiving Marietta’s “reward.”

She had been a tool monitoring the boy since that blonde fool who mistook herself for Marietta’s sister had approached him.

And naturally, she had been watching from a distance when the Discarded Ones tested the boy.

The verification just now was to check if there were any lies mixed into her explanation. Since everything was true, she deserved her reward.

She would forget everything after sleeping it off anyway.

‘A human with regenerative abilities…’

She recalled the boy’s ability. They said he had perfectly regenerated despite having his arm severed, his eyes and brain stirred with a knife, and his throat pierced with a poisoned dagger.

That level of regeneration was strong enough to rank among the top of all regenerators Marietta had ever encountered.

Additionally, though this was a one-in-a-thousand possibility, if he had remained unaffected after consuming the stimulant in the tea because of his regenerative ability?

That would mean his recovery power was on a completely different level from other regenerators who could only heal physical wounds.

Almost to the point where one might wonder if he was closer to a demon than a human.

Moreover, they said the boy showed no signs of fatigue while continuing to fight, which increased his value even further. It was evidence of his tremendous stamina.

‘And his fighting style.’

Even with just this, he was more than worth recruiting, but the boy’s fighting style also perfectly appealed to Marietta.

He trusted his own recovery ability and wore down both himself and his opponent. Even if he lost 100 points while his opponent lost only 1, repeating this 100 times would bring him victory.

The boy’s attitude—not fearing pain but rather utilizing it—aligned exactly with Marietta’s preferred approach.

He was completely different from those idiots who possessed regenerative abilities yet feared pain.

Of course, regenerators were still human and could complain about the pain from injuries. But in Marietta’s view, they shouldn’t fear it.

Why should those who carry several spare lives fear being stabbed, cut, or burst open?

‘With such powerful regeneration, it makes sense that he used Tene leaves.’

Tene leaves were essentially the most powerful poison on the entire continent when limited to human targets, but conversely, their potency made them difficult to use readily.

If even a single drop splashed onto the user’s bare skin or if they inhaled even a tiny amount of the evaporated air, they would self-destruct before accomplishing anything.

But if one possessed regenerative abilities strong enough to recover from even the toxicity of Tene leaves, they could receive powerful returns without any risk.

Marietta’s mind was already filled with plans for how to use this boy. Her attitude suggested she had already made him her subordinate.

“I want him even more now.”

She wanted to make the boy hers right this moment. Just thinking about it made her body heat up unbearably.

Finally, her patience exhausted, Marietta activated the magic circle drawn on her palm. And she began counting internally. One, two, three…

Just before Marietta reached nine, a blonde man burst through the door.

“Whew, I’m dying. Shit. What’s with the sudden urgent call… Huh?”

Panting heavily, the blonde man who had rushed into Marietta’s room looked back and forth between the woman sprawled on the desk and Marietta with a puzzled expression.

Then he grinned at Marietta.

“What’s this, Sister? I didn’t know you had such tastes.”

“Stop talking nonsense. I was just giving her a reward.”

“Ah… right, a reward. I misunderstood. Sorry.”

The atmosphere changed in an instant. The confusion and playfulness disappeared from the man’s eyes, replaced by sympathy and pity.

“What’s the urgent call about this time? Don’t tell me the Discarded Ones actually defeated that kid?”

“The opposite. Those fools died without even putting up a fight. I didn’t expect anything from those idiots anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Then why?”

“You need to befriend that boy by any means necessary.”

Gray smoke poured from Marietta’s mouth. The smoke that shot up to the ceiling spread horizontally.

“Me with that kid? Why?”

“That boy is a regenerator. An extremely powerful one at that.”

The blonde man marveled at her words.

“Wow, shit. Really? He’s impressive enough for you to openly call him powerful? Well, my judgment is still intact, seeing as I picked up such a guy.”

“Choose your own method to befriend him. But make sure he never develops negative feelings toward me or this organization. If you approach him carelessly and make him resent us, I’ll cut off your head.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll watch my words carefully, so please don’t show such a fierce attitude, Sister. When it comes to friendliness, I’m the best, right? In two days when that kid comes to receive his new identity, I’ll make sure we walk in arm-in-arm, so just wait and see.”

“And one more thing.”

The blonde man, who was about to leave the room energetically, turned back. His expression seemed to ask if there was still something left to say.

“Latina, that girl, do you know where she is?”

“Latina? Why? Did she cause trouble?”

“From what I’ve heard, she disappeared without a trace.”

“Disappeared? Where to?”

“That’s why I’m asking you, brother.”

The man shrugged.

“I was the one who brought her in, but I’m not particularly close to her. I just accepted her flattery when she talked a bit and said she wanted to join our organization.”

“I see…”

“If she’s not dead, she’s probably hiding somewhere and will crawl back out on her own later. I didn’t expect you to worry about such an insignificant girl.”

“Do I look like I’m worried about her?”

“Never mind then. If you’re not worried, why are you asking?”

Marietta relayed to the blonde man everything that another informant—not the woman currently sprawled disgracefully on the desk—had told her.

All five men had died, and Latina, who had failed in the ambush, had fled down an alley for quite some time before suddenly disappearing before the informant’s eyes.

The informant had approached where Latina vanished and thoroughly searched the area but couldn’t find any trace of her.

Hearing this, the blonde man asked incredulously:

“So, they were following Latina as she fled, and then she just vanished with a ‘poof’? Is that even possible?”

“There was no lie in the statement. I verified it.”

Knowing the weight behind the words “I verified it,” the man quietly closed his mouth. If Marietta answered like that, the informant’s words were 100% true.

So he nodded obediently.

“Well, I’ll investigate if I get the chance. But don’t expect too much.”

With those words, the blonde man left the room. The sound of the door closing with a click was heard.

Now alone with the woman who was twitching in a near-unconscious state, Marietta murmured ominously in a chilling voice:

“I never had expectations for you.”

Her manner of speech had completely changed. Once she recruited the boy, she would blur that blonde man’s memories and reduce him to someone only used for menial tasks.

When replacing with a new part, the old part should rightfully be discarded. Keeping it would be pointless and would only take up space.

Marietta shuddered as she imagined the thrill of being called “Sister” by the boy.

A pair of blood-red eyes watched Marietta.