Commemorative Banquet – 5

As I emptied all the soup dishes, while receiving gazes that watched me with a very ominous-looking smile, Rije took my hand and pulled me up, saying it was time to go to the reception room.

“What about the others?”

“They’re doing their own thing. You’re the very last one. We woke up a long time ago.”

Indeed, it wasn’t strange at all for everyone else to have woken up much earlier. After all, I was the only one who drank that much alcohol yesterday and ended up completely passed out.

However, it was quite surprising that Aurora was perfectly fine. Even if the Knight Commanders were naturally sturdy individuals, Aurora was just a normal person, yet she drank about as much as I did and was still fine.

Filled with questions, I moved my feet and arrived at the reception room. Rije vigorously pushed the door open. Inside, Aurora was sitting elegantly on the sofa, sipping tea.

“……?”

Wearing what was called the ‘New City Missy Look’ dress.

There was no mistaking it. It was indeed the same dress she wore at yesterday’s banquet. It clung tightly to her body, fully exposing her chest and armpits, and her underwear line was still nowhere to be seen.

Wondering what on earth was going on, as I tried to clear my confused mind, Aurora smiled slightly and opened her mouth.

“You woke up later than I thought. The sun is already high in the sky. Was last night too intense?”

“……What?”

At those words, my thoughts stopped as if I had been hit on the head with a hammer, but I immediately realized it was a joke when I saw the smile on her face.

As I expected, Aurora soon put her teacup down on a small saucer, saying it was a joke.

Led by Rije’s hand, I sat on the sofa opposite Aurora. The person who made me sit there naturally sat right next to me, clinging close. Seeing that, Aurora’s eyebrows twitched for a moment.

Well, it wasn’t the first or second time Rije had done this to me, so I just accepted it. And what was important right now wasn’t the fact that Rije was clinging to me.

“Why are you wearing that outfit again, Yeongju-nim?”

“Hmm?”

Aurora lowered her head and looked down at her attire.

A chest so exposed that it seemed her side and under-breast would be visible. A waist that clung tightly to her body, revealing even her navel line. Hips that clearly showed she wasn’t wearing underwear.

No matter how I looked at it, it was the same dress she wore for yesterday’s banquet.

“That’s the dress you wore yesterday, isn’t it? Didn’t the banquet end a long time ago?”

“……What are you talking about? It seems you’re greatly mistaken about something. You need to cultivate a bit more knowledge about clothing.”

Aurora let out a small laugh.

“The dresses I’ve worn until now were just whatever I pulled out of the closet. This one was specially custom-made along with the banquet dress. I can’t just keep wearing the clothes that pig bastard bought, can I? And it was a bit too plain to show dignity as a Lord. I appreciate you noticing that I had a new dress made, but your eye for fashion is a bit lacking.”

‘……What did I just hear?’

I had to desperately control my expression so that the emotions I was feeling wouldn’t show on my face. In my opinion, the dresses she had worn until now were much more suitable for a Lord’s dignity and grace.

That was just a sex-appeal dress designed by modders to arouse viewers.

But to Aurora, it seemed to be the exact opposite. A dress so revealing that her nipples might pop out if she moved wrong, she genuinely thought that incredibly lewd dress was for dignity and grandeur.

‘I think I roughly understand why she’s like that.’

Even in the game, Aurora’s attire changes a little after she becomes Lord and some time passes. I thought it was fortunate that her old clothes were fine, but it seemed that was because this side had been tampered with.

The reason the banquet dress was also a ‘New City Missy Look’ style one-piece was simply due to recycled modeling assets.

“Oh, you’re really awake?”

“It’s just as Iris said. How did you know?”

“It’s a hunch.”

I wondered what she thought of my gaze, and as I watched Aurora provocatively cross and uncross her legs, feeling bewildered, the door opened and the rest of the Knight Commanders entered one after another.

Instead of the see-through one-piece with garter belts and lingerie combination from yesterday, they were wearing their usual white sleeveless tops and dolphin shorts in their respective hair colors.

‘Yeah, that’s better.’

I inwardly sighed in relief, thinking that the sleeveless tops and dolphin shorts were like angels now that I saw them again, and that I finally had a place to rest my eyes. The combination they wore at the banquet hall was truly difficult to endure in many ways.

As six people gathered, the quiet reception room instantly became noisy. To be precise, it was because Rije and Claudia were loudly chattering.

If those two were gone and it was just me, Aurora, Erica, and Iris, there wouldn’t be much difference between four or two.

“Well then, shall we stop the small talk here?”

The noisy atmosphere changed 180 degrees starting from Aurora’s words.

Gazes filled the space where the sound had disappeared. Five pairs of eyes were solely directed at me. It was a somewhat eerie sight.

“……Why do you all look like that?”

“We were wondering how much of what happened yesterday you remembered? But it seems you don’t remember everything. At best, maybe around the middle?”

“…….”

I couldn’t give any answer to Rije’s words. Because, in reality, my memory had indeed blacked out from around the middle.

In fact, Rije likely noticed that I didn’t have much memory of last night from the moment I answered a question with a question.

Though her actions were very childish, her actual abilities were in no way inferior to the other Knight Commanders.

“Well, in the end, we didn’t gain much separately either.”

“……?”

An unexpected remark came out of Iris’s mouth. I had blacked out, and they didn’t get anything? Did I not just black out, but fall completely asleep?

“You could say it’s half our fault, and half Rije’s fault.”

“Half Rije’s fault, you say?”

I gently pushed away Rije, who was clinging to my arm, and asked. What on earth did she do?

The five of them couldn’t find any particular sharp strategy.

Since the newcomer had kept their mouth shut so firmly, and it was obvious that if they were given more alcohol, they wouldn’t open up but rather lose consciousness and pass out.

Even now, the situation was precarious, wondering if they might suddenly fall asleep. Judging by how they periodically swayed, it seemed they could fall asleep at any moment if they just wanted to.

Ultimately, it meant they had to find a way to make him open up without giving him more alcohol or letting him fall asleep in this state, and such a method wouldn’t easily come to mind.

“That’s quite unexpected, Rije.”

“Huh? What?”

Iris stared blankly at Rije and Aurora, who had each taken a seat on either side of the newcomer, and were touching various parts of his face as if trying to satisfy their personal desires to the fullest, then casually threw out a remark.

“I thought you definitely wouldn’t miss this moment. I thought you’d suggest using a honey trap or something on the newcomer.”

Normally, the newcomer would endure Rije’s temptations well, but this time was different.

From the moment he seemed drunk, he had openly stared at Rije’s chest, and not only that, he had also furtively observed the other Knight Commanders and Aurora’s dress attire.

It wasn’t a bad feeling at all to be looked at with such gazes by the newcomer, which is why they left him alone, but if any other man had sent the same gaze, a lump the size of his own head would have appeared on his crown.

Or perhaps a bone would have been shattered somewhere.

Given the situation, it could perhaps be seen as natural to think that Rije would tempt the newcomer with her body as usual.

Of course, Erica and Iris would stop her immediately if there was any sign of her actually doing that.

“Ah, that?”

Rije proudly straightened her shoulders. Aurora, right next to her, had eyes that said, ‘What is she going to say now?’

“There’s no transgressive thrill. No transgressive thrill. If I were to tempt the newcomer now, he would naturally fall for it. But what’s the point of that? That’s not the scenario I want.”

Iris tilted her head. Seeing that, Rije continued her explanation, saying, ‘She doesn’t know anything.’

“What I want is for a man who was weaker than me at our first meeting, but had outstanding potential, to suddenly grow up and completely overwhelm me in every aspect, crushing me beneath him. The transgressive thrill that comes from that difference is what’s important. The moment when I, who initially seemed strong enough to handle everything in the world, realize that I am merely a female, and the newcomer realizes that very fact. Do you understand?”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

Silence fell over the banquet hall.

Not only Iris, who had asked the question, but also Aurora, who was right next to her, and even Erica and Claudia, who had been seriously discussing what method to use to make the newcomer open up, were so shocked by this confession of taste that they froze on the spot.

“But if he’s drunk, that can’t happen, can it? The transgressive thrill disappears, and only instinct remains. So, of course, I have to step back. Because I have to wait for the perfect moment.”

“Rije, you really are…….”

Iris muttered as if dumbfounded. She had heard a little before that Rije’s tastes were a bit unusual, but she had never imagined they would be so firm.

“Are you in your right mind, unnie? You should just keep things like that to yourself, why do we have to know what kind of sexual preferences you have? What sin did we commit to hear that right in front of us?”

Erica poured out nagging words like a machine gun. Her face truly showed disbelief. It was understandable, as she had just witnessed her own unnie revealing her sexual preferences right in front of her.

“Iris asked, didn’t she?”

“I didn’t think you would reveal all your tastes like that, though. Isn’t it too much to blame this situation on me?”

“So what?”

Rije smiled brightly and poked the newcomer’s cheek with her finger. The others merely watched the scene with eyes full of complex emotions.

“Why do I need to know what kind of sexual preferences my comrade has?”

Claudia muttered softly. It was a sentiment everyone present could empathize with.

“…….”

“……?”

Iris stopped herself from speaking, her face reddening and trembling. I looked around. Erica, Claudia, and Aurora had similar reactions.

Only Rije was acting perfectly normal.

“No, what happened while I was asleep that made you all like this?”

“……I don’t want to remember.”

‘What on earth did she do?’

First of all, since everyone’s reaction except Rije’s was like that, it was clear that something had happened, but since Iris didn’t seem to want to talk about it, I had no way of knowing.

“Ahem, ahem. Anyway, while time dragged on, you eventually fell asleep, and naturally, the chance to reveal the secret flew away. The only thing we managed was to deduce that you know much more than we thought.”

Iris added, clearing her throat. She seemed to think it was a failure, but in fact, that alone was quite a significant achievement.

The fact that I knew much more now. And the fact that I had a secret I was hiding. If they realized those two things, it was already about half a success.

“But our work ends here. If it’s something you’re so stubbornly unwilling to talk about, then it would be rude for us to press you further.”

“Really?”

“Instead, may I ask just one more thing?”

Iris’s expression became serious. I, too, tensed my body, wondering what she was going to ask. After a slight pause, Iris opened her mouth.

“Are the secrets you hold things you can eventually confide in us?”

“Of course. I certainly will.”

As soon as I heard Iris’s question, I reflexively nodded. There was no need to think about the answer. I didn’t know the exact timing, but I was definitely going to do it.

“Is that so. That’s enough.”

At my answer, Iris’s lips curved slightly upwards. Aurora, Erica, and Claudia also seemed quite satisfied with my answer.

“Wait, there’s still something I need to say.”

Rije suddenly cut in. I looked at Rije, wondering what she was going to say.

“We thought about it among ourselves after taking you to your room yesterday. Even if you’ve forgotten your name, we can’t keep calling you ‘newcomer’ forever, can we?”

Now that I thought about it, that was true.

After I answered that I had forgotten my name due to a curse, I had consistently been called only by the title ‘newcomer’ without a proper name. I had gotten so used to it that I just let it pass.

“That’s true. So?”

“You still don’t remember your name, do you?”

I nodded. I didn’t want to use the name I had before being transmigrated here. The thought of my Korean name being called here felt cringey, so I felt a sense of repulsion.

“We’ve thought of one. What do you think?”

Seeing her say ‘we,’ it seemed they had all thought of a name together. Since there seemed to be no harm in listening, I quietly waited for Rije’s next words.

“Delta. In ancient language, it means ‘change’. Since you’re bringing change to us, it’s a perfectly fitting name, isn’t it?”

‘Delta?’

Somehow, it was a name that made me think of something wandering around an underwater city deep in the sea, wearing a diving suit and holding a drill.