Disqualified as an Heir

Ignoring the white flame that flared beside me, I took a slow step toward the oasis.

Splash.

A heavy sensation, accompanied by a profound chill.

Just how much magic was contained in this water?

Ankle-deep, then to my knees, and finally to my hips.

A frigid coldness flowed over the skin of my submerged lower body.

“Hoo…”

I exhaled, letting the water rise to my navel.

As I slowly breathed in, ripples spread across the water, traveling farther than they would in any ordinary pool.

It was cold.

But it was thrilling.

A cool energy, now indistinguishable from the chill or the magic, crept up my body, even to the parts not yet submerged.

I slowly knelt, and my torso sank into the water.

Once my chest was covered, the cold seemed to pulse in time with my heartbeat.

“Aren’t you coming in?”

I turned my head and asked Yoo Ha-jin.

He was frozen in an awkward posture. A quick glance at his lower half revealed a noticeable bulge.

“Ah, ahh. I’m coming.”

Yoo Ha-jin stripped naked and splashed his way in.

He tried to cover himself with his arms, but he couldn’t hide his stiff erection.

“Oof, it’s cold.”

With the water up to his shins, he scooped some up with his hands and spread it over his torso.

Each time he bent and straightened, dousing his body in the cold water, his dick and balls dangled loosely.

It must have been truly cold, as his scrotum gradually shriveled.

Splash—

I approached him. And then—

SPLASH! SPLASH!

“Ack! C-Cold! It’s so cold!”

“How do you expect to get in by hesitating like that? Do you really want to become the Guild Master?”

“Well, that’s— Ugh!”

PLUNGE!

I grabbed him and tossed him lightly into the water.

He trembled in my arms.

“Ugh, ack. Wait, water in my nose, khak—”

…Should I just go and side with his older brother now?

The way he thrashed his arms and legs was just…

No. That one has plenty of people around him anyway.

Since I already have an escape route, a high-risk, high-return gamble is better than a low-risk, low-return one.

“Ahem, ahem. Ah. I think I’m feeling a bit better now.”

“Didn’t you say using Body Enhancement would reduce the effect?”

“…I can just release it bit by bit once I get used to it.”

“…”

“…Fine, I’ll release it. Ughhh—”

He reluctantly deactivated the enhancement, shivering as he submerged his body in the water.

“Hoo, haah… How do you like it? This place.”

“If I were the Guild Master here… I’d probably spend all my free time in this oasis.”

“Haha, if I become the Guild Master, I’ll make sure you can use it as much as you want. Haha…”

Since I had thrown him in while holding him, our bodies were naturally pressed close together.

So close that his trembling breath tickled my left cheek.

I turned my head to meet his gaze. Our breaths mingled.

Peck.

A light press of the lips, not even a real kiss.

“Hah, ahem. We shouldn’t be doing this here…”

Saying that with such a dopey, blissful expression carried no conviction at all.

“Then what do people usually do here?”

“Usually, they meditate… or do slow stretches. They focus on the feeling of their muscles expanding and contracting, letting magic seep into every single fiber—”

“I see… But why aren’t you doing that…?”

“Because, ahem, A-gyeol, you’re—”

“Shh.”

My finger, beautiful enough to be chilling, touched his lips.

The man who dreamed of leading Yua Dokjon was subdued by that simple act.

“Be honest… Making excuses for every little thing… you’ll never achieve anything that way.”

I switched to my thumb, slowly and sensuously stroking his lower lip.

When he opened his mouth to say something, I quickly slipped my finger inside.

Compared to my finger, which was cold from the water, his tongue was scorching hot.

He parted his lips willingly, slowly extending his tongue and entrusting it to me.

Each time the hot, wet muscle was toyed with by my finger, his flame grew larger.

“Or perhaps, you intend to entrust everything to me? Just like this, without a single thought, you offer me your tongue…”

Beneath the transparent surface of the water, his member was shockingly swollen.

It was as if he couldn’t care less about his scrotum, which had shriveled in the cold water.

“Mmph…”

He pulled his head back, releasing my finger.

A string of saliva stretched between us before dripping into the oasis.

“If I entrust it to you, will you accept it?”

His face flushed, he slowly took my hand and gently massaged my saliva-slicked fingers.

“To think you’d obey so meekly… You’re really not suited to be a Guild Master at all.”

“And you truly are.”

SPLASH!

My free hand shot out like a kingfisher diving into the water, expertly snatching his groin.

“Heuk!”

“Still flustered by this cold water… Are you just spouting nonsense because of the lust filling your balls?”

“Hahh, who knows. Even if my mind clears after you drain that lust, haah, A-gyeol.”

He met my gaze with half-lidded eyes.

“A-gyeol, you’re a succubus, aren’t you? Maybe even a Succubus Queen?”

“I’m no queen. But I do have countless men beneath me.”

“That’s what a queen is. A queen. If I were to offer you a guild, a massive one at that, could I earn a place of favor among those countless men?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t even have the guild yet. In fact, aren’t you just trying to push the succession battle to get that guild onto me?”

“Haha, is that how it looks? I guess I haven’t been with anyone lately, so my mind’s a bit foggy.”

“Oh, dear.”

“After being with you, A-gyeol, no other woman can satisfy me. Ah, have I already fallen prey to a succubus?”

“My, you’re disqualified in so many ways.”

“So you don’t like it? If I succeed, you’ll have a massive guild.”

“I’m saying this because the probability of that success is plummeting by the second.”

“Haha… Should I fill up that fallen probability with my Essense? I heard succubi use Essense they get from men.”

“Were you always this sly? Before, you were talking about wanting me all to yourself, making our time together valuable, or something. Where did all that bravado go?”

“Ah, back then.”

He cut me off.

“That was when I didn’t know what was going on. I never thought my father would suddenly try to retire, um…”

He gazed into the distance. For the first time, the fiercely burning white flame wavered.

“When that happened, well… the people around me became all the more precious. And among them, A-gyeol, you know how value increases when things become rarer? You became even more, um… I realized you were too much for me, yes.”

Yoo Ha-jin’s shoulders slumped.

…Don’t tell me I’m the only one he has to lean on?

“But that doesn’t mean I want to give up on you. It’s just… given the circumstances, an equal… relationship with you is difficult, um. I’m a realist, you see. Um, yes. That’s all. Right now… is not the time for… that kind of bravado. Something like that?”

Yoo Ha-jin looked completely deflated. He must have been going through a lot…

I did feel a bit of pity for him.

But more than that, I felt like I’d made a terrible investment. Ugh.

Sorry for being this kind of woman.

Folding just because the game is going badly is for amateurs.

Especially in a single-round game where losing doesn’t mean total ruin.

In times like these, the risk is irrelevant.

No, in fact, the higher the risk, the more the cornered party will frantically sweeten the return.

At a time like this, I need to be as—

“A realist… So, realistically speaking, you’re saying you’re beneath me, Ha-jin. Whether in the present or the future, I’m above you… I see. In the end, the one on top is always responsible.”

“But the one on top also gets to eat more of the fruit.”

“Are you okay with that? Giving up the possibility that you might one day rise above me.”

“My chances are better if I support you from below. It’s better than getting nothing at all. And when we get the fruit, you’ll look after the one below, won’t you? The one who supported you from below and yielded the fruit.”

“From what I can see of the situation, that fruit was never going to be yours in the first place. But fine. Then how much can you handle?”

“Handle?”

“Do you just want a pretty Enhancement-type Awakener, or do you want the head of an organization that runs a black market, or perhaps, going even further—”

I whispered as I gently caressed his cheek.

“Do you want a succubus…? The ‘best’ I can do is different for each stage, you see.”

My ‘best’ as a succubus would be something you, who wants to monopolize me, wouldn’t find very pleasant…

He swallowed hard.

“…That’s not for me to judge.”

“Good. I like that attitude. Then first—Nasha!”

A fist-sized storm cloud appeared, puffing into existence. It flashed for an instant.

The lightning struck a spot high in a tree.

“Heuk!”

Something fell to the ground with a thud, and a moment later, a man shimmered into view.

The spirits had been chattering so much that I could now sense things like this myself.

However, since I couldn’t use long-range attacks as Seo A-gyeol, I had summoned the lightning spirit, Nasha, to strike him down.

“What was that?”

“What do you think? A voyeur.”

Splash, splash, patter, patter.

I stepped out of the oasis and onto the land. The wind played coolly across my wet, naked body.

“Y-Your clothes—”

“Hey, get up.”

I shook the man lying on the ground. As an Awakener with some kind of stealth skill, his slender body was packed with lean muscle.

As I woke him, I continued.

“My best as a succubus. Can you handle it? I’m not just talking about words. I’m asking if you can accept all of my actions, like this one, and maintain your initial resolve.”

“…”

“Then again, you have to handle it. It’s separate from whether you can or not.”

“…”

“What you can do, Ha-jin… is lighten my burden. So that I only have to do my best as Seo A-gyeol, not as a succubus. For example… by telling me who this voyeur belongs to.”

“…I don’t think he’s with my eldest brother.”

“You don’t know for sure, it just ‘seems’ that way… Well, I’ll have to implant a suggestion anyway. Looks like he’s waking up.”

“Ugh…”

“Now, speak honestly. Who sent you?”

“Like I’d tell you that—Kuaaargh!”

BZZZT!

I gave his solar plexus a light jolt of electricity, knocking him out.

At this range, I could use ‘Elemental Link,’ and the elemental control it granted inherited the proficiency of my Elemental Mage self, allowing for much finer adjustments.

“No wonder the suggestion wasn’t taking.”

It was like I couldn’t feel that click, that feeling of it locking into place.

But his resistance to suggestion was higher than I’d judged. Did they boost his resistance to mental skills in case he was discovered?

Using my ‘Horns’ would raise my suggestion skill level, and unfurling my ‘Wings’ would… lower his mental defense. I think one of the ‘Um-mun’ had an effect like that, too.

…Would that be enough? If I can’t land a suggestion on him for sure right here, things will get very annoying.

Screw it.

I leaned down, pressed my lips to the unconscious voyeur’s, and let my saliva trickle into his mouth.