episode_0023

“Honestly, I’ve never thought that oppa’s appearance was particularly unattractive, but right now, you look so unbelievably cute, it’s almost deceptive.”

In response to Seohyun’s chatter as she tightly embraced me, I lightly sighed in reply.

“Even if I win this bet, it doesn’t feel like a real victory.”

As she clung to me, exerting enough force to emit slight groans, I couldn’t help but shiver at Seohyun’s actions.

I hadn’t entirely failed to anticipate her inclinations. After all, most of the audacity of Kristia originated from Seohyun’s mind.

While I hadn’t concluded that Seohyun had peculiar tastes solely based on that, I did harbor some suspicions…

“I’ve taken tomorrow off, so let’s have fun for a day.”

Even with a heart appended to the end, her lively words didn’t feel out of place, and I found myself half-surrendering, halting my resistance.

Considering the situation where we had already decided to spend a long time together, the chill dissipating from our bodies, it made sense to relent.

“Yeah, it’s been a while since we had some fun.”

As soon as I finished speaking, I felt Seohyun’s embrace grow stronger.

What differed from before was that while earlier she held me somewhat painfully, this time, despite her cold body, her gentle hug exuded warmth.

“I really… missed you a lot.”

Since I was being hugged from behind, I couldn’t see her expression, but I could clearly sense the hint of crying in her voice.

To miss someone to the point of tears.

Just how much had she longed for me?

I wanted to say “me too,” but uttering those words would likely be an insult to her.

“Well then, we’ll have to see each other a lot.”

I said, tilting my head to look at her.

Given our significant difference in stature, even this absurd posture was possible.

“She’s truly beautiful, even from this angle.”

A beautiful face, even when seen from behind.

“It must have been tough for you while I was gone, right?”

“I told you last time, there was only one thing that was truly difficult.”

Yeah, I had merged with Kristia, a person with insane background and power, so what could have been so difficult?

“Not being able to see oppa.”

“So does that mean there’s nothing difficult now?”

“Even when I see oppa, it’s so hard because I want to keep looking at him?”

Mixing in a bit of playfulness, Seohyun responded with a touch of mischief.

Then, she straightened up and met my gaze.

“Now, where do you think you’re going?”

“Where do I have to go? And besides, there’s no way for me to escape from your eyes.”

“Right. You can never escape from me.”

Seohyun, embracing me, held me a little tighter.

“Of course, I have no intention of running away.”

Feeling a slight unease, I held Seohyun even closer.

***

The atmosphere was quite tense, but we managed to have a rather enjoyable day.

I had been worried that Seohyun might attack me, but we simply reminisced about what had happened on Earth and spent an ordinary day.

For me, it was just a mundane conversation we had recently, but for Seohyun, it seemed quite enjoyable to talk about earthly matters after such a long time.

“The Arminian Kingdom seems to be stabilizing to some extent.”

It felt like an ordinary meeting, but there were two people emitting a slightly different atmosphere than before.

One was Queen Christiana, who ruled the Christiana Kingdom, and the other was Astia, a knight who silently carried out her duties behind Queen Christiana.

While Christiana showed only a slight change in atmosphere unless you knew her well, Astia seemed to be brimming with happiness even without showing much emotion.

“Yes.”

“This time, your move was very significant, Highfree.”

Thanks to Highfree, a character created with a longing for great freedom, the Arminian Kingdom could quickly be integrated into the Christiana Kingdom.

“I’ve got some skills!”

Rumor had it that Highfree was handling her former master, who used to rule the Arminian Kingdom, quite gently, almost like a slave, or so it appeared.

No one had seen him come out of her mansion in the Armenian Kingdom, but it was evident that he was handling himself in a very gentlemanly manner.

“The leader of the Armenian Kingdom has easily submitted to us, so we still have quite a bit of leeway.”

As Christia said, the resources of the Christia Kingdom are far from depleted.

In reality, even if they had fought a proper war, it seemed unlikely that many soldiers would have died. By taking control of the Armenian Kingdom in a rather gentle manner, there was no rebellion, and there was no need to expend additional administrative resources.

“There is no shortage of starting another war.”

Christia’s eyes gleamed sharply.

‘That’s really cool.’

I couldn’t help but be drawn to her again by her stunning gaze, almost unbelievable after our casual conversation yesterday.

“Do you plan to start the next war right away?”

At someone’s question, Christia lowered her head.

“Not yet. However, we should prepare for war. The ones we will trample from now on are not as weak as those before.”

‘Compared to the original, she’s insanely fast…’

The point at which I possessed her seems to be the starting point of the world we created, and at this point, Christia is nothing more than a newbie just beginning her conquest activities.

However, the Christia here is already trying to enter the main scenario, showing that she was indeed a better ruler than a tyrant.

“Do you intend to fight the Pandora Empire?”

“Yes. They dare to call themselves an empire, so we must take away that arrogant title.”

Christia spoke with a sly smile.

None of Christia’s subordinates objected to her words. Rather, they all showed a similar confidence that they would never be defeated.

‘A war with the Pandora Empire…’

The original Christia, no matter what tech she used, engaged in a long competition with the Pandora Empire.

The Pandora Empire was quite a large empire, possessing a long history and various great figures.

In order to express how remarkable Kristia was, the Pandora Empire was neither corrupt nor idle.

Therefore, even if the result always ended in Kristia’s victory, the war between Kristia and the Pandora Empire would inevitably require a long time.

“The current Kristia might end the war quickly.”

The biggest difference between the original Kristia and the present Kristia wasn’t just the quality of her subordinates or the higher level of her current power. It was fighting against a mad ruler who sought to make the entire world her possession versus fighting against a lord who simply sought to conquer the world with strong force – there was a big difference.

There would be differences in the consolidation of forces, the level of guerrilla warfare, and the number of forces surrendering to Kristia.

The saying “When the cat’s away, the mice will play” is all too famous.

The original Kristia was so cruel that she drove all humans into a corner, but the Kristia here was a very compassionate ruler to her own people.

Whether the former citizens of the Pandora Empire would resist Kristia to the end remained to be seen.

“For now, let’s start…”

The subsequent meeting was an ordinary strategic meeting.

For Kristia, who had spent a long time in this world, it might not have been a difficult story to understand, but for me, who had not even been possessed for a month, the words being tossed around were hard to comprehend.

“You didn’t pay much attention today.”

“It’s fine.”

Deliberately replying with a short sentence made Kristia’s expression quite interesting.

After yesterday’s incident, did something go wrong with the performance?

I forcibly suppressed the smile that was about to form as I looked at Kristia’s somewhat worried expression.

“Is there anything you want to eat? I realized I’ve rarely given you something you wanted.”

“I want to drink cola.”

With a playful tone, Christia responded with a small smile, as if she had just realized that I was deliberately setting the mood.

“I want to try that too. However, no matter how many times I’ve tried, I couldn’t make that heavenly drink.”

“In that case, I want to eat a hamburger.”

I thought for sure she would say it was impossible…

“Will this do?”

The dish Christia had the chefs bring out looked almost identical to the hamburgers I know so well.