To the Imperial Palace – 5

My head was spinning. Even when I tried to think, my mind wouldn’t clear easily due to the black lingerie covering my vision and the sweet fruit scent. My consciousness kept drifting elsewhere.

“Where is your mind? I am asking you.”

A voice, somehow slightly excited, urged me on. The leg resting on my shoulder playfully swayed back and forth. Its heel tapped against my lower back.

The concentration of the fruit scent emanating from her crotch was gradually intensifying. By now, I could feel not only a slight dampness but even a faint heat.

Kaikilia bent her right knee further. My body was pulled forward. The already close distance narrowed even more. My nose was on the verge of touching the straight-parted crevice.

The silhouette beyond was clearly visible through the underwear clinging stickily to her skin. If I kept my mouth shut any longer, it felt like she was truly about to rub my face into her crotch.

This won’t do.

“I am here.”

“Oh?”

The right leg that had been pulling me stopped its movement. My body, which had been on the verge of burying my nose in her crotch, also stopped precariously. I seized the opportunity to continue speaking.

“Are you saying that a subject of the Empire would not be interested in Her Majesty the Emperor who rules them?”

“……”

The rough texture unique to lingerie brushed past the bridge of my nose. It was so close that I wondered if my breath could be felt through the underwear. It was truly a touch-and-go situation.

Hmph, I unconsciously sighed. As soon as that happened, Kaikilia’s leg, and the thigh touching my face, trembled. Her thigh muscles tightened firmly around both sides of my face.

I changed my mind. It wasn’t a distance where I wondered if my breath could be felt through the underwear; it was a distance where it *was* felt. Considering Kaikilia’s reaction just now, there was no doubt.

“A subject… Yes. That would be right. It was truly a clever answer.”

Her voice was distinctly colder than a moment ago.

The leg that had been constricting my shoulder loosened. Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, thinking it was over, Kaikilia, wearing a chilling smile on her face, bent her waist even deeper.

“However, there is one problem.”

My ear and Kaikilia’s lips touched. I felt the soft sensation of her lips near my ear. At the same time, her knee, which I thought was loosening, began to squeeze my shoulder much more tightly.

With her lips pressed close to my ear and me firmly secured by her knee, Kaikilia whispered softly in her uniquely eerie voice.

“What kind of subject in this world would bury their nose between the legs of the master they serve and mindlessly inhale their scent of flesh?”

The words, “I didn’t do that on purpose; you forced me, and I never mindlessly inhaled it,” lingered in my mouth.

It was only a thought. I wasn’t foolish enough to blurt out whatever came to mind without a filter. Who knew what would happen if I did?

The lips that had been pressed close to my ear, tapping against my earlobe, moved away. In contrast, the smile on Kaikilia’s face had become even more cruel. It was a smile that sent shivers down my spine just by looking at it.

Tap, the leather boot on her right leg gently pushed me back. As the strong fruit scent lingering at the tip of my nose disappeared, my body’s freedom was finally restored.

Kaikilia, with a terrifyingly beautiful smile plastered across her face, crossed her legs and looked down at me. The crotch, which had been emitting a sweet fruit scent, disappeared between her thighs.

The moment I, having regained my senses, hastily tried to kneel, a blunt voice stopped me.

“Not that spot.”

A long, slender finger pointed diagonally from the throne. It was a spot facing the same direction as Kaikilia. Without a word, I stood up and approached it.

Only after stopping me from kneeling on one knee did Kaikilia turn her head to look down at Aurora and the Captain-nims.

Naturally, I also ended up standing, looking down at the Captain-nims from diagonally behind the throne.

“Raise your heads.”

At those words, Aurora and the Captain-nims, who had been endlessly staring at the floor, straightened their posture. Surprise and doubt flickered in their gazes toward me. I, too, was very curious why I was in this position.

After that, only formal conversation followed. She asked about Aurora’s well-being and casually threw a few questions at the Captain-nims.

There was no trace of the ecstasy, joy, or excitement that had dripped from her voice when she was talking with me between her legs. All that was contained in her voice was bluntness.

The audience time quickly ended. It was natural, as Kaikilia herself seemed to have no desire to continue the conversation with us. The atmosphere instantly froze, and we quietly withdrew from the central hall.

We only received an order whose true intention was impossible to guess: to remain in the Imperial Palace until told we could leave.

“……”

The central hall, now empty of everyone. Kaikilia, perched on the throne, stared blankly into the air with eyes still filled with lingering ecstasy.

It was a posture she had taken countless times whenever she needed to think, but this moment was different. Of course, she had never experienced being submerged in such immense excitement and ecstasy before.

“Haa…”

A heated sigh escaped her lips.

In truth, she hadn’t intended to go that far at first. She merely wanted to clearly show who held the superior position between the two of them. She hadn’t had any thought of pulling his head between her legs.

However, the moment she realized his gaze was directed at her crotch, an indescribably thrilling pleasure shot through her spine and spread tingling throughout her entire body. It was a sensation she had never experienced before.

Kaikilia was not a woman ignorant of sexuality. Although she had no practical experience due to a lack of men who satisfied her, she could confidently claim to have perfectly mastered the theory.

However, there wasn’t a single book that described how one could experience such intense mental pleasure, or even reach a faint climax, simply by having their genitals looked at.

Because it was a completely unexpected pleasure, it came to her even more intensely.

‘…Was it that much, just from being watched?’

At first, she had intended to make that man succumb to desire. However, it was Kaikilia herself who ended up succumbing to desire instead.

The moment she realized that her most intimate female part was being seen, an enormous pleasure churned through her mind, and she ultimately succumbed to that pleasure, doing something she had never even imagined.

When the breath exhaled from his mouth touched her underwear, did that man truly notice that Kaikilia trembled and reached a faint climax?

No, he must have noticed. Not only did she tremble, but she even squeezed his face with her thighs. Unless he was an idiot, he would have realized.

As the Emperor, she had wished he hadn’t noticed and had simply moved on to preserve her dignity, but strangely, a desire for him to have noticed coexisted in a corner of her heart.

For Kaikilia, this confusing emotion was also a first, so her feelings were extremely complicated.

“So you were here after all, child.”

“…Minerva.”

An archaic yet mysterious voice shattered her thoughts and lodged itself in her mind.

Kaikilia looked down at the central hall with a slightly annoyed gaze. Minerva was walking step by step across the red carpet.

“I thought you would be holed up in the Magic Tower, deeply engrossed in your research by now, so what brings you here?”

“I came to hear your impressions.”

“Don’t you already know? There’s no need for me to answer.”

“There’s a difference between knowing and hearing. Tell me yourself, child.”

Kaikilia let out a deep sigh. Even though her blatant annoyance was clearly visible, Minerva merely wore a beaming smile.

“It was satisfactory. It was so good that I couldn’t be more satisfied. Are you done?”

Nod, nod, Minerva nodded her head up and down. At her expression, which seemed to already know that would be the answer, the annoyance on Kaikilia’s face deepened further.

“What do you plan to do now?”

“I will make him mine.”

Her golden eyes gleamed fiercely.

If Aurora had seen it, she would surely have fainted from unbearable terror, and even the Captain-nims would undoubtedly have trembled uncontrollably, as a terrible killing intent scattered in all directions.

“No matter what means I use, no matter what sacrifice I make, I will certainly make him my possession. I will not hand him over to anyone, nor allow anyone to covet him.”

ㅡEven if that means you, Minerva.

Minerva calmly brushed off the overflowing killing intent and the sharp, chilling warning gaze.

“I understand. Try your best.”

At first glance, it sounded like encouragement. But Kaikilia didn’t miss the hidden meaning within it.

Those words were, in essence, telling her that it was impossible with her current abilities, so she should work hard to make it possible in the future.

At least, that was the meaning of “effort” as Minerva used it.

“…Explain in more detail. What does that mean?”

“It means exactly what it says. Do you truly think you, Kaikilia, can take that child for yourself? A child who might become far stronger than you, and in turn, subjugate you?”

There was a reason Minerva said such things.

Every person possessed a concept called “potential,” which indicated the limits of how much they could grow. It was a concept that was only vaguely known and spread within the Magic Tower, as the theory had not yet been fully established.

The potential possessed by most people stopped at an ordinary level. A few exceptional individuals could diligently hone their talents and achieve a certain degree of fame.

But Delta was different. All the abilities a human could possess were close to their theoretical limits.

If he wished to become a knight, he would leave his name in history; if he wished to become a mage, he would be recorded forever in magic tomes; and if he wished to become a cleric, he would be revered as a saint for an infinite time.

Delta was a human who could become anything if he set his mind to pursuing a single path.

Or, if he could overcome the issue of lifespan, he might even reach the pinnacle in all those fields. For a human with such potential, it was by no means an empty boast.

To put such a being under her? Minerva quietly chuckled to herself at Kaikilia’s adorable and cute ambition.

“Just you wait and see. I will succeed for all to witness.”

Kaikilia, who had risen from the throne, declared majestically. And as she was about to open the door located on the wall behind the throne and leave, Minerva stopped her.

“Child. It’s good to have confidence, but don’t be arrogant.”

“……”

Hearing those words, Kaikilia paused for a moment and turned her head to look at Minerva. A mysterious smile still lingered on Minerva’s face.

“I am not so foolish as to be unable to distinguish between confidence and arrogance, Minerva. If you are saying this out of concern for me, then I will tell you not to waste your energy on useless endeavors. However.”

“However?”

Even at Minerva’s re-question, Kaikilia hesitated for a while, then turned her head again and muttered.

“…If he is truly a man who can subjugate me as you say, then I am certainly willing to follow him. A man who can even surpass this Kaikilia Libanus, would he not be a male with not the slightest flaw as a lifelong partner?”

With those words, Kaikilia exited the central hall.

Minerva, who had long watched the spot where Kaikilia disappeared, also turned around, maintaining the smile on her face.