There were only a handful of people who were allowed to touch Cecilia the 11th’s body.

Which was understandable, given that there was barely anything that was more important than both her body and her health. It was to the point that there was a specific term to refer to her body; the empress’ body.

This was why no one would ever have the chance to touch even the tip of her hair, save for doctors and the maids who directly attended to her.

With that in mind…

What this man was doing—approaching her and raising her chin with the tip of his finger—was practically lèse-majesté.

But, the strange thing here was how Cecilia the 11th was just letting him do whatever he wanted without saying anything.

…Ah…

When her eyes met Dowd Campbell’s eyes, she unknowingly swallowed dryly.

She could see his stern gaze, making her feel that he was trying to show her that he was clearly at the ‘top’ here, and was ‘looking down’ on her.

Given the status she was born and grown up with, she knew that she should’ve felt offended by this, that she had to put him in his place due to how discourteous his actions were.

But…

“…”

She could feel her legs shaking as heat was rising throughout her body.

It was hard for her to admit this, but, deep inside…

She felt ‘satisfaction’.

The fact that this man was ‘handling’ her like this made her shudder; goosebumps appeared all over her body.

But, she didn’t hate this feeling, and instead, she felt a tingling pleasure from it.

Meanwhile, Dowd slowly lowered his head and brought his lips close to her ear.

“What were you thinking—”

His voice sounded so sweet that she could feel poison in it.

The kind of sweetness that one could feel wafting through silk.

It was like drugs—one would know it was harmful, but they just couldn’t stay away from it.

“Dragging me here with Faenol?”

“…”

“Did you really have such a vulgar desire towards me? Just like her?”

“…”

“Answer.”

Hearing him saying that in a cold voice, the empress’ body flinched, trembling as she tried to avoid his gaze.

“…I’d be lying if I say I didn’t…”

Eventually, she closed her eyes tightly before admitting as such.

Of course, she was embarrassed. She felt as if her liver and intestines were melting.

But…

What else could she do besides telling him the truth when facing such a gaze?

Besides, it would be a fool’s errand for her to lie to him since they had come this far.

However, the man before her didn’t seem like he had the slightest intention of letting her go, even though she had just admitted something so embarrassing.

The empress tried to cast her gaze down, but he used the hand that was holding her chin to forcefully get her to see him eye-to-eye again.

“Her Imperial Majesty the Empress, everyone’s mother who’s supposed to care for all of the empire’s citizens, came here ‘expecting’ to be handled roughly by one man?”

“…”

“Answer.”

“…Y-Yesss… I-I—”

She admitted with a red face and trembling body. Seeing that, the corners of Dowd’s lips curled up a little more.

“Shameless.”

His cynical sentence sharply cut off the sentence that she couldn’t bring herself to continue.

Her legs gave out as she plopped down on the bed, but that didn’t seem to be enough to make this man stop what he was doing.

“In public, you always acted so elegantly, so pitiable, all while wearing the mask of benevolence…”

“…U-Ung…”

“But look at you here—”

She could see him getting closer and closer to her.

It was as if her breath was taken away; she couldn’t help but let out a gasp.

“Look at you, being handled roughly by a lowlife like me.”

“…Y-You—”

“And look at your expression. It seems like you’re really ‘enjoying’ this, aren’t you?”

As he said so, Dowd turned her head to the side.

Towards a mirror that just happened to be there, letting her see her own reflection on it.

“…”

That’s…

My face?

Such a question crossed the empress’ mind that was filled with heat.

He was correct.

Even though he had been treating her roughly like this…

Her expression suggested that she ‘enjoyed’ it.

As if something inside her was satisfied by it.

And probably…

She was looking forward that he’d be doing ‘something more than this’—

“What are you thinking about right now?”

“…”

“Answer me, Your Imperial Majesty.”

The empress gritted her teeth.

Her head felt so hot, as if her brain was boiling. She couldn’t even tell how hot her body was, as it definitely felt even hotter than her head.

She could even feel her lower abdomen flinching multiple times for some reason.

And in such a state…

She blurted out something unknowingly.

“…I-I’m not expecting you to go all the way—”

She said as such, as if pleading.

Her voice sounded so desperate, making even herself wonder if she had ever talked to anyone in such a voice before.

“T-That’s why, p-please… I-I want to hold you…j-just for a little longer… P-Please show me your compassion—”

She was the ruler of the empire.

Someone who could cause an upheaval on the continent with just a word.

And yet she was pleading to be embraced by this man.

Hearing what she had said, Dowd’s smile grew even wider.

“Well, if you say so.”

He then slowly lowered his head.

The empress slowly closed her eyes, containing her shaking pupils, all while imagining the ‘intense contact’ that was about to happen next.

However…

-Chu.

“…Huh?”

She let out such an exclamation, as if she was bewildered.

Because she could feel the light touch of his lips…

On her forehead.

“Nope.”

“…”

“Your Imperial Majesty, you need to cherish your body more.”

She blinked in a daze.

He had given Faenol—whose body was currently plopped down due to her legs given in—at least a wet and intimate kiss.

But for her…?

He just gave her a kiss on the forehead.

Are you for real?!

“A-Aren’t you being too—”

“Nope.”

Before the empress could finish the sentence she was about to utter in teary eyes, Dowd pointed behind her with a grin.

It was the proud smile that she usually saw from him when he took ‘a cheap shot’.

What he was pointing at was the door, which had completely opened wide.

What he was trying to say here was that, a kiss on the lips and a kiss on the forehead was enough for them to feel the level of pleasure that people would usually only feel from a ‘passionate sexual contact’.

“As you can see, I don’t have any reason to do anything more.”

“…”

“…”

And thus, the Faenol-Empress duo.

Suffered a disastrous defeat in the match.

●

After escaping that bizarre room, a while after walking the corridor.

I slightly looked around to make sure that there was no one around me.

After that…

“…Haaa…”

I collapsed while letting out a deep sigh.

“I liiiveeed…”

Honestly, at this point, I already became somewhat desensitized to such things because they happened quite a lot so far.

But, ‘sleeping together’ was like the last bomb that could turn my entire relationships with all the Vessels—which I could barely even maintain—upside down.

While yes, my virginity was already forcefully taken by the Gray punk, it didn’t seem like she’d tell others, considering that she barely showed herself up.

That’s why I don’t want them to keep forcing themselves on me like that—!

I swear, the moment I actually ‘did’ it with anyone other than the Gray punk, a large-scale war among the Devils would begin, and that would definitely lead to the world being destroyed—!

[…By the way, that was amazing. I can see you turning into an actual playboy as long as you keep on doing this.]

“…”

Did you think that would make me happy, huh?!

I thought so while glaring at the Soul Linker. At that moment, an annoying window popped up before my eyes.

Come to think of it…

This thing existed…right…

< System Message >

[ Legendary melting females’ hearts! ]

[ Proficiency of ‘Title: Playboy’ has increased! ]

“…”

But seriously though, what the fuck was this again?

I knew I had this, but what was it again?

< System Log >

[ Currently, the Title granted to you is ‘Playboy’! ]

[ When you flirt with women, you can perform more skillful, versatile, and proficient techniques than before! ]

[Your techniques surpassed the ability derived from the title!]

[ Bonus proficiency is added to the Title as deep as the feelings they have for you as you made them fall in love with you! ]

What the window was saying was basically…

They upgraded my Title since my flirting actually outperformed the Title’s buff…

“…”

This just pisses me off…

So far…

One lesson I had learned while getting myself involved with these Vessels was…

The more they tried to cross the line and force themselves on me like this, the easier for me to make them fall just by turning the table back on them. It was even easier than I previously thought.

Also, it was easier to deal with them compared to those who were silently watching from a distance while looking for an opportunity. You know, the dogs who bite and don’t bark.

Since my skill in pushing-and-pulling had gotten quite good —I had gone through all kinds of chaos after all—I could easily deal with such a sloppy surprise—

[Disgusting…]

“…”

[You don’t even think of denying the fact that you’re a fucking womanizer.]

Oh, shut the fuck up.

Who did you call a womanizer, huh?!

“…You know that’s not what’s important now, Caliban.”

I thought so while glaring at the window before my eyes.

Putting aside this annoying window, I noticed something strange.

< System Log >

[ Confirmed there was a very intimate contact with a Devil’s Vessel. ]

[ Target’s Demonic Aura is being charged into the ‘Fallen’s Seal’! ]

[ Target ‘Red Devil’s Demonic Aura is filling up! ]

Not this part, though since this was a familiar message that I had seen often.

The strange part was…

…It didn’t collect the other one?

There was no change to Brown Devil’s Demonic Aura.

To be exact,

It was as if she didn’t respond to my ‘Fatal Charm’ skill at all.

There was the case with the Red Devil back then, but that was because she just didn’t have much favorability towards me. This Brown punk seemed to be a little different than that.

Compared to Faenol back then when she wasn’t even interested in me, the Brown Devil was… How should I put it…?

“…It feels like she’s avoiding me…”

[What?]

“You know how it feels just by the atmosphere itself…”

I held back myself from saying it.

Because even I thought it sounded a little weird.

“…It feels like she actually hates me…”

[…What?]

Caliban replied in a dumbfounded voice.

I mean, a Devil’s Vessel that hated me?

That assumption was ridiculous, even to me…

[…You fucking disgust me, you know that?]

“…”

So what?

Look, this is literally the first case of this ever, of course I’m surprised by it!

Actually, I had a feeling that it wasn’t just a simple hate…

Because I could smell danger wafting from her.

I assumed that the hate she held towards me was one that was filled with extreme malice.

.

The kind of hate that would drive one to harm the recipient of that hate whenever they had the chance…

…Brown Devil, huh…?

Considering her character setting in the game ‘that I knew of’, I genuinely think that she wasn’t so bad.

But, the problem here was that she was in the kind of environment that could easily twist one’s personality.

[So, what are you planning to do?]

As I was thinking as such, Caliban asked from the Soul Linker.

[There are only a few days left before the School Festival starts. You’d need at least three kinds of Demonic Auras, no? So, you need to at least get one more no matter what.]

“…I mean, there’s only one left, no need to plan for anything else…”

I replied with a sigh.

While I could just call Riru and charge her Demonic Aura again, there was someone who was ‘bothering’ me more.

The person who had been staying quiet when the other women were throwing themselves at me, even though she usually was the one at the forefront of the charge.

She was the only one left…

In a lot of ways…

“…Time to meet up with Eleanor.”

The final boss herself.