“Damn it! Is that damn Aura Lord impotent or what!”
Back in her room, Lilia fumed as she recalled what had just happened.
When she first heard that the three most noble women of the Empire had come to the mansion, she saw it as a great opportunity. She planned to send them in as test subjects and earn credit for herself.
But the moment she saw the rumored Aura Lord who followed shortly after, a chill ran down her spine.
Thankfully, her disguise seemed to be working better than expected, as he didn’t appear to suspect her.
Even so, Lilia couldn’t afford to let her guard down around someone who had already taken down another officer like herself.
…Wait, no. Can’t I just seduce him and take him out?
Lilia possessed a unique ability to captivate the opposite sex.
Born in the slums, her beautiful appearance and the strange power to enthrall men had caused her to suffer many hardships from a young age.
She had lived with resentment and contempt toward men until one day she met the Vice Leader of the Heavenly God Cult.
Intrigued by her powers, the Vice Leader granted her the power of madness and took her in as a subordinate.
With the power of madness, her ability grew even stronger.
She began to absorb essence which was a form of life force from men who lusted after her and tried to use her as a plaything. Then she used that energy to grow stronger.
Seeing those men, whom she had once feared and despised, turn into obedient beasts under her spell filled her with twisted pleasure and ecstasy.
However, due to the nature of her abilities which were like the mental manipulation of Zelos, she was often assigned rear-line duties like recruitment or support.
Since she didn’t directly participate in combat, her status among the officers was rather low.
To make matters worse, when Zelos whom she had secretly looked down on died during a mission, her own standing weakened even further.
So she had been determined to make this mission a success no matter what… but then, an unexpected variable appeared.
If I eliminate the Aura Lord who’s still just a developing power right here, the leader’s trust will be mine alone.
She was somewhat simple-minded in her thinking. She figured that if she used her powers to seduce Mars and then eliminated him, she’d be rewarded for getting rid of the Heavenly God Cult’s greatest headache. Without delay, she put that plan into action.
However, during their first meeting, even though she secretly used her powers to charm Mars and then tried blatant tactics like brushing up against him or feeding him during the meal, his gaze hadn’t changed at all from the beginning.
Rather, the way he looked at her. He was clearly wary of her forwardness which nearly drove Lilia mad.
“I want to kill that damn Aura Lord bastard too! Ugh… But there are too many eyes watching, I can’t just get rid of him!”
She had intended to squeeze what she could out of the lord of this territory and then send him off as a test subject. But if the lord suddenly went missing, it was obvious the group that had just arrived would become suspicious. So, for now, she had no choice but to pretend to nurse him in his room.
“Could it be… that he doesn’t fall for my charms because he thinks I’m uglier than those girls?! No, no way… Me, inferior to those fresh-faced brats?!”
Lilia’s beauty was of a different flavor from that of the female club members.
Where Lilia’s appeal leaned toward seductiveness and sensuality, the others had an air of purity and innocence to them.
But to Lilia, the fact that Mars wasn’t falling for her…. was infuriating regardless of his preferences.
It wasn’t that there had never been anyone immune to her charm before.
She had confirmed that her allure didn’t work on the real higher-ups. The Vice Leader or executive-level figures.
However, that was only because they were all utterly insane or deranged lunatics. Her ability simply didn’t work on people who had lost their minds. Lilia knew better than anyone that her charm wasn’t so weak that it wouldn’t work on a mere boy who had just reached adulthood.
“Now that it’s come to this… I’ll just have to wither him myself…”
***
Late at night.
The room where Mars was sleeping was deathly quiet.
Ssshhh—
A mysterious visitor slipped into the room.
“Fufu, sleep tight~ Seems like the herbs mixed into the food worked better than expected.”
Among the vegetables used in the meal the group had eaten was an herb known to induce sleep.
In moderate amounts, it was a helpful herb that brought on a deep restful sleep. But in excessive doses, it could become a poisonous plant that caused a sudden heart attack.
Lilia who had ordered the chef who had fallen under her spell to use the herb up to its limit, now looked down at Mars, who had fallen into such a deep sleep that he didn’t even notice her approach. She felt a rush of thrill at the sight.
That’s right. Even if he’s an Aura Lord, he’s still human. If enough of his energy gets drained at once, he won’t be able to survive!
She briefly considered stabbing a knife into his neck and killing him right then and there.
But if she did that, there was a chance he’d wake up in an instant due to the killing intent and overpower her.
So instead, she decided to weaken Mars by draining his energy.
Absorbing energy was a technique only she could perform. It wasn’t something visible to the naked eye, nor did it give off any special sensation.
Of course, it would cause the body to wither and weaken, but she had never seen a human capable of noticing it happening, so she was confident.
Lilia quietly approached Mars and confirmed his sleeping face.
Fufu. I’ll be taking your energy now~
She brought her hand close to his body and focused her mind, beginning to draw out the energy within him.
After consuming so many low-quality energy sources in the past, the pure surge of Mars’s energy pouring in felt like breathing in the crisp air of a forest and it made her twitch between the legs.
Ho, hoo… What a lucky catch~ If I drain it all at once, he might die, so I need to make sure to weaken him just right!
If someone who’d been walking around normally suddenly died, all skin and bones by the next morning, of course this mansion would become a target of suspicion.
So Lilia who was determined to extract as much energy as she could without altering his outward appearance enough to alert others continued her act with an evil grin.
Some time passed.
Ugh… Huh?!
She had already been absorbing his energy for thirty minutes now, yet Mars’s expression remained remarkably peaceful in Lilia’s eyes.
Absorbing life force was essentially no different from stealing one’s vitality. Even just five minutes of having it drained would leave an ordinary man looking sickly and gaunt, as if struck by a serious illness.
Knights or those born with exceptional physical abilities could endure it a bit longer, but even they could only last about fifteen minutes at most.
Most people, once past that threshold, would have their life force completely drained and die on the spot.
But what on earth was this man?
She had been drawing in his energy non-stop for thirty minutes, yet there wasn’t the slightest change in the vibrant look on his face.
On the contrary, it was Lilia who was greedy for the overflowing energy who was starting to feel bloated from overconsumption.
The sheer fact that a single human could possess such an immense amount of life force shocked Lilia to the core. She immediately pulled her hand away and stepped back.
“…Could it be that an Aura Lord is something truly special?”
Even she had never absorbed the energy of an Aura Lord before.
After all, Aura Lords were nearly nonexistent on the continent, and before this man appeared, the only known Lord was Count Helios. Someone she could never dream of targeting.
Though she hadn’t absorbed all of his power, Lilia had taken in an amount close to the limit and instinctively felt stronger than ever before.
The purity of his energy too was far clearer and cleaner than that of other men. It was completely free of burden and it carried an incredibly sweet scent.
Realizing that Mars’s energy was incomparably greater in quantity and purer in quality than all the energy she had ever stolen from countless men before, Lilia’s eyes began to fill with a feeling called desire.
If I could make this man completely mine…!
Gulp.
To her, men had always been nothing more than disgusting, lowly beasts.
Even now, as a member of the Heavenly God Cult, that belief hadn’t changed. Aside from the vice leader who had granted her power and whom she considered a benefactor, she felt much the same toward everyone else.
But upon meeting Mars, a new thought began to take shape inside her.
If I can just tame him properly… could I possibly become the true master of the Heavenly God Cult?
It was an utterly absurd fantasy, but to Lilia, whose vision was now clouded by desire, Mars seemed to shine like a radiant, multicolored gem.
***
“Mmgh, slept well—huh? My body feels kind of heavy.”
Maybe it was because I slept in an unfamiliar place, but when I woke up, my body didn’t feel as good as usual.
Rather than feeling unwell, it was more like my body was physically heavy?
I haven’t felt like this since the day I had a serious sparring session with my master, Count Helios…
“Are you feeling unwell?”
“Ah, no. I guess I’m just still a bit tired… probably because I’m not used to sleeping in a new place…”
Huh? Why am I hearing someone else’s voice in my room?
Feeling a bad premonition, I slowly turned my head—
“I’m sorry. I should’ve asked the attendants to bring you a better blanket, fufu.”
“Uh… um…”
“You’re cute even right after waking up~”
It was a bizarre sight. Lilia, the mistress of the mansion, was kneeling down next to my bed.
My brain was so frozen it felt like I was experiencing, firsthand, what it meant for a human mind to completely shut down. What finally forced it back into motion was the sound of a knock.
Knock knock—
Click.
“Mars. The princess and the noble lady were asking when you might be waking u…. p…”
Pollo who had just opened the door froze at the scene in my room. Then, as if rewinding reality, he quietly closed the door and walked away.
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