Veron’s mansion was surrounded by a dense barrier that made intrusion difficult, but the pleasure house was a different matter. Security there was comparatively lax, and the likelihood of anyone bringing in a weapon was low. So I decided to deal with Veron inside the pleasure house.
Using Stealth and Lockpicking, I slipped easily into the room Veron was using.
Veron went rigid the moment he sat up in bed. He sensed an unfamiliar presence. An inexplicable pressure bore down on his skin. Instinct reacted first. He pulled the dagger he had hidden under his pillow and hurled it. But the blade turned to ash before it could reach its mark. Black flames wrapped around the dagger and consumed it entirely.
Black fire.
A demon.
“Who are you.”
Veron asked in a low voice as he picked up another sword he had buried beneath a pile of clothes. He never went anywhere completely unarmed. Instead of an answer, a shadow moved. A black robe swept across the floor.
Veron stepped back on instinct. He had interrogated, tortured, and killed countless demons — but this one was different in kind. Clearly powerful. And yet I sense no demonic energy. Veron knew the name of this person. There was only one Legion Commander in the Demon King’s army who gave off no demonic energy. A singular existence — and all the more terrifying for it. Veron ground out his name like he was chewing on something bitter.
“…Shane.”
Veron moved first. The dagger flashed, aimed for Shane’s throat. It was a fast, precise thrust — but the target was already gone. The blade cut through empty air.
The moment he turned, Shane’s foot drove into Veron’s side. Veron’s body slammed into the wall and bounced off it. The breath was knocked clean out of him. Even so, he clenched his teeth and forced himself back into a stance. The sacred energy distinctive to inquisitors filled the room like an aurora. Light flared and moved to encircle Shane — the optimal combination for binding and purification, designed specifically to counter demons.
But the light never reached him. Black flames spread across the floor, gnawing the incantation apart.
“Damn it!”
Veron cursed and charged. The dagger aimed for Shane’s heart. This time he was certain it would land. The distance, the timing — both were perfect.
But his wrist was caught. The strength transmitted through the leather glove was not human. The dagger fell from Veron’s hand. A blow followed. Shane’s fist drove into Veron’s abdomen as if piercing clean through him. The sound of bone rattling, and blood burst from inside his mouth. A razor-edged blade came down hard on Veron’s shoulder.
Veron staggered backward. His body had already stopped obeying him. Shane didn’t bother to give chase. He advanced at a leisurely pace, one step at a time.
“You’ve interrogated so many demons — and yet you apparently have no idea what true fear is.”
A low, soft voice rang out. An invisible pressure bore down on Veron’s mind. His soul was being pulled out. Veron couldn’t even scream as he dropped to his knees. A dark shadow fell over his field of vision.
“I won’t kill you. The soul has to be extracted while you’re still alive, you see.”
Shane whispered gently. Veron’s body convulsed. And shortly after, the focus drained from his eyes. Once the soul had been extracted, all that remained was a body soaked in blood. The room fell silent again. Shane looked down at his blood-spattered clothes.
The scraping sound of the door opening shattered the quiet. A male courtesan working at the pleasure house peeked in — and went wide-eyed with shock at the sight of Veron collapsed on the floor. He was a delicate-framed beauty. The mole at the corner of his mouth was captivating. His face still bore bruises that hadn’t yet faded, and the marks of rope were vivid on his wrists. His split lips spoke plainly of the treatment he had endured.
The moment the man was about to scream, Shane hastily covered his mouth.
“Ten minutes from now. If you give him a healing potion within that time, he can be saved. But if more time passes than that, he dies. The choice is yours.”
Shane murmured quietly. The man looked up at Shane with eyes brimming with tears. When Shane released his mouth, he said in a hoarse, halting voice,
“Thank you… for saving me… from Veron…”
He opened a drawer and pulled out a spare set of clothes and a bottle of perfume, which he held out to Shane. The meaning was clear — change out of the blood-soaked clothes and cover the smell.
Shane accepted them in silence. What that beauty would do next was obvious. It seemed Veron was fated to die tonight without receiving any treatment.
Theo had not been asleep. He had only been pretending.
He had waited until he confirmed that Lihen was carefully slipping out of bed and leaving, then followed him at a fixed distance, suppressing his presence as much as possible. He measured each footfall and controlled even his breathing to avoid being detected. And still he lost Lihen. His movements were quick. The way he moved so lightly without a sound was almost like the wind.
Theo drifted for a while without deciding where to go, then ultimately headed in the direction of the pleasure house. He hid himself in a nearby thicket and waited in silence for someone to come out. Time stretched long. The night air was bitterly cold, and with every breath he drew in, the inside of his lungs turned chill.
A thought surfaced. What am I even doing right now. There was no evidence anywhere that Lihen had gone inside. He was simply spinning strange fantasies on his own, doubting on his own, and wasting time aimlessly. It was foolish.
Right. Go home. Stop suspecting Lihen.
Just as Theo was about to take a step, the door opened. Light from the pleasure house spilled out into the dark. And through that light, Lihen appeared. Theo froze where he stood.
Lihen’s clothes had changed. He was wearing a robe over them so it wasn’t entirely clear, but it was different from what he’d been wearing when he’d left. Not the rough-textured everyday clothes he usually favored — something bright and decorative. Theo knew instinctively that this hadn’t been Lihen’s choice. The pleasure house had dressed him in it, without question. To suit a customer’s tastes.
Lihen passed right by where Theo was hiding. A strong perfume scent drifted off him. Musk swirled at the tip of his nose. There were quite a few musk-based perfumes out there, but this one was particularly strong and intoxicating. Theo knew what that smell was. It was the perfume used in pleasure houses. When he worked at the tavern, a few customers who wore that kind of fragrance had come in. Those customers held their companions’ arms and smiled with alluring, half-lidded eyes. His head was splitting with pain. It wasn’t because of the perfume.
Theo slipped back into the bedroom ahead of Lihen and pulled the blanket up over his head as if nothing had happened, pretending to sleep. A few minutes later, Lihen came in. Lihen went into the bathroom and washed himself thoroughly, then changed into comfortable sleeping clothes. The outfit from the pleasure house he fed into the fireplace to use as fuel. He flopped down beside Theo — then turned over and pulled Theo snugly into his arms and fell asleep.
Lihen’s arm wrapped around Theo’s waist, and his chest pressed against Theo’s back. A familiar warmth. The same protective embrace as always. A faint trace of perfume still lingered on him. Theo’s stomach turned. What Lihen might have done inside the pleasure house, what he might have gone through — every dark imagining swelled in size.
He wanted to check Lihen’s body. If he looked, he thought he might be able to get a sense of what had happened to him.
Just check. That’s all.
Theo moved carefully, so as not to wake Lihen. He undid the buttons of his sleepwear one by one, revealing bare skin. The well-toned lines of his body were pale and firm. Theo held his breath and gently ran his hands over Lihen’s chest and abdomen. The warmth beneath his fingertips came through hot.
He felt no notable marks. A relief. At least there were no visible traces on the surface. But he couldn’t be fully at ease. The person that night could have been a customer who didn’t leave marks.
He pulled down his trousers and drawers. Even unerect, a considerable-sized cock hung slack. He felt it every time he saw it, but Lihen’s was straight and the color was remarkably clean. Almost no hair either. He traced down along the perineum and touched the hole behind. Still demurely closed. Then had he used the front? He had the kind of face that would attract demand regardless of gender. Good-looking, first and foremost.
When he worked it with his hand it stiffened quickly. Precum began to leak out in slow drips. He gripped tighter and stroked harder. Ngh, hnn — Lihen let out a moan in his sleep. Even so, he didn’t wake. He must have been truly exhausted.
Cum burst from the tip. It dirtied Lihen’s chest and thighs. Theo, his face flushed even deeper red than Lihen’s, tasted it. It was thick — as if it had been a long time since he’d last released. Theo realized that before he knew it, his own cock had gotten so hard it ached.
He spread Lihen’s cum between both of his thighs. He pressed Lihen’s legs together and draped his calves over his own shoulders. His swollen, rigid cock slid in between the tightly pressed thighs. The supple muscle squeezed around him in a way that felt unbearably good. He knew this was wrong. He was aware it was a bad thing to do. Not using the hole behind was what remained of his conscience.
“Lihen, hah, Lihen, why are you…”
I want to know about you. Where you go every night, what you do. Whether you’re really selling your body. No — the fact that you earn money selling your body felt like something he could no longer deny.
Then who are the partners. Women? Men? Or does it not matter, as long as there’s money to be made? If it was the front, did he get drunk on desire and buck his hips like Theo was doing now? If it was the back, did he stretch himself open in front of his customers and pant?
Why did you make this choice. When did you start treating your body so carelessly. Whether there was some trigger at the start of it, some wound… He wanted to know all of it.
You’re always smiling. That smile where your eyes disappear completely when you fold them up — it’s lovely, but at the same time it looks just a little crafty. I have no way of knowing what you’re hiding behind that smooth face.
The more I think about it, the more I realize I truly know nothing about you. I can’t even be certain whether the name “Lihen” is real or false, and you’ve never told me about your past or your true feelings.
And yet I like you. I want to look into every corner of your heart, from the very first thing to the very last. I want to tear apart the layers upon layers of hidden thoughts and feelings as if dissecting them, and ultimately hold every last one of them in my hands.
I know this is selfish — and perhaps strange, as desires go… but I can’t make this feeling stop.
Theo moved his hips like a man possessed. The inside of Lihen’s thighs grew hot from the friction. From the force of it, Lihen’s body was gradually being pushed upward. It seemed like his head might knock against the headboard, so Theo grabbed his waist and pulled him back down. The shaft caught between his thighs shuddered with the movement.
In the end, cum spilled over Lihen’s lower abdomen. The sight of that handsome set of abs dirtied by his own release was obscene. Theo stared at that intensely lewd scene for a long time.
And then Theo made up his mind. He would confront Lihen’s secret head-on. If there was something he wanted to know, wasn’t the answer to just ask directly?
He steadied his breath, got out of bed, and looked for a towel. He had to wipe Lihen’s body clean. As if nothing had happened at all.
Evil Points (Theo) +600p
The vivid evidence of a notification window remained — but there was no way Theo could know that.
Back to the present.
Shane worked out his own theory for why 600p had just accumulated.
…He must have kissed me twice!
It was a conclusion drawn from his knowledge of Theo’s nature in the original game — but in the reality unfolding right now, it was a guess that missed the mark entirely.
This kind of stuff might become regular here…yup, time to switch my brain and morals off. Such a shame, i really liked the plot too