abcnovels
Chapter 317
Chapter 317
Chapter 317
With the belated apology from the royal family of Ters over, Adelia’s face brightened considerably. She exuded an unmistakable air of happiness, as if she had finally let go of her lingering regrets.
Friedrich’s apology had an impact, but perhaps Hiriya’s was the most significant. The clear sound of a slap echoed in the drawing room as Adelia struck her cheek cleanly.
The amusing part was that she hit the exact same spot I had hit before. Along with the slap, Adelia’s words remained vividly in my mind.
“If you do that again, I’ll hit the other side. Keep that in mind.”
“Yes, yes! I understand, Unnie! I absolutely will!”
Hiriya, holding her cheek that was starting to swell, had a relieved expression. She probably felt that she had finally settled all her burdens.
Of course, even though she had settled things, I could still reduce her to a wreck at any time, so she didn’t take any further actions. If she had any common sense, she wouldn’t act out again.
Though I could have made her a slave or worse, Adelia didn’t want that, so we let her go. I’m not the kind of person to go that far either.
Honestly, keeping her as a slave would be useless unless there was some purpose for her. As a knight, her skills were inferior to Adelia’s, and she would just be a waste of resources.
In any case, we concluded things with Friedrich and Hiriya, and the only one left was Laos, but Adelia refused to see him.“Why bother? I don’t even want to see his face, so he can just get lost.”
That was exactly what she said. Slapping Laos wouldn’t have been satisfying, and she didn’t want any further ties with the royal family.
However, she did say she would gladly allow Lara to visit. It was a small act of mercy, showing the last bit of her conscience.
Having ended our bitter ties with the royal family of Ters, we returned to our peaceful daily life. Returning to our routine meant I handled the remaining tasks while Adelia, as always, assisted me.
“Sigh. When will I ever finish reading all this?”
The problem was that there was so much it made me want to curse. I sighed at the pile of letters stacked high on my desk.
The contents of these letters are fan letters and greetings from famous families, among various other types of correspondence. Naturally, these letters were sent to Xenon, which is to say, to me.
Originally, they would have gone to the publishing house, but after revealing my identity, they started coming directly to the mansion.
Moreover, unlike before when I maintained an air of mystery, now that people know who Xenon is, the volume of letters has increased significantly. Reading all of this makes me nauseous, and the problem is, this isn’t even the end of it.
“Wow. This drawing is really well done!”
“Who drew it?”
“Let’s see… Bernado Helinka? Do you know who that is?”
“No idea.”
Not only letters but also packages containing various items started arriving at the mansion in large quantities. Just the visible amount was enough to make me laugh in disbelief, and the problem is, this isn’t even all of it.
All the letters and packages that have made it to my room have already been ‘inspected.’ In other words, there are still many more that haven’t been checked yet.
Since my identity was revealed, there is a risk of devil worshippers attempting an attack, so everything is inspected one by one. This is handled meticulously by wizards sent from the royal palace, Helium, and Alvenheim.
They are particularly thorough with packages; if there’s any sign of magic, they immediately set it aside. If there’s any explosive magic, it could endanger the entire mansion.
So, while I’m only checking the ones that have been cleared, the sheer volume was still daunting.
‘I wonder when I’ll be able to go back to the academy.’
After revealing my identity, the academy began to make accommodations for me. Even royalty can only take a maximum of one year off, but I have been granted unlimited leave.
The academy sees this as a golden opportunity to boast that Xenon is an alumnus, an unprecedented honor. They wouldn’t miss this chance.
They even said that if I wanted, they could let me graduate anytime and even offer me a faculty position.
However, I firmly refused as it felt too shameless, and I have a lot to learn under Elena. Moreover, unlike the professors, I don’t have much knowledge.
Think about why professors are professors. At the very least, they are experts in their fields and have presented numerous papers. They are monsters in their own right.
Even though I have the experience of a previous life, my knowledge of this world is far from sufficient. Perhaps if it were an honorary position.
“Show me. I want to see how well it’s drawn.”
“Here you go.”
Adelia, who had been inspecting it for safety, handed me the drawing. Although I’ve seen many works at exhibitions, this is the first time a drawing has been sent to the mansion.
You might ask what I’ve been doing until now, but as I said, it takes time to inspect everything. We can’t afford to overlook even a 0.001% chance of danger.
So today, we received this mountain of fan letters and packages. The problem is, this is only what’s been sorted so far, so more will likely keep coming.
Just thinking about it makes me dizzy, but let’s take a look at the drawing first.
“It’s Jin and Lily, right?”
The drawing Adelia showed me was of the popular couple Jin and Lily from Xenon’s Biography. Lily was standing at the front with her hands clasped in prayer, while Jin stood behind her.
The drawing perfectly captures Jin and Lily’s relationship. Especially striking is Jin’s willingness to become the shadow for Lily’s light.
Although the era makes the art style different from the illustrations of my past life, it’s still a work created for me, a fan art. Moreover, the composition itself is excellent, fully capturing the watercolor’s unique emotional touch.
“I should ask Mother or Marie about this later. Come to think of it, I don’t have any connections with other artists.”
“Oh… Isaac, look at this one too.”
“Hmm?”
As I was thinking it wouldn’t be a bad idea to meet some great artists someday, Adelia handed me another drawing. Her face was slightly flushed with admiration as she passed it to me. Curiously, I took the drawing without suspicion.
And as I looked at the drawing, I couldn’t help but blink in surprise.
“…This is Lilith, right?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm…”
It’s fan art of Lilith, who embodies lust. Given her character, the depiction is boldly revealing, almost to the point of being scantily clad.
The drawing is tantalizing, with Lilith’s wings strategically covering only the most intimate areas, making it even more provocative. Given that Lilith’s motif is Cecily, I can’t help but see her in the artwork.
The quality is so high that I’m worried Helium might come to confiscate it. It seemed to push Cecily’s sexiness to its limits.
Before my imagination went any further, I placed the drawing on the desk. While I’ve seen Cecily in person, this artwork is quite stimulating in many ways.
‘There’s likely to be more explicit content coming…’
The issue is that there are planned erotic scenes between Xenon and Mary. Before reclaiming Alvenheim from the demons, they reaffirm their love, potentially for the last time.
This scenario doesn’t just apply to the main characters, but also to Jin and Lily. Such situations are common on actual battlefields, so it’s not lacking in plausibility.
The challenge lies in whether to depict my experiences directly or use metaphorical expressions to describe them subtly.
‘Marie was okay with it, but…’
Recalling the first night with Marie helped with the psychological portrayal, but writing out the actual scene would be too intense and explicit. Even though it was both of our first experiences, it was as wild as animals in heat. I never knew I had that level of stamina.
It’s no secret that since then, Marie has been insatiable, and I’ve been at her mercy daily. We’ve even agreed that it’s fine to include our sex life in the book, but implementing it poses various difficulties.
‘Drawing it is fine. The problem is the youth or children who might see it.’
I can overlook the erotic-level drawings. Although a bit embarrassing, it’s just a drawing and doesn’t directly depict me and Marie.
However, the readers’ age range is a concern. Xenon’s Biography is read by people of all ages. This means that not only adults but also younger readers are engaged with the book. While nobles are required to receive sex education, it’s different for commoners, as seen in Kate’s case.
Those living in cities might have access to higher education, but the majority are in rural areas. For instance, even the Michelle estate, right next to the capital, was a quiet countryside before its development.
Although some major estates have achieved urbanization comparable to the capital, the number is still very small. Naturally, the quality of education is also lower.
‘Even on Earth, with its highly developed culture, there are still people who are completely ignorant or misguided. It’s probably even worse here.’
Sometimes people make mistakes because they acquire incorrect sexual knowledge from pornography or erotic books. It’s no different here.
Erotic stories? Expecting anything like that is unrealistic in a place where even simple texts are made difficult like English SATs.
Erotic literature itself emerged after the French Revolution to discredit royalty and nobility, so it’s not historically appropriate here.
Given all these considerations, it’s a deeply troublesome situation. I plan to introduce and develop these themes after the main battle with Envy in Volume 23, flowering them in Volume 24.
Originally, I intended to reveal the hidden origins of the elves in Volume 24, but due to a lack of coherence, I postponed it. I’ll just drop some hints and leave it at that.
‘It’s something that is bound to be seen in human psychology. I have to write with that in mind.’
Some might scoff at the need for such deep contemplation over a single scene. Honestly, I’d love to describe everything that happened on our first night.
The problem is that people worldwide, not just from one country, will read it. Even in my previous life, I’ve seen such scenes but never written one myself.
This means I have to capture exactly what I saw and felt in this context. And I have to do it for two different scenes.
I glanced at the erotic-level drawing and then shifted my gaze. Looking around, I saw Adelia opening mail and examining another drawing.
“Noona.”
“Hmm? Did you call me?”
When I called her, Adelia blinked her sky-blue eyes and looked at me. Come to think of it, our first night together was just as intense as with Marie.
Strange thoughts briefly crossed my mind, but I suppressed them. Right now, the priority is to decide how to write these scenes.
It would be more efficient to tackle the most challenging scene first and then write the main story. So, I asked Adelia,
“Noona, how old were you when you entered the palace?”
“I think I was around 12 years old. Yes, about that.”
“Did you receive any sex education before that?”
“Sex education?”
“Yes.”
Adelia blushed slightly at my question, feeling a bit embarrassed. However, she noticed I was serious and cleared her throat before answering quietly.
“As you know, my mother was a prostitute. So, she taught me in a somewhat practical way.”
“Practical, as in…?”
“How to please a man more. She focused solely on physical pleasure without any emotional connection.”
“So, back then, during night service…”
“You’re going to get scolded.”
When I made a cheeky joke, Adelia chided me. Thanks to having completely moved past her past, she can now handle these provocative conversations without issue.
I smiled lightly and dropped the joke, returning to the main topic.
“Do you know how commoners receive sex education?”
“It’s varied. There are academies, but commoners who receive education before that usually come from very wealthy families. Most of the time, it’s taught by their parents.”
“I see…”
Not every estate has schools or academies, and education before adulthood is mostly the responsibility of the parents. Each family’s way of life differs, so it’s not standardized.
“But why are you asking about this?”
“It’s because there’s going to be a love scene at the end of Volume 24. Xenon and Mary, as well as Jin and Lily.”
“What? They’re finally getting together? Finally?”
Adelia’s eyes widened in surprise when I mentioned the scene. She even walked up to me quickly, her expression showing she was eager to know if I was serious. I had almost forgotten that Adelia was a fan of Jin and Lily.
She felt that Jin, who had a miserable and gloomy childhood, was a reflection of herself. Even being abandoned by his biological father was the same.
As a result, she got along well with my mother.
“Uh… Yes. As the story heads towards its conclusion, there should be events like this, don’t you think?”
“Oh! Finally…”
Adelia, moved as she clasped her hands together. Is it just an illusion, or does she somehow resemble my mother?
Adelia, who looked expectantly at me with an eager expression, spoke as I stood there with a puzzled look on my face.
“Is that what you’ve been worried about? Just write it down straightforwardly.”
“But someone might copy it. We need to make sure incorrect information doesn’t spread.”
“Hmm… Yeah, it would be a bit awkward if we wrote down exactly what we did.”
“Right?”
More than that, there’s one person in particular I’m most concerned about.
“We don’t want to instill weird ideas in a perfectly normal person, right? We need to prevent that as much as possible.”
*****
Meanwhile, around the same time, at the Luminous Temple in the Michelle Estate.
“Achoo!”
Kate, who was praying devoutly as usual, suddenly let out a sneeze.
[What’s the matter, my child?]
‘Ah, it’s nothing. My nose just suddenly felt itchy…’
Kate, who can now communicate directly with Luminous just like Isaac.
‘So, Luminous, when will I be able to receive his light?’
[…It might be soon.]
‘Really?’
[It depends on how you take it.]
‘Ah!’
She couldn’t contain her joy upon receiving Luminous’s oracle-like message.
Translators note: