Chapter 209: Chapter 209- Bite me?
Chapter 209: Chapter 209- Bite me?
Toward the path leading to the center of the forest, two women walked, followed at a distance of half a mile by two cloaked figures.
"Um, Madam, I mean..." Regina hesitated, unsure of how to address Esme properly, not knowing the appropriate way to refer to her Liege's woman.
"Sigh. You can call me anything. It's not like you will always call him Liege," Esme sighed, her stoic face betraying no emotion as her eyes scanned the largely destroyed forest.
"Huh? I don't understand, Miss Esme," Regina replied, confused by Esme's words, though she understood the implication might be Esme leaving her Liege or perhaps changing how she referred to him.
"Forget it. You'll understand in time. I have already accepted my fate," Esme said, having asked Mae to predict the future for her and Ryuk, only to become aware of things turning more complicated for her.
The least she could do now was savor these remaining moments, having realized she had fallen in love with the wrong man.
"Sigh," Esme sighed again.
'Did you do something, my Liege?' Regina thought, hearing Esme sigh for the third time. She felt perplexed about what might have happened to make her act so strangely.
Unaware that she too would sigh once she heard the results of Mae's prediction.
Finally, after weaving through scattered trees, they found their way to the center of the forest.
"My Liege, I brought Miss Esme—" Regina began, but her words trailed off as she took in the scene before her—a man on folded knees with an unbuttoned black shirt fluttering, both hands restrained, with a woman smiling as she rubbed his chest with her fingers.
"Is she molesting you?" Regina's face twitched, her hand instinctively grabbing her sword hilt. Her eyes remained fixated on the sight—Drishti's fingers playing across Ryuk's bare chest, while he was held by two cloaked figures who seemed to be struggling, their hands appearing not under their control.
'Did Mae's prediction come true this soon?' Esme's world turned upside down as she saw her man restrained by the cloaked figures and Drishti taking advantage of him.
Technically, it seemed impossible, so it was clear he was doing this intentionally.
Regina knew her battalion members well and was aware of Drishti's strength, making her think that Drishti, in her usual manner, was merely indulging in something interesting by molesting Ryuk.
Esme, knowing how strong Ryuk himself was, thought he must have orchestrated everything to appear innocent while being held by the cloaked figures and appearing weak while being molested by Drishti—a perfect plan laid by him.
Of course, both women were wrong technically, but their logical guesses were close to the mark.
"Shut up, Regina. Why would I even try to do something like that?" Drishti's fingers halted before speaking up, not caring about either of them. Her focus remained on finding nerves on his chest as she slightly pressed before lifting her gaze and inquiring, "Why is your heartbeat racing?"
"..... It always does," Ryuk calmly replied, maintaining a stoic face while looking at her before glancing at Esme to reassure her that it was a natural occurrence.
His heartbeat was racing because he had just undergone vein expansion by Valhale.
But, no hope for his excuses.
"Yes, I trust you," Esme nodded, maintaining a stoic expression, though her face betrayed her true thoughts.
:: Like Hell I will :: These were the words Ryuk heard instead, seeing her face scream how much she didn't believe him.
"Liege, Lady Drishti is over 400 years old, so..." Regina tried to remind Ryuk of Drishti's age, hoping it might help him create a mental barrier against her attacks and think straight instead of being swept away by her seduction.
'....You shouldn't have said that, Regina,' Ryuk thought as he felt Drishti's fingers halt on his chest. His eyes caught a sharp glint passing through hers at Regina's words, which even he felt were out of line.
Indeed, if someone had lived for so long that they forgot their exact age, one should understand that mentioning their age is a very sensitive matter.
"Hey, Regina?" Drishti called out, turning her gaze towards where Esme and Regina stood.
"Hm, what?" Regina replied firmly, matching Drishti's tone, her hands clenching.
"Weren't you here to perform a given task?" Drishti reminded her of the task Ryuk had assigned—to bring Esme.
"....Yes, Liege, here she is," Regina blinked twice before sighing, realizing how this old woman was changing the topic. She then turned to Ryuk. "Task completed."
"Hello, Esme," Ryuk greeted Esme with a head nod, seeing how the situation was being resolved peacefully.
"Hello," Esme greeted back, glancing at Drishti and Regina, feeling even more awkward after realizing how dangerous these women were for her future.
Turning toward Ryuk, she looked at him with a slight tremble of her eyebrow, showing her hesitation and mixed emotions, especially as she noticed Drishti continuing her finger movements.
'1....2...3..' Esme kept counting the rounds Drishti's fingers made on his skin, while her other eye kept tabs on the changes in Drishti's facial expressions.
She wouldn't have doubted her if it hadn't been for Mae's prediction today, which made her lose trust in both of these women.
So, she would be patient until she got her chance.
"Hm, so you can control your ability really well," Drishti observed, concluding that he had complete control over his ability to nullify as her energy penetrated his defenses, meaning he had suppressed his ability for this time.
'....' Not showing any reaction on his face, Ryuk maintained a composed demeanor while looking at Drishti, keeping his mind completely calm, knowing he was definitely not the one controlling his ability.
Even though Drishti thought the ability was under his control, the reality was that it had its own mind to judge threats, prompting Ryuk to remain unperturbed or else Drishti would notice this significant loophole.
This loophole was a concern since he wasn't aware of the criteria *Shunya* used to judge threats. Knowing Drishti well, he was sure she would definitely find something out of it.
The System needed to understand this ability first before Drishti, who, while teaching him, would have several chances to uncover the truth.
"Lady Drishti, is it not done yet?" Ryuk inquired, not feeling anything except the cold touch of her fingers. The lack of pain after so much time made him doubt if Drishti was really playing around.
"It's done," Drishti slowly stood after completing her work, prompting Ryuk to glare at Valhale, who averted his eyes, remembering how his methods had been enough to tear through Ryuk's veins.
"You both can leave him now," Drishti ordered the cloaked figures to release his hands, so he could stand and begin to button his shirt, but was interrupted by Esme.
"Um, wait, he must be exhausted. Let me button it," Esme suggested, slightly lifting herself on her toes to glance clearly at her target. The morning rays did their job perfectly as her eyes caught sight of his chiseled muscles, making her feel satisfied as she moved forward, thinking, 'I should help him.'
'Liege is really going to get molested today.'
'Is this why I reached this rank?'
Both of the cloaked figures inwardly thought about their present situation the moment they heard Esme's words and saw her approaching with that look on her face.
'At least hide your saliva,' Regina thought as she stood beside Esme, feeling that Esme's face definitely did not belong to someone who just wanted to help.
'What a chance,' Esme thought, having been twice caught in a trap by losing control and getting attacked by him instead. Now, for the first time, the situation aligned in her favor, with him sitting helplessly, awakening her sadistic side for a fleeting moment.
'Hah, I can't see this,' Drishti turned toward Valhale, whose eyes were fixed on his granddaughter, visibly wiping her saliva with her hand, making him disbelieve what was happening.
Valhale accepted that this young man was handsome, but certainly not more than he had been in his youth.
And right now, It was confusing and unsightly enough to make him avert his eyes and leave the place before Drishti disappeared too.
'I should have just done this in a closed room instead,' Ryuk thought, realizing that Drishti's behavior would now lead to another chain reaction.
Technically, it was slightly hard to each time get pushed away after being invited so much further by Esme.
At the end of the day, he was a man.
'Let's leave,' the cloaked figures looked toward each other after feeling their hands regain control. Without disturbing anything nearby, their figures blurred before disappearing, seeing how Esme wasn't paying attention to anything else.
So in that place remained Ryuk, Esme, and Regina, who was standing to protect his chastity if Esme forced him—a true sword.
Unaware that this human sword would be futile once his own manly sword took control of his desires.
"Um, can I bite?" Esme asked instinctively, looking at his neck.
"No," Ryuk blankly answered, not wanting her to bite him at this moment in front of Regina.
"A little bit?" Esme finally lifted her golden pupils from his chest to his eyes, blinking as if wanting just a single bite.
"Not a chance," Ryuk shook his head, not even considering such a thing.
'Huh, shouldn't she close the buttons? What bite? Has she lost her mind? Liege seems accustomed to it, but why?' Regina couldn't understand where this whole thing came from out of nowhere. Even more, Regina felt flabbergasted by Esme's words, considering biting someone.
"Pweaseee~" Esme requested again, leaning in and tilting her head, her tone soft, soothing, and melodious.
".....What happened to you?" Ryuk finally felt embarrassed, seeing her behave like this out of nowhere. Everything was right the previous day, and suddenly she was requesting to mark him.
Indeed, he could at least guess that after seeing Drishti, naturally, Esme must have awakened some insecurities and was now trying to assure herself by leaving a hickey or something.
But really?
"...." Seeing her keep blinking, he turned toward Regina, whose eyes twitched, understanding why Drishti and the others had left. Naturally, lovebirds could do anything that would be embarrassing for viewers, making her avert her eyes, understanding his signal. Then Ryuk turned toward Esme and said, "Fine, bite me."
'Damn it, this is embarrassing,' he thought. He didn't know exactly what had happened to her, nor what this bite thing was about, but it was clear he had never been in such an embarrassing situation before.