C187, 188
Chapter 187: Vacation in Rome (3)
“Wh-What are you talking about…?!”
Ha-eun’s face reddened and her eyes, glaring at Isabella, focused on her chest.
It was a particular area on her body that stood out even when she was wearing a baggy dress.
‘Fuck, was there a bug in the physics engine? How does she have that chest with such a thin waist?’
Ha-eun was confident that she didn’t fall behind anyone in terms of body figure, but Isabella had an outstanding curve that not even she could stand up to.
‘Is this why so many men are crazy for western women?’
It was the problem of race that hadn’t been solved even after several thousand years passed since the beginning of civilization.
When the fact that the difference would never disappear dawned on Ha-eun while she felt a deep sense of defeat—
“Ah, they said they have the same design in other sizes.”
—Isabella spoke with a relieved smile after finishing a phone call.
She looked like a gentle lady who was very caring on the outside, but…
“It’s fortunate that we were able to get you a ‘smaller’ size, Miss Ha-eun.”
Another vein popped on her forehead at how Isabella emphasized the word ‘smaller’ with a smile.
‘This bitch… she’s mocking me, isn’t she?’
However, what could be done?
They were in the Colagrande Household’s residence.
In other words, they were in Isabella's territory.
‘Argh, if only it wasn’t for Ohjin’s recovery.’
Ha-eun glared daggers at Isabella.
She wouldn’t allow herself to make a fuss because of hurt feelings when the matter of healing Ohjin’s injuries was on the line.
“If it isn’t to your liking, would you like to change to another swimsuit?”
“…No.”
Yank!—
The grin on Isabella’s face widened while she looked at Ha-eun roughly pulling the swimsuit away.
“Have you finished deciding on a swimsuit?”
“Well, more or less.”
What Ohjin picked were basic trunks.
There was no problem since male swimsuits weren’t all that different from each other.
‘The problem is…’
His gaze headed to Vega and Riak.
Riak didn’t really need a swimsuit, but the same couldn’t be said for Vega.
‘She can’t return to her true form in front of Isabella, either…’
Having told Isabella that Vega was his guardian spirit, they couldn’t show her what Vega actually looked like.
When he was contemplating what he should do…
[Do not worry about my clothes.]
Vega raised one hand and spun in the air.
Bzzzt!—
Blue lightning wrapped around her body and the silver dress she was wearing started to shine brightly.
The dress covered in lightning spread out like a ribbon and turned into the shape of a swimsuit.
[Transform!]
Vega placed her hands on her hips and shrugged after changing her dress into a one-piece swimsuit.
‘What is she, some kind of magical girl…?’
Ohjin chuckled and looked at Vega.
Vega, who had changed into her swimsuit, flew over and sat on top of his head.
“Hmm. You said you’re his guardian spirit… correct?”
Isabella’s eyes shone as she looked at Vega.
[That is correct.]
“I’ve seen a couple of spirits until now… but it’s my first time seeing a spirit with such a distinct ego.”
[This lady is a special spirit.]
“Fufu. I noticed. By any chance, do you also have a name? I think a spirit with such a clear mind like you would have been given a name.”
[That’s…]
Vega looked back at Ohjin with a panicked expression.
It looked like she was wondering if she should reveal that her name was ‘Vega’.
Ohjin took a step forward and answered for her.
“I named her Vega.”
“Vega? Isn’t Vega…”
“Yes. I named her after my celestial since my guardian spirit was gifted by her.”
“Ah. I was wondering why she was so different from other guardian spirits. So it’s because she’s a guardian spirit personally summoned by the celestial of Lyra.”
Isabella shortly exclaimed and nodded her head.
Fortunately, it seemed that she didn’t suspect Vega of being the celestial herself.
‘Well, who could possibly think that the celestial of Lyra changed into the shape of a doll to follow her apostle around?’
In the first place, a celestial materializing in that limited form was impossible if they didn’t have high divinity like Vega.
“Then I’ll go change my clothes. You should wait outside.”
Isabella winked at him and went into the changing room with Ha-eun.
Around ten minutes passed.
Ha-eun and Isabella, who had finished changing into their swimsuits, walked out.
“…”
—A suffocating feeling.
Time seemed to flow slowly as Ha-eun and Isabella walked out of the dressing room in their swimsuits.
“Stop staring so much.”
Ha-eun was wearing a black bikini with the shape of a red rose. She smirked and poked Ohjin, who was frozen in place and dazed.
“Fufu. I’m relieved that you seem to like it. I was worried it might be an ugly sight since I’ve been gaining some weight recently.”
Isabella wore a pure-white bikini in contrast to Ha-eun. She slightly pulled on the shoulder strap and looked down at her chest with worry.
That sly gesture raised the presence of her destructive weapon.
'Oh, fuck.'
Ohjin felt like his throat was drying up and gulped.
Ha-eun in a swimsuit was destructive enough, but Isabella was in another league.
"Then since we've all gotten into our swimsuits, should we depart?"
Isabella felt Ohjin’s intense gaze and smiled as she pulled his arm.
"…That foxy bitch."
Ha-eun chewed her lips and glared at Isabella, who was dragging Ohjin away.
If she could have it her way, she would yell at her for daring to flirt with her lover, but she couldn't even do that since Ohjin told her to keep their relationship a secret in front of Isabella and Vega.
"Sigh."
The only thing she could do was sigh deeply and follow them.
* * *
Translator - Maccas
Proofreader - ilafy
* * *
Ohjin and his company followed Isabella into a large van and headed to the beach.
They arrived after walking down the cliff for around ten minutes.
There were tourists who were there to enjoy a vacation like Ohjin's party and were bathing in the sea with parasols on the beach.
The gazes of the tourists focused on Ohjin and his company the moment they arrived.
"Isn't that Miss Isabella?"
"R-Really? The Saintess of Rome is here?"
"Holy crap! To think that a day where I'm able to see Miss Isabella with my own eyes would come…!"
"Who's the woman next to her? She's really pretty…"
The person that drew the most attention was Isabella.
A couple of people were also very interested in Ha-eun, but it couldn't compare to Isabella, who was known worldwide as the 'Saintess of Rome' and had an incredible background of being a part of the Colagrande Family.
Most of the people gathered at that vacation spot were wealthy and influential individuals.
Isabella couldn’t help but draw everyone's attention when she didn’t possess only outstanding looks but also both wealth and authority.
"M-Miss Isabella! If possible, could you spare me some of your time and share a meal with me…?"
"No, with me!"
A few of them had the courage to approach Isabella and ask her on a date.
"I'm sorry. I had a meal before I got here."
Isabella skillfully turned down the males that asked for dates and walked along the beach with relaxed movements.
"…You're really popular, aren’t you?"
"Oh my, is that so?"
Ha-eun looked at the males that only gathered at Isabella’s side and frowned.
Though, for her, a truckload of people like them couldn't even be compared to Ohjin’s toenail…
'What the fuck.'
She still felt some kind of indescribable sense of defeat and humiliation.
"It's probably because they aren't used to easterners."
Isabella smiled and patted Ha-eun’s shoulder in a comforting manner.
"Who cares. I have not the slightest interest in losers like them."
Ha-eun puffed air out of her nose as she grabbed Ohjin’s arm and quickly ran to the shore.
When they neared the emerald sea that was so clear they could see the ocean floor—
"…This is the sea, right?"
—Ohjin felt a wave of heat like when you opened the door to a car that was left under the sunlight in summer and furrowed his brow.
It felt like he hadn't gone to a beach but to a hot spring.
Splash—
Once he slightly put his foot in the gentle waves, he instantly noticed that the seawater really was warm like a hot spring.
“The water around this area is warm because of the influence of mana.”
“With its current temperature, it feels more hot than warm.”
It was hard to imagine the quantity of mana required to change the weather and warm up the seawater in the entire area to be akin to a hot spring.
“Well, well. Let’s see how hot it is.”
Ha-eun copied Ohjin and slightly submerged her foot in the seawater.
“Damn. How is the seawater like a slightly cooler hot spring?”
“I know, right?”
“This place is amazing.”
Astonished, Ha-eun played around with the water and submerged herself.
“Hehe. Ohjin, hurry up and join me!”
“Yeah.”
[Hmpf! This lady shall enter as well!]
Vega’s eyes glittered as she somehow got a tube the size of a donut and put it on.
It looked like she was quite excited about playing at the beach after staying in her empty sanctuary all day.
‘It’s sometimes really hard to tell if she’s a celestial.’
Well, it didn’t feel bad whenever he saw Vega act that way since it felt like he was taking a slight glance at her true personality that was hidden underneath the thick mask that was her title of ‘North Star’.
‘Since we’ve come all this way, I should also have some fun.’
Ohjin stretched his body and smiled.
It was also hard for him to contain his excitement with it being his first time at a beach.
“Hey! Puppy! Stop hesitating and come in!”
“Shut up, lizard woman! I’m not used to water!” shouted Riak, who was reluctantly standing in front of the sea.
“Oho. Is that so~?”
Ha-eun’s eyes gleamed and her mouth twisted up.
“Ohjin! Get him!”
“Hyaa!!”
“Kugh! Wh-What are you doing?!”
Ha-eun and Ohjin grabbed Riak’s legs and tossed him into the water.
Splash!—
Riak was drenched from head to toe and yelled while floundering.
“Th-The water is salty!”
“It’s seawater. Of course it is.”
“Kugh! I must leave this place! Water is not fit for a warrior!”
[Where do you think you’re going?]
“L-Lady Vega?”
It appeared that Vega found Riak’s reaction amusing as she swam over and pulled Riak’s fur.
While they were having fun just like a scene straight out of a drama…
“You should join us, Isa… hm?”
Isabella wasn’t entering the sea and stood in a daze.
‘Huh?’
Her expression looked like a frown for a second.
It wasn’t an expression of hate, jealousy, or anger.
The way she clutched her chest and breathed heavily almost looked like…
‘Is she hurt somewhere?’
That’s right.
It looked like she was suppressing some sort of pain.
“Isabella?”
Ohjin left the water and was about to approach her…
“Ah, I’m sorry. I was just feeling dizzy for a second.”
Isabella smiled brightly like she hadn’t just been frowning and approached Ohjin.
“Are you alright?”
“Hmm. I think it might be a bit difficult for me to play in the water.”
She pointed at a sunbed that was placed under a parasol.
“I’ll be resting there for now.”
“Okay.”
“There is a favor I have to ask of you… could you hear me out?”
“A favor?”
Isabella pulled Ohjin’s arm in the direction of the parasol.
After lying down on the long sunbed, she handed out a bottle of oil to him.
“Could you apply the oil on me?”
She loosened the string of her bikini and smiled alluringly.
-----------------------------
Chapter 188: Vacation in Rome (4)
Ohjin's expression stiffened with the oil bottle Isabella had given him in his hand.
'…'
Isabella had her bikini untied and was laying down on the sunbed in an alluring posture.
Her white skin was akin to snow, and a smooth curve ran down from her back to her hips.
Isabella’s breasts being pushed against the sunbed leaked out to the sides and displayed their immense presence even when she was lying down.
"You… want me to apply oil for you?"
"Fufu. Yes."
"…"
It felt like his head had stopped functioning.
Spit trickled down his dry throat.
Just looking at her attractive back was enough to take his breath away, but he was being asked to rub oil over it with his hands.
'Am I in some kind of outdated romcom manhwa?'
He chuckled whenever he saw protagonists get flustered from an event like that, but he was beginning to understand how they felt.
Having to rub the back of a woman as outrageously attractive as Isabella with his bare hands was a difficult test of endurance.
'Ha-eun…'
He looked back at Ha-eun, who was having fun with Riak and Vega while being completely ignorant of what was going on.
Ohjin knew he shouldn't accept Isabella’s request out of consideration for her—
'What if it makes Isabella go berserk…?'
—but Isabella's mental state was so erratic that not even Ohjin could predict what she would do.
She was gentle like a meek lamb at the moment, but her true identity was the Queen of Leeches, the 3rd-ranking Executor of the Black Star Organization.
Considering the fact that every Executor he met until then had a few loose screws, it was right to assume that she wasn't normal, either.
It meant that there was a risk of her going wild whenever and wherever at an unexpected moment.
The only thing that could stop Isabella in an unrestrained state at that moment was Vega after she materialized her true form.
'Damn it.'
Ohjin gulped and looked down at her white back with contemplation.
"Ohjin?"
"Ah, yeah. I got it."
"Fufu. Please apply it over every nook and cranny."
Isabella playfully shook her leg, a thick smile on her face.
He could see her butt move slightly as she shook her leg.
'This is driving me crazy.'
Ohjin closed his eyes tight and squeezed a bunch of oil on his hands.
Squish—
His oily hand left a mark on her snow-white skin.
"Mmh."
A lewd groan leaked from Isabella’s mouth.
Ohjin chewed his lips and continued spreading oil on her back with robotic movements.
A soft sensation was transmitted through his palm.
He needed to finish before that addictive sensation corroded his rationality to nothing.
"Ohjin… a little slower."
Isabella slightly turned her head and asked for him to slow down, but he felt like he wouldn't be able to last if he slowed down any further.
Ohjin went as far as using mana to make it faster.
"Ahh…! O-Ohjin!"
"I'm finished."
It only took ten seconds for him to spread oil all over Isabella’s back.
He quickly finished what had to be done before his sense of reason was taken away.
"Hmm… already?"
Isabella fidgeted her feet with an expression of shame.
"Then…"
Without hiding her expression, her eyes sparkled as she looked at Ohjin.
Isabella tied up her bikini and turned herself over. She extended her slim legs to Ohjin.
"Then… could you do my legs as well?"
Sweet temptation rang in his ears.
There weren't many men in his position who would bring up the reasonable argument that she could apply the oil to her legs by herself.
"…Even the legs?"
He felt like he barely managed to defeat the final boss, but then it revived and went into phase 2 with full HP.
Ohjin opened his mouth with a dumbfounded look.
Isabella smiled while her eyes shone like a predator that had captured its prey.
"Yes. Please do my—"
When she was about to seductively extend her slim legs—
"Ah…!"
—Isabella suddenly clutched her chest and frowned.
She breathed roughly with a pale face, and her shoulders trembled.
"Isabella?"
"Ah… I… I'm sorry."
Isabella got up from the sunbed with an awkward smile.
"It appears that my condition isn't very good today."
"Are you okay?"
"Yes. I just have a slight case of anemia. I'm okay now."
She smiled and hopped on the spot like she was trying to prove she was fine.
"Still, I'll leave first and rest in the van just in case. You should bathe in the sea for a little longer."
"But…"
"You won't be able to enjoy the starzone's benefit of healing your internal injuries if you don't go in the water."
"Hmm, alright."
"Then, I'll be leaving first."
Isabella turned around and walked in the direction of the van that was parked far away in a slight hurry.
Ohjin narrowed his eyes while watching her walk away.
'Something's strange…'
She was suffering from anemia when she was not only the 3rd-ranking Executor of the Black Star Organization but also had abilities related to 'blood'.
No matter how he looked at it, the story didn't add up.
Ohjin looked at Isabella’s back growing gradually distant and took a big step in that direction once she disappeared.
'Black Curtain.'
Black clouds erased his presence.
* * *
"Huff, huff!"
Isabella took in deep breaths and clutched her chest after passing the van and entering a dark alleyway.
"Ugh…"
She expressed her pain and crouched.
"…Are you okay, my queen?"
An old man wearing a neat butler outfit appeared from the other side of the alleyway.
—Roberto.
He was the Bufo faction's second-in-command and Isabella’s most loyal subject.
"Huff, huff. I'm alright."
"Here is some blood."
Roberto took out a blood pack he’d prepared in advance and held it close to her.
She opened the pack and chugged down the blood inside.
"Fuu."
Isabella exhaled a short breath as her condition stabilized.
However, it appeared that she hadn't recovered completely. Her hair was wet and tangled from the cold sweat running down her forehead.
"…It seems that the influence of the 'curse' has worsened due to being in close proximity to the starzone."
"I know."
Isabella bit her lips and placed her hand over the left side of her chest.
Owoong—
Once her cross-shaped necklace emitted light, the stigma of Aries engraved on her chest changed into the stigma of Hirudo.
The stigma of Hirudo was faint in a few areas as though someone had scrubbed at it with a rubber eraser.
"…"
—Purple Forbidden Enclosure.
The curse that she once believed to have disappeared was stuck to her stigma and growing like a parasite.
"My queen…"
Roberto approached her with worry.
He looked at the empty blood pack and continued.
"As expected, we need blood with a higher concentration of mana. If you permit the hunting of Awakeners, I will personally—"
"Don't make me repeat myself…"
Isabella looked at him with cold eyes.
"Like I said before, only use blood from blood donations, not hunting."
"H-However—"
"Snap out of it, Roberto."
Isabella’s expression turned ferocious.
"If we start obtaining blood through hunting, we won't be able to endure the Hirudo stigma’s vampiric impulses."
Once that happened, they would lose their humanity and devolve into a being no worse than a monster.
"Blood must only be obtained through donations. Why do you think we've been taking care of the Romani?"
The blood she just drank was from the Romani who voluntarily donated blood to the Colagrande Household that provided them with food and a place to sleep.
Naturally, the reason they donated blood was to help the unfortunate Romani that weren't able to get proper medical treatment. Isabella was just siphoning a portion of it and using it to solve the Awakener of Hirudo's desire for blood.
In other words, they were using the Romani as some kind of 'cattle' to obtain blood.
That was the true reason behind why she used the Colagrande Household to operate dozens of charities.
"But if this continues…!"
Roberto looked at Isabella with an expression full of worry.
Blood gathered through donations could reduce the impulse, but what she needed to heal the 'Purple Forbidden Enclosure's Curse' was an Awakener’s blood with a high concentration of mana.
Not only that, but it needed to be the blood from at least a high-rank Awakener.
There was no way she could obtain that kind of blood through donations, and she couldn’t hunt.
"It's fine, Roberto. Who do you think I am?"
Isabella swiped back the blond hair stuck to her forehead and smiled.
Roberto's expression improved after he saw her confidence.
"You are our queen who is more beautiful and intelligent than any other."
"Fufu. I'm glad you know."
Translator - Maccas
Proofreader - ilafy
* * *
It seemed that her condition had gotten better. She leisurely crossed her arms with a thick smile on her face.
"More importantly, did you see how Ohjin got completely charmed by me?!"
Isabella recalled how Ohjin's face turned red and how he had been flustered before spreading the oil.
She continued with a haughty expression.
"This was all~ only possible thanks to my meticulous preparations!"
Their vacation plans were all thoroughly calculated.
Isabella explained her strategy in a boastful manner with a joyful look on her face.
"First came showing Ohjin my capabilities!"
—A massive mansion built on top of a cliff.
—Dozens of employees and a grand feast.
For someone like Ohjin, who used to be in poverty and grew up in an orphanage, the lifestyle of the ‘rich’ would be like a whole new world.
Plus, the master of that world was nobody other than Isabella herself.
It wasn't hard to imagine how 'special' Ohjin would think she was.
"I also showed him the difference between me and Miss Ha-eun."
First, were physical differences that were shown through their swimsuits.
Second, she displayed the gap in their fame by using the males that tried to approach her as soon as they arrived at the beach.
Looks, wealth, and authority…
She proved that she was incomparable to Ha-eun in every aspect.
"Lastly, I even got closer to him mentally by using physical contact!"
The plan was near 'perfect', even for her standards.
"What do you think? Don't you think that it was perfect?"
"…"
Roberto smiled awkwardly while looking at Isabella asking him questions with excitement.
The old butler scratched his wrinkly cheek and opened his mouth.
"Um… my queen, how about you stop making these plans and just confess to him?"
"Wh-What did you say?"
Isabella’s eyes widened like a rabbit’s, and she was aghast.
‘Confess to Ohjin?’
"B-But then what will I do if he turns me down?!"
Isabella kicked Roberto's shin, her face as red as a beet.