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[Experience gained +20% - Level Progression: 50%]

With an unbridled pleasure ripping through her body, Erin achieved her climax as Aedan poured a heavy stream of his seed into her womanly cavern. Her body shuddered uncontrollably in Aedan’s embrace from the feeling of ecstasy spreading across her body. Her face warped with glee and a slight tinge of regret.

When the rapture of her carnal endeavour receded enough for her senses to return, she hesitantly pushed Aedan away and crawled off the table she was being humped vigorously on. She took a piece of cloth hanging on a bar by the wall and cleaned up the fluids that were leaking incessantly from her snatch. She was doing so with trembling hands and legs. She could barely hold the cloth properly.

Aedan offered to help but Erin waved him away.

Aedan took no offence to the rejection and merely smiled at his lover’s stubbornness. He pulled out a chair from under the table and sat on it after he pulled up his pants. His upper body was still bare but he showed no intention of covering himself up.

“Are you sure that’s enough for you?” Aedan asked, chuckling.

“I don’t want to hear that from you,” Erin retorted, finishing wiping herself clean of Aedan’s remnants. “You’re as vigorous as ever despite having lost so many levels. I’m still feeling numb on the hips.”

Aedan shrugged. “My level has nothing to do with my sexual prowess. I don’t like cheating in the arts of the bedroom.”

“You’re joking…”

Aedan shook his head. “I’m not. I’m just that… passionate, shall we say? Especially if I’m doing it with someone I love.”

Erin rolled her eyes and proceeded to comb her hair with her fingers. “You know, Lyra and Siv had repeatedly requested me to ask you if you’re comfortable with… fucking them, for a lack of a better word.”

Aedan raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t they be asking you if you’re comfortable with it?”

“I have already given my consent.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t care if they go and fornicate with other women, as long as it isn’t a man.”

Aedan pointed at himself. “But am I not a man?”

“Hmm… I don’t know,” Erin sneered and mounted herself on his lap. She brought her hands to his cheeks, rubbing her fingers across his face. “I simply don’t feel the revulsion I felt for other men when I’m being this intimate with you. It’s strange… Just what makes you so different.”

“I’m just that charming?”

“Maybe. So, are you comfortable with bringing those two to bed?”

“Are you?”

“I am, as long as it’s you.”

“You’re not afraid that I’ll steal them from you?”

Erin simpered. “They are my woman as much as I’m theirs. You’re mine as much as I’m yours. There can be no stealing if it’s a mutual possession, to begin with. And lest you forget, I am the Apostle of Lust. What makes you think you can do better?”

Aedan tittered. “You are going to be the death of me… Maybe that’s why I’m attracted to you…”

Erin’s smile dropped. “And what are you implying with those grave words of yours?”

“I-it’s nothing.”

Erin narrowed her gaze. “The hell it is. Tell me.”

“Erin, I—”

Erin cut him off with a backhand to his face.

“Ow…”

“Tell me.”

Aedan just smiled wryly. “It’s better that you—”

Erin’s tails fluttered and flourished behind her as they glowed a faint cyan. “Tell me,” she asked once more but with Mesmerise, a spell under Mystic Tail Arts.

Aedan grimaced. His mouth opened but then he quickly closed it shut before any damning word could be uttered. “D-damn it…” he cursed. “This is… not fair, Erin…”

“You forced me to, Aedan. Thank the stars your level is now low, or else this would have never worked. Tell me, Aedan. What are you hiding from me?”

“I… I…”

“Yes?” Erin gave a warm smile that did not reach her cold-gazing eyes.

“I… I… I wanted to die.”

Erin frowned. “You wanted to die?”

“But that’s in the past. I no longer feel that way.”

“Why would you even—”

“You have Revenant and you have already experienced death quite a few times. Me? Imagine your experience but at a thousandfold. Won’t you desire the same thing as I had?”

Erin dispelled Mesmerise and cast her gaze down. “I suppose I would… I didn’t know… To me, you were… perfect. You were invincible. Nothing could overwhelm you. You were a mountain that I could never even hope to pass. That’s what you were to me… I felt guilty for feeling a tad happy when your level was lowered. I—”

“Are you disillusioned with me now?”

“Of course, not. But all this time… you have been wanting to die?” Erin’s eyes wandered to the neatly wrapped sword leaning against the table. “Is that what you’re intending to do with the Sunderer?”

“No, Erin.”

“Truly?”

“Truly. Ever since I saved you from the Singularity, I have changed my mind.”

“And what made you change your mind?”

“I saved you. Well, I helped you. And… it felt good. Knowing that you came out of that pit in one piece and breathing and succeeded at your venture because of my aid, it felt good. It felt very good. You smiled at me when you thanked me. At that moment, I told myself this is what I’ll be missing if I’m dead and I’ll be dying with a heart filled with regrets. I know confessions like these are trite but it’s the truth. By helping you, I saved myself from a very foolish and dark thought.”

Erin broke into an exasperated smile with a relieved sigh. “Does Iris know about this?”

“I don’t believe so but I reckon she has some unfounded suspicions. If she did know, she would have people constantly observing my every move.”

“She loves you.”

“Do you think she’ll still feel the same if I wasn’t good in bed or if I wasn’t secretly one of the strongest mortals in existence?”

“I believe she will still feel the same. She truly loves you.”

“Aren’t you just confident? Well, if you think that way, who am I to say otherwise?”

“Is there anyone else who knows about your… suicidal thoughts?”

“Josh.”

“Josh? He knew?”

Aedan nodded. “He’s actually assisting in my efforts too.”

“He endorses your suicidal thoughts? Instead of talking you out of it, he inflamed it?”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds, Erin. I know what you’re thinking but it’s not like that. He’s simply… indifferent to the outcome. He’s doing it because I’m paying him to. He’s a businessman, an impartial party.”

“How sure are you?”

“Completely sure.”

Erin sighed and slumped forward, wrapping Aedan in her embrace. “You stupid bastard… You fucking idiot…” she grumbled as she tightened the embrace more and more.

“Erin… you’re going to fracture my bones at this rate…”

“I won’t, not if I discover you are hiding another big secret from me… Are you?”

“Um… There is one secret…”

Erin tightened her embrace further.

Aedan groaned. “It’s about Marduk…” he struggled to say.

Erin loosened her embrace. “He’s a past acquaintance of sorts?”

Aedan chuckled. “Closer than that actually… He’s more than an acquaintance and friend. Not quite family. It’s a long story.”

“Make it short.”

“Well… I had just been reborn, reincarnated. It was after my death at the hands of my former pupil, the second summoned hero. The war with the Demons had just recently come to an end. I was reincarnated into the body of a human child, well I looked human, not that I'm truly was one. And Marduk… he found me. He took me in and raised me despite knowing full well what I am. Well, he doesn’t know I’m a Dragon but he knows that I’m not what my appearance suggests but he raised me all the same.”

“The mastermind and the leader of the largest criminal faction in the world, him? Raising you? Why would he do that?”

“He was a simple farmer with a family but he lost his whole family to the war. His friends were all dead too. When he found me, he didn’t care what I was inside. He just took me in and treated me like a friend and family. I was just a child. It was hard to find money with the body of a child without raising cain."

"Raising cain?"

"It means to make chaos, trouble."

"Oh."

"Well, as I was saying... I was grateful for what he did. As gratitude, I told him my tale and shared my past exploits, experiences, and achievements.”

“Why would you tell a stranger all of that?”

“I was at my lowest point, Erin. I didn’t even want to be reincarnated. I failed at setting my precious pupil down the right path. I wanted someone to talk to and it was just a coincidence that it was Marduk.”

“Speaking of Marduk, was that his real name?”

“His real name’s actually Kudram. I believe his ancestors hailed from the south.”

“Kudram… Marduk…” Erin mused. “He merely flipped his name.”

“It’s quite fitting considering his personality and his perspective of life was flipped. He was just a humble peasant one could find anywhere but he absorbed all of my tales with vehemence and conviction. My tales must have sparked something in him. I thought nothing of it then. My depression clouded my judgement and I just laid everything bare to him. Even the great secrets that I’m not supposed to tell anyone.”

Erin pointed at the Sunderer. “Like that?”

Aedan nodded meekly. “He wasn’t talented in the arts of combat or magic but he absorbed all of those knowledge all the same. As long as it was knowledge, he would just grab it indiscriminately.”

“What happened? Surely something must have happened for a simple farmer to become who he is today. Knowledge corrupted him?”

“From a certain perspective, it did seem that way. But from another perspective, maybe he never changed. He was always the way he is. He simply didn’t have the means to nurture the ambition within. The knowledge I imparted on him had given him the means.”

“And you did nothing to stop him?”

“I couldn’t even if I wanted to. You see… I didn’t know what he was scheming. I was… wallowing in my failures and regrets. When my new body was old enough to be recognised as an adult, I left without even a farewell to him. I failed to see what he was becoming. It was five years after that when I came to learn of his achievements and exploits. I knew it was him because those feats were only possible with my knowledge and he was the only one that I had ever told. I went to great lengths to confront him and two years passed when I was finally able to do so.”

“The two of you fought?”

“I had intended to kill him but I knowingly walked into a trap because I knew nothing he knew could hurt me. But his trap caught me off guard. He had opened a small portal, a mere window, to the Dark Continent, where the Demons lurked. But that was enough to let the Demons catch on to my powerful Mana. That’s how I was marked by the remnants of the Demon Lord. I force-closed the portal but it was too late. I was already marked. The only way I can stop the remnants from coming after me was to give up on my confrontation with Marduk. That blunder of mine nearly started another great war with the Demons but I was able to seal my powers before that could happen.”

“That’s an immense amount of history you have with Marduk. When were you planning to tell me that if I hadn’t forced it out of you?”

Aedan offered a cramped smile. “I don’t know… I’m not exactly proud of those times and I didn’t want to relive that memory.”

“Unbelievable,” Erin scoffed and rose to her feet from Aedan’s lap.

“Are you angry, Erin?”

“If I was, I would have already stormed out of this room.

Aedan’s smile softened. “Thank you, Erin.”

“Don’t thank me just yet. I’m not angry but that doesn't mean I forgave you.”

Aedan sighed. “...Women.”