Chapter 172: Open a round

“Geez, so this is what you were setting me up for!”

“What a cunning, treacherous subject! She actually predicted my move.”

Liya felt completely seen through by Ailita, a mix of regret and panic washing over her.

As a ruler, having her actions predicted by an enemy was the ultimate slap in the face, the most humiliating thing imaginable.

She wobbled as she stood up, both hands pressed tightly over her lower abdomen.

At that moment, the Pleasure Mark was emitting a faint, suggestive pink glow, and waves of numbing pleasure surged through her.

Liya couldn’t help but clench her teeth.

“Heh heh… Do you think… I, the Demon King, would admit defeat? Hmph! So what if it’s a fight with the Hero? Bring it on!”

A flush crept across her cheeks as she looked at the Hero, an uncontrollable, strange urge stirring within her heart.

She crawled onto the Hero’s body, her legs trembling slightly.

Through the outline of his clothes, she caught a glimpse of the thing that unsettled her.

She shuddered violently and suddenly snapped back to reality.

“No! What am I thinking?! Why has my way of getting back at him turned into this?”

Startled, Liya scrambled to escape, stumbling away.

Her short little legs pattered pupu, pupu as she ran, finally fleeing the room and diving into the washroom on that floor.

She plunged her head into a water basin, letting the cool liquid surround her, and her feverish mind finally cooled down a bit.

She clutched her head, where two opposing thoughts seemed to be fiercely battling.

“Is this what a Succubus feels every day? Damn it—am I being influenced by the Seventh Demon God? Or is it…”

“What nonsense instinct! Always rambling about random stuff!”

“Me, the dignified Demon King, acting like this? Do I even have any dignity left?”

“Wait… think about it carefully—doesn’t that guy seem to have even less dignity?”

“Fighting him once doesn’t seem like a loss. I can think of it as getting my revenge.”

“And besides… it seems quite a few people want to fight him?”

“Hmm…”

Liya suddenly felt a chill run down her spine: Why did her thoughts always go off track?

Was this the power of the Pleasure Mark?

Did getting marked turn her into a supercharged Succubus?

Thinking of a Succubus’s wanton, unrestrained behavior, Liya couldn’t help but feel a mix of fear and anxiety.

“No, no, no, no. If I turn into that, I, the dignified First of the Demon Realm… would I have any face left?”

She took a deep breath, trying to shift her focus.

She looked down, gently swaying her jade-like legs, stirring the water.

The cold sensation enveloping her body felt like rolling around in the snow on a winter day.

Yet her thoughts once again drifted uncontrollably—

“On such a cold day, the best thing would be to hold onto a warm person…”

“Stop! Here it comes again!”

With a splash, Liya pulled her hand out of the water and slapped her own hot, flushed cheeks forcefully, trying to shake off those messy thoughts.

She quickly left the basin and stepped outside.

The Duke’s Mansion had a maze of hallways that felt like an underground labyrinth to her.

She couldn’t help but miss her old days, when she did everything decisively.

Now, even her own thoughts were out of control.

“Enough!”

Liya flew into a rage.

Puffing out her chest, she tried to suppress the abnormal influence with sheer power.

She channeled Heroic Power into both hands and yanked hard at the gel-like mark on her lower abdomen.

A small piece of the soft substance tore off, and the Pleasure Mark on it quickly dissipated.

But the very next moment, as her abdomen regenerated, the mark reappeared in the same spot.

“…I figured. This kind of trick isn’t something you can just learn.”

Liya’s face fell into dejection, but she soon pulled herself together.

“Could it be that the Hero’s power isn’t enough? If it were strong enough, would I be able to remove it completely?”

As for how to make the power “increase rapidly,” the answer seemed obvious.

Thinking about that—

“Dammit!”

By the time she came to, she had already pinned herself on top of Joen again.

Liya ran her hands through her hair, rubbing it in frustration, a rebellious fire blazing in her heart.

“A mere God’s Mark thinks it can make me admit defeat?”

“No! I control my own fate, not the heavens!”

She resolved to fight the mark to the end.

First move: Tie herself up.

But she ended up making it too complicated, only making herself more miserable.

Second move: Seal herself inside a container.

Yet in the pitch-black darkness, her thoughts only grew more active.

Third move, fourth move…

Liya tried everything she could, but failed again and again.

That instinctual influence was too stubborn; all her strategies ended in defeat.

Several hours later—

Liya, her whole body flushed, eyes hazy, the mark on her lower abdomen shimmering faintly, finally thought of the “ultimate solution.”

“Since I can’t suppress it… then I’ll face it head-on.”

Blocking was worse than channeling; the more you ran, the stronger it got.

Liya took a deep breath, finding her own excuse and mentally preparing herself.

Moonlight streamed into the room like a clear, silver lake, quietly spreading across the Red Iris Pattern Carpet.

In the center of the carpet, the originally petite figure began to change—

A pink, gel-like substance stretched and reshaped in the air, like an epiphyllum blooming in fast motion.

Her skin grew paler and more translucent, as if bathed in moonlight.

The light froze.

Her small form gradually returned to normal size.

She stood barefoot in the moonlight, her whole body seeming to be cloaked in flowing starlight.

After so long, finally back to her familiar form, Liya stretched her waist, her expression languid and complex.

She crept onto the bed, sat down by the man’s waist, and carefully studied Joen’s face.

Handsome, youthful, peaceful.

Despite everything he’d been through, he was still just a young man who had come of age.

A slight stir moved in Liya’s heart, and her thoughts drifted involuntarily.

“Back then, I was no different…”

She leaned down, hesitating for a long time, and finally pressed a light kiss to the corner of Joen’s lips.

It was just the lightest of gestures, yet it shook her heart, her face burning red.

This was to activate the power of [Charm]—

It required contact to guide it.

Liya let out a small sigh of relief, then the gel-like substance flowed around her, mimicking a pure White Dress, as if adding a sense of ceremony.

“No matter what… I am still the Demon King.”

She gently raised her hand, ready to continue.

But then—

Joen suddenly opened his eyes.

His bright eyes were full of confusion.

He looked at the woman pressing down on him, completely baffled.

The air froze instantly.

Liya: “…”