“Hng, ah……! Haa, you, honestly…….”
Inside the dark, musty cellar, the princess of a great empire was helplessly unraveling beneath the touch of an officer born a commoner.
‘The Touch of Attunement.’
[Stimulates the target’s sensory nerves, granting relaxation and pleasure simultaneously.]
I pressed down firmly on the knot of her calf with my rough thumb, then gently stroked upward along the tender flesh behind her knee.
“Ah……! Th-that place isn’t injured……!”
“Blood flow is all connected. If we stop here, it will have been for nothing.”
I smoothly spouted that sophistry as I casually lifted the hem of her extravagant dress.
“Ah……!”
The dazzling bare flesh of her lower thigh was revealed. I clenched that soft skin in my hand.
Flinch!
Eilit’s entire body jolted violently.
The only people who had ever dared touch her body throughout her life were the imperial ladies-in-waiting assigned exclusively to her. Even then, they had touched her only with the utmost care and courtesy.
“Haa, haa…….”
But now, she was wholly surrendered to the grasp of a rough man’s hand.
‘Status analysis.’
[Name: Eilit von Rohengart]
[Status: Pain alleviation, bewilderment at the tingling pleasure spreading from the lower body]
[Emotion: Even though I know this makes no sense…… I can’t resist…….]
A combination of a logical excuse and irresistible pleasure.
Under normal circumstances, my head would have been severed for the crime of disrespect, but the exceptional circumstances of a terrorist attack were rationalizing this reckless treatment.
“Haa, haa…… y-you…… hng, you’re doing it on purpose, ngh…….”
“It is a misunderstanding, Your Highness. I am thinking only of ensuring Your Highness’s safe escape.”
I replied calmly while gently stroking down her clenched thigh. Her heated body was trembling in my grasp.
“Haa, your words are as smooth as flowing water……! Hng!”
She tried desperately to maintain her dignity, but the nasal sound that escaped at the end reduced her threat to a sheet of paper. By then, both her hands had clutched my shoulders tightly. It seemed even she did not know whether she was trying to push me away or lean on me for support against the pleasure—a clumsy, uncertain gesture.
I was just about to push my hand a little deeper into the inside of her thigh when—
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!
We were granted no more time for sweet amusements. The gunfire coming from above the cellar had drawn much closer.
I instinctively checked the [Minimap]. A three-dimensional map occupied one corner of my field of vision.
Three of the red dots that had been staining the first-floor corridors with blood had broken away from the group and were rapidly approaching the emergency staircase we had descended.
‘The rats have caught our scent.’
Judging by the speed at which they were descending the stairs, they had not simply taken a wrong turn by chance. Their movements clearly indicated that they were pursuing a target.
I immediately withdrew my hand from Eilit’s leg.
“Ngh……?”
At the sudden disappearance of the warmth and pleasure, Eilit looked up at me in bewilderment. I brought my index finger to those red lips, which even seemed to betray a trace of disappointment.
“Shh.”
“……What—”
Before she could open her mouth, I seized her waist and pulled her tightly against me. At the same time, I clamped my remaining hand over her mouth.
“Mmph……?!”
Eilit’s eyes widened as if they might burst from their sockets. I overpowered her struggles with sheer force and dragged her into the deepest, darkest corner of the cellar—the blind spot formed by the huge oak barrels stacked one atop another.
“Stay still.”
My whisper burrowed into her ear.
It was immediately afterward.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The sound of military boots descending the cellar stairs.
“Mmph……!”
Eilit’s body went rigid. She had finally grasped the situation as well: the assassins had chased us right up to the threshold of death.
“They’re this way! The bloodstains and shoeprints lead down here!”
“That imperial bitch is in there! Break down the door!”
Rough voices rang out from beyond the door. They were remnants of the revolutionary army.
Bang—! Crash—!
The old, thick wooden door reinforced with oak began to splinter beneath the blows of rifle butts. Fragments of wood flew into the cellar.
Tremble, tremble, tremble.
Eilit’s body began shaking like an aspen leaf. Hot, damp breaths poured ceaselessly from between her lips, sealed beneath my hand. Her hands clutched the fabric of my uniform so tightly that the blood had nearly stopped flowing, as though it were her only lifeline.
I looked down at Eilit in my arms.
Even in the darkness, I could clearly see the moisture welling up in her crimson eyes. The gaze with which she looked up at me was so desperate that it had become almost pitiful.
‘Good. It’s been imprinted perfectly.’
With a faint smile at the corner of my mouth, I slowly removed the hand covering her lips and drew her head against my chest. As my hand stroked down the back of her head, as if to reassure her, Eilit buried her face in my embrace without offering even the slightest resistance.
Click!
With my remaining hand, I quietly pulled back the slide of my pistol. The slide caught on my belt was forced backward in an instant, then snapped back into place.
There were three red dots outside the door on the [Minimap]. The moment they smashed the door apart with their rifle butts, I only needed to put three bullets between their brows.
‘Stupid bastards.’
According to the manuals of twentieth-century urban warfare, anyone who forcibly broke through a closed door was nothing more than an excellent target.
Craack—!
At last, the hinges tore free, and the door toppled inward.
“Die, you imperial pig……!”
The red-armbanded man at the front raised his submachine gun and shouted.
‘Now.’
[Activating skill ‘Bullet Time (Lv. 2).’]
[For three seconds, you will perceive the flow of the world excluding yourself at one-tenth its normal speed.]
The world slowed.
The distorted expression of the man kicking through the door, the wooden fragments drifting through the air, his sluggish motion as he raised his muzzle, and even the princess’s soft ribcage pulsing against my chest—all of it.
Holding Eilit in my arms, I leaned halfway out from beside the cover and pulled the trigger.
Bang—!
The muzzle flashed, cleaving through the darkness.
The first bullet struck the leader precisely between the brows. As the round passed through his skull and lodged in the wall, I had already twisted the muzzle slightly to aim at the next man.
I had to wait a moment.
Until the recoil of the pistol’s muzzle recovered and the mechanical back-and-forth motion of the slide, moving as if in slow motion, was complete.
‘Done.’
Matching the timing, I pulled the trigger twice in quick succession.
Bang-bang—!
Two rounds left my hand one after the other. Holes opened in the second man’s throat and heart in turn. His body tilted, and the blood he had sprayed scattered slowly through the air.
[The skill ‘Bullet Time’ has ended.]
[Remaining daily uses: 1/2]
Thud! Crash!
The instant time returned to its normal speed, the two corpses toppled to the floor simultaneously. The stench of blood surged through the cellar.
“Gah?! A-argh……!”
The third and final man, who had been waiting behind the door, screamed as his comrades’ blood splashed over him. Panicking, he pulled the trigger of his submachine gun indiscriminately.
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!
The bullets sprayed into the darkness struck the walls and oak barrels, sending sparks flying. I did not even need to use [Bullet Time] a second time.
I merely waited for his shadow to stretch long across the floor.
‘Magazine empty.’
Click. Tick.
The instant I heard the metallic sound of the submachine gun’s bolt locking back, I launched myself from the floor like a spring.
“Eek?! Re-reloading……!”
The panicked man tried to pull out the magazine with trembling hands, but my foot was faster.
Wham—!
Putting the full momentum of my charge behind it, I kicked him in the solar plexus with my military boot.
“Guhh—!”
The air knocked from his lungs, he slammed into the wall and dropped his weapon. Without hesitation, I brought the grip of my pistol down on his temple.
Thwack!
“Ugh…….”
With a dying groan, the last man’s strength gave out, and he collapsed.
It had taken scarcely ten seconds. Three assassins lay sprawled across the cellar floor, bleeding.
After confirming that the fallen men were truly dead, I roughly wiped the blood from my pistol on the hems of their clothes.
Riiip.
The heavy smell of gunpowder and blood had completely erased the cellar’s moldy stench.
“……The situation is under control.”
I returned the pistol to my coat and spoke toward her, still hidden behind the oak barrels.
“…….”
Silence passed for a while.
Then, accompanied by the rustling of fabric, Eilit cautiously stepped out from behind the enormous wine barrels.
“A…….”
Her voice trembled faintly.
“Are…… are they all dead?”
“As you can see.”
I answered while giving one of the men’s heads a light kick. Blood had soaked the cellar floor a dark crimson.
‘Status analysis.’
[Name: Eilit von Rohengart]
[Status: Extreme relief, legs giving out, shame]
[Emotion: This man really did save me…….]
At the sight of the bloodstains, Eilit flinched and leaned against the wall. Her tension had finally drained away, and even standing on her own seemed difficult.
At that moment—
“Your Highness!! Lieutenant Colonel Jaeger!!”
An urgent voice rang out from above the stairs. On the [Minimap], numerous green dots were pouring down toward the cellar all at once.
They were allies. The Imperial Army guards who had been protecting the presidential palace had finally disposed of the remaining attackers and reached the underground level.