Evan D. Sherden, Becoming the Count (3)

The whole city of Sherden was turned upside down. People were confused, perplexed, excited, anticipating, uncertain, expectant—you name it. The people were very lively that day.

The dungeon’s opening was a moment that everyone had been waiting for, but that was why it was even scarier.

If one were to open it, the uncertainty would eventually be settled in some way. Some would avoid the opening altogether.

“It’ll be like this for a while. This is a mess.”

Evan sat in the office and looked out the window. Fires of insanity, which could not be easily extinguished, were blazing around the whole city. Passion and desire fueled the explorers.

The fervor was so wild that he ended up taking his eyes off the window, and Belois, who was standing still behind Evan, spoke quietly.

“If you come forward, things will be easier.”

“Yes, I guess so.”

Evan did not contradict Belois. His ability would force the explorers to stop rushing into the dungeon like a bull in heat.

In the name of the Dungeon Knights of Astray, one could develop a new dungeon guideline that would remove and distinguish the dangers of the changed dungeon, and allow everyone to explore and grow relatively safely and easily.

However, he wasn’t concerned about their individual growth, just their competency. Evan was trying to be the Dungeon Knights leader, not the babysitter of unspecified explorers.

“More than anything, they look down on the dungeon. It’s very dangerous, and all the more so when we think of the disaster that’s definitely coming to the dungeon city.”

That was why Evan didn’t hold back on purpose. News about the opening of the Dungeon was disseminated in advance, and the crowds burst in. Many of them did so even though they knew they would never come back.

To make mankind realize the core dangers of a new dungeon… To teach them the stark reality of the festive mood… To establish a new order that the Dungeon Knights will present.

“You’re heartless.”

“You don’t like it?”

Evan, who pretended to be calm, nervously asked Belois.

He was convinced that she liked him, but at the same time, he knew that people’s minds could change easily. Being hated by Belois was the scariest thing for Evan.

“Me? Dislike the Master…?”

At Evan’s question, Belois tilted her head.

As she grew sixteen this year, her eyes glowed deeper and more brilliant like red rubies, and they briefly wandered through the air as if looking for the answer. She looked genuinely curious.

“I don’t know because I’ve never thought about it. What the hell can happen for me to hate you…”

“You’re talking like Arisha.”

“Oh, perhaps I might be a little loathsome.”

“Uh…”

Evan’s heart sank with a thud. However, before he knew it, he could see Belois smiling.

“Take care, Master. There’s nothing in this world that will make me hate you.”

“You’re saying I’m a bastard, aren’t you?”

“You always get off the point like that.”

Belois sighed and fixed Evan’s words.

“It means that I am in love with you.”

It was the moment when Evan’s thoughts about the dungeon flew clean in his head.

Indirectly and relatively explicitly, he had never heard such a direct confession from her before.

However, there was something he could guess for that reason now.

“You heard what happened on the Royal Road.”

Evan pretended to be as calm as he was earlier, but his lips were dry as he saw Belois’ reddened cheeks. Belois nodded quietly and positively.

“It’s a funny story. As soon as Arisha and Her Highness Serena came to the dungeon city, I was expecting this, and I was determined…”

“Lua…”

“I thought I had a knack for controlling my mind, but I didn’t. It’s shaking a lot more than I expected. I can’t stand it without bringing my heart out and delivering it with rustic words.”

“Lua.”

Evan, unable to withstand her shaking figure, stood up impulsively. Belois spoke once more, reflexively backing down.

“Sir, my condition is a little dangerous. Your mother says that a witch whose emotions are not properly controlled is scarier than a monster.”

“It’s all right. I’ll take it.”

Evan quickly sat closer to Belois and hugged her slender waist in one arm. It was as if he was trying to gloss over the physical affection of a man caught in an extramarital affair. However, he couldn’t help it now.

Belois blinked her eyes in Evan’s arms without a moment of defiance. She felt so warm and comfortable that she felt angry at herself. Was this his skill?

Evan’s face was too close. His head, body, and mind seemed to explode. She spoke in a brusque manner, trying to hide her feelings.

“…You’re very good at physical contact, Master.”

“That’s a misunderstanding. It’s just the result of hard-working simulations in my head. Really.”

“But it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if I’m your 1st or 2nd, just the fact that you hold me in your arms…”

Then Evan covered her lips. Their lips met, and they glided slightly for a few breaths and were finally completely joined together smoothly.

Only when their hot breaths were constantly echoing in the middle and expanding and bursting without knowing the limit that the two fell again. Instead of falling lips, the eyes of the two met.

“It’s my first time,” Evan admitted.

He had been learning fighting skills that controlled breathing all his life, but now he couldn’t seem to, suppressing this with a cough.

“Lua is my first. The first.”

“Is that so?”

Evan was sure that she couldn’t understand what the first meant. Belois looked a little absent-minded and soon completely buried her face in Evan’s arms.

“Me, too.”

Like a witch who dealt with fire magic, the breath of her wetting his arms was also very hot.

“It’s my first time, too. It’s your first time. Our first, always. It’s only you, Master.”

“Sorry.”

“Why do you say that when I’m just overdoing my feelings?”

“You’re not overdoing it, Lua.”

Evan held her chin carefully and raised her face to kiss more softly this time. Belois’ long eyelashes trembled when she slowly closed her eyes. His words and actions were too sweet and ecstatic to bear.

It felt like her sanity, which was kept close, melted away. Simultaneously, she felt the desire to bloom deep in her heart and be fully clothed in a flash.

‘This isn’t enough. I want him more.’

However, as soon as the image of impulses was embodied in her head, Belois felt intuitive. It was dangerous. It was really dangerous. It was too dangerous for Evan to take.

Belois was hurriedly separated from Evan. Even got goosebumps at the sudden urge.

“Lua?”

“After this, when I have more control over myself. Not right now. Since you’re so good to me…… Well, I said too much.”

Belois hurried back as if she had become about ten years younger, spitting out her words.

“It’s your fault, Master. No, I’m not saying I didn’t like it. I liked it a lot. I wish I were your first in everything, Master. But not now. I’m sure you’ll hate me.”

“I wouldn’t hate you.”

“Well, then excuse me.”

Without listening to Evan’s following words, Belois opened the door and ran out.

“Why the hell… no, is that so?”

If he hadn’t had the experience in his past life, it would have been much more awkward and difficult than now. However, Evan had a deeper understanding on the matter now.

“Ma-master…”

Soon after, the door opened again, and Shine came in. He had run into Belois in the hallway, but he looked very pale. He looked as if he had met the Demon King.

“What have you done to Belois?”

“We kissed.”

“That’s all?”

“What do you mean ‘That’s all’? It was my first kiss.”

“No, I didn’t mean to say that.”

Shine shook his head, looking dumbfounded.

“Isn’t Belois’ reaction too conspicuous? Look at her face.… Ahh, it’s nothing. Oh, be quiet. He’s saying no.”

It seemed that the Ghost Lady couldn’t stand it and spoke to him. Shine tapped the bracelet to silence the Ghost Lady and continued.

“She ran away saying that she couldn’t control herself.”

“I know what that is. It’s the ‘Maybell phenomenon’.”

“What the hell makes you get the chills just by listening to it? No, don’t tell me. Don’t ever talk about it.”

Anyway, the important thing was that Belois liked Evan, and Evan liked Belois. That was all he needed now. He didn’t want to dig any further.

Looking at Evan, Shine spoke in a serious tone.

“Master, this is real advice.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t let anyone know about this. It’ll be crazy if anyone finds out.”

At that moment, Evan imagined Arisha’s, Serena’s, and Maybell’s reactions if they found out and trembled. But he soon regained his comfort with a sigh.

Looking at Shine, who was surprised at the sight, Evan then spoke in a calm voice.

“That’s what I’ve been prepared to do since I decided to get engaged to Arisha. I couldn’t turn a blind eye to Lua because of Arisha, and I didn’t mean to deceive her. So I’ll take it all.”

Whether it was a heart or a knife, it was really past the time when he avoided them, fearing that he’d be stabbed recklessly.

“I’ll do whatever I want. At least for the people I’ve decided to go with. I wouldn’t have kissed Lua if I wasn’t prepared to.”

Human relationships or curses did not bring him to death, so Evan might as well go all the way.

Looking at Evan, who was determined to do so, Shine even felt awe. He admired Evan for a long time, but now the guy even had a different attitude…!

“I can’t face you because you’re so dazzling.”

“You’re overdoing it. Get straight to the point. Didn’t you come here to report something?”

“Oh, yes. It’s the first report of those who entered the Dungeon.”

At Evan’s words, Shine immediately switched to work mode. Evan laughed, thinking that he was a fool, too.

“The previous dungeon reach hierarchy record has been completely reset, as known. No matter how many Sherden dungeons we’ve explored in the past, we have to start from the first floor, so we’ve all entered the first floor.”

As one would know, most of the large guilds with friendly relations, such as Bloody Apple, Heat Shields, and the Phoenix, were kept on standby in compliance with prior instructions from the provincial government. Still, reckless turns were made mainly by individual parties and small guilds.

It was no wonder that the news of the dungeon’s opening was known only for a day when reports of the dungeon’s internal situation were posted. Evan sighed quietly, predicting the contents of the report that would soon follow.

“So far, the death toll has been officially confirmed at 1,300 people. It’s increasing at the moment.”

Evan knew it and was prepared for it, but it was still ridiculous. Of course, most of them are out there, but even so, the number of deaths on the first day…

“Master’s Prophecy… you were right. The dungeon’s difficulty level seems to be at least 30% or nearly 50% more difficult than before. The internal environment has changed drastically, and the traps have become more sophisticated. Of course, the same has happened in Pellati.”

Thus, Shine calmly concluded the report.

“Running up the dungeon has become ridiculously difficult. It would be essential to train the minimum level of existence and skills before entering the dungeon.”

Evan clenched his fists as he heard it. A total of 20 ultra-mini slimes, ten in each hand, exploded without screaming.

Evan realized, once again, that Yo-Ma Great War 3 had really started.

The next morning, Belois, as usual, headed to his bedroom to wake Evan up.

Maybell, Diona, and even Arisha were eager for this role, but she never intended to give up on this.

“Good morning, Master.”

Belois, who opened the door carefully, closed it carefully, and approached Evan’s bed to call him.

Evan was calm in his sleep and still in his breathing, but he didn’t get up at one call. Belois was well aware of that.

Belois’s eyes turned to his two hands, which were asleep for a moment. In his grasp, slime, which was constantly summoned, was constantly bursting out.

Slime training in sleep using a nightcap containing a curse that made people repeatedly act when they were asleep had continued until now.

Beyond persistence and madness, wasn’t this already a kind of faith? Belois thought so.

Her eyes continued to scan his face. His hands were very athletic, but his sleeping face was very calm and pure, and even felt holy.

Because of the curses’ weight control, she was sometimes amazed to see this. However, she always concluded that everything about Evan was lovely.

“Dear Master.”

She called him quietly. Of course, he didn’t wake up.

“Evan.”

She called out his name, and yet he didn’t wake up. She smiled lightly and waved her fingers lightly in the air. Nightcap’s curse was stopped, the summoning ceremony of the necklace was stopped, and the intense sleep training was finally over.

But still, Evan didn’t wake up. This was because Belois had a simple spell to make him get up late. Just a little bit, a little late enough to hold a ceremony every morning.

Belois bent down and kept her face close to him. She carefully narrowed the gap and kissed his lips as she looked at his sleeping face, which she could not get tired of no matter how many times she looked at it.

Slowly, very shortly, scared that he would be surprised. However, it was enough never to be forgotten.

“I’m sorry.”

To the prince, who was kissed but did not wake up, Belois offered a confession in a very small voice.

“It wasn’t our first time.”

That was because she came to wake Evan every morning. Their first kiss was long ago. Of course, last night’s kiss was the happiest and most nerve-racking.

Would Evan get angry if he were to find out about her little rebellion? He would get mad. However, he would probably forgive her in the end. She wanted him to forgive her.

Being hated by Evan was worse than dying. Nevertheless, it was ridiculous for her not to withstand the urge every time.

“Master.”

After the ceremony, she took a step back and called Evan’s name again. Then Evan slowly opened his eyes with a sound.

“Lua…?”

“Yes, sir. Good morning.”

Belois raised Evan with a faint smile around her mouth as usual. Evan smiled at her face, reassured that Belois, who seemed to be in a strange state, remained the same today.

“Thank you, as always.”

“This is my job.”

No, it was not work. It was Belois’ right, which could be conceded to anyone.

She smiled again with a faint smile, taking off the nightcap on Evan’s head.

Today, Evan’s day in the dungeon city would begin again.

Belois’ little secret was yet to be discovered by anyone.

[TL NOTE: Jung Hayan?]