"Gulp."
He tried to swallow his gulp as he studied her closely, thinking that he never expected to be in a room with such a beauty.
Now that his fear of the imagined torture scene had subsided, his mind had some room to focus on other details, such as his heartbeat. It made him feel more anxious and embarrassed as she stared at him, having put away her book that she was reading earlier.
He felt awkward and embarrassed by the eye contact with a beautiful woman, not remembering that it was even more embarrassing that she was the same woman who had seen him naked.
He wondered if he should make the first move, tell her it was a misunderstanding. But he realized that it would not make any difference, 'They must have already decided I'm a spy.' Since he would spare someone from torture if there was a chance of misunderstanding and this is not a misunderstanding for them, "Wait. Would I?"; he was stunned by his own realization that he would do the same regardless of innocence and felt helpless and desperate. 'What should I do now?'
His mind was restless and wandering, as he even imagined charming and wooing her, but he quickly dismissed the idea as he remembered that she had shown no interest or reaction when she saw him naked. This memory made him feel more ashamed and embarrassed. He wished he could erase it from his mind.
He also thought to himself, 'I would be overjoyed if I could marry such a beauty. But not her, she seems like the type of beauty who chops men's groins. I will surely find a girl who is as beautiful as her, but one who I can mold and train.' He fantasized about having a perfect wife who would obey him and love him.
She saw his grin as he jumped from one delusion to another, and she was surprised by how a man could have such an expression in this kind of situation. She compared him to a pervert who could control his desire when necessary. She wondered what was going on in his mind, what fantasies he was imagining. She felt curious and amused by his behavior.
She also grinned, and slightly revealed her cleavage, gauging how he would react and if he had the courage and craftiness she needed. 'Commoners are so easy.' She thought to herself, confident that she could manipulate him with her charms.
She did not know that she was not the one in his delusion, and that she would never be. She was unaware that he was lost in his own world, where she had no place. She did not realize that he had no interest in her at all.
She made an intentional cough to snap him out of his daze. "Ahem… Ahem… AH—HEM!!!" Finally, with great effort, he snapped out of his delusion.
She wondered what kind of thought was running through his head that even saliva was starting to drip from his mouth. She thought that she had seduced him to such an extent, 'Seems like he cannot be useful.' She started to lose interest in him.
'Well, after a round of conversation, I will decide.' She decided to give him one more chance, to see if he had anything worthwhile to offer. She asked him, "Aren't you curious why a follower visited you?"
He adjusted his posture and nodded as a reply. He was taken aback by her sudden question, and tried to act normal.
Indeed, he could not think of any possible reason why a follower would want him. 'To what? Take my fingerprints and put them on a plate?' Only absurd thoughts came to him.
"He was looking at your memory."
"Memory?", he repeated with a puzzled face. He wondered whether the follower was after something specific. 'Did it include things like my deepest darkest secrets?', he thought. His face darkened. He felt a wave of fear and anger, as he realized that someone had intruded into his mind, his most private and sacred space.
He could not believe that the most secure and safe place to hide anything could be peered into like that. He thought, 'What about privacy? How can this happen!!!' He wanted to shout and swear, but he restrained his emotions knowing it was pointless because there was nothing he could do about it. The culprit was already gone. He thought, 'Tsk, I should avoid them next time.'
Clearly, Moriarty had no secret on him, but he was prone to delusions sometimes. When he was a kid, he imagined being a knight of justice. But then teenage hormones kicked in. Forgot about justice, the ladies in his delusion could not even resist as he slowly shaped them into something incomprehensible.
Truly, such depravity should have remained as imagination, and buried deep in his memory. He was ashamed of his fantasies, but he could not help himself. He enjoyed the power and pleasure he felt in his mind, even if it was not real.
He wondered, 'They would not use it against me, would they? No, maybe they will even thank me, as I open a new door for them. But, how can such a trick exist! I didn't even know I was stripped naked!' Now, Moriarty had a clue that intrigued him before, on why Seiren had no followers. He thought, 'Seems like the kingdom does not want to be peered at too.' He was curious about the reason behind the lack of followers in Seiren, and what secrets they were hiding.
She said, "It's understandable. It's common sense here, but to your kingdom it might be very odd."
She explained that it was strange to the Seiren Kingdom to see people who had numbers on their forehead and had strange abilities. She tried to enlighten him about the difference between their cultures, and how followers were treated in her land. She was curious how Moriarty would react.
People in Seiren were not unaware of the fact that god walked among them, after all they had their fair share of history about it, even having a god as a king at one point. But the gradual decline of followers in the kingdom was not noticeable, until it reached today that no followers could be seen. As miracles became less believable, the followers' abilities seemed strange and dismissed as a baseless rumor.