During that time Raon was busy pondering about their past meetings and considering if he should adapt his plans due to his newfound confusing feelings.
There was a celebration banquet occurring in the entire Academy as they won against their rival to get the right to enter an unknown place that can be fraught with dangers or fortune earlier than them.
They could not monopolize it as that might invite trouble from the other Titled Empires as their rival would surely spread the news but now they will suppress it as much as them.
In a room near the banquet, a few boys were standing around a man who seemed to be in his early twenties like his subordinates.
"Young Master Rodric, she has entered the banquet" said one of the 7 men surrounding him.
Hearing this, the seated man's eyes glinted with light as he calmed down his excitement to prevent it from showing on his face.
"You. Go and make sure she takes this." said the boy as he pointed at one of the men and threw a glass vial with a foggy liquid in it.
The man hurriedly caught the vial and left in a hurry to do his work, lest he die.
"Young Master, will this work...?" asked one of them doubtfully.
Just when he was about to have his cultivation crippled by the person standing next to him, he was saved by Rodric's voice "Stop"
"Hmph! How dare you doubt Young Master. Be glad that he is so generous to let someone like you still live" said the attacker.
Hearing such things, the young man didn't feel pleased as he was used to such bootlickers being around him for as long as he can remember.
He was the son of one of the Core District Elders and even had very good talent that was respected even amongst his peers in the Core District.
"That vial contains an aphrodisiac that would work on someone an entire realm higher than her. Do you even know how much I paid for that? It will work." said Rodric, but only he knew how much his heart bled to pay for it.
He could only calm himself by relishing in the thoughts of the girl he'd be able to have tonight and how he would ravish her.
This wasn't the first time he was doing this but the others came to him on his own while this girl ignored every single person who tried to get friendly with her.
Her talents and looks were even better than some core district disciples. Rodric had only wanted one girl but she also had similar backing to him so he couldn't trick her. Her strength was even better than him making him helpless in acquiring her.
He had only heard rumors about this other girl's looks and prospects but only when he returned from the battle against their rival titled Empire and saw her, he felt that she only fell a little behind his own desired one.
Unfortunately, this girl's backing was much better than him as he couldn't offend her, lest his family itself gets wiped out due to the anger of her clan brought because of him.
For the clueless people, it is Lia and one of the few men in the room is Elric for it to be a cliché plot but is it...?
Elric was only here to get more resources and being able to get rid of Lia and Raon at the same time was just a bonus as no one outside their clans knew of the soul contracts.
No one truly believed that the two of them would be together as the difference was too big between them, comparable to a deep chasm.
While this conspiracy was going to happen, Raon was lost in his world and Lia was busy watching over Arialyn and eating no food.
Much to the vial-holding man's despair, he couldn't find any way to make Lia take the aphrodisiac.
After Arialyn's matches, she approached Lia as Aria forced Lia to eat with her and there, the man was finally able to sneak it into Lia's food.
He also wanted to do that to Arialyn but if he somehow made Rodurc unhappy, his family might be killed so he did exactly what he was asked to do.
Unfortunately for all of them, no one noticed the fact that Lia stopped eating after her first bite and then continued after a brief pause.
As the two continued to eat, Lia circulated her energy to keep the 'poison' at bay from affecting her body.
Rodric who heard of this became ecstatic as his heart-bleeding price seemed to be the right choice as even it could not force the girl too much as she seemed fine even after finishing her meal.
While this was going on, Lia was feeling that the gaze she started feeling a few days back had grown many times more intense after she had her food.
This was the reason she ate it knowingly, aware that it had something added to it to be able to locate the gaze and it was from one of the core district disciples.
She knew she couldn't do much right now as she was inside their turf and decided to slide away as she contacted her 4 guardians to protect her.
The four immediately arrived and surrounded her. She went to the restroom from where she escaped and her protectors were in the dark about her escapade too.
Her protectors consisted of 2 males and 2 females who were higher than her in cultivation and older than her. Yet, no one went with her, becoming unaware of her disappearance.
As Lia escaped, she started feeling her gaze turn blank as her body turned hot due to the effects having been delayed this much due to her energy circulation method.
'This... It is not poison, it is an aphrodisiac?' concluded Lia even in this state.
If it was an average cultivator an entire realm above her given the same aphrodisiac he or she would have long succumbed to the effects.
As Lia finally arrived near the residences, she directly entered the one she was in front of and rushed straight to the bedroom where a boy was lying on the bed.
Her movements were very hidden and if there were any observers, they would think she had done this many times as she performed every action expertly.
At this point, her mind was way too befuddled to keep her sanity intact and she barely walked to the bed while panting.
"Hah... Ha...haaah...ha..."
"Lia, what happened?" asked the boy who was Raon.
Yes, Lia went to his room in his residence and not hers as she thought someone might be there and it was the correct decision.
Around 3 people were located around her residence to notice her arrival in case something unexpected happened.
Before Raon could understand why Lia was looking different, her eyes seemed blank while her face and neck were flushed red.
Her jade-pale skin did a very bad job of hiding her flushed cheeks, alas, Raon had no clue about what was going on with her.
She sat on the bed and tried using her cultivation to stabilize herself but it was for naught as the aphrodisiac had already worked.
It might be possible for someone experienced to deal with such a situation but both were not experienced as Lia was having a hard time and Raon was confused.
Raon was still lying on the bed while she sat near his head. He didn't bother her as he believed she'd tell him if she wanted without asking and wouldn't say anything if she didn't want no matter how much he asked.
After a few more minutes of ragged breathing and being unable to handle it, Lia's body moved closer to Raon as her face inched closer to his and her breath touched his face.
Raon was a bit startled by the sudden closeness but before he could calm down, she pressed her lips against his as she used her arms to hold him in place.
Her right arm held his left arm and body in place whilst her left arm caressed his head and pulled it upwards while her knees held his right arm in place.
Neither of them was using any cultivation energy to do anything and it was just their physical bodies yet it changed nothing...
Raon lost it for a few seconds but when he finally regained his bearings and was about to resist, he lost all control of his body.
He could still feel and see everything except he couldn't do anything while an archaic voice seemed to awaken from deep inside him.
"...D-...Do...Not...Resist..." a deep archaic voice echoed inside his mind.
Unaware of his predicament, Lia continued by taking his as well as her clothes off as he had stopped resisting and her body was much too heated for her to care.
Unfortunately for the two, even she was in the same predicament as him as her body wasn't responding to her commands and kept moving on its own.
While the two of them went at it without being able to control their bodies for a few hours before finally exhausting themselves and gaining a little control, the two fell asleep holding each other's naked selves.
Lia was the one who woke up first and seeing her situation, she recalled the entire night and her face flushed red for the first time in her life.
Raon woke up at almost the same time but his eyes fell on her breasts as he seemed to have slept keeping his head especially close to them.
As they both remembered the last night, their bodies turned hot as they looked at each other's faces then down in embarrassment but both ended up looking at each other's genitals and also a few spread-out red spots on the bed sheet.
The sheer momentary embarrassment and shame they felt at this moment would be the biggest in their entire lives as their bodies were raging hot begging them to unite once again.
The two without saying any words crept closer to each other and matched each other's lips as their bodies mingled once more but this time willingly.
It took them more than 7 hours to reach their normal state but they continued for almost 20 hours before tiring themselves and falling onto the bed.
The two with their panting breaths looked at each other and locked their lips one last time before sleeping again embracing each other.
This time though, Lia woke up earlier and vanished as Raon didn't wake up for an entire day being spent of his energy.
They both were well aware of what they did and the fact it could very well get her pregnant but it didn't seem like either was worried or rather they enjoyed too much to bother.
As time passed and Raon didn't see her visiting him, he grew a bit worried thinking that he crossed the line but her coming to his room 1 week from that night/day and telling him she was entering seclusion calmed him.
Neither of the two mentioned or talked about the events of that night.
Nothing much changed in the life of the two after the event except the fact she went into seclusion making them not see each other for a long time.