*Suckle~* *Smooch~!*
"...Mmm—Mnngh~!"
Under the cold shower, things had returned to how they were before all the deep and heavy conversations began, but this time with even more fervor and intensity.
For Damien himself, it was for an obvious reason. He had been successful in achieving the most important goal he had in mind after coming to learn about what the future held in store for him. His mind was truly boiling with excitement!
'...Hahaha. This really is the best feeling ever!'
The one girl who was the key to his stonewalled heart, as well as all of his sinister plans to rise above everyone else, now completely belonged to him. And he would be damned if he didn't thoroughly celebrate it with the one person who truly mattered to him!
"...umm~...mmh~!"
As for the girl experiencing his fervent assault, she was still sorting out her own disorderly thoughts.
Now that she had finally made her choice, the flood of guilt eating at her conscience had lessened quite considerably, though it wasn't completely gone from her mind just yet.
She still felt extremely bad about having to part ways with the boy who smiled so sweetly at her everyday, unable to figure out how she would face him the next time they crossed paths.
Normally, she wouldn't even be able to conceive the thought of going back on her relationship with such an honest and loving person like him.
But now, because of the man standing in front of her, she was probably going to have to sever her relationship with him pretty soon.
...Would he be angry to know that she was going to break up with him? Or maybe, disappointed to know that she did the deed with someone else without breaking up with him first?
No, perhaps he would hurl abuses at her, telling her how much of a terrible person she was with a heartbroken expression on his face. Screaming and yelling at her with tearful eyes as he told her how much of a heartless monster she was for toying with his feelings...
'...But...I-I have to tell him. I owe him that much, at least.'
Sierra suddenly felt afraid, dreading the reaction of the guy she had always known to be a sweet and agreeable person.
Would he still be able to remain calm after knowing the girl he loved had suddenly decided to break up with him?
...And what about Milia? Would her best friend – who pushed her into this abyss in the first place – be able to accept the fact that the man she fell in love with was infatuated with her, instead?
Maybe for a true heartless monster like Damien, the feelings of others didn't matter much in his life. But for Sierra, this situation that she found herself in truly seemed like a bottomless abyss of despair – an abyss that she had decided to voluntarily step into.
...But for now, at least, she wanted to forget all about it.
She wasn't a courageous person by any account, to begin with. Rather, she had always been a fearful coward her entire life. Faced with the difficult choices that lay ahead of her, she could only try to postpone it for as long as possible.
Blinded by the feeling of victory and his boiling excitement, Damien almost missed her abnormal state of mind. But he soon noticed her slight hesitation and awkwardness in returning his heated gestures, before reluctantly stopping what he was doing.
"—Pwah~! Huff... Hey, hey, what happened? Are you feeling unwell? Should we have gotten out of the shower first?"
His honest concern for her was apparent from his tender voice. Turning off the shower, he gently swept back her wet hair, looking into her eyes and checking her temperature in a flustered, clueless manner.
"N-No, it's nothing. I was just lost in some thoughts, and..."
Sierra was immediately broken out of her thoughts by his actions, growing genuinely flustered by his overt show of concern. If there were any doubts remaining in her mind about his shady motives, they had certainly melted away now.
Damien didn't relent, however.
He had already realized what kind of thoughts she was likely having right now, thanks to his own familiarity with her and the original novel's description of events.
"...Hey, listen to me. If you're not okay with it, we can stop now. I can control my urges, but if I cause you any pain, I won't be able to forgive myself. So please, share whatever's on your mind with me, and I promise we'll solve them all together. Okay?"
Gently caressing the side of her face, he showed her a tender smile mixed with an unceasing tide of genuine care and affection towards her.
"O-Okay..."
Sierra's face reddened a little. The emotions visible in his eyes felt so real and substantial that she couldn't, even for a moment, suspect his true intentions to be anything different from what she thought them to be.
'Ahh, this won't do, my love. This is all too easy... As expected, I really can't let you get away from me. Who knows what kind of disgusting con artist you would meet next, otherwise.'
He felt the small flame of voracious desire burning in his chest flare up a little, thinking how great it would be to just get on that abandoned Starship, and then drift into empty space with her forever – with no annoying matters for him to handle.
But then he quickly suppressed that thought. With his transmigrator self's memories and personality now merged with his, doing such a thing wouldn't feel right to him.
Not to mention, Sierra would also never want to live her life like that.
...And he still had a score to settle with Myra, and the entire Xavier family by extension. Damien wouldn't be able to rest easy until he thoroughly decimated their criminal empire into fine dust!
"I..."
At this moment, Sierra took a deep breath, before beginning to speak about her concerns, albeit somewhat hesitantly.
"...I was thinking about how to, uh, say this to Milia and the others... I know they will be shocked, maybe even more than I was. So, I was just...scared of how they might react. I never wanted to hurt them, but if I..."
Her voice seemed on the verge of breaking up as her breaths became a bit unsteady. It was apparent that she placed a great deal of importance on her friendship with the chatterbox girl, even more than that pitiful ex-boyfriend of hers.
Sensing her apparent distress, Damien immediately began patting her back gently. He then tightened his grip on her waist, pulling her into a closer hug as he slowly addressed her worries.
"Hey, you haven't done anything wrong. It was all me, remember...? I was the one who wanted to take you to be mine, doing everything that I could to achieve it. You have nothing to be scared or guilty about. Just give me a smile and I'll handle everything on your behalf, I promise..."
As he gently spoke while comforting her, Sierra's breaths slowly returned to their normal pace over time. She then lightly shook her head.
"...No, it's fine. I-I can do it—"
She sniffled a little, before sneakily wiping her eyes with a finger and glancing up at his face with a slightly ashamed look.
"—Nope, I told you. I'll handle it, and all you have to do is smile for me as payment."
Sierra tried a few times to say that she was fine doing it on her own, but Damien always remained firm on his decision.
After all, not only would her handling things by herself possibly cause her stress, but it would also impede his plans for that ex-boyfriend of hers.
In the end, Sierra had to finally relent to his wishes. A twitching, embarrassed smile graced her blushing face as she faced Damien with her teeth showing.
"Oh, no. Ugh... I think I might've gotten sick just now."
"H-Huh...?"
Seeing her awkward smile, Damien's face twisted into a grimace as he grunted in obviously fake pain, causing her to let out a dumbfounded noise.
Thanks to his reaction, she almost started to think that her smile must've looked truly hideous for him to say something like that, when he continued with his unfinished words.
"...I really need some insulin shots. It was so sweet that I got diabetes! Pfft...!"
Damien said that with a pair of twitching lips, desperately trying to suppress his laughter in front of her.
Sierra just realized that his first reaction was simply a prank, and that she had been duped by it.
"Y-You...!"
Unable to keep her embarrassment down, she began pounding her little fists at his shoulders with flushed cheeks.
"—H-Hey, wait, wait. Stop! Don't try to bite me and listen, okay? Uff...! I think I said no bites, sweetheart. Tsk, if you're going to do it anyway, at least do it gently like me...."
But when he caught both of her flailing hands and firmly held them above her head, she suddenly tried biting him, somehow even managing to leave a red bite mark on his pectoral area.
'Woah, she really has a wild side to her beneath all that sweetness...'
Smilingly caressing the bite mark she gave him, Damien looked down at the girl cutely squirming in his hold.
Thankfully, though she seemed somewhat upset now, she was no longer thinking about unnecessary stuff anymore.
"Hmm, I don't think we should remain wet like this for much longer. Just wait a minute, I'll get towels for both of us."
"...wait."
Saying that, he was about to let go of her and get a pair of dry towels from his room, when he felt Sierra suddenly grab onto his hand. He then turned around to face her, feeling a bit perplexed by her action.
"...you...haven't yet...."
"Hmm? What did you say...?"
"I...I said, that you haven't...finished yet...."
Damien raised an eyebrow at her as she lightly bit her lips, feeling absolutely mortified by what she was saying with her own mouth.
"Y-You...haven't finished yet. It's still like that..."
She then pointed to the half-erect meat shaft swaying between his legs while bashfully avoiding her eyes, making it his turn to be dumbfounded.
'Well, I'll be damned...'
He suddenly felt the dark fire burning within his chest swell up uncontrollably for a moment, almost causing a crack in his mask. It took a lot of effort on his part to get his urges back to a controlled level.
A moment later, he meaningfully smiled at her with a dangerous glint shining in his ruby-red eyes.
"It's okay, sweetheart. Besides...."
He then paused deliberately, before menacingly swiping his tongue across his lips like a hungry predator.
"...we still have a whole day ahead of us, if you know what I mean."
Ahh, there it was... With the corner of her eyes subtly twitching, Sierra immediately cursed herself for even trying to be considerate towards this guy.
Truly, no matter what happened between them in the last few hours or so, he was still that same sex-hungry fiend she knew.