## Chapter 181 – Collusion (23)
Only after the sun had set and dusk had fallen, along with the twilight, were they able to leave the inn while being mindful of the eyes around them. No matter how caught up in the moment they were, the fact remained that they had sex with such loud moans in an inn with no soundproofing. As if she didn’t want anyone to find out that she was the source of those sounds, Aser kept looking around to see if there was anyone nearby.
After confirming that no one was around, she stretched out in the middle of the street, and a cool breeze that calmed the excitement and sweat from the sex pleasantly washed over her. Even though they didn’t have a special conversation, smiles appeared on their faces whenever they looked at each other.
Aser grabbed Ryu’s hand and said in a whisper.
“Shall we go back?”
Instead of answering, Ryu smiled and nodded.
They walked more slowly than usual, taking in the surrounding scenery.
In the past, drunken vagrants or drug-addicted dropouts would occupy the streets and create a grim atmosphere, but now only closed shops quietly stood their ground. Soon, the security would be stable enough for Ryu to take a walk alone at night without any problems.
Looking at the street, Ryu muttered to himself without realizing it.
“I wish these days would continue.”
“I’ll work hard, so it’s okay.”
No one was around, and the quiet dawn streets felt like a dream. Being able to look at each other melting into that scenery and say that they liked each other was nothing short of a blessing.
As they enjoyed the dawn and fooled around, the mansion came into view.
Charlotte, who had noticed their presence and came out to the yard to greet them, tilted her head and asked after seeing Aser’s arm around Ryu and her chest pressed close.
“You two are awfully clingy, aren’t you?”
“Well, we’ve become something more special. Right, Ryu?”
Aser said with a confident expression, putting extra emphasis on Ryu’s name when she called it out as if to show off to Charlotte. Charlotte’s eyes narrowed like a crescent moon when she heard that.
“Oh, is that so?”
Aser enjoyed Charlotte’s reaction and provoked her.
“Jealous?”
Charlotte, who had been watching them with her arms crossed, looked straight into Ryu’s eyes and opened her mouth.
“Ryu, come here.”
“What… I haven’t allowed you to use my name yet?!”
Aser, who was jealous in a strange way, looked back and forth between Ryu and Charlotte with flustered eyes.
“I wonder if you think so too? Do you not like me calling you by your name? I’ll stop if you don’t like it.”
It was a slightly coercive attitude from Charlotte, but Ryu had already noticed her true intentions.
“It’s okay if it’s you, Lady Charlotte.”
“Ugh…!”
Aser couldn’t voice her dissatisfaction with Ryu’s choice. She respected him, and in fact, she had expected it to some extent. She instinctively knew that Charlotte was a huge mountain to overcome in order to be his number one.
Charlotte patted Ryu on the head as if tapping it, smiling leisurely as he approached her.
“Now, is that okay?”
Aser puffed out her cheeks and made a groaning sound, then quickly turned her head away and said in a shrill voice.
“I don’t know! I’m going to sleep! You guys do whatever you want and come in!”
Ryu tried to grab Aser, who was walking away from them quickly, but Charlotte hugged him from behind.
“We see that level of cute jealousy often, don’t we? Besides, she looked really happy, and ‘do whatever you want and come in’ means she’s giving us permission, right? So focus on me now.”
Beyond their touching bodies, he could feel her slight anxiety and loneliness. Ryu carefully placed his hand on hers. He already knew that she pretended to be strong on the outside, but in reality, she was quite lonely. He didn’t want to make her feel anxious.
Ryu was silent for a moment in her warmth. He had never regretted not being more eloquent as much as he did now. In the meantime, he heard Charlotte chuckle from behind.
“I know what you’re thinking. It’s enough to just be like this right now.”
Taking advantage of the relaxed atmosphere, Ryu barely managed to come up with a topic of conversation.
“Ah, I heard about it from Hilda. That…”
Before Ryu could finish speaking, Charlotte said with a smile.
“I just gave her a little more work because she showed promise. There’s no other meaning.”
“Still, she seems very grateful to you, Lady Charlotte.”
“Really? Then I should give her even more work.”
Charlotte released Ryu from her arms and took his hand, just like Aser had done.
“Shall we take a walk?”
When Ryu nodded, Charlotte didn’t go far, but started walking around the mansion’s yard at Ryu’s pace, as if taking a stroll. Charlotte looked at him and casually started a conversation.
“You know that your turn in the tournament is coming up soon, right?”
Hearing the word “tournament,” he felt like he had returned to reality in an instant. Ryu nodded instead of answering. Even though it was a match where they fought by mutual agreement, he didn’t really like the idea of hurting people.
Ryu sighed briefly and said. He felt like he could only tell the truth in front of Charlotte.
“To be honest, I’m scared. The fact that I have to fight someone I know… and the fact that I can hurt them.”
Charlotte stopped walking and made eye contact with Ryu. He felt like he was about to fall into her eyes, which were like looking at the stars in the night sky. The corners of Charlotte’s lips faintly rose, and then her lips slowly opened.
“Really? I won’t feel good if you lose or get hurt, so should I say something to motivate you?”
Ryu nodded with a “yes.”
“I don’t have the confidence to comfort you with fancy words like someone else. I’ll just do what I can promise. If you get good results, how about I talk to the Demon Lord and suggest that we all go to a peaceful place other than District 7? Something like that?”
Ryu’s eyes started to sparkle when he heard the word “go.”
“Can we do that?”
He needed a break because he had been through so much lately that his head was throbbing. Besides, he had never left for another district with the sole purpose of having fun. Until now, he had only gone there for business.
But soon, worries came to mind.
Is it okay to leave District 7 empty? Charlotte, reading Ryu’s expression, said as if telling him not to worry.
“It’s not a big problem to leave here for a while now. It’s something I couldn’t have imagined in the old days, but.”
“Then that’s good.”
As soon as the words were finished, Charlotte playfully smiled, slightly lowering the neckline of her top to reveal her deeply exposed cleavage.
“Besides, there’s a personal reward waiting for you too?”
Even though they had been having sex for hours, Ryu’s body reacted honestly to seeing Charlotte’s chest. Charlotte looked at Ryu’s face, which had turned red to his cheeks, as if he were cute, and then poked his cheek with her finger.
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
Charlotte, seeing Ryu finally make a determined expression, took a small piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to him.
“Oh, by the way, the results of the round of 16 for all the other participants except you are out as of today’s match.”
Ryu received the paper and immediately unfolded it to check the results. Among the names he saw for the first time, he saw a familiar name. Saruk and Claire. He could guess the result from the large X drawn on Saruk’s name.
Charlotte, following Ryu’s gaze, briefly talked about the match.
“It was a one-sided result. The time it took was 23 seconds. The kid named Saruk couldn’t even touch Claire once, and he fainted from a single stab and lost.”
He couldn’t believe that Saruk had fainted in one hit. Saruk, who had a muscular body that looked like it was made of steel, was defeated in one blow by Claire, who had a seemingly delicate figure? He couldn’t imagine it in his head.
Charlotte gave Ryu words of encouragement, seeing his complicated expression.
“You don’t have to think too complicatedly. You’re not going to lose to an ordinary student, are you? You learned from me, you learned from Lou, and you lived with the Demon Lord.”
“I guess so?”
He regained some confidence, but he had one more condition. The promise he made with Lou. The condition that he would win without allowing a single effective hit. Would that be possible against Claire? Thinking about it now, it was no different from setting an absurd condition.
Charlotte eventually took special measures, seeing that Ryu wasn’t getting any better. She leaned her upper body slightly and whispered something in his ear.
“If you win, I’ll…”
Ryu’s face quickly turned red after hearing Charlotte’s next words, and soon, his lower body swelled up so much that he wondered if his pants would tear. Charlotte smacked her lips at the sight of Ryu and quietly walked towards the mansion. Ryu, left alone in the yard, thought. He had no choice but to win this match, not for anyone else, but only for himself.
