PMEVBO 131

I had a rough idea of the role romance novels played in this world. It was a world where media development was slow. Here, romance novels effectively served as the sole provider of pornography.

In that sense, could the data “The Happy Ending” also be considered a romance novel? After all, it was masquerading as an R-rated fantasy romance.

Honestly, I wanted to deny it…

But I had already reacted so obviously that I couldn’t do that. I sighed and asked.

“…How did you know?”

“Because romance novels usually have flashy covers.”

That was true. Just like the data “The Happy Ending,” the covers of romance novels in this world were equally dazzling.

…Like a male peacock performing a courtship dance.

“So I guess they sometimes change the covers to disguise themselves as something else…”

Iser and I had discovered a book with unsavory content in the guards’ break room here. The title written on the cover was The History of Abstinence and Temperance. Actually, I had read a book with the same title before. It was something of a required reading back when I was a novice priest.

It was a boring book.

It felt like a title that had just been stretched out, so there were more than a few times I wanted to give ​visit our site​up on it. The book lying around in this room must be a terrible hybrid created by one of the guards.

“There were a few copies in the annex library. I was lured by the cover and started reading it without knowing what it was about, and my father took it away from me.”

“Ah… really?”

If that had happened while his father was alive, that meant it was before he was nine…

…To think a baby was reading something like that, his father must have been shocked.

“Then you… back then…”

I couldn’t bring myself to ask how far he had read. As if he knew what I was thinking about, Iser smirked.

“Fortunately, I didn’t see the decisive part.”

“Really? That’s a relief…”

Suddenly, a similar incident from the past came to mind.

Back when I was a novice priest, I once went to the library with Aquila. For some reason, that library also stocked romance novels. Like Iser, I was captivated by the flashy cover and opened it without thinking. And…

I was so shocked I couldn’t eat for a while.

I think I even threw up.

Looking back, what I read back then wasn’t even that explicit. Moreover, at the time, I didn’t understand even half of what was written in it.

When I lived as a Kang Je-in, I attended school and naturally received age-appropriate sex education on time. However, when I lived as Lucariel, the situation was different.

Until I was thirteen, my world consisted entirely of the Pope and the palace where he resided. Since the Pope was the only person whose face I saw, I had to receive sex education from him if I wanted to. But this was the entirety of the so called sex education I received from him.

‘How are babies made?’

‘They are made when a man and a woman who get along want to have a child.’

For an answer given to a five or six-year-old, that wasn’t too bad. The problem was that my knowledge of sex remained stuck at that level ever since. Until I happened to open a romance novel at the library I visited with Aquila when I was thirteen.

I was reminiscing about my first vivid pornographic experience when Iser asked me with a gentle look.

“Who are the main characters?”

“The main characters…?”

I felt like punching someone.

If he found out who the main character was, he would want to know the plot. After all, the female protagonist of that story was Iser’s older sister, Isabelle.

How can you not be curious when your family is the main character?

Iser, who had been staring at my face, lowered his gaze and spoke in a low voice.

“Actually, I think I know who one of them is.”

“…Who is it?”

I was anxious, feeling like he might actually guess correctly.

“Isabelle.”

Wow… isn’t this a miracle?

“…How did you know that?”

As I laughed in disbelief, Iser finally met my gaze. His cool hand, which had been wrapped around my shoulder, moved up to tickle my neck and gently grasp my chin. He pressed the tip of his thumb against my lips and smiled.

“You sometimes talk as if you know a lot about her.”

“Ah… did I do that?”

His finger dug into my mouth, which had parted as I replied. His eyes crinkled as he gently scratched my tongue.

“You did. Even though this time, you shouldn’t have met her.”

“Hmph.”

The moment his fingernail brushed against the tip of my tongue, which had become sensitive from being sucked so much, goosebumps spread across the back of my neck. But my attention was elsewhere.

…This time?

Just then, the finger that had been tormenting my tongue slipped out of my mouth. As Iser sat up, his penis, which had been inside me, slowly withdrew.

“Ugh…….”

Semen flowed out of the now empty hole. As the warm, viscous liquid trickled down between my buttocks, the corners of my eyes twitched.

He kissed the corner of my eye, propped up a pillow, and leaned against the headboard. Through the gap in his pants, his penis hung softly, glistening with bodily fluids. It wasn’t even erect, yet it was erotic.

“Don’t stare at me like that. I’m getting hard again.”

Iser smirked and placed one hand on the bedside table. Then, leaning his upper body toward me, he began to unbutton his shirt himself. As the buttons came undone one by one, the front of the shirt parted, revealing smooth skin. Passing the straight collarbone, the well-defined pectoral muscles, and beneath them, the beautifully sculpted abs…

Iser began to speak as he fumbled with the buttons undone halfway.

“You know, Lucariel. About the male protagonist of that story.”

“…….”

“Could it be you?”

I averted my gaze, which had been fixed on the inside of his shirt. I swallowed nervously.

“……No, it’s not me.”

“Really?”

It was true that I in that story liked Isabelle, but I was, after all, the villain. The only one the female protagonist, Isabelle, truly loved was Seriha. So, the male protagonist was Seriha.

I hope that Seriha didn’t die during the Hayut Massacre…

Back when I firmly believed that this place was the world inside a book, I didn’t need to worry about Seriha. After all, the original male protagonist couldn’t possibly die before the story even began.

But this world was not the world inside a book.

As proof, Iser was alive right before my eyes.

Iser cupped my cheeks and kissed me. As I reflexively opened my mouth, the Power of Life flowed in instead of his tongue. A cool, refreshing energy seeped into my body like welcome rain soaking drought-stricken land.

“Haa…….”

My body, which had ached as if I had the flu, instantly relaxed. The sticky feeling on my skin and the foreign sensation in my stomach vanished. Iser slowly pulled away and planted a kiss on my lips.

That was all.

Who is the male protagonist? What role do I play in that story… There must be many things he wanted to ask. But Iser didn’t ask a single one. Even about himself.

He got out of bed and finished undoing the remaining buttons on his shirt. Soon after, the shirt, stained with bodily fluids, fell to the floor. It was just as I was watching that sight that a familiar window appeared.

────【 System Notification 】────

Level-up conditions have been met.

Would you like to level up now?

Yes/No

────────────────

Of all times, why right now…?

I couldn’t stop myself from frowning.

There was still something I needed to hear from Iser. How he knew about the brainwashing, and how he managed to find me all the way to Chepony Castle. Because I hadn’t been able to ask him anything yet.

If I could, I would have liked to postpone the update just a little. But I couldn’t.

(Note: Level-up will proceed automatically if the 3-minute time limit is exceeded.)

It was a bit awkward to ask right now when there was a 3-minute time attack. But pressing ‘No’ felt wrong, as I didn’t know when the notification might pop up again…

In the meantime, Iser picked up the blanket that had fallen on the floor and covered me. After taking off his pants as well, he crawled under the covers and lay down beside me. When I moved aside to offer him a pillow, he closed his eyes gently.

“……I think I need to level up right now. But, uh, while I’m leveling up, I–

“I know. I remember. You said you would be unconscious during that time.”

Iser held me in his arms.

“Yes, right. It’ll probably be over in about five hours.”

“Alright. I’ll wait patiently in the meantime.”

I felt a hand patting my back. I knew he always did this for me while I was asleep. Perhaps that was why I tended to sleep particularly soundly whenever I was next to him.

But I’m not even asleep right now.

I chuckled and gently rubbed his cheek with the back of my hand.

“Yes, thank you.”

My vision began to darken. It looked like three minutes had already passed.

In an instant, my consciousness faded.