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"Creak... creak..."
In the dim hallway, the faint sounds drifting from the master bedroom were amplified a thousand times by the dead silence of the night.
Standing just outside the door, Kasugano Sora gripped the hem of her pink silk nightgown so hard her knuckles turned bone-white. Her face was flushed a deep, burning crimson—like a tomato ready to burst—and even her small earlobes felt searing to the touch.
Through a wooden door that offered precious little soundproofing, she could clearly hear that usually cold, high-and-mighty "vixen" making sweet, suppressed whimpers like a needy kitten.
Sora stood there for a full ten minutes. As she listened to the rhythmic movement that showed no sign of stopping—only growing more intense—the jar of jealousy in her heart shattered completely.
"Hmph! You perverted brother... I hope you can't even get out of bed tomorrow morning!"
Knowing that charging in now would accomplish nothing, she stomped her bare foot in frustration. Full of resentment and bitter envy, she turned and stomped back to her own room in a huff.
Inside the master bedroom, however, the "battle" was far from over.
Lucian had finally realized just how terrifying this "Succubus Ghost" truly was. As an exceptionally rare type of vengeful spirit, the toxin it left behind wasn't just violent; it was incredibly resilient.
The afternoon's "accident" had only vented the superficial layer of the miasma. The residual poison lurking deep within Yukino's blood had chosen the middle of the night—the exact moment when a person's mental defenses are most prone to collapse—to launch a frantic counterattack.
This flare-up was severe.
Three times.
In this grueling tug-of-war of "detoxification," Lucian relied on his superhuman constitution to endure the onslaught. It took three exhaustive rounds of treatment before the raging fires within Yukino were finally suppressed.
"Whew..."
Lucian let out a long, heavy breath. He looked down at the girl in his arms, who was now completely unconscious and limp as a pool of water, and wiped the sweat from his brow.
This isn't teaching, he thought. This is manual labor.
Thank god he was a transmigrator with a system-enhanced body. Anyone else would have been drained bone-dry and sent straight to the hospital by now.
As her senses slowly returned, Yukino's misty blue eyes fluttered open. Feeling the bone-deep exhaustion and the stinging ache in certain parts of her body, her brain finally rebooted.
Memories of herself acting like a shameless, frenzied witch—clinging to Lucian for three straight rounds—flashed through her mind. Her face instantly turned a shade of red that reached all the way down to her neck.
She couldn't even bring herself to look at him. Gathering the last bit of strength in her body, she rolled over and yanked the heavy duvet over her head, burying herself completely in an attempt to hide from this soul-crushing reality.
Seeing the small lump trembling under the covers, Lucian couldn't help but chuckle. He reached out and patted her shoulder through the blanket, his voice a mix of relief and teasing.
"Yukinoshita, though that was intense, I have to praise you. I'm glad you showed some restraint. Otherwise, we'd be out of clean sheets and sleeping on cardboard tonight."
Hearing his playful jab, Yukino felt like she might actually die of shame. That bastard teacher! He gets what he wants and then has the nerve to bring up the laundry!
"Teacher Lucian! Shut up!"
In a fit of indignant rage, a snow-white arm darted out from under the covers. She swung a soft, weak fist at his chest, though it carried zero threat. If anything, the movement only strained her aching muscles, causing her to let out a faint, fragile groan.
Her arm lost its strength immediately and slumped down. Giving up on any pretense of dignity, she pulled back a corner of the quilt and pressed her burning, flushed face against Lucian's broad chest. She lay there panting, exhausted, like a weary kitten that had finally found a safe harbor.
Just as the atmosphere turned warm and intimate, the air in the room rippled with a strange purple light.
Hum—
With a flash of dark violet, a tall, curvaceous figure dressed in provocatively revealing clothing appeared by the bedside. It was Lucian's Guardian Spirit—the Succubus form of the Piranha Plant, Himan.
As a manifestation of the system, Himan usually stayed in the spirit space, but she was acutely aware of everything happening outside. Right now, her seductive face was twisted in a pout of pure jealousy. Her signature long, pink tongue flicked over her crimson lips as she stared intently at Yukino.
"Master..."
Himan's voice was honeyed and thick with resentment. "If you needed to vent some heat or draw out poison, I could have easily done that for you. My constitution is far better than this fragile human girl's. I promise I would have... why let this woman take all the best parts of Master?"
The sudden, sultry voice startled Yukino. She looked up with difficulty, and upon seeing the woman who had swallowed a ghost whole earlier that afternoon, her body stiffened. She instinctively huddled closer into Lucian's chest.
"Stop messing around, Himan," Lucian said, shooting the troublemaking succubus a warning look. "Yukinoshita is the victim here. I'm saving a life. Why did you come out?"
"Hmph, I just hate seeing Master work so hard." Himan crossed her arms, looking down at Yukino before turning back to Lucian. "Actually, I came to warn you. That ghost's rank wasn't high, but its essence has completely fused with this girl's 'Extreme Yin' constitution. You suppressed the violent surface layer today, but it's not gone."
Both Lucian and Yukino froze. Himan paused for effect before dropping a bombshell.
"The toxin hasn't been uprooted. For the foreseeable future, her body will be extremely unstable. To prevent the poison from rebounding and endangering her life, she'll need a 'detox' session from you every few days."
She smirked. "Until her residual poison is neutralized by your 'Yang' energy, that is."
Every few days... she has to do this?
Yukino's mind felt like a steam engine about to explode. Her face, already red, turned a shade of crimson that seemed physically impossible.
This meant the shameful, mindless, frantic craving of tonight wasn't a one-time thing. It was going to be a "scheduled treatment." She would have to open herself up to this man again and again.
Overwhelming shame made her bite her lip hard. But this time, the second daughter of the Yukinoshita family—who usually protected herself with ice and rejection—didn't say a word. She simply buried her face deeper into Lucian's chest and closed her eyes in a silent, suggestive surrender to fate.
Himan gnashed her teeth at the sight but didn't dare defy Lucian.
"I've said my piece, so I'm heading back. If Master isn't satisfied, you can call me anytime~"
Himan blew a lingering kiss and vanished into a streak of purple light, returning to her spirit space.
Silence returned to the bedroom. Feeling the girl's racing heartbeat slowly steady, Lucian gently stroked her damp black hair.
"Don't overthink it. Just sleep. We'll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow."
"Mm..."
"....."