Chapter 2

“Judging by the way you’ve been acting all prissy and snippy today, you must really hate the idea of my eyes wandering to other women. Well then, you should be the one to fix that.”

The hand that had poked her collarbone slid all the way out to the edge of her shoulder.

Caught in Pado’s smooth, teasing voice, Morae couldn’t move an inch.

To think he would say something so slick. Her mind was shaken by this unexpected side of him, who had acted aloof and distant toward the women in the legion ever since she recruited him.

Morae, who was never one to be intimidated anywhere, couldn’t find a single word to say. Not missing that opening, Pado scooped her up over his shoulder. Cheers erupted as Morae was hoisted like a piece of luggage.

“Whoaaa!”

“Oh, ooooooh!”

Eun Morae was the apple of the eye and the precious only daughter of the <West Sea Legion> (a massive underground faction ruling the floating city), which boasted thousands of members. Yu Pado was a rookie whom this very Eun Morae had personally scouted from the outside.

The princess and the spotlighted rookie. Gossip about the two of them set the surroundings ablaze.

“W-What….?”

“There are too many eyes in the mess hall. We’re going to my room.”

Kicking and flailing her hands and feet, Morae let out a silent outcry. Words that couldn’t possibly be spoken aloud spun on the tip of her tongue before turning into mute air.

“His aggressive drive is insane.”

“Is tomorrow noodle-eating day?¹ Wow, I wondered who’d end up taking Eun Morae, but some guy from the outside just swooped right in and snatched her.”

“Look at how red Morae’s face is.”

Anyone with a proper sense of law-abiding citizenship would have intervened even as a joke, but this was White City, a floating city inhabited by outcasts who had turned their backs on the government. It was the stronghold of the <West Sea Legion> that ruled White City.

In a sanctuary of outlaws who had renounced their country and society, not a single person would interfere in what looked like an entertaining lovers’ spat.

“Hey…!”

Clutching tightly onto Pado’s back, Morae turned her head to look at the legion members.
Morae, whom the legion’s higher-ups adored, wore an expression full of pent-up fury, but no one stepped in to help.

Being slung over a shoulder like that was something Morae could easily break out of with her own strength anyway, and her drained face was already blushing a rosy red.

There was some distance from the central hall to Pado’s room.

Distance, in this case, only meant crossing over another building and taking an elevator, but it wasn’t right on their doorstep as one might think. Carrying a person dangling over one’s shoulder across the way was enough to draw the attention of many onlookers.
Yet that long, drawn-out time felt as brief as a fleeting second to Morae, who was draped over Pado’s shoulder. After blinking her eyes three or four times, his room was right in front of them.

When she came to her senses, she was already on Pado’s bed. The members they had crossed paths with in the hallway seemed to have shouted something, but she couldn’t remember a single thing.

Thrown onto the bed, Morae curled her legs up and looked up. Pado gazed down at her steadily, his eyes scanning her body.

Even now, not a single word came out of Morae’s throat. She was far too tense over the fact that Pado had dragged her to his room to keep her composure.

‘Pado… did this to me?’

In front of other people, he had said embarrassing things, slung her over his shoulder, and brought her to his room. Was this sheer force of will, or an overflow of aggressive charm? Either way, she was so flustered her whole body tingled.

‘Me? Really?’

When she heard about the “rumors of Pado’s transfer” from her aunt at the lab around morning, she never imagined things would turn out like this.

Morae was a member of the <West Sea Legion> and the only daughter of its founder. Having been cherished by the legion’s elders since birth, her sense of belonging was stronger than anyone else’s.

Yet the West Sea Legion, whose foundations her parents had laid, was a surprisingly peaceful place despite bearing the name of a legion.

Much like a company taking on new recruits as interns and helping them grow, it left open paths for them to be scouted by various organizations inside and outside the city. Even if they weren’t interns, if someone wanted to leave, they were allowed to go at any time, and relocation back to the cities above was accommodated reasonably well.

It was a policy born from the pride that no place rivaled the West Sea Legion as the ruler of the floating city, mixed with the realistic judgment that there was no holding onto someone whose heart had already wandered off.

That laid-back and lenient attitude was the secret to surviving for a long time in the underground hunter scene, where glory and decline repeated without rest, but it wasn’t something Morae could easily accept.

In particular, having Pado—the most talented individual of their generation, whom she had scouted with her own two hands—snatched away was enough to drive her crazy.
Not being some fool who would stand by and watch a jewel get stolen right before her eyes, Morae had called in Pado from his distant outing the moment she heard the news to call him to account.

Though her words had been harsh out of pride, she would have done anything to keep Pado by her side. Though she hadn’t exactly planned on this kind of development.

‘Well, no… I can’t say I didn’t think about it either.’

To be completely honest, she had thought about it.

While she hadn’t decided to have sex purely as a tactic to tie him down, she had at least entertained the imagination that Pado might hold some interest in her.

After all, she was pretty and cute. Weren’t her own charms at least partly responsible for Yu Pado, who had been living legally in the outside world just half a year ago, choosing the path of a villain?

Any normal person, any man, would naturally harbor favorable feelings toward her. She had spent a few sleepless nights driven by such confidence—or perhaps a subtle, secret expectation.

Even so, now that the actual moment had arrived, she felt nervous. Her breath caught, and the sound of her beating heart echoed in her ears.

“Eun Morae.”

As Pado’s face drew closer, her heartbeat grew even more violent. Morae parted her lips to speak, but under his advance, she fell backward onto the bed.

“R-Really….”

His nose was right in front of hers. Meaning, his face. To put it another way, his lips had closed the distance to less than a span away.

If she leaned forward just a fraction, they would kiss. Startled out of her wits, Morae shrunk her shoulders and pulled her head back.

She wasn’t mentally prepared to kiss him at a timing like this.

At that, Pado’s head pulled back sharply as well. Standing at a distance instead of pressing the advantage or looking disappointed, the corners of his lips curled up as he let out a dry scoff.

“Chickened out? I knew it.”

Steeped in mockery, Pado dusted off his hands and turned around. Crossing his arms, he looked down at Morae sprawled out across the bed.

“For a princess who falls apart just talking to a woman for a bit, there’s no way you’d be worldly. Thought you were following along obediently, only to find out you were just scared stiff. What a kid.”

“What?”

“Once you figured it out, stop acting cocky talking about being in heat and chasing women’s asses. The women at the Downtown Workshop actually like me and try to hit on me, but what are you?”

“W-What! You dragged me here by force! You hoisted me over your shoulder!”

Pricked with annoyance, Morae jumped up from the bed and clenched her fists. With a single finger, Pado pushed Morae’s forehead, effortlessly subduing her.

Stabbed by his index finger, Morae crumbled like a sandcastle. The lingering wave of tension drained all the strength right out of her legs.

“Do you have any conscience? This is your own bedroom. In a place where your parents, in-laws to the distant relatives, and even the whole neighborhood would come running out the moment you made up your mind to scream, you got dragged off by me by force? Since when were you such a timid, pathetic little thing?”

Strictly speaking, since Pado had hoisted her over his shoulder and brought her along, she hadn’t come voluntarily. But she hadn’t been dragged away by force the way she was making it sound, either.

Since this was practically Morae’s own bedroom, throwing even a single tantrum would have had people rushing over in a panic to roll Pado up in a straw mat and beat him to a pulp.

Yet she had just quietly cowered and stayed put, which was why Pado had felt free to toss her right onto his bed.

“A guy says he’s interested, so you get tense all the way to the tips of your hair and let yourself be led along, only to chicken out the second things actually move to the main event.”

Pado’s words were right. Because he was right, she had no counter-argument.

Making a great show of clicking his tongue and even scoffing, he walked into the bathroom without a trace of lingering attachment. Just as he was about to close the door, Pado glanced back at Morae from the doorway.

“I’m going to wash up, so make your way back when you’ve had enough.”

And that was it.

The sound of a faucet turning followed by gushing water echoed through the room. It was the signal that he had started his shower.

Truly… that was it.

Left stranded all by herself in the bleak room in an instant, Morae slowly chewed over her current situation. As if the numbness that had lasted the entire walk down the hallway had been a lie, she figured everything out during the span of five blinks.

Pado had played with her. He had mocked her in front of others and pretended to be interested just to dangle her on a string.

It must have been hilarious to him watching Morae flounder at the heart-fluttering subject of love.

After playing with Morae’s little innocent feelings, Pado had tossed her aside the moment they stepped into his room.

Only Morae, who had stiffened up thinking he was interested in her, had ended up looking like a fool.

What felt even more unpleasant was his attitude of not caring about her by even a single strand of hair.

Leaving a cute young woman in her prime shut inside his room and ignoring her? Not just any ordinarily cute woman, but her—Eun Morae—had been brought right into his space, yet the nerve of him turning his back and acting like he didn’t care.

How dare Yu Pado. How dare that guy. After she had looked after him and paid attention to him, how dare he!

The more the sound of running water poured out, the more her unpleasant feelings piled up. The fact that she had been so neatly played by Pado aggressively scraped at Morae’s pride.

Instead of fleeing the dreary room, Morae sat on the edge of the bed and crossed her legs. Leaning her upper body back slightly, she braced herself with both hands on the bed.

While she was tapping the tip of her foot, Pado opened the bathroom door and stepped out. Wearing nothing but a loosely draped bathrobe, Pado’s cheek twitched the moment he saw Morae.

“You still here? If you don’t have business here, go back to your room.”

He sounded like he was grumbling, but he didn’t look particularly displeased.

Pado pulled on his bathrobe, covering up his chest which had been exposed right into a daringly low view now that she was there. The state of his clothes, which he had left wide open in precarious places assuming she wasn’t there, straightened up neatly.

Since he had just finished washing, moisture clung all over his body. Dripping with water droplets, he approached Morae and lightly grabbed her by the chin.

“Or is it that you actually want me to do it?”

As Pado’s face drew close, her blood began to circulate again, but she wasn’t going to fall for it this time. This was just another provocation meant to enjoy watching her look flustered.

She had let him get away with it once, but there was no end to it. Smiling arrogantly, Morae reached out and stroked the back of the close-up Pado’s neck.

“The one who wants it is probably you. You should be bowing in gratitude. I stayed behind because I figured you must be desperate for a woman.”

Pado’s eyebrows twitched, as if he wanted to say “What?”. Shoving Pado’s neck away, Morae distanced herself from him.

“You even pulled off little parlor tricks trying to hit on me once, so I ought to at least play along.”

Morae smiled provocatively. As she switched which leg was crossed, the hem of her short skirt fluttered. Her fair thighs, plump with just the right amount of flesh, were exposed clearly to view.