Her fingertips turning the pages of her book, halted.

—Rustling… .

“How did you know?”

When she asked him nonchalantly, he approached her and turned to her seat. His red eyes quietly sink.

“What power did you use?”

“I was testing and tried it out. I was wondering what my strength was. Phone must have been dreaming for a while. Perhaps a dream of eating an enormous amount of food?”

“A dream?”

He tilted his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Dahlia was relieved by his reaction conveying his interest rather than his suspicion, and continued her explanation.

“I have a power that’s the level of a Luster, but I don’t know how to use it. So I drew it out. Before I didn’t know. My skills are ‘command*’ and ‘dreaming’.” [*t1v: the word in Korean is “word+spell” implying words have spirit/spell in themselves. Seems to be a form of command or ‘manifesting’]

His lips parted slightly. Perhaps it was an impressive ability; his hands rubbing his smooth chin were rough.

Jurgen’s dark eyebrows rose at an angle.

“How did you know? It is not an easy task to awaken oneself.”

At that, Dahlia smiled and turned to the book again.

“I’m not an ordinary Sentinel, am I?”

“So, how did you test it?”

Slowly blinking her eyelids, she chined in the direction of the open window.

“I commanded the birds. After I asked Phone to bring his friends, I told the birds to report all the happenings in the capital. Especially, news of the Sentinel Promotion Test Center.”

Dahlia shook her head, recalling the massive flock of birds that had shadowed the sky. Phone brought all the birds of the capital as if he were boasting of his personal connections.

Had she not ordered that more than half of them should return in the middle, Bluebell House might have been covered in bird droppings and caused great havoc.

“So what did they tell you?”

“Honestly, I heard so many words that I roughly got the gist of it. But I remember clearly that Prince Antero and Prince Liberio would cross the portal on the day of the Annual Founding Celeberation Banquet. And that a man with blonde hair and golden eyes, greeted as the second sun of the empire said as much. His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Ha, oh dear.”

Jurgen swept his pale face with both hands. He was stunned and speechless.

“Dreaming, do you know what kind of power that is?”

“Puts the target to sleep. Can control what dreams you can have. Actually, it’s a deep dream in which your deepest fears and desires are manifested… . They come in two forms: Either so sweet that you don’t want to wake up, or so painful that you want to die. I made Phone dream a happy dream.”

“There are no Sentinels in the empire that can control dreams. No… . there wasn’t before and after.”

His voice trembled, murmuring something nonsensical.

“Why are you… .”

Why are you shaking like this?

Dahlia jumped up with a puzzled expression and held Jurgen’s cheek. She met his eyes, pressing him to look at herself. When she held his gaze, his red eyes staring at her shook.

“So, did the birds tell you that too?”

Suspicion and doubt darkened his stubborn eyes. What the birds conveyed was the chatter of people visiting the test site.

Some people complained they were hot; some had stomach aches. Others gossiped and many praised the beauty of Edelred and the Crown Prince. But, frankly, most of it was useless chatter she didn’t bother to recall.

“What are you talking about?”

“The Crown Prince tried to make a deal with me that you will guide him in exchange for the approval of our marriage. Of course, I declined.”

Dahlia shook her head slowly.

“I didn’t hear about it. But you refused? So, what about the marriage approval?”

“It doesn’t matter anyway.”

“Isn’t it okay if I just guide once? As I do with Gerald.”

“There is no such thing as a one-time guiding. If you taste the finest sweetness… . you’ll never give it up.”

Dahlia’s brows furrowed in confusion, not understanding. Jurgen grabbed her by the waist and lifted her. Then he sat her down on the desk next to him and held the corners as if to trap her between his arms.

“Instead, the best strategy is to prevent them from tasting it in the first place.”

“What do you mean by finest sweetness?”

Instead of explaining, he grabbed both of her knees and spread them apart. Losing her balance, her body fell backwards. Dahlia managed to hold on by arching her back.

The hem of her thin dress rolled over her thighs, and his lips touched her quivering inner thighs. Dahlia held her breath as his heated exhales slowly approached a more private area.

“Why are you like this all of a sudden?”

“I don’t think you know what ‘sweetness’ is.”

“Then I’d rather you explain… !”

Suddenly, his tongue burrowed into her pushed-aside underwear. His unbelievably hot breath poured out violently.

Dahlia gasped and struggled to bring her legs together. However, he spread her thick vaginal lips with his index and middle fingers, tapped the clitoris with the tip of his tongue, and pushed it around rapidly.

Her powers felt stable. She wasn’t even guiding, but her heart was beating like crazy, her body bounced, and she felt a hot dizzying sensation.

Going further down, he grabbed her thighs and pressed them against her breasts, putting his tongue into her puckering hole. Her hole was being sucked with a lewd wet sound.

“Oh… !”

Dahlia bit her lip painfully, trying to suppress her moans. This was an unacceptable act. As a lady, as a woman. She should never do this… . Contrary to reason, the heat boiling up in her lower abdomen rose up as a terrifying bliss. It was also a pleasure close to pain for her.

With the bridge of his nose buried, stimulating her, he sucked in her slippery liquid, kissed the inside of her thigh, and then stood up. Then, he put his hand on the nape of Dahlia’s trembling neck, pulled her in, and kissed her roughly.

“This is ‘sweetness’.”