Lux's fingers trembled slightly as he undid the top button of Elara's collar. Her skin was marble-white, terrifyingly cold to the touch. The frost on her eyelashes was spreading, turning her lips a shade of bruised blue.
"Hold on, Elara," Lux muttered.
He placed his hands flat against her sternum, activating [Aphrodisiac Hands]. A soft pink light emanated from his palms, clashing with the icy aura radiating from her body.
[System Alert]
[Physical Contact Established.]
[Attempting to locate the Core of the Curse...]
[Warning: Target's mind is trapped in a Trauma Loop. Synchronization required to break the mental barrier.]
[Initiating Soul Resonance...]
"Soul what?" Lux blinked.
Suddenly, the world tilted. The dusty ceiling of the Blackwood Estate vanished, replaced by a swirling vortex of snow and darkness.
The Dreamscape: Five Years Ago
The wind howled like a dying god.
Lux wasn't Lux anymore. He was a spectator, a ghost floating above a snow-covered canyon. Below him, the scene played out with hyper-realistic violence.
A woman stood amidst a dozen corpses.
It was Elara.
But not the gentle maid who poured his tea. This woman was a weapon. She wore a skin-tight bodysuit of enchanted black leather that hugged her lethal curves, torn in places to reveal blood-soaked skin. She held twin daggers that dripped with a glowing, purple poison.
She was panting, her breath misting in the freezing air.
"Give it up, Black Widow," a voice boomed from the shadows.
A figure stepped out—a tall mage draped in robes of shifting ice. His face was hidden, but his power was suffocating. An S-Rank? No, a high A-Rank Ice Archmage.
"You cannot escape with the package," the mage sneered. "The Duke wants the evidence destroyed. And he wants the boy's lineage erased."
Lux, floating above, felt a chill. The boy? Me?
Elara spat blood onto the white snow. "The Young Master... is innocent. He knows nothing of his mother's secrets."
"Then he will die ignorant," the Mage raised his staff. "Glacial Tomb!"
A massive spike of ice, the size of a carriage, shot toward Elara. She could have dodged. She had the speed. Lux saw her muscles tense to leap away.
But then, she looked behind her.
Hidden in a crevice of the rock behind her wasn't a person, but a small, sealed scroll case. The proof of something important. If she dodged, the ice would shatter it.
"No!"
Elara didn't dodge. She charged forward.
She crossed her daggers and met the S-Rank spell head-on.
BOOM.
The impact was cataclysmic. The ice shattered, but shards the size of swords pierced her body. The cold magic slammed into her chest, invading her heart.
She screamed—a sound of pure agony—but she didn't stop. With the ice still embedded in her chest, she threw one of her daggers. It flew true, burying itself in the Mage's eye.
The Mage howled and teleported away, retreating.
Elara collapsed. The magic—the Abyssal Frost—began to spread from her wound, turning her veins black.
She crawled, dragging her broken body through the snow, until she reached the scroll case. She curled around it, shivering violently.
"I promised..." she whispered to the empty canyon. "I promised her... I would protect him. I will be his shield... even if I am broken."
Reality
"Gah!"
Lux gasped, jerking back as his mind slammed back into his body. He was sweating profusely.
He looked down at Elara. The maid on the sofa wasn't just a servant. She was his savior. She had taken a hit meant to erase his future. She had endured five years of freezing torture, suppressed her power, and served him tea with a smile, never once telling him what she sacrificed.
Rage burned in Lux's chest. Rage at his father. Rage at the Mage.
And an overwhelming, possessive need to save her.
"You stupid woman," Lux whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "You protected me then. It's my turn now."
[Resonance Complete.]
[Emotional Bond Established.]
[Intimacy Multiplier Increased: x2 -> x5]
Lux didn't hesitate anymore. He ripped the rest of her blouse open. Buttons flew across the room.
Underneath, she wore a simple white cotton camisole, now soaked in cold sweat and clinging to her skin. Her bountiful breasts rose and fell with shallow, pained breaths.
The black veins he had seen in the dream were visible now, spiderwebbing from the center of her chest, creeping up her neck and down toward her stomach.
"System, maximize output of Aphrodisiac Hands."
[Acknowledged. Warning: This will consume your Stamina rapidly.]
Lux placed both hands directly onto her bare skin, right over her heart, covering the soft swell of her cleavage.
"Haa..." Elara moaned in her sleep, her brow furrowing.
His hands were hot—unnaturally hot. The [Touch of Lust] skill didn't just warm the skin; it targeted the nerves. It turned pain into pleasure.
Lux began to massage her. He kneaded the soft flesh, pushing his mana into the black veins.
Where his fingers pressed, the black frost hissed and retreated.
The ice fought back, biting at Lux's fingers, but he pushed harder.
"Wake up, Elara," he commanded.
He moved his hands lower, sliding them under the hem of her camisole to touch the flat, toned stomach beneath. His thumbs rubbed circles against her ribs.
Elara's eyes flew open.
They weren't focused. They were hazy, filled with a mix of delirium and instinct. The heat flooding her body was overwhelming. For five years, she had felt nothing but cold. Now, she felt like she was burning alive—in the best way possible.
"M-Master?" she gasped, arching her back off the sofa. Her chest thrust upward, pressing firmly against Lux's hands. "It... it's hot. Too hot."
"Take it," Lux growled, his voice rough. "Let the heat in."
He leaned down, his face inches from hers.
"Who am I, Elara?"
She looked up at him, her pupils dilated, her cheeks flushing a deep, healthy red. The curse was retreating, pushed back by the surge of arousal and yang energy.
"Lux..." she whispered, dropping the honorifics. "You are... my Lux."
"Good."
Lux didn't stop at her stomach. He needed to circulate the blood flow everywhere.
He moved one hand down, past the waistband of her skirt.
[System Alert]
[Erogenous Zone Detected.]
[Treatment Phase 2: Internal Stimulation Required.]
Elara let out a long, high-pitched whimper, her hips bucking involuntarily against his hand.
"Master... please... I feel strange... I feel..."
"You feel alive," Lux corrected her. He captured her lips in a hungry, demanding kiss.
Her lips were cold at first, but they quickly heated up, moving against his with desperate need. She tasted like winter and sweet vanilla.
[XP Gained: +200]
[Curse Suppression: 40%]
[Target Status: Highly Aroused.]
The treatment had officially begun.