I sat alone on the stone bench.
The yellow light from the mana lamp fell directly onto my face.
To my side, there was just space where Sianna had been sitting moments before.
'It is not like this is my first rodeo with doing terrible things to survive,' I thought to myself, leaning my head back against the stone pillar.
I killed plenty of people in my past life to complete objectives.
Honestly, murdering an armed enemy with a sword felt way easier than taking advantage of a grieving woman.
A part of me felt sick, but the larger part of me felt an overwhelming rush of pure relief.
My heart was still beating.
I was going to wake up tomorrow, normally, and that's what matters.
'Why was this even a scenario to begin with?' I wondered, rubbing my eyes.
[Congratulations!]
[Main Scenario: Completed.]
I stared at the floating blue text.
But what irked me was the last point.
[Narrative Changed: Black Witch Restored]
'What does this mean?'
Now that I think about it, Sianna wasn't a recurring character in the original timeline and in my past, she disappeared after two months for reasons unknown.
'Does this system have an ulterior motive?'
Before I could even open my inventory to see what the specific tickets were about, I heard a soft, amused chuckle to my right side.
I turned my head and looked down the path.
A blue-haired woman stood right at the edge of the light.
Melissa was wearing only a tight black tank top and dark shorts, and her hair was completely loose, falling in waves over her bare shoulders.
She looked like she had just rolled out of bed, but her eyes were awake and mocking.
"Melissa," I said, glaring at her without moving from the bench.
"Why are you looking so pissed off?" she asked, stepping casually into the circle of light.
"Didn't you just succeed at your little game?"
She was right.
I am alive now.
But her smug attitude was the last thing I wanted to deal with right now.
"So?" she teased, tilting her head and smiling at me.
"How do married lips taste?"
I looked at her for a long second, my jaw clenching.
I stood up from the stone bench and reached down, grabbing the edges of my uniform shirt to start buttoning it back up.
"What are you doing out here?" I asked, keeping my voice flat.
She walked forward, stepping right into my personal space without a single ounce of hesitation.
Her fingers were surprisingly warm against my bare chest as she took over, slowly sliding the small buttons into their holes.
"You're trembling," she whispered, eyes locked on her hands.
"Was it that good… or that bad?"
I stayed silent.
She finished the last button and looked up at me, her face only inches away.
"I messaged you constantly tonight, but your horny ass was busy seducing a married woman in the dark," she whispered.
"See, Shane, I have known a lot of perverted nobles who misbehaved with their pretty maids, or who were always looking at women inappropriately. But you are a completely different breed of crazy."
"I mean, who would hit it off with a professor in the first week of the academy when monsters were killing people outside the wall?"
"Why did you do it?" she asked suddenly, her tone shifting to curiosity.
"You wouldn't understand," I told her quietly.
"You don't look like someone who just won," she said.
"You look like someone who hates himself a little more tonight."
I tried to wave her hands away from my shirt, wanting to create some distance.
But she kept her grip strong, her small hands holding the fabric of my collar tight.
She refused to let go, forcing me to stay exactly where I was.
The physical proximity was intoxicating, and she definitely knew it.
"Is it the end?" she asked, her voice dropping lower.
"You won't follow her around anymore?"
My eyes looked past her shoulder, staring toward the direction where Sianna had run away crying.
The image of her shattered expression was burned right into my brain.
"It's finished," I said firmly.
"What an asshole," Melissa grimaced.
But the playful glint in her eyes completely contradicted her harsh words.
She was thrilled by the drama.
I ignored her insult, then gently grabbed her wrists, pulled her hands off my shirt, and turned to walk back to the dorms.
"You know, in three days we will be exploring the underground caves as our first major assignment," Melissa called out to my back.
"Yeah, I know."
She grabbed my hand and turned me back around to face her.
The playful smirk was gone from her face now.
"I need you to be on my team for that expedition," she said, her tone dead serious.
"Why?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You hate commoners."
"Trust me," she whispered, squeezing my hand tight.
"I know something."
I don't know exactly what she is getting at, but I just nodded along.
I reached my quiet dorm and locked the door behind me. The silence of the room was a massive comfort. I threw my ruined shirt onto the floor, sat down on the edge of my bed, and finally focused on the glowing system interface waiting in my peripheral vision.
'Open inventory,' I thought.
[Inventory Opened]
[Item: Skill Unlock Ticket x1]
[Item: Hidden Reward Box x1]
I looked at the golden ticket floating in the digital window. I
'Use Skill Unlock Ticket.'
[Processing Ticket...]
[Notice: This is a Unique Ticket. It does not pull from the standard Skill Tree.]
[Analysing Host's recent scenario completion...]
[Evaluating new Title: Seducer of the Taken...]
[Unique Passive Trait Unlocked: Phantom Touch Lv. 1]
'Phantom Touch?' I thought, frowning at the strange name.
'What does that actually do?'
I tapped the text to expand the detailed description.
[Phantom Touch Lv. 1]
[Type: Passive / Sensory]
[Description: Targets who have experienced intense emotional or physical tension with the Host will randomly experience phantom sensations of the Host's touch, even when entirely alone. This prevents the target's desire from cooling down over time. The effect grows stronger at night.]
My eyes went completely wide.
'This is terrifying,' I realised.
I fell back onto my pillows and stared up at the dark ceiling.
Sianna thought she could just run away and forget about everything that happened tonight.
She probably thinks she can just avoid me in class tomorrow and lock her complicated feelings back into a neat little box to save her marriage.
I lay back on my bed and stared at the ceiling, the guilt still heavy in my chest… but now mixed with something colder.
Power.
And the frightening realisation that I was starting to like how it felt.