Chapter 14: Scared Old Witch

Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Scared Old Witch

Michael stared at the panel, a slow grin spreading across his handsome face. ’Damn. This much from just one F-rank rune?’

His grin widened, sharp and boyish. ’What the hell am I going to turn into after upgrading this thing to SSS+... or even X-rank?’

He leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes, intending to rest for only a few minutes before integrating the Fire Rune Seraphine had given him earlier.

But his exhaustion was far greater than he’d realized.

His thoughts soon became hazy.

Then slower.

Then nothing.

—

More than an hour passed after Michael had fallen into a deep sleep before the front door opened quietly, and Seraphine stepped inside.

She sighed softly in exhaustion before suddenly stopping in her tracks.

Michael lay on the couch, still wearing the loose clothes he’d changed into after his bath. Pale moonlight spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows, falling across his sleeping face and softening those already devastating features—white hair silvered by the light, long lashes resting against sharp cheekbones, the soft curve of his mouth relaxed in sleep.

For a moment, he looked almost unreal. Too beautiful. Too young. Too dangerous for a woman who had spent decades carefully locking her heart away.

On the table in front of him sat a covered plate with a small tag bearing her name.

The sight brought a soft, involuntary smile to her lips.

Stepping closer, Serphine retrieved a light blanket from her storage ring and carefully draped it over him. She lingered there for a few seconds, simply looking at his sleeping face, her purple eyes darkening with something she refused to name.

Then her gaze drifted toward the purple System panel that had been floating at the edge of her vision for more than three hours.

[Mission: Speak your true thoughts about Michael Kaiser in his presence.

Reward: One answer to a question you wish to know about him.

Penalty: One day ability probation.]

Seraphine hesitated. Honestly, she didn’t know why Michael had given her a mission like this. Although she had hated the last one—not only because it was crude, but because it had made her heart act strangely—she almost preferred it to this.

At least the previous mission had been straightforward.

This one felt far more personal.

Like it was attacking the one thing she didn’t want to say out loud.

She glanced at Michael, making sure he was still deeply asleep, before slowly parting her full lips. Her voice was barely above a whisper, careful not to wake him.

"Honestly..." she began, soft and low. "I think you’re a really good kid. Kind. Brave in your own strange way. And somehow... you’re funny even when you aren’t trying."

A faint smile touched her lips, but it vanished almost immediately. "But... I’ve started feeling something more than that."

She fell silent.

For several seconds she simply stared at him, as though trying to find the courage to say what came next. The Fourth Star of the Seven Sovereigns—who had faced S-rank demons without flinching—felt her pulse accelerate just from looking at a sleeping young man.

"It scares me, Michael." Her voice trembled ever so slightly. "It’s only been a day. Just one day. A few hours, really."

A quiet, almost bitter laugh escaped her. "And yet somehow, in that single day, you’ve made me feel things I haven’t allowed myself to feel in years."

Her eyes lowered. The soft, heavy swell of her breasts rose and fell with a deeper breath as she continued, voice growing quieter, more intimate.

"I thought I’d buried those parts of myself a long time ago. I thought I’d become too old, too tired, too accustomed to being alone to ever feel something like this again."

She swallowed.

"But then you came along... with that ridiculous white hair and those rose-pink eyes that look at me like I’m not just a weapon or a Sovereign. And suddenly I’m thinking about you when I shouldn’t. Worrying about what you think of me. Looking forward to seeing you. Wondering what it would feel like if you stayed beside me... if you touched me the way I keep imagining."

Her voice softened further, almost ashamed of how honest she was being. "That’s why I keep pulling away. Because every time I get closer to you, I feel myself losing control. My body reacts before my mind can stop it."

She placed her hand against his chest, her fingertips resting there for a moment before slowly tracing across the fabric. Even through the thin material she could feel the steady beat of his heart. Her own heart answered it, traitorously fast.

"I know that if I show you that side of me—the side that wants to climb into your lap and kiss you until neither of us can think—you’ll probably run away and think I’m some desperate, weird old lady who couldn’t control herself just because a young man showed her genuine attention."

Her head dipped. For a moment she seemed unable to continue. Moonlight caught the ash-blonde strands of her hair as they fell forward, framing the soft curves of her face and the elegant line of her neck.

"So please..." Her fingers curled slightly against his chest, the warmth of his body seeping into her palm. "Don’t blame me too much for being cold. Or for running away instead of staying and cooking with you."

Her breath caught. She pressed her other hand against the soft, full weight of her own chest, gripping tightly as though she could physically hold her racing heart in place.

"This feeling..." Her voice almost broke. "It frightens me more than any demon I’ve ever faced in all my years. Because I can kill demons. I can tear through battlefields. But I don’t know how to protect myself from wanting you."

She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them and drew a breath, her lips parting to say more.

Before she could, a quiet chime broke the silence.

Ding!

[Mission Complete.]

[What do you wish to know?]

Seraphine’s shoulders stiffened as she stared at the panel. At that very moment, several questions flashed through her mind—ones she would normally have asked. Was he truly Tier 0? What was his past? Where had he gotten such a strange System? Could he really help her reach the Second Heaven?

However, those logical questions seemed unnecessary to her at the moment. From the very beginning, she already knew what she wanted to know; the thing that had been weighing heaviest on her heart.

"Can I know if Michael genuinely likes me... or is he treating me as a tool he can just dump when he’s done?"

The answer appeared without delay.

[Michael Kaiser likes Seraphine Voss.]

Seraphine’s eyes widened.

For a moment, she simply stared at the words.

[Michael Kaiser likes Seraphine Voss.]

She read them again.

And again.

As if some part of her couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

Her lips parted slightly, but no words came.

Then something warm spread through her chest.

It was faint at first—almost imperceptible. Then it grew, slowly blooming outward until she could feel it in her throat, her cheeks, even the tips of her fingers. Her thick, soft thighs pressed together instinctively beneath her dress as heat pooled low in her stomach.

Her heart began beating faster. ’He likes me... He really, genuinely likes me?’

The thought felt almost foreign.

She hadn’t heard words like that directed at her in what felt like another lifetime. Somewhere along the way, she had convinced herself that those kinds of feelings belonged to a younger version of herself—someone who still had the luxury of hoping, dreaming, and getting hurt.

Yet here she was.

After all these years...

Her eyes softened. A small, trembling smile slowly formed on her lips.

She quickly lowered her gaze, almost embarrassed by how happy those few words had made her—and by how her body had reacted. The soft, heavy curves of her chest rose and fell more quickly; her skin felt too warm beneath her clothes.

"This is ridiculous..." she whispered, though there was no annoyance in her voice. Only wonder. And a quiet, dangerous hunger she hadn’t allowed herself in decades.

Her fingers curled lightly against her chest, right over the full, soft swell of her breast. Her heart was still racing.

For someone who had faced countless monsters, walked through countless battles, and stood at the edge of death more times than she cared to remember, it was almost absurd that a single sentence from a strange System could leave her feeling this vulnerable... and this wet with want.

And yet...

She couldn’t bring herself to dislike the feeling.

She remained still for several heartbeats, letting the warmth settle inside her. Letting it sink lower.

Then, slowly, she stood.

She carefully sat on the edge of the couch and tucked one leg beneath herself. There was hesitation in her movements now. Almost shyness.

Something so unfamiliar on a woman like her—strong, mature, powerful—that she might have laughed at herself if she weren’t so afraid of disturbing the moment.

Her hand slowly reached for Michael.

She guided his head onto her shoulder.

Even in his sleep, he instinctively nuzzled closer, his face settling against the side of her neck. Warm breath brushed the sensitive skin just below her ear, each slow exhale sending an unexpected shiver through her.

His arm melted against the soft, heavy curve of her chest while the other held her firmly around the waist, fingers sinking slightly into the plush give of her body. The unconscious tenderness of the gesture made her breath catch. He was completely unguarded in her arms, trusting her without even knowing it, and that simple trust stirred something dangerously tender inside her.

Seraphine whimpered slightly.

Her cheeks warmed instantly. Heat bloomed across her face and down her throat, but she couldn’t bring herself to move away.

She looked down at him, her expression caught somewhere between surprise and raw, aching desire. His peaceful expression made the contrast almost unbearable. He had no idea what he was doing to her, no idea how easily his closeness was slipping past the walls she had spent years building.

Her heart was still beating faster than it should. The soft, voluptuous weight of her body pressed against him felt suddenly too intimate, too revealing.

She could feel the warmth of him against her, the steady rhythm of his breathing, the faint weight of his head against her neck.

Every little detail seemed magnified, making it harder to pretend that this was nothing more than an innocent embrace.

Her fingers curled slightly against his back.

She hesitated.

Just for a moment.

Then she leaned forward, brushed a loose strand of ash-blonde hair behind her ear, tilted her head, and gently pressed her lips against his.

The moment their lips met, her breath caught.

She had kissed him before.

But this time was different.

There was no excuse, no strange impulse, no attempt to hide behind confusion. She was kissing him because she wanted to. Because the System had told her he loved her. Because, somewhere beneath all those years of restraint and loneliness, she had been aching for this moment.

The realization sent another wave of heat through her chest and lower, between her thighs.

For years, she had convinced herself that this longing was something she could bury. Something she could outlive. She had endured loneliness for so long that she had almost forgotten what this felt like.

The kiss deepened, slow and unhurried at first, as though she were afraid that moving too quickly might shatter the fragile moment. Michael’s hand, still half-asleep, instinctively tightened around her waist, drawing her closer. His other arm shifted, and the back of his hand brushed the underside of her full breast.

Seraphine’s heart skipped.

A soft, involuntary sound escaped her throat, half gasp, half moan, as heat flooded through her. For the briefest moment, she almost pulled away.

But then she closed her eyes and stayed.

Her fingers gently curled into his white hair as she allowed herself to surrender to the warmth she had spent so long denying. She shifted closer, letting the last bit of distance between them disappear, until she could feel the steady rhythm of his breathing against her.

It was almost unbearably intimate.

And yet, she didn’t want it to end.

All those years of loneliness, restraint, and convincing herself that she no longer needed anyone seemed to fade into the background. The walls she had built around her heart felt strangely fragile now, and in that moment, there was only Michael.

His soft lips. The warmth of his body. The way even in sleep he held her as though letting go had never occurred to him.

For once, the old witch didn’t want to run from what she felt.

She wanted to stay.

Just a little longer.