Chapter 265: Forbidden Entry

Chapter 265: Chapter 265: Forbidden Entry

Seraphina slowly placed the stack of parchment in her hands back on the desk.

She raised her right hand and, under the lamplight, quietly gazed at her own slender fingers.

A translucent liquid was quietly being secreted from the spaces between her fingertips.

This was a Constitution that came with her Succubus bloodline.

Whenever they felt pleasure and excitement, their cutaneous glands would inevitably ooze this viscous fluid, which carried a strange, sweet fragrance.

The only thing they could control about the fluid was where it was secreted from.

Seraphina pressed her thumb and index finger together, then slowly pulled them apart.

A glistening, sticky thread formed between her fingertips.

She stared at the fluid on her fingertips, her mind completely filled with scenes from the manuscript.

It was a story that took place during the Summer Crown.

A cool and aloof Snow Lady was completely captivated by a black-haired boy using some kind of special Talent.

What surprised and delighted Seraphina was the rare creative "tag" attached to this manuscript.

After reading so many works created by Minstrels, she had never encountered a tag like this one—one that could allow readers to directly immerse themselves and feel what the characters felt.

Previous tags merely amplified the reader’s emotional fluctuations, for example, making them feel a surge of excitement when seeing the protagonist in a life-or-death battle.

Or amplifying their sorrow when seeing the protagonist’s old friend die.

But this piece, *Night of Melting Snow*, completely shoved the reader’s senses into the Snow Lady’s body.

It allowed every person who read it to personally experience the pleasure generated by the boy’s Talent.

Any woman who read this text would find it absolutely impossible not to fall in love with that mysterious black-haired boy.

’This should be considered close to what the Minstrel Association defines as a "forbidden tag," right? Still, if a tag like this is only used to write smut...’

’...it would only give birth to the greatest erotic author in history. The Association wouldn’t bother with such a trivial matter.’

Seraphina could tell this was a standard biographical manuscript.

This meant that the plot within had been notarized by the Star Realm Law; somewhere in a corner of this world’s Underground Cities, all of this had actually happened.

And this boy was undoubtedly the person this Minstrel was trying to promote.

’Using a story like this to build a Legend... aren’t they afraid of what kind of chaotic thing it will ultimately coalesce into?’

’Or could it be that this biography is aimed at the *Sub-human Lady Appreciation Manual*?’

’How exciting.’

Seraphina pulled out a silk handkerchief and wiped the fluid from her fingertips.

The story had only just begun, and the Snow Lady was only in the initial stages of her fall.

As for the black-haired boy who exuded a fatal attraction for the Snow Lady, his name wasn’t even mentioned in this first manuscript.

This suspense thoroughly hooked the curiosity in her heart.

Suppressing the restlessness in her heart, Seraphina stood up and walked into the washroom.

After thoroughly washing her hands, she changed into a new set of casual clothes.

It was a wine-red silk dress, over which she draped a velvet robe with gold-thread embroidery.

The form-fitting cut perfectly outlined the full, mature curves of her waist and hips. Her pale thighs were faintly visible beneath the hem of the dress, fully showcasing her languid and sensual aura.

She pulled the cord for the bell by her bed.

Her trusted handmaiden soon entered, bowing her head respectfully.

"Inform the printing workshop to rush this manuscript and insert it into this week’s issue of *Midnight Rose*."

Seraphina handed over the organized parchment.

The handmaiden looked troubled. "My lady, the first batch of the periodical is already being typeset and printed. Halting it now to reprint will incur a huge loss in material costs."

"It’s fine."

Seraphina waved her hand dismissively.

"We can afford this sunk cost. The subsequent hype this biography will generate will recoup all our losses tenfold."

"Oh, and immediately get in touch with the author."

"The byline he used on the manuscript is the pen name Banier."

"He is most likely an exclusive editor for a branch of the Minstrel Association. No matter who he is, we must negotiate the exclusive rights for all subsequent installments of this biography."

When Seraphina read the story, she had already made a guess about the identities of the two people involved—at the very least, she had figured out the Minstrel’s intentions.

"Then what should the profit-sharing ratio be?" the handmaiden asked.

"For the first five installments, give him a direct twenty percent cut of the net profits."

The handmaiden’s face filled with astonishment upon hearing that number.

One had to know that even the top best-selling authors in the Royal Capital could only get a maximum of ten percent in royalties.

"That high?"

Seraphina smiled and nodded.

’This is practically a "forbidden tag," after all.’

"This manuscript will help us firmly embed *Midnight Rose* into the core circle of the Royal Capital’s entire high-society matronage."

"This kind of monopoly on discourse is far more important than a paltry profit in Gold Coins."

After carefully putting away the manuscript, the handmaiden asked.

"Then which author’s manuscript should be pulled from this issue?"

"Pull Julian’s piece."

Seraphina made her decision quickly.

"The forbidden love story between nobles that he wrote completely overlaps with the niche of this biography."

When it came to running a publication, Seraphina’s judgment was incredibly sharp.

Ensuring a balanced ratio of different categories of articles in a single issue was a key principle for maintaining her audience.

If two stimulating articles with overlapping target audiences appeared in the same issue, it would not only be a waste of resources but also cause aesthetic fatigue in the readers.

One had to pair gossip with romantic love, supplemented by this kind of forbidden, intimate biography, to capture the entire female demographic in the Royal Capital, across all age groups and preferences.

’Besides, if I recall correctly, Thomas and Julian have a very good relationship...’

’Time to send a message.’

The handmaiden accepted the order and quickly exited the room.

Over the next week, as the new issue of *Midnight Rose* spread through the hidden corners of the Royal Capital’s great manors...

...an unseen storm began to brew quietly among the noble young ladies and high-society matrons.

*Night of Melting Snow: The Fall of the Snow Woman* was like a sweet poison, quickly melting into the tedious lives of these high-society women.

It was a frenzy that could only spread silently offline.

After all, an article with such astonishing content and intense sensory stimulation could never be featured in a mainstream literary salon.

But that didn’t stop it from becoming a massive hit behind the scenes.

...

「First Area of the Rusted Stone Echo Dungeon」

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

Lance’s right arm swung violently.

Accompanied by a blast of crimson steam from the Arm Armor’s air valve.

The High-Frequency Steam Chain Blade let out a sharp whistle as it tore through the air, directly ripping apart the thick scales of a Blind-Eyed Crystal Lizard in front of him. With a single sweep, the entire Demon split in two.

Along with it, several Ghouls that had just leaped out from a rock crevice had no time to react.

Their bodies were cleanly sliced apart in mid-air by the high-speed rotating Chain Blade.

Blood mixed with chunks of viscera splattered against the surrounding rock walls.

The killing efficiency of this high-frequency vibrating weapon was absurdly high when facing dense hordes of monsters.

If a Demon was so much as grazed by the edge of the Chain Blade, its fragile flesh would instantly disintegrate.

After a week of high-intensity monster grinding, Lance’s mastery of the Steam Arm Armor had become flawless.

However, although his killing efficiency was very high now, his leveling efficiency had clearly dropped.

Because he had recently broken through to Level 2, this led to a situation where the First Area was mostly filled with Level 1 Demons, and even a large number of minions that hadn’t even reached the threshold for a Profession.

And due to the Level penalty, while he still got some rewards, it was much less compared to when he was Level 1.

But Lance was still here, partly to grind for Demon Talents and to accumulate a thousand Alchemy Bombs.

Another reason was that he had tried the second area, but the pressure of activating the Mad Slaughter Silver Crown there was too great, making his efficiency lower than in the First Area.

Since the experience gain here was still substantial, Lance planned to finish grinding for Talents, hit Level 3, and then team up with Nieve to head to the second area for the final sprint.

As of today, however, these goals were mostly complete.

The Summer Crown event was about to enter its second half. His and Nieve’s current rankings were very high; on this area’s individual Lord’s Certificate leaderboard, Lance had solidly broken into the top 15, while Nieve, as a strong support, had successfully squeezed into the top 30.

The two of them had pretty much secured two of the title slots, but who wouldn’t want to make a push for the top ten?

Starting tomorrow, for the Summer Crown, the real names of the top 50 on the individual leaderboard would be fully revealed by the Underground City’s will and displayed high on the central stone tablets in all safe zones.

That would be the moment everyone was watching, a focal point for all the major powers to frantically recruit or secretly plot against them.

Therefore, they had to attempt one last sprint in the First Area to secure a Crown Buff even higher-grade than the Mad Slaughter Silver Crown. Then, they would prepare to advance into the second area.