“Hah…”
At the moment their bodies perfectly aligned, Johannes’s waist stopped moving.
He buried his member as deep as it could go within Iris, releasing the evidence of his climax.
Still perfectly joined, the two of them panted heavily. Even while ejaculating, Johannes did not leave Iris alone.
He mindlessly tasted her small lips and kneaded her breasts at random, stealing her very soul.
That behavior continued for a long time even after he finished.
In his heart, he wanted to spend more time biting and sucking on Iris, but the location was not appropriate.
Regaining his senses, Johannes pulled his lips away and let out a regretful sigh.
“Haa…”
He roughly withdrew from their connection and hurriedly stepped away.
He brought a wet cloth from the restroom inside the cell and meticulously wiped Iris’s body here and there.
As the cool sensation washed over her, Iris, who had been lying down as if she had fainted, regained her energy.
Having had sex twice in a row, her limbs were trembling.
Johannes picked up the clothes scattered on the floor and helped Iris dress as he spoke.
“I want to do more, but it is dangerous here. Now that you have regained your superpower, we must leave—”
“Oh, right. My power… Wait a minute.”
Raising a hand toward Johannes, Iris checked the messages she had missed.
[The Chastity Belt has become stronger due to the Power of Love. You are now able to share your vision with Johannes.]
[Vision Sharing: Allows you to share your vision for five minutes with the other party’s permission. You can request permission via Telepathy before sharing.]
‘My goodness, what an incredible skill. If it is Vision Sharing…’
The fact that she could share his vision meant that even while in prison, she could watch what ‘That One’ and Abellus were doing.
She looked to see if there were any more messages, but she clicked her tongue in disappointment when she saw none.
If another message had appeared saying the Chastity Belt could become even stronger through the Power of Love, she had intended to persuade Johannes to go one more round no matter what.
‘Should we try one more time? You never know. I might get another skill… Tsk, doing more would be pushing it. We are in a precarious situation where we could be caught at any moment.’
It seemed best to stop here. They had already delayed for a long time.
Fortunately, no Watcher had burst in while they had sex twice, but any more than that was dangerous.
She did not want to be so foolhardy as to test her luck a third time.
She narrowed her eyes in thought. Was escaping really the best option? She did not think so.
When she followed the voice in her dream and believed in love, the Chastity Belt returned and she gained powers.
If so, it was now time to believe in herself.
‘Let’s trust my ability. I can do it.’
Just like the Chastity Belt, there had to be a way to reclaim the other Relics.
She tried to open her State Window to see if her powers remained like when her Ring was stolen, but she despairingly found that she could not open it.
‘Do I have to find all the Relics before I can see the State Window?’
Though discouraged, she forced herself to find strength.
If the return of the Chastity Belt was thanks to the Goddess’s protection, she felt she could find the rest of the Relics too.
What should she do for that? If she left this place now, she would be safe for the moment.
However, if the enemies pursued her, she would surely be caught. The rest of the Relics were with them. Iris shifted her eyes and spoke.
“Johannes, I am not going out. I cannot leave. I have to recover the rest of the Relics.”
“Iris, I understand how you feel, but finding the Relics right now is impossible. ‘That One’ is always guarding them.”
“Are you talking about the Evil Spirit? So you call that Black Shadow Figure ‘That One.’ Hmm, it’s always guarding them?”
At Iris’s question, Johannes rolled his eyes upward for a moment as if recalling a memory before answering.
“Yes. ‘That One’ told the Enrakakyo officials, including me, to help with the ritual preparations. Um, what did it say? Right, it said the Relics would be kept in transparent cases until the ritual. It also mentioned a plan to place them with the sacrifice before the ritual begins. Most likely, that sacrifice is…”
Before Johannes could finish his thought, Iris nodded.
“That sacrifice is probably me. That Evil Spirit—’That One’—called me a vessel. The Watcher called me a sacrifice. Saying it plans to place them with the sacrifice likely means it will put the Relics next to me. The time before the ritual begins might be my first and last chance to reclaim the Relics.”
A look of grim determination settled in her honey-colored eyes.
Was there not a famous saying, ‘He who seeks to live shall die, and he who seeks to die shall live’?
The owner of the beautiful voice in her dream was likely the Goddess, and she decided to trust her words.
The Goddess had trusted her and given her one more chance; she did not want to run away like a coward.
If she did, it would mean the Goddess’s choice was wrong.
Johannes bit his lip before finally speaking with difficulty. His expression was dark.
“Iris, I understand, but… is it possible? It seems like such a dangerous plan. If we fail, we will not survive.”
“But I have to do it.”
“But I am afraid something will happen to you…”
Johannes’s eyes grew moist. He knew that running away like this was not the best solution.
He knew that stopping their plan was the true way for Iris to live. But he was afraid.
He feared that if the plan failed, he would look back on this moment and regret not running away with her.
Wearing a faint smile, Iris covered the back of Johannes’s hand with her own.
“No, I can do it. The truth is…”
It seemed she needed to provide more explanation to ease Johannes’s anxiety.
After telling him about gaining the Vision Sharing ability following the Skill Sharing, she even went as far as explaining the details of her dream.
In the past, this was a story she would have hidden while doubting Johannes because he was a Villain, but now he was someone in the same boat as her and someone she loved.
There was no need to keep secrets.
After hearing Iris’s story, Johannes’s eyes widened.
“My vision is shared with you?”
Johannes seemed to have vaguely realized that Iris became stronger when they shared love.
He had said, “If it is the Goddess’s will,” and also mentioned that “it seems to get stronger the more we do it.”
Still, there was a difference between letting him guess vaguely and telling him specifically with her own mouth. The latter felt much more embarrassing.
“Yes. Because of what just happened… that is, well, when we make love, it gets stronger… Johannes, are you crying?”
While she was hesitating, unable to speak explicitly, Johannes’s red eyes welled up, and large, thick tears began to fall.
Flustered by Johannes’s sudden tears, Iris leaned in to look at his face as he hung his head and asked.
“Huh? Yes. I am just… so happy…”
Johannes sniveled as he wiped his tears. He had spent several nightmare-like days recently.
He was frustrated because he knew Iris was in the dungeon but could not go to her immediately, and he hated his weak self for having to walk on eggshells around ‘That One’ and Abellus.
It was not because his pride was hurt, but because he was furious that he was not strong enough to defeat them when he wanted to save Iris right away.
Even when he came into the prison after devising a plan, his only hope was that Iris was alive, and after that, his mind was filled only with the thought of getting her out safely.
That was the best he could do with his own power.
And he had not even been sure if he could succeed at that. But she told him he had been a help.
A very big help. Beyond just helping, she said she could regain her strength thanks to him.
On top of that, he was happy enough with Skill Sharing, but to be able to share vision as well—the proverb about a married couple being one body came to mind, and he could not stop the tears from flowing.
“Whew… I am so happy, Iris. You and I…”
“Yes?”
When Iris asked back, Johannes clamped his mouth shut.
He was afraid that saying he was happy about sharing skills and vision might sound a bit obsessive.
In truth, he was far more obsessed with her than Iris knew.
If she knew the scale of his obsession, she might be disgusted. James was already disgusted by it.
‘I do not think Iris would hate me for saying things like this… but I should still be careful.’
He never wanted to lose the heart he had finally gained from her.
Johannes rubbed his reddened eyes and carefully chose his words.
“N-no. Anyway, I am glad I could be of great help. I will do my best to help you find the Relics. Anything I can do.”
“Okay. First, my plan is…”
Iris explained the plan with a serious look in her eyes.
In the midst of it, their foreheads touched, and Johannes’s face turned red.
Feeling as though they had become a pair of Hero spouses, his eyes became hazy as if he were dreaming.
He snapped back to focus quickly when Iris rebuked him for not paying attention, though.
A long while later, Johannes stepped outside.
James, who had been pacing restlessly in front of the cell, approached him with a sigh of relief.