Tentlese and Succubus - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: How an Oneiros Entices You

The woman was trapped between her and the wall. She looked up at Anowei, but instead of fear, she wore a sweeter, softer smile.

“Your way of ‘taking care’ of people is certainly… unique.”

“Do you know who I am, that you dare entice me like this?” Anowei demanded.

She could be a cold-blooded assassin; she could be a petty villain driven by greed. She could be a vengeful spirit come to collect a debt, someone who wouldn’t mind casually destroying a woman—or an Oneiros—to reclaim what was hers.

“And you, Anowei? What are you afraid of?”

The woman asked in return, her voice like a soft spring breeze lingering against Anowei’s ear.

“Are you afraid of who you are, or are you afraid of… being enticed by me?”

The woman didn’t truly touch her, yet her gaze was softer than fingertips. Through the mask, it traveled slowly and gently across Anowei’s face. The warm breath flowed over her collarbone, attempting to scorch her.

Originally, the God had no heart.

But the God heard her own heartbeat, and it was deafening.

Anowei’s fingers, clamped around the woman’s wrist, could feel every pulse, striking the small patch of touching skin, resonating with the God’s own heart.

Kill her, torture her, interrogate her. Find the location of the Underworld Pact within this dream, and then erase her from this planet forever without a trace.

Or…

Or perhaps their breaths were already too tightly entwined. Or perhaps the God, born of cold and nothingness, was already unable to extinguish the faint but scorching fire in her heart.

…There shouldn’t have been an “or.”

Anowei released the woman’s hand and left the bedroom without looking back.

Li Yuan returned to the dormitory late at night, collapsed onto the sofa, and let out a happy burp.

“Wei! It’s such a pity you didn’t go today! I ate five whole steaks, drank the best wine in the world, and even danced with the daughter of the Duncan family. You have no idea how cute she is…”

Anowei lay on the bed, giving a lazy acknowledgment. “Mm.”

“But, there should be an even grander banquet next week!” Li Yuan said excitedly. “The boss got engaged to Miss Gu. The wedding is being held at the manor next week. We should find a way to sneak in…”

“Who?”

The moment she heard that name, Anowei sat up in bed.

Li Yuan hadn’t expected such a reaction and looked slightly surprised. “Huh? You know, Miss Gu—the one who grew up with the boss, the one she’s very close to…”

Though that wasn’t really what Anowei was asking.

“When?” Anowei changed the question.

“Just now, it was announced right before the banquet ended…”

…If she had stayed in the woman’s bedroom tonight, this engagement probably wouldn’t have happened.

But why did she care? This was just a plot point in a dream. Of course, an Oneiros would entice everyone equally within her own dreamscape.

Her fingers clenched and then relaxed. Anowei lay back down. “Understood.”

Seeing her hot-and-cold attitude, Li Yuan scratched her head in confusion. “You really are a strange one…”

The dream continued tediously.

Day after day, the laborers threw themselves into sweaty toil to provide for their high-and-mighty masters. When Lin Yuanning came to supervise, her gaze would occasionally linger on the God. Anowei ignored her.

On a sultry afternoon, Anowei carried a crate of apples into the warehouse. The woman was standing between two rows of shelves, focused on inventorying goods, blocking the only passage. Anowei waited for quite a while, but the woman remained focused on the paper and pen in her hand, never looking up.

Anowei finally spoke. “Excuse me, please move.”

“Apologies.”

The woman seemed to only realize her presence at that moment. She gave an elegant smile and stepped aside. Anowei lifted her arms to place the crate on the top shelf, but when she turned around, she found the woman leaning against the wooden rack, watching her in silence.

“I thought you never intended to speak to me again,” Lin Yuanning said.

Beams of light pierced through the window, illuminating swirling dust. The woman’s eyes were also caught in the light, warm and translucent. Anowei’s throat felt inexplicably itchy. She had to say something; they couldn’t just keep staring at each other like this.

The God averted her gaze from the woman’s face. “Please, move again.”

This time, the woman didn’t grab her hem, nor did she speak to make her stay. She simply brushed past her.

But why… did the God’s chest feel a stinging pain? Like many tiny, invisible needles, one after another, vying to pierce through her flesh. She could even feel how the beads of blood seeped out, how they dripped from her heart, merging into a lonely, tiny river.

…A river that absolutely should not exist.

The wedding date drew closer day by day. The entire manor was undergoing orderly preparations, while Li Yuan excitedly planned the next infiltration. She found two waiter uniforms from somewhere and, after pestering the butler and chefs, learned the entire wedding schedule and formulated an extremely detailed plan.

“We can sneak in through the back door of the kitchen, mix in with the waiters, work seriously for a bit, and then when the wedding reaches the vow-taking step—everyone’s attention will definitely be on the ceremony—we’ll take that opportunity to…”

“…I have something I want to ask you,” Anowei interrupted her tactical briefing.

“What is it!”

Li Yuan, who had been pacing the room, immediately rushed to the sofa, her eyes shining bright. “The sun must have risen in the west! You actually have a question to ask me for advice? Quick, tell me!”

Her lips parted and then closed. The God heard her own insignificant sigh.

“If a person, on a certain night, asked me to stay and take care of her… what does it mean?”

Li Yuan leaned over and pressed the back of her hand to Anowei’s forehead. “Are you okay? Is your head made of elm wood? It means she likes you, obviously! She wants to get… intimate!”

The God’s expression was not good. “But I didn’t agree. And then she immediately said she was marrying someone else… what does that mean?”

“Sss… okay, this situation is indeed a bit complicated…”

Li Yuan’s brow furrowed. She pinched her chin and paced back and forth in front of the sofa for several laps.

“I think there are two possibilities. First: she was so heartbroken after you rejected her that she just found someone random to marry to fill the void in her heart!”

“Second: her marrying someone else is entirely due to family pressure, and in reality, the person she truly loves in her heart has always been you…”

Li Yuan looked sincere as she firmly grasped Anowei’s hand. “In short, regardless of which possibility it is, she must be feeling extremely miserable and in pain right now, waiting for you to save her. You must go get her back!!”

“It’s not quite that exaggerated…”

Li Yuan couldn’t even hear her rebuttal; she was just caught up in her own passion. “Anowei, you are my best friend. No matter what choice you make, I will firmly support you and be your strongest backer!!”

Unfortunately, the God didn’t know what choice she should make either.

Time did not stop flowing.

The day before the wedding, Anowei was helping the gardeners move roses. She happened to pass by the woman’s study and saw her drinking alone at her desk. She tried to focus on work, packing dozens of roses into wooden crates, when suddenly, a flash of light caught her eye—

The woman was pouring wine from a silver pitcher.

The light of the setting sun happened to shine on that pitcher, making the intricate heptagram pattern glow brilliantly. Before she could think it through carefully, her body moved first.

With a loud crash, the study window shattered, fragments flying everywhere. Anowei had smashed the glass with her elbow, leapt over the bushes, and vaulted through the window from the garden.

“Ah—”

Before the woman’s scream could subside, Anowei was already standing on the desk and violently flipped the wine glass from her hand. The silver cup fell to the floor and went rolling away. The wine, as thick and red as blood, splashed onto the woman’s collarbone, then slid down her chest and waist drop by drop, falling onto her snow-white skirt and spreading out like blooming flowers.

“Wha—what happened?”

The woman clutched her heaving chest, looking at the intruder in shock. Anowei picked up the silver pitcher from the desk and made up a reason on the fly. “This pitcher… a snake crawled over it two days ago.”

Having said that, she braced herself against the desk with one hand, jumped back into the garden, and threw the silver pitcher into the wooden crate full of roses.

This was just a dream; the woman wouldn’t have been poisoned to death by that pitcher of wine… Anowei didn’t understand why she had performed such an absurd act, like a mindless lunatic. The God mocked herself silently, hoisted the wooden crate, and prepared to leave.

“Anowei, stop right there!”

The woman braced herself against the broken window frame, leaning half her body out of the study.

“You smashed my window, snatched my pitcher, and dirtied my dress—and you’re just going to turn around and leave?”

Anowei stopped and looked back, her tone far from kind. “What do you want?”

The woman’s eyes were still startled, yet she insisted on looking at Anowei with a mix of grievance and arrogance. “…You have to compensate me.”

“Deduct it from my wages,” Anowei replied coldly.

The woman couldn’t think of a rebuttal for a moment. Seeing Anowei turn to leave, she hurriedly called out to her again.

“Anowei… I’m getting married tomorrow. Will you come?”

The God’s footsteps paused for a moment. One or two words vied for the chance to be spoken at the tip of her tongue. A second of silence felt as long as a century. Anowei turned and left without giving an answer.

Like a doomsday that is loathed, feared, and yet impossible to erase from prophecy, the wedding day finally arrived as scheduled.

The ceremony was held in the small chapel in the west wing of the manor. The pews were filled with guests in formal attire. The white statue of the Virgin Mary bowed her head, looking down compassionately at the masses.

Anowei changed into the waiter uniform Li Yuan had prepared and easily blended into the crowd. The mistress of the manor held a bouquet of rich roses; her handmade embroidered lace wedding dress outlined her flawless, graceful figure. The midday sun baked through the stained glass, casting a hundred patches of multicolored light onto her, yet they were still no match for those bright, lingering eyes.

…And the person standing beside her was merely a plain, unremarkable, and lackluster ordinary human.

Lin Yuanning’s gaze swept quickly through the crowd as if searching for something. But the moment she saw Anowei, she jerked her eyes away as if struck by lightning, looking back at her groom.

The God moved her fingers nonchalantly, the knuckles making a faint, nearly inaudible sound.

The elderly priest smiled as he ascended the altar, announcing the start of the ceremony. “Dear friends, thank you for coming to this manor on this joyful day to share this incredibly precious moment together…”

BOOM—

A loud explosion drowned out his voice.

BOOM— BOOM—

One firework after another erupted violently under the chapel dome, their multicolored trails sweeping across the Virgin Mary’s veil. It was unclear which muddlehead had actually ignited fireworks indoors. The chapel was instantly thrown into chaos. People forgot about the abruptly halted wedding, caring only about fleeing in panic.

Someone took advantage of the chaos to walk to the altar, grabbed the bride’s hand, and strode through the chaotic crowd and splattering sparks toward the back door of the chapel.

“Where are we going?” Lin Yuanning asked. The wind caught her snow-white skirt.

Anowei didn’t look back. “Eloping.”

In a mere dream, the God’s desires and will should be satisfied, should they not?