Chapter 770: Three Souls (8)

Startled, I tried to pull away, but Sister Seol suddenly wrapped me tightly in her arms.

The moment Sister Seol’s naked body pressed against mine, goosebumps erupted all over me.

It was not because I had entered and left the body of a celestial maiden from the Upper Heavens.

There had definitely been a sense of dissonance earlier, but only for a moment.

All traces of what it had felt like to be a woman had already disappeared.

This was an entirely different reason.

Her body was undoubtedly softer than anything else in the world, yet mentally, that was not how it felt at all.

At this moment, Sister Seol’s skin felt less like human flesh and more like the scales of a serpent—no, the fur of a beast—sending chills racing across my body.

“Hiiik!”

I struggled frantically, but Sister Seol held me tighter and whispered softly into my ear.

“D-don’t go, So-ryong.”

Her voice sounded desperate and sorrowful.

I shook my head and started blurting out excuses.

It was true that I had made a promise with Sister Seol, but there had been an order to things.

I still needed to receive permission from Hwa-eun and the other wives first.

If I broke that order like this, something terrible might happen.

“N-no, Sister Seol, if we do this, t-this could become a huge problem. No, wait, that’s not the point. How are you even here? Where’s Hwa-eun? Didn’t they say tonight was Hwa-eun’s turn?”

My thoughts were in complete chaos.

I could not understand why Sister Seol was here.

Quietly listening to me ramble, Sister Seol carefully explained.

“Hwa-eun gave me permission.”

“Permission?”

“Mm. So calm down...”

The moment she said Hwa-eun had permitted it, the tension inside me abruptly loosened.

I did not know why she had allowed it, but I felt slightly relieved.

Apparently Sister Seol had not secretly snuck in here.

It genuinely felt like my lifespan had just been shortened by a thousand years.

Secretly enjoying a night of passion with my older sister behind my wife’s back, only to get caught by said wife?

That was the sort of forbidden story that only appeared in erotic comics from that island nation.

Something that absolutely must never happen in real life and could only exist in fantasies.

Of course, even those fantasies were stories that only happened in neighboring countries.

Though I had no idea why I knew that.

‘What ever happened to the woodpecker folder I prepared before dying?’

While I tried calming my still-pounding heart, Sister Seol patted my back and said she would properly explain how this situation had happened.

“You’re probably wondering how things turned out like this, so listen carefully. Calm down first.”

“Huh? O-okay.”

Right. Even though we were already physically joined together, I still needed an explanation.

If this mystery remained unresolved, it would be a problem.

I steadied my racing heart and focused on her explanation.

“A few days ago, Lady Hyeonnyeo contacted us through Ji-ryeon.”

“Yes, I heard she was going to contact everyone.”

“Right. At that time, instead of hearing news that you were returning, we suddenly received a message from Lady Hyeonnyeo and all rushed over because we thought something terrible must have happened. But then Lady Hyeonnyeo apologized to us. We were shocked. A great immortal like her was apologizing to us personally. Then she said that because of her own mistake, you, Soto, and Gungbong had become bound together by marital fate.”

So this was how she had explained it.

Rather than hiding anything, it seemed she had calmly conveyed the current situation exactly as it was.

People in high positions usually lived for the sake of maintaining appearances, so when something embarrassing happened, they often conveniently omitted the part where it was their fault.

I had honestly been worried about that.

Thankfully, they were honest people.

It seemed Lady Hyeonnyeo had at least conveyed the facts properly.

“And then?”

When I urged her to continue, Sister Seol resumed her explanation.

“So everyone was extremely shocked. And flustered too. With Soto, everyone already thought something like this might happen eventually anyway, so they just felt the timing had come earlier than expected. But with Gungbong... you didn’t really like her very much, did you?”

“I-it wasn’t that I disliked her. I just never really thought much about her.”

“Mm. You treated her like some passing insect—no, more like some passing beast.”

“That’s true.”

Yes, that was definitely accurate.

To me, Gungbong had basically been like some random animal wandering by.

Like a rabbit or a pigeon.

And Gungbong herself honestly gave off that sort of feeling.

‘You hardly ever see rabbits around, so pigeon fits better.’

The moment I substituted “pigeon” into the image, I suddenly felt like the character matched surprisingly well, but then I shook my head.

Now she had become one of my people, one of my collection.

Which meant she was now one of the most precious and lovable people to me.

Honestly, she had that airheaded charm that could infuriate people when dealing with her normally, but once someone like that became your girlfriend or wife, did that not simply make her an adorably ditzy woman?

Without love, airheadedness only irritated people.

But when love existed, it became cute.

“‘Oppa, it’s like Tablo’s dog.’

‘Tablo’s dog?’

‘You know, that conditioned reflex thing.’

‘Ah, Pavlov’s dog?’

‘Yeah, that one. And like you asked, I went to buy black tea, but they didn’t have any, so I bought Darjeeling instead. That’s okay, right?’

‘Darjeeling? Darjeeling is black tea though?’

‘No, Oppa. Darjeeling is Darjeeling, and black tea is black tea.’”

Like that.

‘Now I really need to take good care of her. I’ve never had °• N ?? v ?? l i g h t •° a ditzy wife before, and rare things are precious.’

Just as I was thinking that I should properly cherish her now that she was my wife—

I noticed Sister Seol’s eyes slowly growing moist.

It felt as though emotions were overflowing inside her.

Then she continued speaking.

“But at that time... I ended up bursting into tears...”

“You cried? W-why?”

At the mention of tears, my eyes widened slightly as Sister Seol spoke with trembling eyes.

“Well... even when you gained eight dragon concubines, I endured it. Even when the other girls became your wives first, I endured it too. I just kept waiting for the day you would finally keep your promise to me. But then Gungbong suddenly cut in line out of nowhere, and I just... started crying.”

That was true.

Sister Seol’s turn had continuously been pushed back.

I had promised that once I accepted Shijie, I would accept her too.

I had not intended it, but I still felt sorry.

“T-that part really is my fault. I just never had a chance to bring it up. The dragon situation spiraled into something unavoidable, right? And the other cases were similar too...”

“I know. I understand that too. That’s why I endured it and waited. But when I started crying, Hwa-eun noticed immediately...”

She noticed just because you cried?

Unable to believe it, I asked back.

“H-how?”

“Well, you remember how you promised that if Shijie was registered into the Beast-Heart Technique, then I would be registered too?”

“Of course. I was the one who said it.”

“Hwa-eun suddenly asked me whether that promise meant more than just registration into the Beast-Heart Technique—whether you had actually promised to accept me as a wife too. So what could I do? I apologized and admitted I was wrong. I had always thought of Hwa-eun as a real older sister, yet I was trying to sneak around like some thief cat.”

I already knew the Tang Clan was skilled with poison, but were they skilled in mind reading too?

Or perhaps she had actually received divine revelation?

This really was a world where gods descended.

Either way, I decided right then that lying in front of Hwa-eun was probably a terrible idea.

“So? What happened after that?”

“Hwa-eun apologized for not taking care of me properly when she accepted Shijie. She said that from her perspective, I was basically like an older sister too, yet she had only thought about accepting Shijie and had failed to consider my feelings. She was probably trying to make sure I wouldn’t feel guilty. From now on, I’m going to treat Hwa-eun well for the rest of my life. I’m going to trust everything she says unconditionally.”

“So that’s how things concluded.”

“Mm. Hwa-eun told me that from now on we should serve So-ryong together. So... please take care of me, Husband.”

It seemed Hwa-eun had accepted Sister Seol through the generosity of the principal wife.

As expected of Tang Hwa-eun.

That overwhelming magnanimity.

After confirming everything, I silently gave thanks for Hwa-eun’s mercy and collapsed directly atop Sister Seol’s body.

—Thud.

“Haa... Haa...”

The tension that had gripped my muscles instantly melted away.

Seeing this, Sister Seol widened her eyes and looked downward.

Then she spoke with a worried expression.

“Little Brother... don’t tell me?”

Following her gaze downward, what came into view was the So-ryong Sword still resting inside its sheath.

I had been so shocked that the So-ryong Sword had completely lost its sharpness, but no.

It was not what Sister Seol was thinking.

Absolutely not.

I shook my head and said,

“N-no. I-I’m just startled.”

“You get like that when startled?”

“O-of course. Men are all like that when they get shocked. Mental factors are extremely important.”

“I-is that so...”

Sister Seol also looked embarrassed, and after a brief silence, she spoke again.

“B-but, So-ryong.”

“Yes?”

“Then how do we make it stand back up again?”

“Stand up?”

“Mm. Um... I mean the sharpness.”

“Ah...”

I suddenly thought Sister Seol seemed extremely interested in my body, but after thinking about it, that was only natural.

After all, this was effectively her wedding night.

Even if things had turned out like this because I got too shocked, I absolutely could not let it end here.

Now that all the complicated issues had been resolved, Sister Seol was my wife too.

And was not the wedding night directly tied to future bedroom authority and the dignity of the head of the household?

If I failed to display my dignity tonight, my authority as the family head would surely suffer irreversible damage.

‘What’s the point of looking fine on the outside when you’re rotten inside?’

‘How can a person survive on food alone?’

Countless lines from the trashy dramas of my previous life flashed through my head.

‘Lewd thoughts. Lewd thoughts.’

I hurriedly tried imagining erotic things, but the bastard did not even twitch.

Apparently the shock from earlier had been too severe.

It was obvious I had fallen into psychologically induced dysfunction from sheer trauma.

I frowned at the absurd situation when Sister Seol suddenly whispered into my ear.

“So-ryong, we’re one now, aren’t we? Don’t struggle with this alone. Just tell me what I should do to help. Your older sister will do anything you ask.”

At those words, something inside me twitched.

The phrase “your older sister will do anything you ask” struck me deeply.

The phrase “younger man with an older woman” already tugged at a man’s heartstrings, but was the word “older sister” not equally explosive?

And honestly, I had always been the type attracted to older women.

Mentally might be another matter, but physically speaking, Hwa-eun was older than me, Gun Hye-rin was older than me, and Ji-ryeon was older than me too.

Quietly, I whispered into Sister Seol’s ear.

[“Y-you’ll really do whatever I ask?”]

[“Of course. Is there something our little brother always wanted to try with his older sister?”]

Instead of answering, I simply nodded.

Honestly, I was not especially into fur or anything, but there was one cosplay I had absolutely always wanted to try.

[“Sister Seol, you see... this is the sort of thing men completely lose their minds over...”]

[“What is it? What is it? Don’t worry and just tell me. What could your older sister possibly refuse to do for you? I’ll do whatever you want.”]

This was the charm of older women.

And so, I revealed to Sister Seol the desire I had hidden away deep within the jar of my heart.

[“S-so, um...”]

After hearing everything, Sister Seol blinked several times.

Apparently it was difficult to believe even after hearing it directly.

[“Really?”]

[“Yes.”]

[“But So-ryong, um... didn’t you hate fur? That’s why I even shaved...”]

[“Ah, no. I like it depending on the area.”]

[“Now that my cultivation realm rose, they became real. The fur actually grows now too.”]

[“R-really? So now they’re real? That’s perfect!”]

[“I see. Alright then. Wait just a moment. If our little brother likes it that much, then I should do it for you. It’s not exactly difficult.”]

Sister Seol pulled away and gathered her energy within the darkness.

Then a moment later—

She got down on all fours with her back facing me, then turned her head and cried out:

“Meow.”

On Sister Seol’s head, cat ears formed through the Beast Descent Art, while behind her, a cat tail swayed gently above her raised backside.

The ears and tail that had once appeared only as transparent constructs had now become fully tangible due to her increased cultivation realm.

I might dislike fur, but catgirl cosplay was something no man could possibly resist.

The So-ryong Sword immediately surged skyward.

No—the Great Dragon Sword.

I instantly drew my blade and lunged forward to punish the thief cat.

“Gyaaaaaah!”