Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Irene looked at him with icy cold eyes then got up from her seat and approached him. The way she came forward one step at a time, made her look menacing which ultimately dropped the temperature of the surrounding even further.

Simon thought that it was his imagination but the pebbles lying on the floor getting covered with frost, indicated otherwise.

Irene stopped when she was just a few inches away from him. From this distance, Simon could even feel her breath and smell the fragrance that always surrounded her.

Since the moment he summoned her, she always held a special spot in his heart. Not because she was the first guardian he had ever summoned, but because of some reasons even unknown to him. He had met many other beauties on his trip to the outside world; however, none of them ever manage to make his heart and thoughts turbulent like she did.

On any other occasion, he would have enjoyed the company of a beauty so close to him. But right now, her icy cold eyes made him feel like he was being threatened at the gunpoint.

Irene took a deep breath and released it, her bountiful chest rising up and down. Her icy cold gaze that was locked onto Simon dissipated a little at this moment as she asked "You don't even realise your mistake do you?".

"Huh?!"

"This clueless attitude of yours is still the same. You don't even realise how close to death you were. It pisses me how carefree and easy you make your adventures sound like. Do you not know or just don't think about it? if any of those factors were missing in your story, you would have likely been captured or died".

"How many times did I tell you not to act recklessly, do you ever listen? Or everything that I say just goes to one ear and out the other? Have you any clue how concerned Cecilia and the forest Spring Spirits were after you were out there for more than five months?"

"You didn't even send any words making us all anxious whether you were safe or not. And now this… Did you really think you can up make up for all this by cooking us a meal? I thought it was weird how you were out for so long leaving your precious dungeon like that. But who knew that you were out there enjoying putting your life at risk…"

Irene kept on going on for a while giving Simon an earful of her pent up frustration.

Simon opened and closed his mouth a few times trying to come up with something. But in the end, gave up on it seeing how concerned Irene was.

He was not a god, there were many things that he didn't understand or things beyond his capability. Sometimes he was dumb to stuff happening around him, other times a crafty fox. However, even he could realise from her words that she was genuinely and truly concerned for him.

<strong>BA-DUMP… </strong>

At this moment, Simon had this sudden urge to embrace the beauty in front of him and so without thinking anything else, he did what his guts told him.

SQUEEZE…

Before Irene could compose herself, she was suddenly grabbed by her waist and her body was tightly nestled into the embrace of Simon.

<strong>BA-DUMP... BA-DUMP...</strong>  at that instant, Irene's mind became blank and she could no longer think things straight. Feeling the broad and hard chest filled with muscles that her body was stuck to, her heart started beating like crazy and she felt like a captured rabbit.

When she looked up and gazed at the deep crimson eyes of the man that was embracing her, her face immediately became beet red and she couldn't help but distance herself by pushing with both of her hands.

Simon suddenly felt regretful and empty the moment Irene escaped his embrace. Just until a few moments ago he was relishing on the feeling of her soft and lithe body that felt like it would melt from his touch.

Even though due to her abilities, her body exuded an extreme amount of cold, he felt the heat of her body at that moment. Her crystal blue fragrant hair that was like the waterfall, her snow white skin that was so smooth to touch, and her wildly pounding heart, Simon vividly remembered the sensation.

He wanted to embrace the beauty a little more; however seeing the redness in her face reach till her beautiful neckline, it finally dawned onto him his own actions.

Simon couldn't help but make an awkward face realising that he had taken advantage of her when her guard was down.

The two looked at each other and Irene hurriedly shifted her gaze as if escaping his. Her heart and mind was a mess right now and no matter how she tried to calm it down or don her indifferent expression, she felt as if she was not in control of her own emotions anymore.

She would be right in her place to be angry at Simon; however, for some reason, she couldn't get furious at him. On the contrary, this other foreign emotion that she had no control was currently ruling her mind.

In the distance amidst the plentiful foliage of the Mana crystal trees, three people were currently spying on the couple that was just a few seconds ago embracing each other tightly.

"Hehe, way to go big brother, hug her again" a certain girl with emerald green hair, fairy like wings and having a doll like appearance said grinning widely.

Beside her, was another girl a few years older than her, with short blonde hair, rubellite eyes that was masked with excitement over watching the adventures of the couple.

The last person with them was a mature beauty with peach hair that was tied with her hair band releasing a sensual aura. "Ahnn~~ not fair master, I'm too available for you to embrace me anytime".

Who could the three be other than Cecilia, Alice and Bea? As the three watched the embarrassment of the couple and laughed, out of nowhere from the shadow, a person donning an armour over their maid outfit, appeared.

Annette looked at the three stalkers who had suddenly disappeared from the palace and grabbed them by their ears.

"Ow… ow…  ow… elder sister it hurts it hurts," Alice said pleading mercy.

"Ahn~ what are you doing elder sister, only master is allowed to torcher this body of mine," Bea said twisting her tantalising body.

"Hmph, I was wondering where you were gone off to but to think you are spying on our master. It seems that you all need discipline… come back with me. You too princess Cecilia, peeping on someone is a disgraceful act".

Annette said, setting the three troublemakers straight. After that, with her strength, she pulled the unwilling trio back with her.

"Ehhh.. I want to see big brother hug big sister more"

"That's right.. that's right elder sister Annette please let us watch master some more"

"You must be kidding me… just when we have reached the best part. I must witness what happens next".

Simon and Irene turned their heads and listened to the ruckus made by a certain group of people which quickly disappeared into the distance. From the look of the things, it seemed that they were being spied upon.

Hearing their words, Simon's eyes twitched continuously. The same was so for Irene who had trouble looking at him with her gaze. There was no way either party was not thinking about what happened a few moments ago.

With the current situation being the stimulus, of course, the memories from what happened a couple of months ago, also surfaced up at this moment.

Simon instinctively felt his hand twitch, that bountiful and full sensation he felt when he accidentally fell on top of her and grabbed her chest. That soft pink lips that was a few inches away from his. All those memory from before flooded his mind.

Irene too was no exception, with the way she was covering her chest, there was no way she was not thinking about that moment, that little accident that happened a few months ago.

At this moment, the environment around them turned absolute silent with neither party saying anything. Just when it looked like it would continue, Simon thickened his face and coughed to disperse the silence.

'Goddammit, why does she has to be so stimulating even when embarrassed' Simon cursed internally seeing how red Irene looked at his moment. Her snow white skin coupled with her glossy eyes and the red hue on her gave her an otherworldly unique charm.

"Ahem… about the ice coffin, can you do something about it?" Simon tried to change the subject.

The mood was already destroyed by the spectators that were spying on them thus it was best to avoid the topic. Plus with the change of subject, he wanted to see if Irene was furious at him or not for his previous transgression.

As he had mentioned before, he was not good at everything, there were obviously things that he was bad at and reading Irene's emotions at certain times was one of them. Though from his perspective she didn't seem particularly angry to him.

Fortunately for Irene, the change of subject finally provided her with the opportunity to compose herself. She took a deep breath of air and quelled the emotions that was running rampant inside her.

She decided to go with the pretext that Simon had thrown at her.

"I don't know what you were thinking bringing this thing here? The finger contains an extreme amount of curse energy that is beyond your current level".