Klaus stared at the woman in complete and utter confusion.

She had somehow managed to handcuff herself even more securely than before, and was now positioning herself on all fours with her rear raised in the air.

She was moaning loudly as if she was being pounded from behind by something invisible.

"What the hell?" Klaus muttered under his breath.

He looked down at the crushed pill still clutched in his other hand which was the one he’d released into the air right before she came down into the sewers...

After getting back to the Moonstone Residence last night and sleeping off his exhaustion from the dungeon expedition, he’d woken up early this morning and experimented with a few different herb combinations to create something new and potentially useful for situations exactly like this.

’Let me check the description again...’ Klaus thought.

「Item: Lucid Illusion Pill」

「Tier: 2」

「Description: An advanced alchemical creation that releases potent psychoactive vapors when crushed. Upon inhaling these gasses, the affected individual enters a lucid dream-like state where their deepest desires manifest as vivid hallucinations that seem completely real to them. The victim remains conscious but cannot distinguish fantasy from reality while under the effects. Duration lasts approximately 20 minutes depending on dosage and the target’s mental resistance.」

So basically, she was currently hallucinating that her deepest desire was coming true right in front of him.

Klaus looked back at the Captain, who now had a complete ahegao expression on her face with her eyes rolled back slightly, her tongue lolling out and her face flushed deep red.

"It’s not my safe day so don’t do it insi—" She moaned loudly with her body trembling. "HAAH! It’s hoooot~! You’re so deep~!"

Klaus ran a hand through his hair beneath his hood and let out a long, tired sigh. She was literally imagining herself being fucked by the same guy she’d been sent to arrest and imprison... The irony was almost painful.

’What a weird woman...’

He turned and walked away through one of the side tunnels, leaving her to finish her... fantasy scenario in peace.

...

Klaus soon stood in front of the Moonstone Residence in his regular civilian clothes that he had worn this morning... simple dark pants and a loose shirt which was nothing that would draw attention.

Escaping the rest of the City Guard Captains had been relatively easier than he’d expected after losing the Wind Captain in the sewers.

They weren’t even actively searching for him anymore by the time he’d emerged from a different exit on the far side of the city, so he’d simply changed out of his Heavenly Commoner outfit in an abandoned alley and walked home normally through the afternoon crowds.

"I’m home~" Klaus called out as he opened the front door and he immediately stopped in his tracks.

All three girls... Taula, Mirela, and Serra were sitting at the dining table with their arms folded across their chests, all of them staring directly at him with serious expressions on their faces.

"Did something happen?" Klaus asked cautiously. He closed the door of the Moonstone Residence behind him and walked over to the table, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

Taula turned to face him directly and took a deep breath with her face already starting to turn red.

"Klaus," Taula started hesitantly. "Do you want to have s-se-see..."

"Sex," Mirela chimed in helpfully as her own face flushed.

"Yeah, sex!" Taula continued in a rush. "Do you want to do it? I noticed that your p-penis was standing up earlier this morning and I did some studies about it in the library books too, so... w-was that because you’re horny?"

Klaus blinked several times, processing what he’d just been asked so directly.

"Oh," he said after a moment. "That just happens to very healthy guys when they wake up in the morning. It’s called morning wood. It doesn’t necessarily mean I’m horny or thinking about anything sexual... it’s just a natural physiological response."

All three girls blinked at him in surprise.

"I... I didn’t see that explained in the book," Taula said, sounding genuinely confused and a bit embarrassed that her research had been incomplete.

Klaus chuckled and shook his head with a small smile. "If that’s all you wanted to ask, then I’ll be heading upstairs to rest for a bit."

He started walking toward the stairs, then paused and looked back at Taula with a slight smirk.

"Also," Klaus added, "if you do actually want to have sex with me someday, you’ll need to be a bit smarter about how you approach it than just asking directly at the dinner table."

"Hey!" Taula complained immediately, puffing out her cheeks indignantly. "I am smart! ...Occasionally."

Klaus honestly didn’t mind the question or doing it really... It had been quite a while since his last girlfrien—

’Whatever.’ Klaus shook his head, dismissing the thought before it could fully form into something uncomfortable.

"Boss, are you okay?" Serra asked with genuine concern clear in her voice as she watched his expression.

Klaus gave her a warm reassuring smile. "Yes, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. We’ll be heading back to Galen Town soon anyway, so you’ll get to see Garrick’s sister."

Serra let out a visible sigh of relief with her shoulders relaxing. "Thank you, Boss."

Klaus headed up the stairs, giving all three of them a small wave as he went. Once he reached his room on the second floor, Klaus closed the door behind him with a soft click and sat down cross-legged on the wooden floor.

He pulled out a specific herb from his storage ring... one he’d found mentioned extensively in the alchemical notes and according to the documentation, this particular herb was excellent for meditation practices when chewed slowly, helping to calm the mind while gradually increasing one’s mental energy capacity and mana control.

Klaus had taken five of these meditation herbs and carefully merged them together using his growing alchemical knowledge, creating a more potent version with enhanced effects.

’It’s about time I meditated...’

He settled into a proper meditation pose and began chewing the combined leaf slowly. It filled his mouth with a surprisingly sweet, pleasant taste like honey mixed with mint.

He felt his head and body gradually calming down... the tension he hadn’t even realized he was carrying beginning to melt away from his shoulders and neck... The stress from being chased by City Guard Captains... all of it started fading into peaceful quiet.

His mana stirred inside him in response to the meditation, then started flowing in smooth patterns through his body. Eventually it formed a faint visible aura around him which was a soft blue glow that illuminated the dim room.

’I feel at ea—’

BAM!

His door suddenly slammed open with enough force to make the frame rattle and the hinges creak in protest.

Klaus broke out of his meditation with an annoyed sigh with the peaceful mana aura dissipating immediately as he looked up.

Zephyra was standing in his doorway, practically bouncing in place with barely contained energy.

"You fucking idiot," Klaus said immediately glaring at her. "You almost got me arrested earlier today. Why the hell did you have to go and kill members of the City Guard, huh? Do you have any idea how much trouble that caused me?"

Zephyra turned her face to the right, trying and failing to look innocent.

"City Guard?" She said. "I don’t know what you’re talking about, Hubby."

She was clearly waiting for him to follow up with more insults which was the kind of harsh verbal abuse she’d somehow come to expect and even crave from their interactions but Klaus just sighed heavily, he was too tired to play that game right now.

"What do you want?" he asked in a flat exhausted voice.

Zephyra’s eyes went wide with something like panic or distress.

’Why didn’t he insult me?’ she thought frantically. ’Is he... is he no longer angry with me? Does this mean he’s starting to actually accept me as his fiancée? That’s good but I need... I need him to be mean to me...’

Klaus looked at her staring at him with an expression of pure distress, like he’d just told her something devastating.

"What?" he asked, genuinely confused by her intense reaction. Zephyra looked down at the ground with her hands fidgeting nervously with the hem of her shirt.

"I want..." she started quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. "I want you to insult me. A lot. You should drag my hair too... be really harsh with me, like you usually are."

Klaus stared at her for a long moment, then let out another sigh. She had helped him throughout this entire Rivera City operation, though.

She’d fought alongside him in the tournament, helped clear the Resource Dungeon, and was currently handling all the silver sales through her mysterious royal connections.

If she wanted him to be harsh with her as some kind of strange reward or payment, he supposed he could honor that bizarre request.

Klaus stood up from his meditation position and walked over to where Zephyra stood frozen in anticipation and her face was already covered in a deep blush with her breathing getting noticeably heavier.

Klaus reached out and grabbed a fistful of her royal white hair without warning, yanking her head back roughly. The motion was sudden and forceful enough to make her gasp sharply, almost losing her balance from the angle.

"You’re completely incompetent," Klaus said coldly as his voice dripped with genuine disdain. "Utterly useless... You can’t follow the simplest instructions... You kill people without thinking about the consequences, and then I’m the one who has to deal with the fallout and clean up your mess."

He pulled her hair harder, forcing her head back at an even more uncomfortable angle that made her neck strain.

"You’re supposed to be a Princess..." Klaus continued harshly with each word hitting like a verbal slap. "But you act like a brain-dead child who has absolutely no self-control. I don’t even know why I agreed to this engagement arrangement in the first place. You’re weak, pathetic, and you constantly cause me nothing but problems."

Zephyra’s breathing had become ragged as her face flushed a deep crimson red.

"The only thing you’re remotely good at is swinging that sword around..." Klaus said, giving her hair another rough yank that made her whimper. "But even then, you’re too stupid to know when NOT to use it. You’re a liability. A burden. Every single day I regret being tied to someone as useless as you."

He leaned in close with his voice dropping to a harsh whisper directly against her ear that sent shivers down her spine.

"You’re worthless. Do you understand me? Completely and utterly worthless as a partner or a fiancée. I should just break off this engagement and find someone who isn’t a complete disaster."

Klaus released her hair and took a deliberate step backward, putting distance between them.

"Is this okay?" He asked as his voice softened slightly with genuine concern despite the harsh words he’d just said.

A crimson blush had completely enveloped Zephyra’s face, spreading down her neck and disappearing beneath the collar of her clothes.

Klaus noticed something else too... there was liquid dripping onto the wooden floor. Small drops were falling from between her legs, forming a tiny puddle on the boards.

"H-Hubby..." Zephyra’s voice came out barely above a whisper with her whole body trembling visibly. "I’m... I’m wet enough now. We can consummate our marriage if you want..."

Klaus immediately took several large steps backward with his eyes widening slightly behind his calm expression.

’First that weird Captain in the sewers,’ Klaus thought with growing alarm. ’Now Zephyra is like this too. What the hell is next?’

"I don’t want to... not right now..." Klaus said firmly, shaking his head.

Zephyra kept trembling in place with her hands pressed against the doorframe to keep herself steady.

"A-Alright," she managed to say through her labored breathing. "Next time then, Hubby."

Her heart was beating so incredibly fast she could hear it pounding in her ears like drums and the blood rushing through her body made her feel dizzy and hot all over.

Being called all those terrible, degrading insults while having her hair pulled roughly had turned her on way more than she’d ever expected it would.

The humiliation mixed with the physical pain had created something overwhelming and addictive inside her that she couldn’t quite explain or control. Since Klaus didn’t want to do anything sexual with her right now, she’d just have to take care of these intense feelings herself when she got back to her own room.

Zephyra shook her head quickly, trying to focus on why she’d come here in the first place. She reached into her storage ring with a trembling hand and pulled out a very heavy coin pouch, extending it toward Klaus.

Klaus took hold of it, immediately noticing the significant weight... This was way heavier than any normal coin purse should be.

"This is how much I managed to get from selling all of that silver ore to my contact," Zephyra explained, trying her best to steady her shaking voice. "2,500 gold coins total. They paid premium pricing because they knew it came through Prince Zephyr’s royal connections and wanted to maintain good relations."

Klaus’s face lit up with a genuine smile of surprise and appreciation.

"2,500 gold?" Klaus repeated, hefting the extremely heavy pouch in his hand and the coins clinked together with a satisfying sound. "That’s incredible, Zephyra. Seriously, thank you so much for handling all of that."

The warm expression and completely sincere gratitude in his voice made Zephyra’s insides churn with a completely different set of conflicting emotions than before.

Seeing him genuinely happy with her efforts...actually appreciating and valuing what she’d done instead of insulting her created a strange, unfamiliar feeling in her chest that was somehow even more intense than the masochistic pleasure from being degraded.

It made her feel... valued and important. She didn’t know which sensation she preferred... the painful pleasure or the warm appreciation and that confusion only made everything feel more intense and overwhelming.

"S-So..." Zephyra started hesitantly, still trying to calm her racing heart and catch her breath. "Hubby. Will you come to a Festival with me?"

"Festival?" Klaus asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "What kind of Festival could possibly be held in Rivera City right now when—"

...

"Hehe~ What a nice young man, surrounded by so many beautiful ladies! He’s very lucky indeed."

An elderly woman walking past their group made this cheerful observation, smiling warmly at the scene before continuing on her way through the crowded street.

Klaus let out a long sigh.

He was currently wearing a traditional male yukata in a dark blue fabric with subtle wave patterns embroidered along the edges as the formal attire felt restrictive compared to his usual comfortable clothing, but the girls had absolutely insisted on proper festival wear.

Taula grabbed his hand excitedly and lifted it up high, practically bouncing in place as her pink and white kimono swished around her as she moved.

"Yeahhh! Let’s have some fun!" she shouted enthusiastically.

Zephyra immediately grabbed Klaus’s other hand and raised it as well, though the elaborate purple kimono she wore made the movement slightly awkward and restricted.

"I agree!" Zephyra declared with equal enthusiasm. "Let’s have some fun!"

Klaus looked between the two of them holding his hands, then over at Mirela and Serra who were standing nearby in their own beautiful kimonos, both smiling warmly at the scene with obvious amusement.

"Haah..." Klaus let out another long deflated sigh of resignation. "Let’s have some fun then, I suppose."

They were all standing in front of the main entrance to the Rivera Flower Festival... a massive annual celebration that apparently took over an entire district of the city with elaborate decorations and entertainment.

Decorative paper lanterns of every color imaginable hung from strings crisscrossing overhead, creating a canopy of warm glowing light.

Traditional festival music drifted through the evening air from multiple directions... the sound of drums, flutes and stringed instruments blending together.

The smell of various festival foods made Klaus’s stomach rumble audibly despite the fact that he’d eaten... there was grilled meat skewers, sweet candied fruits, fried dough, and dozens of other tempting aromas.

The festival grounds stretched out before them like a small city unto itself, already packed with hundreds of people in traditional dress enjoying the early evening atmosphere.

Game booths lined the pathways with colorful prizes hanging on display. Food stalls had lines of eager customers and a large stage in the distance seemed to be preparing for some kind of traditional performance.

Zephyra squeezed Klaus’s hand tighter with her eyes practically sparkling with excitement as she took in the vibrant scenery.

"Come on, Hubby!" she urged, pulling him forward. "There’s so much to see and do!"

Taula pulled on his other hand with equal enthusiasm. "I want to try all the festival games! And the food! Especially the food!"

Klaus allowed himself to be dragged forward into the festival grounds, surrounded by beautiful women in elegant kimonos and the warm glow of paper lanterns.

’This is going to be a long night,’ he thought, but he couldn’t quite suppress the small smile that was at the corner of his mouth.