Chapter 196: Your Highness*
Sophie sat between Kael’s legs in the bathtub, her back resting against his chest, the warm water lapping at their bodies. Steam curled around them in lazy spirals. The medicinal properties of the water had already soothed the aches from their earlier activities — at least for Sophie. Kael’s body cultivation meant he barely noticed soreness anymore.
But Sophie’s expression had shifted.
The soft, satisfied glow from moments ago had hardened into something cold. Her jaw was tight. Her fingers traced absent patterns on the water’s surface with sharp, agitated movements.
"How dare Ursula do that?"
Her voice was quiet.
"Zenthoria. She’s sending you to Zenthoria on a Rank 1 Mana Heart mission." Sophie’s hands curled into fists beneath the water. "I’m so damn angry I could kill that bitch myself. If she wasn’t stronger than me, I swear I would—"
"She’s trying to kill you. This isn’t a mission, it’s an execution. Everyone knows what Zenthoria is. Everyone knows what happens to people who go there underpowered. And she—"
"Sophie."
She turned to face him, ready to argue further, and stopped.
Kael smiled.
"Why are you smiling?" Sophie’s anger faltered, replaced by confusion.
"You look cute when you’re angry."
Sophie blinked as a blush spread from her cheeks down to her neck. "Where did that come from?"
"Nowhere. It’s just true." Kael leaned forward and pressed his lips to the curve of her neck. "Whatever Ursula throws at me, I’ll take it and come back even stronger."
"Kael..." His mouth found her pulse point, and her protest dissolved into a softer sound. "Ahhn..."
Beneath the water, Sophie felt him. Hard again. Hot. Pressing against her lower back, then sliding down to rest between her legs, the tip nudging against her entrance.
"You can’t be serious." Her voice wavered. "We just—"
He thrust forward.
"Ahhhn— Kael— I’m still sore—"
"I know."
He pulled her hips down, sinking deeper. Sophie gripped the edge of the tub with white knuckles, her head falling back against his shoulder. The water sloshed around them, warm and rippling, as he began to move.
"Come on," Kael murmured against her ear. "Ride it."
Sophie’s legs trembled as she shifted position — turning to face him, straddling his hips in the tub, water cascading over the edges. Her hands braced on his shoulders. His hands gripped her waist.
She lowered herself.
"Mmmnnh..."
The angle was different like this — deeper, somehow, the water buoying her weight just enough to let her control the depth. Sophie moved slowly at first, rising and falling with careful movements, her face contorted in a mix of pleasure.
"Faster."
Sophie obeyed. Her pace increased — splash, splash, splash — water slopping over the tub edges with each movement. The soreness faded as pleasure built, replacing pain with heat that spread from her core to her extremities.
"Ahnn... Kael... like that... ahhhn..."
His thumb found her clit. Sophie’s rhythm stuttered, then resumed with renewed urgency. Her breasts bounced with each movement, milk leaking from her nipples in thin white trails that dissipated into the water.
"I’m close—" Sophie gasped. "Kael— I’m going to—"
"Let’s cum together."
He gripped her hips and thrust up to meet her downward movement. Sophie screamed — muffled by her own hand clamping over her mouth — and her walls clamped down in rhythmic pulses. Kael groaned and released inside her, adding to the mess already filling her.
Sophie collapsed against his chest, breathing hard. Cum leaked from her stretched entrance into the tub water, clouding it slightly.
Kael didn’t let her rest.
He lifted her out of the tub and pinned her to the bathroom wall. Sophie’s back hit the warm stone tiles as he entered her again — standing, her legs wrapped around his waist, her shoulders pressed flat against the wall.
"Ahnn— Kael— wait—"
He didn’t wait.
His mouth found her breast — leaking, tender — and he sucked hard as he fucked her against the wall. Milk sprayed against his tongue. Sophie’s fingers clawed at his back, leaving red lines that healed almost as fast as she made them.
"Kael... I’m going to cum again... ahhhn— I can’t—"
Sophie’s pussy convulsed around him, milking every drop as he finished inside her for the fourth time that night. Her legs trembled. Her breath came in ragged sobs. Cum and milk dripped down the wall beneath them.
They didn’t make it back to the bed.
They fucked until morning.
Sophie lost count somewhere around the sixth round. Her body moved on autopilot — responding to his touch, his voice, his hands — while her mind drifted in a haze of exhaustion and overstimulation. By the time dawn light crept through the bathroom windows, she could barely stand.
Kael carried her to bed, tucked her in, and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"Rest."
She was asleep before he finished the word.
************************************
Five days passed.
Kael pushed his cultivation to the absolute peak of Mana Heart Rank 1. The barrier between Rank 1 and Rank 2 shimmered at the edge of his perception. A few more weeks. Maybe a month. The Heaven’s Mirror Comprehension Pills had accelerated his understanding, but realm breakthroughs couldn’t be rushed entirely.
On the fifth day, he left the estate.
The Shadow Guild occupied the lower districts of World Thirteen’s capital city — a sprawl of narrow streets, crumbling buildings, and persistent shadows that never quite lifted even under the triple suns. The guild itself was hidden inside what appeared to be a derelict warehouse, its true entrance accessible only through specific shadow corridors that required guild membership to navigate.
Kael stopped before the gate. Two guards — lean, hard-eyed men with concealed weapons and auras in the Foundation Establishment range — watched him approach with undisguised suspicion.
"Kael Cassian Vorn."
The guards exchanged uneasy glances. A Vorn family member showing up at the Shadow Guild’s front door was unusual. The Vorns and the guild existed in a state of carefully maintained ignorance — each knowing the other existed, neither acknowledging it publicly.
"Identification confirmed," the lead guard muttered. He stepped aside. "Enter."
The last time Kael had come here, he’d stood outside and negotiated through intermediaries. He’d purchased Aria’s debt without ever setting foot inside. This time was different.
The interior defied the exterior.
What looked like a crumbling warehouse from outside was a sprawling complex within — multiple levels connected by staircases carved from black stone, corridors lit by floating mana orbs that cast everything in pale blue light. Dozens of guild members moved through the space with the quiet efficiency of professionals. Some carried weapons. Others carried documents. A few carried bodies.
The air smelled of blood.
A woman approached — tall, composed, dressed in dark gray with a silver pin on her collar that marked her as reception staff.
"What service may I offer you, my lord?"
"Take me to Aria. Aria Nightshade."
The woman’s expression flickered — barely perceptible, but Kael caught it. "Lady Aria seems to be busy at the moment. Perhaps I could schedule—"
"Tell her it’s Kael."
She hesitated. "Alright, my lord. Please wait here."
Lady Aria. She’s become quite a figure here.
Kael stood in the reception area and observed. Several guild members passed by, their eyes lingering on him with open curiosity.
Footsteps on the stairs.
Aria descended with a smile that transformed her usually sharp features into something almost soft. She wore fitted black clothing.
She reached him and pecked his lips.
From across the room, two men were watching Aria’s general direction with obvious interest. When Kael’s gaze swept over them, one of them elbowed the other and muttered something. The message was clear: She’s taken. By a Vorn. Someone we can’t mess with.
"You seem happy," Kael said.
"I am." She stepped back, arms folded.
"And I see you’ve broken through to rank 3", Kael says sensing her new cutivation base.
"Broke through three weeks ago. Of course. I can’t let you catch up or who would protect you?"
Kael smirked. "I don’t need protecting."
Aria smiled. "Come on. My teacher wants to see you."
"Your teacher?"
"You’ll see."
The office was on the third floor, with a desk covered in reports, a wall map showing shadow corridor networks across multiple worlds, and bookshelves stuffed with files.
A woman stood at the window, her back to the door. Dark violet hair fell past her shoulders in loose waves. Her posture was radiating quiet authority.
Something about her silhouette made Kael’s instincts prickle.
She seems familiar. Do I know her?
She turned.
And Kael’s thoughts crashed to a halt.
Her face was striking. Eyes the color of storm clouds shot through with silver. She looked young, perhaps thirty, but cultivation could deceive. Her violet hair caught the blue mana-light and seemed to shift between colors.
She looked like...
No. That’s impossible.
The woman walked toward him slowly.
The woman stopped one meter from Kael.
The shadow guild master looked at Kael with an expression he couldn’t quite read. Not hostility. Not warmth. Something older. Something that hovered between recognition and regret.
"So you must be Kael."