"Ahem."
A woman's voice came from nearby, and only then did Caelus and Firefly snap out of each other's warmth and look toward the woman who had suddenly appeared, sitting atop the television.
The first thing he saw was a pair of impossibly long legs clad in black stockings, wrapped in exaggerated thigh-high boots that extended all the way to her upper thighs. Above them were sexy leather pants and a purple evening gown. Her light-purple hair and golden eyes immediately seized Caelus's attention.
Firefly, nestled in Caelus's arms, saw it clearly. Once his gaze landed on that woman, it did not move. Especially when he saw those two heaving, pale curves, he even swallowed unconsciously.
Firefly angrily raised a hand, pinched Caelus's cheek, and shook it. This guy had been all lovey-dovey with her just moments ago, yet in the blink of an eye, another woman had lured him away. Was that something a decent person would do?
PS: Please bookmark, recommend, and vote monthly.
PS: Updated before the witching hour, hehe (:∠)
Black Swan
"If you have not mastered the right method, you cannot emerge unscathed from the shadow of death."
The beautiful woman spoke as she played with the crystal ball floating at her side. Her voice sounded both like a reminder and a warning. Although they did not know her, they could still sense a measure of goodwill from her.
"Beautiful big sister, are you single? I have a relationship I'd like to discuss with you."
After putting Firefly down, Caelus spoke to the beautiful woman. His mind had been bewitched by those long legs and two enormous crystal balls, but the moment he finished speaking, Firefly smacked him on the head.
"He hit his head just now. What he meant was, who are you, and why did you help us?"
Firefly said indignantly. Being saved was certainly a good thing, but the other woman was simply too beautiful. She had stolen Caelus's soul away in an instant, and Firefly felt an overwhelming sense of danger.
"Relax, little sister. I'm on your side."
The beautiful woman had also been rendered rather speechless by Caelus's greeting, but fortunately, Firefly was normal. She regained her composed demeanor and replied.
"You may call me... a Memokeeper, Black Swan."
"She's from the Garden of Recollection."
Firefly tugged on Caelus's hand. An exclamation mark appeared above his head. He remembered Acheron telling him about beings like this. They seemed to be guests invited by the Family as well. The guests here truly had unique abilities if they could even enter a place like this.
"All right, leave this big fellow to me. You two, go that way."
Black Swan had no intention of helping Caelus and Firefly kill the monster. She continued using her powerful means to restrain it, then tossed a tarot card toward them.
The tarot card transformed into a black vortex in midair. The monster had emerged from a similar place before, so this seemed to be an exit created by Black Swan.
"She saved us. She must have feelings for me."
Caelus wanted to go ask Black Swan for her contact information, but Firefly dragged him toward the exit while nagging him under her breath.
"Move it. Be careful, okay? Don't let pretty women trick you so easily."
Firefly was no longer worried about her own situation. She was worried that this fool Caelus would be unable to walk whenever he saw a beautiful woman. She had no idea how Kafka had raised him with that kind of personality.
Seeing Firefly get jealous, Caelus had no choice but to glance at Black Swan one more time before walking into the vortex. As the sensation of sinking into the sea arose, his consciousness seemed to return to his body.
"Mmph..."
Caelus rubbed his head as he sat up from the Dream Pool. He looked around in surprise. This was indeed Acheron's room, and Acheron's body was lying beside the Dream Pool. She had not awakened.
"Firefly..."
Caelus had just wanted to call for Firefly when he suddenly remembered that they had not entered from the same place. She was a stowaway and must have entered the dream from some hidden location, so it was normal that he could not see her after waking up.
"You're awake, sleepyhead. Looks like you had a good dream."
A gentle voice suddenly sounded. Caelus turned to the side in confusion and saw Black Swan standing in the room, her tone the same as before.
"Well? Did you dream about me?"
Black Swan did not mention how she had entered the room. She merely smiled and asked Caelus, and after hearing that, he was no longer sleepy.
"I did. We got married and even had a child."
Caelus climbed out of the Dream Pool, stepped forward, and took Black Swan's hand. Her hand wore a black glove and strange ornaments, but the touch still felt very real.
"No, no. What kind of dream is that? Shouldn't it have been me saving you and that little girl?"
Black Swan's smile gradually turned helpless. She realized she might have saved someone strange. Rather than talking about such nonexistent things with her, should he not be asking about that dreamscape?
"So you really appeared in the dream. You could enter that place too?"
Caelus resumed a serious expression and asked Black Swan. He truly wanted to know what that place was, why he and Firefly had been taken there, and how Black Swan had arrived.
"We Memokeepers possess rather special abilities. The place you just visited is called the Primordial Dreamscape. If you are careless, it can easily affect you and leave you mentally deranged."
Black Swan explained her special nature through her identity and told Caelus that the place was dangerous. Thinking it over, Caelus felt that was indeed true. Forget the monsters in the hotel—even being unable to find a way out was enough to drive someone mad.
"What about Firefly? Did she get out?" Caelus asked worriedly.
"Hehe, you care a great deal about that little girl. Well, even in the face of death, she did everything she could to protect you... Even I was a little moved."
Black Swan chuckled softly, admiration for Firefly visible in her golden eyes.
"?"
A huge question mark appeared above Caelus's head. He wanted Black Swan to become his wife, not to have her steal his wife. But the galaxy was so vast that encountering a few people who liked the same sex was hardly strange. Caelus felt that he needed to save this wayward mature beauty. He could not let her continue down this path; he had to set her straight.
"I know you have many questions in your head, but don't be impatient. Before that, let your companions who are worried about you know that you're safe."
Black Swan's thoughts clearly did not align with Caelus's. She could see his confusion, but not the meaning in his heart. Otherwise, she would have needed to watch out.
"Right. Acheron, wake up. It's time to get up."
Caelus nodded, turned back to the Dream Pool, and gently patted Acheron's cheek, wanting to wake her.
"Ahem, could you not wake her?"
Black Swan was startled out of her wits and hurriedly coughed twice, telling Caelus to stop first.
"Why?"
"She... did some rather unpleasant things to me. I'm scared."
Black Swan said with a sorrowful expression, as though seeing a moving Acheron would make her miserable beyond words. Earlier, she had carried herself like an expert who held everything under control, yet at the sight of Acheron, she acted like a trembling fledgling.
"My Acheron wouldn't hurt someone for no reason. That means you provoked her, right? If you don't explain this clearly, I'll wake her up and confront you face-to-face."
Caelus's gaze turned strange. Although he wanted to believe Black Swan was a good person, and she had indeed saved him and Firefly, with such an unexpected development, he would naturally stand by his Acheron.
"Sigh, how can you threaten me? I'm your lifesaver."
Black Swan sighed, her expression faintly sorrowful, as though Caelus had let her down. Unfortunately, that trick sometimes worked on Caelus, and sometimes it did not.
Joking, I'm Super Brave, Okay?
"Acheron, get up and look at the swan."
Caelus shouted in an exaggerated voice, and Black Swan immediately covered his mouth.
"All right, all right. I'll confess."
Black Swan admitted defeat. She was truly terrified of a moving Acheron, so she walked up to Caelus, leaned close, and pressed her forehead against his. Then Caelus saw what she had experienced.
It was a bar within the dreamscape. There were few patrons in that secluded place. After getting lost and arriving there, Acheron ordered a drink. Black Swan happened to be there as well, though no one knew whether she had deliberately been waiting for Acheron.
There was a dance floor in the bar. Since he had previously discovered that Black Swan's sexual orientation might be questionable, Caelus felt that she had probably taken a liking to the gorgeous Acheron and invited her to dance.
Acheron had also been happy to dance with Black Swan, so the two entered the dance floor. That was when Black Swan began courting disaster. She was a Memokeeper. Though she could not manipulate someone's memories, she could peer into them, so driven by curiosity, she used her ability to investigate Acheron's memories.
"Good heavens, have you always been this brave?"
When Caelus saw this, he could not help giving Black Swan a thumbs-up in admiration. Black Swan awkwardly scratched her cheek with a finger, indicating that it was an occupational habit. The Garden of Recollection had more or less its own problems; it was not exactly a proper organization. What normal person would peek into someone else's memories?
The scenes that followed were rather too horrible to look at. Black Swan did not see Acheron's memories. Instead, she triggered the protective mechanism within Acheron. Acheron transformed into a violent demon, stripping Black Swan's clothes off piece by piece. Afterward, she did not even spare the hair on her body, yanking out huge clumps in a single pull. Black Swan cried and begged for mercy, but it was useless. Later, even when she tried to run, she could not escape. Acheron caught her and nearly plucked every hair from her body.
"..."
Caelus could not help looking at Black Swan sympathetically. Black Swan also fell silent for a moment. The psychological trauma from that had to be larger than the sky. Putting himself in her shoes, Caelus felt that if he were Black Swan, simply not having his legs go weak upon seeing Acheron would already be impressive.
The most terrifying part was that after Acheron committed those beastly acts against Black Swan, she actually forgot about them. That was right—just as one might forget how many slices of bread one had eaten that morning, she simply forgot the incident. In Acheron's memories, she and Black Swan had finished an entire dance before parting ways.
Black Swan was a Memokeeper, so theoretically, her body was something she had shaped herself. Thus, by the time Acheron regained her senses, Black Swan's body had already restored itself and looked no different from before.
It was just that when they parted, Black Swan cried terribly. Acheron even thought she had remembered something sad and showed her considerable sympathy.
"All right, let Acheron keep sleeping."
Caelus was not some devil, so naturally he would not make things difficult for his lifesaver. Besides, he felt that Acheron's suppressive power over Black Swan could be used. After being hurt by a woman, perhaps Black Swan would start liking men instead?
As for Black Swan liking to peek at people's memories, Caelus did not care at all. He had done nothing shameful, so she could look if she wanted. Still, she probably was not that much of a pervert.
Black Swan sighed in relief, then left the room with Caelus and headed to the hotel lobby. By then, March 7th, Himeko, Welt, and the others had already gathered there.
"Caelus, we couldn't find you in reality or in the dreamscape. You scared me to death!"
March 7th complained as soon as she saw Caelus. However, he walked straight up and pulled her into an embrace.
"Little March, I almost never got to see you again."
Caelus spoke emotionally while taking advantage of March 7th. She blinked, then blushed slightly and pushed him away. As her lifesaver, of course she had a favorable impression of him. One could even say that if Caelus worked a little harder, he could make her his girlfriend. But he deliberately did not do that, because Little March was much easier to get along with like this than as a girlfriend. Caelus had plenty of girlfriends, but there was only one March 7th.
"What happened?"
Welt asked. He also glanced at Black Swan, who had come with Caelus, but did not show any reaction, maintaining his usual calm.
Caelus immediately recounted his experience from beginning to end. March 7th's eyes widened. Good heavens, in such a short time, his experiences had been far more exciting than her own. He had met with Firefly, gone on a date with Robin, been schemed against by a Masked Fool, and then been saved by a mysterious beautiful older sister. It could have been made into a movie.
"So suspicious... How could there be such a coincidence? That woman definitely has a problem."
March 7th protectively pulled Caelus to her side, seemingly wanting to hide him away, and regarded Black Swan with full vigilance. Little March was like that. She usually bickered and played around with Caelus, but when danger truly came, she wanted nothing more than to hide him in her heart. Her girlish feelings were on full display.
"But she did find Caelus and save him. For now, we can only hear what she wants."
Himeko said with a smile. From her tone, she seemed to know Black Swan, and Caelus looked at Himeko curiously.
"You know each other?"
"Yes. We had arranged to meet in reality earlier, but you soon went missing, and your room was empty as well."
Himeko nodded, making Caelus feel somewhat embarrassed. He felt that the reason they could not find him was probably his own fault.
"Ah, well, Acheron and I were actually sleeping in the same room."
Caelus said sheepishly. March 7th immediately slapped him on the back. This guy had absolutely no idea that she had practically wanted to turn the whole hotel upside down to find him.
"Ahem. After you disappeared, Miss Black Swan happened to meet us. She then said she could find you, and she indeed did."
Welt coughed lightly to ease the awkwardness and explained the situation to Caelus.
"The woman who schemed against Caelus is named Sparkle, a Masked Fool who infiltrated Penacony. Rest assured, that girl will not target any of you for the time being. She must think she succeeded and is probably gloating somewhere right now."
Black Swan said with a smile. Upon hearing that, Caelus understood that Sparkle had thrown him and Firefly into that place to achieve some purpose, but Black Swan's appearance had not been part of Sparkle's expectations, thus disrupting her plan.
"So that's her name. Not bad, it sounds nice."
Caelus said while stroking his chin. March 7th immediately became alert. From Caelus's description, she had gotten the feeling that this Sparkle was probably very beautiful. Caelus had no resistance to beautiful women.
PS: Please bookmark, recommend, and vote monthly.
Asakusa Sparkle
"Do you have feelings for her?"
March 7th asked Caelus. She had long known what kind of person he was. Sparkle had plotted against him, but since the consequences had not been serious, Caelus would not do much to her.
"Of course not. She schemed against me and acted so despicably. I hate her."
Caelus shook his head, expressing his firm stance. The next time he saw Sparkle, he would definitely take revenge. As for how, that was worth considering.
"Mhm, that's more like it."
March 7th nodded in satisfaction. She was not opposed to Caelus having a harem; that was not something she could control. But she could weed out some unruly members before they joined. They could not possibly bring villains into the harem too, could they?
"I think her name is Sparkle, and her surname is Asakusa," Caelus continued.
"Asakusa? What a strange surname. What kind of surname is that?"
March 7th scratched her head and asked curiously. She had never encountered a name like that and only found it rather novel.
"It's from Acheron's hometown."
"Oh."
March 7th felt that something was strange, but she did not ask further. Black Swan, on the other hand, understood Caelus's hidden meaning. She raised a hand to her forehead, increasingly feeling that betting on Caelus had been the wrong decision.
"Let's return to the matter of Sparkle. I must clarify one fact for everyone: Miss Sparkle's tricks can make people fall into hallucinations, but that strange dreamscape had nothing to do with her. It originated from Penacony itself."
Black Swan explained. It was an explanation that even March 7th could understand, indicating that the issue was not with Sparkle herself, but that she had opened the passage.
"Penacony itself?"
Before you continue