I swallowed hard.
Finally, this moment had arrived.
All day long, the tension, fear, and excitement that had built up layer by layer while waiting for this time churned my heart wildly.
I let out a short sigh in a voice she couldn't hear, then turned to look at her.
"...I've been waiting, Chaeha."
The Chaeha who had come to find me was exactly as she had lingered in my mind all day.
The nun who had captivated thousands, tens of thousands of gazes at the Dragon-Phoenix Assembly.
The true star of this tournament stood before me now.
Unfading beauty. A slender neckline. A subtle femininity that showed even through her nun's robes.
Even when she played the villain, she had reigned as the symbol of chastity. Now, she stood by my side as Chaeha, ready for our play.
Yet deep inside me, an unwashed fear still writhed.
I tried to suppress and swallow it, but stripped of my armor, I was utterly vulnerable now.
Until then, I had hidden myself behind the act of pretending to be strong, fearless, impressive.
But in the end, before her, I had confessed that I was just an ordinary citizen who feared killing, no different from anyone else.
So how could I not be anxious?
I had surrendered my dominant position for the sake of trust with her.
It was a step taken after setting aside my sadist's dignity.
Having abandoned my advantageous high ground myself, would she still want to obey me?
I had no idea.
What if she saw this stripped version of me and turned away, saying, "This isn't what I wanted"?
In the end, commands in SM stimulate the partner's instincts.
Only when the one they want to submit to gives the order will they follow it willingly.
Merciless dictates from someone else only stir rebellion.
Would Cheongwol want to entrust her will to my commands today too?
Would this nun, so strong and noble at the Dragon-Phoenix Assembly, obey my perverted orders?
The answer didn't lie within me.
Only Cheongwol could reveal it through her actions.
All I could do was bet on that trust.
"You did well today. I watched everything without running away this time."
Cheongwol nodded quietly.
She had seemed so confident when she called me out, but now her shoulders were gradually hunching.
"The way people praised you... I felt embarrassed just hearing it."
"..."
"They said Junior Sister Cheongwol is so beautiful... that Nun Cheongwol is so cool... But I guess I was still scared."
"...Ma, Master."
"Just one thing to confirm before I go."
I drew close to Cheongwol.
"...What's your name right now?"
I stepped within arm's reach of Cheongwol.
A cold wind carried in from the deepening night, and Cheongwol shivered at it.
As I approached, her head gradually tilted toward the ground.
Though I showed her my fear through my trembling hands, her tension transmitted back to me as well.
Cheongwol clutched the hem of her nun's robes ever so slightly with her fingertips.
She, who allowed not even the slightest disarray, now breathed in short gasps before me like a sinner.
She who hadn't tensed before tens of thousands now trembled intermittently at my question.
Cheongwol bit her lip for a moment before whispering.
"...Chaeha."
In that short word, I felt a thrill I'd never experienced before.
A sensation like hot water splashing down the back of my neck.
"...I'm Chaeha right now, Master."
My hands shook; I couldn't tell if it was from fear or bursting goosebumps.
One thing was certain: this was the deepest emotional pleasure I'd felt since falling into the Central Plains.
I couldn't hold back that excitement in the end and gave her an order.
"Lift your robes, Chaeha."
"...Ugh!"
Ping—a something twanged in my chest too.
The tiniest difference changed the very nature of my excitement.
Until now, my SM play had been mere desperate flailing to survive. But now, it was truly faithful to my desires.
There was pleasure in slumming these perverted urges one-sidedly. Words I'd never say to a normal partner, I whispered without hesitation to my masochist alone.
Yet fear lingered still.
I waited for Chaeha's reaction.
Chaeha, who had been breathing in short gasps like a small animal, slowly lifted her robes.
Her foot with visible blue veins. Anklebone. Slender ankle. Long calf. Firm thigh.
They revealed themselves to me one by one, reflecting the bright moonlight.
The higher her robes rose, the rougher my breathing grew.
"Look at me."
I whispered, suppressing the rising excitement.
Chaeha averted her eyes in shame.
-Snap!
Unthinkingly, I grabbed her chin and lifted it.
"Don't look away."
Only then did Chaeha meet my eyes.
Her softly crinkled eyes, tightly pressed lips, and trembling pupils told me of her shame.
At the same time, her flushed cheeks, reddened ears, and quivering eyebrows spoke of her excitement.
"Keep lifting your robes."
Chaeha looked ready to die of humiliation, yet she fidgeted with her robes and lifted them higher.
This eye contact we shared now perfectly fastened our first button.
I gazed at Chaeha for a long time, then knelt on one knee before her.
As my head lowered sharply, Chaeha panicked and cowered between her legs with the hand clutching her robes.
"Wh-what are you doing...!"
"Give me one leg?"
"Huh?"
"Quickly."
Cheongwol extended one leg to me while holding up her robes.
Her smooth thigh gleamed under the bright moonlight.
It was like delicately crafted porcelain.
Chaeha, not Cheongwol, possessed such a beautiful body.
"Wh-what are you going to do...?"
Chaeha asked, her voice now clearly laced with anticipation that reached my ears.
I removed her shoe and placed her foot on my knee.
"Ma-Master!"
Whether feeling guilty for stepping on my leg, Cheongwol didn't know what to do.
But I pulled out a tool from the prepared gear bag.
It was the leather outfit I had made.
Someday, I wanted to see someone wearing this.
I'd had chances to put it on courtesans before, but it had always been blocked, leaving it only in my imagination.
This outfit that was slightly like stockings.
Unknowingly, I licked my lips and said to her.
"Chaeha. You're wearing this today."
Chaeha's mouth worked wordlessly. She must have sensed from the moment she saw it just how lewd it looked.
But I didn't wait for permission.
With her firm yet soft-looking thigh right before my eyes, holding back had reached its limit.
-Sliding...
I forced the leather outfit onto her foot first.
"Hngh!"
Chaeha seemed startled by the cold texture.
She gripped my shoulder for balance, and as she did, I kept pulling the leather outfit upward.
Cold calf. Then thigh.
As I pulled the outfit up, her entire leg brushed against my fingers.
I was leaving the first mark on legs untouched by a man's hands.
Her thigh softly reshaped like wet clay under my touch.
It amazed me that a woman's body could be this soft.
To me, who had built a complete wall against women, this was overwhelming stimulation.
I'd only seen Cheongwol as the Life-Pursuing Ghost Cheongwol... But from this angle, the woman before me was a peerless beauty who made the hearts of Central Plains men tremble.
"Ugh... Ah..."
Chaeha let out quiet, lascivious moans as she loomed over me.
In the little space we created, the sound echoed, making my belly feel it even louder.
One leg, then the next.
I finished preparing by fitting the arm sleeves on her too.
"Th-this... what is it?"
Chaeha whispered in confusion after the outfit was on.
"Th-the texture feels weird, Master... And... m-my appearance in this..."
"Lewd, right?"
"Ugh...! D-don't say that..."
"It's just the beginning, so don't feel too ashamed."
Chaeha whispered softly, perhaps to reassure me.
"...it's fine. I can endure it. It's under the robes anyway..."
"Huh? What does that mean?"
Before Chaeha could even understand, I drew a small knife from my bosom.
Chaeha's eyes widened roundly, but I didn't hesitate.
I gripped the hem of her legwear firmly and placed the knife against her robes.
-Rip!
Then I spun her around once, slicing the base of her robes.
"Ma-Master?!"
Chaeha clumsily grabbed the tearing, falling robes.
"Wh-what are you doing!! H-how am I supposed to go back later...!"
"Go back?"
"T-to the temple!!"
"Who?"
"W-well, I have to go ba..."
Even as she spoke, Chaeha seemed to sense something off and shut her mouth.
"...That's strange."
I drew close to Cheongwol and asked.
"Let me ask again. Are you Cheongwol or Chaeha right now?"
****
Cheongwol froze at Han Seojin's words.
Cheongwol had to return to the temple, but Chaeha had no temple to return to.
Cheongwol was a nun, but Chaeha was just a woman.
Cheongwol had to cherish her robes, but Chaeha had no such need.
What if she said she was Cheongwol here?
Would the Han Seojin forcing these commands on her disappear?
Would it be betraying Han Seojin, who approached while suppressing his fear?
It would. Cheongwol didn't want that.
And from the start... before him, she always wanted to be Chaeha.
Yeah. So what about these robes?
So what about the Emei Sect before Han Seojin?
At that irreverent thought, a thrill of taboo pleasure swept over her again.
Her body shivered, whether from the cool breeze or not.
"...Haa."
Then, even to her own ears, an aroused breath slipped out weakly.
Letting go felt this refreshing. Han Seojin always gifted her this mad sense of liberation.
She conveyed her decision in a whisper.
"...I'm... Chaeha."
-Drop.
Even the robes she had clung to desperately fell away slowly.
Now the leather outfit Han Seojin had dressed her in was fully exposed, with only the remaining robes precariously covering her undergarments.
Her appearance in this absurd outfit felt alien.
I clearly wasn't such a vulgar woman, yet the clothes proclaimed that she was indeed a vulgar bitch.
They said she wasn't an Emei Sect nun, but Han Seojin's dog.
That fact weighed so heavily, and though she knew it was wrong, it felt this refreshing too.
-Shiver...
Chaeha trembled again in the blowing wind.
Han Seojin observed her expression, then continued his work.
He tore her sleeves too, exposing the outfit on her arms clearly.
Chaeha silently watched the robes starting to fall to the ground.
Never in her life had she seen her robes treated this way.
She didn't know how to clean up after all this.
But she didn't want to think about it.
That thought was the remnant of Cheongwol she couldn't shake off.
Chaeha wanted to obey Han Seojin completely, to please him.
Chaeha observed Han Seojin's expression as he tore the clothes.
"..."
...Fear still lingered in his face.
Yet she couldn't understand why that made him all the more lovable.
Perhaps because she couldn't help loving how he suppressed his fear yet exposed his true self into her.
Who in this Central Plains could show her such a sight for her sake?
This was her sole sanctuary, the one she had found.
And the more this feeling welled up, the more she wanted to obey his commands meekly.
Not because she liked his perverted orders and actions.
She didn't want to wear clothes like this. Too vulgar. She never would alone.
She still resisted tearing the robes. She still didn't know how to manage after it all ended.
Yet she permitted and allowed all this because she knew it would make Han Seojin happy.
Because she knew it would let him set aside even a bit more of his fear toward her.
Because she knew it would deepen the trust between them.
The harder and more difficult the act, the more joy he showed when she did it for him.
To that end, Chaeha endured the shame and humiliation that felt like death.
Once he had torn all the clothes away, Han Seojin stepped back a pace to admire her.
Chaeha suddenly covered her body with her arms in blooming shame.
Covering with arms clad in leather was just as vulgar, but she still wanted to hide her curves.
"Could you move your hands?"
Han Seojin requested.
A dangerous desire flickered in his eyes, one she'd never seen before.
She wanted to respond to that gaze.
So Chaeha squeezed her eyes shut and clasped her hands behind her back.
"...Beautiful."
After a long appraisal, Han Seojin whispered.
Cheongwol glanced at the bulge tenting his pants and knew it wasn't empty words.
"Like a fairy, Chaeha."
What fairy existed like this?
"Hngh...!"
But even those words alone made Chaeha feel uncontainable happiness.
She'd thought compliments on looks from men didn't feel good, but from Han Seojin, it felt utterly different.
Fireworks exploded in her head. Pleasure dangerously melted through her mind.
Especially since it came from Han Seojin, who had bared all his sincerity to her—the depth felt incomparable.
In the end, unable to control her trembling legs, she collapsed to her knees.
She hadn't known that Han Seojin getting excited looking at her would make her heart tremble this much.
Han Seojin took a step closer and stroked her head.
"...Chaeha."
Chaeha nodded.
The night deepened. Not even the small sounds from the village drifted over anymore.
While everyone slept soundly, she shared this secret time with him.
"It's a shame to see this look all by myself."
"...Huh?"
"I want to show your beautiful appearance... to everyone. The whole village adores you."
"Ma-Master, what do you mean?"