"I am truly sorry."
Suzuki bowed his head slightly, his voice thick with genuine regret. He sat rigidly, desperately trying to rein in his completely unrestrained biological reaction.
Yes, he knew perfectly well that he could be a bit loose when it came to beautiful women. But he absolutely did not sleep with just anyone. He had standards. Even when he had indulged in the past, it was always the women who had offered themselves to him first. And frankly, rejecting a beautiful, willing woman was not only completely against his nature, but it was also uniquely cruel—it made them feel completely undesirable.
But Shizu was entirely different.
The legendary Conqueror of Flames hadn't offered herself to him. She had taken care of him, treating him with the gentle, maternal warmth of a kind elder looking after a younger generation. Viewing her through a predatory, lustful lens felt incredibly wrong.
"Please, don't blame yourself too much," Shizu whispered softly.
Surprisingly, she didn't seem angry or disgusted. In fact, she felt a strange sense of relief that he was openly regretting it, rather than proudly flaunting his sheer, overwhelming size to intimidate her.
In her unnaturally long life, Shizu had encountered countless men. Most of them had been utterly vile. But whenever those men had tried to cross a line, the Ifrit within her had gone completely berserk, unleashing a tempest of blazing hellfire that incinerated everything in its path. While she carried the heavy guilt of those ashes, she also knew those men had been irredeemable criminals.
Despite her youthful, flawless appearance, Shizu was far from innocent. She had lived through the darkest, most agonizing shadows of this world. Summoned by Demon Lord Leon Cromwell, she had been forced to serve as his personal vanguard.
What exactly was a Demon Lord? The title alone proved they operated entirely outside the bounds of human morality. People treated them not as rulers, but as walking natural disasters—like an earthquake or a tsunami. You couldn't fight them; you could only pray they didn't wipe you off the map.
Living under that oppressive darkness had been exhausting. After finally leaving the Demon Lord's side, Shizu had dedicated her life to finding and protecting children who shared her tragic fate. She became their teacher, their protector, and their surrogate mother.
But because she had dedicated her entire existence to others, she had completely forgotten to experience one vital thing: romantic love.
She had never even allowed herself to think about it. Yet, just moments ago, when Suzuki had pulled her into an embrace, she had felt it.
The rigid, searing heat of his hardened vitality had pressed flush against her soft core.
It had sent a violent, electrifying shiver straight up her spine—a sensation she absolutely knew she shouldn't be feeling. Through decades of suppressing Ifrit's agonizing burns, she was a master of hiding her pain. But trying to hide the sudden, intoxicating rush of raw, unadulterated pleasure? That was entirely different.
It had sent a jolt through her entire nervous system. It was... she didn't even have the vocabulary to describe it. When his strong arms had wrapped around her, and that unyielding heat pressed against her stomach, the feeling had been overwhelmingly, sinfully wonderful.
No, this is...
Shizu tried to convince herself that her thoughts were dangerous. Suzuki was clearly beating himself up over it.
But her innate curiosity, buried for over fifty years, suddenly flared to life.
"Is it... is it normal for it to react that strongly?" Shizu asked, her voice breathy. Her dark eyes wandered downward, tracing the heavy, undeniable bulge tenting the fabric of his pants. Just looking at the sheer immensity of his length made her inner thighs tremble and her core clench.
Her body was flushing with a sudden, overwhelming heat. But this heat was vastly different from Ifrit's destructive flames. It made her head spin and her breath catch, and she found herself entirely unable to look away.
"..."
Suzuki felt his face burning with intense embarrassment. He frantically wondered how to de-escalate this. His body had completely betrayed his manners. He could easily lie to her to save face, but looking into her clear, incredibly beautiful eyes, he decided to just swallow his pride.
"Um... yeah," he admitted softly. "I really am sorry."
"Don't apologize. If that's a normal reaction, it just means you're incredibly healthy, right?" Shizu smiled, a soft, alluring expression gracing her lips. She hated seeing him look so guilty, and she wanted to comfort him. "Honestly... it's completely fine. I don't mind at all even if you press that heat against me."
"...Shizu, please don't be too kind to me right now," Suzuki groaned, his voice dropping an octave, thick with restrained lust.
He didn't understand how she could be so forgiving. He had literally just pressed a raging erection against her thigh, and instead of slapping him, she was comforting him!
What is wrong with her? Wait... do I actually have a chance here?
The degenerate thought flashed through his mind, but he immediately tried to crush it. It was incredibly rude to take advantage of her kindness. He had saved her life, yes, but that didn't entitle him to her body. She had been prepared to bear her burdens alone. She was so incredibly gentle.
"And how, exactly, would you take advantage of me?"
Suzuki froze.
Instead of backing down from his warning, Shizu had tilted her head, her eyes shimmering with a dark, incredibly tempting curiosity. She shifted her weight, leaning closer so the sweet, intoxicating scent of her skin completely enveloped his senses.
"..."
For a single, agonizing heartbeat, the entire world stopped. It was a razor's edge. A moment where absolute restraint could violently shatter into absolute depravity.
And naturally, Suzuki was not a man who enjoyed being provoked.
He moved instantly, capturing her lips with his own.
It was impossibly sweet and searingly warm. The taste of her sent a shockwave of raw adrenaline through his veins. He wanted nothing more than to push her down, strip away her clothes, and claim every single inch of her. But he desperately fought his surging instincts, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the bedsheets, terrified that if his hands started wandering, he wouldn't be able to stop.
He forcefully broke the kiss, pulling back, panting heavily. "Shizu, I—"
"It's fine."
Instead of letting him retreat, Shizu surged forward, wrapping her slender arms around his neck and clinging her soft, heated body flush against his chest.
"Don't worry," she whispered against his collarbone, her breath hot on his skin. "I'm not doing this just because I want to thank you. I'm doing this because... because I want to."
It was the incredibly awkward, clumsy confession of a seventy-year-old maiden trapped in a flawless young woman's body. Shizu felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her, terrified she had said the wrong thing to a man so much younger than her.
But before the doubt could settle, Suzuki cupped her face and gently kissed her forehead.
"Cute."
"..."
Shizu flushed a brilliant shade of crimson. She knew he was completely teasing her, but she didn't have the breath to complain.
Before she could utter a single word, his large, incredibly strong palms slid down her waist, gripping her soft hips firmly, and his lips violently crashed down onto hers again.
"Hmn~!"
A muffled, blissfully helpless sigh vibrated in the back of Shizu's throat. She finally surrendered to the intoxicating joy she had been denied her entire life, melting completely as she let him hold, touch, and devour her exactly as he wished.