Thalia Valoris was still looking at me.
A small golden pin shaped like a crown was fastened to her cape—the royal insignia of House Valoris. I'd seen it on coins and official decrees, but never up close.
She was known by many names.
Princess of Rhodenia.
Celestial Blade.
The No. 1 Ranker.
The woman with ten million followers and a reputation for cutting first and asking questions never.
And she was talking to me.
"I said," she repeated, her golden eyes flat and cold, "you look like hell. Are you going to answer, or are you just going to stare at my boots like a stunned goblin?"
I snapped my mouth shut. My cheeks burned.
"Sorry," I managed. My voice came out rough, scraped raw from screaming in the dungeon. "I just... you're..."
"Thalia Valoris. Yes, I'm aware of my own name." She didn't smile. Her gaze dropped to my bloody clothes, my cracked drone... Well my pathetic everything.
A flicker of disgust crossed her face. "You're bleeding on the grass. And you're wasting my time."
I touched my forehead. The cut from earlier was still there, crusted with dried blood, but the bleeding had slowed to a sticky trickle.
My face felt like a mask of rust. My clothes were torn in three places. I probably looked like a corpse that had crawled out of a shallow grave.
"Right," I said. "Dungeon accident."
"I can see that." Her eyes swept over me again, lingering on my cracked camera drone. "You're a streamer?"
"Trying to be."
"F-rank?"
I nodded.
She snorted. A short, sharp exhale of contempt. Like I'd just admitted to eating dirt.
"Figures."
"Ouch," the voice whispered in my head. "She's not impressed at all. This might be harder than I thought."
'No kidding. You said the seal would help.'
"It will. But first she has to stop treating you like garbage. Give it a minute."
Thalia turned to leave. She wasn't interested anymore. I was just another F-rank nobody taking up her precious time between S-rank contracts.
"Stop her," the voice said urgently. "You have a quest. You need her. If she walks away now, you're dead in twenty-three hours."
'How? She's already decided I'm worthless.'
"Say something. Anything. Make her curious. Desperate people do desperate things. Be desperate."
She was five steps away. Her white boots clicked on the stone path leading up the hill.
"Wait," I called out.
She stopped but didn't turn around. Her silhouette was framed against the afternoon sun, sword glinting over her shoulder.
"What?" Her voice was flat.
"I... there's something in that dungeon. Something you should know about."
She turned her head slightly. One golden eye glanced back at me. The wind pushed a strand of white-blonde hair across her cheek.
"Explain quickly. I don't have time to waste."
I scrambled for words, my heart hammering. "A black crystal. It was floating in a chamber below. It was cracking. Purple smoke came out. A creature was guarding it. It was big with too many legs and red eyes. I think it was a seal."
'You idiot' I cursed myself inwardly for spouting absolute rubbish.
I never had much experience with women in the past and it was affecting me now.
Thalia turned fully, her hand finding the hilt of her sword.
"A seal? In an F-rank dungeon?" Her eyebrow arched. "Those don't exist. Seals are placed on S-rank dungeons or hidden vaults. Not goblin holes."
"I don't know what it was. But it felt wrong. Like something that should not exist."
She studied me for a long moment. Her golden eyes narrowed, searching my face for a lie. I held her gaze, even though every instinct told me to look away.
Finally, she walked back toward me. Each step was carefully placed, like a predator circling wounded prey. She stopped inches from my face. I could smell jasmine and polished metal.
"If you're lying to me, F-rank, I'll make sure you never stream again. I'll have your channel banned and your dungeon license revoked. I'll make your life so miserable you'll wish that creature had eaten you."
"I'm not lying."
"Prove it."
"The seal is already broken," the voice said. "She won't find anything down there now. But the residual energy is still in you. Let her sense it. Touch is the fastest way."
I took a deep breath. Things were about to get messy.
"Touch my wrist."
Her eyes widened. For a split second, I saw genuine surprise. Then her expression hardened.
"Excuse me?"
"Just... touch my wrist. You'll feel something. I can't explain it. You have to feel it yourself."
She stared at my extended hand like it belonged to a dead animal.
"This is either the worst pickup attempt I've ever witnessed, or you have a death wish."
"She's curious," the voice said in my head. "Curious people take risks."
"It's neither," I said. "Just... please. Touch my wrist for two seconds. If you don't feel anything, you can leave. I won't bother you again."
I had no choice but to do this. Since I had taken this step, I'll follow it all the way.
Thalia's jaw tightened. She glanced at her camera drone, then back at me. Her viewers were probably flooding the chat with speculation.
I didn't dare check my own viewer count.
Slowly, she reached out.
Her fingers were warm. She pressed two fingertips against the inside of my wrist, right over my pulse point.
The purple glow flickered.
It was faint—barely visible in the afternoon sunlight—but it was there. A pulse of violet light that traveled from my skin up her fingers.
Thalia's eyes went wide. She snatched her hand back like she'd been burned.
"What. Was. That?!"
"I don't know. It happened when the crystal broke. Some of the smoke went into me. The creature was trying to get to it, but I was closer."
"You're contaminated," she said flatly. Her voice had lost its contempt. "That energy is demonic. I've felt something like it before, on a raid years ago. You should be dead."
"Well, I'm not."
"Yet."
"Charming," the voice muttered. "She's not wrong, though. That energy should have killed a normal human. But you're not normal anymore. You're mine."
Did the voice just claim me?
Thalia crossed her arms. Her fingers drummed against her bicep—nervous energy she was trying to hide.
"You're going to come with me. I'm taking you to the Everlight Church. They have priests who can cleanse demonic contamination. If we leave now, we can be there by nightfall."
"No."
Her eyes flashed. "No?"
"I'm not going to the Church. They'll lock me up or execute me. I've heard the stories. They don't cleanse people. They burn them."
"That's not—"
"It is. I'm not stupid." I took a step back. "I just want to go home. Figure this out on my own."
"That's not your choice to make."
She reached for my arm. I tried to dodge but she was faster.
Her fingers closed around my bicep. It was painfully tight.
"You don't get to say no to me, F-rank."
"Now," the voice said urgently. "Use the aura. Push it out. Make her feel something other than anger. Anything to loosen her grip."
I focused on the warmth still lingering in my chest from the crystal shards. I imagined pushing it outward, like shoving a wave of heat through my skin.
The purple glow flickered again. It was faint but Thalia felt it. Her grip loosened and her breathing hitched.
"What... what are you doing?"
"Nothing. I'm not doing anything."
"Liar. You're clearly doing something."
Her hand trembled. She wasn't letting go, but she wasn't pulling me either. She was frozen, caught between anger and something she didn't understand.
A window popped up in my vision.
[Lust Seal – Activation in progress.]
[Target: Thalia Valoris – SS-rank. Resistance: High.]
[Seal will take time to fully manifest. Estimated time to first symptoms: 12-24 hours.]
[Warning: Target may experience confusion, unexplained fixation, and irritability when away from host.]
[Enjoy the slow burn.]
The glow faded. Thalia released my arm and took a step back, rubbing her wrist like it ached.
"You did something to me," she said. Her voice was quieter now.
"I didn't mean to."
"Didn't mean to?" She laughed, but there was no humor in it. Just a sharp exhale of disbelief. "You think I believe that?"
"It's the truth. I don't know how any of this works. I just wanted to survive."
She stared at me for a long moment. Her golden eyes searched my face for a lie, a reason to draw her sword and end this.
Then she sighed. The tension in her shoulders eased a bit.
"You have twenty-four hours," she said.
"What?"
"Twenty-four hours to figure out what's happening to you. To me. To... whatever this is." She gestured between us, her fingers tracing a small circle in the air. "Tomorrow at sunset, I stream from the Luminara arena. It's the main event—me against a S-rank construct. Half the continent will be watching."
"And?"
"And you'll be there. In the front row. When the stream ends, you'll come to my private quarters and explain everything. Every detail. No lies."
My throat went dry. "And if I don't show up?"
She smiled but it was cold and didn't reach her eyes.
"Then I'll find you. And when I do, I won't ask questions. I'll just... collect you. The palace has dungeons. I'm sure you'd fit right in."
She turned and walked away, her cape billowing behind her. Her drone followed, its lens lingering on me for a moment before swiveling back to her.
I stood there, my heart hammering against my ribs.
"Well," the voice said, breaking the silence, "that could have gone worse. She didn't kill you or drag you to the Church. She just threatened to 'collect' you. That's progress."
'She thinks I contaminated her.'
"You did. With a Lust Seal. Give it a day. She'll be dreaming about you. Wondering why she can't stop thinking about an F-rank nobody who made her wrist tingle. Then the real fun begins."
I sat back down on the grass. My legs felt like water.
'My life is officially over.'
"No," the voice said, almost amused. "It's just getting complicated."
I didn't move.
"Now get up. You have twenty-three hours to prepare for the most important stream of your life…"
The words settled heavily in my chest.
"…and figure out how to seduce a woman who could end you with a flick of her pinky."
I stayed where I was, staring ahead, wondering when everything had gone this far off the rails.