He stared at the letter in his hands, turning it over and over as he tried to decipher what the princess actually meant by those words.
The letter could mean three very different things, and each interpretation was making him more anxious than the last. Either he was a zero man like everyone else in her eyes and had now been promoted to half man status by his sacrifice. Or he was a one man and had been demoted to half man status. Or maybe he was already half man and was supposed to be promoted to one man but she didn't do it after seeing his pathetic trick to drug her that night.
He sighed deeply, putting the letter down on his bedside table.
Phew... at least she's not punishing me or exiling me like what happened in my previous life. Not that I don't want to leave this place, but I want some money from the family first, and positions help too. Even being the 23rd son helps in these situations.
In the evening, Emma came to his room and to his complete surprise, she hugged him immediately, wrapping her arms around him carefully so as not to hurt him.
"You... what will I do if you died? What will Ava do? She even broke her marriage for you."
Her voice was breaking slightly with emotion as she held him.
"I didn't ask her to do that."
"She did it to make you happy and to be with you," Emma said, tightening her grip on him.
"Right... happy I am now. Don't clutch me or I'll cry."
He was trying to lighten the mood with humor but she wasn't having it.
She grabbed his dick through his pants, her hand finding it easily in the darkness.
"Let's see if this cries or not."
She smirked, clearly trying to seduce him despite his current condition.
"No... wait... give me some time please."
He pushed her hand away, needing a moment.
Emma noticed the scar on his chest, which looked pretty cool from a man's perspective, and she reached out to touch it slowly, her fingers tracing the line of the wound carefully across his skin.
"Hey you, whatever you're trying to do... although we did agree to do things a few days ago."
He started, not sure what to do about her advances.
"I'll wait, okay? I can wait."
She became suddenly shy and started playing with her fingers nervously, her eyes downcast.
"I'm not so childish anymore, you know."
She added, her words completely betraying her actions as she continued to act like a shy girl despite everything.
He nodded, watching her nature completely betray the words coming out of her mouth so carefully.
"So... umm... can you just leave it or is it going to go all the way?"
He asked carefully, genuinely wondering what she wanted from him.
She smirked like she'd just found a weakness in him that she could exploit.
"No, I'll help you out right now."
"Although I do appreciate that kind of offer, the truth is I've just rubbed one out recently so... I'm not really in the mood anymore."
He lied smoothly, trying to get her to back off.
She sighed in disappointment at his rejection.
"Visit my room later tonight, okay? We can continue then."
She said with a wink before leaving, her hips swaying as she walked away.
"System... are we clear now?"
[HOST, YOU SHOULDN'T HIDE YOUR BONERS, NOT ESPECIALLY IN FRONT OF WOMEN ACTUALLY WANTING TO DO IT]
"What should I do then? Break this body? These aren't normal but strong kinky and tight as fuck women."
He complained to the system, genuinely frustrated.
He was taken to the dining room, and the duke was sitting there waiting for him, watching his every move with those sharp eyes.
Why isn't he leaving to see his 60 or 70 other kids? Why are you here every single day? he thought bitterly.
The duchess smiled when she saw him, her expression warm and maternal, yeah right, as if.
"Ahh... his good body is now scarred."
She said softly, reaching out to touch his chest gently.
"Hmph, what scar? They are battle honors, markers of strength. His scar is even too small to be even called a proper scar."
The duke said, dismissing her concern entirely.
Yeah, please cut me more so it can become a proper scar.
"Father, what happened after that incident though? Did you find anything?"
"There were more assassins where the king was sleeping, so the princess wasn't the only target that night. Of them we managed to capture two alive, and although they're stubborn, with some torture they'll speak up eventually."
Ooh... assassin friends. Why did you have to do that to them?
"These are from a group of criminals with worse crimes than we can even imagine. If the pay is high enough, they're willing enough to kill their own biological parents without hesitation."
"Hoho, your father exterminated them all with such anger because he was proud of you."
The duchess said, beaming at him with pride radiating from her face.
He was absolutely shocked because being told that his father was proud of him was something his father had never said before, not even to his firstborn son.
"Hah, I never said that, okay? I... yes, I only exterminated pests."
The duke said quickly, his voice becoming gruff as he tried to deny his own emotions.
Tsundere spotted again. He's definitely proud but won't admit it.
"Right, father... have you found out who actually hired them to come after us?"
"Although I did destroy that entire black market district, there was actually no point in doing it in the end. It just goes to show how much my brother ,the king can take anger before acting out, seriously."
The duke said, almost to himself as if contemplating his own actions.
Wait, he did that alone too? This old man... I knew he was hiding real powers beneath that cultivation rank.
"You have to try and win the princess's heart quickly, before the king decides to marry her off to someone else."
The duke said suddenly, shifting the conversation entirely.
How do I even explain that she might hate me even more now after what I did?
"Father... isn't she near 30 years old already? Shouldn't we find her someone appropriate?"
"Haah, don't you know? Out of the three fiancés she killed, two of them were actually your own brothers."
The duke said casually, dropping a massive bomb on him.
"Wait... what... that never happened in (my previous life). It were some random princes, not my brothers."
He said out loud, his voice full of confusion and disbelief at this revelation.
"So you think I'm lying to you right now?"
"Uhh... did I say that out loud?"
"You need to marry her as quickly as possible, or else our family's standing will be lost to some old man the king will force her to marry instead."
The duke said firmly, leaving absolutely no room for argument or negotiation whatsoever.
He's right in a way. Seeing these problems, he'd rather marry her off quickly to not get more assassinations targeting the family. We have less time now. She'd get married to some old fart if we don't move fast.
Just giving that Serene some rest time has caused all this mess to happen.
He went to his room, took a nap and the nightmare started immediately, pulling him down into darkness.
Slash—
He was killed in a single second by an invisible blade, his body falling to the ground as darkness consumed everything.
He woke up right under 10 seconds of actual sleeping time, his heart pounding in his chest.
"Huff... huff..."
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: QI STEPS PROFICIENCY - 0.01%]
"Huh, wait... what's this mean?"
He asked the system urgently, desperate for answers.
He pondered and thought about it deeply, all the pieces leading to one obvious conclusion. Using or learning any skill in dreams actually increases proficiency faster and even shows the progress in real time.
"Hehehe, doesn't that mean I can learn skills which take 100 years in just two nights? Though I'll have to die hundreds of times to do it."
He realized with growing excitement, the implications of this discovery spreading through his mind.
Sir Subaru, I've finally become one with death.
Cale went back into the dream willingly, and it was a massive colosseum-like space with nothing but empty air around him. A doll made of pure black attacked him from all directions, and with his decent combat moves he managed to avoid the worst of it, but he was killed in just 4 seconds.
Next attempt, 5 seconds. Then 8 seconds. Then 3 seconds. Then 15 seconds. Each attempt brought marginal improvements as he slowly learned the patterns of the doll's movements and adjusted accordingly.
Morning happened, and Cale who didn't sleep at all, groaned as he realized he'd been killed the 199th time in a single night of training.
"Huff, I lasted... 30 seconds on my best attempt."
He said weakly, doing the math in his head.
Even my sex sessions last longer than this. Oh right... the progress.
He checked the system and saw that he'd progressed 12% in Qi Steps in just one night of constant training and dying repeatedly in the dream world.
"Hell yeah, 12% in one night. I'll surely kill that doll tomorrow."
Tried getting up and the pain spread throughout his entire body immediately, making him gasp for air.
"Ughhh..."
He coughed blood, his bones feeling like they were near breaking from all the damage he'd taken in the dream world that translated to his real body somehow.
"So... the pain is real when you die in the dream world too."
He started using the Yang Healing technique that the system had given him, although it was good at what it did, it consumed too much of his pure energy in the process. This meant that more yang energy was being formed constantly, leading to a desperate need for more release through sex, masturbation, or energy fights which he didn't even know how to do yet.
He managed to get up despite the pain and the weakness in his legs, gritting his teeth against the agony.
"Let's try this, shall we?"
And in one single sweep, he used the basic Qi Step move that he'd learned in his nightmares, doing it completely unconsciously without thinking about it at all.
He burst into joy because in his previous life he could never even do such simple normal things, and now he could actually copy cultivation abilities from his dream training and use them in the waking world like magic.
This sleep and try power could be extremely useful when I'm eventually secluded for cultivation. I could cultivate day and night without stop.
And then thump—
He fell hard to the ground because after getting his ass beaten up all night by that black mannequin in his dreams, his actual body simply couldn't handle the strain anymore.
"Grahhhhhh! Nobody told me this simple move breaks your ankle when you're this weak!"
He screamed, rolling on the floor with his leg held in both hands, the pain shooting through his body.
Cale had realized painfully how weak he still actually was, only at the first page of the cultivation book, only the base established, not even rank 1 novice let alone rank 2. He had a long way to go before he could actually fight anything real or powerful.
"I either need a teacher to guide me properly... or more sex sessions to build up my yang energy reserves. Nah, it's already draining me way too much."
He said, cursing his own situation and the limitations of his current body.