02.

The Colosseum wasn’t far away. Though it was said to be illegal, that seemed to be in name only. Looking at the Colosseum standing there blatantly saying ‘I am an arena,’ a disgusted expression naturally formed on his face.

“Have you been here before, Vice Commander?”

“Yes. I came here once before.”

The Colosseum boasted its enormity and grandeur despite being half collapsed. This place where life-or-death battles between monsters and gladiators had taken place. Undoubtedly, much blood had been shed here. The former kings of the North had designated this Colosseum illegal, meaning that due to the considerable danger of monsters, they should not be carelessly captured and brought within the borders.

But sadly, the more something is forbidden, the more people want to do it.

Corrupt knights secretly captured monsters. Nobles purchased these monsters from them at high prices and frequented the Colosseum to enjoy cruel entertainment.

“What a terrible place.”

“Once, a monster escaped from the arena. Many people died then, and the incident was easily buried. This place was operated by the former duke under someone else’s name.”

“So that’s why the former duke’s son has appeared here.”

“Yes. The young duke is believed to be dead, and the one Tom saw was probably the second son. Those guys have bright red hair like the duke.”

“Is there a possibility he’s plotting rebellion?”

“Well, the Marquis’s son who was close to him was a mage. If that Marquis’s son is alive, the two of them might plan something like that.”

The former duke’s second son had a mind that worked well in bad ways despite his weak body.

He excelled at exploiting commoners and was a key contributor to helping his father create double ledgers to evade taxes. When the Colosseum monster incident occurred, he quietly buried it using other gossip. Framing poor people in need of money by deceiving them wasn’t even a big deal to them.

The fact that such a person was alive and active was disgusting even before considering the possibility of rebellion.

‘So this is what the Marquis is like.’

Allen frowned. The behavior of the two nobles he learned about through Lea’s mind was worse than he had expected.

“May I kill him on sight?”

“No, if he’s really planning rebellion, we need to torture him to find out if there are any backers or who he’s working with.”

“You’re right.”

Lea nodded. Thinking about it, it would be a waste to kill him immediately. He deserved to suffer more. Allen glanced at Lea. Unusually, she was thinking deeply.

Of course, it wasn’t long before Lea imagined executing the presumed pervert again, but somehow the atmosphere felt different.

He swallowed hard as he followed Lea into the Colosseum.

Now he had to enter that dark place alone with Lea. He sincerely hoped that Lea would continue her current cruel imagination.

Allen started coughing as soon as he entered the Colosseum. There was too much dust flying around. Looking around, cobwebs hung everywhere, and mold had flourished. There seemed to be a musty smell coming from somewhere. The Colosseum showed signs of long neglect, to the point where one might think that anyone plotting rebellion here would die of lung disease before they could carry it out.

Allen waved his hand. He found the dust trying to stick to him unpleasant. Even on the battlefield, he had always set up camp in the cleanest possible place, both as a prince and as a high-ranking commander. He only rolled in dirt and dust during actual combat. Perhaps his peaceful life in the capital had been too long, as he found himself unaccustomed to encountering dust after so long.

“Are you alright, Commander?”

In contrast, Lea looked relatively fine. She simply brushed off any cobwebs that caught on her hands and moved fearlessly into the darkness, regardless of whether mold got on her clothes or not.

“I’m fine, cough, cough.”

The Colosseum seemed poorly ventilated. It felt stuffy, like being deep underground, and the dust floating in the air entered his mouth, making his throat itchy and dry.

“Commander, aren’t you a bit too delicate?”

“It’s just because of the dust, cough. That’s all, cough.”

The coughing sound at the end of each sentence was annoying. He should be showing a dignified appearance to the vice commander. It seemed like he had been showing nothing but unfavorable impressions since his first day in the North.

“Would you like some water?”

Lea turned around and offered water. Allen thanked her and took a few sips.

Lea stared at him drinking water and blinked. Allen’s disheveled appearance, coughing with moist eyes, reminded her of something from the training grounds. He had looked similar back then too.

Each time Allen tilted his head back to drink from the water bottle, his bobbing Adam’s apple captured her gaze. The way it moved up and down made her curious about how it would feel to touch.

Lea stared blankly at it before reaching out her hand to take back the water bottle. Allen somehow cautiously extended the bottle to her.

Their fingers brushed slightly in the darkness. Allen’s body flinched. The brief sensation made his body tremble involuntarily.

At that point, the scene in Lea’s mind also changed completely.

And Allen, without time to forget the previous sensation, dropped the water bottle due to the changed scene.

Lea tried to bend down to pick up the water bottle, but Allen immediately stopped her.

“I’ll! I’ll pick it up!”

“What? Oh, yes.”

Allen picked up the water bottle slowly, trying not to show his panic. His heart beat rapidly. His face reddened, and he swallowed hard. He wondered what he was seeing.

‘Why did the vice commander suddenly…?’

Before he could question it further, his thighs tensed. He could tell without looking down. The moment Lea’s imagination changed, his body had responded.

He wanted to dismiss it as false, but what he glimpsed between his legs while picking up the water bottle made it impossible to deny reality.

His center was displaying considerable presence.

“Is your cough better now?”

“I’m fine, just look ahead again.”

“Understood.”

Fortunately, Lea turned around without argument, but she didn’t seem inclined to change her imagination again. The deeper she went into the Colosseum, the more elaborate her imagination became.

Lea hadn’t intended it that way. She merely thought, ‘The commander looks quite sexy drinking water,’ and imagined touching his Adam’s apple, but when she saw him flinch at the mere touch of their fingers, she ended up pouncing on him in her mind.

Though she felt she was no different from that pervert for imagining attacking someone right in front of her, she couldn’t stop. Lea had already imagined mixing bodies with him back at the training grounds.

While she often freely imagined fictional people or actual couples and lovers before, even for Lea, this was the first time she had fantasized about one person over two consecutive days.

It wasn’t like there weren’t handsome men in the North.

She wasn’t sure if it was because Allen was exceptionally good-looking.

「I really want to eat him up….」

“Vice Commander!”

“Yes?”

“Ah, I was just wondering if you saw anything suspicious ahead.”

“Nothing visible yet. A bit further ahead is where they kept the monsters. Since it’s where they contained monsters with various magical tools, we might find something.”

Allen nodded and rubbed around his stomach. Lea was touching his abs in her mind. She touched them so delicately, moving her hand along the lines of his abs. Watching that made him feel thirsty. Despite having just drunk water, he wanted to drink more. Why did he feel such a strange sensation and itchiness in his lower abdomen when she wasn’t actually touching him?

The shameless thought that if she was going to touch him, she should do it more firmly rose up, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

He felt like he was going crazy, focusing on a scene he should clearly find repulsive.

He tried to distract himself by talking to Lea or thinking of other things, but it was useless. When he conversed with her, she imagined exchanging sweet nothings in bed, and when left alone, she escalated things further.

‘Vice Commander… could she actually want to do it with me….’

Eventually, such thoughts occurred to him.

Though it was imagination, the gaze directed at him was full of desire, and her touch seemed gentle. It was embarrassing to watch her exploring various parts of his body with open eyes, but his heart pounded.

Lea, straddling him, was also n*ked, repeatedly drawing his gaze. Honestly speaking, Allen had never seen a woman’s n*ked body before. Though he knew what he was seeing was a fantasy she had created, rather than being excited by seeing the body of the opposite s*x right before his eyes.

The thought that Lea had directly visualized her own body to create that image made his center throb repeatedly.

Watching himself intertwining with Lea in her imagination in real-time was painful in many ways.

He wondered what he would do if Lea said she wanted to do that with him.

Refusing would be natural, but in this state, he might give in.

‘No, no. Why would I do that, that thing with the vice commander?’

Allen shook his head, shocked at himself. He couldn’t even say it out loud in his mind because it was too embarrassing—imagining actually doing that with Lea. Lea was just fantasizing about him, so what was he expecting? No, what was he afraid of? He didn’t understand himself. Lea would probably imagine anyone without discrimination.

He followed Lea while pressing down firmly on the front of his pants.