His random walks somehow led him to Eubin's room, he usually dropped by a few times, when he had nothing to do, and today was one of those days.
He stood dazedly in front of the door, as his mind drifted back to the vision he had, in that vision, Eubin had been ghastly injured, and it looked like her life was hanging by a thread, he was genuinely concerned about whether she would later survive that situation, after all, her and Hel were the only few people he could call friends in the entire of Ravensong.
After a few seconds, he turned around and was about to return back the way he came, but a voice sounded from the room.
"Are you going to come in or what?" It was Eubin's voice.
Honestly, with all the commotion that was going on in the castle, he thought that she would be out there helping too, but it turned out that she was back here slacking.
He smiled and walked in.
"I didn't think you'd be in here…"
Inside Eubin's room was way different than what you'd expect from a girl with her attitude, it was neat and orderly, and she had a few random books on the shelf, untouched, but still available.
If there was something wrong with the room, it would be her oddly bountiful amount of clothes. Eubin seemed to have an absurd amount of clothes, she was like a fashion collector as she left them all on display, even the exquisite wardrobe that held her fashionable clothes was wide open for viewing.
"Didn't think I'd be in here? Snooping around a girl's room isn't very gentlemanly you know ~" Eubin was sprawled on the bed, her hand flipping through what seemed to be a magazine, her legs were suspended above the bed as she flayed them around.
Hearing her words, he knew no amount of explaining was going to cover him, so he chose the smartest thing to do, and ignored her words while changing the topic.
"So why aren't you out there helping them set up?" He walked to the bed and sat comfortably, resting his back against the pillows.
"I'm not in the mood, plus it's too bothersome, why do you want to throw a party anyway?" She asked as she closed the magazine and sat up beside him.
He picked up the magazine that she dropped and scanned the cover.
'A fashion magazine huh…'
"Did Her Majesty tell you to ask that?" He said in a teasing voice as he opened the magazine.
Eubin seemed stung by his words as she pinched him lightly.
"Hey… I have questions of my own you know?"
He smiled and chuckled.
"I'm sure you and your Mother already know I'm planning to pull a stunt during the party, you just don't know what it'll be"
He looked through the magazine with genuine interest, it was a fashion magazine but a very detailed one, it showed the style, showed it on a model, and even went out of their way to show the technique to replicate the design.
'I guess when memories are involved, copyright secrets seemed to take a nosedive in the fashion industry'
"It's weird that you admitted that you have an ulterior motive…" Eubin looked at him sceptically.
Merlin shrugged, "it's not like you guys didn't expect it, plus the suspicion game is getting really tiring…"
"So you're going to come clean about your hidden abilities?" She asked expectingly.
"That'll be for later, I at least have to give myself an out after I crash the party" he spoke, not taking his eyes off the magazine, it was really nice seeing people trying to fuse the medieval style of armor-type memories into modern day fashion.
"Wait!" Eubin exclaimed, "you're planning to crash the party?"
He sighed as he looked up from what he was reading and faced her. Honestly, if he had a choice, he would rather achieve his goals subtly, but the very nature of what he wanted to achieve needed to be heard by everyone involved, and he would dispose of the marionette the moment it achieved its purpose, so there was no way the party couldn't be abandoned halfway.
"It's not exactly planning, if you guys are still down to party after what happens, then I'm cool with it too…" he stated matter of factly.
"What exactly are you planning…" Eubin squinted her eyes at him.
"A surprise…" he smiled.
"You're really going to crash Shan's party for your shenanigans" She scoffed.
"A necessary sacrifice…"
"Aren't you two supposed to be friends?"
"Huh?" He tilted his head confused, "I don't know what Seishan told you, but we weren't friends, she worked for me, and I paid her with my blood, purely transaction"
"Didn't everyone in the Bright Castle work for you, as far as I heard, they didn't receive any compensation, so that means Shan's case is special" Eubin smiled.
He rolled his eyes and replied, "Seishan wasn't paid for working as a castle personnel, she was paid for cleaning up loose ends, you didn't think that everyone would just sit still and allow me ascend the throne of the Bright Castle did you? Seishan and her Handmaidens dealt with those guys for me"
"Ooh… So you played the benevolent ruler and she played your shadow right?"
"Yeah that's right, I thought Seishan told you that much, why do you still sound surprised?"
"That's because I didn't know, she might have told Mother separately, but I had no idea," Eubin muttered.
Merlin stared at her for a while, his intuition told him she wasn't lying, she genuinely didn't know about the things Seishan did for him.
'Speaking of Seishan, I really should have a little of my blood on standby… but I can't let it fall into the hand of Ki Song, who knows what she might do with it'
He wasn't doing it for any reason, just for old times, since he was going to crash her party, he might as well give her something valuable in return.
"Looks like I'm not the only one keeping secrets" he smiled mockingly.
"At least I'm not crashing the party…" she scoffed.
Merlin looked her up and down, then gestured to the magazine.
"Why do you have so much of this fashion stuff anyways?"
"Why do you care?"
"Don't tell me you like playing dress up…"
"..."
"Seriously?"
"What's bad about that?"
He stared flatly at Saint Eubin also known as Beastmaster, a fearsome Transcendent of the Song Domain, who liked dolling up herself.
'I guess everyone's got their thing…'
He thought of something, then turned to her.
"Since you've got nothing to do, why don't you dress up a little, I want to see"
"Huh?" she looked confused, "why would you want to see something like that?"
"Feast for my eyes I guess…"
"You're not even bothering to hide your intentions"
"Are you doing it or not?"
"Fine… but just because I'm bored" she stood up from the bed, and walked towards her wardrobe, then turned around with a teasing smile.
"Try to control your urges and don't jump me alright ~"
"Meh… I've seen prettier people" he shrugged.
..
.
"Ouch…" Merlin clutched his head that had a stinging red spot, beside him was a hanger Eubin had thrown at him with Transcendent speed, turns out that [Danger Sense] doesn't warn you when the attacker is a potential maiden.
'Man… even Beyonder abilities are trying to escape Chastity Worthy's curse of the pathway'
The potential maiden Eubin, had already entered her slick changing room, that was totally there, but hidden behind her stack of arranged clothes.
Anyways, she just hoarded a few clothes and disappeared inside, then the next second, a hanger was flying out of room at Mach 2. (Before you guys start dishing out how that speed will kill him on the spot, just know that this is a novel, and the plot is whatever I say the plot will be… btw the speed is just an exaggeration.)
A few minutes later, she walked out of the dress room, and for the first time, Merlin's words were stuck in his throat.
Eubin was wearing a sleeveless velvet colored gown that left a fair part of her cleavage visible, and the tight dress stuck to her body while letting his imagination do the rest.
"So… what do you think of it" Eubin did a twirl which he wished she hadn't.
'Come on Merlin control yourself, the goal is MGOD… you can't fall here'
Merlin narrowed his eyes as he opened his mouth and spoke.
"I'd prefer it if you weren't constantly brushing my mind with your enthralling ability… I thought you didn't want me jumping you, why the extra effort?"
Eubin smiled teasingly, "Leverage of course, if you can't control yourself, that's no problem, but I'd at least have leverage against you… I even wore a dress that's easy to tear~"
"Leverage huh…" he stood up from the bed and walked to her, he stood directly in front of her as he placed a hand on her waist pulling her close.
Eubin's breath hitched, but before she could say anything, he sealed her lips with a kiss.
A minute later, he finally broke apart, "how's that for leverage?" He said with a smirk.
Unlike other girls who would be tongue tied, Eubin the veteran looked him in the eyes with her signature smile.
"No one would believe me if I told them" she chuckled, "you're pretty experienced for someone so young~" she said as she bit her bottom lips seductively.
'Heh… that's two decades of experience under my belt you're talking about…'
He shook his head and walked back to the bed, "beginner's luck I guess… and you can stop using your powers on me, I haven't fallen for you just yet…"
"It was worth a try…" she shrugged, but didn't stop, "you never complimented my dress"
"You look stunning…" he gave a thumbs up.
"Great…" she scurried back into the changing room, "I'll try on the next one"
She came out again, wearing a deep red colored dress, it left her back exposed, but the front rose up to her neck, and the flowing gown had a slit that ran up to her mid thigh.
"How's this?" She twirled.
"I believe anything would look good as long as it's attached to you," he answered truthfully.
"What a sweet mouth you got there~" she smiled.
"I feel like ever since you found out I won't kill you for messing with my head, you've become quite bold"
"I'm making good use of my privilege…"
"Is your mental attack immunity as powerful as your ability?"
"I think so?"
"Can I try?"
"Sure…" she shrugged.
Merlin nodded, and checked his [Scribe] inventory, his eyes locked on the vertigo ability that the Corrupted Monster back at the Rocky Plains had used, and he used it on Eubin.
The Corrupted Monster, which had based its entire skill point on the ability, made it strong enough to affect even a master illusionist like Eubin.
She staggered faintly, "Merlin… What did you do? Everything's spinning"
Her legs gave out as she dropped to the floor, he didn't release the ability as he used another one on her, this time, he used her own [Enthrall] against her, the first ability was to reduce her mental defense and now he would influence her mind.
As he did it, he thought about turning her into some kind of Yandere character, but he quickly abandoned that idea, even though it sounded cool, he couldn't achieve it with his current ability.
So he did the next smart thing, and made her always want to agree to his suggestions, he was skeptical about whether it would work, but it didn't stop him from trying, at least she consented to it.
While using her ability to influence her mind, it showed resistance, but most of that resistance went to overcoming the vertigo she was experiencing.
He completed his enthralling as he then deactivated the vertigo.
"Hey! I thought you were testing my mental defenses, what was that?" Eubin glared at him as she stood up from the ground, dusting off her gown.
"I'm sorry… I was just curious if it would work " he shrugged, then thought of something as he smiled.
"Hey Bin… pick out of of those books in the shelf"
"Alright…" Eubin nodded and walked to the shelf and picked out a book.
He nodded and murmured to himself.
"Seems like it worked, but I can't really be sure since regular Eubin would probably agree too… probably"
He thought of another request and said in a calm voice.
"Hey Bin…"
"What is it now?" Eubin answered as she passed him the book.
"Strip" he spoke calmly.
Eubin tilted her head slightly, then shrugged as she started to loosen the tie at the neck of her dress.
"It's alright you can stop now…" he raised his hand to stop her.
Although he very much wanted to see what was hidden beneath her clothes, he wasn't going to do it without her consent, plus he felt their closeness as friends was enough to deter him from committing such an action.
However, that didn't stop him from embarrassing her a little more.
"Hey… come sit here" he patted his lap confidently.
"What's up with you?" Eubin muttered, but still walked to him, and sat on his lap.
He smiled to himself as he calmly pulled her head to his neck as he patted her on the back, as if consoling her.
"Just stay like this for a while…" he spoke softly into her ears and added inwardly.
'Until you get yourself back…'
He knew that Eubin would eventually gain control as her mental resistance would kick in, the only reason he succeeded so far was because he bypassed it through vertigo.
A few seconds later, Eubin's body shuddered on his, at that point, he knew she was back to herself, but she didn't look up, seemingly still pretending.
"I'm guessing your mental defense needs a little work…" he decided to call her out.
Eubin responded by pinching his waist fiercely.
"Ow ow ow… hey It's not my fault you didn't resist it"
"You're a scoundrel" Eubin glared at him as she scurried off his body.
"What did I do?"
"You're seriously asking me… I'm guessing I was the one who ordered myself to strip right?"
"If you already know, why ask me?"
"You're shameless…"
He and Eubin laughed it off as she sat beside him on the bed.
"I'm surprised you didn't take advantage of me in that state… well more than you already did" Eubin said as she stared at him.
He smiled and replied.
"I told you, didn't I… I've seen prettier"
"You're really asking for it…" She gritted her teeth, then sighed, "you know It's really nice talking to someone who isn't influenced by my natural presence or my status"
"What of your sisters?" He asked.
"They're different… they're family " She spoke lowly.
"Well for better or worse, I'll always be here to cause you problems…" he patted her shoulder then stood up.
"Anyways… I'm off to go see how the party's going"
Eubin walked him to the door, then as he was about to leave, stepped forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"See you at the party~ she smiled seductively then closed the door behind him.
Merlin chuckled as he walked away.
"Looks like my stay in the Song domain will be pretty interesting…"