CHAPTER 44: ASMODEUS’ TOUCH GAVE ME A BONUS!

The morning sun filtered through the mansion’s tall windows, illuminating the polished stone hallway. The day had just begun, but to Ester, it felt like it had never ended.

She left the room with heavy steps, her body stiff and her eyes red from sleepless nights. Her usually flawless face now bore shadows—subtle marks, but ones that betrayed the insomnia that had been gnawing at her for days.

Every muscle in her body screamed for rest, but her mind remained ablaze. The echoes of last night still vibrated within her.

And then, as if fate mocked her pain, the first person to cross her path was Aria.

The blonde walked down the hallway carrying a silver tray with a jug of wine and fresh fruit. Her face was subtly flushed, her lips slightly swollen, and there was an unmistakable sparkle in her eyes. It was the aura of someone who had been devoured, possessed—and who, even trying to hide it, still carried the remnants of an intense night.

Ester stopped walking. Her gaze bored into Aria’s like a blade.

The maid froze in realization. Her fingers trembled slightly, almost letting the tray slip.

"G-good morning, Ester..." She tried to force a smile, but her voice faltered.

The answer didn’t come immediately. The silence that stretched was suffocating. Ester just watched her, as if she could see right through her, as if she could tear out all the secrets she was hiding with just a look.

And deep down, Aria knew: there was nothing to hide. Ester had already heard everything.

"You..." Ester finally broke the silence, her voice low and cold as blades of ice. "...you look tired."

Aria swallowed. She wanted to respond, wanted to say something, but the words simply wouldn’t come.

Ester approached slowly, her heels echoing in the hallway. Each step seemed to weigh a ton on the blonde’s ears.

When she stopped in front of her, she leaned in slightly, her mouth almost brushing Aria’s ear.

"No wonder..." she whispered venomously. "After all that... moaning."

Aria went pale, as if the ground had disappeared beneath her feet. The blood rushed to her face in a scarlet flush. She clutched the tray to her chest, trying to hide her trembling.

But Ester only stepped away, her chin lifted arrogantly, her red eyes shining with contempt.

"Don’t forget... I see everything."

And, without waiting for an answer, she walked past her, leaving a trail of suffocating silence in the hallway.

Aria remained motionless, her heart hammering in her chest. Shame, fear... but also something she didn’t dare name.

Aria remained motionless, her fingers clinging to the silver tray as if it were the only anchor keeping her upright. Her face burned with shame, and her lips parted to mumble some defense, anything... but nothing came out.

Ester had already walked away, her expression cold and sharp as a sharp blade. She gave her no room for words, not even an apology. She simply left her there, drowning in her own shame.

The vampire’s firm footsteps echoed down the hallway until they disappeared around the bend. Aria took a deep breath, but relief didn’t come. The silence was as suffocating as Ester’s gaze had been.

Ester, on the other hand, walked quickly, unaware that her thoughts were still trapped in the scene. The venom of her own words gnawed at her more than she cared to admit. Her red eyes burned with anger and exhaustion.

But then, distracted by her reverie, she turned the corner quickly... and bumped into someone.

"Tsk..." The shock threw her off balance.

A solid body reflexively grabbed her, but the sudden movement threw them both off balance.

In an instant, they were on the ground.

Ester fell on top of him—and only realized how disastrous the position was when she felt the heat against her chest. Her breasts, full and squeezed by the tight fabric of her clothes, had collided directly with his face.

For a second, the entire world seemed to freeze.

Damon blinked in surprise, his breath catching against the unexpected softness. Ester’s perfume—a cold, sweet scent with a metallic note reminiscent of freshly spilled blood—engulfed him completely.

She, in turn, felt the blood rush violently to her face. Her mind screamed in indignation, but her body was trapped there, glued to his in a way that should never be.

Damon’s eyes met hers through the dark curtain of her loose hair. For a moment, the hallway fell into a heavy, suffocating silence, laden with something neither of them dared name.

"Damn you...!" Ester spat furiously, trying to hide the shame burning her skin. "Watch where you’re going!"

Damon arched an eyebrow and let out a low, insolent laugh. "You’re the one wandering around distracted," he said, smirking, as if he were in control of the situation.

That smile made her tremble with rage. Still on top of him, her breasts pressed against his face, Ester felt her fury boil over. The air turned frigid, the floor around her cracked, and a thin layer of ice began to spread across the stone corridor.

But before she could stand and push him away, Damon did something she never expected.

His hand rose slowly, firmly, and rested against the fullness of her breasts.

Ester froze. The ice creeping across the floor cracked loudly, but shattered into jagged shards as her concentration broke.

Her eyes widened, her pupils narrowing like ruby blades. Heat surged violently across her skin, a mixture of hatred, shock, and something she refused to name.

"You...!" Her voice cracked, something rare, and therefore all the more dangerous.

Damon stared at her without looking away, the smile still playing on his lips, insolent, defiant. "Are you freezing the entire hallway... just because I touched you?"

The words were like fire on ice. Ester’s body shivered, her instincts telling her to kill him right then and there, but her mind was collapsing at his absurd audacity.

For a second, she didn’t seem like the same cold and controlled Ester. Just a woman whose icy wall had been cracked by a touch too bold.

[You used Asmodeus’ Touch directly on Ester Deathstriker’s Breasts]

[You obtained a Bonus for Touching the Mission Target’s Breasts]

[Bonus: You caused sensitivity in Ester’s nipples; from now on, any contact with her breasts will be amplified by 70%]

"Oh... hehe... it worked..."