And Odile, pressing a finger to his furrowed brow, seemed lost in thought. Then, with a contemptuous look, he glared at me and walked out. Ares, now dressed, followed after him.

Left alone, I scowled at the spot where they had exited. I really didn’t understand. If I used ‘charm,’ the succubus ability, I should appear as their ideal type or the most beautiful woman they could imagine, yet he neither smiled nor showed any weakness. Everyone who had been around me so far had been enchanted by my face, so Odile’s reaction felt unfamiliar.

Whatever. I was satisfied for today. I snapped my fingers, darkened the inside of the tent, and closed my eyes.

At dawn, I realized that even though Odile hadn’t responded, he had agreed with me. That was evident from the two men now standing before me with crooked expressions.

“Are you really a succubus?”

“Yes.”

“So, what exactly did this succubus do to our brothers?”

“I’m the one who was wronged, you know. So please don’t look so scared.”

I looked at the man with shining golden hair and the still-youthful boy with black hair with displeasure. The golden-haired man had a frown on his face, but he didn’t feel particularly hostile. But this boy? He was smiling, but it didn’t feel like a smile at all. With that kind of alertness, there would be no point in summoning tentacles or using magic, so I just nodded my head.

“So, if you lost the ring, shouldn’t you be looking for it instead of harassing innocent people?”

“Well, Odile said he’d take responsibility. Don’t you know what a succubus is?”

“What, they have sex with men and steal their energy, right?”

“…That’s correct.”

Good grief. How could he speak so bluntly? I had lived such a quiet life that crude slang like that felt unfamiliar. Blushing, I nodded, and the black-haired boy tilted his head, then smiled. He looked neat, but his smile was incredibly irritating.

“Fine. Sounds fun.”

“Damian.”

“It doesn’t matter, does it? I’ll take her. You can think it over a bit more.”

As he grabbed my wrist and pulled me somewhere, the place where he touched stung. I was the one who wanted to do what I wanted, not to be dragged around. I shook off his hand irritably, and he tilted his head.

“What? Don’t you want this?”

“Don’t grab so hard. It hurts.”

“I didn’t think I was grabbing that hard… Ah, got it. Sorry.”

He apologized quickly and took my hand again. I braced myself, worried it would sting again, but this time, it didn’t hurt at all.

He took me to a tent larger than the others. As soon as we went inside, he pushed me onto the bed. Then he hovered over me and said, “You piqued my interest. Will you teach me?”

“Sure. But I’m not into being on the receiving end.”

“Huh? What… Whoa!”

I took advantage of a momentary opening to pull him down and straddled him. At the same time, the tentacles emerged and bound his hands and feet.

He gave an awkward smile. “You like this kind of thing?”

“Quite a lot.”

I answered with a smile that had now become second nature and watched as the aphrodisiac secreted by the tentacles soaked him. Was his name Damian? He looked relatively young, but judging by his actions, he didn’t seem that immature.

“…Ugh.”

Contrary to his confident attitude, he reacted to the aphrodisiac quickly. Sitting atop Damian’s lower body, I could feel his member growing hard beneath my wet entrance. My lower belly began to stir again.

“Ah, wait. If you move like that… Ugh!”

“Didn’t you ask me to teach you? The adult game you play with your body.”

As I moved my hips in slow circles, stimulating him, Damian flinched and shouted. He clearly didn’t have much experience, just like me. Then what was with all that cocky behavior? Out of habit, I licked my lips and began kissing his gradually reddening chest, slowly caressing him.

“You don’t have much experience, do you?”

“…I told you, I’m a succubus.”

“Succubus or not, you’re kind of clumsy.”

Lying in bed, satisfied after our session…

“And yet you were the one moaning under the clumsy succubus.”

“Tentacles are cheating.”

“I can do it without them.”

“Then show me… Ah, wait. Not now, hey, wait!”

Not now? What nonsense. I climbed back on top of Damian, who still couldn’t fully support his body, aligned myself with him, and dropped my hips. He gasped.

“You said I was clumsy, mmm… and yet look how you react.”

“Ugh, ngh, I meant… this clumsiness, ah!”

I didn’t want to hear it. Every time Damian said something like that, I clenched my inner walls tightly and moved my hips. Realizing I was doing it on purpose, Damian shouted that I was clumsy just to provoke me, but in the end, I was the victor.

“Now you can’t even speak, right?”

“……”

Damian, his face bright red, glared at me with a look of injustice. If you’re going to stare like that, what will you do about it? I met his blurred eyes with a smile, and as he lay panting on the bed, he finally closed his eyes.

After several hours of intercourse, my whole body trembled, but I was starting to get used to joining our bodies like this.

***

And the next day, a man with beautiful hair came to see me. He introduced himself as Endymion, and unlike his hesitation the day before, he readily offered to give me his energy.

Looking at his gentle face, I asked honestly, “You didn’t seem too willing yesterday. Did you have a change of heart?”

“I heard the circumstances from Odile and Ares. Whether you’re a succubus or not, it doesn’t matter to me.”

His calm words suggested there was some backstory, but as long as I could absorb energy freely, I didn’t care. That night, I went straight to Endymion and thought that it might’ve been better if he had called me clumsy instead.

“Why are you so good at this?”

He said he was curious about being bound by tentacles and obediently offered his arms. Up to that point, it was the same as before when I pressed him down and climbed on top. But without pause, he kept hitting all the right spots and caressing me exactly where it felt good, making me climax multiple times.

Endymion, with a slightly shy smile, said, “Are you really a succubus?”

“……”

“Well, just as people differ, I guess demons do too.”

His smile looked like a drawing, but his words were quite barbed. After we finished, Endymion said he couldn’t sleep with someone beside him and kicked me out with that same gentle expression. Following Damian, now even Endymion had told me I didn’t seem like a succubus, and I felt a little dejected.

Avoiding the knights’ eyes, I returned to Odile’s tent. He was looking at documents and frowned when he saw me.

“Weren’t you supposed to be with Endymion today?”

“He kicked me out.”

I crossed the room and lay on the bed. Odile sighed tiredly. Everyone was so spiteful. I didn’t know I’d be this hurt by being called clumsy. They say you learn by doing, and I thought I’d get better if I just kept indulging from morning till night, but the commanders were all too busy. There were plenty of knights, though.

As I perked my ears to the sounds outside and shifted my gaze, Odile said firmly, “No.”

“No what?”

“You promised not to touch the knights. And now you’re acting like even having four men isn’t enough. Disgusting.”

His face was openly filled with contempt, and my chest stung. I hadn’t done anything yet, and he was already reacting like that.

Forcing a smile, I nodded. “You’re right. It’s really not enough. So you should take care of me more. You said you’d take responsibility.”

No matter how instinct-driven or impulsive I was, I hadn’t truly intended to lay hands on anyone else. But for him to say all that… As I boldly demanded, he stood silent for a long while, then closed his eyes and spoke as if warning me.

“You must keep your promise. And from now on, don’t show yourself to anyone. There’s a limit to how much you can alter memories.”

“That’s true. Is this a promise too?”

“It’s a promise, and a contract.”

What a righteous man. I approached him, still standing there with a grim expression, and kissed him.

***

It was about two years later that I finally broke free from the succubus instincts and regained my senses. As usual, after absorbing energy and falling asleep, I awoke as if from a long dream. Blinking in the space between reality and dream, memories of losing my reason and indulging in pleasure slowly resurfaced.

They were memories so dreadful I never wanted to recall them. But that wasn’t the point. What mattered was what I did after returning to myself as Lily. Instead of wallowing in self-loathing, the first thing I did was run to Evan to look for my parents.

That was the last time I saw them. Because the succubus instincts continued to emerge afterward. To avoid losing my reason again, I had to continue absorbing energy from men until I found the ring.

Odile promised he would definitely retrieve the ring. I had no confidence to find it alone or to stay sane by myself, so I had no choice but to believe him.