Getting spoiled in a woman dominating world

As the woman's face lingered just inches from his face, Brandon felt the ghost of her breath warm against his skin.

She tilted her head ever so slightly and just as she was about to kiss him again, her gaze sharpened.

Her hands loosened their grip on him, and for a heartbeat, Brandon thought she was simply teasing.

Then the air around him thickened and his muscles locked as his lungs refused to draw in the next breath.

Even the faint ether-laced breeze that had been tugging at his hair ceased.

Brandon's eyes darted, but he could do nothing else.

His thoughts scattered like leaves in a breeze, yet his body remained rooted in place, struck in time.

A soft, almost disappointed sigh slipped past the woman's lips "Did you finally find your way out of that little church of yours?"

Her attention drifted past him, and her gaze locked onto something in the distance.

Above the distorted rupture, a white butterfly fluttered lazily, its delicate wings leaving faint trails of light.

Brandon's frozen eyes followed it, but the woman's expression told him she was watching something far deeper than what he could perceive.

The butterfly began to dissipate into white snowflakes.

The flakes dissolved before touching the ground, and from the fading haze, a silhouette emerged.

Just a faint, translucent outline of a woman, as if sketched in light against the darkness.

Her presence felt distant and yet oppressively near, like a whisper in the mind that could not be ignored.

Brandon could tell that it was like an avatar and the woman is not really here

When she spoke, the sound carried no direction "What are you doing with him?"

The woman before Brandon chuckled and she finally stepped back, letting her fingers trail away from him.

"Don't worry… 'Goddess Rhéanne'… I am not doing anything to your Herald."

Brandon's mind, though trapped within an unmoving body, scrambled to piece together what he was witnessing.

'Goddess Rhéanne? My Goddess? She is real?'

And this other woman, who was she to speak so casually, even mockingly, to a divine being?

The woman with Brandon tilted her head, her dark hair brushing over her shoulder "You make it sound as though I'm here to… corrupt your precious little Herald."

"Are you not?" The phantom asked evenly.

The first woman gave a low, velvety laugh, "Please. If I wanted to take him, I wouldn't need to ask."

She turned slightly, her hand still brushing the side of Brandon's frozen face "I am not doing anything… harmful."

As she spoke, she let out her tongue and licked his cheek, tasting him.

The phantom woman muttered "You should not be here."

"Neither should you," the woman replied with an almost lazy smile. "And yet… here we are."

The phantom's glow flared faintly, and her voice dropped to a low, warning tone. "Leave. Now."

"Oh, I will," the woman said lightly, stepping back toward the edge of the rupture.

She glanced at Brandon and smiled faintly "See you later, beautiful. Also you will forget what happened just now."

With that, she gave Brandon one last look before stepping backward and fading into the darkness of the rupture.

The phantom of Rhéanne lingered, her gaze fixed on the place where the other woman stood, before finally turning her attention to Brandon.

A small motherly smile appeared on her lips before she disappeared from there.

"Be wary, my Herald. There are those who will seek you for their own ends."

Time snapped back into motion.

His knees nearly buckled from the sudden return of movement, and he gasped as if surfacing from deep water.

"Haa..."

A sharp pain jolted across his head and he blinked in confusion "What happened just now"

Clarisse looked around and saw the rupture slowly dissipating 'Hm, the rupture is disappearing.'

Brandon grabbed his head and groaned in slight pain as his heartbeat quickened "Ngh..."

Huh? Astrid who was standing near him was startled to see him wincing in pain "Brandon? What happened?"

She hurriedly grabbed him and she felt a rush of ether into his body "W-What is happening? Why is there so much ether in your body?"

He shook his head slightly and his whole body trembled from the sudden rush of ether into his body.

He usually gains ether from women through intimate physical touch.

And touching a 'being' such as 'her' has caused a rush of ether into his body.

The ether she carried wasn't just potent; it was overwhelmingly pure in a way that made his own channels scream to contain it.

Though, since the touch was brief, the rush of ether into his body is not fatal.

This is the reason Elize refuses to share her ether with him because she knows his body is not ready to take her ether.

He groaned and Astrid hurriedly grabbed his face and kissed him so she could analyze the ether.

Her eyelashes quivered in horror 'His body is experiencing a sudden surge of ether.. where did this ether come from?'

'His core is overloading and his body is refusing the excess ether instead of adapting...'

Clarisse also noticed his discomfort and hurriedly rushed to him "Brandon?"

Astrid pulled back slightly and looked at his whole body trembling from excessive ether and his body is slowly turning feverish.

Taking a deep breath, she hugged him "Stay with me, Brandon... nothing, nothing."

She kissed him again and hugged him tightly.

Clarisse stood beside him and she could tell there was something wrong with him, but she wasn't sure what it was.

The rupture faded and the students who were fighting the aberrants outside were surprised to see the rupture disappearing.

"Yayyy! It's cleared."

"Oh, it's gone."

"Finally."

As they were cheering, they were dumbfounded to see Brandon kissing Astrid and Clarisse was standing beside him.

"Wh-What happened inside there?"

"Eh?"

Yverine who was one of the students, blinked her eyes in surprise as she saw Brandon kissing Astrid.

She did see Astrid pulling Brandon into the rupture earlier.

It happened so fast that Yverine hadn't even had time to question it, and since Clarisse had gone in with him, she figured he'd be fine. But now… this?

"What the hell?"