The Yellow-Haired Villain in Soaring Phoenix's Novels Also Desires Happiness

“Evil God followers... blood sacrifice... the Empire’s east...”

The liaison from the Silent Bureau kept his head lowered, not daring to speak carelessly from the very beginning.

Anna, meanwhile, still maintained her lazy posture against the wall, yet within those half-narrowed eyes, countless terrifying shadows seemed to surge soundlessly.

“It sounds normal enough, but why do I feel like... something’s strange?”

“The information truly came from the Kasti branch. We’ve already confirmed that repeatedly through the internal emergency procedures.”

The man finally gathered the courage to speak. After all, this matter was his responsibility, so he naturally had to provide a precise explanation.

“The crisis in Kasti is also real. The branch has already submitted a large amount of evidence, and some people have already died in clashes with those cultists.”

“Followers of which one?”

“It’s...”

The man did not answer directly. The caution born from dealing with those bizarre entities for so long made it so that, under any circumstances, he would never speak aloud anything that might become a “medium” to attract attention.

He quickly pulled out a memo slip from his chest and hastily sketched several scattered points upon it.

“The stars again?”

Looking at the crude yet unmistakably suggestive drawing, Anna’s brows furrowed slightly.

Not long ago... or rather, just yesterday, Muen and the others had all received the Lord of the Stars’ “special attention.” So it was only natural for the Lord of the Stars to set its sights on her again. No wonder she had suddenly felt something inexplicably strange.

Was this another conspiracy orchestrated by the Lord of the Stars?

Unable to target Muen directly, so it turned its attention toward the people around him?

What a pathetic Evil God—

No. That timing doesn’t line up!

Anna suddenly realized the inconsistency.

Unlike the direct subordinate personally sent by the Lord of the Stars yesterday, the cultists causing trouble in Kasti, an eastern Imperial city, definitely could not have organized this overnight. They had likely been lurking there for a long time, waiting until the current chaos gave them the opportunity to begin their wicked plan.

Meanwhile, Muen only offended the Lord of the Stars recently. At the very least, it was definitely much later than when those cultists had begun their preparations.

So this was not some conspiracy targeting anyone in particular. It was simply another routine incident of those lunatics taking advantage of chaos to stir up trouble.

The only issue was that it happened to interrupt her fun.

But then again...

Was this really just a coincidence?

It was only a coincidence from her perspective. Yet from the perspective of whatever those cultists were planning, wasn’t this all happening slightly too late?

After all, the war between the Empire and the Kingdom had already completely ended.

After thinking for a long while without results, Anna’s brows knit even tighter.

These matters did not appear especially complicated. Cultists were causing trouble inside an Imperial city. As a Swordbearer of the Silent Bureau, she obviously could not ignore it. With the current situation already so critical, she would definitely have to personally investigate.

No matter what, she could never gamble on that tiny sense of “abnormality.”

“Does Lady Anna have other matters to attend to?”

Seeing Anna sink into thought and seemingly hesitate somewhat, the man hurriedly added:

“If you truly cannot free yourself at the moment, then naturally your side takes priority. As for Kasti, I can have them hold on a little longer—”

“No.”

Anna interrupted him.

“Although it is true that something important of mine was interrupted, which makes me somewhat irritated.”

Within the darkness behind her, strange objects drifted alongside the flowing shadows. Things like rich-lady pleasure flowers, rich-lady pleasure whips, rich-lady pleasure candles...

The man did not dare raise his head to look.

Because he had the distinct feeling that if he looked even once, he would immediately be silenced forever.

“But no matter how irritated I am, proper work still has to be done.”

Anna’s tone became serious.

“Notify the Kasti branch to hold on a little longer. I’ll arrive immediately.”

“At the same time, contact Jinze at headquarters and have him monitor Belrand’s movements at all times. If anything major happens there, notify me immediately.”

“Belrand?”

The man looked confused.

What did the Kasti crisis have to do with Belrand...?

“Just do it.”

“Yes! Understood.”

The man no longer dared ask questions. He immediately nodded and quickly turned to leave.

The alley soon fell silent again.

The remote street did not even have passing pedestrians.

Yet Anna still did not move. Tilting her head slightly, she gazed toward the massage parlor not far away.

Her beautiful eyes rippled faintly before she let out a soft sigh.

“What a pity, my dear junior. Looks like you’ve escaped disaster this time.”

The rich-lady pleasure flowers, rich-lady pleasure whips, and rich-lady pleasure candles rolled through the shadows before finally vanishing without a trace.

One day in the future, they would emerge once more and fulfill the purpose they were meant for—

Bringing a certain blond menace pleasure profound enough to touch the soul.

But not today.

The “massage” Anna had anticipated for so long could only end in failure halfway through.

“I’ll make up for everything next time. But...”

Anna looked into the distance.

Not toward the Empire’s east, but toward Belrand.

“I only hope this incident won’t turn out as wrong as my instincts suggest, and that it truly is nothing more than ordinary cultist activity...”

...

...

The setting sun dipped westward.

After several agonizing hours of “gazing tearfully through the curtain” and “clasping hands while looking at each other with watery eyes,” Muen and Ariel finally escaped the massage parlor.

Standing beneath the warm orange sunlight, both of them felt reborn.

For Muen, the stimulating situation he had imagined never occurred. In its place came an entirely different kind of “stimulation”—

Purely physical stimulation.

Little Wildcat and Little Bunny truly deserved their reputations as former top massage therapists of the Kingdom Massage Association. Forget everything else—the sheer force behind their techniques reached straight into flesh and bone.

If those two ever performed a chest-smashing-stone act, one hammer strike would probably leave the stone perfectly intact while the person underneath exploded into broken flesh and shattered bones, coughing blood to death on the spot.

Those terrifying muscles rivaling some monstrous steel-bodied bodybuilder clearly had not been built for decoration.

Considering their personal cultivation levels were only around fourth-rank, and neither Muen nor Ariel had activated battle aura during the session, the fact that they could still massage bodies as strong as theirs to that degree was already absurd enough.

With abilities like that, they could have done anything they wanted.

Yet they chose massage.

That unlucky count back then probably never imagined the person massaging him really was an expert—

Not only in massage, but in combat too.

“But honestly, the massage really did work.”

As the soreness hidden deep within his muscles gradually faded, Muen slowly stretched his joints. Crackling sounds echoed one after another, and he could clearly feel the exhaustion within his body greatly reduced.

Ariel’s results were even more obvious.

She had fought inside the ruins for several months, and her body had accumulated hidden injuries long ago. Those injuries should have required slow recovery over time, yet after Little Bunny’s brutal “massage,” she was shocked to discover many of them had noticeably improved.

“The results are good, but I really wish they’d go easier during the massage.”

Ariel bared her teeth while stretching her limbs.

Even she had nearly failed to endure it, which said enough about how “refreshing” the experience had been.

“But in the end, we survived it, didn’t we?”

“Yeah. Being alive for another day feels great.”

Whether it was the physical “massage” or the spiritual “massage” that thankfully never happened, everything had completely become a thing of the past the moment the two of them walked out of the shop.

To Muen, that was undoubtedly the best possible news.

That humiliation—

The humiliation of somehow feeling like the violated one despite supposedly being the blond villain—

Was finally over.

And he no longer had to live in terror of Ariel discovering something and chopping his head off.

The crisis had passed.

What awaited him now...

Was naturally a beautiful future!

Refreshing!

“So what do you want to do next?” Muen hurriedly asked Ariel about her plans. Regardless of why Senior never appeared, it was better to leave this kind of place as quickly as possible.

“Next?”

Ariel thought for a moment.

“Feels like there’s nothing else I really want to do. What about you?”

“Me? Same here. This is Saint Blancfazesiya, after all. I’m still not very familiar with it.”

“Really? If that’s the case...”

Ariel raised her head.

The sunset burning the clouds crimson dyed half the sky red. Yet this was not ultimate splendor—

It was merely the final brilliance before darkness.

The sun had almost completely sunk beneath the horizon. The scarlet glow still struggled stubbornly in its final resistance, while on the opposite side of the sky, endless darkness surged forward overwhelmingly.

Night was coming.

“Let’s go back,” Ariel said softly while admiring the fading remnants of sunset.

“Hm? We’re heading back already?”

Muen sounded puzzled.

Although night was approaching, it was not particularly late yet. And for a date, wasn’t nighttime often the true highlight...?

“There’s no reason to keep wandering around outside after dark. Didn’t this city only recently lift its curfew? There probably won’t be anything fun at night anyway.”

Crossing her arms, Ariel analyzed the situation with remarkable seriousness and calmness.

“And didn’t you say the Church is still hunting down remnants of the Salvation Society? If we run into something like what happened to you yesterday, wouldn’t the date get interrupted again? I don’t want that.”

“That’s... true.”

Muen nodded, forced to admit Ariel made perfect sense.

There really was no reason to stay outside any longer.

Looks like I didn’t think this through properly.

How embarrassing.

I’ve been so fixated on Senior’s side of things that I couldn’t even properly focus on the date itself.

...Wait.

Isn’t this technically another form of cuckolding?

“Right?”

Naturally, Ariel had no idea what bizarre married-woman-corruption scenarios Muen was imagining inside his head. She simply lifted her chin proudly.

The current her was no longer the helpless fledgling from before who could only be led around by Muen every step of the way.

Whether in theory or experience, she could already be considered a true master!

...That said, as the daylight gradually dimmed, a faint blush quietly appeared on Ariel’s cheeks where others could hardly notice it.

Though she had plenty of reasonable explanations, the greatest reason in her heart was actually...

The earlier they returned, the longer the night would be.

She was not the sort of bad child who wandered around outside after dark!

Good children should return home on time—

And go to bed on time.

“C’mon, let’s go home!”

Ariel waved grandly and skipped forward excitedly—

“Hey, wrong direction. That way leads to a love hotel,” Muen hurriedly reminded her.

“Oh...”

Ariel froze awkwardly.

“...Went the wrong way...”

...

...

“An?”

The two returned to Muen’s temporary residence, yet before they even entered, they discovered a familiar figure standing silently outside the door.

Muen’s expression instantly became strange and nervous.

“Why are you here?”

This little seductress couldn’t possibly have come back for round two because she wasn’t satisfied earlier... right?

But even if she wanted that, she couldn’t just show up this openly.

Ariel was standing right beside him!

SHING—

Look, look!

Ariel was already on the verge of exploding. If An did not leave soon, the sword was coming out!

“I have something I wish to discuss with Young Master.”

An calmly stared at the gradually gathering flames around Ariel without the slightest fear.

“Borrowing Young Master for a few minutes should be acceptable, correct?”

“...Hmph. Do you really think I’m so petty that I’d cling to this guy every second?”

With a click, Ariel sheathed her sword again.

“I doubt you’d dare try anything anyway.”

“Perhaps I would.”

An smiled faintly.

“Heh. Defeated opponent.”

Ariel ignored the provocation completely. Like a victorious rooster, she raised her head proudly and strode through the gate, leaving only Muen and An alone together.

This...

Was the composure of a victor!

“Looks like she really enjoyed today’s date.”

An’s gaze followed Ariel’s disappearing figure before a trace of mockery appeared on her elegant face.

What a pity.

That idiot insect was far too stupid. She had completely failed to realize that during the date, Young Master had already gradually become shaped into “their” form.

Yet she was still proudly celebrating victory.

“An, what is it?”

Noticing An’s expression, Muen hurriedly took a cautious step backward, afraid she might suddenly pounce on him directly.

If An forcibly threw herself at him right here on the street outside the house, there would be no explaining things afterward.

“I came to say goodbye to Young Master temporarily.”

“Oh, so it’s goodbye. I thought this little glutton wanted another rou—wait, goodbye?”

Muen froze.

“Where are you going now?”

“To Madam’s side.”

An pulled out two letters, one of which had already been opened.

“The former head maid sent word that Madam is preparing the young miss’s hundred-day celebration banquet. They are short on manpower there and requested my assistance. Since Madam personally asked me, I cannot refuse. Therefore, I must temporarily leave Young Master’s side.”