Not A Regressor - Chapter 188

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 188
A Holiday in Rome (4)
Kwon O-jin’s expression hardened as he accepted the oil bottle from Isabella.
‘No.’
Isabella lay sprawled across the sun lounger with her bikini strings undone, her posture dripping with provocation.
Skin as pristine as a snowy field. A smooth waistline that descended from her back down to her hips.
Her compressed breasts spilled out at the sides, their commanding presence unmistakable even in her prone position.
“Apply the oil… for me?”
Me?
Directly?
“Hehe. Yes.”
“….”
My thoughts came to a grinding halt.
A dry swallow passed through my parched throat.
I was supposed to massage that breathtakingly alluring back with oil-slicked hands, working it in methodically across every inch.
‘This isn’t some outdated romantic comedy manga.’
Whenever such scenes unfolded in those stories, I’d watched the protagonists blush and fumble through embarrassing antics, stifling my laughter.
Now I was beginning to understand their predicament.
Touching the back of a woman as impossibly captivating as Isabella with bare hands was itself an excruciating test of restraint.
‘Sister.’
I glanced over at Ha-eun, who remained blissfully unaware of what was happening here, laughing and playing cheerfully with Riak and Vega.
For her sake alone, I shouldn’t accept this proposal.
‘But if I refuse and Isabella suddenly snaps…’
Isabella’s psychological state was too erratic for even me to predict.
Right now she seemed as docile as a lamb, radiating kindness.
But her true identity was the Leech Queen, the third-ranked Executive of the Black Star Society.
Considering that every Black Star Society executive I’d encountered so far had been missing a screw or two, it was foolish to assume she alone was mentally sound.
There was always the danger she could go berserk at any unexpected moment.
And if Isabella did lose control in this situation, the only way to stop her would be for Vega to manifest directly.
‘Damn it.’
I swallowed hard, my conflicted gaze fixed on that pristine back.
“Kwon O-jin?”
“Ah, yes. Understood.”
“Hehe. Please apply it thoroughly to every corner, won’t you?”
Isabella smiled wickedly and kicked her pale legs playfully while remaining prone on the lounger.
With each movement of her swaying legs, her voluptuous backside rippled visibly.
‘I’m losing it.’
I squeezed my eyes shut and poured a generous amount of oil into my palms.
Splash.
My oil-slicked hands left their mark across the snowy expanse.
“Haah.”
A strange moan echoed across the pristine snowy field like a distant call.
I bit my lip and mechanically spread oil across Isabella’s back.
The soft sensation transmitted through my palms.
Before that addictive touch consumed my reason entirely, I had to finish.
“Kwon O-jin… could you go a bit slower?”
Isabella turned her head slightly and asked me to slow down, but if I reduced my pace in this state, I feared my sanity would truly scatter to the winds.
I drew upon my mana and quickened my speed instead.
“Haah…! O-Kwon O-jin!”
“All done.”
The time it took to finish spreading oil across Isabella’s back was merely ten seconds.
Before my rational mind could be completely buried in the snowy field, I swiftly completed the task.
“Mmm… already?”
Isabella wiggled her toes with an expression of lingering disappointment.
“Then…”
Her eyes sparkled as she gazed at me without hiding her regret.
Isabella retied her bikini straps and rolled onto her back, extending her slender legs toward me in an inviting stretch.
“Could you… apply it to my legs as well?”
A temptation as sweet as honey dripping.
Few men would argue that she could apply sunscreen to her own legs.
“…Your legs too?”
This must be what it felt like when you’d barely defeated a boss, only for it to suddenly revive at full power and enter phase two.
I opened my mouth with a dazed expression.
Isabella’s eyes gleamed like a predator spotting prey, and the corners of her mouth lifted.
“Yes. I’d appreciate if you could…”
Just as she was about to extend her slender legs as if showing them off.
“Ugh…!”
Isabella suddenly clutched her chest and winced.
Her face drained of color as she breathed heavily, her shoulders trembling.
“Isabella?”
“Ah… I’m sorry.”
Isabella forced an awkward smile and sat up from the sunbed.
“It seems my condition isn’t quite right.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. It’s just a light dizzy spell. I’m fine now.”
She smiled brightly and bounced up as if to prove she was better.
“Still, just to be safe, I’ll go rest in the van first. Why don’t you soak in the seawater a bit longer?”
“…But.”
“You said the internal injuries won’t heal without soaking in the seawater here at the Sacred Oil Site, so make sure you immerse yourself thoroughly.”
“Mm. Understood.”
“Then I’ll head inside first.”
Isabella turned with somewhat anxious steps and walked toward the van parked in the distance.
Standing there for a moment, watching her receding figure, I narrowed my eyes.
‘Something feels off.’
The Black Star Society’s third-ranked executive, and one with abilities related to ‘blood’ at that, experiencing anemia?
No matter how I thought about it, nothing added up.
As I watched Isabella’s figure disappear into the distance, I took a decisive step toward where she had vanished.
‘Shadow Veil.’
Dark clouds of shadow erased my presence.
* * *
“Haa, haa!”
Passing the van parked on the road, Isabella entered a narrow, dark alley and clutched her chest while breathing heavily.
“Ah, ugh.”
Crying out in pain, she doubled over like a bow.
“…Are you alright, Your Majesty?”
An elderly man in a neat butler’s uniform appeared from the far end of the alley.
Roberto.
The second-in-command of the Leech Faction and Isabella’s most loyal subordinate.
“Haa, haa. I’m fine.”
“Here is blood.”
Roberto handed her a blood pack he had prepared in advance.
Isabella tore open the blood pack and gulped down the blood inside.
“Phew.”
Isabella exhaled short breaths as her condition seemed to stabilize somewhat.
However, her condition wasn’t completely recovered—cold sweat had beaded on her forehead, and her hair clung to her skin in matted strands.
“…Being near the Sacred Oil Site seems to have amplified the curse’s influence.”
“I know.”
Isabella bit her lip firmly and placed her hand over her left chest.
Whoosh.
As the cross-shaped pendant around her neck emitted light, the Gemini stigma inscribed on her left chest vanished, and the Leech stigma appeared in its place.
The revealed Leech stigma was blurred in places as if rubbed away by an eraser.
“….”
The ‘Curse of Zamiwon’ that had struck her before.
The curse, which I thought had disappeared, had secretly clung to my stigma and was growing like a parasite within my body.
“Your Majesty.”
Roberto approached her with a worried expression.
He continued speaking while looking at the now-empty blood pack.
“Indeed, we need blood with higher purity of magical power. If you would permit the hunting of Awakeners, I could personally….”
“I clearly told you that wasn’t allowed.”
Isabella regarded him with cold, lifeless eyes.
“Didn’t I tell you? Use only blood obtained through donation, not through hunting.”
“B-but…”
“Get a grip, Roberto.”
Isabella’s expression turned fierce.
“If you start obtaining blood through hunting, the vampiric urges of the Leech Faction will spiral out of control.”
Once that happened, they would cease to be human and become nothing more than monsters.
“Blood must come only from donations. Why do you think I’m taking care of those gypsies in the first place?”
The blood she had consumed came from the voluntary donations of gypsies whom the Colgrand Family provided food and shelter.
Of course, their reason for donating was ostensibly to help unfortunate gypsies who lacked proper medical care.
But Isabella was diverting a portion of it to satisfy the vampiric desires of the Leech Faction’s awakeners.
She was using the gypsies as a kind of ‘breeding farm’ for blood supply.
That was the true purpose behind her moving the Colgrand Family to operate dozens of charitable organizations.
“But at this rate…!”
Roberto gazed at Isabella with worry etched across his face.
It was possible to suppress the vampiric urges with blood obtained through donation, but to cure the ‘Curse of Zamiwon’ that was slowly consuming her, she needed the blood of an awakener with high-purity magical power.
Specifically, the blood of an awakener at least at the high-tier level.
But there was no way to obtain such blood through ‘donation’ rather than ‘hunting’.
“It’s fine, Roberto. Who do you think I am?”
Isabella swept back the platinum blonde hair clinging to her forehead and let out a soft laugh.
At the sight of her brimming with confidence, Roberto’s expression eased somewhat.
“You are our queen—more beautiful and wise than anyone else.”
“Hehe. That’s all I needed to hear.”
Her condition having improved considerably, Isabella folded her arms leisurely with a deep smile playing at her lips.
“But did you see? Kwon O-jin has completely fallen for my seduction!”
Isabella recalled the image of Kwon O-jin’s flushed face and flustered demeanor before she applied the oil.
She continued with a smug expression, raising her chin proudly.
“All of this was made possible by my meticulous calculations and preparations!”
This entire vacation plan was being executed based on thorough calculations.
Isabella laid out her strategy with an excited, boastful tone.
“First, I imprinted my abilities onto Kwon O-jin!”
A magnificent grand mansion built atop a cliff.
Dozens of servants and lavish meals.
For Kwon O-jin, who had grown up in the Orphanage and spent a deprived childhood, this world of true ‘wealth’ must have felt like stepping into an entirely different realm.
And the master of that world was none other than Isabella herself.
It wasn’t difficult to imagine how ‘special’ she must have appeared in his eyes.
“And I made him aware of the gap between me and Ha-eun.”
First, the physical difference revealed through swimwear.
And the moment we arrived at the beach, I made him acutely aware of how vast the difference in recognition was between Ha-eun and myself through the swarms of men flocking to me.
Beauty, wealth, power.
I had proven that I was incomparable to Ha-eun in every single way!
“And finally, reducing the psychological distance through physical contact!”
Even she had to admit it was a plan bordering on “perfect”!
“What do you think? You agree this is a perfect plan, don’t you, Roberto?”
“….”
Roberto offered an awkward smile as he regarded Isabella, who was practically vibrating with excitement.
The elderly butler scratched his wrinkled cheek and opened his mouth.
“Miss… why don’t you simply confess to him directly?”
“What, what did you say?”
Isabella’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit’s, her expression screaming that he’d lost his mind.
Confess directly to Kwon O-jin?
“B-but what if he rejects me?!”
Isabella’s cheeks flushed crimson as she roughly kicked Roberto’s shin.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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