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

“Hm? Why does the sun today... look kind of green?”

The afternoon sunlight remained bright and beautiful.

Muen walked out of the restaurant with Ariel, but for some reason, even though he had just eaten a full meal and should logically have recovered some energy...

His footsteps were actually unsteady instead.

Not only that, when he raised his head toward the slightly westward sun, the harsh sunlight forced him to shield his eyes instinctively with his hand.

And through the gaps between his fingers, the edge of the blazing sun somehow looked faintly green.

“Green? Where’s the green?”

Ariel noticed absolutely no greenness whatsoever.

The sun was hanging perfectly normally in the sky, glowing red-orange, warm and gentle.

What green?

This guy could not possibly have stared at her feet so much that he started hallucinating, right?!

Ariel’s gaze drifted toward her little leather boots again...

Hmph. Served him right.

She had eaten so many desserts earlier, then stuffed herself with even more main dishes afterward. If this guy had spent all that time secretly staring at her feet...

Then staring until his eyes turned green really was possible.

“Pervert. There’ll obviously be plenty of chances later, so why go this hard all at once?”

Ariel muttered another dissatisfied huff.

Yet her cheeks were bright red, just like the sun overhead.

“Heh... I wanted to take it easy too...”

Muen let out a bitter laugh and sighed mournfully.

Although the reason for his sigh clearly existed on an entirely different wavelength from Ariel’s assumptions.

Ariel had never experienced it herself...

How could she possibly understand his suffering?

Of course he wanted to take it easy.

The problem was that the initiative had not been in his hands at all.

If it were a simple one-on-one battle, Muen believed he would lose to no one. Like with An before—despite launching a shameless sneak attack against an old veteran like him, she still ended up utterly defeated, reduced to tearful pleading in the end.

But what happened just now had been completely different.

That had been an utterly unequal battle.

The corrupted evil Saintess had seized his vital weak point using overwhelming power and freely done whatever she pleased to him...

Meanwhile, he himself possessed absolutely no means of resistance.

Separated by such a huge spatial distance, he could not even launch an effective counterattack. All he could do was helplessly allow his poor little subordinate to suffer endless torment and bullying at the hands of a wicked woman.

Ariel enjoyed delicious food for however long she wanted.

And for exactly that long, he was tormented and abused.

The countless hardships involved went without saying.

The overwhelming sense of forbidden immorality from “committing adultery right in front of his wife,” combined with the absolute necessity of not getting caught, had already tortured him thoroughly enough.

Muen finally understood a little better why all those girls in his previous world’s trashy novels who got stolen away by blond bastards fell so easily...

The stimulation under those circumstances truly far exceeded normal limits.

...But he was supposed to be the blond bastard himself, damn it!

Why did this make him feel like he was actually the pitiful girl getting bullied and ravaged in all kinds of weird special-play scenarios instead?!

Damn it!

What was wrong with blond bastards?

When would blond bastards finally rise up?

The injustice made him tremble with rage.

Could this world maybe show a little kindness toward blond bastards for once?

At this rate, forget seeing the sun as green. If he could still walk normally afterward without weak knees, that alone would prove how impressively durable he was!

“Mhm, I’m full now. So where are we going next?”

Ariel looked energetic and refreshed, standing in sharp contrast to the grief-stricken and exhausted Muen beside her.

“You choose this time. I’m a little tired...”

Muen rubbed his temples and forcibly tried to wake himself up.

Who would have thought that he could endure all the conspiracies and schemes of the Salvation Society just fine, only to nearly collapse under the combined attacks of a few shameless little temptresses?

“Tired?”

Ariel tilted her head in confusion.

Can staring at feet really make someone tired?

Wait...

Could it be that while staring at her feet, he had also been fantasizing about weird things?!

No wonder the table had been shaking back then.

This guy...

He got excited because of her?

Hmph. Filthy.

“Alright then. Let’s go do something relaxing.”

Despite inwardly criticizing him, Ariel visibly lifted her chin proudly.

She felt like she was gradually grasping the weakness of this blond pig and steadily taking control.

The next time they engaged in intense “combat,” she definitely would not lose as miserably as last time—

No, the next winner would absolutely be her!

“Relaxing?” Muen rubbed his forehead. “Like what?”

“That waiter gave me another flyer earlier. Look.”

“Another flyer?”

Why did this feel so familiar?

Muen’s mouth twitched.

The overwhelming sense of déjà vu, the absurdly seamless transition...

He could not help suspecting someone again.

Senior?

At this point, she was basically the only one left.

“Magic potions? Massage? Couple package?”

Muen glanced at the flyer and instantly froze.

“‘Remove the fatigue of a full day’s date for you and your beloved. The perfect ending as the sunset falls, and the most wonderful beginning after night descends.’”

Damn it.

Was this not way too obvious?!

This was not suspicion anymore.

This was absolutely Anna’s trap!

Magic potions and massage?

How the hell were those two things even supposed to combine together?

And what was with that damned couples package?

Could people in this world actually bring girls along when getting massages?!

Wouldn’t someone’s skull get smashed open on the spot?!

“So? Wanna go?”

Ariel asked seriously.

“I think massages sound interesting. I worked hard in those ruins for months, so I kind of want to relax.”

Clearly, with her terrifying lack of knowledge in this area, “massage” in Ariel’s mind simply meant ordinary massage.

A normal way to relax sore muscles.

Aside from occasionally having Liya knead her shoulders, she had never experienced professional massage before, but surely a business openly handing out flyers on the street could not possibly involve anything suspicious.

But...

Ariel might be innocent and clueless.

Muen, however, understood perfectly well.

Anna’s magic-potion massage...

Compared to certain adults-only establishments from his previous life, who knew how dangerous it would be?

Especially for him.

After all, if even An and Liya had played this wildly already, how could Senior—who always had the most tricks and the most outrageous ideas—possibly stay uninvolved?

As the final grand finale, she had definitely already prepared all kinds of evil schemes, simply waiting for this poor little blond bastard to fall willingly into her clutches and get thoroughly toyed with!

Damn it.

Using something as simple as a flyer to lure him in again—and even repeating a trick already used before.

Was Senior really that confident he would fall for it?

In that case, even knowing perfectly well this was Senior’s conspiracy, his answer naturally was—

“We’re going.”

Muen gritted his teeth.

“Why wouldn’t we?”

That’s right.

He really was this easy to trap!

This was not because Liya’s edging torture earlier had awakened some hidden masochistic tendencies in him.

Rather...

He had achieved enlightenment.

Whether it was with An before or Liya just now, he had already been extremely vigilant each time.

And he still got caught anyway.

...So against someone even craftier than them like Senior, did he honestly have any chance of escaping disaster?

No.

Absolutely none.

And if the outcome was already predetermined, then was continuing to resist really a good choice?

No.

Absolutely not.

Simply walking willingly into the carefully prepared trap was one thing.

But if he stubbornly kept trying to avoid it, Senior might escalate things even further and use even more extreme methods!

At that point, he would definitely get toyed with even harder.

Therefore, after considering everything thoroughly—

Rather than struggling desperately before being toyed with against his will...

It was better to simplify the process and voluntarily let himself be toyed with.

At least...

Without the struggle in between, it would probably hurt less.

Right?

“What’s with that expression?”

Ariel blinked at Muen’s face, which looked practically ready to march toward execution.

“I thought you’d refuse again like last time.”

“Under normal circumstances, of course I wouldn’t go. Suspicious flyers obviously shouldn’t be trusted.”

Muen smiled calmly.

Oddly enough, after making the decision, his entire body actually felt lighter.

“But there’s nothing suspicious about this flyer, right? It looks perfectly normal.”

“Normal? I guess that’s true.”

Ariel flipped the flyer over several times.

This one really did seem different from the previous one.

No exaggerated slogans.

No suspicious grand-opening discounts.

It genuinely looked like an ordinary flyer.

And honestly, she still did not understand why Muen refused the previous flyer in the first place.

Even if someone really had been scheming behind the scenes, with the current strength she and Muen possessed, what was there to fear in Saint Blancfazesiya anymore?

Even if it truly were some kind of trap, Ariel still felt completely confident she could handle it.

Especially with this guy beside her.

Though she hated admitting it, this guy had always been incredibly reliable.

He would protect her.

Definitely.

“Great. Then let’s go.”

Having reached her conclusion, Ariel instantly made up her mind.

If they were not afraid of suspicious flyers, then why fear this perfectly normal one?

As long as it had nothing to do with those shameless vixens, she had absolutely no reason to retreat!

Once the decision was made, they immediately set off.

And thus, after traveling through the western district, the two of them finally arrived at the location written on the flyer...

...

“There’s definitely something wrong with this place!”

Still somewhere in the western district.

Although they had left the slums behind, the massage shop still stood on an extremely secluded street. Muen and Ariel had spent quite a while searching before finally locating the inconspicuous storefront.

The shop had almost no customers.

The receptionist behind the counter looked half-asleep.

And after being led by the rather unattractive plump woman at the front desk into the so-called “couples massage room,” Muen immediately shivered.

His ominous premonition skyrocketed to its peak.

Just look at this room...

Two massage beds separated by a thin gauze curtain.

Soft pink lighting overhead.

And from the phonograph-like magical device in the corner flowed vulgar music that seemed specifically designed to awaken primal desire.

At first glance, everything appeared perfectly normal for a massage room.

But the key issue lay in those two massage beds and the curtain separating them.

The arrangement allowed both people to avoid seeing each other’s bodies.

They also could not see how the other person was being massaged.

Yet their heads remained exposed, allowing them to maintain eye contact.

According to the shop’s explanation, this arrangement allowed couples to deepen emotional intimacy and share joy while simultaneously relaxing together, thereby maximizing the massage’s effectiveness.

But Muen’s mind had already begun imagining entirely different scenarios...

For example—

Ariel relaxing comfortably over there while receiving a massage.

Meanwhile, he stayed here receiving Senior’s own “massage.”

The gauze curtain separated the two of them, meaning Ariel would have no idea the person massaging him was Anna.

Nor would she have any idea what kind of “special massage” he was actually enduring.

At the moment of greatest pleasure, Ariel might even unconsciously reach her hand through the curtain, hold his hand, and gaze lovingly into his eyes.

She would simply believe that within this tiny massage room, her beloved was relaxing together with her, enjoying wonderful relief from all the day’s fatigue.

Completely unaware that although Muen was indeed gazing back at her lovingly...

His soul had long since already been dragged away by a certain little devil—

Damn it.

There was cuckolding involved again!