MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin

"Prince Cinder?"

Adam had to summon every last bit of will from all three of his minds to not cringe at the sudden appellation. Thankfully, he was wearing his mask right now so it was possible for him to hide his reaction from her.

He immediately took a look at her stats and was quite surprised by what he saw.

『 Name: Kang Hae-Won

Affiliation: Blue Sharks

Alias: None

Race: Human

Age: 33

Emotions: Worried, Happy, Disappointed 』

'This is… How should I say this? Normal?'

Adam chuckled inwardly at the thought. He had become so used to seeing progressively crazier and crazier stats that he was surprised by finding one that was absolutely normal. Her physical stats were all F- and her Prana was at zero. She was just a normal human, nothing more nothing less.

He smiled at that realization and placed the wine he brought on the table before sitting next to her in such a natural manner that it seemed like his place had always been there, by her side.

"So, we meet again, madam."

Hae-Won blushed slightly at the subtle tone of his wonderful voice before shaking her head to gather herself, "I presume you start with this opener to everyone you meet."

Adam laughed and smiled mischievously under the veil of his mask, "Even though you were wearing a red fox mask the last time, I did say that you were a beautiful woman, right? Seems like I wasn't wrong."

"So you remember, huh…"

"I never forget the women who made an impression on me."

Hae-Won could only show a small laugh at the sweet compliments that she was being showered with but then, she remembered why she came here,

"I am sorry. While I would be delighted to talk with you more, I have a meeting with your boss. Will the Black Phoenix come?"

Adam nodded and filled the two glasses before sharing one with her.

"I understand that you want to discuss some things with Yui—"

'Yui?'

Hae-Won was startled. No matter what your culture was, using the name of your direct superior like this could only be a sign of extreme closeness.

'I heard the Black Phoenix had a brother [1].'

This was small news she had heard from some of the VIPs. But no one truly remembered what he looked like as he had only made one public appearance so far.

"—But she is currently busy taking care of the small problems remaining from the last… event. Anyways, for that reason, she chose me to take her place. I hope you aren't disappointed by my company?"

Any dissatisfaction she might have had immediately vanished as she heard the small disappointment in his voice.

"No! Ahem~ I mean. No, this is perfectly alright."

"I see. Because I am quite happy to do business with someone like you. It might sound quite forward, but I find intelligent and bold women like you quite attractive."

Adam changed his wording this time. He had realized that while she had liked being complimented about her beauty, the result had been quite subpar. But now, he could see that her happiness had jumped greatly when she was complimented about her intelligence and competence.

'So she is indeed starving for affection and recognition.'

"I wonder. How did a woman such as you enter the underworld?"

He gently pushed the glasses toward her and Hae-Won unconsciously took it in her hands before sipping her drink. She was already quite inebriated, but she felt like she could not refuse the glass that was offered to her and wanted to discuss more with him.

So she began her story— how she had been a high-level student in Korea and even graduated from Seoul University before starting to work for her current husband as an accountant.

She was young, she was naive, and she was utterly and completely in love. She believed that nothing could make her fall. That she had the entire world in the palm of her hands and that happiness would follow her forever. So she married barely a year after knowing him, believing that nothing could happen.

She had been terribly wrong.

Slowly, she started to realize that the business of her husband was too small to generate the kind of revenue they were living on.

Having a small company in Korea didn't allow one to travel regularly using a private jet and have houses in different parts of the world.

But… She had been willing to close one eye and act like she didn't have any doubts. She did not wish to distrust her husband. She believed that he was an honest and serious man.

Once again she had been wrong.

Things came to head when his business was struck down by the authorities and she finally discovered that he was a drug lord as well as the head of a fake cult [2] and that their entire wealth was based on taking advantage of the poor people who needed spiritual help.

They ended up having to flee to this place.

Back then she could have stayed in Korea. But she ended up believing her husband and followed him to the USA. She didn't really have a choice at that time. She was pregnant by then and she had no parents that could take care of her and her child.

She knew very well what her future would be if she stayed alone in Korea. So she fled with him. Hoping that, once they were there, the two of them would be able to start a new life without any crimes and have a happy family with their newborn child.

She had been wrong once again.

Some men may change after getting away from their life of crime once, but her husband was no such man. For him who had once tasted true power, becoming a normal man again and living in poverty was simply impossible.

"Well, this is all. Quite the boring story, right?"

Hae-won could only show him a depressed chuckle and used a napkin to stop the tears from falling down her cheeks and ruining her makeup. She finished her story because she did not wish to show an even more pathetic side of herself. Not to him…

"This is weird. I do not even understand why I am telling you all this. I must be quite the stupid woman in your eyes now, right?"

She was generally not the kind to share her inner worries with others. But with him, everything seemed so much easier. She felt like she was back in her teenage years.

"What I see isn't a stupid woman, you know…"

Adam took her napkin and started wiping her tears for her, "All I see is a beautiful woman with a heart of gold who sacrificed many things for her family and the love of her life."

He then placed a hand casually on her thighs and spoke in a low voice, "Listen to me. Do not let anyone put you down. Do not accept only what is given to you. If you believe you are worthy of more then fight for it. But, I am sure you already know about this, right? This is why you came to us."

Her eyes became a little dazed at his words. No one had ever given words of encouragement to her in her life.

When she was studying hard to enter Seoul University, she could only weep alone in silence and look at her friends in envy as they enjoyed their youth.

Her youth was wasted on studying and her later age was being wasted by sacrificing the years away for a man who was cheating on her.

She could feel Adam's hand slowly climbing up her thighs. She should have pushed it aside, said no, or asked him to not be rude.

But… It was alright, right?

'No. Calm down. Don't let your mind wander.'

She remembered why she came here and her eyes cleared up slightly, she was about to ask Adam to take his hand away but no sooner had she opened her mouth that his hand was already gone.

"Now then, enough talking about sad things, okay? The past is the past. We should focus on the present. But, tell me… Do you have any regrets from your life as a student?"

She felt much more at ease when she felt Adam's hands on hers. For an instant, she wondered if she had read too much into his moves and if she was simply making a mountain out of a molehill.

'I think. It would be alright to have a bit of fun with him, right?'

She laughed and said wistfully, "I wasn't really the most talkative when I was younger. So I was never invited to a party or even a pajama party. Though now, I can go to any party I want… I guess this is one of my small regrets."

The past indeed could never come back.

"Oh. This is quite interesting."

Adam nodded, "Then how about this? Before we start talking about business, let's play some of the small games teenagers like to play at those parties."

Her eyes shone a little at his sudden proposal. "What games?"

To her reaction, Adam only gave a cold smile behind his mask. He felt like a hunter who had finally found his prey and was about to shoot it down.

"How about… Shall we play truth or dare? It's a rather simple and innocent game."

Obviously… Truth or Dare was anything but an innocent game.

[1]: Everyone here is used to CN s and the like so we all know that when JP/KR/CN use the word 'Brother' it isn't always blood-related or adopted. In this case, it's more of a sworn brother thing. Though Adam and Yui have yet to do the official ceremony to be recognized as sworn brothers. That ceremony changes the function of the story.

[2]: South Korea is one of the places with the highest amount of cult. From what I gathered, it's estimated they have at least 300 different cults. Those cults manipulate the believers be it by taking their money or simply using their bodies for sexual purposes. There are also cases of human trafficking through those cults. Just to be clear, South Korea is a beautiful country and it isn't like all cults are evil. No matter what country, there are always people willing to abuse and take advantage of the misery of others.

(AN: Haha currently just being able to see and read emotions gave Adam so much advantage. When he officially learns Telepathy there will be no woman who can resist him. My boy is learning how to become a master manipulator. I hope you liked the chapter. Just a warning but while Adam might induce and manipulate women in the future, by reading their thoughts and anticipating their actions, he will never use power like hypnosis to force a woman even if he gets such skills. Though he won't hesitate to use it for killing. I know, quite hypocritical but… heh.)