— — — — — —
"Too much. Way too much."
On the third day inside the manor, Veyron couldn't help but sigh from the heart.
In this country where the entire population worshipped the Lord of Ecstasy, the Teresa family had enough influence to stand alongside the royal family and the church, dividing up the spoils of a newly conquered world.
As for Lady Teresa herself—the mother of the three sisters—her reputation spoke for itself.
If the "Pure Ones" back in the Treeborn World had a corruption scale of 100 to 999, where a single nudge would push them over the edge into madness after seven years under Lust's rule, then Lady Teresa… by Veyron's estimate, she started at 10,000 and climbed from there.
That was the essence of the Lord of Ecstasy's authority. It wasn't just about sex—it was about absolute indulgence, pure enjoyment taken to the extreme. It just so happened that for ordinary mortals, sex was the simplest, most direct, and most effective form of ecstasy. Hence the entire aesthetic of this faith.
But what struck Veyron most was this: in Teresa's manor, ecstasy was harvested through many means other than sex.
As head of the household, Lady Teresa's chosen path was domination.
Her will was absolute within the manor. Even her daughters bowed to her rules—chief among them the decree that "not a single thread of clothing shall be worn within these walls." They had no choice but to obey.
So they were all naked here.
Thankfully for everyone involved, there wasn't a single man in the manor… aside from Veyron, the uninvited guest.
Otherwise, with Teresa's knack for handpicking even the lowliest maid to be a 96-out-of-100 stunner, Veyron honestly didn't want to imagine how depraved this place would get.
And outside the manor? He'd kept an eye on that too over the last three days.
First of all, men weren't allowed through the gates.
Unless you could smack the Lord of Ecstasy in the face before trying to negotiate—like Veyron could have, but didn't because he wanted to trap him— then forget entering the Teresa manor.
After all, the closer you got to the manor, the harsher the god's backlash. Being one of his followers didn't help; it usually made things worse.
And if you thought you could just stand outside and sneak a peek… good luck. The manor's barrier was directly linked to the holy sigil on the church spire across the street, and that sigil was tied straight to the god itself. Unless you had no fear of the Lord of Ecstasy at all, one glance would shut you right up.
Lady Teresa was extreme, but her daughters weren't much better.
The eldest—Clara, the mature woman Veyron had nabbed back in the Kuroinu World—walked a path that built on her mother's domination, but twisted it further into sadism.
The manor's maids needed no further explanation. And not only them.
Every single day for the last three days, noblewomen from other houses had been brought here to serve as her toys.
Conveniently, those nobles all happened to tread the opposite path: masochism. They complemented Clara perfectly.
What made it even stranger was that these noblewomen, despite never having known men, dressed and behaved in an overly conservative, almost prudish manner outside the manor—right up until Clara snapped her fingers.
Veyron couldn't help but suspect some kind of unspoken agreement between the Teresa family and the other noble houses, carried out at the subconscious level.
The second daughter, Maria—the slender girl who had accompanied her sister on the Kuroinu World mission before Veyron captured them both—walked the path of restraint.
Her creed was simple: "I may worship the Lord of Ecstasy, and I know indulgence is the true answer, but I choose to deny myself. I choose to endure. By tormenting my own desires, I reach a higher, spiritual pain, and from that pain I discover pure joy."
As for the youngest daughter, Lilith…
Honestly, if not for Lady Teresa's rules painting this manor with such a decadent undertone, she might have passed for a normal girl.
On the surface, she even seemed more "ordinary" than many of her peers in normal worlds. But...
"Um… excuse me… can you hear me? Are you here?"
A voice suddenly cut through Veyron's thoughts.
Maria stood there awkwardly, one arm over her chest, the other trying to cover her lower half.
Finding a moment when no one else was around, she said, lowering her voice.
"What is it?"
With a snap of his fingers, a sheer veil wrapped itself around her body, covering what little modesty remained exposed.
Her eyes widened in surprise, but Veyron said calmly, "Relax. Neither your mother nor that so-called Lord of Ecstasy will notice a thing."
"…Thank you."
For the first time since she could remember, the girl actually had something covering her inside the manor. She shifted uneasily, adjusting the thin veil.
Then she finally asked what had been on her mind.
"That day… in the other world. Was what you said true? About my sister being eroded by the Lord of Ecstasy's rules?"
Veyron chuckled softly. "I thought after watching these past few days, you would've answered that yourself by now."
And she had.
Every time her elder sister played her sadistic games with those noble girls—one party willing to whip, the other eager to be whipped—Maria was always there, silently watching from the corner.
…And yes, later Veyron had been there too.
Maria's lips pressed together.
It was precisely because of what she had observed that she came to him now. She had already reached the conclusion she most dreaded: her sister was teetering on the brink, one step away from completely losing control.
If there was anyone in this world who could pull her back before she drowned in ecstasy forever, it wasn't the gods she prayed to. It was this mysterious man standing in front of her.
But she also understood something else. The ability to save didn't mean the willingness to save.
Even she—still just a mortal—no longer viewed those who had sunk into endless pleasure as true humans. So how could this man, a being who might very well stand at the same height as the Lord of Ecstasy itself, see them as anything more?
So when the truth of her sister's condition was confirmed, the girl froze. She didn't even know what she should ask for next.
"If you don't know what to do," Veyron said, his tone carrying a hint of meaning, "you don't have to carry it all alone."
"…I understand. Thank you for the advice."
Maria nodded, then performed a noble curtsy—an old etiquette passed down from before this world was invaded by evil gods—before turning to leave, heading back toward where her mother resided.
Veyron watched her go.
"…."
At the very next corner, the veil he had conjured slipped right off her body, fluttering to the floor. His brow lifted slightly.
"Sure, your sister's case is worse. But you're not exactly in the clear yourself."
Born here. Raised here.
In an empire built entirely on ecstasy, no matter how much you restrain yourself, the end of the path still leads to indulgence. That's just how it is. How could anyone escape corruption under those rules?
The only difference was that Maria hadn't fallen as far, or as fast, as her elder sister.
As for Lilith, even he wasn't sure what was going on with her. But she must play a really big role in this world.
.
.
.