MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin

When Adam heard the sound of Shuri's steps, descending down the stairs, he looked up and fought to keep his mouth from opening wide at the sight that greeted him soon after.

He had made sure to not spy on her in order to not breach her intimacy while she was bathing and changing her clothes. After all, while she would never know if he had peeped or not, he would know and he was not some creep who would do something like that to someone he knew and cared for.

At least Adam was sure that he would never do that to her; his mother was out of the equation altogether so there was not even a need to mention it. Peeping could be quite an exciting hobby, after all.

Currently, Shuri was wearing a simple white robe that had no particular decorations attached to it other than the designs on the robe itself. It was clearly a simple robe used for women to stay at home but on that luscious and mesmerizingly voluptuous body of hers, it gave her a sensual air that was so subtle that he could hardly pinpoint it. But he was able to detect that and it was enough to make his heart palpate with excitement and yearning.

Shuri's body proportions were simply heavenly and there was no heterosexual man who would not be attracted by what she had to offer to them.

Rich, beautiful, kind, smart, well-spoken, and simply and irrevocably beautiful. Did he say that she was absolutely beautiful already? Well, there was no problem in repeating that as no matter how much he repeated that truth, he felt like it would not be enough to describe her beauty.

Adam laughed in his head. He felt like his brain had short-circuited and this time, it wasn't because of an overload of information from overusing 'The World.'

If Adam had any doubts about his intention in courting Shuri, all those doubts and hesitation had simply gone out the proverbial window as his two small brains below drop-kicked his big brain before bitch slapping it and telling it to shut up and let them cook.

Looking down, at the reaction Adam visibly showed at her appearance, Shuri couldn't help but let her lips curl into a proud smile. She was indeed right; she still had it in her. Even though she was no young maiden anymore, she was still able to make young men turn their heads at the mere sight of her. Her hesitant confidence soared up to cloud nine with that single detail alone.

"I am sorry Adam. I hope I didn't make you wait too long. I really needed to take a bath and wipe away the grim and dirt of the day…"

'…As well as the dirt that had stained my mind.'

Shuri kept the last part of her words to herself but while she could hide her feelings from showing on her face, she could not hide them at all from Adam's 'Eye of Truth.'

[Emotions: Excited, worried, confused, marginally aroused.]

The emotions that were being shown on the screen were not fluctuating like no tomorrow like it had been with Detective Themis Smith earlier, hence Adam was able to get a good read on what Shuri was feeling right now. Or more accurately, what feelings she had for him.

He also had the advantage of having discussed with her while working as Cinder and this gave him a deeper insight into what her feelings regarding him were.

"Don't worry. I was just admiring the place. So I couldn't really tell when the time just slipped by."

"Good. Well, at least, I have something good in my hands to compensate for your wait. I believe this will make you forgive me."

She brought out a bottle of wine and placed it on the table. Then, a few minutes later, after searching through all the rooms for different tools, small bread, and a few amuse bouche, she proudly presented everything she had on her in front of him.

"Firstly, drink some water. I added a little bit of lemon. This should be enough to cleanse your palate. Of course, just this isn't enough for me. So eat some bread if you want."

It was a necessary procedure in order to make sure one could fully enjoy the taste of the wine on their tongue. Her wine was not anything as extraordinary as the ones she had the chance to see in that Bar but they were still quite high-grade.

Furthermore, since she planned to slowly introduce Adam to high society, it was necessary for her to teach him certain manners and common sense so that he was prepared to mingle with people from that sphere of life. Thankfully, she had been working on this for years now and at least taught him many small lessons such as how to use all covers for their specific purpose rather than just taking what was at hand for all use.

"What kind of wine is it?"

"Ah… Are you… interested?"

"To be honest, no, not really. But there is nothing wrong with knowing more, is there?"

Shuri frowned inwardly, feeling strangely familiar with this way of speaking but she wasn't able to pinpoint where she had heard those words and merely nodded slowly. She had already been talking about wine all night earlier. But, as a fine connoisseur and an avid fan, how could she be unhappy talking about what she loved so dearly?

She was only happy to share her hobby and did so with gusto.

Adam listened quietly and patiently. Even though this was the second time he was hearing these details from her, he showed no signs of distraction and fully concentrated on her words. There was just something about watching someone talk about the things they genuinely loved and were enthusiastic about.

The way a giant smile would light up their entire face with joy and a grin filled with pure love and elation when they talked about those things…

That was a very beautiful scene and he had no problem listening to this again and again as many times as it would be necessary.

Like this, unknowingly, the two of them slowly started to approach each other. There had been quite a bit of distance between them earlier, but now they were just one or two steps away.

Thanks to his sensitive sense, Adam could already vividly feel the cozy heat coming from Shuri's charming body.

He had to give his all to stop himself from suddenly touching her and startling her out of the blue with his actions.

The wine was simply raining down, always filling their glasses with no hesitation and even Adam was starting to get slightly drunk due to the overdosage of wine.

There was a certain ambiguity in the air, a tension that was progressively growing between them and making them more aware of each other's presence.

Adam was not the inexperienced young man he once was and while Shuri only had one partner in all her life, her intuition was clearly telling her that something was coming…

A pivotal moment was approaching.

How they dealt with it would change their lives and the course of their relationship forever.

What would they do? What should she do?

Shuri had no time to answer this deep and fundamental question about the future of their relationship.

After all, at this very instant, she could only open her eyes wide in surprise as she felt something hot and soft touch her lips.

It was then that she realized what was happening.

….Adam was kissing her.

Or was she kissing him?

Did it even matter at this point?

———

(AN: It took 200 chapters for them to finally kiss. Damn. In my initial plans this should have happened by ch 30 or 50)