Grind-to-Cash System: Buy SSS Skills to Spam them Infinitely with Cash-Chapter 15 - Asperia’s realization of a traitor

She brought the sliver of fish to her lips, hesitant, nose scrunching slightly as the scent hit her—salty, oceanic, with a faint metallic trace. She expected it to be disgusting.

But then she took a bite.

Her eyes widened.

Then widened more.

Her pupils dilated.

A soft, low hum escaped her throat—almost a moan.

"Oh... gods..." she whispered, voice barely audible.

She took another bite, bigger this time.

The meat was cold but somehow buttery, silky in texture, the taste cleaner than anything she'd ever eaten. It was like chewing on ocean wind, the essence of the sea condensed into one smooth, rich burst of flavor that tickled every nerve in her tongue.

"Mmh...!"

Asperia's shoulders trembled. Her back arched the slightest bit as she chewed slowly, eyes fluttering shut, as though savoring some forbidden delight.

Her legs bent inward subconsciously, and a little "Aah..." slipped out of her lips without warning.

Vex stared at her.

Blankly.

Not blinking. Not reacting.

Just... deadpan.

And she realized it.

The sound she'd made. The way she looked. Her posture. The whole... experience.

Her eyes snapped open. Her back straightened like a rod. Color exploded across her face.

"I—!" She stammered. "I didn't mean to—! That wasn't—! I didn't moan, alright?! It's just—it was just really good fish!"

She waved her hands, mortified, like she could swat the memory away. "I didn't even think! It surprised me! I wasn't trying to sound like—like that!"

Vex didn't speak at first.

Then, slowly, voice dry as stone, he said, "Don't do that again."

She blinked. "W-What?"

"Or this thing's gonna stand again."

His eyes lowered meaningfully.

Hers followed.

There it was.

Erect.

Proud.

Throbbing slightly.

Again.

"...You PERVERT!!"

She screamed, launching the last of her fish at his head like a fireball. It hit his forehead with a slap.

He didn't flinch. Just caught it as it fell, took a bite, and chewed with a lazy shrug.

"Still good."

"You're impossible!" she shouted, turning away, squatting behind a stone with both arms wrapped tightly around her bare chest, burying her face in red-palmed embarrassment.

Behind her, she heard the slow, wet sounds of him chewing another piece.

"...So, can you tell me about this world?" Vex asked, already accepting his situation—stuck in a cave with no means of escape, a system that might give him something but at a cost that stood right in front of him—completely naked.

So overall, the situation wasn't that gruesome.

Still, going fishing again in this state would be difficult. Without clothes, the fish were treating his leg like food.

Big fish eat smaller ones—that's the rule of the water—and his fish was definitely not small. So the ones coming to eat it were much larger than expected.

"What?" Asperia seemed confused hearing his words, yet soon enough recalled that, naturally, he wouldn't be aware of this world, considering he just came out of an egg.

That prompted her to give a brief confirming look at him to see if he was even facing her.

He wasn't. Definitely not.

"I am the fifth princess of the Excovian Empire, daughter of the Third Queen from the Gromwold family—considered one of the three strongest sword clans in the empire." Asperia began by introducing herself while resting her cheek on her arm, coiling her body behind the rock to hide herself from that perverted man she was now tied to.

"In the world of Terra, there are three strongest empires in the human zone, with smaller kingdoms scattered around the land," Asperia explained. In the most basic terms, humans normally formed colonies for themselves. This world had already seen the rise of humans—who, despite being born without any natural abilities, had started ruling the land.

Their emergence came from curiosity and a desire to reach the peak. Humans slowly started to eradicate other races. Though weaker in mana affinity and naturally bestowed abilities, they were resilient.

Over centuries of effort, they became capable—by interbreeding with other races and creating new forms of energy utilization to overcome this world's fundamental issue.

That issue was simple: establishing a hierarchy based on the strength of kingdoms rather than the strength of a particular race.

Dragons and elves were once considered strongest—but now, even they had their own kingdoms, often existing outside the human zone.

They had become part of the balance of power, especially as humans began interbreeding with higher races, even secretly capturing slaves of other kinds to produce offspring with stronger natural capabilities—training them to fight back against their own bloodlines.

Asperia explained all this without hesitation. It was basic knowledge to her—something ingrained through education, and generalized enough to be shared without secrecy.

She told him how this world was called Terra. And aside from human kingdoms and empires, other races were scattered across smaller island nations. Though not all of them, of course.

Learning from the humans, they too had begun colonization efforts and developed a system of racial unity.

If one of their kind was attacked, the others would rally together in war. That unity had made the world adopt a system of hierarchy.

Yet some races with low birthrates, like the lizardmen, were centered around one island kingdom. Despite their numbers being low, their unique abilities made them a threat. No one dared to cross them.

That made them ideal for diplomacy—and it was for this purpose that Asperia had come to the Littorial Kingdom.

Only to find that this world had already started changing.

The same change the human race once brought.

And now, a different kind of human—unknown to this world—was about to bring the next.

"Hm, cultivators might not be proactive, and modern humans might need time to understand this world..." Vex muttered, seeming to think deeply. He considered how—for now—this world might remain in peace, despite the recent outbreak of war.

Based on all those novels he'd read, he knew: a cultivator would need spiritual energy and time to adapt, while modern humans—driven by diplomacy and politics—would not act rashly and waste what little resources they had left.

Given time... maybe they'd all settle into peace.

At least for now.

'!'

"What? Cultivators or modern humans? Wait... so you knew who they were!"

Asperia's voice cracked through the cavern, sharp and furious.

"You knew! Didn't you?! You're with them! A traitor!!"

She stood up with a jerk, fists clenched, chest heaving. Her golden hair whipped as she stormed toward him, arm raised to strike.

"You bastard—!"

But her foot slipped.

Her heel skidded over the damp moss-covered stone—momentum surging forward.

"Ah—!"

Her body lunged uncontrollably.

And then—

SMACK!

Her bare breasts swung with the motion, slapping hard against his face with a wet, meaty pah! that echoed across the cave just as his eyes went wide.

Vex barely had time to register it before both of them tumbled backward—he hitting the floor with a grunt, and her collapsing on top of him, chest-first.

His face—buried.

Right between.

Soft. Warm. Smothering.

"Mmmph!?"

Her hair fell across his shoulders, her hands splayed over his chest, her breath caught in her throat as she froze completely in realization.

Then—

"G-GET OFF!!"

She pushed herself up instinctively to punch his face, sitting straight without even looking—

Right onto his lower abdomen.

And right onto it.

Poke

"Eep—!!"

Her whole body jolted as the thick, rigid shaft beneath her pressed firmly against her bare backside, perfectly wedged between the softness of her cheeks and poking her rosebud enough to stretch it, with a clear pain jolting her.

"Wh—what—what is that?!" she yelped, placing both hands on her butt, lifting herself awkwardly onto her knees with a horrified, wide-eyed look.

Vex, blinking up from below, cheeks slightly red from the earlier impact, exhaled slowly.

"...Was this a punishment?," he muttered.