Chapter 149
Chapter 149
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: How to Steal the Protagonist's Woman
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The kid came out of the outhouse, wiping away his tears while sniffling.
“Sniff… What the hell is this…”
One noble girl who had been in the outhouse just moments ago was stomping off toward the dorms, fuming.
She was the fifth of the noble girls.
“Why is everyone suddenly… it hurts…”
He wouldn’t be able to understand it.
No, I had no intention of making him understand anyway.
‘Excluding Patricia, I kept it to just a bit of roughhousing with the others.’
[It seems to be because she had a sadistic Trait built-in from the start.]
Patricia was the type who flicked the kid on the forehead without a second thought, even back when we first hooked up and I locked on her chastity belt.
She’d probably done far worse during her noble days.
‘It’s only the first day, so who knows, but maybe she’ll tone it down later? Melia still hasn’t shown up, though.’
[Su-ho-nim, she is coming over there.]
Speak of the devil—she was heading straight for the outhouse.
The moment the kid—Berius—spotted Melia, he bolted toward her, panting heavily.
Berius raced up to her and flashed a bittersweet smile through his battered face.
“Where were you yesterday? I was worried sick since you didn’t come.”
“Haha… I got called away for some important business.”
Melia’s expression as she gazed at the kid wasn’t exactly cheerful.
The kid lived right next to the outhouse, and the thing Patricia had smacked him with earlier was a filthy outhouse rag.
He might have grown accustomed to the stench, but from Melia's perspective, it would be difficult to simply endure.
Melia forced a smile and gently stroked Berius’s face.
“Why do you have so many injuries…?”
“Th-that’s…”
The kid sniffled as he recounted every detail of what had happened earlier.
‘Wow… zero pride as a guy.’
Most guys in his shoes would’ve been too embarrassed to even mention it.
But the kid started rambling on, probably desperate for her to acknowledge his pain.
Melia’s face filled with pity as she replied.
“Oh dear… that must’ve hurt so much.”
“I don’t get why everyone’s acting like this…”
He could write off Patricia’s outburst as some random fit, but the other girls’ behavior? He’d never wrap his head around it.
Melia began stroking the kid’s head.
Relief washed over Berius’s face as he spoke up.
“Melia… I’m so glad you’re here. You’ll stay by my side until Lena returns, right!?”
“Haha… y-yes, of course.”
I noted Melia’s lips quivering and slipped away from the outhouse.
[If it is that Sexual Trait and the order you gave, Su-ho-nim, it seems unlikely that Melia will cause any problems in the meantime.]
======
I had inscribed that barrier right on Melia’s pussy and given her an order that was pretty much a desperate plea.
(If that kid keeps up with his job, comfort him so he can stick with it. Next time I come, if he’s done well, I’ll take you with me for sure.)
(R-really!?)
(Yeah.)
I shoved the memory aside and replied coolly over comms.
'That was a total lie.'
[I've realized once again that one should never judge a person by their appearance.]
Melia might look quiet and passive on the surface—like a sweet girl—but she wasn’t truly good-hearted.
When I asked Lena, who was chilling with Armonia, she explained that in some ways, Melia was scum of the scum.
It was common for her to pretend to be sick to get out of work, and whenever she made a mistake, she habitually pinned it on Lena.
Still, unlike other nobles, she had some tact and would apologize promptly.
Armonia explained that the guilt in her Trait seemed to stem from her personality—she had a strong tendency to evade responsibility, yet she was also the type to regret her actions.
'So her being nice to that kid was just for her own self-satisfaction.'
[Then I shall begin preparing the warp.]ge a person by their appearance.]
‘Sounds good~ Let’s track down Beatrice, say hi to the Demon King, and head out.’
I wandered the Demon King’s castle in search of Beatrice.
Stopping guards along the way to ask around.
‘Their faces, though…’
No malice there, but that obliviousness seems to be the real issue.
Just grabbing passing guards and dropping Beatrice’s name had them spazzing out.
In the army, the scariest senior isn’t the mean bastard or the nice guy.
It’s the clueless one.
Looked like that held true here too.
It gives me the creeps—a two-star general with no tact.
About 30 minutes of hunting later, I finally found Beatrice.
She stood on the ramparts, staring intently at the pitch-black horizon.
“Taking in the Demon King’s castle scenery one last time?”
“Ah! All done with your stuff-nyang?”
“Yeah.”
Beatrice ignored my question properly and kept admiring the darkness.
I turned my head casually in the direction she was gazing.
...I could see nothing.
But she stared on like she saw something, then finally spoke.
“Ride out that way on horseback for about 20 days, and you’ll hit the house I grew up in-nyang.”
“Your old place?”
"That's right-nyan. Now it's completely burnt down, so the house is gone-nyan."
After pointing out the spot, Beatrice smoothly spilled tales of living there with her parents.
Beatrice's parents had been conscripted during the war with the humans, and she said they were listed as casualties when the Succubus and Cat-folk armies were annihilated.
She had tried hard to find their bodies, but since so much time had passed after the war ended, she ultimately couldn't find them.
I murmured softly while watching her.
“…Let’s swing by your house sometime.”
“Huh? It burned down-nyang.”
“Its still your home. Let’s check it out.”
“…Thanks-nyang.”
Beatrice grinned ear to ear, eyes fixed on the dark beyond.
One thing bugged me as I watched.
“Beatrice, you said you don’t sleep, right?”
"That's right-nyan. Even if I want to sleep, I can't-nyan."
"...Even sleep magic doesn't work?"
If I used sleep magic, would Beatrice fall asleep?
I was just curious.
"It probably won't work-nyan."
“Why not?”
"My mom tried to cast sleep on me, but she failed-nyan. Succubuses and Cat-folk definitely sleep, but for some reason, only I can't sleep-nyan."
“Wait, succubi actually sleep?”
“Mom always crashed hard-nyang.”
I’d figured Beatrice’s insomnia came from succubus or catfolk genes.
I could put the Cat-folk's nocturnal nature aside, but I felt like Succubuses really wouldn't sleep.
However, she explained that Succubuses definitely do sleep.
The issue of sleep was purely Beatrice's own problem.
Just in case, lets test it anyway?”
“Ooh… Give it a shot-nyang!”
Beatrice stood there all smug, daring me like go ahead if you can.
‘Gonna knock her out and rail her!’
[…Seems we’ve drifted a bit from the goal of seducing her first.]
Her crap lust control made it tough to get a read on how to crack her.
Pheromones? Immune.
Well, if she was exposed to pheromones from her own mother, she'd be beyond the level of immunity.'
[Beatrice is a comrade anyway. An opportunity will come someday.]
‘Gotta test it first, though.’
I hugged Beatrice, who was wearing her Gothic Lolita dress, and gently stroked her large cat ears.
“Hee…”
“Oh… neat.”
Cat ears for sure, but the softness was pure human hair.
I thought I would feel the texture of cat fur since she had cat ears, but it was completely like human hair.
As I stroked Beatrice's head, I created a sleep magic circle on her abdomen.
As the magic circle formed, I felt the mana inside my body rapidly draining away.
When I came to, a super familiar sight greeted me.
“…? What? Why am I in the office? Ugh… my head…”
A pounding headache crashed in—I cradled my skull with one hand and scanned the office.
The over-the-top decor never stopped feeling alien, even after all this time.
When I was on the ship, I usually slept with Viola or Lena, so there was no reason for me to sleep in this office.
Until now, I had never once slept in my office while staying here.
The interior of the office, which I saw as soon as I opened my eyes, felt incredibly awkward. my body rapidly draining away.
Sitting on the bed, riding out the pain, someone entered my office.
“Are you awake?”
“Yeah… Armonia. What’s going on? I was at the Demon King’s castle for sure…”
Armonia replied right away.
“You cast Sleep on Beatrice and hit mana exhaustion. I apologize for being unable to handle the sudden situation.”
“Wow…”
She really is something else.
Sexual desire control, pheromone immunity, sleep immunity.
I can't find a single weak point to penetrate.eyes, felt incredibly awkward.my body rapidly draining away.
“Still, there was a notable effect.”
“...?”
“When you collapsed from mana exhaustion, Beatrice said she felt drowsiness for the first time.”
“Oh… mana… need… mana…”
I mumbled mana like some lich whose soul had rotted away.
Armonia laid out the full rundown with an expressionless face.
“A full day has passed since warping back from the Demon King’s castle. I patched up your mana exhaustion on my own.”
I originally intended to see the Demon King's face before leaving, but since I fainted, I came back without saying goodbye.
She said the Demon King told Beatrice to tell me to visit again once I woke up.
'I have no business with the kid or the nobles, but just in case, it wouldn't be bad to visit secretly later.'
It wasn't that I had anything specific to say to Gardia, but since he had granted my request, there was a chance he might change his mind later, so I was willing to visit again if needed.
I bolted upright from bed and told Armonia.
“Alright, let’s roll! To Yggdrasil!”
“Yes, prepping now.”
We left the office for the warp room.
The following may contain somewhat uncomfortable scenes.
It was a certain night, seven years after Lena left the Demon King’s castle.
A night that ought to be dark and silent. Yet whip cracks sliced through the air.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
“Hyiit! Kyaa!”
“You piss me off just looking at you!”
“Aaak! Pl-please forgive me… Hic!”
“My clothes got urine on them because of you!”
A woman past her youthful prime lashed endlessly at an adult man.
Not a proper torture whip, but the scars riddling his body proved it packed a punch.
The middle-aged-looking man shielded his face with his arms, sobbing and begging for mercy.
His rags screamed street beggar, his body stinking of shit to high heaven.
He looked about 40, while she could pass for 30s—still, she kept whipping the seemingly older man.
Dozens of minutes later, the lashes stopped. She grinned with manic glee.
“Haa… haa… I’ll let you off here for today. You know I only whip you ‘cause I love you, right?”
“Kuh… haa… Th-thank you… Pa… Patricia-sama.”
The woman dubbed Patricia let out a satisfied breath, smirking sleazily.
"Haa... fuu.... Thanks to you, I had a good time today. Berius."
“…”
The name of the man who looked like he was in his 40s was Berius.
Once hailed as prince.
Although he looked like a middle-aged man in his 40s, he had only just entered his 20s.
Seven years he’d spent in that outhouse, taking beatings while unlocking chastity belts.
Patricia left the outhouse, and Berius emerged from the outhouse, trembling.
Just as Patricia left, a woman was coming toward the outhouse.
She was a woman who gave off the aura of someone suffering from a mental illness, with dilated pupils and muttering to herself. but just in case, it wouldn't be bad to visit secretly later.'
As the woman approached, Berius erased the expression of terror he had shown before Patricia and managed to form a smile.
“Me… Melia…”
“Master… I’ll wait forever… You’ll come… I can wait my whole life…”
“…”
After wearing a chastity belt for several years, Melia had begun to exhibit symptoms of muttering to herself at some point.
But even seeing Melia like that, Berius liked her.
“Gotta look after him… Take care of him…”
“Melia…”
Berius didn’t get the words.
but that did not matter.
Melia was the only being who did not scold him..
Whenever she came to the outhouse, she would obligatorily stroke his head and mutter like a mentally ill person, but that muttering was always filled with stories about having to take care of him..
Melia comforted Berius for tens of minutes, then staggered off to the dorms, barely holding it together while muttering.
“Master… Today, I finished the mission you gave me too. Hee.. hehe…”
“…”
Berius, a rotten mess of a man, watched her go and muttered.
“Lena-sama… Please come back.”
The reason Berius could endure while being treated this way was because of Lena.
That she would protect him.
Unable to erase the naive thought that she would rebuild the country for him, he waited for her day by day.
He clung to that childish dream, waiting day after endless day.
Berius, who’d once defied them, eventually bowed and scraped before the nobles with polite speech—just to take one less hit.
“She’ll come someday… Lena-sama would never abandon me…”
Berius muttered as he shuffled into his shack.
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