Sweet Jealousy
***
After wrapping up my work, I returned home and Hana immediately ran up to me, throwing herself into my arms with a squeal.
“Aww, Dad~!!”
*Hug*
“Ugh. Did you get hurt anywhere?”
I asked one of the people who had rushed to hug me, and Hana shook her head, laughing brightly with no signs of injury.
“How was it? Couldn’t you have done it too?”
“Cheon-hwa-ya, that girl… she didn’t bully you or anything, right?”
“Ow!”
“She didn’t get hurt at all! Unnie played with Hana!”
I had clearly told her to protect her, but no matter how much Beatrice was watching the neighborhood troublemakers, the fact that Hana had still played around and caused mischief left me staring at Yoo Hwa-young with narrowed eyes.
*Huu… still, I’ll have to overlook this.*
Even though I had told her not to get hurt and she had played with Hana instead, it was a mistake, but in the end Hana hadn’t gotten injured and had been happy, so I decided to forgive her this time.
“Cheon-seong, are you hurt anywhere?”
Yuna approached me, worry clear in her voice, and the irritation and stress I had been carrying from dealing with the sword demon earlier melted away. I smiled and stroked Yuna’s hair.
“Nothing hurt, so no need to worry, Yuna. Thank you for worrying.”
“U… yeah…”
Above Yuna’s head, a soft *fwush fwush* sounded as steam rose, painting her cheeks a lovely blush.
“Dada, Yuna Mommy’s face is red!”
“So it is, Hana. Yuna Mommy’s face is bright red.”
Yuna’s blushing cheeks deepened in color at our words, and Hana said the cute Yuna looked adorable and gently patted her head the way I had done.
“Eh… that’s awkward.”
“You really don’t know when to be cute and when not to?”
Watching cute Hana stroking the loving Yuna made my heart warm, but the most shameless, no-sense scoundrel Yoo Hwa-young suddenly glared with crossed arms.
“Hey. If you treated me like you treat Yuna and Hana, what would be the point, really?”
“There’s no way I’d ever treat you like that, so mind your own business. We’re leaving, Yuna, Hana.”
“Hey hey, hold on! You can’t just go without keeping the promise!”
While I was carrying Hana and about to head home with Yuna’s hand in mine, Yoo Hwa-young shouted for me to keep the promise and blocked my path.
“Eh? A promise? What kind of promise are you talking about, Hwa-young?”
Yuna, still with a faint blush on her face, asked, and Hwa-young blinked once before flashing a mischievous, playful smile and pointing at me.
“Just a little while ago I secretly told Cheon-seong… that once I’d meet Yuna alone sometime…”
“Shut up with the nonsense. Just imagining you alone with Yuna makes me sick. If you two can protect Yuna and Hana without getting hurt, we agreed to give you a side-sweep haircut, Yuna.”
“You little— hey! Saying it’s too much after just a joke! And I don’t want to be alone with you either!”
“Wow, that’s convenient.”
I lightly replied that it was good she didn’t want it either, and raised my hand to sweep the bangs I had been wearing at home to the side like always.
“Too harsh on me only… gah…”
“Waa…”
“Now it’s fine. Let’s go.”
Leaving the dazed Dang Hwa-ran and Yoo Hwa-young behind, I stepped out of the ruined cafe and into a quiet corner, where Beatrice’s teleport brought us back home.
“Waa~ We’re home!”
Hana arrived and laughed brightly, kicking off her shoes messily before dashing inside.
On the surface she looked like she had been having an amazing time and was thrilled to be home, but I could feel a warm kindness in Hana’s bright smile.
“Hana.”
“Eh? Why are you calling, Dad?”
Hana ran back to me when I called and stood in front of me, blinking her pretty eyes wide. I pulled her into a hug and stroked her hair.
“How about we go to the amusement park again next time?”
“Really!? Waaaah! Dad is the best! I love you!”
Even though Hana was smiling brightly, I now understood that smile was meant to make me feel better.
Because of that, when I said we should go again, pure joy spilled from Hana’s eyes and she planted quick kisses on my cheek, obviously happy.
As a father, how could I not take the fact that Hana was this thrilled about one more trip to the amusement park?
“Here. When you go out and come back, you were supposed to learn what to do first, right?”
“Brushing teeth and washing hands!”
“Good. Alright, go do it quickly.”
No matter who her daughter was, she was so well-behaved and smart.
Watching her run off to the bathroom to brush her teeth made me smile.
I smiled this often now because of the three of them. The smile I could barely manage before had become as natural as breathing.
“Yuna, let’s go in too… Yuna?”
“Why are you calling, Cheon-seong?”
In Yuna’s voice I heard coldness and disappointment, and when I looked at her I saw Yuna’s cheeks puffed out like a squirrel holding nuts, ready to be pinched.
I suppressed the urge to poke her cheeks, which would probably make her blow a raspberry, and asked what I had done wrong. Yuna said it wasn’t that and walked inside.
“What the… what did I do wrong?”
*Think carefully.*
“…Why are you always like this?”
But the person who felt hurt wasn’t just Yuna.
*I don’t know what you’re talking about, my dear.*
Unable to hold back, I reached out and poked Beatrice’s now-puffy cheeks, and a soft *fwush* sounded as air escaped Beatrice’s lips.
Beatrice looked awkward, but honestly it was adorable.
“Why are you doing that?”
*Why would you and Yuna do that? Of course, besides the fact that you swept your bangs in front of others, what else could there be?*
“…Just that?”
I was bewildered because I never imagined Yuna and Beatrice would show their jealousy so blatantly just because of the side-sweep.
Beatrice stared at me with her lightly orange-tinged golden eyes, grabbed my collar, and pushed me against the wall.
*Just that? You don’t know how deadly you are to women, my dear. Yuna and I are always on edge because of you.*
“Deadly? What are you even saying? With the three of us, there’s no way I’d look at another woman.”
Realizing how much my heart had been torn between accepting and rejecting my feelings toward Beatrice, I had eventually ended up with both Yuna and Beatrice.
Luckily everything worked out, but what if I had had to choose? If Yuna or Beatrice had pushed me away, my heart that had started beating wildly for the three of them—Yuna, Hana, and Beatrice—would have frozen solid and I wouldn’t have been able to live like this even with Hana.
Just like before the regression, or even worse. If Yuna and Beatrice had hated me and Hana’s warm smile had turned to contempt and disgust, I might have been even more broken than before the regression.
But because Beatrice was so special to me, the only one who knew I had regressed and the one who could soothe my exhausted heart, she had only stolen my heart. I had never been interested in anyone else anyway.
Not even women—just anyone else dying or living was none of my concern. They were nothing more or less than the same species as me.
Not even women—just anyone, human or not, dying or living was none of my concern, so it was never going to happen that I would look at another woman.
Even if Yuna didn’t know, Beatrice at least knew how I felt, but still…
“Beatrice, are you jealous right now?”
*…What is wrong with that? Since you showed that side to someone else, jealousy is nothing.*
I had expected jealousy, but Beatrice really was feeling it and spoke to me.
It was adorable. The way Beatrice, blushing and looking up at me, was so cute and lovable.
Beatrice, the Heavenly Demon with vast knowledge I could never imagine and weakened by causality, was showing me this side only she was allowed to.
“Beatrice. You’re really cute right now, you know?”
[…]
Whispering in Beatrice’s ear made her snow-white ear slowly turn red.
Honestly, I never dreamed I’d ever say something like this.
I never imagined I’d have a daughter, a master, or that I’d become the Heavenly Demon’s disciple and lover. I never imagined I’d end up dating both Yuna and Beatrice.
Before the regression, if I had told him he’d probably just slam the door in my face and shout that the only woman for him was Yuna.
But even so, this change was good. I could feel that I was alive.
The colorless, gray world that had been desolate was now filled and dyed by Yuna, Hana, and Beatrice. At the same time I wanted to dye all three with myself. The desire to fill them with me and color them with me crept up slowly.
So I couldn’t hold back anymore. I kissed the Beatrice looking up at me and slowly dyed Beatrice with me.
*Smack—*
My lips met the soft, sweet lips of Beatrice.
Now I could feel a little peace.
.
.
.
.
.
“Persona-nim. Is it really alright to leave like this?”
“I have to say it twice? Don’t touch me and just come back quickly.”
One of the executives of Noah, the highest-rank villain and masked Persona, was being told to leave by a subordinate. A member of the Salon Bal, one of the Masquerade parties, asked what about the request, but what came back was Persona’s emotionless, icy command.
“Last one. Come back.”
“…Understood.”
The call ended, and the masked man clenched his teeth while tearing the photo of Cheon-seong in his hand into shreds and stomping on it.
“How dare… how dare you do something to Persona-nim…”
“What now?”
“…Go back. Instead, keep an eye on that Cheon-seong bastard.”
“But Persona-nim said not to touch him…”
The man’s words made the newcomer to the Masquerade, who had just arrived, unleash killing intent.
That was why the ones who had just entered the Masquerade were not allowed to think, even under Persona-nim’s orders.
“You just arrived and don’t know, but we all live and die for Persona-nim. We won’t leave someone who insulted Persona-nim to his fate!”
All the attendees of the Masquerade who were not excluded from the executives’ commands were people in debt to Persona. They were all faithful hunting dogs who followed her like a god and lived and died for her.
That was why Cheon-seong, who had insulted Persona, was supposed to be torn apart and fed to the hounds, but he had been left under surveillance because of Persona’s orders.
“This is my personal decision. I’ll take responsibility, so watch him properly.”
He was just a greenhorn who had just become an adult, challenging and cursing at Persona-nim. A greenhorn who didn’t even know Persona-nim had smiled and let it go.
So I thought it was fine to secretly watch him and catch a weakness, because Persona-nim would like it.
“Haa… so that’s how you are, really.”
*Scream—!*
The man who had said he would take responsibility and his nearby subordinates’ heads rolled across the floor, detached from their bodies.
The man who had stomped on the heads of those who had died instantly, not even realizing they were dead, and who had been staring blankly, picked up the phone.
“Job done. Queen.”
“Thank you~ Cadence, handle the bodies yourself and come back when you’re done.”
From the phone I could hear Persona’s voice talking to the man who had had his head cut off earlier.
No matter how much they said they believed in and followed Persona, to her they were just disposable tools.
Excluding the five of Grand Bal.
“I understand,” the man answered and hung up, then kicked the stomped head around the corner like a soccer ball and raised mana.
“Seriously, if you had just come back quietly how nice that would have been~ Even if it meant dying now, you wouldn’t have died yet. Well, in the end it was the same.”
*Whoosh—!*
*Boom—!!*
A massive explosion went off, and the huge blast that left no trace of the bodies collapsed the surrounding buildings and buried the rubble.
“Speaking of which, that Cheon-seong guy~~ I’m curious who he is~~ um… since I don’t want to die, I guess I have to give up~.”
The man disappeared while investigating the explosion, and the blast continued even after he left.
