Joint Quest and Keeping in Check (1)
#
"Yuri. It's time to head back."
"Mmm. Why."
"You bolted out yesterday without a word, remember? They're going to be worried, so we need to go back."
"Don' wanna..."
Yuri made that nasal sound and clung to me. Th-this girl used to try to crush me underfoot whenever she could, but had she switched tactics and decided to conquer me by clinging to me instead?!
Her determination to get her way was exactly the same, but the shift in her method made the impact absolutely devastating.
Just hearing her nasal voice made me feel like my d...dick was going to explode!
"Heh... See? This. This right here. Doesn't this guy look like he doesn't want to go back either?"
"Hey, stop, cut it out!"
Stop poking my dick with your finger like that!
With a will of steel I shot up from the bed and ripped the blanket Yuri was covering herself with away.
"Kyaa?!"
Yuri let out a short shriek and curled her body inward. Big trouble. Watching her cover herself like that while naked was making me lose control! I tried to avert my eyes somehow...
"Sniff..."
She was crying here?!
"Your heart's gone cold... in just one night... sob..."
"N-no, that's not, Yuri, that's..."
"It's a joke, dummy. Pfft."
"..."
Yuri giggled and fled to the bathroom, while I had to devote serious mental fortitude to quelling my enraged dick...
# # #
The mansion had been bustling since morning. Several men were busy pruning the garden trees, whose branches had grown so wild that the grounds resembled a jungle.
I felt like I finally understood why those housewives in American dramas were so obsessed with their gardeners.
Gardening clearly took serious strength. Those men were all burly muscleheads wearing nothing but overalls. Was that supposed to be part of the appeal?
After crossing the slightly chaotic garden like that, I opened the front door.
"Gasp."
Reni was waiting in front of the door with bloodshot eyes.
"Yoo-jin."
Reni had her arms crossed, glaring at me as if furious. With her short, compact frame, no matter how much she huffed and puffed she was only cute, but her aura alone was utterly menacing.
Right. I'd heard a story like that once.
The Pomeranian was a breed that had been downsized from large dogs, and their instinct still remembered when their body had been big, so when they got angry they thought their opponent would be terrified.
Watching Reni shoot lasers from her eyes like this made that story pop into my head.
But at her following words, I couldn't help but shrivel up.
"How can you keep staying out overnight like this! People at home worry about you! And you ignored the necklace too...!"
"S-sorry..."
The communication necklace... The thought had briefly crossed my mind, but I'd brushed it off while having sex with Yuri. Still, I'd done my own share of reflecting and came back as soon as I woke up.
"What on earth were the two of you doing to come back at this hour?!"
"..."
What on earth... We dated, drank, and had sex...
Last night Yuri and I had spent a night filled with that kind of nauseatingly lovey-dovey conversation and sex.
Maybe because I was drunk and had lost my head over her acting cute, all sorts of toe-curlingly saccharine things had poured out of my mouth. Yuri kept pestering me for compliments, so I'd flattered her from head to toe with every ridiculous comparison I could think of.
Looking back it was mortifying, but seeing that Yuri was still in a good mood this morning, it must not have come across that way. She was even linking arms with me right now.
"What's the big deal about going out and having fun? The two of us can sleep out once in a while, can't we?"
Yuri deflected Reni's scolding smoothly.
"You've had times where you were on a date and stayed out all night, right? Ah... or have you not? Pfft."
She didn't stop at deflection—she provoked her too!
Wh-why was she provoking her again?! Yesterday she'd run off crying about how she was the only one who hadn't gotten a ring, and now she was pulling this kind of provocation?!
"Date...!"
Flames poured from Reni's eyes. C-come to think of it, I'd never properly done anything like a date with Reni. Of course, the time the two of us spent together alone was the longest, but all my spare time had been devoted to nothing but sex.
Ugh. That stung. Right in the gut.
-Hoooh. Hoooh.
Reni closed her eyes and took deep breaths, as if suppressing her anger.
"...Hoo. It's fine. Because I'm the First Wife."
Reni clasped her hands together, interlacing her fingers, and whispered as if reciting a mantra to herself. For some reason, to me the sight looked like she was filling up some kind of gauge. Right, it had manifested a few times before. The Yandere Gauge!
Unlike me, trembling like a leaf, Yuri spat out a retort as if displeased by Reni's whisper.
"But why are you the First Wife?"
Reni steadied her breath a few times at Yuri's question, then put on a gentle smile.
"B-because I was the first one to get a ring... And Yoo-jin told me... told me I was number one! Yoo-jin did! So I'm the First Wife. Since I'm the First Wife, I can't just let it slide when Yoo-jin goes on over... overnight stays without a word!"
Reni showed a rare strong side. So when she said she'd act like the First Wife, that meant she intended to lay down the law. It sort of made sense, and it sort of felt like a misunderstanding.
Yuri let out a derisive snort at Reni's words.
"...You've never even been on a date, and you're talking about being First Wife..."
"Excuse me?!"
A tense staredown. Watching them, I was somehow reminded of Solomon's judgment.
-Slice that guy in half and divide him between you!
-No! H-hey, guys! Let me live!
-Then I get the lower half!
-I'm the First Wife, so I get the lower half!
-...
Horrifying. Too horrifying. No matter how much my life had been nothing but sex, to think they wanted to take only my lower half!
Yuri's smooth voice pulled me out of my gruesome imagination.
"Ah— Fine. Got it. You be the First Wife."
"Huh?"
For Yuri to concede so easily? What was her angle?! Reni also looked thoroughly flustered.
"You handle the First Wife stuff, and as for me... a mistress? I'll do that, I guess."
"What?!"
"What? Hey, do you even know what that word means, saying things like that?"
I absolutely could not hold myself back from interjecting. A mistress—that was not a good word at all. Where on earth had this girl learned something like that?!
But Yuri just smirked and shot back.
"A First Wife has to pay attention to all kinds of stuff, doesn't she? I'm fine as long as I'm your lover and I get love. Heh. Right, you be the First Wife. And you take care of all the annoying stuff too."
"Sh-sh-shameless!"
"..."
Th-this girl—it felt like she had a serious misconception about what a mistress was, but on the other hand, it also felt like she wasn't wrong... Reni was trembling again... It was chaos. I had no headspace to mediate this infighting!
"You've returned."
"!"
As I was racking my brain, Rebecca popped up out of nowhere again. Rebecca looked at me with slightly cold eyes and said:
"Please forgive my rudeness. I was somewhat delayed in greeting you as I was supervising the outside workers."
"...It's fine. Don't worry about it."
Rebecca continued as though my staying out overnight did not concern her.
"Breakfast is being prepared. How would you like to proceed?"
"Ah, no, we were..."
"For reference, the others have not yet eaten."
"...We'll eat together... Hey, you two? Let's go eat..."
"Yoo-jin."
"Yeah?"
Rebecca cut me off as I was about to call the others. Then she looked straight at me, as if she had something important to say.
"It is presumptuous of me to make demands of a guest and benefactor, but I dare to say this nonetheless. If you should become unable to attend a meal for reasons such as overnight stays, I would be grateful if you could inform me in advance."
"S-sure."
...This woman. She'd always had a weird fixation on meals. But right now the atmosphere was too tense for jokes. She seemed to be going through a lot in many ways. Looking closely, she'd even used makeup to conceal the dark circles under her eyes.
"Right, got it. I'm sorry. Hey, you two. Let's go eat. We need to eat and then talk about the schedule. Come on..."
When I addressed the two who were locked in a battle of wills, Yuri was the first to quickly link arms with me. Then, as if refusing to be outdone, Reni linked arms on the other side. Literally a flower in each hand. But these flowers had thorns. Thorns that would whip me the moment I slipped up...
Feeling as though I was walking on a knife's edge, I led them both toward the dining room.
# # #
"Ah, you're here?"
"Hey. Feels like it's been a while... What on earth is that getup?"
The Holy Sword was already in the dining room, and her getup was bizarre. Barefoot and wearing a thin dress as usual, but strange bits of metal were attached to her chest and on her head she wore a ridiculous papercraft... a crown?
"...What in the world are you wearing on your head?"
"I'm told my slaves are coming today? So naturally as their sovereign I must dress the part... Hmm. What was the word? Right. I must observe formalities, correct?"
"..."
What was this nonsense now. Sovereign and formalities—this creature used such fancy-sounding words?! No, before that.
"Slaves?!"
"....Holy Sword. That's not right..."
Reni placed a hand on her forehead.
"Holy Sword. They're not slaves, they're maids. I've kept telling you."
"Isn't that the same thing? They clean, they cook, they bring me things if I need them, and they play with me when I'm bored... That's slaves, isn't it?"
"Holy Sword! Slavery doesn't exist anymore! The people coming today aren't people you can order around as you please, they're, um..."
"They are hired staff."
"Th-there, you see. Hired staff."
Rebecca supplemented Reni's words as she wheeled in a cart loaded with food. Wait, hadn't she been outside the door? How had she heard that?!
The Holy Sword asked back, as if such facts were beneath her concern.
"What's that?"
"They perform only specific duties within a set period and receive compensation... In other words, they only do work that has been agreed upon. Not whatever their master pleases."
When the Holy Sword made a face of incomprehension, Rebecca broke it down appropriately and answered. This woman, she was capable of this kind of consideration after all.
"Perhaps it would be different at a manor in a sparsely populated territory, but a metropolis like this has established labor standards. Duties outside the agreed scope will neither be requested nor permitted."
As she said that, Rebecca shot a glance at me. Wh-what, what was that look. Did she think I was going to harass the maids or something?!
"Mm. You've arrived. What are you standing around for? Sit."
"Right..."
Thanks to Ariel, who entered at just the right moment, Rebecca withdrew her gaze, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Honestly, everyone had thought at least once about messing with maids, hadn't they? That woman really had a knack for hitting sensitive spots... Well, it was fine. I could just ask my girls to wear the outfit for me later and that'd be the end of it.
But...
My fantasy was crushed and pulverized under the weight of reality.
"Y-Yuri?"
"Yeah?"
"Uh, if you do that, how am I supposed to eat..."
Normally, Ariel sat at the head of the table, and the rest of us, myself included, split to the left and right. Reni on my left, Yuri opposite me.
But Yuri hadn't gone to her seat—she'd sat down on my lap!
"Why? Am I heavy?"
"No, you're not heavy, it's just..."
"Miss Yuri... s-such shameless behavior first thing in the morning...!"
"Oh? Isn't this much only natural between lovers? Ah, but you can't do this, can you? You're the First Wife, so you have to preserve your dignity."
"Grrrrrr...!"
Terrifying. Displays of affection were terrifying! No, was this even a display of affection to begin with? At Yuri's almost-provocative display of affection, Reni clutched a knife and trembled. Terrifying—I was too terrified to imagine where the tip of that knife would end up!
"Shall I set two plates in front of Yoo-jin, then?"
"..." "..."
Hearing Rebecca's words, Yuri bolted up and returned to her own seat. Had it just been an impulse stunt? Ah, that girl—her ears had gone red. Right. You got embarrassed too. So did I.
Ariel had been watching Yuri with interest, then suddenly opened her mouth.
"I see. You received a ring as well."
"H... hmph. Well, that's how it happened."
"That's good."
Ariel nodded to herself as she said that, then looked at me.
"But by now, it's nearing Day Three."
"What's that supposed to mean, Day Three?"
"The Amplification duration. You said it was a maximum of 72 hours, did you not? Since it's already been two days since our last intercourse, I believe it's about time to refresh the effect. Or—since we did it once more at the bank, has it already been refreshed?"
"...You did it at the bank?"
Oh. Oh wow. She really dropped that bomb out of nowhere.