Elise
"Hah... Old men really are impossible to talk around."
Scarlet had broken a sweat trying to convince Sebas Chan to wait outside the door while Elise received her massage. Elise's moans were going to carry right through that wood, and there was no earthly way to explain them.
Even if she threw up a Rune Barrier for soundproofing, a man of Sebas Chan's caliber would at least be able to tell whether a barrier was present. She needed a different excuse — and nothing would come to her.
Of course, there was one excuse that always worked.
Selling Elise out.
Still, she had wanted to keep the young lady doesn't want you nearby as a last resort. There was a chance Elise and Lee Hoyeon might fall under suspicion if she used it. But it was the only thing that could break Sebas Chan's hardline stance, so Scarlet finally deployed her secret weapon.
"The truth is... Miss Elise would rather you not be nearby."
"Ah. The young lady said that...? Then I suppose I have no choice. Scarlet, you'll keep watch yourself..."
"...Yes. Understood."
Sebas Chan's trudging back looked exactly like a father who had just been told I hate you, Dad by the daughter he adored.
She's already switched over to Lee Hoyeon. Nothing I can do about that.
Given his personality, Sebas Chan would never let Elise see it. The hurt would still be there, though. Scarlet felt a little bad — but she was already bound to Lee Hoyeon by contract, and the treatment she received from him was better than anything the Iris Guild offered. She didn't draw a salary, but the employee benefits were exceptional.
I should start preparing to jump ship for good.
Having successfully talked Sebas Chan down, Scarlet slipped out of the mansion.
He should be around here... ah. There he is.
A man so handsome he stood out even from a distance, with a perception-dulling barrier hanging loosely about him. Someone of her caliber could punch through it, but ordinary people would see nothing more than a regular guy. Scarlet started toward Lee Hoyeon.
Even if she left the Iris Guild, that was because Lee Hoyeon was a good deal — not because she disliked Elise.
I should help our young lady with her love life, too.
As Scarlet saw it, Elise had a serious problem of her own. She had grown up watching her mother suffer at the hands of a womanizing guild leader, and now she had gone and fallen for a womanizer herself. Even so, Scarlet was rooting for her. If Lee Hoyeon and Elise ended up together, that worked out well for Scarlet. If she got lucky, she might even keep a hold on both the Iris Guild and Lee Hoyeon.
A soft rustle of movement — Scarlet pressed herself against the wall and crept closer.
"Scarlet?"
But as if to dismiss all that effort, Lee Hoyeon spotted her at once.
"Hello, Hoyeon."
"It's been a while."
He didn't break stride at her sudden appearance, nor did he sound startled. He had felt her mana approaching, so he could greet her calmly, without so much as a flicker of surprise.
"You were only discharged yesterday, and your mana detection is already back."
"I'm only out and about because it's back to this level. I've got more than my share of enemies."
"Well. You have committed a great many sins."
"..."
"I hope I'm not too late."
It was almost eight. I left Professor Lim Sol's lab, cleaned myself off with a cleansing spell, and headed for Elise's house.
The neighborhood where she lived was lined with enormous homes, one after another.
"Maybe I should move somewhere like this. The dorm's getting too cramped."
I looked at one of those houses and seriously considered relocating. There were four of us living in a dorm room. Thankfully I had put a bed in the living room for Liliana's streams, so it was manageable — but it was still tight. I'd have to upgrade eventually.
I was walking toward Elise's place again when I felt a familiar current of mana. The signature of a certain blonde double agent — Scarlet.
"Scarlet?"
"Hello, Hoyeon."
"It's been a while."
Her mana slipped carefully into my shadow. She probably didn't want to show herself. She was still being cautious about other people's eyes — ordinary people were one thing, but a heavyweight like Professor Kang Hyo-rin could appear at any moment.
"You were only discharged yesterday, and your mana detection is already back."
"I'm only out and about because it's back to this level. I've got more than my share of enemies."
"Well. You have committed a great many sins."
"..."
It's annoying, but I can't even argue.
It had been days since I'd last seen Scarlet, but we fell into conversation easily. We had history.
"Miss Elise has been waiting forever. Why are you so late?"
"Has she? She told me she was handling some work."
"Not at all. For the last two hours she's been bouncing on the bed wondering when you'd get here. Do you have any idea how exhausting that was to watch?"
"You've got it rough, huh."
Scarlet was following me, hidden in my shadow. I couldn't see her face, but I could picture that trademark look of hers — the one that said this was all a tremendous hassle.
We've gotten pretty close, when I think about it.
She had been ice-cold the first time we met. That felt like ancient history now.
"So why'd you come out here? I'm already on my way to Elise's."
"Just to say hello... and to tell you to do a good job."
"A good job?"
"You've been out playing with other women, and now you're finally showing up. You should treat our young lady well, too. She seems completely smitten with you."
"..."
Was Elise that far gone? I had been diligent about the massages, but I hadn't thought it was at that level yet.
No, wait.
They were called massages, but anyone watching would have believed it was a couple's foreplay. Thinking her affection wasn't high enough after that much physical intimacy was on me.
These eroge heroines are hard to get a read on.
Elise especially. She had clearly been keeping my other relationships in check. Her affection was high, and she still treated me like I was a pain. Meanwhile she was watching sex tapes of me and getting herself off, then acting like that to my face. I couldn't get a handle on her at all.
"Maybe I should just go for it..."
Even if I slipped up a little, it should be fine. I had raised her affection pretty high.
"...Even so, isn't it a bit early to just shove your dick in?"
"Don't say weird things."
"Yes."
I jabbed my foot into the shadow to punish the nonsense, but of course there was no reaction.
"Honestly... oh, right. Liliana and Da-hee have been wanting to see you, so stop by the dorm sometime."
"That's a little... difficult for the time being. Though I would like to see Liliana."
"Yeah, yeah."
I knew perfectly well that Scarlet liked Liliana. Every time she came into the dorm, I had heard more than enough of those pleased little moans.
We talked about this and that, and before I knew it we were standing in front of Elise's house.
"We're here. You should head off."
"Yes. I'll be hiding in a room waiting anyway. Please take good care of our young lady."
"What's with you? Playing Cupid today?"
"Something like that. If the two of you start dating, it works out well for me too."
"I'll give it a shot."
After Scarlet vanished, I pressed the doorbell.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
Even a house this big had an ordinary doorbell.
A soft click, and a moment later the front gate cracked open.
"Ahem. Hoo..."
Elise spritzed herself with perfume again and again as she waited for Lee Hoyeon. It wasn't the first time she had let him into her home, but it had been a while, and that only made her more nervous.
Why am I this tense over something like this...
She clutched her trembling heart and drew a deep breath. In. Out. In.
What was getting her this worked up? The hope that her Congenital Mana Disorder might actually be treated? Being alone with Lee Hoyeon for the first time in so long? The massage from him that she had been waiting for? Elise couldn't tell.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
An alert sounded from the front gate, and Elise looked at the CCTV screen. Lee Hoyeon was standing at the gate.
"...He's here."
She triggered the mechanism that opened the mansion gates, watched him come through, and hurried downstairs. Her pounding heart came free of charge. Elise timed it so she opened the door just as he crossed the yard and reached the house.
"Hey. Sorry I'm late. You waited a long time, huh?"
"...No. I just finished work myself. Come in."
Seeing Lee Hoyeon at home felt different from seeing him in the lecture hall. That much was certain. Never mind how handsome he was — just looking at his face made something low in her belly tighten. Elise pressed a hand to her inexplicably racing chest and led him toward her room.
Lee Hoyeon followed, taking in the house as he went.
This place really is huge.
What would it feel like to live somewhere like this?
"Should I drop the perception-dulling barrier once we're in the room?"
"No, it's fine. I already told my secretary you were coming."
"...Is that okay?"
That shouldn't be okay. Everyone knew her father was wrapped around her finger.
"Yeah. I told them a while ago. I can't hide it forever."
"That's true, but..."
Damn. So keeping it under wraps all the way through was too much after all.
She seemed oddly calm about it. Was it actually fine?
No. There's no way he'd just let this go.
I just hoped it wouldn't turn into a headache.
Once they reached Elise's room, Lee Hoyeon settled into a chair like he belonged there. He had been here before.
There was nothing like this last time... she really went all out.
A massage table sat in the center of the thoroughly pink room. It looked stable and expensive at a glance — the kind of thing that probably cost a fortune.
"...Are you feeling all right?"
Elise looked at him and spoke. Her lower belly was throbbing, and part of her wanted to start the massage right then — but that would have been far too obvious. All that effort she had put into answering his messages slowly would have been wasted.
If she thought of the massage as a treatment, there was no reason to hesitate at all. The fact that she felt this way meant she wasn't being honest with herself — but Elise hadn't realized that.
Lee Hoyeon looked at Elise perched on the edge of the massage table and answered.
"Yeah. As you can see. I'm solid."
I thought he'd start the massage right away. Looks like he wants to ease the tension with small talk.
That worked out. She had a lot she wanted to ask.
"That's a relief. Um..."
"Come to think of it, I stopped by the student council earlier. The upperclassmen were talking about you."
"The student council? We haven't done PR work in a while."
"We're basically letting them use our likeness in exchange for a seat on the council, so... it doesn't really matter."
"Same here. I prefer having nothing to do."
He had been planning to ease into the real topic after loosening the mood with student council talk, but Elise's expression wasn't good. She looked frustrated, somehow. Lee Hoyeon decided to get to the point.
"Ah... France has been pretty chaotic lately. Are you all okay?"
"...No. The Iris Guild has taken heavy losses too."
"Is there anything I can do to help? I want to help however I can."
If he could get to France through Elise, things would be a lot easier.
"It's fine. We can handle that much ourselves."
"Yeah, but still..."
"Iris Guild business is handled by the Iris Guild. That's the rule. I'm sorry."
"Got it. Sorry."
Elise made her refusal perfectly clear. They were an information guild, after all — those kinds of organizations tended to have strict rules. It wasn't as though he would be that much help anyway. He wasn't offended.
Still, I wish I could've gotten involved. Shame.
He had wanted to find the connection between Centaur, Hell, and Liliana. With the government mixed up in it, he needed connections. How should he approach this?
While Lee Hoyeon was thinking about what to say next, Elise clenched the fist he couldn't see.
...Can't we just start the massage already?
If she had known the conversation would drag on like this, she would have asked to start right away. Why had she bothered asking how he was? And now it would be strange to simply say, all right, that's enough, let's do the massage.
Elise's mouth was going dry with impatience.