The Householder’s Sadness Has Its Reasons
“Please have a seat.”
At Verita’s invitation, I sat down across from her, the table between us.
I had thought my own room, for a butler’s quarters, was already absurdly spacious and well-appointed, but this room belonged to the head butler; it was so refined that it could easily be mistaken for the master bedroom of a well-to-do family home.
Even so, not a single thing was out of place, and the immaculate order suited her perfectly, with her usual expressionless air.
Still, sitting alone with her in a room like this was painfully awkward.
Maybe I should’ve just denied having any worries at all.
Instead, I’d gotten needlessly flustered and followed her here, hoping to figure out what kind of trouble she thought I was in.
“The kitchen is rather far if I were to prepare tea, so would you prefer something stronger? I could offer you alcohol instead.”
As she spoke, Verita pointed toward one side of the room.
So there was even a private refrigerator in here.
And not a small one, either.
“No, I’m fine. It’s not that I can’t drink it, but I don’t really like it.”
I waved her off and went on, “That thing you said earlier… what did you mean? You said you could help me with my worries.”
“Exactly as I said.”
“Then what worry are you talking about? I don’t really have any particular worries.”
“You’re pretending not to know, even though you do.”
Her cold voice and sharp eyes, as if they were trying to pierce straight through me, made me shrink back without meaning to.
“Well, I’m not sure what you’re talking about….”
“Then I shall say it from my side. Are you managing your urges properly?”
Oh. That’s what she meant? She really didn’t need to beat around the bush like that.
“Yes. I’m handling that just fine on my own, so you don’t need to worry. Really.”
“I see. In fact, I had already assumed that issue was resolved.”
Resolved already?
“Then I suppose we should talk about your other concern, Ian. Are things going well with the chairwoman?”
The moment she asked, gooseflesh raced over my entire body.
Had her gaze really been cutting right through me all along?
No, no way. Nobody had that kind of supernatural ability.
Wait. Come to think of it, there was magic in this world.
Could she be using some kind of mind-reading spell?
On a hunch, I checked Verita with Search Eyes.
The light blooming over her body was red.
That meant, at the very least, she was a stronger mage than I was.
If she really had used magic, then I was completely cornered.
...Still, maybe she’s just talking nonsense like usual.
Even if that wasn’t the case, if it was only a guess, maybe I could still deny it somehow.
“What do you mean?”
“I am asking whether your progress with the chairwoman is going well.”
When she looked at me like that, there wasn’t the slightest trace of wavering in her gaze.
My heart was pounding like mad, and now I was even more terrified that she might hear the sound of it.
“No, I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“It is pointless to keep pretending. I already know you’ve been having clandestine meetings with the chairwoman at the bathhouse.”
Ah… I was doomed.
“How did you…?”
“Once a suspicious pattern is noticed, finding evidence is not difficult. Rest assured, I merely went near the bathhouse a few times to confirm my suspicions.”
At least, that seemed to be all she knew—just that we met at the bathhouse, nothing more detailed than that.
And it didn’t seem like she had used magic, either.
Of course, that didn’t make the pounding in my chest go away.
The fact that she knew I was after Angela was already a serious problem.
But from the way she was speaking, she didn’t seem to be condemning me or trying to corner me….
No, don’t rationalize this.
She had no expression to speak of, so I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, and anyway, who would be pleased to hear that someone had lusted after their own mistress?
While I frantically searched for a way out of the situation, Verita’s voice came again.
“You seem uneasy. However, there is no need.”
“Huh?”
“Have you forgotten why I called you here?”
Why I came here? Ah, right. I’d forgotten for a second because I was so tense.
She’d said she would help me with my worries….
“You said you’d help me solve my concerns.”
“That is correct.”
“Really? You’re not opposed to it?”
“I have served the chairwoman as her butler for a very long time. It is only natural that I would wish for someone who is, in effect, family to become happy.”
Did that mean she wanted me and Angela to end up together?
When I asked outright, Verita answered without hesitation.
“Yes. The chairwoman has spent far too many years in an unhappy marriage. Even after her husband, the former chairman, passed away, she had no time to care for herself because she was occupied with carrying the company for her daughter’s sake and for the sake of the family.”
She paused briefly, and for an instant there was the faintest trace of pity in her eyes.
“At this point, I simply want the chairwoman to find her own happiness.”
I could understand that much. But—
“And that happiness is me?”
“Yes. The chairwoman has often said that you are a very good man, Ian. And over the past few weeks, whenever she spoke with you, she frequently wore a smile that came from the heart. That is evidence enough.”
I tilted my head, still not entirely convinced.
“I think she probably sees me like a son….”
“Perception can be changed. What matters is that she enjoys being with you. You are the first man who has ever made the chairwoman laugh from the bottom of her heart.”
Then, narrowing her eyes as if reading my thoughts, she asked, “And in fact, aren’t you also making an effort to appear manly to her?”
There was no way to deny that.
And yet, while she sounded as though she already knew everything, I still had no idea how she’d figured it out.
“How… how did you know?”
Even without needing the details, Verita, with her still-flat voice, said, “Living together makes such things obvious. That you see the chairwoman as an attractive woman. You were unusually kind to her.”
That was certainly true; I’d been carrying personal motives the whole time.
“Of course, that alone would not have been enough to be certain. I only became confident that you saw the chairwoman as a woman the day after you visited the bathhouse for the first time.”
“Then when you said nobody was there that time, that was a lie?”
“Yes. If you had an interest, I intended to set things up once and see how you managed to handle them.”
No wonder it had felt off.
But wait—if she said the chairwoman was family, was it really okay for her to talk like that?
“The next day, the way the chairwoman kept avoiding you while still sneakily searching for you was rather suspicious.”
That was probably the period when Angela had been avoiding me because she wanted to apologize for bolting out of the bathhouse, but couldn’t quite bring herself to do it.
“And perhaps you don’t know this, but even at dinner that evening, the two of you were extremely suspicious. It certainly did not seem as though you had merely met briefly in the bathhouse and left it at that. Even if nothing had quite happened, I assumed something had to have occurred that was not normal.”
So that was why she’d been coming to the bathhouse to check on us.
“You really only came near the bathhouse?”
“That is correct. I merely confirmed whether anyone was inside. The young lady and Dania were in their room, so there was no need to check who was who separately.”
“...”
“It is true. I am not the sort of person who would stoop to spying on private affairs.”
After hearing that much, I didn’t think she was lying.
If she had been hostile toward me, she would’ve already done something by now.
“So, how far have you gone?”
“Huh?”
My guard had lowered somewhat, but I still hesitated to speak too freely.
“Do not worry. As I said, I am supporting the chairwoman and you. I ask only because I intend to help the two of you.”
I slowly replayed the conversation in my head.
What she was saying made sense, and her motives were understandable.
Above all, the fact that she hadn’t done anything until now made me think I could trust her.
“We got as far as right before penetration….”
“Wow.”
Rarely, Verita’s eyes widened.
“You’ve already gotten that far? You are more of a beast than you look.”
I couldn’t tell whether that was praise or mockery.
Still, the word already surprised me a little.
Given how open she seemed to be about sex, I’d expected her to ask why we had only gone that far.
“I am quite shocked. Though of course, this was consensual?”
There was a flash of killing intent in her expression when she asked, and I hurriedly nodded.
“Well, if the chairwoman had suffered a painful experience, I would naturally have found out. In any case, for you to open the chairwoman’s heart that far is impressive.”
The words heart brought something I’d forgotten back to me.
What I’d decided earlier was that I would ask Verita about Angela’s pain.
“Actually, I asked her recently if we could move on to penetration, but she refused. Angela seems to have very little confidence in herself, and I don’t know how to put it… it feels like she’s carrying some kind of wound in her heart.”
At my words, Verita nodded.
“You have seen correctly. The chairwoman bears a pain that cannot easily be washed away. Because of that pain, she has lost confidence and has not been able to meet anyone new.”
I may not be the kind of woman you see as attractive.
Angela’s words came back to me, along with the sorrow in her face.
“Could you tell me more?”
“Of course. If you intend to make the chairwoman happy, then it is something you need to know either way. However….”
Verita let the end of her sentence trail off, and the air around her grew even colder.
“If this is ever leaked outside, you will need to be prepared.”
“Uh… as long as I keep it secret, there’s no problem, right?”
“Of course.”
I swallowed dryly, feeling as though I were trading classified intelligence with some criminal syndicate.
“I’ll keep it absolutely secret.”
What followed was Verita’s story.
In the world of the ultra-wealthy, where enormous networks and fortunes circulated, there were cases where family expectations forced people into marriages they never wanted.
Angela and her husband had been one such case, and as a result, their marriage had started off on the wrong foot. The reason, she said, was entirely on the husband’s side.
“The chairwoman accepted the will of her family. She did not love her husband, but she still tried her best to carry on a normal marriage. However….”
Verita paused, then continued.
“Her husband, the former chairman, did not. He treated his wife, the chairwoman, as though she were invisible. He did not share a bed with her, nor did he exchange even a single word with her.”
When I asked how much a man had to hate marriage to go that far, she answered immediately.
“The former chairman… no, that man was a vicious sexual deviant. He was a psychopath who sexually abused women and only became aroused when they resisted or suffered.”
The words man, psychopath, and the rest came out sharper and rougher than before, and I could feel Verita’s anger in them.
“Of course, the chairwoman still does not know this. Even the fact that he secretly preyed on young women throughout the marriage is something she believes was merely simple infidelity.”
So that was what Angela had been talking about at the soup place.
“In any case, to a man like that, an obedient and docile woman like the chairwoman was nothing more than an unattractive lump of stone. He hated even sharing the same air with her, so from the very first day of the marriage, they slept in separate rooms.”
When someone has already decided to accept a miserable fate, it only deepens the wound if the person beside them responds with coldness.
The vague pity I’d felt for Angela before was becoming clearer by the second.
At the same time, my anger toward that bastard, her former husband, was beginning to boil.
“And not long after they were married, an incident occurred that left the chairwoman with a wound she could never erase.”
Her story continued.
“Both families wanted the couple to have children as soon as possible. As a bond to strengthen the relationship between the two families.”
“...”
“But that man apparently could not see the obedient, docile chairwoman as a woman at all. So, without the slightest affection, he forced the matter quickly and mechanically to create an heir. That was how Lady Selena was born. That was their first physical intimacy.”
“What a fucking bastard.”
The curse flew out before I could stop it.
What the hell kind of lunatic was he?
To treat Angela like that?
No matter how I thought about it, it made no sense, and my anger wasn’t calming down in the slightest.
Instead of looking offended by my sudden profanity, Verita simply agreed with me.
“Yes. He truly was a madman. He treated pregnancy and childbirth, which ought to have been blessed as the fruit of love, like an annoying chore because the chairwoman was too obedient and docile to feel like a woman.”
Her face remained expressionless, but her tightly clenched fist gave away her fury.
“Because of that, the chairwoman suffered a wound far too deep. The man would never have explained his reasons, and so the chairwoman had no choice but to worry about it herself and search for the cause.”
“...”
“The chairwoman is painfully kind. She could not bring herself to blame the other person, so she blamed herself instead. She thought the fault must have been within her.”
“And that reason was….”
At my question, her low, heavy voice returned.
“According to the chairwoman, she thought something like this at the time: ‘Ah, I must be a woman without any charm. I don’t know what it is, but there must be some fatal flaw hidden in me that keeps others from seeing me as a woman.’”
My chest grew tight with pain.
After being treated like an invisible person in her own house, I couldn’t even begin to imagine how deep the sorrow she had borne alone must have been.
“Even after her husband died, the chairwoman couldn’t summon the courage to make a new connection. She was afraid that the unknown flaw hidden inside herself would only make the other person abandon her. Even though nothing like that actually existed.”
Only now did every one of Angela’s gestures begin to make sense.
Her painfully limited sexual experience and knowledge.
The way she kept belittling herself.
Even the words about how she might not be an attractive woman.
As all of it flashed through my mind, disgust for that man and pity for Angela swept violently through my chest.
“...I think I really do need to make Angela truly happy.”
“That is the answer I was hoping for.”
From very early on, I’d already begun seeing her less as an obstacle to my survival and more as a woman.
She was too kind and too lovely for me not to.
But now that feeling had only grown stronger.
I wanted to repay the angelic kindness she had shown me, and I wanted to heal the wound she carried.
“You said you’d help me with my worries, right? Do you have any good ideas? Angela’s emotional wall seems thicker than I expected.”
“Originally, I intended to give you several pieces of advice, but it seems that won’t be necessary. If you simply continue doing what you have been doing, that should suffice. To be honest, I did not think you had gotten so far with the chairwoman, whose heart is so thoroughly closed.”
Hmm. A lot of that probably came down to the experience I’d accumulated so far and the proud third leg I carried.
“Still, what I would suggest is that you help the chairwoman recall feelings of love as much as possible.”
“...Right. I’ll try that.”
“Good. Then let us move on to the next step.”
Verita stood from her seat and, without warning, led me to the bed and sat me down at the corner.
“Now then, take off your pants.”
What the hell was this sudden turn?
“My pants?”
“At some point, Ian, you will cross the final line with the chairwoman. Shouldn’t we test whether you are the kind of man who can satisfy her sufficiently?”
She looked at me as though I were asking something obvious.
The air in the room, which had been subdued until just now, shifted strangely under the force of her brazen confidence.
“Marital duties are a very important matter between spouses. Even if someone dislikes the person, there are cases where they come to like them because of the nights they share.”
Hadn’t Angela said something like that?
So the source of those words was this woman’s mouth.
“If I check you myself and find anything that needs improving, I’ll help you with it.”
“No, but this is all so sudden….”
“Hurry up.”
When she said it with such flat finality, the pressure of it was no joke.
In the end, I took off my pants, then my underwear, and exposed myself before her.
Verita’s eyebrows rose slightly.
For her, that was a noticeable change in expression.
“That is quite large, even while unaroused.”
“Yeah, well….”
She knelt before me and began handling my soft cock, lifting and turning it this way and that.
“The size hardly needs to be mentioned, and the shape and color are excellent as well. At this point, comparing it with other men seems meaningless. It is top-tier.”
Even with a beautiful woman casually fondling my dick, I couldn’t get properly excited; the situation was too abrupt, and she was taking it all far too seriously.
“I would like to see it erect soon.”
Then she gathered saliva in her mouth, let it drip over my cock, spread it briskly, and slowly began stroking me.
“You’re very skilled at this. You must have a lot of experience.”
“No. This is the first time I have seen an actual man’s penis.”
“What?”
It was surprisingly candid for someone examining my cock so confidently.
“I have served the chairwoman since the time of her marriage. Since I witnessed her sorrow firsthand, I was reluctant to seek out a partner of my own. So I have not met any man until now.”
The butlers in this household really did seem devoted to their mistress.
Hold on.
“Is it really okay for you to do this? If Angela finds out….”
“This is entirely for the chairwoman’s happiness. I am certain she will understand.”
“Hmm….”
I couldn’t help thinking she was surprisingly open in every possible way.
Well, she was saying it from the perspective of the person closest to Angela, so maybe I could trust her.
But even with that explanation, her skill and confidence still didn’t quite add up.
“You’re rather fearless for someone seeing one for the first time.”
“I have used many adult toys over the years. I may have kept my distance from men for the chairwoman’s sake, but that does not mean I can suppress my desires as well.”
“Still, it seems different from seeing the real thing.”
At my words, she moved her hand briskly and answered with complete composure.
“I have spent quite a long time with dildos, after all.”
“Can I ask how long?”
“Since I was twenty. So it must be about ten years. I have used them whenever I had the chance ever since.”
That wasn’t just a long time; at that point, it was practically boyfriend-level familiarity.
Come to think of it, if she was thirty now, that meant she’d started serving Angela when she was ten? No wonder the two of them were so close.
And hearing Verita’s age made Angela’s youthfulness strike me all over again.
Verita was a beauty who looked her age, or maybe even a little younger.
Angela, as far as I knew, was thirty-nine; compared to Verita, she looked like a friend, or maybe just a little older.
“Hmm… it is even more excellent when erect.”
She studied my stiff cock again from one side to the other.
She was the first woman I’d ever seen remain this calm while looking at my body.
“Come to think of it, I forgot to ask. Have you had any experience with women besides the chairwoman?”
Thinking that my answer might eventually reach Angela’s ears, I shook my head.
“No.”
“I see.”
For some reason, lying in front of Verita made me more nervous than usual.
Luckily, she didn’t dwell on it and simply shifted her gaze downward between my legs.
“The glans is clearly defined, which makes it a good shape for stimulating the inside of a woman. It will also do an excellent job of preventing semen from leaking back out once it is inside.”
She was speaking so seriously, as if evaluating some luxury item, that I felt strangely embarrassed.
“The balance of length and thickness is appropriate as well. You possess both practical value and aesthetic appeal. I do wonder whether it is a bit too large, but humans are adaptable creatures, so it should be fine.”
“So, does that mean I pass?”
“Not yet. Seeing and using it directly are two different matters.”
Then, all at once, she brought her face to my cock, and I flinched.
She ignored my reaction and drew in a long breath through her nose.
“So this is the scent that comes from the deepest part of a man. It is far stronger than perfume.”
“...There’s perfume for that?”
“There are perfumes sold commercially that are sprayed onto dildos to heighten immersion.”
I felt as though I’d stumbled into a world I had never known existed, and it was unsettling.
“They say male pheromones have the power to arouse women, and it seems that is true. My body is becoming warmer little by little.”
For all she said that, her expression was far too composed.
Still, the scene before me was quite something.
A beautiful woman with sleek purple hair hanging down over her shoulders was holding my cock to her face with a completely blank expression.
“The longer I smell it, the more it feels like my nose is being bent out of shape. I suppose that is thanks to you not having washed after sweating.”
“I was about to wash up when you dragged me here.”
“In any case, the preparation is complete, so I shall begin using it immediately.”
“Huh? Wait!”
I barely had time to react before things happened in an instant.
Verita’s mouth swallowed my cock.
Sluuurp!
She sucked hard in one pull, and the pressure was so intense I felt as if my cock might be ripped right out of me.
“Kgh, Verita!”
“Sluuurp! Haa… From your reaction, it seems my years of using dildos were not wasted.”
Then she took my cock back into her mouth and started moving her head with fierce energy.
Sluurp, sluurp! Chwop, sluuurp!
“Mmph! Mmmph! Fmph! Mmmh!”
It had been a while since I’d had such a rough blowjob, and my face twisted on its own.
Angela’s gentle fellatio had been wonderful too, but this was so intense that all I could think about was the pleasure in my lower body.
“Given the size, my jaw is a little sore, but once I get used to it, I think it’ll be fine. More than anything, the feeling of being filled to the brim inside my mouth is pleasant, so it is worth enduring.”
Having reached that conclusion, she shoved my cock back into her mouth again.
But this time she didn’t stop there; she forced it all the way down her throat.
Grrrk!
“Verita… there!”
Sluurp, slurp! Sluuurp!
Every time my cock pressed into her narrow throat and then slipped back out, pleasure surged through me.
She must have done deep-throating with dildos all the time, because she was squeezing my shaft with her throat as much as she pleased, without so much as coughing once.
Squeak, squeak, squeak!
“Mmnh, mmm! Hmph, mmmh!”
Her saliva inside her mouth mixed with the precum leaking from the glans, making a wet, filthy sound.
After trembling under the pleasure for a while, I looked down, and Verita was still sucking my cock hard while staring up at me with that same expressionless face.
The sounds and movements were wild and vulgar, but her face remained dignified and blank, and that odd contrast sent a strange thrill through me.
Sluurp, slurp, sluuurp! Sluurp!
She must have been tiring herself out with those motions, but her momentum never weakened.
Her lips drawn back, her cheeks hollowed in.
It was the sort of shameless sight that would’ve made sense if she were obsessed with cocks, yet because her face held no embarrassment at all, I was left helpless as my climax surged up on its own.
“Verita, I’m going to come!”
She kept staring at me with those still-empty eyes.
I couldn’t tell whether that was permission or not, but I was in no state to worry about that.
The moment I came straight down her throat, she swallowed without hesitation.
Gulp, gulp, gulp…!
She sucked as though trying to draw out every last drop from my balls, licking insistently beneath the frenulum under the urethra.
Only after I spilled again with a second violent rush did she finally release me from her mouth.
“The semen is excellent as well. I do not mean its taste, but rather the way it excites a woman. And the sensation of the glans scraping against the throat was exquisite. I would like to recommend it to the chairwoman someday.”
At the thought of Angela going wild over my cock and deep-throating me, my lower body surged with blood again.
Thanks to that, my still-hard cock twitched restlessly.
Even after such an incredible blowjob, one orgasm wasn’t nearly enough to calm me down.
“This time, I shall try using it directly on this.”
Verita laid one hand lightly against her lower abdomen.
Apparently, the test still wasn’t over.
Whether I should feel relieved or troubled, I couldn’t even tell anymore, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her.
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