Even the Cold Butler Felt Jealous Inside
It had all been an accident.
That I’d suddenly woken up while sleeping with the young lady.
That I’d gone to the kitchen because I was thirsty, only to find there was barely any water left in the bottle in the fridge.
And that, deciding I might as well refill it while I was at it, I’d headed toward the kitchen.
And then Dania had seen it.
Ian and Verita, looking almost naked, coming out of the kitchen and heading somewhere together.
Still trying to make sense of the situation with her stiff, rigid mind, her legs had already started moving after the two of them.
Only after she saw them enter Ian’s room did the reality of it all hit her, and her chest dropped with a sickening thud.
She didn’t even bother walking up to the door to listen in on what was happening inside.
Even someone as inexperienced with men as she was could tell what would happen from here on out.
Instead, she crossed back through the kitchen with a dazed expression and returned to her room.
"…."
She set the water bottle she’d carried there on the desk and quietly moved toward the bed.
The bottle was still empty, but her mind was already so packed with emotion that she couldn’t spare it a thought.
She lay down carefully beside the sleeping young lady so she wouldn’t wake her, yet the sound of her own hammering heart was unbearably loud.
Her trembling hand went to her chest, as if to hold that frantic beating still in case the young lady woke, but instead of calming down, her heart only thrashed more violently, as though demanding to be let loose.
Still, there was nothing she could do.
She didn’t know how to control a feeling she was experiencing for the first time.
All she could do was sink into that heavy, bewildering whirlpool of emotion and resent the way time seemed to crawl more slowly than usual.
And wait impatiently for morning to come.
---
"Yaaawn."
The moment I got back to the mansion and flopped onto my bed, a yawn escaped me.
I’d been like this all day at school too, which meant I’d spent more time dozing than actually awake.
Unlike me, who was worn out from last night’s wild session, Miss Verita really did prove that her body had been born with stamina.
By the end, she’d just lain there while I worked my way between her legs, licking me clean with quiet patience, and then after barely thirty minutes of sleep she’d been up again, completely fine.
Then she’d cleaned the back corridor with me, helped Angela get ready after she woke up, and gone straight to work.
If you were a butler for a true chaebol family, I guess that’s the sort of thing you had to be able to do.
Come to think of it, Dania had also spent the whole night clinging to me and still managed to show up the next day at school as if nothing had happened.
Suddenly I felt absurdly grateful that I was only the household’s assistant butler.
I yawned again and checked the clock. There was still quite a while before Angela and Verita came back.
Maybe I should close my eyes for a bit in the meantime.
Right. There was also that light on the first floor I was supposed to replace.
Deciding I should get my work done before resting, I got out of the room.
Walking along with my mind at ease, I turned a corner—and ran into someone.
"Dania?"
"…."
Seeing the empty plate in her hands, I figured she must be on her way back from the kitchen.
"Did you eat a snack with Selena?"
"…That is correct."
As always, she gave me a short answer, and silence followed.
Usually this was the point where I’d say something first, but the reason I didn’t now was because, for some reason, Dania didn’t seem to be in a good mood.
"Something wrong?"
"…No. Nothing of the sort."
I was sure of it now. Dania definitely had something on her mind.
If you asked what my basis for that was, it was just instinct.
She was always blunt and faintly displeased-looking, but when she was truly upset, the aura around her felt different altogether.
Now that I thought about it, she’d been like this all day at school too.
More distracted than usual, and whenever she happened to meet my eyes, she’d quickly turn her head away.
Worried it might be something more serious than I’d thought, I shoved the dirty joke that had just risen in my head aside and spoke calmly.
"If you’ve got a problem, you can tell me. I’ll help if I can. And even if I can’t do anything, just getting it off your chest can make you feel lighter, right?"
"…Thank you. If I find myself with some concern, I shall consider it."
Whatever it was, it didn’t seem like the kind of thing she’d want to spill to me right away.
Figuring she’d bring it up if she really needed to, I didn’t press any further.
"All right. Take care."
With a light nod, Dania went on her way.
I hoped nothing was seriously wrong.
With that thought, I moved off as well.
---
Dinner was over, and all the work I’d been given was done.
That meant the only thing left was yesterday’s missed practice with Angela.
That’s what I wanted to say, but I hadn’t actually set up a meeting with her today.
The reason was something Verita had said after her test ended yesterday.
"Lord Ian. Are you perhaps planning to have another secret tryst with the chairman today?"
"Probably?"
"In my opinion, it would be better if you did not do so today, at least."
"Huh? Why, all of a sudden?"
When I asked, genuinely not understanding, her answer only made me more confused instead of clearing things up.
"Because we cannot know what may happen over the course of the day."
That was the end of last night’s conversation.
Even after I asked her again and again, all she would say was that she wasn’t certain herself, so I gave up trying to understand it.
But even if I couldn’t make sense of it, her atmosphere had been anything but ordinary.
So, might as well go to bed early.
I was still tired anyway. That worked out fine.
I turned off the light in my room, lay down, and closed my eyes comfortably.
---
Maybe because I’d gone to sleep so early for once, drowsiness came over me in waves.
It looked like I’d be able to sleep well tonight.
That, at least, was my wish—until some time later, when my eyes opened on their own.
And what I found was an unknown hand reaching toward me out of the darkness.
"Holy crap, what the hell!"
I shot up and stumbled backward, only for the black silhouette in front of me to move and the room lights to snap on.
"Dania?"
Seeing my wide-eyed stare, she lifted one finger to her own lips.
"Keep your voice down. Even if this room is soundproofed, it is still the middle of the night."
I checked the clock. It was twelve-thirty.
Definitely not the time for shouting.
And even less the time for her to be barging into my room like this.
"What are you doing here at this hour?"
Dania had never come to see me privately outside of work before, so I was more than a little startled.
But contrary to her dramatic entrance, her expression was hesitant as she spoke.
"…You said I could tell you if I had a concern."
Well, yes. I had.
That didn’t mean she was allowed to sneak into someone’s room while they were asleep, though.
"I did, but… are you even supposed to be out here like this? Weren’t you sleeping with Selena?"
"I slipped out while the young lady was asleep. I intend to return as quickly as possible."
If she’d gone to the trouble of sneaking out from the side of the master she followed so devoutly, just how serious could this concern be?
By now, my initial shock had settled, and I started to worry about the woman in front of me instead.
"I see. So what’s wrong?"
"…."
She had all the initiative to storm into my room, but when I actually asked her what was wrong, she started fidgeting.
I kept that thought to myself and waited, and at last her lips parted.
"Ian…."
"Yeah?"
"What did you do last night?"
I flinched for a moment, but kept it off my face as best I could.
"Why?"
"…."
The silence that followed swallowed the room, and for no good reason, I started to feel uneasy.
Why was she suddenly asking what I’d done last night?
Don’t tell me she found out what I did with Verita?
There was definitely no one in the hallway, was there?
And then her next words proved that my bad feeling had been right.
"Last night, I saw you leaving the kitchen with Lady Verita."
For a second, my heart went cold as if someone had dumped ice water down my back.
I’d been worrying ever since yesterday about how long we’d lingered in the kitchen while I was caught up in the mood, and in the end, it had come back to bite me.
While I was thinking over what excuse I should give, Dania’s voice came again.
"Do you remember the promise we made?"
At the unexpected question, I was still a little dazed, but I nodded anyway.
I didn’t need to ask which promise she meant.
If it was a promise between her and me, there was only one.
"Of course I remember…?"
"You agreed to abandon your revenge against the young lady, and in exchange I would follow your orders."
"Right. But why is that…?"
"…."
She fell silent again and hesitated, her gaze trembling as it dropped to the floor.
I could only stare blankly at her, still not understanding a thing.
"Could it be… that you no longer need me?"
"What?"
"Are you no longer interested in me…?"
Even hearing it a second time, I still couldn’t understand why she would ask me that.
"What are you talking about?"
"At some point, you stopped doing anything to me. You, who could never control your boiling lust for even a single moment."
It was true that I hadn’t touched her at all lately, and true that my lust really was overflowing to the point of being hard to contain.
But I still didn’t understand why she was bringing this up all of a sudden.
The reason I couldn’t get close to her was Selena, and Dania knew that.
…Ah.
Now I got it.
If my guess was right, this wasn’t nearly as serious as it seemed.
I asked to confirm.
"Were you feeling left out?"
"W-Why would I be! Don’t talk nonsense!"
Her fierce reaction only made my certainty stronger.
The way she blurted out a denial and then fumbled for anything else to say after that only strengthened my hunch.
"You were upset because I was with another woman, weren’t you?"
"That’s not it… I-I was only worried that Lady Verita might have been forced to endure something vile because of your filthy lust."
She was trying hard to hide it, but her whole body was betraying her awkwardness.
"Don’t worry. Yesterday was something we both agreed to."
"What? Then the two of you have already…."
Dania’s face drained white.
I had a decent idea of what she was imagining, but since it wasn’t true, I corrected her quickly.
"As head butler, she said she had a duty to manage the butler’s condition, so she personally helped relieve my lust."
What happened last night was indeed mutual consent, but I couldn’t exactly explain the details, so I dressed it up in a way that sounded believable.
She clearly hadn’t expected those words to come out of my mouth, because she just stared at me with a blank expression.
"Lady Verita… personally?"
"I told her I was fine, but Miss Verita wouldn’t back down at all."
It wasn’t the truth, but it couldn’t be helped.
I had to keep my relationship with Angela and Verita secret, and I also wanted to make Dania feel better.
"…."
Dania opened and closed her mouth a few times, face twisted in confusion.
To reassure her, I added, "So I didn’t do anything vile to Verita, and we aren’t lovers or anything like that."
"…."
She still said nothing, but I thought I could tell what emotion was showing on her face.
It was embarrassment at a truth she’d never expected—and relief.
"What, did you think Miss Verita and I were dating and get sad?"
"W-What! Didn’t I tell you? I only said I was worried Lady Verita might have suffered."
Even after getting caught, she refused to give up and kept scrambling for excuses, and it was both ridiculous and kind of cute.
So that was it.
She’d been jealous.
She’d acted like it wasn’t the case, but seeing me and her superior together had piled up into a hurt she couldn’t ignore.
Honestly, most people wouldn’t feel jealous or left out in that kind of situation.
If a classmate and a boss were parading around the house in a perversely intimate state, the normal reaction would be disgust—or the thought that the situation needed to be corrected.
But Dania hadn’t reacted that way. Which was proof enough that she saw me as something special.
"You were sulking about that at school too?"
"…."
"So you were jealous after all."
"I-I said I was only worried about Lady Verita."
Now that the misunderstanding about me dating Verita had been cleared up, she seemed much less tense.
"Then why did you ask whether I didn’t need you anymore?"
"Th-That was…."
Maybe she’d let her real feelings slip without realizing it. This time, she couldn’t even come up with an excuse and just stared at the floor.
Remembering how down she’d been all day, I decided to comfort her.
"Like I said, the reason I haven’t asked anything of you is because of Selena. And Miss Verita pushed so hard that I had no choice but to let her help me once."
"…."
"And I like you, Dania, so you don’t need to worry about me losing interest in you or anything like that."
"I see…."
Forget keeping her true feelings hidden—she let out a relieved breath.
Realizing what she’d just done, she hurriedly changed her tone.
"No, as I said, I was only concerned for Lady Verita. If it was Lady Verita’s judgment, then it could not be helped. I was being presumptuous."
Then she shut her mouth with that same stern expression still on her face, though the gloomy aura that had clung to her entire body before was no longer there.
Before I knew it, I was feeling a little complicated myself.
I was happy that Dania—not just anyone, but Dania—had been jealous enough to feel this strongly, but at the same time I felt heavyhearted thinking that I’d unknowingly put her through so much emotional pain.
For some reason, it felt wrong to just sit with that feeling, so I carefully opened my mouth.
"Dania."
"What is it?"
Her mood had clearly improved, but her voice was still a little subdued.
"I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d been thinking that."
"…What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"I just… think I may have been too neglectful of you lately."
"…."
Dania neither answered nor made an excuse.
She simply lowered her eyes and fell into thought.
We stayed silent for a short while, and then Dania took one step closer to me and said, "…Ian."
"Yeah?"
"Take off your clothes."
I blinked, thrown by the sudden command, and asked again.
"…Huh?"
"I will relieve your urges so you no longer burden Lady Verita."
I never thought I’d hear an offer like that from Dania, but tonight had already surprised me more than once.
Seeing that her mood had loosened up quite a bit, I teased her, "What, so you really were jealous."
"T-That is not it. Lady Verita is a very busy person, and it would be absurd for someone as lofty as her to indulge the urges of a monkey like you."
She rushed to deny it, but she couldn’t hide how red her face had become.
"I’ll help you from now on, so don’t trouble Lady Verita and just take care of it with me."
"But it’s hard on you because of Selena, isn’t it? Like you said, I can’t control my lust for even a moment."
"T-That I will somehow make time for… In any case, don’t worry about anything else and stop bothering Lady Verita."
It would’ve been nice if she’d just said it honestly, but I guessed that was still too much for her personality.
Still, for Dania, this was a huge step forward.
"Okay. I’ll do as you say, Dania."
In truth, I couldn’t stop my relationships with other women.
After all, that was exactly the kind of bastard I’d become after coming to this world, and revenge still had to continue.
But for now, I figured it was better to keep that from Dania and explain it later.
For the moment, I’d focus on fully easing her mood.
"Th-Then hurry up and undress. I’ll make sure you don’t feel any urges for a while."
Thinking that I’d never imagined a day would come when I’d hear those words from Dania, I started taking off my clothes.
---
A little while later, we were staring at each other’s naked bodies.
My gaze wandered over every inch of Dania’s nude figure, which I hadn’t seen in a while, while her eyes were fixed only on the space between my legs.
She’d said she was going to relieve my desire, but her eyes were full of the determination to settle the dissatisfaction she’d been bottling up instead.
And since this was the first time she’d offered to do something first, I was looking forward to what she’d do to begin.
How would she try to top Verita?
"What did Lady Verita do for you?"
"Why?"
"If I am to keep you from troubling Lady Verita any further, I must be able to replace her perfectly."
She was trying her best to hide it, but her words and expression made her rivalry with Verita painfully obvious.
What had Verita done again…?
I thought about it for a moment, and then a thought suddenly came to me.
There was no law saying she had to do it exactly the same way.
There was no way she could know the details of what happened in my room last night, so whatever I told her, she’d have to believe it.
Which meant I could have her do whatever I wanted.
"Well, Miss Verita…."
Dania looked at my lips with tense eyes.
In them I could even read a competitive fire—an urge to do better than her rival, no matter what.
"She let me smell her scent."
"…What?"
Her face turned to shock.
She must have remembered the time at school when I’d made her let me smell her and she’d been mortified to death.
Of course, that embarrassed expression was exactly what I wanted to see again.
"My, scent…?"
"She let me smell every last part of her, all the way into the deepest places. And she did it very boldly."
"Every last part…."
As Dania repeated the words, her face flushed red.
"So? Will you let me smell you too, Dania?"
"O-Of course. If Lady Verita did it, then I can too…."
Wanting to keep me from being stolen away, she looked as if she were steeling herself, and it was honestly admirable.
I should give her everything she wanted, without holding back.
"Then put both hands together and raise them over your head."
"…."
As she lifted her hands the way I said, her clean underarms were exposed.
With every part of her body, from her breasts to her sex, laid bare, she endured the shame for my sake.
Thinking that all of it was for me sent a wave of satisfaction through me.
"Can I start?"
"…."
Taking her silent agreement as permission, I hugged her lightly and buried my face in the side of her neck.
"Hahhn…."
Feeling my breath tickle her neck, she shrank her shoulders.
As I slowly inhaled, the scent of soft skin reached me.
"Dania smells nice."
A gentle natural skin scent, with just a hint of fruit, brushed pleasantly against my nose.
"Did you shower before coming?"
"J-Just in case…."
She’d said she was going to come back quickly in case Selena woke up, but she’d clearly come here carrying a full heart of expectation.
When I looked up, curious to see her expression, she’d already turned her face away so I couldn’t see it.
"Will you look at me?"
"…."
After a brief hesitation, Dania slowly turned her face toward me.
Her trembling eyes met mine, but then quickly darted away again.
She really didn’t know what to do with herself from how embarrassed she was.
The next step to make her even more flustered was her underarms.
Honestly, I wasn’t particularly into scent fetishes, so while I liked looking at armpits, I’d never actually smelled one before.
Still, I wanted to see her enduring her shame for me, so I slowly brought my nose closer.
I took a leisurely breath, and sure enough, a faint body scent mixed with a little fruitiness drifted up gently.
Unlike the sour smell I’d expected, it was surprisingly pleasant, so I kept my face there longer than I’d intended, only belatedly remembering what I’d actually come here to do.
When I looked up, Dania was once again only showing me the side of her face.
"Show me your face, Dania."
"…Hngh."
She bit her lower lip slightly as she looked at me, and a little moisture had gathered at the corners of her eyes.
I hadn’t expected her to be holding back tears, and I was startled enough to ask, "Are you okay…?"
She looked down at me with eyes full of resentment.
"You pervert…."
Hmm. If I went any further, she really might cry.
"R-Right… yeah. That was good. Really good. Thanks, Dania."
Trying to smooth things over, I backed away from her with awkward words, but she was still glaring at me.
She must have hated it more than I’d thought.
That meant she was jealous enough of Verita to endure this, so I ought to have been happy—but seeing tears in her eyes made me feel guilty before anything else.
"Sh-Should we stop here?"
"Keep going. Until I can no longer think of Lady Verita…."
No, how was I supposed to keep going when she was making that face?
"Then let’s do something else. I’ve smelled enough of Dania already."
At my words, she lowered her arms and hugged her own shoulders.
Seeing that only made my guilt worse.
"…What else did Lady Verita do?"
Even while her eyes were wet with tears, that was still all she could think about.
As an apology, I decided to make a suggestion for her this time.
"After letting me smell her scent, Miss Verita smelled mine too."
"R-Really?"
Dania asked back as if she couldn’t believe it.
If I hadn’t known her true nature, I’d have reacted the same way.
"Really. She smelled every little corner of me."
"How could that be…."
Dania’s startled eyes wandered helplessly before locking onto my groin.
Without meaning to, she swallowed hard.
Seeing that, I asked her a question whose answer was already decided.
"You’ll smell me too, won’t you?"
---