The Head Butler’s Drive Is Second to None
The air around us felt so heavy it was almost as if time had stopped.
And yet, if the sound of my heart hammering like a madman was anything to go by, time was, unfortunately, still moving.
Verita had stepped out for a moment to help me, so I’d thrown myself at Angela—only for Verita to return at the worst possible time.
Verita at least knew the situation, so she was fine. The real problem was Angela.
From her point of view, she’d just been caught in the act with a man young enough to be her son, in a secret affair she’d tried to keep hidden. It wasn’t just embarrassment; it wouldn’t have been strange if she’d gone straight into panic.
"Ah, ah…."
Just as I’d expected, Angela couldn’t get a single proper word out.
Her mind must have gone completely blank, because she only kept opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish, not even thinking to put her clothes back on.
What should I do?
Should I tell her that Verita already knew about our relationship?
That Verita already knew I was courting Angela—and was even cheering me on?
But if Angela heard that her secret had already been known all along, I doubted she’d feel relieved.
More likely, she’d just feel even more humiliated and shocked.
…Isn’t there a better way?
Wait. I could use Verita’s usual conduct and image to my advantage.
She was always recommending me to Angela as a man, after all.
If someone like that found out about my relationship with Angela, it would only make sense for her to be pleased rather than critical.
If Angela learned that, it would help calm her down.
Yes, that would work.
Seeing that I’d been fretting over something that turned out to be simpler than I thought, I must have been so rattled my brain had frozen solid.
The only thing that still bothered me was that I had no idea what Verita was thinking.
It would have been nice to coordinate beforehand, but with Angela right there, there was no way to exchange opinions secretly.
I’ll just have to trust Verita.
At this point, I’d have to open my mouth first, take control of the conversation, and throw out as many hints as I could.
Verita was definitely not an oblivious woman. She would understand my intention.
Just as I finally found my footing and was about to speak, Verita’s voice came first.
"Please put your clothes on first, and then we’ll move to another location."
---
We were walking down the hallway.
Verita’s back as she led the way gave away nothing about what she was thinking, while Angela followed beside me with her head lowered, tears welling in her eyes.
In that awkward atmosphere, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything either, so I simply kept walking in silence.
The place we entered was Verita’s room.
Once we sat around the table in one corner of the spacious room, the mood somehow grew even heavier.
From beside me came the sound of Angela’s sniffles, as if she might burst into tears at any second.
In truth, no one actually saw her that way, but on the surface she’d become a woman who pretended to be innocent while secretly tempting a young man from behind the scenes. It made sense she’d be shaken.
…I’m the one who has to speak first.
I needed to set the stage and give Verita the right hints if I wanted to steer the conversation the way I intended.
I wasn’t sure it would go as planned, but this was the best option I had, so I decided to trust Verita and make my move.
"I’m sorry, Verita!"
I jumped to my feet and bowed my head toward Verita.
"…Pardon?"
Her voice was as flat as ever, but the slight delay before she answered told me she was caught off guard too.
Of course, Angela was staring at me in confusion as well, but I ignored that and kept going.
"The truth is, just like you always said, Verita, I’ve been seeing Angela as a woman. That’s why I’ve confessed to her over and over again."
Verita kept her mouth shut, but I kept hurling out hints nonstop, hoping my intent would reach her.
"Angela kept refusing me, but I kept clinging to her, so she ended up letting me do things like this. It’s all my fault."
"Ian…."
Angela looked at me with trembling eyes.
Moved by my words to protect her, she seemed to be feeling guilty and sorry.
"I see."
At Verita’s voice, my heart began to pound like crazy.
Had she understood what I was trying to do?
Just as I was waiting for my worries to be resolved as quickly as possible, it wasn’t Verita who spoke again.
"…No."
"Angela?"
I called her name, startled by the sudden denial, but instead of answering me, Angela looked at Verita and continued.
"It’s my fault. Ian was lying to protect me."
"What do you mean, Madam Chairman?"
"…I actually made a promise with Ian."
Hold on. Was she really going to say it?
That I’d promised to marry Selena, and that I’d been practicing with Angela in preparation for the night after?
She’d clearly told me before that she wanted to keep that promise a secret.
"Angela, wait…."
Ignoring my attempt to stop her, Angela continued in a dark, strained voice.
"I asked Ian to become Selena’s husband. I thought he’d be able to make Selena happy…. I was afraid that if it wasn’t a man like Ian, that child would end up alone for the rest of her life."
Verita listened in silence, but her expression didn’t change at all, making it impossible to read what she was thinking.
"At that time, Ian asked me for a favor too. He said he wasn’t confident about the physical side of marriage and asked me to practice with him. That’s how we came to have this kind of relationship… so the cause is mine."
"Angela, are you all right? You said you wanted to keep that private."
"Of course I did, but… I can’t let Ian be the only one who looks bad…."
As she said that, she lowered her trembling gaze.
She was revealing things she didn’t want to say just to protect me; once again, I was reminded that she wasn’t a person at all, but surely an angel.
"That is an unexpected story."
After that brief comment, Verita fell silent again.
Her face looked emotionless, but maybe it was just my imagination.
She seemed to be thinking through a number of things in her head.
But didn’t that mean the situation was more or less resolved?
What Angela had just revealed—the promise and the practice for the night—had only been something she’d wanted to keep hidden. Even if Verita knew, it wasn’t the end of the world.
She didn’t know all the details, but she already knew that Angela and I had gone as far as the brink of penetration.
So if Verita smoothed things over here, we could get through this without a problem.
At last, Verita opened her mouth again.
"I had no idea there were such circumstances. I’m a little surprised, but I understand. As Madam Chairman said, Ian is a good enough man to entrust the young lady to."
As expected of Verita. She knew exactly what needed to be done in a situation like this.
"Re-really? Verita? But you said you were only practicing, and yet you went that far…."
Apparently she hadn’t expected this kind of response, because Angela’s eyes widened.
Verita’s face remained calm as she spoke again.
"I also understand the practice. I’ve mentioned it to you often, haven’t I? The physical side of a married couple’s nights is very important. If you practice in advance, the chances of a harmonious married life will only increase."
Instead of Angela, who could only blink in a daze, Verita continued.
"If anything, I’m moved by the maternal devotion Madam Chairman showed in going that far for her daughter. As expected of Madam Chairman."
"T-that much isn’t…."
Angela didn’t know how to react and trailed off.
Still, I could see that some of the tension had drained from her expression and voice.
"I never expected Verita to say that."
"Did you think I would be angry?"
"No, it’s not that, but…."
"Then there is no problem."
Still unable to make sense of Verita’s intention, I asked cautiously, "Are you really going to do it?"
"Yes. If you’re concerned about being discovered by the young lady or Dania, there’s no need. They’re both in their rooms."
Then, one by one, she began taking off her suit and said, "Ian, you should undress too."
The way she pushed things forward so relentlessly was astonishing.
I glanced at Angela for a reaction, and she was looking at us with a complicated expression.
When Verita urged me again, I started taking off my clothes too.
"Verita, are you really doing this…?"
"Yes. Madam Chairman, please stay and watch. If you see someone else practicing, you may become a better practice partner for Ian as well."
It did seem like my guess was right—Verita really was trying to stir up Angela’s jealousy.
But I still couldn’t be certain.
Will this really work?
While I was worrying over that, before I knew it we were both naked and climbing onto the bed.
Angela’s eyes, fixed on us, trembled with unease, but Verita paid her no mind and kept drawing closer to me.
As if she meant to tease my ear, her lips slowly approached the side of my face.
But my body wasn’t aroused at all.
It was too abrupt, and as I’d said before, I wasn’t convinced by this method.
Then, instead of the expected brush of lips or tongue, I heard Verita’s whisper at my ear.
- Ian. Don’t worry. It will work.
Even though she was speaking directly into my ear, her voice was so soft I could barely hear it unless I focused.
Angela, sitting a little ways away in her chair, naturally didn’t notice, and Verita whispered again as if merely caressing my ear.
- Madam Chairman has feelings for you, Ian. Deep feelings. You can trust me—I’ve watched her for a long time.
Her small but confident voice carried a persuasive certainty.
- Put your heart into it. Make Madam Chairman feel so strongly that she’ll want to do it herself too.
Once things had come this far, there was no turning back anyway.
Steeling myself, I gave a discreet nod to show I understood.
"Then I suppose we should see the results of your practice with Madam Chairman."
As she said that, Verita’s gaze shifted to Angela.
"Madam Chairman, please watch closely as well. This is for Selena, after all."
"…."
Angela still wore a nervous expression.
Maybe because she’d already heard that she had deep feelings for me, she was starting to look like a lover afraid of being stolen away.
Before long, Verita’s mouth—just a moment ago at my ear—moved directly in front of me.
Without hesitation, I pressed my lips to hers, and the warmth of her body and the taste of her saliva washed over me.
"Mmmf! Mm, mmm! Mmph…! Ian…."
Unlike shy, passive Angela, her kiss was rough and wild.
She clung to me with the force of a lover reunited after a long separation, and the tension coiling through my entire body began to turn into heat.
"Hnngh, mmf! Mwah!"
She laced her fingers through mine and shoved her body into me.
Her pleasantly full breasts pressed against my chest, and my cock only hardened further.
"You’re quite skilled. Is that thanks to your practice with Madam Chairman? Haaah."
She swept hungrily across my lips with her own and stirred through my mouth with her tongue.
I thrust my own tongue back without yielding, and rather than retreat, she clung to me as though she’d been waiting for it.
"Mmmf! Mwah… mmf!"
"Verita…."
"Haaah, mmmf…!"
Verita and I, our fingers locked together, moved our upper bodies back and forth with our lips still fused.
The soft feel of her breasts and her hardened nipples made it seem as if our bodies had merged completely.
The sensation of my glans brushing against her lower abdomen was good enough that my hips began rocking forward and back on their own.
As my arousal swelled and my lower body started to ache with need, Verita finally broke the kiss and gazed at me with languid eyes.
"…."
Her eyes looked almost emotionless, and yet because they were so beautiful and so deep, they carried an undeniable sensuality.
As if spellbound, I slowly pushed her shoulders back.
She lay there with every inch of her bare skin exposed, looking up at me.
At that seductive sight, I swallowed hard without meaning to.
Angela couldn’t tear her eyes from us in silence.
Looking at her tightly pressed lips, I felt a pang of guilt, but I forced myself to tell myself that all of this was for the sake of opening her heart.
When I turned back to Verita, a bewitching voice slipped between her soft pink lips.
"Now then, it’s time for a new kind of practice."
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