Chapter 180: Leia's True Feelings. And Diana, Once Again
Chapter 180: Leia's True Feelings. And Diana, Once Again
“Sleep well?”
The next morning. Guwon, who had woken up first and was stroking Diana’s hair, greeted her with a loving gaze the moment she opened her eyes.
But Diana just stared at him with a sullen expression.
“…What are you staring at?”
“What do you think? You, of course.”
“…I’d like to think neither of us is that foolish, but I must confirm. Surely, you don’t think that I’ve become your woman just because of what happened yesterday, do you?”
“Huh? What are you talking about? You said we’d kiss…”
At Guwon’s words, Diana’s face instantly flushed with anger.
“When did I ever say we would kiss?!”
Uh… huh? Come to think of it, she only said she liked me. She never actually promised to kiss me again.
“B-But you said you liked me…”
“Everything I said yesterday is null and void! Void! After tormenting me like that, toying with me and keeping me on the verge of climax, you really think we had a sincere conversation?!”
“D-Diana? C-Calm down.”
“And what was that attitude yesterday in the first place! While having a conversation that could decide my entire life, you toyed with a woman to the point she couldn't even think straight?! And then you sweet-talked her in that state and claim your true feelings got through?! Are you kidding me?!”
“N-No. I was just trying to help you be a little more honest…”
“Then you might as well have given me a truth serum before we talked! Huh?! To make me more honest!”
At Diana’s furious reaction, Guwon finally understood why she was so angry.
“Diana. I’m sorry, I was being thoughtless. But I really didn’t mean it like that…”
“If you didn’t mean it like that, then what did you mean?! Is that all you ever have on your mind?! And your skills have gotten needlessly good, making me so, so…! You don’t even know how I feel…!”
Diana couldn’t finish her sentence, her body trembling.
Then, her eyes sharpened as she glared at Guwon again.
“…Why is that getting hard? Are you trying to solve this with your oh-so-confident sex, even now?!”
“No. Wait a second. It’s not like that. It’s just reacting because you’re moving on top of me…”
“Shut up! Your whole attitude is rotten!”
With that, Diana began to pathetically tap Guwon’s chest.
Of course, it didn’t hurt at all, and her actions might have even looked cute. But seeing the look on her face, there was no way I could feel pleased.
This was truly unfair. Unless I was impotent, there was no way I wouldn’t react with it inside her while she was moving on top of me like that.
Besides, she was the one on top right now; she could just pull away if she wanted to talk.
And then, Diana said something I couldn’t just ignore.
“That attitude of trying to seduce any woman you see! And trying to solve everything with sex!”
Yeah. I definitely couldn’t let that slide.
I admit I was in the wrong, but I’ve never gone around hitting on just any woman.
“I apologize for trying to solve things with sex. You’re right, I was being thoughtless. I guess I was so desperate to do something that I subconsciously tried to solve it with the one thing I’m most confident in. But, please, correct one thing. ‘Any woman’? I’ve only been with you, Sara, and Leia…!”
But Guwon’s remark only fueled Diana’s rage.
A vein throbbed on her forehead as her eyes twitched.
“Oh, ho. Is that so? Not just me and Sara, but Leia as well. My, what a thing to be proud of!”
Diana stopped tapping Guwon’s chest.
At the same time, he could feel an immense amount of mana erupting from her body.
“L-Lady Diana? What are you doing…?”
“Just as you did, I intend to discipline you with what I’m most confident in.”
W-Wait a minute! Sara’s attacks were physical, so I could endure them, but if Diana attacked me with magic, I’d be dead in an instant.
“L-Lady Diana. P-Please, calm down first…”
“Yesterday, when I told you to stop, that my decision would depend on your future actions and that it wasn’t about sex, how did you respond? Did you stop as I asked?”
D-Did she say that? Honestly, I was having so much fun from the halfway point that I just went with the flow, so I don’t really remember…
“W-Well… uh…”
“…Surely you haven’t forgotten, have you?”
“Eh, ehehehe.”
“You really do need to be taught a lesson!”
BOOM!
As the massive sound echoed, Guwon lost consciousness.
In that final moment, what stuck with him more than the pain in his body was the sight of Diana’s face, looking as if she were about to cry.
*
“Oh? You’re awake?”
When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I heard was Sara’s voice.
“…Sara? Where am I…?”
“Diana’s room, obviously.”
“Why are you in Diana’s room… Right! Where’s Diana?!”
Remembering what happened before he passed out, Guwon shot up.
“She’s not here. She left in a real fury a while ago. What on earth did you say to her?”
“N-No, it wasn’t anything major… I just told her that I genuinely like her, too. It’s just that the process was a little…”
“What did you do?”
“Well… Diana was still angry, so to get her to be a little more honest, I used sex to…”
“Are you an idiot?!”
“Y-You think so too, Sara?”
“Of course! During a once-in-a-lifetime confession, you tried to distract her with sex, get her to let her guard down, and then force an answer out of her? I knew you were a fool, but I never thought you were this much of an idiot…”
Don’t keep calling me an idiot. It hurts.
And since you like this idiot, you’re just insulting yourself.
“B-But everything I said to Diana was sincere. I meant every single word.”
“Then you should have just said it, even if she was angry. If you were truly sincere and Diana had feelings for you, she would have understood. Why did you have to use sex to…”
“Because, in the end, that’s what I’m most confident in. I must have subconsciously relied on it… Ugh! What do I do?! What should I do? How was she? Did Diana seem really mad?”
“Yeah. I’ve never seen her that angry before. You should know without even asking, right? This is the first time Diana’s ever used magic on you, isn’t it?”
“…What should I do? What’s the best way to handle this?”
“Why are you asking me? Even if I knew the answer, do you think I’d tell you? From my perspective, if things go well between you and Diana, it just gives me another rival.”
“…You’re right. I’m sorry. It was wrong of me to even bring this up with you.”
“N-No. It’s not something you need to apologize for…”
When Guwon apologized so frankly, Sara seemed rather flustered.
“Cheer up. I like you when you’re bright and cheerful.”
“S-Sara…!”
Sara’s kindness almost brought tears to my eyes.
“S-So stop making that face!”
…Right. It’s not like me to be moping around after one failure.
I just have to make sure I don’t make the same mistake again.
I’ll apologize to Diana sincerely and tell her my true feelings again.
Unless I’m completely mistaken, I should have one more chance. I don’t believe the feelings Diana and I have built up until now are so shallow that they’d disappear after a single mistake.
“Sara, I’m heading out!”
“Okay. Go on. But I won’t be cheering for you.”
She says that, but Sara really is kind.
Her words having bolstered his courage, Guwon was about to run to Vanessa.
“But, Guwon.”
“Yeah?”
“Are you going to go like that?”
Hmph. She’s so cute.
Guwon walked over to Sara and gave her a light kiss.
“I’ll be back.”
Caught off guard by the sudden kiss, Sara stared at him blankly for a moment before her face turned bright red.
“I-Idiot! I didn’t mean that, I meant your clothes! Your clothes!”
…Huh?
Only then did Guwon realize he was still naked.
C-Close call. I was almost arrested before I even got to see Diana.
And I completely misread the situation and did such a cheesy thing to Sara…
Guwon hastily pulled out some clothes and put them on.
“W-Well, I’m off.”
“…Yeah.”
Now in a slightly awkward state with Sara, Guwon headed for Vanessa.
Sara said Diana had stormed out, but our all-powerful butler, Vanessa, would surely know where she went.
Guwon found Vanessa and got straight to the point.
“Vanessa! Do you know where Diana is?”
“…I believe that is a question I should be asking you. What did you do to Lady Diana?”
But Vanessa was in full-on hostile mode.
“I’m sorry. I was too reckless and made a mistake with Diana. But I want to apologize. Please, just help me this once.”
As Guwon readily bowed his head and apologized, Vanessa’s gaze seemed to soften, if only a little. …Probably.
Honestly, she has such a poker face, I can’t read her expression.
“…I do not know Lady Diana’s whereabouts either. She left in a state of anger without saying a word.”
Damn it. She left without telling even Vanessa? She must be seriously pissed.
But I couldn’t give up now.
Guwon immediately turned to leave.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to go ask around!”
“Do you have any idea how large this city is? Would it not be better to wait here quietly for Lady Diana’s return?”
Vanessa said, staring at Guwon as if testing him.
“How can I just wait?! I want to talk to Diana as soon as possible!”
Guwon immediately dashed out of the mansion.
But finding Diana by asking around proved to be much harder than he’d thought.
He’d found Sara the same way last time, so he’d hoped it might work again, but reality was harsh.
There were too many differences compared to when he was chasing after Sara.
First, the time.
Checking the time, he saw that two hours had already passed since he’d been knocked out.
That alone made it incomparably more difficult than when he had chased Sara immediately after she left.
And another thing.
Diana was incredibly good at vanishing without a trace. Good enough to hide from the members of the Mage Association, who were like a fanatical cult.
If Diana had decided to hide her destination as she moved, finding her would be next to impossible.
And finally…
“What? A beautiful elf with silver hair, silver eyes, and long ears? And she’s probably wearing a wizard’s robe? What, are you looking for the Supreme Archmage herself or something? Hahaha.”
When he described Diana’s appearance, most people, like the man laughing in front of him now, just thought of the Supreme Archmage and burst out laughing.
Agh. Shit. I am looking for the Supreme Archmage, you bastard!
Saying that would obviously just get him treated like an idiot, so Guwon had no choice but to walk away without a word.
…This isn’t working.
He’d spent some time asking around with Diana’s description, but he only realized that this wasn’t something he could solve with sheer determination.
Should I just do as Vanessa said and wait quietly at the mansion?
The thought crossed his mind, but sitting around and waiting just wasn’t his style.
Is there really nothing I can do right now?
As he pondered this, the face of an angel flashed through his mind.
The face of an angel named Leia.
Right. I was so focused on Diana that I’d forgotten, but she isn’t the only urgent matter I need to deal with.
Leia, who went back to the temple to sleep last night, was just as urgent.
Unless I was mistaken, the fact that Leia had been sleeping at the mansion lately meant her feelings for me had grown that much. It could have just been an attachment to the party, but Guwon was leaning more toward the idea that Leia was starting to have feelings for him, too.
Though it might just be me being overconfident now that things are going well with Sara and Diana.
In any case, if Guwon’s thoughts were correct, Leia returning to the temple to sleep was a very dangerous sign.
Either way, there was no way to find Diana right now.
I’ll talk to Diana calmly when she returns to the mansion. For now, I should talk to Leia, since I know exactly where she is.