Chapter 518: The Aftermath
Chapter 518: The Aftermath
Human emotions are a fleeting thing.
No matter how happy or how furious you are, that feeling rarely stays at its peak forever.
Emotions calm down, and before you know it, they’ve weathered away. That’s just how human beings are.
Why the sudden, random tangent, you ask?
What do you mean, why?
I’m saying that with the passage of time, my girls’ anger finally began to subside.
It was a long time coming. I can’t feel my back anymore.
To think they’d beat me so mercilessly, even after I so earnestly begged for a time-out.
Well, I did something to deserve it, so I can’t really complain.
In any case, once the back-smashing finally stopped and the situation entered a temporary lull, I seized the opportunity to explain the course of events up to this point.
I had a feeling that if I missed this timing, the chance would be gone forever.
First, I started from when I had a meal with Rachel a while back.
At that time, it was truly just a meal to thank her for helping me find Diana despite being on her way home from work.
But when the three of them suddenly walked in while the two of us were eating, I was so startled that I hid out of pure reflex.
The excuses Rachel made back then were just things she blurted out while flustered and rambling. At least, that’s what I thought at the time.
But as time went on, I realized that wasn’t the case. Still, I couldn’t betray you all, so I thought I couldn’t accept her feelings.
Because of that, we started treating each other with an awkwardness that wasn’t there before.
But after being rescued from the shipwreck, I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t keep ignoring her feelings.
Not after seeing her crying, desperately having sex with me while I was unconscious.
Pretending not to know someone likes me this much… it’s impossible for me.
As I explained this in a serious tone, Sara, who had been listening quietly, finally spoke.
“So, what? You’re saying that if someone loves you that sincerely, you’ll just keep accepting them from now on? Is that what you’re trying to say?”
“No! That’s not it! It’s not like that…”
I hurriedly denied Sara’s words, but then I hesitated, unsure of what to say next.
She was right. Based on my explanation so far, that’s exactly how it sounded.
Like I wasn’t doing it because I wanted to, but because Rachel liked me so much.
To only realize that after Sara pointed it out… what an idiot I am.
It was never my intention. It truly wasn’t, but… subconsciously, was I trying to avoid being blamed any further?
The thought filled me with a bit of self-loathing.
Was this really all the grit I had, trying to bring another woman into our lives?
Even if it meant putting my girls through such an unpleasant experience.
No. That’s not it. Absolutely not.
It’s not too late. There’s still a chance to fix my mistake.
I steeled myself and decided to convey my true intentions clearly.
“No. The truth is, I might have had feelings for Rachel from the very beginning. It’s just that with you all always by my side, I didn’t easily notice my own heart. That must be why, even as I treated her awkwardly under the pretext of not betraying you, my heart kept aching. But seeing her when she rescued me, I became certain that I like her enough to want to accept her myself. And I realized I couldn’t suppress those feelings any longer. I want to accept her not because she likes me, but because I like her. That’s why I’m asking you all like this. I’m sorry.”
For their own lover to say he likes another woman this much was probably a harsh thing to hear.
But even so, saying this was the only way to not be disrespectful to Rachel, or to my girls who had already given me permission to take on another woman.
Therefore, as I spoke, I didn’t avert my gaze. I calmly accepted the girls’ reproachful stares.
“Hngh…!”
Sara clenched her fists, Diana furrowed her brow, and Leia bit her own lip.
Each with a different expression, but all conveying the same emotion, the three of them quietly looked down at me.
“…I understand your feelings well enough. Very well. Do as you wish.”
And the one who broke the long silence was none other than Diana.
She had spent last night with me, lazed around with me until morning, and then heard this right after we finished our meal.
Of the three, she had every right to be the angriest, but despite that, Diana was the first to permit me to accept Rachel.
When it really counts, it’s always Diana who reacts most maturely, as the eldest.
I really can’t thank Diana enough.
“Diana?!”
Sara, who must not have expected Diana to agree so easily, cried out her name with a look of disbelief. But Diana simply closed her eyes and shook her head.
“That’s enough, Sara. Is this not something we already permitted?”
“But…!”
“Besides, the man is saying this much. He’s saying it knowing full well it will hurt us. You don’t truly believe he likes Rachel more than us, do you, Sara? The fact that he’s still saying all this means he has already made a firm decision in his heart. If that is the case, then I have nothing more to say.”
“……Hmph.”
As if persuaded by Diana, Sara said nothing more and remained silent.
Though she did glare at me with tears welling up in her eyes.
“…Guwon-ssi. Could it be, could it be that more than us…”
Leia, who had been glaring at me quietly, placed her hands on her knees, leaned forward until her face was right in front of mine, and whispered those words.
It was a pose that greatly emphasized her chest, but I had no room to pay attention to such things right now.
An angel was glaring at me.
Right now, all I could see was the angel’s expression.
“More than us… hic.”
Seeing Leia hesitate, I finally realized what she was trying to ask.
That one thing Diana had taken for granted. If that single assumption was wrong, Diana’s argument would lose all its persuasive power.
Leia was trying to confirm it now.
Even though the very thought was so hard for her to voice that she was about to cry.
“Of course not! That’s absolutely not true! I’m only saying this because I got your permission before. If even one of you said no, I would definitely give up on these feelings! Of course, it’s true that I like Rachel. But my feelings for you all will always come first. That fact will never change, even if I die. Isn’t that why I’m asking for your permission first, before I even properly confess to Rachel? So please, don’t even think such a thing. Trust me!”
I grabbed Leia’s shoulders firmly and spoke, trying to convey that she never had to worry about that.
My earnest eyes and Leia’s tear-filled ones met and held for a moment.
Then, Leia finally let out a small, lovely smile.
“Yes. I trust you.”
A smile like that with tears still in her eyes. In the end, an angel is an angel.
“Thank you. I really love you.”
“Yes. I love you, too.”
After getting Leia’s permission, I turned my gaze to Sara, who had yet to give her consent.
When our eyes met, Sara shot me a glare that said she could kill me, then let out a deep sigh and spoke.
“…Just you try neglecting me because you’re fooling around with Rachel. I seriously won’t let you get away with it.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll stick to you so much you’ll find it annoying.”
“You and your words. Get up already. How long are you going to stay like that? You’re making it look like we’re some evil women dying to tear you to shreds. Kneeling with a loud thud for no reason.”
As I said that, Sara muttered as if she still hated my guts, then grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet.
As I was pulled up by her arm and finally straightened my kneeling legs, Sara bent down, reached out her hands, and dusted off the floor with a few pats.
…Not my knees, but the floor where I had been kneeling.
“Is the floor damaged? Hmm. Looks okay.”
“…Hey. Shouldn’t you be worrying about my knees first in a situation like this?”
“What? What are you talking about? For someone so ridiculously tough.”
I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t help but say something.
But Sara paid my reaction no mind, stuck her tongue out slightly in a ‘bleh’ expression, and said it proudly.
……No. Right. Yeah. She’s right. She’s right, but still.
“Ridiculously tough?! It’s because I’m this tough that I was able to return safely after being shipwrecked on the 4th floor, you know?!”
“Ah, yup. Right, right. So usefully tough.”
“You little…”
Even as I wore a dumbfounded expression, I felt grateful and happy inside.
I could tell that this was Sara’s way of making a joke to lighten the heavy atmosphere.
“Sara. There is no need to worry. When this mansion was built, I personally selected the finest materials and commissioned the best architect. No matter how absurdly tough this man is, it will not break so easily.”
“You don’t have to play along with a joke like that, you know?!”
What do you mean, absurdly tough?! I mean, you’re right, but still!
In the first place, is there anyone who wouldn’t seem absurdly tough compared to you, Diana?!
“Oh my, a joke? I wasn’t joking.”
“That’s even worse! Even I’ll cry at this rate!”
To make matters worse, Sara was right there, piling on.
I tried a half-hearted threat, but Sara just snorted, completely unfazed.
“Hmph. Go ahead and cry.”
“Y-You… Just because you cried, you’re trying to make others cry too.”
“I-I did not cry!”
“Yes, you did!”
I reached out both hands, cupped Sara’s face firmly, and used my thumbs to wipe away the tears still lingering at the corners of her eyes.
“Here! Look! This is… Whoa!”
As I held up my tear-stained thumbs to Sara, she suddenly took both of them into her mouth at once and began to suck.
Hey. You could just suck on them, why are you using your tongue?!
I mean, it feels incredibly good, but still!
“Smooch. What am I supposed to be looking at?”
With a final little smooching sound, Sara pulled my thumbs from her mouth and spoke, her cool expression back in place.
“No, ma’am. Thank you very much.”
“Wh-What are you talking about?! Are you a total idiot!?”
Hey now. Aren’t you blushing at a simple ‘thank you’ because you know exactly what I mean?
If you were going to get this embarrassed, you shouldn’t have used your tongue in the first place.
“Fufu. You two are really something… But Guwon-ssi, you said you haven’t properly confessed to Rachel-ssi yet?”
Leia, who had been giggling beside us with a hand covering her mouth, brought her face close to mine, tilted her head slightly, and looked up at me with that question.
“Ah, yeah.”
To be precise, I had confessed.
It just couldn’t be called a proper confession because Rachel had deferred her answer, judging that I wasn’t in my right mind after being shipwrecked for so long.
“In that case, Rachel-ssi doesn’t know that you have our permission…”
It seemed Leia was a little worried about Rachel, who was likely still agonizing over this all by herself.
How can she be such an angel? At this point, shouldn’t I seriously consider the theory that Leia is the reincarnation of an angel? The next time the Goddess descends, I’ll ask her that first.
“Ah. About that.”
In any case, thanks to Leia’s question, I realized that I wasn’t completely out of the woods yet.
I’d forgotten for a moment after clearing one hurdle, but now I remembered there was still one more, even bigger hurdle left.
Accepting Rachel was something I knew they’d eventually allow, since they’d already permitted me to take on another woman before. But this time, it was a hurdle so big that I wasn’t even sure I could get proper permission, making it, in a way, even more daunting than what I just went through.
“…Um, Lady Sara?”
I looked at Sara with the most pathetic smile I could muster.
“Wh-What is it? All of a sudden.”
Sara was flustered by my sudden change in attitude. I brought my hands together and rubbed them pleadingly as I continued.
“Actually, I have a date with Rachel tomorrow.”
“Hmph! So! Why are you telling me… ah.”
At first, Sara seemed to be getting angry out of simple jealousy, but she wore a look of realization mid-sentence.
It seemed she had figured out what I was about to say.
“Heh heh. Actually, I have an urgent favor to ask of you, Lady Sara… Kuh-heok!”
“Die!”