Chapter 577: The Butler's True Feelings
Chapter 577: The Butler's True Feelings
I moved my hips several more times, as if to savor every last sensation of Vanessa.
Before the afterglow of her climax could even fade, I came inside her as well.
“Khuung… Heut… Nngh…”
Watching Vanessa’s body tremble once more as she let out a sexy nasal moan, I finally prepared to perform the Apostle Appointment.
To do it right after we’d confirmed our feelings for each other… Things were moving much faster with her than with the other girls, but this was all for Diana’s sake.
I composed myself and waited for the lingering sensations of her orgasm to subside. Then, timing it for the exact moment her body went limp and sagged in the bathtub, I activated Apostle Appointment.
…
And nothing happened.
…Huh? Wait a second. For real? Seriously? Really?
Unable to process the situation, I fell into a slight panic.
And why wouldn’t I? I had activated it immediately after coming. Even with Leia, who absorbed my life force, the Apostle Appointment had worked within this timeframe.
For it not to activate despite that could only mean one thing: the other condition hadn’t been met.
No, to be honest, I hadn’t been entirely without my own thoughts that this was a bit too fast.
But still. This was Vanessa. The same Vanessa who had just ignored a warning from the Diana she revered so much to confess to the man who would become her husband.
You can imagine just how much she must like me to have made such a decision, right?
So of course I thought it would work! Who would have guessed that the Apostle Appointment would fail because her affection level wasn't at 100?!
She betrayed Diana and acted this way, knowing full well Diana wouldn't approve. How much courage must that have taken… Wait. What if that entire premise is wrong?
What if she didn't betray Diana at all… No. What if she doesn't even like me in the first place…
No. But if that’s the case, why would she do all this?
Don’t tell me she was just testing me to see if I was a man worthy of Diana?
…It’s possible. For this butler, who is absolutely loyal to Diana, it’s entirely possible.
“Haah… Huu… Nngh… Sir Guwon?”
Perhaps sensing something was off as I stared blankly into space, Vanessa, having barely escaped the afterglow of her climax, tried to sit up and face me… but then, perhaps thinking she needed to remain penetrated for the Apostle Appointment, she pressed her rear tightly against my pelvis again, letting out a sexy sound. She then turned only her head to look at me.
Normally, such a sexy move from Vanessa would have gotten me incredibly worked up, but in my current state, I just couldn’t feel it.
“You… don’t love me?”
“…Hah?”
Hearing my mumble, Vanessa furrowed one eyebrow, her expression asking what kind of nonsense I was spouting.
“The Apostle Appointment! The condition is that you have to love me, but it didn’t activate… You don’t love me, do you?! You tricked me?!”
“Wha…! No, I don’t! I, kugh…! I love you!”
Startled by my shout, Vanessa sat up, pulling my Dick out of her, and faced me directly.
She grabbed my arms tightly with both hands and, though slightly embarrassed, looked me straight in the eyes and confessed her love in a firm, clear tone.
Hearing Vanessa’s powerful confession of love, I felt my panic begin to subside.
Vanessa. You’re cutting off the circulation in my arms. Could you let go?
Ah, no. That’s not it. Right. No matter what, she wouldn’t lie about a love confession.
This was the girl who felt immense guilt toward Diana just from my caresses, yet she’d gone so far as to have sex with me. And more importantly, we’d kissed.
And thinking back to Diana’s apology in the room earlier, Vanessa must really like me.
But if that’s the case, then what… Ah, wait a minute. Then could it be…
“More than anyone else?!”
“…No. That is…”
And just as I expected, Vanessa’s voice trailed off, unable to answer my follow-up question properly.
I knew it! So that was it!
The condition for Apostle Appointment is an affection level of 100.
Of course, this world is reality, not a game, so even that standard is imprecise. And not all the rules that applied in the game apply here. But to explain it in game terms, raising a character’s affection to the maximum was incredibly difficult if they already felt the highest level of affection for someone else.
No, it wasn’t completely impossible, but the effort required was insane.
There were even cases where a character seemed to be head-over-heels in love, but when you checked their affection level, it was stuck at 99.
And considering Vanessa’s reaction just now, it seemed my guess was correct.
At that thought, I couldn’t control the jealousy welling up inside me.
Honestly, I thought it was a little ridiculous to feel this jealous of Vanessa, a girl I’d only just confessed to today, but what can I do? This is just my personality.
Besides, the fact that I had tried and failed to perform the Apostle Appointment, thinking she was completely mine now, might have made the jealousy even more intense.
“Didn’t you confess because you loved me the most?! What bastard is it?! Who the hell do you like more than me?! I’ll grab them by the throat and…”
“It is Lady Diana.”
“—pull her into a tight hug and kiss her! That’s our beautiful Diana for you! Loved by one and all!”
Phew. That was close. I almost got myself into big trouble. I was so blinded by jealousy that I nearly said something I shouldn’t have.
I mean, you’d normally assume it was a man, right?
Fortunately, I managed to dodge the bullet by changing my words mid-sentence, but it seemed Vanessa thought otherwise.
She stared at me with the same cold eyes she used to have before her confession.
This is dangerous.
I felt an urgent need to change the subject.
And in this area, I was a recognized genius.
“In the first place! Diana! Were you a lesbian?!”
“Wha…! I am not!”
“Liar! Then why would Diana’s name come up at a time like this?!”
To be honest, I was slightly suspicious she might be a lesbian.
This was only in the context of a game, but affection between people of the same sex was usually classified separately under the name ‘trust,’ unless the person was homosexual.
“I am speaking only of the magnitude of affection! The only one I love as a member of the opposite sex is you, Sir Guwon!”
But Vanessa refuted my claim with precision, declaring she was not a homosexual.
There was no way she would know about game systems, so what she just said was probably the truth.
In that case, does it really just mean her affection level is insufficient?
It might be my own arrogance, but I don’t think that’s it.
In any case, even after the misunderstanding was cleared, Vanessa and I continued to face each other, staring into each other’s eyes. As time passed, it started to get awkward.
But if I looked away first, I’d lose.
I decided to launch a preemptive strike.
“You keep chanting ‘I love you, I love you.’ Just how much do you like me?”
“Kugh… And you, Sir Guwon. You seemed to get so worked up that you lost your senses, mistakenly thinking I might love someone else. It makes one wonder just how much you… kgh… l-like me.”
But Vanessa didn’t waver under my attack and countered with another precise rebuttal.
This girl… even though she’s getting slightly embarrassed, she’s not holding back.
I could feel my face flush, but I still didn’t look away from Vanessa.
Vanessa, too, stared back at me with determined eyes, as if refusing to lose.
We remained locked in a standoff for a while longer… until I finally couldn’t bear the silence and spoke first.
“How about a truce?”
“Agreed.”
Fortunately, it seemed Vanessa was just as uncomfortable with the standoff, as she accepted my proposal the moment the words left my mouth.
Once the conversation was settled, we moved quickly.
After all, we both wanted to save Diana from her crisis.
It was a shame that I’d failed to make things a done deal with the Apostle Appointment, but that didn’t mean we could just not go.
I quickly pulled a pair of pants out of my inventory and put them on.
Vanessa stared intently at my pants.
“Wh-what is it?”
“…Those pants. Could you give me a pair as well?”
“They’re all freshly washed, so they don’t have my scent on them or anything.”
“They are for me to wear!” Vanessa growled, lightly covering her rear with her hands as I spoke in a teasing tone.
Why was she getting mad at me? She was already in her Dragonian form when I got here.
“What’s wrong with going as you are?”
Of course, there were some traces of our lovemaking left, but the hole itself wasn’t a big problem.
Her tail covered most of it.
Sure, the hole had gotten a bit bigger as her tail grew during sex, but that was when her pants were slightly pulled down.
Now that they were properly pulled back up, the evidence of the enlarged hole was on the upper part of her tail.
In other words, there was just a small opening on her lower back.
Even that was hidden by the long tails of her butler’s coat, so it was completely unnoticeable from the outside.
“Th-this form is…”
But Vanessa hesitated, uncharacteristically, and flicked her tail.
So her Dragonian form really is a source of trauma for her.
“I think it’s beautiful, you know.”
“But…”
“I’m not just saying that, I mean it. And honestly, I bet everyone else will think so too. Why don’t you try staying in that form just until we get to the others, as a test?”
Hoping to help her overcome her trauma, I shared my honest feelings and recommended she maintain her Dragonian form.
“…Do you, do you truly like this form of mine so much?”
Vanessa hesitated slightly, but then looked at me with an expression that pleaded for me to say yes.
When that Vanessa looks at you with such an expression, what man could possibly deny her the answer she wants?
“Yes. It’s incredibly beautiful.”
“…Sir Guwon.”
As I nodded and affirmed it vigorously, Vanessa’s expressionless face shifted into one of slight emotion.
Hey, don’t get so moved by something so small. You’re making me embarrassed too.
It’s not like I gave her some grand compliment. I just called a genuinely beautiful girl beautiful.
“A-and, if you stay like that, you’ll be ready to go anytime, as long as you get rid of the tail, right?”
Unable to bear the atmosphere any longer, I ended up cracking a joke, just like I do with the other girls.
“…Wh-what was that?! Are you a pervert?!”
As if she never imagined I would think of such a thing, Vanessa quickly brought both hands to her rear and began glaring at me with an intense fire in her eyes.
“A pervert?! We were just doing it until a moment ago, so isn’t it natural to think that way?! Besides, if anyone’s a pervert, it’s you!”
“Hah?”
Hey, I’m being serious, don’t use that tone with a straight face. It’s scary.
“You ripped my pants again! Do you have any idea how many pairs that is?! You have a fetish for this, don’t you?!”
“N-no, I do not! If we’re going by that logic, you also grabbed my horns and…! Kgh…”
The sweet atmosphere from before had vanished, and we were once again glaring at each other in a standoff.
“…How about a truce?”
“Agreed.”
Realizing that continuing this would benefit neither of us, we quickly called a truce and decided to head out to rescue Diana first.
And because of all the chaotic back-and-forth, Vanessa ended up going all the way to my room in her Dragonian form.
Hmm. It seems she’s smoothly overcoming her trauma. All according to plan. My plan. …Seriously.
“Got it? Now that the Apostle Appointment has failed, the only thing we have to go on is our feelings for each other. It might be a little tough, but we have to keep telling the girls how much we love each other until they’re convinced. Understood?”
“…Understood.”
After stopping in front of the door for a quick final check, we hurriedly opened it and entered my room.