Chapter 594: The Butler’s True Feelings
Chapter 594: The Butler’s True Feelings
“So, you’re finally admitting you don’t want to remain just a butler anymore?”
“…That may be so, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up my position as a butler….”
“Me or your job, which is more important?! Choose!”
Finally, finally I got to throw that line at Vanessa.
It was a line I’d always wanted to say to her, but I’d held back until now, afraid she might actually choose her job.
“Urk….”
Unable to answer my question, Vanessa let out a low groan, her face a mask of conflict.
She’s still hesitating? Fine. I guess I’ll have to push a little harder.
“For the record, if you choose your job, I’ll never speak to you again for the rest of my life.”
“U-Ugh… L-Lord Guwon… Nngh….”
Now that I’d cut off her escape route, Vanessa’s lips trembled as she tried to answer, looking as if she were about to burst into tears.
…This makes it look like I’m the one bullying her.
I’d always told myself I’d make her cry one day, but whenever I actually try, my heart softens. My problem is that I’m just too nice.
“I’m kidding. Just kidding. Diana said it before, didn’t she? You don’t have to give up being a butler just to become my woman. You can do both.”
“But if that happens, the hierarchy will….”
“What hierarchy? Are you worried that you, a butler, will be on equal footing with your master, Diana? Dream on. My only wives are Sara, Diana, and Leia. Even if you become my woman, you’ll only ever be a concubine. Got it? There’s a difference as vast as heaven and earth between a wife and a concubine. So you don’t need to worry about pointless things.”
To be honest, I didn’t want to be so strict about the distinction between wives and concubines. It felt like I was discriminating against them, and I hated that.
Of course, I couldn’t deny that I paid more attention to the first three, who supported my current life and accepted the other women.
But did that mean I didn’t love Silvia or Matilda as much? No, that wasn’t it either.
If that were the case, I never would have appointed them as Apostles in the first place.
As different as heaven and earth? What a load of bullshit.
That’s why I’d avoided saying such things until now, but this time, I had no choice.
It was the only way I could think of to put Vanessa at ease.
I steeled my heart and deliberately spat out the words I didn’t mean—that she’d only be a concubine.
But Vanessa had been observing me far more closely than I’d realized.
At my statement, which should have angered or disappointed someone in her position, Vanessa simply let out a soft sigh and muttered.
“…Please don’t say things you don’t mean. Do you think I’m not aware that the distinction is a mere formality? You yourself treat everyone without any discrimination.”
“A-A mere formality? What are you talking about? I….”
“If you could save Lady Silvia or Lady Matilda from the brink of death by sacrificing your own life, would you choose not to?”
“Hey. Of course I’d save them. No matter what, she’s still my woman. How could I abandon her?”
“Even though your death would bring sorrow to your three wives?”
“……”
Don’t hit a nerve like that.
Weren’t you in a panic just a moment ago? Why have you subtly reverted to your expressionless face?
“S-Still, Diana is very clear that she’s a wife and you all are concubines, so the hierarchy won’t collapse, right?”
“Do you think Lady Diana is unaware of something that even I know? And does she truly seem like the type of person who would enforce a strict hierarchy over the concubines?”
“……”
No, she wasn’t.
Even though she and Sara were always bickering over who was the main wife, I’d never seen either of them lord it over the others.
It was more like Silvia and Matilda knew their place and acted accordingly.
Vanessa seemed to agree with my assessment.
“The only reason it seems like a hierarchy exists between the wives and concubines is because the two who were accepted as concubines are handling the situation properly.”
But by saying this herself, Vanessa had given me an opening for a counterattack.
The fact that she gave me an opening meant that while her face was expressionless, she hadn’t completely regained her composure.
“Well, I do have a knack for spotting good women.”
“This is not the time for you to be boasting.”
“I’m saying you’re one of those good women.”
“…Hah!”
At first, Vanessa had stared at me with cold eyes, thinking I was just bragging, but when I explained the meaning behind my words, her cheeks flushed red again.
“In the end, if you join as a concubine, you’ll handle it well too, won’t you? Am I wrong?”
“But….”
“Hey. Do you really not want to be my woman that badly?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to! But….”
“Aargh! Seriously! ‘But, but, but,’ you’re so noisy! That’s enough! You’re my woman from now on!”
“B-But!”
“You don’t have the right to refuse.”
“That’s so selfish… Mmph….”
I moved the hand on her shoulder to the back of her neck, pulled her face toward mine, and kissed her on the lips.
I thought I had persuaded her with words, but I never imagined I’d have to force the issue like this at the very end. I felt a little pathetic myself.
But if there was any consolation, it was that while Vanessa protested verbally, she didn’t try to avoid my kiss.
No. In fact, she tangled her tongue with mine eagerly, as if she could no longer hold back. It was filled with passion, but also quite clumsy.
I raised both hands to stroke her hair as we continued to kiss.
And as I stroked her hair, something hard began to emerge from her head.
Did she remember I was fixated on her Dragonian form and transform on her own?
Or was it like that time she got so excited her transformation came undone? Was our kiss so blissful that it was happening again?
Well, either way was fine with me.
I continued to stroke her hair, and for good measure, I occasionally flicked the horns that my fingertips brushed against.
“With this, you’re my woman from now on. Got it?”
“Yes… Hah… I under…stand….”
After the long kiss ended, I held both sides of her head, fixing her gaze on mine, and made my declaration.
Vanessa was breathing heavily, but she nodded and, this time, gave me a clear answer.
“Say it with your own mouth.”
“Th-There’s no need for that….”
But even though she’d accepted it, it seemed she was quite embarrassed to declare it herself.
When I told her to say it, she blushed and tried to refuse.
But I had no intention of backing down here.
After she confessed, she acted like she was going to be my woman, but then in front of Diana, she’d insisted she would remain a butler.
I had to make her say it with her own mouth.
“I can’t trust you otherwise. Think about what you did after you confessed.”
“…I… from now on… am Lord Guwon’s… woman….”
Vanessa must have felt guilty about it too, because she finally gave up her resistance and obediently tried to make the declaration.
“Concubine.”
“Ngh! It’s the same thing…!”
“Concubine.”
“…Ugh… From now on… I am Lord Guwon’s… con-concubine.”
“Mm. Very good.”
“…I am not a child.”
When I praised her, patting her on the head, Vanessa’s face turned an uncharacteristic shade of crimson as she averted her gaze slightly and muttered.
“Well, you have lived ten times longer than me. Should I call you grandma?”
“…Go ahead, if you want to be a pervert with a granny fetish.”
I threw out a little joke to lighten the mood while she was embarrassed, but as expected, even in a situation like this, Vanessa was still Vanessa.
I can’t believe she’d hit me with a counter like that even in her current state.
I hastily decided to change the subject.
“Alright then, Vanessa. Shall we perform the final ritual?”
“…Ritual?”
“Hey, don’t play dumb. You know exactly what I mean.”
I lowered one hand and gently squeezed Vanessa’s ample breast.
She had been letting the water on her body air-dry after our dip, and perhaps because she’d gotten a little cold, the nipple atop her ample breast had hardened slightly.
I rolled the hard nub between my index finger and thumb as if to soften it, but Vanessa’s nipple only grew harder.
“Nngh… Hah… Isn’t this… just what you want to do, Lord Guwon?”
Vanessa shot me a cool glance as she said it, but she didn’t try to remove the hand that was toying with her breast.
Her reaction gave me even more confidence. I brought my other hand to her other breast and grinned wickedly.
“Heheheh. That’s right. I’m a piece of trash who’s only after your body.”
“Ngh! S-Stop it! If you say things like that, I might get the wrong idea, you know?!”
Vanessa seemed to have caught on to what I was thinking, because her reaction was a bit more intense.
She keeps reverting to her expressionless face, but it shatters again so easily.
I guess an iron mask, once removed, is easier to take off a second time.
“Haaah…. You’re right. Someone who didn’t truly love you might think that.”
“D-Didn’t I… say… that I love you….”
“Did you really? But the Apostle Appointment already failed once.”
“That was absolutely not my fault! If anything, isn’t the problem with you, Lord Guwon?!”
“What are you talking about? That’s impossible.”
Even as I said that, I fell into thought for a moment.
Wait. My fault? The condition for activating the Apostle Appointment was to ejaculate inside a partner whose affection was maxed out.
But when it says ‘maxed-out affection,’ does that only refer to the partner’s affection?
In the game, you obviously just had to max out the NPC’s affection. But this was reality, where affection wasn’t visible as a number, and I didn’t even know how it was measured.
Could it be that not only the partner’s affection but my affection for them also needed to be at its maximum?
If that’s the case….
I stared intently into Vanessa’s eyes.
“…What is it?”
When I suddenly stopped moving my hands and just stared at her, Vanessa muttered in a slightly embarrassed voice.
“Yeah. It’s definitely not my fault.”
“Ngh…!”
“More importantly, Vanessa. Did you just say it was absolutely not your fault?”
“…Didn’t you just say the same thing, Lord Guwon?”
“That’s because I love you an incredible amount. Are you saying you do too?”
“Is there… a problem?”
“Well, no, there’s no problem… No. Wait a minute. Hold on. So you’re saying that ever since we tried the Apostle Appointment, you thought there was no problem with your feelings?”
“……”
At my words, Vanessa averted her gaze and remained silent, as if refusing to answer.
But that reaction was as good as an answer.
“Wait. Does that mean you thought it was my fault back then? That it failed because I didn’t like you that much? Is that why your attitude suddenly changed?! And you suspected I was only after your body because of that?!”
“I wasn’t… thinking about it that seriously….”
“Hey. Then you should have said something! I know you’re not the type to show your inner thoughts, but a misunderstanding like this needs to be cleared up through conversation! I’m telling you, I really like you! You don’t believe me?!”
“…I believe you.”
Vanessa muttered in a slightly dejected voice, seeming quite sorry that her actions had twisted things up like this.
“You only believe me now! What were you going to do if I hadn’t come today, or if I hadn’t noticed…! You’re already hard to read with that expressionless face! This won’t do. You need to promise me right here, right now.”
“…Promise what?”
“That if you ever have doubts like this again, or if something feels off in our relationship, you’ll be honest and talk it out with me.”
“…I understand.”
“Good. From now on, no more secrets between us, okay?”
“…Yes.”
“Alright. Then let’s test it out with a question. Your most sensitive erogenous zone is… Hey. It’s a joke, don’t look at me like that.”
Of course, it was true that Vanessa’s attitude had complicated things.
But we’d resolved it safely in the end, and I had no intention of grilling her about it now.
So I tried to make a little joke to lighten the heavy atmosphere, but Vanessa stared at me with an expression colder than I’d expected.
“I am also joking.”
No, I’m telling you, your jokes are hard to understand.