Chapter 595: The Butler’s True Feelings
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 595: The Butler’s True Feelings
Was it really my fault, like Vanessa said? Was the Apostle Appointment failing because my love wasn’t enough?
With the situation as it was, all sorts of thoughts began to run through my head.
First, I grabbed both sides of Vanessa’s face firmly and stared straight into her eyes.
“…Ugh… hh… W-what is it….”
Even as she moaned from the pleasure of my fingertips brushing against her horns and the lingering afterglow of her climax, Vanessa deliberately answered more bluntly, as if embarrassed, and tried to look away when I stared straight into her eyes.
Of course, that attempt ended in failure because of my hands holding her face firmly.
After staring intently at Vanessa like that, I was able to reach a conclusion.
Mm. She’s incredibly beautiful. Incredibly lovely. Yep, the problem isn’t with me.
Having gained such conviction just by looking at her face for a moment, I continued my thoughts with a slightly more relaxed mind.
It’s a relief that the cause of the failure isn’t me, but then what on earth is it?
Could it be that Vanessa still… No. Let’s stop.
I had just finished interrogating Vanessa for not fully trusting me. How could I turn around and not trust her now?
She said so herself, so it was a clear fact that she had completely fallen for me.
…Still, I should probably check just in case.
“Vanessa.”
“Hh… Y-yes… what is it?”
As if my breath on her face tickled, Vanessa flinched slightly, but she still maintained that same deliberately blunt reaction.
“You love me, right?”
“…I love you.”
Vanessa blushed as if embarrassed by my words, but it seemed she noticed from my serious tone that this wasn’t just a simple whisper of love.
After a moment’s hesitation, she finally gave a small nod and told me she loved me.
Yep. Lovely.
To be honest, even though I already knew, part of the reason I asked was just because I wanted to hear her say it.
“You love me more than anyone, right?”
“…Lady Diana…”
“More than anyone, right?”
“…Yes.”
At my continued questioning, Vanessa, who had initially tried to say yes with the exception of Diana, finally nodded her head when I persisted.
“Say it out loud.”
“Ugh… More than anyone… I… love you….”
Frowning as if struck by guilt, her pussy clenching tightly around me, Vanessa finally uttered the words herself.
Even if it was because I forced her, this was the Vanessa saying this.
There was no room to doubt Vanessa’s love for me.
In that case, the reason for the failure must be… something else I don’t know about.
“…The Apostle Appointment… it’s not working?”
While I was lost in thought, it seemed the afterglow of Vanessa’s climax had faded and she was gradually regaining her composure.
Having regained her senses, Vanessa seemed to guess what was happening from my expression. She stroked her lower abdomen with one hand and asked the question in a slightly lonely tone.
“Yeah. It seems there’s another condition I don’t know about.”
I didn’t particularly want to ruin Vanessa’s mood by telling her it failed, but it wasn’t something I could just gloss over.
She’d find out soon enough anyway, and more importantly, we had just agreed not to suffer alone and to talk things out openly.
“…Is… that so.”
“Hey. Don’t you go doubting me again, okay? I really do love you. I wish I could just open up my head and show you.”
“…I know.”
“Then you won’t go around telling the others you can’t be my woman, right?”
“…Yes. I… am your woman, Master Guwon.”
As Vanessa answered, I once again felt her pussy clench tightly around me.
If I followed my heart, I’d want to go another round… but honestly, my mind was too preoccupied with the failed appointment to be in the mood.
I’m not such a sex fiend that my actions are dictated by my lower body even at a time like this.
But I didn’t feel like pulling out of her either, so I hugged Vanessa, laid back, and shifted her so she was on top of me.
I held her body tight enough to crush it, and Vanessa buried her face in my shoulder, letting me hold her.
In that position, I decided to try and sort out my thoughts once more.
First, let’s think about the conditions for Apostle Appointment in the game.
No matter how different reality was from the game, the basic skill functions and conditions had always been the same.
In the game, the conditions were definitely: maxed-out affection, and activating it after ejaculating inside. There were only those two.
It’s hard to believe the conditions for a skill like that would change in reality.
In that case, the most likely issue is that I don’t know exactly how ‘affection level’ is applied in reality…
Affection level. Affection level…
Even if ‘affection level’ isn’t a one-way street but a value representing mutual feelings, there’s no room to doubt my and Vanessa’s emotions.
Although it hasn’t been long since we realized our feelings, Vanessa and I have spent a considerable amount of time together since I fell into this world. If you just count when we met, I met her even before Silvia.
At this point, I could say with confidence that I love Vanessa as much as Silvia or Matilda.
And Vanessa, too, said she loved me more than the Diana she so respects.
I did force her, of course, but even taking that into account, her feelings for me must be at a similar level to her feelings for Diana.
Again, there’s no room to doubt those feelings.
Then the problem of the affection level not being maxed out shouldn’t exist… Huh? Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let’s think like it’s a game. Game logic.
In the game, what did you have to do to max out the affection level?
I’m sure that in the game, just spending time together and building affection wasn’t enough to raise it past a certain point.
And to remove that limit, you had to complete the individual quest each NPC had.
It wasn’t always some grand, epic quest.
The point was to do something to break down the walls around their heart.
Of course, this is reality.
It’s not like a game where something like that would put a limit on how much we can love each other.
But let’s look at it from a different perspective.
What if one of the conditions for Apostle Appointment is completing a quest to break down the other person’s emotional barriers?
In the game, it was something you had to do to max out affection anyway, so what if I just never noticed it was a separate condition until now?
If I think of it that way, everything falls into place.
Sara, Diana, Leia, Silvia, and Matilda—I must have cleared all their quests without even realizing it.
And thinking about it, I had an idea of what it was for all five of them.
For Sara, helping with her revenge.
For Diana, vowing to live with her forever.
For Leia, solving her Gumiho problem.
For Silvia, solving her frigidity problem.
For Matilda, curing her curse… No. Wait a minute. I haven’t cured Matilda’s curse yet?!
Of course, if you look at it that way, I haven’t completely solved Leia’s Gumiho problem either, but there was an excuse for that.
Since Leia had no intention of being with any man other than me, even if she couldn’t completely control her Gumiho state, it was no longer a problem.
But Matilda?
Countless men are still suffering, caught up in Matilda’s curse.
Of course, if she stays with me, the curse will eventually be broken.
But a curse that will be broken and a curse that has been broken are two completely different things.
If this ‘quest for Apostle Appointment’ really exists, I doubt the condition would be that flimsy.
It looks like I need to check this out.
“Vanessa!”
“Hk! Y-yes?!”
When I hurriedly called her name, Vanessa, who was still burying her face in my shoulder, shot up in surprise.
Hm? Come to think of it, I feel something strange on my neck where Vanessa’s head was just buried.
Did she really leave a hickey on me while I was lost in thought?
“…W-what is it.”
Vanessa tried her best to act blunt, but anyone could see this wasn’t her usual self.
Not that I mind. I actually like it.
The contrast makes her even cuter. And the fact that she was making hickeys on my body means she isn’t agonizing over the failed appointment like before.
“I think I might know the reason why the Apostle Appointment failed.”
“…Really!”
Of course, ‘not agonizing’ is relative to before; it seems the failure was still weighing on her mind.
As soon as she heard me, Vanessa’s eyes widened slightly in reaction.
For the record, for Vanessa, that’s a pretty big reaction. Her iron mask has slipped a lot these past few days, so it might not seem like much, but it is.
“Yeah. There’s something I need to check. Follow me.”
“Hh…”
I grabbed Vanessa’s waist to help her up, and I slowly got out of the bathtub myself.
My dick twitched as if disappointed to be leaving her body after only one round, but I can savor her body to my heart’s content later.
For now, let’s take care of what needs to be done.
Since we were in the tub, it was a good chance to wash up together, but I decided to postpone that opportunity as well.
After summoning a spirit to wash my body clean, I hurriedly got dressed and pulled Vanessa’s hand.
“Alright, let’s go.”
While I was changing, Vanessa, who had transformed back into her human form at some point, had also neatly put on her butler uniform.
But Vanessa stood her ground and didn’t let me pull her.
“What’s wrong?”
“…I, um, lied to Lady Diana to get this time off.”
Honestly, this woman.
She’s usually so blunt and cool-headed, but she gets so weak when it comes to anything involving Diana.
Hesitating so unlike her.
Well, now she’s like this with things related to me, too. Heh heh.
“So you’re just going to stay here? Isn’t it better to just go and tell her the truth instead of continuing the lie?”
“…That… is true.”
“See? Besides, everyone else already knows you were holed up in your room crying because of me.”
“…Hk?!”
“…Huh? Wait a minute. Why aren’t you denying that you cried? You mean you actually cried? Is that why you had the shower running?!”
“…I did… n’t… Kgh….”
Vanessa opened her mouth to deny it, but then seemed to remember something mid-sentence, letting out a groan and biting her lip hard.
Is she doing this because we promised to be completely honest with each other?! Then she really cried?! Not just anyone, but the Vanessa?!
“V-Vanessaaa!”
“D-don’t make that face!”
“Okay. Okay. Here, come to my arms.”
“Kgh… Didn’t you have something to check? Let’s go.”
As I spread my arms and lunged for her, Vanessa forced a blank expression and this time took the lead, striding out of the room and slamming the door shut.
When I hurriedly followed her out, I was surprised to find Vanessa waiting quietly in front of the door.
“…So, where are we going.”
Vanessa asked, her cheeks slightly flushed as she avoided my gaze.
Right. She doesn’t know what I’m trying to check. Meaning, she doesn’t know the destination.
Is that why she went out first but was waiting here like this?
Kgh. She’s so cute I could die.
I always thought she was beautiful, of course, but I never thought the day would come when I’d find a tall, expressionless beauty who’s nearly 180cm tall to be ‘cute’.
“Of course, there’s something I need to check about the Apostle Appointment, but before that, let’s talk to Diana about us first.”
Seeing her cute side made me want to tease her more, but if she got sulky now, it would be truly unmanageable, so I suppressed my playful urges, took her hand, and headed for Diana’s room.
“…This way.”
And pulling me along, Vanessa strode towards the dining room.
…Wait. How does someone who was holed up in her room until just now know something like that?
I’m not joking, do butlers really have some kind of special ability for that sort of thing?