Chapter 676: Daily Life
Chapter 676: Daily Life
Having pinned me against the wall, Vanessa stared at me intently with her characteristic expressionless face.
That face, already strangely intimidating, had an even greater intensity when seen up close.
And the moment I looked at that intense, expressionless face, I could tell what Vanessa wanted to talk about.
In fact, it would have been stranger not to. There was only one possible reason for Vanessa to act like this so suddenly.
Right. Of course. Thinking Vanessa would have let it slide without noticing was just wishful thinking.
So, was she just acting this morning out of consideration for Diana?
No, I mean, after seeing Leia before the meal, I did think it was more plausible that Vanessa's behavior this morning was an act rather than Leia's. But to think it was actually true...
Even Diana seemed to think Vanessa had genuinely not noticed.
As expected of our super butler. She's perfect.
With a feeling of half-resignation, I braced myself for the scolding that was sure to come.
But no matter how much time passed, the scolding I expected from Vanessa never came.
It was only after looking closer at her face in confusion that I realized just how flustered I had been by her pinning me to the wall.
If that weren't the case, there's no way I wouldn't have felt something was off about her expression.
While Vanessa's expression was blank, it didn't have the feel of her usual, perfect iron mask.
Her eyes were trembling subtly as if she were troubled by something, and her mouth would open as if to speak, only to close firmly again without a word, over and over.
There's so much I want to say, but I don't know how to say it.
Her face seemed to say just that.
"Vanessa..."
"...I am currently on duty as a butler."
A long, silent moment passed between us.
And just as I, unable to bear it any longer, opened my mouth to say something, Vanessa finally spoke.
"Ah, yes. Of course."
It was good that the suffocating silence was broken, but I had no idea how to respond to her words.
To the point that I reflexively used formal speech.
She's on duty as a butler right now?
Isn't that her usual line when I try to get her to fool around while she's working?
What? Did I make a pass at her without realizing it?
No, more importantly, wasn't she about to call me out for what I did with Diana last night?
While I was confused, unable to grasp the intent behind her words, Vanessa took a short breath and spoke again.
"...Therefore, what I am about to say is not as your woman, nor is it out of jealousy. I am well aware that even as your woman, I have no right to interfere in such matters. However, I am Lady Diana's butler. Purely as Lady Diana's butler, and for Lady Diana's sake, I must speak."
After spitting out the words, which sounded like an excuse to herself, Vanessa let out a deep sigh and glared at me, her eyes sharper than before.
"Excessive acts... should be... please, try to restrain yourselves."
And the words she finally managed to get out were, as expected, exactly what I had anticipated when she first slammed her hand against the wall.
Oops. So she did find out.
Because of the long silence, I'd had time to prepare myself, so I was able to take her words more calmly than I'd expected.
Calm enough to even find it cute that she couldn't bring herself to say "don't do it at all" and instead settled for "restrain yourselves."
Well, even if I say I was prepared, it was more a feeling of resignation that what's done is done.
"For the record, it was with Diana's consent..."
In any case, I decided to change the direction of the conversation, partly to defend myself.
Seeing as she said she had to speak for Diana's sake, she might be misunderstanding something.
"I know you're not the kind of person who would force someone to do such a thing!"
But it seemed my worries were unfounded, as Vanessa said this in a slightly heated voice, her face faintly flushing.
Her expression seemed to say, 'I know, so don't talk about such embarrassing things so openly!' as if she were the one feeling embarrassed, which was quite cute.
"Ah, right. Thanks for trusting me."
"Kgh... It's not you I trust, Guwon-nim. I was merely... referring to Lady Diana..."
Trusting me that much makes me a little embarrassed, you know.
When I thanked her with an awkward expression, Vanessa let out a short groan before reverting to her cool tone to make her excuse.
But contrary to her cool tone, her words made no sense at all.
"Do you remember what you just said? You didn't say it wasn't something that could be forced; you said I'm not the kind of person who would force it. You're not suggesting Diana took the lead and forced me, are you?"
"Keuk..."
When I pointed that out, Vanessa's face reddened a little more, and the hand she had planted on the wall next to my head clenched into a trembling fist.
It seemed she was only calm on the surface and not nearly as composed as she appeared.
Well, she was calling out someone else's sex life—specifically, the perverted sex life of her own man and her own master. It would be stranger if someone could speak calmly about that.
"But if you knew we did it by mutual consent, isn't it strange that I'm the only one getting scolded? You should call Diana over and scold her too."
"There is no way I could say such a thing to Lady Diana!"
"...But it's okay to say it to me?"
Sure, I'm not her master, but I'm her master's husband.
If she were speaking as my woman, maybe, but if she's speaking as a butler, shouldn't it be impossible for her to say such things to me, too?
"Tsk...! What are you trying to say?"
As she shot back the question, Vanessa looked as if she already knew exactly what I wanted to say without me having to spell it out.
"I don't mind if you're just jealous. No, actually, I'd be happier if you were."
"Kgh... D-Didn't I say that's not what this is?"
As I spoke with a smile, Vanessa's face grew even redder.
The posture was still Vanessa pinning me to the wall, but the upper hand had completely shifted to my side.
I could feel it instinctively.
And as proof, when I raised a hand to gently stroke her cheek, Vanessa didn't even think to push it away, her voice even trembling slightly.
Honestly, I thought this attitude of hers was a good sign.
Vanessa spoke as if she clearly separated her role as a butler from her role as my woman, but when you dug deeper, that wasn't the case at all.
To be sure, when she was on duty, Vanessa tried hard to act as if she wasn't my woman.
But on the other hand, when she was my woman, she showed no effort at all to act as if she wasn't Diana's butler.
I wasn't saying she should be reckless with Diana, but from my perspective, it seemed Vanessa was too bound by the thought of being Diana's butler, even when she was with me as my lover.
But showing this side of herself meant that her belief in following and absolutely obeying anything Diana did was weakening, even if just a little.
That's why I gave an even more satisfied smile, but it seemed Vanessa interpreted my smile differently.
Vanessa finally slapped away the hand that was gently stroking her cheek and spoke, her voice still slightly heated.
"In any case, restrain yourselves from now on! What would you have done if someone other than me had found out!"
As expected of our iron-blooded butler.
To think she'd try to force the conversation back on track like that.
Even while not completely composed, did she notice I was subtly steering the conversation in a strange direction?
Tch. I thought I could just gloss over it and get away with it.
"Well, I was planning to use magic before we got caught..."
...but thanks to the unexpected event of running into Leia, our cute little pervert Diana got too excited and couldn't cast the spell.
Of course, I couldn't say all that, even to Vanessa, so I had to trail off.
"More importantly, does that mean no one else noticed yesterday besides you? We actually ran into a maid on the way."
"...I am aware. I smoothed things over with her."
"How?"
"I told her that a high-level water spirit summoning had gone awry and it had run amok."
Wow, she's smart.
Hearing Vanessa's explanation, I was genuinely impressed.
Right. An excuse like that would explain the water suddenly dripping from the ceiling, the chandelier shaking, and the water droplets left in the hallway we passed through.
Huh? Wait a minute. Does that mean she noticed the water droplets in the hallway?
No, before that, for an excuse like that to work, wouldn't Vanessa have had to be nearby from the start?
It would be strange to claim that only the summoned spirit was rampaging in a completely different location while Vanessa was somewhere else entirely.
"Hey. In other words, that means..."
"I was simply on my way to investigate something suspicious—someone climbing on the chandelier—when I encountered her!"
As if sensing what I was about to say this time as well, Vanessa offered an excuse before I could even speak.
She might be telling the truth.
Vanessa had always shown an ability to grasp the movements of everyone inside the mansion.
Well, considering she twisted my arm without knowing who I was when I used Stealth, it seems she can't perfectly identify everyone.
In any case, being Vanessa, it's possible she really did notice someone climbing on the chandelier, found it suspicious, and came toward us.
But if Vanessa was nearby...
No, even if that wasn't the case, putting her story together meant that Vanessa had cleaned up all of Diana's vaginal fluid that had been spilled on the way to my room yesterday.
Once I realized that, I thought I could understand why Vanessa would go so far as to say this to me, effectively interfering in the sex life of the absolute being that was Diana.
And I felt an overwhelming urge to hug the blushing Vanessa in front of me.
"In any case, this conversation is over. This is a matter related to Lady Diana's reputation. Please restrain yourselves in the future."
But Vanessa moved faster than I could embrace her.
Taking a deep breath to compose herself, Vanessa—who now looked perfectly expressionless again, save for her slightly flushed cheeks—turned and started walking back toward the carriage.
Combined with the fact that her lecture ended so anticlimactically for someone who had pinned me to a wall, her retreating back looked to me as if she were running away.
As if she were fleeing because continuing the conversation would put her at a disadvantage.
I quickly chased after her retreating figure and wrapped my arms tightly around her from behind.
I poured all my complex feelings into the hug—my guilt for unintentionally making her clean up after us, and the joy and fondness I felt for her being jealous, even when the other person was Diana.
"Kgh! Did you hear what I said! This kind of behavior is—"
"I'm not trying to do anything weird."
Vanessa cried out with a surge of emotion and tried to break free, but I spoke in a serious voice and tightened my arms, holding her even closer.
"Ngh...!"
Perhaps because my voice was quite serious, Vanessa stopped moving with a low groan.
After holding her tightly like that for a few minutes, I finally let her go.
"Shall we really head to the carriage now? We might be later than Leia and Matilda at this rate."
"...Yes."
I don't know if my feelings were conveyed through that hug.
But without asking about the meaning of the embrace, Vanessa simply replied to my words with her usual curtness.