Chapter 679: Daily Life
Chapter 679: Daily Life
“For real?! Then should we go back through the main entrance on our way out?”
“…Were you planning on climbing out the window on your way back, too?” Vanessa murmured, giving me a slightly dumbfounded look in response to my muttering.
Oh? What’s this? It’s not like her to change her expression over something so trivial.
Well, not that there was much of a visible difference.
When I saw her through the window earlier, she was so motionless that I was starting to get a little worried. But perhaps because she was on standby, Vanessa was a bit more relaxed than usual.
Of course, the change in her expression was fleeting, and she immediately reverted to her perfect deadpan.
“You say you have to go back. Does that mean your business is not yet finished?”
“Hm? Ah, yeah. Matilda still has to greet the Pope and offer her prayers to the Goddess.”
“Then why did you come out here, Lord Guwon?”
“Well, you know, I didn’t have anything to do while Matilda was talking with the Pope… I was bored.”
With every word I uttered, Vanessa’s expression shifted back toward incredulity.
Yeah, yeah. I’m sorry for being the Goddess’s messenger and jumping out of a temple window just because I was bored.
“It doesn’t matter, does it? I’m just using my free time to deepen the bond with one of my women.”
“I am currently here as your butler.”
“Then as my butler, indulge me in a little time-killing.”
I deliberately ignored her stare and hopped up onto the driver’s seat.
Since we’d brought a small carriage, the driver’s seat wasn’t spacious enough for two people to sit comfortably, but when I squeezed my butt in, Vanessa shifted to the side to make room.
“…It is cramped.”
Well, I did get a complaint.
“Then do you want to sit on my lap?”
“I can sense your ulterior motives.”
“What are you talking about! You’ve seen me eat with Diana on my lap plenty of times, haven’t you?! You mean to tell me you were thinking things like that every time you saw Diana sitting on my lap?!”
“No. That and this are…”
As I pressed her with a look of disbelief, Vanessa hastily tried to make an excuse.
Her face was still expressionless, but I could tell.
She’s a little flustered right now. It seemed that even Vanessa couldn’t say anything too harsh when I linked it to Diana.
“No. It’s not different at all. Both are cases of me seating one of my women on my lap. What’s the difference?”
Realizing this, I pushed her even harder.
Making that kind of excuse was her first mistake.
Lately, my girls had been using this tactic on me a lot, but that line was originally my specialty.
And in my expert opinion, you just used it wrong.
“As I said, I am here as a butler, not as one of Lord Guwon’s women.”
“So, it’s fine for me to have my woman, Vanessa, sit on my lap, but if I try to have my butler, Vanessa, sit on my lap, I have ulterior motives. In other words, you’re saying I see my butler in a more lecherous way than my own women. Is that what you’re trying to say?”
“…What are you talking about?”
It was such a ridiculous argument that even I had trouble following it, but the important thing was that it had thrown Vanessa into a state of mild confusion.
“This won’t do. At this rate, the only way to clear up this unfortunate misunderstanding is to prove it with my own body! Here!”
“Kuh!”
I grabbed the waist of Vanessa, who was still trying to comprehend my absurd logic, and forcibly lifted her onto my lap.
Vanessa’s body tensed slightly as my hands wrapped around her waist, but whether she had given up or something else, she sat down on my lap with surprising compliance and no resistance.
“…Are you satisfied with this?”
“…Yeah. But the picture isn’t quite right.”
And to Vanessa, who asked in a voice devoid of emotion as she sat on my lap, that was all I could say.
I mean, I always thought she was tall, but I never imagined it was to this extent.
With her on my lap, I couldn’t even peek my head over her shoulder.
At this rate, all I was doing was burying my nose in the nape of her neck.
“That is what I told you. It does not suit me, anyway…”
“But if we do this, there’s no problem, right?”
“Eut…!”
Sensing a faint hint of disappointment in Vanessa’s voice, I quickly spread my legs to the sides.
Then, I slid her body forward slightly to seat her in the space created between my parted legs.
As Vanessa’s head lowered, I was finally able to lean my face past her shoulder and look at her.
“How’s this? Makes for a better picture, doesn’t it?”
After tucking the hair that was slightly covering her ear behind it, I brought my lips close, as if breathing into her ear, and whispered softly. Vanessa’s body flinched.
That’s right. That’s right. No matter how hard you try to keep a straight face, I know you like me.
If I do this, there’s no way you’d dislike it…
“…You are poking my buttocks.”
But the words that came out of Vanessa’s mouth were far beyond my expectations.
Hearing that suppressed-sounding voice, I reflexively looked down at her magnificent rear.
And there it was. My Dick, slightly engorged, was indeed poking between her butt cheeks.
Hey. Don’t tell me the reason your body trembled just now wasn’t because my whispering felt good, but because of this.
“No. Wait a minute. This is just a reflex because it brushed against you while you were moving from on my knees to between my legs…”
“Let me be clear. I have no such hobbies. And I will absolutely not do it in a place like this.”
I immediately tried to make an excuse, but Vanessa cut me off without even hearing me out.
I don’t have that kind of hobby either! The one with that hobby is your esteemed master, whom you admire so much!
I desperately wanted to say that, but I had to protect Diana’s dignity.
Even I couldn’t say something like that to Vanessa.
“Really? Not even once…?”
“Get down!”
“Gah! Hey, wait! I was kidding! It was a joke! Can’t you take a joke?!”
So I tried pretending I was into it, but the moment I did, Vanessa’s face flushed red as she stood up and sternly tried to shoo me away.
Even if my image was that of a bit of a lecher, I thought a comment of this level would obviously be taken as a joke.
Apparently, Vanessa had taken my words quite seriously.
Well, now that I think about it, she knows what I did last night.
I guess it’s only natural for her to react this way.
“Besides, if you intend to re-enter through the main gate, shouldn’t you be going now? Lady Matilda will worry if she returns and you are not there!”
“In that case, I’ll just use the window… Alright. I’m going, I’m going.”
Tch. I was really just joking this time.
In the end, I had no choice but to be practically pushed back into the temple by Vanessa.
But Vanessa’s judgment was quite accurate.
Not long after I returned to my original spot, Matilda, having finished her communication magic, came up the stairs.
“Oh, you’re back. How did it go? Did the talk go well?”
“…Yes.”
But for some reason, Matilda’s complexion looked quite dark.
She didn’t look at all like someone who had just had a long-overdue conversation with her grandmother.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“No, it’s nothing… Hmm. I see. It’s just that the Pope seemed a little unwell. Her Holiness said she was just tired from her heavy workload, but it’s weighing on my mind.”
At first, Matilda seemed to try to brush off my question, but perhaps having a change of heart, she gave a light shake of her head and told me the reason for her gloomy expression.
“What? The Pope? …Then why don’t you go see her in person? Don’t worry about the dungeon…”
“No, it’s alright.”
Just the news of the Pope being sick would be a great cause for concern for any priest, let alone for Matilda, for whom the Pope was her own grandmother.
I remembered how we had come here so quickly from the Papal Office using a teleportation circle when I first met Matilda, so I made the suggestion, but she slowly shook her head.
“But…”
“It’s really alright. There’s nothing I can do if I go in this state anyway. And there’s no reason for the Pope to lie. It didn’t seem like she was lying, either. And even if Her Holiness really is unwell, the Papal Office is where one can receive the highest level of treatment in the entire world. There’s a reason people say ‘no one dies of sickness within the walls of the Papal Office,’ right?”
She then offered a slight smile after rattling off what, to me, sounded like a lot of self-reassurance.
“So, you shouldn’t make that face either. How about you start preparing to work hard to break my curse?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say I need to prepare. When it comes to you, I’m ready to go anytime, anywhere.”
“Oh my. That’s very reassuring.”
Even when I made a slightly explicit comment, Matilda showed no sign of blushing or slipping into pink mode.
Up until now, pink mode had shown itself to be something Matilda could control depending on her mental state.
So, right now, it meant that even though she was smiling on the outside, she wasn’t in the mood to go into pink mode.
Is she really okay?
I was a little worried, but Matilda’s own will seemed quite firm.
She might not look it, since she usually enters pink mode whenever she’s bored, but when necessary, she’s a girl with a strong will, befitting a Cardinal.
I’d even been on the receiving end of quite a few lectures because of that personality of hers.
Besides, if the Pope had seemed truly gravely ill, she would have gone to the Papal Office even if I tried to stop her. Maybe not worrying too much is the best thing for Matilda?
“Should we go right now, then? What about your prayers?”
“Ah, that’s right. Would you care to join me for once?”
“Sure, why not.”
A Cardinal almost forgot to offer her prayers to the Goddess?
I swallowed the words that rose to my throat and decided to pray with Matilda.
First, we pray, then we hurry off and work hard on lifting Matilda’s curse.
Just as Matilda herself wanted.
“My, my. For someone who is the Goddess’s messenger, your prayers are quite perfunctory.”
That said, having never had a habit of praying in the first place, I couldn’t exactly offer my prayers diligently.
It was to the point where, on our way back to the carriage after the prayers were done, I even got a light scolding from Matilda.
But what can I do? I was a complete atheist before coming here.
If I hadn’t been dropped into this world by the Goddess, I would have been an atheist my whole life.
And if possible…
“I’d rather have a direct conversation with the Goddess herself than offer one-sided prayers.”
That’s right. To speak directly with the Goddess through the Goddess Advent and resolve all my questions.
Growing stronger in the dungeon was important, but in truth, that was the most important task.
Well, in the end, by helping Matilda grow in the dungeon, the time until we can perform the Goddess Advent will be shortened, so it all amounts to the same thing.
“…I’m sorry. If only I could grow a little faster…”
“No. Sorry. I wasn’t blaming you, Matilda. In the first place, the reason you can’t grow quickly is because of me. I should have raised my level faster.”
In truth, what was needed for the Goddess Advent was Matilda’s passive skill level, so it didn’t have much to do with my level.
But I deliberately made it sound like my fault so that Matilda wouldn’t blame herself.
Heh. What a man I am. Aren’t I just the coolest?
“…Is that so. Then let’s go at once and devote ourselves to leveling up and breaking the curse.”
Whether she knew what I was thinking or not, Matilda said as much, taking my hand and leading me on.
Perhaps the prayer had eased her mind a little, as she was able to blush slightly, but she still didn’t enter pink mode despite the physical contact and talk of sex.
If only to pry the worry for the Pope from Matilda’s mind a little more, I’ll have to give it my all today.
Not that I usually hold back or anything.