Chapter 704: Daily Life
Chapter 704: Daily Life
“You! Get over here!”
The first person to greet me when I arrived at the mansion was Diana, her voice sounding strangely agitated for some reason.
She sounded like she was about to scold me at any moment, but I wasn’t the least bit scared.
And why would I be? I hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Yeah. I’m back.”
“Hmph. So you’ve returned. Y-You fool! Is this really the time for such a relaxed greeting?! Get over here and explain yourself!”
When I greeted her nonchalantly, Diana instinctively returned the greeting.
Immediately after, she started patting my chest with little thumps, then grabbed my sleeve and dragged me inside.
Her behavior was highly suspicious.
You could say she looked angry, but then again, she also looked like she was about to cry. She seemed anxious, yet also a little frightened.
Don’t know what I’m talking about? Don’t worry. I’m thinking the same thing.
Besides, an explanation? What on earth for…?
Utterly clueless, I let Diana lead me away without resistance.
The place we arrived at was, for some reason, Sara’s room.
Wait a minute. Sara’s room?
Could Diana’s strange behavior be because of what happened this morning?
Didn’t Sara already explain everything?
Silvia knew the whole story, too. There was no way Diana didn’t know.
My questions were answered the moment I stepped into the room.
Inside were not only Sara, but Leia and Matilda as well.
And for some reason, both of them were blushing, wearing slightly troubled expressions.
“Ah, G-Guwon. Welcome back.”
“…Haaah. You…”
The moment she saw me enter, Leia gave me a troubled smile and a greeting, while Matilda sighed with an expression that said she had something to say.
And as for Sara, the owner of the room…
“Ah, Oppa! Welcome back!”
For some reason, she welcomed me with a beaming smile.
No, the wide smile wasn’t the problem.
The real problem was the way she spoke.
Oppa? Formal speech? And with a cute, childish voice, no less?
Sara, of all people?
“……”
Witnessing this unbelievable sight, I could only stand frozen in silence.
Looking at me, Diana pointed a finger at Sara, her face on the verge of tears.
“Say something! Make an excuse!”
“…No, I mean. That is. …Wait a second. I have no idea what’s going on.”
“What am I supposed to do if you don’t know?!”
Hey. Calm down. I get that you feel like your mind is about to shatter, but just calm down.
Why are you the one about to cry, Diana?
“No, seriously. What’s gotten into her all of a sudden?”
“Isn’t this your doing?!”
“What do you mean… wait.”
Hold on a second.
What was the excuse Sara decided to use for what happened this morning?
That I, being angry, had punished her with sex…
The moment I thought that far, I understood everything.
I see! So that’s what this is!
No wonder Vanessa had been looking at me all afternoon like she had something important to say!
No wonder Silvia had been trembling so unusually!
This was why?!
“Hey! Sara, you!”
“Eek! Wh-What is it, Oppa?”
As I was about to shout, having grasped the whole situation, Sara cowered as if she were some kind of meek little sister.
But as she did, I didn’t miss the way she subtly avoided my gaze.
Th-This girl… to think she’d blindside me like this.
What did I ever do to you?!
“Is this any way for you to be scaring Sara-yang?! Explain yourself!”
Watching us, Diana yelled in a frantic voice, patting me with little smacks.
She wants an explanation, but…
Seeing the utterly terrified Diana, I had no choice but to scratch my head.
If I carelessly said that Sara was lying, I’d have to explain why I dragged Sara away this morning in the first place.
That would just complicate things and make the whole excuse pointless.
Well, the moment Sara blindsided me, the whole thing was already pointless, but still.
In any case, it was difficult to say Sara was lying, but it was just as difficult to coolly accept the situation as it was.
One might think that even if I did accept it, the only one in a tough spot would be Sara, who would have to keep acting like a little sister and calling me Oppa. But that wasn’t the case.
The problem was Diana.
While Leia and Matilda just looked a little troubled, why was Diana the only one so uniquely anxious?
The reason was simple.
To begin with, I’d almost never teased Leia. As for Matilda, while I might have on a normal day, I rarely teased her when we were sleeping together. Even the frustrating play from yesterday was just a method to maximize the efficiency of the curse removal.
So, for those two, seeing Sara completely tamed by my sex wasn't a cause for much anxiety.
But Diana was different.
After all, I’d been teasing Diana in bed whenever I felt like it.
From Diana’s perspective, she might be thinking this:
Up until now, he’s barely managed not to cross the line, but if his mischief gets just a little bit worse, I could end up being tamed just like Sara.
That’s why Diana was so scared and anxious right now.
“Well, you see… I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
I had a perfect grasp of the situation, but that didn’t mean I had any way to resolve it.
So in the end, I just got on my knees and obediently apologized.
That Sara. Just you wait.
I glared at Sara out of the corner of my eye, but she desperately avoided meeting my gaze.
“Just how far did you go to make Sara-yang end up like this?!”
“No. Uh. Yes. I’m reflecting on my actions. I went too far.”
“A person has to have some restraint! Some restraint! What are you going to do about Sara-yang?! How can I possibly believe you won’t do this again?!”
…Diana. You’re definitely saying that more out of worry for your own future than for Sara, aren’t you?
Well, I get it. I have been teasing you a bit more than the others. Right. I’ll try to hold back from now on.
“No, I mean, that’s…”
To calm Diana down, I desperately tried to signal Sara with my eyes.
Hey! You started this, so you fix it! There’s a time and place for jokes! It’d be one thing if it was just me, but why did you have to drag Diana into this?!
“Um, Diana. You don’t have to be so worried.”
Sara was already so good at reading my inner thoughts it was like she was a mind reader.
Thankfully, it seemed she read my mind this time, too, as she soothed Diana with a slightly apologetic expression.
“Hmm?”
“There’s no way Oppa would do something like that to you, Diana. It was the same this morning. It was all my fault; Oppa didn’t do anything wrong. Oppa was just giving Sara a little loving discipline to correct her bad behavior…”
“S-Sara-yang is broken!”
“You little brat! Diana! That’s not it! Seriously! Hey! Sara!”
“Yes, Oppa?”
“What do you mean, ‘Oppa’?! Are you going to stop messing around or not?! You keep this up and Oppa’s going to have to really punish you!”
“Y-You’re thinking of punishing Sara-yang even more?!”
“No! That’s not what I meant!”
Sara kept playing around, calling me Oppa to the very end.
Diana’s mind was shattering as she saw the transformed, fully-conditioned Sara and worried about the future that awaited her.
And then there was me, stuck between Sara and Diana, unable to do anything.
It wasn’t the usual three-way battle where Sara and Diana would fight and I’d mediate, but the chaotic moment that followed was even more confusing.
And in the end, what happened was…
“I really can’t believe it! There are some jokes a person should and shouldn’t make!”
“Hear, hear! You need to reflect more…”
“You’re not blameless either! Just because Sara-yang misunderstood and pushed you a little this morning, who in the world punishes someone like that?!”
“Right here… I mean. Yes. You’re absolutely right. I’m sorry.”
“Both of you, reflect on your actions!”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry.”
Sara and I ended up apologizing to Diana together.
Still, it took a long time to improve the situation even this much.
By explaining that I had punished Sara with sex this morning, and that Sara, being a little miffed about it, had decided to get back at me by pretending to be conditioned all day, we were finally able to resolve Diana’s state of confusion.
It felt incredibly unfair that I had to apologize too, but seeing Diana finally looking relieved and refreshed, I decided to just stay quiet for now.
“Hmph. Honestly. We have to go to the dungeon tomorrow, and you two made me worry needlessly all day.”
“Sorry, sorry. But you feel better now, right?”
“I really do. The day before going to the dungeon, I thought something had happened to Sara-yang, and I was so…”
“No, I wasn’t talking about Sara. To think you were that scared of my peerless virility. You’re so cu—I’m sorry.”
Diana, don’t you think you’re glaring a little too fiercely?
If I said one more word, she looked ready to launch a spell at me.
Anyway, by the time we finally managed to calm the commotion, it was already quite late.
Because of that, we quickly finished dinner and, in preparation for the dungeon tomorrow, dispersed to our own rooms without even having tea time.
Of course, I went to my room with Sara.
“…So. What was that all about? Weren’t you thanking me this morning? Why on earth… Huh! N-No way! Was telling me to go to Rachel a trap?! Did you do that because you were angry that I actually went?!”
“N-No! Do I look that petty to you?”
“Then let’s hear the reason. The ever-so-magnanimous Sara.”
“It’s just that… a little…”
“A little?”
“…S-Since it was a lie, I thought it would be better to act that way so no one would get suspicious…”
“……”
I see. So that’s what it was.
So she had no intention of messing with me at all; it was just a little incident that happened because she’s genuinely bad at lying.
“Well, say something.”
“You are unbelievably bad at lying.”
“I-I know that!”
“And after you so confidently said to leave it to you.”
“Th-That was me doing my best, you know!”
“I trusted you and left, only to find you’d set a trap for me. Do you have any idea how much I suffered all day because of you? Vanessa kept looking at me like I was some kind of weirdo, and Silvia was so scared she couldn’t even think about coming near me.”
Seeing Sara unable to even meet my eyes, looking apologetic because she knew she was in the wrong, I let out a loud, pointed sigh and started listing my grievances.
I wasn’t lying. Just exaggerating a little.
“I-I said I’m sorry!”
“Just with words?”
“……”
“Just with words?”
“……”
“Just with…”
“Aah! Fine! I get it! I get it! What do you want me to do?! You perverted, sadistic Oppa!”
“Oh? You want to atone with your body? I wasn’t planning on it, but! If that’s what you really want! If that’s the only way you’ll feel better!”
“Th-This pervert… after all that this afternoon, what more are you planning to do…?”
As I spoke with exaggerated flair and a huge grin, Sara muttered with a slightly weary look on her face.
“Well, we were just talking about it. Aren’t you a little curious?”
“What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“You know. Whether I can actually condition you with sex.”
“…What?”
“Should we try it out as a test?”
“Wai—! Are you being serious?”
“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you. I’ll just… no. I’ll make you feel really, really good!”
“A-Are you crazy?! Crazy! Conditioning, of all things…!”
“What? Not confident?”
“…It’s not that.”
“You can surrender now if you’re not confident. Then I’ll just do it normally. All you have to do is say one thing. ‘Sara isn’t confident she won’t be conditioned by Guwon-oppa’s sex, so please forgi—’”
“Y-You little! Conditioning or whatever, just you try it!”
When I deliberately provoked her with a condescending tone, Sara finally fell for the bait and shouted in a fit of anger.
“Then I won’t hold back.”
“Aah…!”
Of course, I didn’t hold back.
Sara’s face, stained with despair the moment she realized her mistake after seeing my reaction, was quite cute.