Chapter 747: A Beginner in Love's Misunderstanding
Chapter 747: A Beginner in Love's Misunderstanding
“I’m sorry! Have you been waiting long?”
After several minutes of waiting in a corner of the Guild, enduring uncomfortable stares, it didn’t take long for Elder Sister Rachel to come hurrying over to me.
“No, not really. More importantly, let’s get going.”
Seeing the anxiety still etched on her face, I grabbed her wrist and quickly made my way out of the Guild.
She said nothing, simply letting me lead her by the wrist as she followed behind me.
Where should we go?
I had originally thought of our favorite cafe, but that place was too conspicuous.
We were already a noticeable pair—the Goddess’s Saint and the Guild Master’s popular receptionist daughter—and we had just caused a bit of a scene inside the Guild, creating an atmosphere that suggested something was going on between us.
If we went to the cafe, there would undoubtedly be people paying us undue attention and trying to eavesdrop on our conversation.
But a place where we could talk without worrying about prying eyes…
Besides my mansion, was there such a place?
No, going to the mansion wouldn’t be a problem, but I had a history of taking her there and then sending her home without anything happening.
Besides that, Rachel might feel some strange pressure if I took her there.
As I walked, mulling over these thoughts, I suddenly remembered the restaurant I had gone to with her before.
That’s right. With that place’s magic, we could have a serious conversation without any interruptions.
Being a high-end restaurant, the price was a bit of a concern, but I was someone who basically never spent money.
Well, to be precise, it was more accurate to say I had no hobbies to enjoy in this world, nor the time for them, so I simply had no occasion to spend it.
I-It’s definitely not because I have money to spare from enjoying the life of a kept man, mooching off Diana! The money I earn from hunts and split with the party is more than enough, really!
In any case, for that reason, going to a fancy place for a slightly extravagant meal once in a while was no problem at all.
Alright. Let’s go there.
The shortest route from here is…
I consulted my map and turned into a nearby alley.
The street we emerged onto after passing through the alley was a quiet place, completely devoid of people.
That’s not to say it was a dark back alley or anything of the sort.
We were still in the commercial district, and this area would be bustling with life at night.
The reason the street was so quiet now was simply that the shops lining it were predominantly ones that only opened in the evening.
The Dungeon has no concept of day or night.
Naturally, many of the adventurers who frequent it also live without a concept of day and night, and many of the merchants who cater to them keep their shops open at all hours for business.
But not every shop could do that, so it wasn’t uncommon to find places that only opened during the day or only at night.
This just happened to be a place where such shops were gathered.
Stepping into this silent place from the noisy, vibrant commercial district, the thought briefly crossed my mind that we could just talk here, but I kept walking.
We couldn’t just stand and talk in the middle of the street, and it would be better to talk in a proper place anyway, right?
“U-Um.”
Just as we turned into another narrow alley to take the shortest route to the restaurant, I heard Rachel’s voice from behind me.
“Yes? Ah.”
Only then did I realize that I was still firmly gripping her wrist, pulling her along at a brisk pace. And with quite a bit of force, too.
I might have even left my handprint on her wrist.
Realizing this, I hastily let go of her.
No, I tried to let go.
“I’m sorry. Did it hurt…?”
“No!”
But the moment I released her wrist, she let out something like a scream and grabbed my wrist with her other hand.
Then she pulled my hand back toward the wrist I had just been holding.
As if telling me to keep holding on.
As if to say that if I let go of this hand, our very relationship would be severed, all with a sorrowful expression on her face.
“Ah… I-I mean… that is…”
When I glanced at her face with a puzzled look, she looked away awkwardly and lowered her head.
Even so, her hand was still gripping my wrist, pulling it toward her other one.
Seeing her like this, I slowly looked around.
Right. I guess we need to talk, even if it’s in a place like this.
There was no one else around anyway, so it met the condition of being a place where we could talk calmly, just the two of us.
“Rach—”
“Please don’t leave me…”
I was about to call her name in a serious tone to calm her down, but she spoke first.
And the words she uttered, her voice trembling…
Well, I had a vague idea this was coming since we were in the Guild, but was this really what she’d been trying to tell me all this time?
How on earth did she come to such a misunderstanding?
It was true that I had been neglecting her lately. That was an undeniable fact, and I felt that no amount of apology would be enough.
But even so, to think that I would dump her… wasn’t that too much of a leap?
“I… I…”
“Rachel.”
“Yes? Mmph…?! Mmm… mmmph…”
I grabbed her wrist and yanked her toward me.
As her body fell into my arms, I gently caught her, supporting the nape of her neck and the back of her head with one hand while wrapping the other tightly around her waist. Then, I gave her a deep, long kiss.
Even after my tongue entered her mouth, she continued to flinch and tremble for a while, but as the kiss went on, the tension gradually left her body.
Finally, when her body went limp, supported only by my arms, I ended the long kiss.
“Rachel.”
“…Yeees.”
When I called her name again, she buried her face in my chest, as if she couldn’t possibly look at me.
“There’s something you should know about me. The truth is, I have a bit of a childish side.”
“…What?”
I paid it no mind and continued speaking as I calmly stroked her soft, blonde hair. Only then did she lift her head slightly.
More than half of her face was still buried in my chest, so I couldn’t see her expression clearly, but judging by her eyes, she didn’t seem to understand why I was suddenly saying this.
“You know how children are so possessive? Once they decide something is theirs, they hate having it taken away. My personality is exactly like that. So.”
“Ah…”
Only after I added that explanation did she seem to realize what I was trying to say.
“What I’m saying is, I have no intention of letting you go either. Of course, since we’re not officially a couple yet and are still in a trial period, you might not think of yourself as mine, but as I said, I have a childish side, so for a long time now, I’ve thought of you as mine…”
“It’s okay. I’m yours, Guwon.”
Rachel stopped my words by hugging me tightly, burying her face completely in my chest again as she mumbled in a small voice.
Her voice was thick with emotion, and I wondered if she might be crying.
Of course, my chest, having just returned from the Dungeon, was covered in thick leather armor, so there was no way to know if she was actually shedding tears.
As I just stood there holding her, a whirlwind of playful words that would break the serious mood and the questions I’d been pondering swirled in my mind.
You’ll regret it if you agree so easily.
No, it’s not just you; I feel a little cheated, too.
I’d thought up a whole speech to persuade you after hearing your past, but for you to just declare yourself mine like this…
No, more importantly, how did she end up with the misunderstanding that I was going to dump her?
Was there some other trigger I don’t know about?
It’s my fault, but even so, her reaction seems too extreme for me just being a little neglectful.
It’s hard to say she started getting anxious because I dumped another woman, Alicia.
Of course, she was acting incredibly strange when we talked about Alicia, but that was only because she was about to tell me something Alicia had asked her to keep secret.
When we met after that, she seemed no different from her usual self.
Although, I did go right when her lunch break was ending, so we only got to talk for a little bit.
All sorts of thoughts swirled in my head, but I forced back the words that threatened to spill out and simply held her quietly in return.
We stood there for a long time, just holding each other in the deserted alley without a word.
And I don’t just mean it felt like a long time; a lot of time actually passed.
So much time passed that Rachel, in my arms, began to realize where we were, what we were doing, and how we were positioned. She started to fidget restlessly, and even after that, a long while passed, so much so that even her breathing, which always betrayed her weakness for improvisation, had finally stabilized.
“…Um. Guwon?”
In the end, it was Rachel who broke the awkward silence.
She’d had plenty of time to think while in my arms, so her voice sounded stable at first, but it was still trembling slightly, probably because she was embarrassed.
In other words, she sounded similar to the Rachel who acts like an experienced older woman.
“Yes?”
“Where… were we going, anyway?”
“Ah, to that restaurant we went to before. I figured we could talk calmly there, just the two of us.”
“…I see. But…”
At my answer, Rachel started to say something, then paused for a moment and took a shallow breath.
Then she lifted her head and, forcing a relaxed expression, continued her sentence.
“If you’re looking for a place where we can talk calmly, there are plenty of places nearby. We don’t have to go so far, you know?”
“Huh?”
“Follow me.”
Grabbing the wrist of my tilted head, Rachel turned and, this time, took the lead.
Our roles are completely reversed from when we left the Guild.
That aside, is there really a place like that around here?
Well, it’s not like I’ve memorized every single shop in this vast commercial district.
Even with a map, places like town shops only get registered after you’ve entered them at least once, so she would naturally know the area better than I do.
With that thought, I let her lead me by the wrist and obediently followed.
And the place we arrived at was…
“Here we are.”
The front of an inn.
No, it was a bit more luxurious than a typical inn.
I wasn’t sure if the lodging standards of my original world applied here, but if I had to use them as a benchmark, this place looked more like a high-class motel.
Well, its rating wasn’t what was important right now.
What was important was that Rachel had brought me to a lodging facility.
This means I can interpret this in that way, right?
It’s not just because I’m a pervert that my mind goes there first, is it?
“……Um, Rachel? Does this mean…”
“Let’s go in.”
Cutting me off, Rachel took the lead and entered the building.
Following her inside, I was surprised to find no trace of people.
All I could see were various magical devices.
They were all devices I’d never seen before, but for some reason, I felt like I knew what they did.
They had them in my original world, after all.
Unmanned motels, where there’s no one at the counter. You just pick a room number, swipe a card, get a key, and go in.
No, well, I’d only ever heard about them; I’d never actually been to one.
That’s right. Before coming to this world, I was a virgin who’d never had a reason to go to such a place. Got a problem with that?
“…Oh, it’s set up like this.”
As for Rachel, who had brought me here, she seemed even more ignorant about the device in front of us than I was.
She muttered in a tone that clearly showed her fluster at seeing the magical devices.
“Huh? Rachel? What did you just…”
“Ah, it’s nothing! Then, just wait a moment! Your big sister will go take care of it right away.”
But even so, it seemed she still wanted to play the part of the experienced older woman. With those words, she left me and trotted over to the device.
…Rachel. The moment you clung to me, begging me not to leave you, I don’t think your act as an experienced lover holds any water anymore.
The words rose to the tip of my tongue, but for now, I decided to just stand there with my arms crossed and watch how she navigated the challenge before her.