Chapter 843: Auden
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 843: Auden
“No. Wait. Hey. No matter what, that’s weird.”
Vanessa approached me, holding up a pair of underwear with both hands, as if to show them off.
I tried to back away from her, saying that, but my legs merely flailed in the air.
Even if I had been on solid ground, the soft sensation at the back of my head would have prevented me from retreating.
“A-Angel?”
The source of that tremendous volume, which made my mind ecstatic just by touching the back of my head, was, of course, our Angel’s chest.
“Hoo-hoot.”
A-Angel?! W-Why are you smiling like that?!
No. You’re beautiful. It’s a smile I could get lost in, but isn’t it a bit out of place for the current situation?!
No. More importantly, wait! Why are you hugging me so tightly?!
L-Let go! If you don’t let go, I’ll… S-Surely you don’t want that?!
“H-Help…!”
“Hm? Why would I? Guwon, you like this kind of thing, don’t you?”
I reached out to Sara for help, but she seemed to have no intention of assisting me.
Instead, she smiled brightly, as if the situation was getting more and more interesting.
Her refreshingly clear smile made me realize I was doomed.
D-Damn it! How did things get like this?!
This all started with a single comment from Diana.
After a pleasant night with Leia, I finished breakfast and was about to get up when Big Sister Rachel rose to leave for work.
I planned to retrieve the bracelet’s battery from my room and head straight to Threon’s house.
But just as I was about to get up, Diana said:
“Surely you’re not planning to go like that, are you?”
Looking back now, I should have ignored her and just left.
But at the time, not expecting things to turn out this way, I humored Diana.
“Hm? What about it? Why?”
“Are you asking because you don’t know? Think about it. Why do you need to change your appearance to go?”
“To avoid the Arachne Clan’s eyes, of course.”
“Hmm. And yet you plan to go in that form? As you know, you’re the only male residing in this mansion.”
Ah, I see. Even if my appearance changed, a man suddenly emerging from the mansion wouldn’t escape suspicion.
I really should have pretended to be Threon’s attendant and followed him yesterday.
Though, pretending to be that guy’s attendant, even as a pretense, doesn’t sit well with me.
But there’s no use regretting what’s already happened.
And Diana, of all people, was saying this. She must have a secret plan.
Thinking that, I foolishly blurted out:
“I see. Then what should I do? Ah, perhaps I could use this bracelet to transform into a woman?”
“If we had enough time, modifying it that way wouldn’t be impossible, but it’s difficult for now.”
I thought it was a pretty good idea, but the answer was negative.
Well, I guess so. Polymorph isn’t an easy spell.
“Then what do we do?”
“I don’t know what you’re agonizing over. Just cross-dress, isn’t that enough?”
Unable to easily think of a way to fool the Arachne Clan, I racked my brain, and Diana casually tossed out a suggestion.
“Kyaaaah!”
“…Hm?”
…A high-pitched scream seemed to come from above, but let’s ignore that for now.
More importantly, what did Diana just say?
C-Cross-dress? No. Of course, I was the one who first asked if I could turn into a woman with the bracelet.
But that meant a perfect transformation, and that’s completely different from pretending to be a woman with my ‘thing’ dangling below in my current form.
And most importantly, I don’t have the looks for cross-dressing at all.
Of course, I’m handsome. I am, but there are different kinds of handsome, aren’t there?
Cross-dressing suits pretty boys, the ‘bishounen’ type. Someone with strong, masculine features like me wouldn’t suit it at all…
“Indeed. In that form, there would be no sense of incongruity at all.”
As if reading my thoughts, Matilda, next to Diana, stared at my face and muttered that.
W-What is she suddenly talking about?!
What part of me makes her think that?!
Even now, I’m so manly… hugged in the Angel’s arms. Of course, in my younger form.
…Right. Now that I think about it, I was in my younger form.
Children, generally, are hard to distinguish between male and female, except for hair length.
Moreover, even though I’d become younger, my incredibly high Charm stat hadn’t decreased, so I would definitely look incredibly good just by dressing up roughly as a girl.
The moment I realized that, all my senses screamed at me to escape the situation immediately.
But before I could heed the warning and flee, Diana spoke to Vanessa.
“Vanessa.”
“Yes. I’ve prepared it.”
I’d been had. Completely.
Diana had acted as if she’d just realized it when she saw me about to leave, but she had known all along how things would unfold from the very beginning.
As proof, as soon as Diana spoke, Vanessa immediately pulled out women’s underwear from somewhere and approached me, thrusting it at me.
And thus, the story circled back to the beginning.
Vanessa, isn’t she unnecessarily enthusiastic?
No. Not just Vanessa. Sara, watching with keen interest from the side, was the same.
T-These guys… are they both trying to get revenge because I made them do some image play?
You sneaky bastards! You enjoyed it too, despite all your protests!
Fine. I’ll give Sara the benefit of the doubt. I can understand her.
But not you, Vanessa! Those were your clothes! You wore your own clothes, so it wasn’t even cosplay or anything! Why are you trying to get revenge like this?!
And speaking of revenge, Diana, who first conceived this plan, was no different.
Damn it. Why is she smiling so cutely?!
You’re trying to get revenge because I let you touch my ‘thing’ in the dining room yesterday, aren’t you!?
That was your misunderstanding to begin with; I had no intention of letting you touch it!
Knowing their thoughts, I saw only enemies around me, no matter where I looked.
Is this what they call being surrounded on all sides?
Usually, Leia would be my only ally, but today, even she wasn’t someone I could rely on.
“Guwon-ssi. It’s an important task, isn’t it? If you’re going to do it, you should do it properly.”
Right. I had convinced Leia that way before.
Well, Leia probably isn’t saying this to me for that reason.
Leia. I heard you scream earlier.
You just think I’d be cute in cross-dress, for no other reason, don’t you?!
Ultimately, what Leia likes isn’t simply children—no, of course she likes children too.
But at least the way her eyes are spinning and she’s getting excited isn’t just because the subject is a child, but because the subject is me, made cute.
Given that, there was no way Leia would object to him being dressed up to look even cuter.
In other words, my only remaining allies were Silvia, who was observing the situation from the corner, and Matilda, who could go into pink mode at any moment.
No. Considering what Matilda said earlier, she seemed to have no objection to Diana’s suggestion, so effectively, Silvia was my only ally left.
Right. I’ll just have to get through this on my own.
“Hey, hey. Calm down. No matter what, it’s just a small matter, no need to make such a fuss…”
“You call this a ‘small matter’? This is an important task, closely related to the Goddess’s mission. Isn’t it something that requires utmost caution?”
The moment I opened my mouth to try and calm everyone down with light words, I felt Cardinal Matilda definitively turn from neutral to enemy.
D-Damn it! N-No! I wasn’t expecting Matilda’s help anyway! I can do this!
“A-Anyway! Even if I cross-dress, if a child they’ve never seen before suddenly appears, they’ll be just as suspicious, so it’s not very meaningful…”
“It’s unlikely the Arachne Clan has memorized the faces of every attendant in this mansion. If you disguise yourself as a maid, there will be no problem. Furthermore, you could also pretend to be a messenger sent to the Plitus family.”
Saying that, Vanessa pulled out a maid outfit from somewhere that, at a glance, looked like it would fit my current body perfectly.
Hey! If you had that, shouldn’t you have pulled that out first?! Why did you thrust women’s underwear at me first?!
“…Fine, I’ll concede and wear the maid outfit. But why are you also thrusting underwear at me? There’s no need to wear underwear too.”
“With men’s underwear, there’s a risk of the front of the skirt bulging out.”
No. My ‘son’ is quite big, but even so… my ‘son’ is too big to fit into such tight women’s underwear in the first place!
But ignoring my protest, Vanessa hooked the underwear she was holding onto one wrist and, with her now free hands, grabbed the top of my pants.
T-This girl… she’s serious about taking them off.
Normally, I might have been excited by the fact that Vanessa was trying to take off my pants in front of others, but this time, given the reason, my ‘thing’ didn’t even twitch.
“W-Wait! Fine! I’ll do it! I’ll do it! I’ll wear it! I’ll wear it! I’ll wear the maid outfit, so at least spare me the underwear! We can try it on first, and if the front bulges out too much, it won’t be too late to come up with a solution then!”
As Vanessa grabbed not just the top of my pants but my underwear as well, a desperate I had no choice but to blurt out those words.
“Very well.”
And as soon as I said that, Vanessa, as if she had expected me to react this way, put away the underwear she had hooked on her wrist and held out the maid outfit to me.
C-Could it be… that thrusting the underwear at me first was part of the plan all along!?
And if this was all a plan, there was only one person who could have orchestrated it.
“Hoo-hoong.”
When I turned my gaze to Diana, she was indeed puffing out her non-existent chest and humming proudly, as if asking, “How about that?”
T-That old hag… kid… anyway, she’s really something!
“May I dress him?!”
I wanted to say something, but Leia suddenly stood up, still holding me in her arms, rendering me speechless.
“…Please do.”
Vanessa seemed to hesitate for a moment, wondering if it was alright to pass her task to Leia, but seeing Leia’s sparkling eyes, she apparently concluded there was no need to worry.
And as a bonus, she probably calculated that I wouldn’t put up much resistance if Leia was the one doing it.
Yes. Damn it. You saw right, you bastard!
“Yes! Then, Guwon-ssi! Shall we go over there and change together?!”
“No. I can change by myself…”
“No! You’ve never worn women’s clothes before, have you?!”
W-Well, that’s true. But what’s so hard about putting on a single piece of clothing…
“Or perhaps, Guwon, do you have one? I knew you were a pervert, but I didn’t think you were that much of a pervert…”
“I don’t, you bastard! Don’t say such nonsense!”
“Hoo-hoot. I knew it, right? So, big sister will help you. Alright, shall we go?”
“Ah…”
Hooked by Sara’s words and flaring up, I was ultimately led out of the dining room by Leia’s hand, powerless.
“…Guwon. Doesn’t it suit you unnecessarily well?”
“Pffft. Just as I expected. Hmm. Pfft. With this, we can perfectly fool the Arachne Clan.”
“Haaah… haaah… So cuteee… So cuteee…”
“G-Guwon…nim…?”
“Indeed. This is more than I expected. No matter how you look at it, you only appear to be a girl.”
“I was planning to apply some makeup when you returned, but it seems there’s no need.”
Sara! Don’t look at me with such a dumbfounded expression!
Diana! Just you wait!
Leia! Don’t cling to me so much! No! It feels good, with you touching me everywhere! But it feels too good, and the front of my skirt is going to bulge out!
Silvia! Don’t look at me with such suspicious eyes! It’s really me, Guwon!
Matilda! Why are you examining me so thoroughly?! It’s making me unnecessarily embarrassed, just go into pink mode already!
And finally, Vanessa! Where did you pull out those cosmetics from?! Why are you so unnecessarily enthusiastic?!
Damn it! Daaamn it! My dignity as a man!
“Everyone. Well, I’ll be off… Oh my? That child… is a maid I haven’t seen before. A new recruit?”
“Big Sister! It’s me!”
With that final blow from Big Sister Rachel, who had briefly shown her face to say goodbye before work, I, trembling with shame, finally collapsed to my knees on the floor.