Chapter 211: Alice

"Haa... old geezers are really hard to persuade."

Scarlet broke a sweat trying to persuade Sebastian, who insisted on waiting outside the door while Alice received her massage.

Alice's moans would surely leak out the door, and there was no way to explain that away.

Even if a Rune Barrier was set up for soundproofing, someone of Sebastian's level could easily detect the presence of a barrier.

So she had to come up with another excuse... but she couldn't think of anything at all.

Of course, there was one excuse that would unconditionally work.

Selling Alice out.

Still, she wanted to save the excuse that 'Lady Alice doesn't want Sebastian coming near' as a last resort.

Because there was a chance that Lady Alice and Lee Ho-yeon might be suspected.

However, since that was the only way to break Sebastian's stubborn attitude, Scarlet ended up using her secret weapon.

- Actually... Lady Alice doesn't want Lord Sebastian to be nearby.

- A-Ah, the young lady...? Then it can't be helped... Scarlet, monitor them yourself...

- ... Yes. I understand.

The sight of Sebastian's back as he trudged away looked like a father who had just heard 'I hate you, Dad!' from his beloved daughter.

'I've already switched to Lee Ho-yeon, so it can't be helped.'

Knowing Sebastian's personality, he wouldn't show it in front of Alice.

But he would definitely still feel hurt.

Scarlet felt a bit sorry, but she was already bound to Lee Ho-yeon by a contract document... and the treatment she received from Lee Ho-yeon was better than the Iris Guild.

She didn't get paid, but the 'company benefits' were exceptionally outstanding.

'I need to prepare to jump ship in advance.'

Anyway, having successfully persuaded Sebastian, Scarlet slipped out of the mansion.

'He should be around here... Ah, there he is.'

A man whose handsomeness stood out even from a distance.

And a lightly cast Perception Hindrance Barrier.

An expert of her level could pierce through it, but to ordinary civilians, he would just look like a normal guy.

Scarlet approached Lee Ho-yeon.

Even if Scarlet were to leave the Iris Guild, it was because she liked Lee Ho-yeon, not because she disliked Alice.

'I need to help with our young lady's love life too.'

From Scarlet's perspective, Alice had a serious problem as well.

She grew up watching her mother suffer from being with her playboy Guild Master father, yet she ended up falling for a playboy herself.

Nevertheless, Scarlet cheered Alice on.

Because it would be good for Scarlet if Lee Ho-yeon and Alice ended up together.

If she was lucky, she could grab both the Iris Guild and Lee Ho-yeon.

Rustle-

Scarlet approached Lee Ho-yeon while hiding her body against the wall.

"Scarlet?"

But as if ignoring her efforts, Lee Ho-yeon immediately noticed her.

"Lord Ho-yeon. Hello."

"It's been a while."

Lee Ho-yeon maintained his pace without getting flustered by Scarlet's sudden voice.

Because he sensed Scarlet's mana and knew she was approaching, he could greet her calmly without surprise.

"It's only been a day since you were discharged, but your Mana Detection skills have already returned."

"I can wander around because I'm at least this good. I have a lot of enemies, you know."

"True. Because you've committed many sins."

"..."

*

"I hope I'm not too late."

It had already become almost 8 o'clock.

After leaving Professor Im Sol's Research Lab, I cleaned my body with Clean Magic and headed to Alice's House.

The neighborhood where Alice's House was located had a row of large houses lined up.

"Should I move to a place like this too? The dormitory is way too cramped."

Looking at one of the houses, I seriously considered moving.

I had four people with me, yet we were living in a dormitory.

Fortunately, I had set up a bed in the living room for Liriana's broadcast so it wasn't impossible to live in, but it was still too small.

I need to upgrade someday.

While walking towards Alice's House again, I felt a familiar flow of mana.

It was the flow of mana from Scarlet, the blonde double spy.

"Scarlet?"

"Lord Ho-yeon. Hello."

"It's been a while."

Scarlet's magic power carefully burrowed into my shadow.

She probably didn't want to show her form.

It seemed she was still cautious of other people's gazes.

Civilians aside, she didn't know when a master like Doctor Kang Hyo-rin might show up.

"It's only been a day since you were discharged, but your Mana Detection skills have already returned."

"I can wander around because I'm at least this good. I have a lot of enemies, you know."

"True. Because you've committed many sins."

"..."

'It's annoying, but I can't refute it.'

It was my first time seeing Scarlet in a few days, but we were able to converse familiarly.

Because of the acquaintance we had built up.

"Lady Alice is waiting like crazy, why are you so late."

"Really? She told me she was in the middle of processing some work."

"Not at all. Do you know how hard it was for me to watch her stomping her feet on the bed for about two hours, wondering when you were coming."

"You really go through a lot, too."

Scarlet was hiding in my shadow, following me.

Even though I couldn't see her face, Scarlet's uniquely bothered expression was vivid in my mind.

'Come to think of it, we really did get a lot closer.'

She was incredibly cold when I first saw her. Now it's all just memories.

"So why did you come? I'm already on my way to Alice's House anyway."

"Just to say hello... and to tell you to do a good job."

"A good job?"

"You're only coming now after playing around with other women, right. You need to treat our young lady well, too. It seems she's fallen completely for Lord Ho-yeon."

"..."

Was Alice at that level?

I had worked hard on the massages, but I didn't think it was to that extent yet.

'No, wait.'

Honestly, I only called it a massage, but if others saw it, they would believe it was skinship between lovers.

It was my mistake to think her favorability was lacking after doing that level of skinship.

'It's hard to get a feel for things since they're erotic game heroines.'

Alice in particular is even harder.

It definitely felt like she was keeping my love life in check.

Even with a high favorability, she treated me prickly.

She was masturbating to my sex video behind my back, yet acting like that in front of me, so I couldn't grasp her true status at all.

"Should I just ram it straight in..."

Wouldn't it be fine even if I make a slight mistake?

I've raised her favorability quite a bit, too.

"... Even so, isn't it too early to just ram your penis straight in?"

"Stop saying weird things."

"Yes."

I lightly stomped on my shadow to punish her for her nonsense, but as expected, there was no reaction.

"Jeez... Right. Liriana and Da-hee want to see you, so stop by the dormitory sometime."

"For the time being, that's a bit... difficult. And I want to see Lady Liriana, too."

"Right, right."

I was well aware that Scarlet liked Liriana.

Because every time I entered the dormitory, I heard way too many pleasant moans.

Talking about various things, I had already arrived in front of Alice's House.

"We're here. You should get going, too."

"Yes. I'm going to hide in the room and wait anyway. Anyway, please take good care of our young lady."

"What's with you. Is your gimmick being Cupid today?"

"Something like that. Because it's good for me if you two date."

"I'll try my best."

After Scarlet disappeared, I rang the bell.

Ding-dong- Ding-dong-

Even such a huge house has an ordinary bell sound.

Click-

A moment later, the main gate opened slightly.

*

"Ahem. Phew..."

Alice waited for Lee Ho-yeon while spraying perfume on her body several times.

It wasn't the first time she brought him to her house, but since it had been a while, her nervousness was even more intense.

'What is this that's making me so nervous...'

Alice clutched her trembling heart and took a deep breath.

Phew. Haa. Phew.

What exactly was making her this aroused?

Was it the expectation that her Congenital Mana Deficiency would be cured?

Was it because she was meeting Lee Ho-yeon alone for the first time in a while?

Was it because she was finally getting the massage from Lee Ho-yeon she had been waiting for?

Alice couldn't tell.

Ding-dong- Ding-dong-

Right then, the alarm rang from the main gate, and Alice looked at the CCTV screen.

Lee Ho-yeon was standing in front of the gate.

"... He's here."

Operating the device to open the mansion's main gate, Alice quickly went downstairs as she watched Lee Ho-yeon enter.

Her pounding heart was a bonus.

Alice opened the door right at the timing when Lee Ho-yeon crossed the yard and arrived at the house.

"Hey. Sorry I'm late. Did you wait long?"

"... No. I also just finished processing my work. Come in."

Truly, seeing Lee Ho-yeon at her house gave her a weirder feeling than seeing him in the lecture hall.

Handsomeness aside, just looking at his face made her lower belly feel like it was trembling.

Alice grabbed her somehow pounding chest and guided Lee Ho-yeon to her room.

Lee Ho-yeon followed behind her, looking around the house.

'It really is huge.'

What would it feel like to live in a place like this?

"I can undo the Perception Hindrance Barrier in the room, right?"

"No. It's fine. I already told my secretary that you were coming."

"... Is that okay?"

You shouldn't do that.

Everyone knows your father is a doting father.

"Yeah. It's been a while since I told him. I can't hide it forever."

"That's true, but..."

Damn it. It seems keeping it hidden until the end was too difficult after all.

Seeing as she's unexpectedly calm, is it really fine?

'No. He's absolutely not the type of person to just let it go.'

I just hope no annoying issues pop up.

Upon arriving in Alice's room, Lee Ho-yeon familiarly took a seat on a chair.

Because he remembered coming here last time.

'This wasn't here last time... She really prepared this properly.'

A massage bed was placed right in the middle of the pink-themed room.

Just looking at it, it seemed stable, luxurious, and expensive.

"... Is your body okay?"

Alice looked at Lee Ho-yeon and opened her mouth.

Her lower belly was throbbing, and she wanted to start the massage right away, but she felt that would be too blatant.

It would make her slow reply completely pointless.

Honestly, if she considered the massage as a treatment process, she shouldn't have felt any hesitation at all.

Feeling those kinds of emotions meant she wasn't being honorable about it, but Alice didn't realize that.

Lee Ho-yeon answered while looking at Alice, who was sitting on the edge of the massage bed.

"Yeah. As you can see. I'm sturdy."

'I thought we'd start the massage right away, but it seems she wants to ease the tension with small talk.'

That worked out perfectly.

I had a lot of things to ask.

"That's a relief. Well..."

"Come to think of it, I visited the Student Council earlier, and the seniors were talking about you too."

"The Student Council? We haven't done Public Relations Department activities in a long time, right."

"Honestly, they're just keeping us in the Student Council in exchange for taking our image rights... so it doesn't really matter."

"I feel the same. It's better not having any work."

I was going to bring up what I wanted to talk about after relaxing the atmosphere with the Student Council topic, but Alice's expression wasn't good.

She gave off a somewhat frustrated vibe.

Lee Ho-yeon decided to get straight to the point.

"Uh... Come to think of it, France has been really noisy lately. Are you guys okay?"

"... No. The damage within the Iris Guild is huge, too."

"Is there anything I can help with? I want to help you somehow."

Could I cross over to France through Alice? That would make things easier.

"It's fine. We can handle that much."

"Uh, still..."

"It's a rule that Iris Guild matters are handled by the Iris Guild. I'm sorry."

"Got it. Sorry."

Alice clearly expressed her intention to decline.

I guess since it's an Information Guild... rules like that are strict for them.

Honestly, it's not like I'd be of much help anyway. Well.

I wasn't offended.

'Still, it would have been nice if I could join in, what a shame.'

I wanted to find the connection between the centaur, Hell, and Liriana.

Since the government is involved, I really needed personal connections.

How should I approach this?

While Lee Ho-yeon briefly pondered his next words, Alice tightly clenched her fist on the side hidden from him.

'... Can't we just start the massage right away?'

If I knew the conversation was going to drag on like this, I would have told him to start immediately...!

Why did I uselessly ask him how he was doing?

It was too awkward to say, 'Enough of this, let's just do the massage' now.

Alice's mouth began to go dry from anxiety.