"So, they accepted your proposal?" Angelica asked as we sat in my room, sipping the tea fetched by one of my Epsilon droids—specialized in espionage and information gathering—disguised as a maid. By which I mean they were wearing a frilly apron and a headband in a black and white color scheme on their very much robotic bodies.
Angelica, and to a lesser extent even I, was quite amused by that display. Honestly, I had no idea why they dressed like that other than to clarify their jobs. But I had a feeling Eris was behind this little shenanigan.
I sipped my coffee and nodded.
"Surprisingly, yes. Quite easily too. Although, maybe it shouldn't be so surprising. I did offer them a free of all cost School Trip location, including transportation. They'd have to have a damn good reason not to accept after that."
Angelica let out a soft, ladylike snort—more of a gentle exhale, really.
"Yes, I don't suppose they'd reject your proposal if you offered that much. I'm still not sure why you think it'd be beneficial to offer a completely free-of-cost trip though." She frowned a little in doubt. "As someone who's been to Utopia, I can guarantee you that it's worth every coin you want to charge for it. There's nothing quite like it in the kingdom… Some places may come close in resemblance, but Utopia is leaps ahead still."
"Fair assessment." I easily relented. "But. My goal isn't to earn money from this. So, it's fine. This is purely for promotion purposes. Also, I'm doing this on a whim, so." I shrugged.
In the end, I had the resources and freedom to do whatever I wanted. It didn't matter if I wasn't earning some hefty cash from it as the World Points I'd get instead would be far more valuable.
"My goal is to have everyone experience it at least once. That's enough. I can bet that those who experience it would want to come back. And then I can charge them."
Angelica nodded in understanding.
"I suppose that's true. Your confidence in Utopis is certainly justified. I can't wait to visit it again myself."
"You know, I lucked out that the opening date of Utopia and the school trip just so happened to coincide. I didn't plan for this until yesterday."
Heck, I didn't even know the exact date the School Trip was going to happen. Things just happened to align in favor of this plan and I decided to cash it in. Metaphorically speaking, of course, given I wouldn't be earning a single penny.
"Yes, it did work out quite nicely. I'm eager to see the real opening and how others react to it."
If I were being honest, so was I.
I sipped the warm and delicious coffee and mentally nodded to myself.
It all worked out well. Now, I just needed to make sure the opening happens without any issues. On that front, Eris had assured me that she had everything in control. The park had already been double and triple-checked and was going through yet another check by Eris before the eventual opening day.
I was also going to get some actual Shop Venders to open their stalls in the Park alongside what was already built. As much as the idea of an all-robot park sounded good on paper, I was reminded by Angelica and Olivia that it felt a bit too bizarre to not have any humans manning the stalls. Also, since I took out one of the locations, it'd lack the influx of students and the shop owners who were expecting to earn some cash from Academy's annual trip would suffer from it.
So, I relented and have made spaces for some actual staff owners, given they met my criteria of either providing entertainment, delicacies, or were in desperate need of money. Still, I wouldn't want to badly affect the overall experience just cause of some shitty or money gubbing festival stall owners. Their financial situation be damned. So, I (mostly Eris) was going to have to micromanage them to weed out any problems beforehand. Money wasn't an issue. I could give them some cash just to open their stalls. The only requirement was for them to provide something worthwhile (and familiar) to the park's tourists.
It would be a bit of work but I don't think it'd take actual convincing once the stall owners learned about the benefits. After all, I wasn't going to be taking any charge from them to set their stalls, will instead give them some money myself, and also I'll give their families a free one-time (regular) pass for the park to enjoy.
The common folks in the Kingdom seldom got chances to experience something unique and fancy like that, unless they were part of the ones selling stuff to tourists, so almost all of them should happily accept my offers.
In the end, I just needed a couple. A dozen or so handpicked ones. I wasn't going to add the chaos and greed of humanity to ruin my Utopia.
"So, I got a letter from your family."
I changed the topic as we'd been talking about the current one for quite a while.
"Oh?" Angelica raised one of her delicate eyebrows. "That's news to me. What did it say? Nothing rude, I hope? I'll have a word with father if he or anyone from my family asked anything outrageous of you."
"Oh, nothing like that. It was actually from you brother."
"Ah." She calmed down hearing that.
"He expressed his thanks for taking care of you on the trip and that he was eager to visit Utopia on its opening."
"Oh! Brother is coming. That's great!" Angelica smiled beatifically.
I waited at the exact movement she calmed down and was about to take a sip.
"Ah, and he also told me he'd support me courting you."
Angelica coughed as she suddenly let out a strange noise, her body locking in surprise.
I waited for her to calm down again while keeping my smile in check. It was a bit mean but I couldn't help but tease and mess with her. It had been quite some time since I'd made her flustered.
"W-Wha?! He said that?! Darn it, brother! What on earth were you thinking—wait, he–they know!? How?!" Angelica went throught a few different emotions as I just watched her in quiet bemusement, sipping my coffee.
It was quite good.
"Ahem." She finally calmed down and spent some time cleaning the little bit of tea she had dropped on herself.
"You did it on purpose, didn't you?" She finally looked at me, her face flushed and indignation visible as she narrowed her eyes.
Oh, she caught me. Welp.
I shrugged. "No idea what you're talking about. What I heard was that you weren't happy that your family knew about us. Are you having second thoughts now? Mm?"
I teased, an eyebrow raised, and was given a rather prompt response.
"Never! I am very happy with our current relationship. It's just… that news surprised me. I didn't think my family knew about my–our… development. It's hardly been a day or two."
I suppressed a chuckle. She was so flustered by my faux accusation. Honestly, it was quite cute, seeing her usually calm self so riled up. It is why I liked teasing her.
"Just kidding. They don't know. I fibbed about that." I finally admitted, having had my fill of amusement. I wasn't going to drag it for long and cause her distress. I wasn't sadistic.
"You!" The following indignation and exhasperation on her face was amusing to say the least. This time I didn't suppress the chortle that came out.
"Ugh. I can't believe you did that to me. That's really mean, you know!" She huffed, crossing her arms and pouting.
Cute.
"Sorry, sorry. It's just, teasing you is really fun. I couldn't help it." I admitted with a smile.
"Hmph. You can be sadistic sometimes, you know." She declared, turning away, clearly annoyed at my little joke.
Welp, it was time to apologize and make up.
"I'm sorry, Angelica. Don't be mad."
I scooted closer to her on the sofa and held her hand in mine. She didn't resist but also didn't turn to look at me.
Seeing as it wasn't working, I decided to escalate, leaving her soft hand and instead gently grabbing her and then putting her on my lap.
The sudden action caused her to let out a small yelp of surprise.
"What are you doing?" She questioned.
"Making up for being a meanie," I replied easily as I held her close, hugging her as she lay in my lap. Admittedly, there may have been ulterior motives behind that, but she didn't need to know that I'm sure.
Soon enough though, she melted in my embrace and placed her hand on my chest as she leaned her head on my shoulder.
"I'm not actually mad." She finally spoke, looking up at me and smiling. "I was also kidding."
I smiled back in return.
Everything was fine, so I didn't have to proceed with my next actions per se.
Well, I didn't have to but…
"Well, that's a shame. I was going to make up for that little prank." I sighed in mock resignation.
"Oh? And what, might I ask, were you going to do?" She asked, keeping her face straight.
I looked directly into her eyes and spoke. "This."
Leaning down, I stole her lips and gave her a short and gentle kiss.
I pulled back not long after, not satisfied but I wanted to look at her expression.
And yeap, she was flushed again, but for entirely different reasons.
"… You know, it's not polite to steal a maiden's lips like that. It's also scandalous, what we're doing right now. If someone saw us, it'll spread all over the Academy."
She spoke, but her words didn't carry any offense or demand for me to stop.
"That so? It's a good thing then that I don't actually give a shit what others think." I replied, smirking. I hadn't gone on a years-long adventure and collected numerous artifacts just to then hear some random nobodies talking shit and trying to suppress me without consequences.
Angelica giggled in response, her laugh a melody that was quite pleasing to my ears.
"I figured."
…
"So." I started after a short lull.
"So." She parroted and her tone carried an unasked query.
"I'm not hearing any real protest here."
"Hmm, perhaps because there isn't any?" She replied smartly, making me snort in amusement. I liked this side of Angelica too.
I didn't respond, instead leaning down, and going for another kiss.
But this time, I felt her shift in my lap, her arms wrapping around my neck as she pressed herself closer to me, closing the distance between us. One thing I knew about Angelica was that she never hesitated when she wanted something. She wasn't one to beat around the bush or hold back. And now, as she tightened her embrace, our lips met, and the heat between us ignited instantly. There was no hesitation, only the unmistakable pull of desire, neither of us willing to pull away.
It went on for an undetermined amount of time before Angelica finally parted, her breaths deep and face flushed.
Her glistening lips, flawless skin, and striking red eyes were a sight I could admire forever. Even up close, there wasn't a single flaw to be found. It reminded me of a cheesy quote that went something like, "Even the moon has its craters, yet you're perfect." But I kept the thought to myself.
Instead, I found myself saying, "You're beautiful." The words slipped out, unprompted, as if they had a mind of their own.
The reaction to it was something I wished I had Eris nearby to capture. Oh, that beautiful blush. It was absolutely adorable.
"Geez. You… meanie…"
She didn't meet my eyes and her cute and adorable words, which while a repetition of her previous accusation, carried an entirely different meaning this time. I felt my blood go to places.
Why was abashed Angelica so fucking adorable!?
I couldn't stop myself. I stole another kiss from her. Not that she seemed to mind, given the fact that she seemed to be reciprocating it.
Then, as I held my girlfriend in my embrace, her almost straddling me as she'd shifted during our little trip down the pink lane, I couldn't help but let my mind wander further down this delightful path.
I cupped her cheek with one hand as the other roamed around her back and waist, out of my control.
No words were spoken but I wondered how far I could take this moment.
There was no reason to stop. We didn't have any plans or things requiring our attention.
We could indulge for longer.
In fact, we could—
*Knock Knock!*
"Ian? Angie? Are you in there?" Olivia's voice rang out from outside and I felt my head suddenly drooping in disappointment.
Damn it. Livy. Thou unwitting cock blocker.
It looked like Olivia was back from her little excursion to the library. She'd separated from our trio saying she had some books to check out in the library. I had almost forgotten that she'd be back.
"Ahem. Livia is back. I should…" Angelica began, squirming on my lap as I felt her ass grind against a certain member. She probably felt it too judging by the way she glanced down and then away.
"Haaa…." I let out an explosive sigh.
Was it not meant to be after all?
No, was Livy's arrival even a problem?
After all, she was also my girlfriend. I was nothing if not accommodating. There was space for two girls on my lap. Yeah!
But did Angelica share my sentiment?
Without realizing I gave her an expectant look, wanting to continue what we were doing regardless of Olivia's arrival. But alas, she let me down.
"I'm sorry. But I don't think we can… continue. It'll be embarrassing if Livia saw us like this."
"How so? She's also my girlfriend. We don't have to hide such things between us, you know?" I reasoned.
"True, but it's still embarrassing for me. Please?" She pleaded and that settled it. If Angelica wasn't into it, then what was the point.
"… Right. Yeah, I got it." I relented with a sigh.
I let her go and was expecting her to immediately drop out of my lap to make herself presentable, but instead I felt her gentle hands cup my cheek and the next moment, I felt her lips on top of mine.
I didn't need much time to respond as I hugged her and deepened our parting kiss.
It was in the end a consolation, but it was a pleasant consolation nonetheless.
"There. So you don't look so sad." She smiled beatifically as she patted my cheek in affection.
Damn, I might have slipped and exposed my desires too easily. But I couldn't help it in this case.
In response, I lowered my hands and grabbed a handful of her butt.
"Well, you certainly know how to cheer me up," I replied cheekily, regaining my calm.
She smirked in response, even if the blush she sported said otherwise.
"Now, let's not keep Livia waiting for long."
I nodded and let her go, letting her adjust herself as I went to open the door.
"Ian, I'm back." Olivia smiled, completely unaware of what just transpired in her absence.
I could never be mad at her for disturbing my private time with Angelica, but I could think of a way to 'punish' her.
I let her in, keeping her in the dark about my intentions as I closed the door and bolted it.
There would be no escape. The poor little lamb was inside the trap and the wolf (I) was ready to pounce. Muahahaha!
"Oh, Angie! Look I found the book I was—Kya!" Olivia yelped in surprise as I grabbed her from behind and then carried her to the sofa in a princess carry.
"I-Ian?!" Olivia asked in sheer bewilderment and a hint of embarrassment.
"Yes, Livy?" I replied, nonchalantly as I sat on the sofa, Olivia resting in my lap.
Since I had to drop Angelica due to her, she'd have to be the replacement. A fair trade in my book.
I looked at Angelica who looked baffled, exasperated, and also amused at this little exchange.
Hey, she was the one who left. Now she'd have to watch as I cuddle and pamper this cute blonde—well, the other cute blonde, as Angelica also fit that description.
So, I spent some time fooling around and enjoying myself with my girlfriends.
Things were going well and we were all looking forward to the opening in the upcoming days, Olivia included—as she was perhaps the most animated of us three regarding Utopia.
***