[๐๐ฎ๐๐๐น๐ฒ]
To Tok!
It was already past midnight when Saber suddenly heard a knock outside his door.
"Who could that be?"
Upon opening the door, he had to look down in order to meet Alice eye to eye. Her black dress were the most noticable. Her hair is wet, indicating that she had just gotten out of the bath.
Seeing this, Saber quickly composed himself. "Umm... Is there something you like to tell me?"
He noticed her gaze avoiding his, making hum confused. Then, she took a familiar-looking book between her thighs and extended it forward.
"I forgot to give you this..."
It was the other book that they took from the secret room.
...I must've forgotten to ask her about it.
"Did you read it?" Saber asked her out of curiosity. It's not like he minded much if she reads it; it is just the content may or may not contains something important.
"I don't understand it."
"Huh?"
Alice gathered her breathes and looked at him. "The content of the book is written in a very strange language... It's also very unlikely that it was written by demon, elves, or in demi language."
Saber flipped it open and read the written title.
"...."
...This is?
Alice suddenly spoke up, prompting him to turn his attention back to her. "If I'm being honest, I've never seen something like those before. I'm curious... Can you understand it?"
He sighed, then spoke without changing tone. "Yes, I do."
"...Is that so?"
Saber nodded his head before turning his gaze to look around. Alice was alone, the maid that was supposed to be by her side... Jenna, or so what her name, was not there.
Then, Saber was about to thank her for giving the book back to him when she suddenly made her way inside.
"Umm... Your Highnโ"
"Alice."
Right... She did told me to call her that.
"Kuemm... Alice, isn't it improper for a lady to enter a man's room?"
Although she's a royalty, she was still a woman. Most of all, it would be really problematic for her if some strange rumours were to spread, considering that she was a princess.
She must have known that, don't she?
"Yes, but aren't we friends...?"
The princess turned her wheelchair towards Saber's direction, tilting her head to the side, as if confused by his statement.
This girl... Wait, friends?
Pinching the middle of his brows, Saber spoke in the politest way as possible. "Alice, even if we were friends, it's wrong for a girl to barge inside a man's room, much worse, past midnight, around the time where everyone should be asleep." He said, plastering a forced smile.
"Andโ"
"That much doesn't matter anyways..."
Saber was about to add something, but Alice cut her words short.
"Aren't we engaged?"
"Ack!"
He almost tripped from an invisible air the moment he heard those words come out of her mouth.
"Where did that even come from?" He asked, holding onto the table beside him as support.
"I've heard what you and my mother had talked about."
As she said this, Alice began to slowly removed her dress. Her expression remained impassive, while her head faced down.
"If it's with you, I'm fine with carrying the heir in my womb.
"Wait a god-damned minute!"
Saber went to her and held her hands to prevent her from going much further. They both locked eyes. None of them said something, as if both were waiting for the other to speak up.
Saber broke those silence immediately as he shouted, "There's far and there's too far! You Highness, you shouldn't just offer yourself to someone like me immediately."
The way he held her shoulder was gentle, yet Alice could feel the heaviness from his words.
"I see... You're like the others."
Her voice were barely audible. Alice began to let out a hollow laugh as she raised her head to look at him directly. They both interlocked with each other, her eyes looking empty.
"I can only offer you my body..."
She took her hands off him and clutched on the hem of her dress, tears streaming from the side of her eyes.
"I'm really sorry that I'm like this. My looks may be above average, but I don't have a lustful body for anyone to enjoy. I'm tall, yet I cant walk. My personality is shitty, and I'm only a princess by title, nothing more."
"I'm a useless human beiโ!!?"
Her sentence were cut short upon feeling a hand placed on her head.
"There there~"
Saber's voice was enough to calm her down. He crouched down to her eye level, moving his hands to caress her cheek. He wiped the tears on her eyes with his finger as he showed her a gentle smile.
"You're NOT useless..."
"....."
Saber brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Alice, who had never been able to look at someone properly due to her long bangs, was finally able to see his face clearly.
"S-sorโ"
"Don't apologize."
"S-sorrโ"
"I said DON'T apologize!"
Alice felt shocked when he suddenly raised his voice on her. She immediately closed her mouth and turned her head away in attempt to avoid his gaze.
The atmosphere became silent for a moment.
Saber took a bit of moment, took a deep breath, and bowed his head respectfully before speaking with a calm tone, "I apologize for raising my voice. I'm willing to take any punishment if Your Highness orders."
"N-no!"
As soon as she heard this, though flustered, Alice promptly turned her head back to his direction, tears visible from the side of her eyes.
As soon as their eyes interlocked again, Saber spoke up calmly, reaching out to cup her cheeks and wipe her tears with his thumb. He continued doing this until she finally calmed down.
"Sniffle...!"
"Have you finally calmed down?"
She nodded slowly. Saber felt relieved upon hearing this, took the chair nearby and placed down to sit down in front of her. He took her hand again before speaking up.
"You shouldn't force yourself to do something you're uncomfortable with."
"But I'm not forcing myself..." She glanced at him before quickly looking away.
Saber smiled kindly and petted her head. "You know, you resemble someone I met in the past." Though curious, Alice couldn't bring herself to look at him eye to eye.
"That person is much like you. She wanted a certain person to acknowledge him, working his whole life for that person..."
'When the only supporting pillar falls, the tall building will follow.'
"When that person suddenly vanished, his ehole life crumbled. Without that person, he felt empty. Nothing to prove, he was left alone to wander for many years."
"...For thousands of years."
Alice slowly turned her head towards him as their eyes met.
"Alice..."
With a face full of determination, Saber spoke up with a bright smile.
"I'll save you."
...
..
.
A little while later.
After their heart to heart conversation, Alice finally calmed down.
"Right, I've been wondering about this for a while now. When will the portal be available again, Your Highness?"
Standing up from his seat, Saber walked up behind her and assisted her outside his room.
"It will be around next week, maybe...."
As they reached the door, Saber let go of the wheelchair. Before he could enter his room, Alice tugged on to his clothes to stop him.
"...What is it?"
Alice looked down, embarrassed. However, she gathered up her courage, turn her head towards him and ask.
"Can you...."
...
..
.
Puff!
Saber was now alone on the balcony in his room. He looked at the sky, puffing out some smokes as he thought about what happened.
"I really can't get used to this thing..."
He mumbles to himself, dropping his cigarettes to the floor and stepping on it. With a click of his tongue, he turned to the side and leaned his back on the doorframe.
"...Seduction is complete."
***
(Saber POV)
"How annoying..."
By jokingly admitting that I was planning on seducing her from the beginning, I was able to lower her guard and make her fall for my tricks.
'People who aren't used to kindness will be clingy to those who's nice to them.'
Her current situation, of course, made things easier for mere seduction.
There are five types of feelings that one might confused for love.
OBSESSION.
ADMIRATION.
INTEREST.
EMPATHY.
And HATE.
The current feeling Alice was showing me was admiration and interest.
If I had accepted her immediately earlier even while she was still in those phase, then she would likely to lose her feelings in the long run. It may lead to betrayal or breakup.
For now, it was better to focus on increasing her affection to me slowly by giving her the attention longed for. And thus, once she gets used to those affection, I can slowly take few percentage of those affection, and she wouldn't even say anything.
The method work like this:
I would shower her with all my love and attention 100%.
Then, after she gets addicted to it, I would begin to take 5%. This will mean nothing to her at first, and even if she did notice, she wouldn't complain.
But as time eventually continue,
From 100% to 95%, 95% to 90%, 90% to 85%, and so on....
Eventually, she will begin to question why this is happening... Up to the point she will start blaming herself, and ask me why I was doing this to her.
By then, I would just give her a small percentage of my affection to at least 5% to 10%... From 60% back to 65%
Now, you might think that she would remain remain unhappy, but...
Here's the fun part,
She will be really grateful.
For those 65% is now her new 100%, it will be her new happiness. And by then, I'll just continue those process until eventually it reaches to a certain point.
To the point of no return.
This is almost like love-bombing; the only thing that was different is that I'm giving her time to fall deeply into the abyss of hell.
It doesn't matter what method I use.
As long as she doesn't notice it.
'Females are complicated, but they are the most easy to control.'
Though using the love-bombing method would have been more effective, time-wise, I can't waste much more time staying on this place. Playing the savior is much more faster as long as I can identify her problem. I still have other things to do. One of them is preparing for the next labyrinth.
[5 days left before the user can access the dungeon...]
After the update, the number of time I can travel in and out of the Labyrinth had been timed.
After leaving the Labyrinth, there would be a timer placed before I could access it again. It was honestly annoying. If the system told me about this in the first place, I would have stayed inside the labyrinth until I reach the 10th floor.
"Now that I've caught her heart, she would no doubt do anything as I say... I'll begin using those method later. This way, after I leave with the others to head back, she would never even think even once of betraying me."
Her feelings will be solidified after I finished healing her legs.
By then, her feelings will become true love.
Nonetheless, what the queen told me earlier were still stuck on my mind.
Impregnating the princess...? Heck, that would be problematic.
Though... I did made a promise. Well, then again, she did told me that it can wait for a couple of years. There's no need for a hurry.
Ba-dump!
Ba-dump!
Ba-dump!
"...?"
...Huh?
Why does my chest hurt for some reason?
It has been a while since I've felt this kind of feeling.
Is this some chronic pain or some sort...? However, the novel didn't mention Junior having that kind of illness.
So why am I feeling hurt?
"Strange..."
I grabbed my chest with both hands and clutched on my heart tightly.
"This is really strange..."