"..."
In his sleep, Zane turned on the other side, his chest rising in the rhythm of his steady breath.
The room was rather small but cozy and almost homely, not like some of the ones where the white-haired youngster had to spend his nights taking part in retaking human settlements and completing restoration events orchestrated by a certain gold-haired villainess.
The monstrous man had a surprisingly innocent sleeping posture.
Somehow, slumber had the strange power of making all of his inhuman features seem to fade, leaving a simple white-haired young man whose experiences made him look a lot older than he actually was.
Speaking about various experiences with Zane, things were a bit complicated…
Originally an NPC with artificial intelligence, he was programmed with his backstory.
But then the world of the game mixed with the real world, leaving him as a human with memories of an NPC.
Even then, Zane, the human, actually went through all the traumatizing experiences that Zane, the NPC, was merely aware of, causing a dissonance.
"..."
Melinda tilted her head slightly to the side, observing the little changes in the expression of the sleeping young man.
The gold-haired girl wearing a thick pajama that a maid pushed onto her was leaning against the wall opposite Zane's bed as the light of the blue moon basked her silhouette with its otherworldly glow.
She hadn't been intruding for a long time, but let's be honest: Even an attempt to enter somebody else's room without permission was difficult to excuse.
"...nn…"
"...?"
Unexpectedly, without any obvious reason, Zane let out a confused noise, and his face scrunched in a troubled expression, making Melinda lean forward with interest.
"...n…"
As he let out another noise, the gold-haired girl stepped away from the wall and tiptoed her way toward his bed, where she crouched down.
"..."
She placed her hand on the mattress right by Zane's head and then rested her chin on them, carefully studying the young man's face. Her eyes lingered particularly long on Zane's lips, parted slightly. They looked just like she liked them. Not that soft, although not chapped either, on a paler side, but a lot warmer than they appeared… So kissable…
How nice would they feel on her lips?
How nice would they feel all over her body?
"..."
Melinda raised her head slightly, lifting her fingers and pressing them against her mouth almost unconsciously.
"...oh…"
Before she knew it, the gold-haired girl was looking into the white-haired young man's distorted, venomously green eyes, which filled up with surprise, matching the voice he let out as he woke up.
"Hey, handsome~ Do you sleep here often?"
"No… but I might start if this is what I'll be waking up to."
Melinda chuckled, tilting her head to the side to match Zane's position as he answered in a voice lowered by the sleepiness.
"That will be arranged~ But only after I will officially end the engagement with Ester."
"...and when will that be…?"
The girl declared with a satisfied expression, making the young man purr.
"...!"
Zane's low voice tickled her fancy just the right way, making her flinch and blush deploy as she gulped down her saliva, momentarily lost for words.
"...when… when I turn eighteen…"
Melinda mumbled, shockingly bashful, as she lowered her head shyly.
"Nnn…? Even though you… ah… wait.. Your seventeenth birthday is today, isn't it?"
"...!"
The sleepy Zane furrowed his brows and said, only to stop himself and point out, making the girl flinch once more.
"Ahh… I see what it is~"
"..."
The monstrous man shifted on his bed, closing to the edge over the girl perched on the floor like some tiny bird.
Zane perked himself up on one elbow, then placed his other arm on the floor right by Melinda's side, arching above her.
"With your behavior in this world, I am the only one who knows that despite your overbearing actions, all of your fantasies are those of being a helpless submissive~"
"~!"
He chuckled, moving his hand off the floor and tracing the line of her back until he grabbed her thin waist and pulled her closer. This caused her body to tremble with excitement, and her usually sharp eyes turned meek and expecting.
"Hmph~"
"Nnnnghn…~!"
Zane snickered and used his other hand to get a hold of and lift Melinda's chin before kissing her deeply, claiming possession of her mouth and a portion of her throat with his snake-like tongue as a moan of delight escaped her.
When they finally separated with a squelching sound, Zane didn't pull back, instead sliding his hand down and firmly grabbing Melinda's butt so casually and decisively that there could not be any doubt that it had always belonged to him, lifting the whole girl as he did that.
As if she was light as a feather, Zane picked Melinda up with one hand and moved her onto the bed.
*whoosh*
"...!"
As she laid down, he grabbed the edges of the top of her thick pajamas and pulled it off her, which at first she helped out with, but immediately upon laying underneath him half-naked, she covered her modest-est chest with one arm while attempting to cover her face with the other hand.
"Hmm…? What is it?"
Zane asked, tossing the pajama top to the side.
"...I… think it might be too early after all…"
Melinda mumbled, doing her best not to make eye contact and expose that she was lying. She was more ready and wanted it more than ever.
"In this world, the age for human turning adults is connected with the constant demonic threat. After the last full-scale war around a hundred hundred years ago, almost all men and women over the age of eighteen were wiped out. There was hardly anyone to inherit the noble titles, and the population had never seen such lows. It was out of necessity that the age of being officially recognized as an adult was lowered to what it is…"
"..."
Zane pointed out, but he stopped himself as he caught Melinda's glance, which told him that he misunderstood the reason for her hesitation.
"...wait… is it about the prince? Do you actually think about another man right now…?"
"...!"
The white-haired young man raised his brow as his expression darkened, and with one hand, he first grabbed the hand Melinda was covering her chest with, then the one she tried to hide her face with, and then pressed them against the bedframe, exposing her bare visage.
"...n-not in that way…!"
"Hooo? Then in what way?"
The gold-haired girl squirmed and mumbled, completely submitting herself to the monstrous man pressuring her.
"I… I still haven't broken off the engagement with him yet… I… I don't want you to think I'm some kind of slut who gets off on cheating when in a relationship…!"
"..."
Melinda squirmed under Zane's gaze before biting her lips and crying out in an extremely embarrassed voice, causing the white-haired youngster to freeze up.
"...huh…?"
"..."
Zane let out a short gasp, tilting his head in confusion while Melinda looked away, ashamed of her own reasoning.
"Then… then what you're saying is, you don't want me to think that you would NTR me in the future?"
"...yeah…"
After a moment of hesitation, Zane asked, staring in disbelief as Melinda nodded her head and admitted, teary-eyed.
"Pffft…! AHAHAHA~!"
"D-don't laugh at me!"
The monstrous man couldn't help but burst into laughter, causing the gold-haired girl to cry out in a sweet, embarrassed voice.
*tack* *whoosh*
"...!"
But she immediately stopped talking as Zane unceremoniously put his index finger under her pajama pants and pulled them off in one go, accidentally - or not so much - tearing off her panties with them…
"Mel… Do you truly believe that from now on, I will give you permission to be out of my sight long enough for a chance of any cheating happening?"
"!!!"
Zane leaned down right over Melinda's ear and whispered in his raspy voice, causing the girl's body to jolt as if an electrical current suddenly passed through her.
"Nnn… NGHHNNNNGH!!!"
As if in an attempt to control herself, she clenched her legs together and turned her head, but her body ended up arching as an uncontrollable moan passed through her sealed lips.
"...d-don't look…!"
The gold-haired girl cried out sweetly, turning away - or at least trying to because her movement was stopped by the white-haired young man's hand.
"..."
"!!!"
Zane placed his hands on Melinda's knees, adjusted her position on the bed, and spread them apart.
"If you wanted to keep this part of you hidden, you shouldn't have been leaving the laptop's camera with my game on facing you all night."
"...a-aaa-ah… w-wait…! Y-you don't m-mean…!"
He chuckled, making the hazy-eyed girl let out a gasp and start covering her face, looking at him through the spaces between her fingers.
He could swear that her pupils turned heart-shaped, though…
In response, Zane leaned in and pinned her down as if demonstrating the size difference between them, which normally wasn't as apparent because of Melinda's temperament, which made her appear giant while, in fact, she was amongst the shortest girls her age.
"It was always quite a show, but even back then, it made me angry… Do you believe that a body pillow and some toys can come even close to the real thing? A bad girl like you needs to be taught a lesson…"
"~!!!"
Zane growled, and his low voice reverberated through Melinda's eager body, which, coupled with being pressed down by him, caused her to jolt time and time again.
And the night was still oh so young~