Oh no! Seduce Mother! Oh no! 2

Here is Marlang.

Alone, aloof, she took off her shoes and dipped her toes in and out of the cold fountain water, grinning to herself.

“Marlang~”

Marlang seemed pleased by the cool sensation on her feet, her lips curving into a bright smile.

The Arbentaine Grand Duke’s residence was vast.

So vast that it was about half the size of the Sillion residential zone that Alice managed in the lower realm.

A plot of land the size of a small city, capable of housing at least 100,000 people, was being wasted on unnecessarily large parks and fountains, solely to flaunt the Arbentaine Grand Duke’s leisurely lifestyle and the family’s status.

The people in the overcrowded, hellish commoner districts would probably curse if they saw the Arbentaine Grand Duke’s residence with their own eyes.

Some were living fiercely every day in cramped houses and streets, while others were enjoying a life of luxury, wasting this enormous space?

Of course, if the Grand Duke’s staff or servants heard that, they would retort, “Then you should have been born better.”

Anyway, the conclusion was that the Grand Duke’s residence’s park was too large, and the fountain with its various sculptures was beautiful enough to satisfy Marlang’s excitement.

“Oh my, how cute. Who is that child…?”

“I’ve never seen her before…”

“Judging by her attire, she’s a maid, but why is a maid coming towards the Papian Central Annex? Isn’t that area only accessible to the head of household’s exclusive team?”

“She’s not one of ours, for sure.”

“Ah, perhaps she’s a direct employee of the young master or young lady?”

“That would explain why we wouldn’t know her.”

The Arbentaine Family’s servants and employees also cast curious glances at Marlang playing in the fountain.

However, Marlang was wearing the maid uniform so naturally that no one suspected her.

Marlang, far from being cautious, acted as if the Grand Duke’s residence was her own home, so most servants and employees didn’t question her presence much.

Marlang’s attitude was so naturally nonchalant that no servant suspected her, thinking, “Hey, she couldn’t possibly be an intruder, right?”

“Everyone, ignore her. She looks like a simpleton. She must be one of the young master or young lady’s toys.”

“Oh dear. Poor thing… Tsk tsk, I thought she had a pretty face, but her speech and actions seem a bit mentally challenged.”

Only a few long-time employees recognized that she was a maid they hadn’t seen before.

Anyway, and so Marlang’s grand adventure began.

“Marlang!”

Growing tired of the fountain, Marlang began to roam the Grand Duke’s residence’s park barefoot.

Running barefoot on the lawn made a “dada-da” sound.

She diligently ran through the park and gardens, peeked into the dormitories where the servants stayed, and, growing hungry, sneaked into places where she smelled food and stole a few pieces of bread.

And the employees and servants hired by the Arbentaine Grand Duke’s residence were all mana users, so they watched Marlang’s grand adventure from afar, wearing pleased smiles.

“How cute.”

“Shouldn’t we say something? Acting like that when she’s just a maid…”

“Leave her be. If she’s the young master or young lady’s toy, she probably won’t see the light of the Artificial Sun for much longer….”

The fact that Dehite was dead was only known to the head of the family, family members, and a few close aides; it hadn’t been widely announced.

So, most employees and servants, seeing Marlang’s pretty face and limited language skills, mistook her for the young master’s plaything or toy.

Naturally, it was secretly known that the young master’s toys were treated harshly, almost like sex slaves, so the servants pitied Marlang but couldn’t touch her.

The truth was just Marlang’s grand adventure, roaming around the vast Grand Duke’s residence.

“Ah, she’s gone.”

“Perhaps she went back?”

“Sigh, let’s go back soon. If she’s the young master’s toy, we might have to bury a new corpse near the annex tomorrow.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Sigh, poor thing…”

“If you feel so sorry for her, why don’t you run away with her and elope?”

“Are you crazy? Do you know what kind of retaliation we’d face…”

Only after Marlang disappeared from sight did the servants stop watching the cute child and return to their respective duties.

But Marlang hadn’t disappeared.

While roaming the vast park and gardens, she noticed that the sound beneath the ground was different.

A different sound when stepping on the ground meant that there was a basement or something similar underneath.

Unable to resist her curiosity, Marlang pulled a bone from her arm, transformed it into the shape of a shovel, and began digging into the ground in an instant.

Marlang might look young, but she had stats comparable to a First-Class Overseer.

Digging into the ground and disappearing below in three seconds was nothing for her.

-Thump!

Marlang realized that there was a new, massive facility underground.

It seemed that the ceiling and walls were reinforced with steel and concrete, but to Marlang, soil, steel, or tofu were all the same.

“Marlaaang…!”

Anyway, and so Marlang discovered a vast underground kingdom. Or something that looked like an underground secret facility!

Pa-ra-pam-pam.

Marlang shrugged her shoulders and praised her great discovery in her heart.

Surely, a huge and terrifying conspiracy was brewing beneath this place!

“Marlaang~ Exploration, exploration, exploratiooon~”

And so Marlang quickly sealed the wall she had dug through and erased any traces of intrusion.

Erasing the traces of intrusion didn’t take much time.

Marlang, who could freely transform her bones and flesh, could simply peel off her skin, mimic the walls and ceilings of the underground facility, and cover any holes or damage.

Thus, Marlang went deeper and deeper into the underground, where she felt the aura of conspiracy.

After carefully descending for about 10 minutes, Marlang was able to enter a facility where she felt a strangely familiar energy.

“…Where is this…”

On the surface, it looked like a research complex filled with green test tubes.

However, Marlang, unable to shake off the familiarity and déjà vu she felt unconsciously, began to roam around the facility, lost in thought.

-Tap tap tap.

She tapped on the glass of a large test tube and followed a power source that led to who knows where.

However, Marlang’s limitations, lacking specialized knowledge, were clear.

It was an underground laboratory that seemed to have something, but she had no idea what it was for!

People were immersed in each glass jar like ginseng liquor, but Marlang shook her head, wondering what they were doing with these people.

Some people were displayed like specimens, with their limbs and organs dissected.

Others had tubes connected to their dissected limbs and mouths, and something was being injected into them.

What is this?

A human meat factory?

‘Ah! Teacher might know?’

Ah! Come to think of it, where did Teacher go?

Only then did Marlang start looking around for Alice.

Of course, Alice was far away from here.

As soon as Marlang entered the Grand Duke’s residence, she had recklessly wandered off on a grand adventure, so it was only natural.

“Matakkeu! Alice Teacher is missing!”

Marlang sighed, scolding Alice inwardly.

★

★

★

“What do you say? Mrs. Jestiel. Will you accept the offer?”

It was a voice like the whisper of a devil.

But Jess already had a devil.

The Arbentaine Family, her uselessly dead biological son, her parents and the Oboro Family who sold Jess’s bright future like an object.

And Perdain Arbentaine, who endlessly oppressed her and even stole her talent!

Compared to that, Alice wasn’t even a devil.

She almost seemed like an angel.

“Really. Can you really fulfill what I want?”

“Do you doubt me?”

Alice grinned, and countless mechanical tendrils spread out behind her like wings.

Each mechanical tendril seemed to have a will of its own, glaring at Jess.

Jess didn’t know much about the power of the Overseer, but she was instantly overwhelmed by the force that Alice unleashed for a moment, and she couldn’t say anything.

“Well, to be honest, I can’t prove anything right now. You can refuse.”

“……”

Alice didn’t just approach Jess because she was pretty.

Pretty or cute women were merely Alice’s minor tastes and aesthetic satisfaction. The reason Alice approached Jess was that she was the optimal talent.

Someone who harbored resentment against the Arbentaine Family, the core of the rebellion, and had no interest in the current system of Ruincrest or the ‘greater good’ that everyone talked about.

That was Jestiel Arbentaine.

Before uncovering the rebellion in the Ruincrest layer and starting the full-scale ‘Layer Cleansing,’ it was essential to create allies.

“What happens if I reject your offer? If I tell Perdain that you’re an Overseer who came to investigate the layer….”

“Is the mistress, who has no say, going to report me as an Overseer who infiltrated this layer? Oh, how scary.”

“I didn’t mean to…”

“Do as you please. No one will believe you anyway. If you want, like the head of the family said earlier, they might send you to a remote mansion for convalescence. Comfortably and peacefully.”

If she gave up everything and lived satisfied as a shell trapped in a cage, that might be okay too.

At least she wouldn’t be driven to the Ark’s commoner district or the outskirts, where her life would be threatened.

But for Jess, whose desire for success was so intense that it was almost blind, she would choose death over living like that.

“Instead, I can promise you one thing for sure.”

“What is it?”

“If you choose me, you won’t regret it.”

“Regret…”

Alice already knew what Jestiel, no, Jess Oboro, wanted.

With the information provided by Rilstia and Theresa’s data search, Alice already had information about the woman Jess Oboro in her hands, so she knew that Jess’s desire for her own success was enormous.

And Alice could freely determine the direction of that success.

“O-okay. If you can fulfill what I want, I’m willing to give you this body…!”

“Whoa, hold it right there.”

Saying that she wanted her could be misunderstood, but Alice was not saying this lightly as a joke.

“Mrs. Jestiel, I may look young, but I’m a Second-Class Overseer approved by Administrator Rilstia. The fact that I came to the Ruincrest layer means that it’s not just a matter of one or two lives, can you guess that much?”

“…To what extent?”

“To be honest? The survival of this layer itself depends on me right now.”

Alice wasn’t just any Overseer.

She was favored by Rilstia Frostia, an administrator and a well-known contributor to the early Ark, so the words ‘I want you’ from Alice’s mouth were definitely not a lighthearted story about having an affair.

“And I’m making that offer to you. It’s not something to think about lightly or answer casually. Think carefully about what it means for me to want you.”

Alice smiled whitely like a devil.

“For me to want you means that you have to be ready to jump into a fire at any time, and if I want that body, you have to be ready to give it up at any time.”

“……”

“Don’t think of it as liberation. Rather, I’m going to tie you to an even bigger leash in exchange for the fruit of compensation.”

But Alice’s smile was somehow too alluring to Jess.

Alice had doll-like beauty, but to Jess, the Arbentaine Family was a prison and a being that had taken everything from her.

In this situation, Alice had brought an offer that was literally impossible to refuse, so Jess didn’t take long to think about it.

In fact, Jess had no choice but Alice right now.

So the conclusion was the same.

No matter how much she thought about it.

No matter how many times she worried, Jess’s choice was only one from the start.

“I’m… prepared.”

“Ah, really? Then what if I told you to take off your clothes right now? What if I told you to give me your and your daughter’s lives and human rights?”

“……”

At the same time, Jestiel untied the white pajama strings she was wearing without the slightest hesitation.

Whether it was the sound of Jess’s hair or the sound of the silky smooth clothes being untied, the white clothes fell from her body the moment the string was untied.

Despite being a married woman, she was quite a beauty.

In terms of appearance alone, she looked to be about the same age as Alice or Taylor.

“Ah, okay. Good.”

But before Alice even saw Jess’s naked body, she used her mechanical tendrils to lift the blanket on the bed and cover Jess’s shoulders.

Alice didn’t really want Jess to offer her body or give up her daughter.

She was just asking if she was prepared to that extent.

“The deal is done. Mrs. Jestiel.”

“…Then what should I do now….”

“Calm down. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and to pull out a tree root, you have to dig up the surrounding soil first.”

Alice pressed her finger firmly on Jess’s lips.

“Right now, we have to quietly watch for an opportunity.”

“…Perdain is a meticulous and perceptive man.”

“Don’t worry. I have thoughts and plans too.”

With those words, Alice put the finger she had placed on Jess’s lips to her own lips.

And she said with her lips – shhh.

“Right now, we both have to be quiet.”

“I understand…”

“Don’t worry. Since the deal is done, nothing will happen to my mother or put her in danger.”

“Ha, in this situation, you’re going to call me mother?”

“That’s natural, isn’t it? We both have to be quiet, so it’s good to get used to it.”

With those words, Alice moved away from Jess with a smile.

There was a lot to do.

She had to find evidence of the rebellion, the number of cooperating families.

She also had to grasp the past and present state of the Ruincrest layer, and gradually find out Perdain’s schemes and future rebellion plans.

To do that, it was better for Alice to immerse herself in the current ‘adopted daughter act.’

She ended up staying in the core of the Arbentaine Family, the subject of the rebellion.

Quietly.

But at the same time, she had to cooperate with Perdain and the Arbentaine Family as much as possible so that they would open up to her.

‘Jess is insurance. Insurance to prevent things from going to the worst.’

Jess was the mistress of the Arbentaine Family, even if it was just a facade.

Alice was satisfied just by making an ally in the deepest part of Arbentaine.

“Then have a good night. Mother.”

“…U-uh, hng…!”

For some reason, Jess started to sob a little.

Was it because she saw even a slight possibility of escaping from the bleak future that had no answer?

It wasn’t hard to understand.

She was a woman full of desire for success, so it wouldn’t have been a day or two since she felt despair from being pessimistic about her situation…

“Alice?”

Just as she was leaving Jess’s room, Alice ran into Taylor.

“Ah, Taylor? That’s right. You told me to come to your room, right?”

“No, that’s not it, but why is Alice coming out of Mother’s room…”

No, it wasn’t that they ran into each other, but it seemed that Taylor had been waiting for Alice in front of Jess’s door all along.

But Taylor’s face was unusual.

“Hng, hng…!”

From Jess’s room, where Alice had just come out, the faint sound of Jess’s sobbing could be heard.

“Mother!”

-Bang!

Feeling a bad premonition, Taylor ignored etiquette and threw open Jess’s door.

And what she saw was… her mother, with nothing on and barely covered with a blanket over her shoulders, quietly sobbing.

“…Alice.”

At the sound of her beloved mother’s sobs, Taylor’s face soon began to distort like a demon.

“You damn bitch! How dare you do that to my mom…!”

“Huh?”

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