Episode 519. Temporary Daily Life (7)

“… What did you just say?”

Lee Hoyeon approached Liliana, his eyes wide open.

Liliana was slightly surprised by Lee Hoyeon’s sudden change in attitude, but after blinking, she recalled what she had just said.

“Huh? Let me see… Victoria Park, the curse… and maybe that I couldn’t accept your weird jokes sometimes?”

“No, that wasn’t it! What did you just say!?”

“Aagh! Why, why are you doing this! My head hurts!”

Lee Hoyeon, his head spinning, grabbed Liliana’s shoulders and shook her back and forth wildly.

Lee Hoyeon didn’t usually take most of what Liliana said seriously, but he couldn’t just overlook what he had just heard.

Especially the fake dungeon.

The fact that the women had such a conversation was too serious to just ignore.

“You just said Victoria Park, the curse, and the fake dungeon, right? Huh?”

“I think I heard words like that… Why are you acting like this? Are you angry?”

“….”

Seeing Liliana shrink back, Lee Hoyeon calmed his emotions.

Calm down.

Getting angry won’t solve this.

I need to retrace the situation slowly.

‘I need to stay calm.’

Actually, if you asked whether the things Liliana mentioned were huge secrets, they weren’t.

Since nothing could be done by hiding the truth from everyone, we moved forward by revealing bits of the facts.

Irene helped investigate Lucifer and the black pillar, and Rebecca helped design the fake dungeon magic circle.

So it was natural that they knew these things, but the problem was that those words came out of Liliana’s mouth.

‘Victoria Park’, known only to Irene.

‘Curse’, known only to Alice.

‘Fake dungeon’, known only to Rebecca.

I had never told Liliana this information, so she must have heard it at Alice’s place.

I had been curious about what they would talk about when they met, and now I knew.

‘…I wondered why they became close, and it turns out it was because of me.’

The only fortunate thing was that the fake dungeon magic circle hadn’t been discovered yet.

Even the last time Lee Hoyeon checked, there was no trace of anyone having touched the magic circle.

‘Or maybe I’m overreacting?’

Perhaps it wasn’t a big deal.

Liliana might have just remembered words that were casually mentioned during a conversation.

‘…No. I have to be suspicious. That would be stranger.’

But the possibility of that is too low.

Even if ‘Victoria Park’ could somehow come up in conversation, the fake dungeon is information known only to Rebecca.

When working on the magic circle with Rebecca, she personally kept the secret, but things are different now.

Since I didn’t even cast a secret-keeping spell or anything, if Rebecca were to speak, there’s no way to stop her.

‘Should I have cast a secret-keeping spell…? No, that’s not right.’

Setting aside whether Rebecca would permit it or not, suggesting such a thing to someone helping me wasn’t right.

“… I’m sorry if I did something wrong.”

“No. I’m sorry. I got strangely worked up.”

Lee Hoyeon turned his head at the voice coming from beside him.

Liliana was still intimidated, watching Lee Hoyeon’s mood.

It seemed she was startled by Lee Hoyeon’s sudden outburst.

Hoo.

Lee Hoyeon took a deep breath.

Overcoming his throbbing headache, he released the hand holding Liliana’s shoulders.

He seemed to have been holding her shoulders tightly because he was lost in thought.

It wasn’t Liliana’s fault. No, it wasn’t anyone’s fault.

If anything, it was Lee Hoyeon’s fault.

“Liliana, are you sure about the conversation you mentioned earlier?”

“Uh, ummm… Probably. But why are you asking? Was I not supposed to say it? It’s not my fault, right?”

“… It’s nothing like that. Sorry for suddenly acting strange. Don’t worry.”

Seeing Liliana looking anxious made him feel apologetic.

Thanks to her, I learned the truth, so I should be grateful.

Lee Hoyeon opened Liliana’s status window.

★ Heroine Status Window

[Liliana]

• [ Affection Level: 99 ] ( + 4.1 )

• [ Lust Level: 90 ]

• [ Appetite Level: 50 ]

• [ Fatigue Level: 40 ]

Current Status: I don’t think it was my fault… Was kidnapping Irene wrong? But we’re on good terms now, so it should be fine?

…What does kidnapping mean?

Is this just Liliana’s usual nonsense?

Logically, if Irene had been kidnapped, she wouldn’t be getting along so well with them.

Besides, Lee Hoyeon’s women aren’t the type for such dramatic situations.

She probably misunderstood their joking around as something serious.

‘It seems certain that Liliana doesn’t know anything….’

Since it seems she was indeed kicked out for being bored, it’s safe to say there’s almost no information to gain from Liliana.

‘Should I subtly probe Daeun when she gets here?’

If there’s no information from Liliana, I need to target the other women.

Scarlet and Rebecca seem like they’d notice quickly, so I’ll have to coax the innocent Daeun.

“Ummm… I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Come here. I told you it was a mistake.”

“Hehe.”

As he wrapped his arm around Liliana’s neck, who was still hunched over, Liliana smiled.

Simple things are really nice at times like these.

‘I’ll think about that later… For now, let’s not show it in front of the women.’

Unlike Liliana, who seemed clueless, Scarlet and Rebecca were looking at me strangely.

After all, it was those two who first hit me with the ‘fact assault’.

Spending time at Irene’s place would naturally lead to mentioning Lee Hoyeon’s name, and perhaps that’s when they became suspicious.

Liliana quickly smiled and clung to Lee Hoyeon.

“Speaking of which, did you get a reply to the letter?”

“Letter? Ah… yes. There was no reply.”

“That’s a shame… Is Mom busy?”

The reply to letters sent via the Underworld contract arrives at Lee Hoyeon’s.

Given that some time has passed without a reply, she might have no intention of responding.

‘Since she’s the Succubus Queen….’

Now that I know Liliana’s mother’s identity, I find myself suspicious of everything.

I don’t know how I should act if I actually meet her, the Demon King’s mistress, nor do I know what she wanted when she sealed Liliana.

Liliana quickly smiled, as if it was fine even without a reply.

“It would be nice if we could go to the Underworld together someday and have a meeting with my parents.”

“Meeting the parents? Does such a thing exist in the Underworld?”

“Not exactly, but I wanted to try it at least once after seeing it here. Bringing a young human man… no, bringing you.”

“…The ‘young human man’ part isn’t important, right?”

“There’s no way that could happen!”

Lee Hoyeon stroked the head of Liliana, who was hugging him, and leaned back on the sofa.

Truthfully, my body was tired and my head hurt, so I wanted to take a nap, but there were quite a few things to think about.

‘…What should I do if it seems like the women have noticed?.’

I might have to discard the fake dungeon plan immediately.

Then I’d have to find a new way to woo the heroines….

Ttiriring-

“Huh? Seems like a scout has arrived.”

Just then, the front door opening was heard, and familiar footsteps approached.

The sound of them chattering was a bonus.

“We’re home~. Liliana, sorry. I bought chicken instead… Huh? Is the baby’s dad here too?”

“Indeed. You’ve come early today.”

“Sorry, Hoyeon. Did you eat? Shall we eat chicken together?”

Seeing Lee Hoyeon, the women approached him with smiles.

However, Lee Hoyeon had to watch their moods.

The moment he knew the truth, it was difficult to treat them as usual.

“…No. But where did you all go?”

“We just went to see Irene for a bit.”

“Ah. Why Irene?”

“Since she’s our neighbor, we just went to hang out.”

Rebecca answered with a nonchalant expression.

She was even wearing a gentle smile; if it weren’t Lee Hoyeon, anyone else might have been easily fooled.

★ Heroine Status Window

[Rebecca]

• [ Affection Level: 100 ] ( + 1.1 )

• [ Lust Level: 60 ]

• [ Appetite Level: 40 ]

• [ Fatigue Level: 30 ]

Current Status: I wanted to keep the visit to Irene’s house a secret… The baby’s dad probably won’t care much, right?

[Upon reaching 100 Affection Level, she will serve Lee Hoyeon as her husband and support him.]

Reading Rebecca’s thoughts, Lee Hoyeon swallowed hard.

The women’s secret conversations, which he was excluded from, bothered him immensely.

“Uh, yeah. I see. Right. Daeun, I’m tired so I’m going to sleep for a bit today. I’ll eat later by myself.”

Lee Hoyeon stealthily backed away and fled to his room.

*

“…Ugh.”

Unable to eat dinner in the end, Lee Hoyeon lay on the bed and pulled the blanket over himself.

He didn’t have the confidence to face the women and eat dinner.

Even if he tried to control his expression, the perceptive Scarlet might notice.

“No way, did they notice? Really?”

Could they have gathered that much information?

There were too many facts Lee Hoyeon had hidden for them to reach the truth by piecing together fragmented information.

‘Are they still gathering information?’

No matter how I think about it, they can’t reach the truth.

They are combining what they know to try and uncover my secrets, and it seems Liliana overheard that conversation.

However, there’s always the possibility of the unexpected.

The possibility that they’ve gotten closer to the truth, however slim, exists.

So, I’ll have to probe them.

Knock knock.

• Hoyeon. May I come in?

“Yeah. Come in.”

Kkiik.

The door opened, and Nam Daeun, dressed comfortably, entered Lee Hoyeon’s room.

It was a thin tracksuit, but despite being baggy, it was an outfit that nicely accentuated her chest.

As soon as Nam Daeun entered the room, she approached Lee Hoyeon and put on a worried expression.

“Hoyeon. Are you okay? You don’t look well….”

“No. Daeun. Shall we talk for a bit?”

“Okay.”

Seuk-

Nam Daeun perched on the edge of the bed and held Lee Hoyeon’s hand.

Monopolizing a night with Lee Hoyeon each day was a matter agreed upon among the women.

Tonight was Nam Daeun’s turn.

Looking at Nam Daeun, who was gazing at him with a worried expression, Lee Hoyeon thought.

He would extract all the information she knew.

“Did you meet Irene today?”

“Yeah. We had tea. Dahee went out with a friend she made at the academy.”

“Really? It’s fortunate she makes friends easily. …But what do you usually talk about with Irene?”

“Umm…. Just small talk? Usually, Rebecca and Scarlet do most of the talking, and I just watch.”

Nam Daeun smiled as if she was simply happy to be talking with Lee Hoyeon.

Extracting information from Nam Daeun, who had such an innocent face, weighed on his conscience, but he couldn’t help it.

“Ahem. Really? Didn’t you talk about me?”

“…Talk about Hoyeon… I don’t.”

“Really?”

“…Yes.”

Lee Hoyeon fixed his gaze on Nam Daeun’s profile as she avoided his eyes, and Nam Daeun kept glancing at Lee Hoyeon after turning her head.

Each time, seeing Lee Hoyeon looking intently at her made her feel a sense of anxiety.

★ Heroine Status Window

[Nam Daeun]

• [ Affection Level: 100 ] ( + 2.1 )

• [ Lust Level: 85 ]

• [ Appetite Level: 30 ]

• [ Fatigue Level: 35 ]

Current Status: Scarlet told me never to say anything… Ugh, ugh. What should I do?

[Upon reaching 100 Affection Level, her love for Lee Hoyeon deepens significantly.]

Seeing the status window, Lee Hoyeon smiled and tightly held Nam Daeun’s hand.

He could feel her tension through her warm hand.

“Daeun. You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you?”

“Ah, huh? …There’s nothing like that.”

“Look into my eyes.”

Lee Hoyeon held Nam Daeun’s hand and pulled her closer.