Chapter 144 - Struggling

After a while, that Ethan kept Lefiya in his embrace, he slowly released her as he didn't want to make Maple and Ais wait for too much.

"Lefiya...I would love to continue the conversation further, but we have all the time in the world for that...right now, they are waiting for us..."

To his words, Lefiya was visibly surprised as she didn't expect such a thing, and the fact he hadn't properly specified who the people in question were had been another thing that made her curious, before she realized what he had said at the beginning.

"D-Does that mean...they're waiting for us even n-now...?"

Nodding as a sign of confirmation, Ethan saw how she seemed to be shaken by this, so he decided to add

"Don't worry though, these doubts had to be cleared up now, I don't think they both will have anything to say even if we're taking our time..."

Although she was curious about who was waiting for them, Lefiya gave more importance to the first part of his speech, and she knew he was right. It was something that couldn't be postponed, and if both would not worry anyway, there was no need for her to worry, but Lefiya still wanted to avoid making these people wait longer than necessary.

"I-I see...We should..."

She wanted to add they needed to move to go, but the closeness to him, along with the embarrassment she felt, led her to lower her head before bringing it close to his c.h.e.s.t...

Taking her time for a few more seconds, Lefiya took all the air her lungs allowed her to contain before releasing it all to try to calm down and, although Ethan was tempted to embrace her again, he knew this would only complicate things, so the only thing he did was look away while Lefiya, now that she was relatively calm, was going to say something before Ethan took her hand

"...We can go now"

Although he knew this would embarrass her, Ethan's goal was to fight against her insecurity and embarrassment, which even though they seemed enemies so difficult to fight, Ethan wouldn't back down for so little.

Whispering for a moment, Lefiya nodded while Ethan now with a moment of silence could focus on how he would tell Lefiya and Ais about Maple, his intent was to reveal the truth without the system being involved, so he knew the only chance he had was to say the [True Dungeon] was a some kind of skill.

He didn't like having to lie to them like that, but if viewed from a rational point of view, the system was a part of him so even if the latter possessed this function and not him, it could also be considered as his own..

As these doubts made their way into his mind, the duo left the room, but before leaving the Lychee Inn, Ethan brought his attention to Kim as the latter smiled at them

"So, it looks like you and your girlfriend worked things out..."

His words, led Lefiya to wince in embarrassment and while like usual she had no intention of running away from the situation while she relied on the warmth his hand brought her to return calm, Ethan responded with a radiant smile.

"Yes, it's all right now. Thank you, if we ever need again, I'll know where to come..."

At these words, Kim could only chuckle before nodding to confirm that just as he thought, Ethan was a kind person, rare there...

"You are free to come anytime; The Lychee Inn will be happy to have you back as a customer..."

This was the last thing the two could hear before going out while Kim, unable to see them anymore, decided to go checking on how the situation was progressing in the kitchen...

'I just hope he doesn't die in the dungeon'

Kim wasn't very up-to-date on what was going on over the past few months since his entire focus was on running the Lychee Inn, and even though he had heard someone here and there talking about Ethan, it didn't mean he knew the extent of his powers, so he could only worry about him given the kindness with which he had treated both him and his daughter...

But he decided to put these thoughts aside now in the kitchen since taking care of his Inn was the main thought that always filled his mind...

---

Now outside the Lychee Inn, Ethan sighed at the scene in front of him as Maple was looking elsewhere while Ais tried - and failed miserably - to be 'friendly' with the latter.

But while he sighed for this reason, Lefiya stopped for a second to look at Ais and, seeing the fox beside her, she had many questions to which she wanted an answer, with the first on top of them was about why Ethan decided not to tell her who was waiting for them.

What she didn't know was that Ethan didn't necessarily want to hide who was waiting for them, and since he didn't want to talk to her about Maple right away, nor did he want her to know that it was Ais who was waiting for her, which would only complicate things, he had opted not to say who was waiting for them in indecision.

"I don't understand why she's so hostile towards you, Ais."

Ethan hadn't understood why it seemed almost as if Maple didn't want to have contact with Ais, and although it was probably already guessable by the fact the collar had 'traumatized' her so much, Ethan had interpreted these actions as lack of trust towards Ais, but it almost seemed like there was more to it than that.

Hearing Ethan say this, Ais turned to look at him without adding anything while Lefiya focused on the fox before asking

"Does she have a name?"

To her question, Ethan nodded and told her the fox's name before approaching the latter to take her in his arms.

"I know both of you have a lot of questions, and I would have preferred to talk about it in a more interesting place, but maybe if we go home is better..."

Initially Ethan's plan was to take Ais and Lefiya to a place to eat, but he hadn't thought about the various problems that followed, starting with the Valis he lacked for a proper dinner, and ending with the situation in which they were, very different from what he had previously imagined.

'Although a bit more boring, I would say it's better to go home and buy something for dinner from the shop...'

At his words Ais nodded before her gaze shifted to look at Lefiya. She knew from that moment on, their 'relationship' would be quite different from before. Now that they were 'officially' engaged to the same person, their bond should become even stronger...

"We're still 1-0 for me..."

Muttering this, Lefiya could almost hear her words and although this confused her a little, she decided not to pay attention to it as she found the courage to say weakly

"I hope things will go as they should..."

There wasn't tension between the two, since they knew each other for years, so there was a high level of trust between them, but from Lefiya, there was also a mixture of embarrassment and insecurity now that her position was well-defined next to him.

At her words, Ethan was once again surprised but decided to let them speak without his interruption as they returned home, since he knew the two were in a very different situation from before and thus, they needed to talk about it...

"You don't have to worry about this... I'm sure things will be fine..."

Although Ais was a competitive person, her 'rival' was also a companion, so she wouldn't hesitate to support her as she could, although she would still remember she was one of Ethan's lovers.

Hearing Ais reassure her, Lefiya smiled weakly before sighing. She knew Ais, and she more than anyone could know how kind she really was, another of the reasons why she had always idolized her...

While the two spoke and Ethan tried to give them the space they needed, Maple tried to analyse the situation by trying to interpret the actions that were taking place around her. She knew very well she was causing trouble by not trusting Ais, but it was inevitable, since she had barely been able to trust Ethan until now, remembering the words of her mother who, right now, were helping her in what could be called a difficult situation...

But it wasn't the only thing she had noticed, in fact, from the moment she saw Ethan holding hands with a girl she didn't know, she could already understand that the two shared a special bond, similar to what Ais and Ethan shared.

She also knew that a person like him could not be normal at all, in fact he wasn't only in a relationship with another human, but also with an elf, considered nobility along with foxes and other species...

'I wonder how many other girls Ethan is in a relationship with...'

It wasn't too weird for Maple that Ethan had a 'harem'. In fact, this was not such a rare thing in the world where she came from, but unlike Ethan, Maple's father stopped seeing other women after Maple's birth, since he didn't want the latter to be born in a 'strange' family situation.

But that wasn't the only reason she just accepted it. Even by the kindness that Ethan had shown, Maple knew only one woman wouldn't have been able to 'hold back' his natural charm, since it was simply impossible from her perspective not to fall in love with a person with all these qualities and almost no flaws.

Although she understood that in the future, with the ability to understand each other verbally and thus be able to express themselves better, even more qualities - like other bad things - would pop up in the personality of the boy who held her in his arms, But this was something that didn't matter to her at all, since from the moment he rescued her from the tragic death that would soon have awaited her, These unnecessary things didn't matter much...

As Maple was still lost in her thoughts, the group made their way home as Ais and Lefiya slowly dissolved what seemed to be an invisible tension, albeit weak, still existing between them...

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(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8. You may ask me: "Why should I enter the server?". Well, I'm replying to every interesting question you readers are asking in my chapters, so, you should absolutely enter if you want to read my answers. Ah, and you can find some image reference of items in the story such as Light..! (Soon even Qienta).. so it's recommended to join, I frequently post polls as well, regarding things that(most likely) will be present in the story. One last thing, I post chapter updates in my discord right after I posted on , so I guess you can join to be able to know when I post chapters faster.)

(Poll going on in the discord: Who do you prefer? Qienta or Light? | Cat-girl or Renard(Fox) | Are you liking the interactions between Maple and Ethan?)

(Do you enjoy reading my novel? If the answer is yes, then thanks. I'll leave my ******* here. w ww.pat reon.com/watashiwavdesu)

(Ais & Lefiya will not act coldly between them, since they have known each other for a long time, it is only a momentary phase so you can rest assured)

(Alternate Titles: "Maple doesn't like Ais at all...", "Maple recognized Ethan's harem already! She's quite proficient at it", "Lefiya and Ais..temporary tensions!? Nah, it will be solved soon", "Ais aims for victory, but also has in mind to help Lefiya? I don't think it will end well")