[Dante: Sorry, I was sick the whole day. Just woke up.]
’A fever? He had a fever?’ Emma was shocked after reading his message.
The anger that had been building in her chest all night cracked and fell apart in an instant.
She thought back to her text where she had called him a coward.
’Is that why he left me on seen?’ She couldn’t help feeling guilty after realising it.
[Dante: I only saw your messages now. Were you that worried about me?]
Emma’s thumb froze over the screen.
’Of course I was, you idiot~’ She thought, as if it were a matter of fact, a smile emerging on her lips. But of course, she wasn’t going to admit it that easily.
[Emma: As your big sister, how could I not be worried after hearing you want to leave all of us?!]
[Emma: Anyways, you said you were sick, right? Are you okay? Did you take medicine? Are you feeling better?]
Dante read the first message and then the second, the two contradicting each other. He found it funny and shook his head.
[Dante: I’m better now. So when are you coming back?]
[Emma: Why do you ask? Did you miss me already?]
She hit send and immediately wanted to throw her phone out the window.
The typing bubble appeared on his end. Then disappeared. Then appeared again.
Her heart climbed into her throat.
[Dante: Haha, yeah, I miss you.]
Her face went from pink to crimson in a single second. She brought the screen closer like she had misread it, then jerked it back after confirming it.
’M-miss me...? Since when does he say things like this?!’ Emma was starting to doubt if it was really Dante on the other end.
She had only sent that message to tease him and didn’t expect to get this kind of reply back.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for a long moment before she finally typed.
[Emma: ...I’ll be coming back soon. You better still be in one piece by then! Stern Cute Girl GIF ]
She shoved the phone face down on the seat beside her before her courage could run out.
Her heart was pounding way harder than it had any right to.
A few seconds later, the phone buzzed once.
She stared at it for a long moment before picking it back up.
[Dante: I’ll be waiting, Ma’am. Cat Salute GIF]
A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips before she could stop it.
’Idiot.’
She seemed to think for a moment before speaking to Sasha in the driver’s seat.
"Get on the phone and tell them I need to wrap things up sooner." She turned to look out the window and added with a smile.
"We are heading back as soon as possible."
*****
Three days later, in the mansion.
Dante sat cross-legged on his bed, surrounded by a faint blue glow as the mana stone in his hands slowly disintegrated into his body.
He had finally finished absorbing two mythic grade mana stones!
And the results spoke for themselves.
"Finally a breakthrough...!" Dante said, grinning ear to ear while pulling up the status window.
[Name: Dante Ackerman]
[Realm: Mana Awakening Mid Stage]
[Bloodline: None]
[Talents: Foresight(EX), Mana Affinity(SS), Scheming Mind(S), Two-Faced(C), Business Sense(D)]
[Luck: Doomed(In Rise)]
[Villain Points: 6,500]
[System Slots: 1/2]
[Bound Targets: Natasha]
[Techniques: None]
[Inventory: 50 Litres of wine, 200ml of medicine, 8 Mana Stones (Mythic)]
Seeing his realm go up from early to mid, he felt a rush of dopamine.
As he looked down, his eyes paused on the luck tab.
"Uh, my luck is rising?" He said, seeing a mix of black and white around the font. But he wasn’t that happy about it.
Going from doomed to common was like going from a slave to a commoner. Then again, every point of luck he gained was a point Ryan lost. That thought alone made it taste sweeter.
However, all the happiness on his face was gone after seeing his villain points at 6,500.
Aside from the 6,000 he collected that morning, he got the extra 500 points for making Emma’s heart race.
His face darkened as he recalled Natasha’s behaviour around him these past few days.
Just like he expected, she had been keeping her distance from him after that day.
He thought he was seeing things at first, but when he tested it by offering her help in activities that required close contact, she was clearly acting weird.
Naturally, her favourability was stuck at 40 too.
"I can’t go on like this any longer." He said with a grave expression. "But it doesn’t look like she’s going to drop her guard that easily."
"I need to change my approach." He spoke with a thoughtful look in his eyes. "I can’t wait for her to drop her guard while sitting around in my room, not going anywhere."
"And if that’s the case, I should use this time to do some groundwork before Ryan arrives." He added with a devious grin. "As his soon to be father, I will make sure his ’good friends’ are all in perfect condition."
’But I shouldn’t neglect my master too much. We already went three days with no mission.’ He thought, narrowing his eyes. ’Even if she’s defending perfectly, I need to keep trying.’
’And it’s too much of a waste to not farm rewards!’
"I’ll go with something like a daily mission for now. How about cooking me food every day, with 2x cultivation speed for an hour as the reward? We’ll at least get something out of it daily, no matter how bad the vibe between us." He nodded, agreeing with himself. He could always make changes later on, like adding more daily missions or different rewards.
For example....
Starting his day with a blowjob and stamina boot as the reward so that they could have sex all day.