Chapter 446: Isn't This Basically an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet?
To be honest, Steven had never seen Talulah smile so gently before.
For a split second, he almost thought the one standing in front of him was that soft, adorable little deer.
And precisely because of that, Steven could more or less tell that Talulah must have run into something truly painful and distressing. Something serious enough that she no longer bothered to maintain even the last scraps of the façade she usually kept up, choosing instead to open her heart to him with that unguarded smile.
"Alright, alright. I'm here now," Steven said gently.
"If there's anything bothering you, go on and share it with me. Even if I can't help you find an answer, at the very least, I can be a decent listener."
He quietly glanced around, confirming that they seemed to be inside some kind of run-down rural room. Only then did he half-narrow his eyes and open his arms toward the Draco girl before him, exposing his chest in invitation.
Talulah showed not the slightest hint of shyness. She leaned straight into his embrace as naturally as breathing, her whole body going limp, as if all her strength had been drained away.
"You heartless bastard," she muttered softly.
"At least you still know to come back and see me. I guess I didn't misjudge you after all."
As she complained under her breath, Talulah reached out and lightly hammered Steven's chest with her fist. She didn't bother holding back—after all, this guy probably wouldn't feel any pain from it anyway.
And thinking back on all the grievances she had suffered during the time Steven was gone only made her even more dissatisfied with him.
"What do you mean by 'heartless'?" Steven replied helplessly.
"You chose your own path to walk, and I have my own life to live. I can help you, sure—but in the end, the most important steps have to be taken by you yourself. I've told you more than once to just come with me instead. You insisted on staying a revolutionary leader. So how can you blame me now?"
He'd already tried to persuade Talulah to give it all up. She was the one who insisted on continuing down this road. The grievances she was suffering now were things no leader could ever truly avoid.
"I don't care," Talulah said, twisting the soft flesh at his waist.
"You're my boyfriend right now. I can't be willful in front of others—are you saying I can't even be willful in front of you? Or what, do you think I'm wrong and want me to apologize?"
She was clearly venting her frustrations, and yet he still had the nerve to reason with her. Of course she was annoyed.
"Alright, alright, you're right. Happy now?" Steven conceded with a sigh.
"But no matter what, we still have to acknowledge the logic of things, you know."
He pulled out his plastic chair out of his inventory and sat down, lifting the girl in his arms—who was far thinner than she looked—and settling her onto his lap and wrapped an arm around her slender waist.
"No," Talulah replied calmly.
"Let me be willful for a bit longer."
She reached up and hooked her arms around Steven's shoulders, showing no intention of letting his hand leave her waist. Resting her head against his shoulder, she closed her eyes, looking as though she wanted to take a short nap.
Steven lowered his voice, half-amused, half-dangerous.
"Then… would it be alright if I just go ahead and eat you up?"
With a warm, soft body in his arms, Steven was hardly some saintly gentleman who could sit unmoved like Kamijou Touma. Especially after Talulah herself was snuggling herself to him like this.
What's more, according to the mini-map, there didn't seem to be anyone nearby who could get in the way. Which meant that—even if he did "eat" this little dragon girl right here and now—there wouldn't be any real problem.
"I don't think you're the type of man to take advantage of someone when they're vulnerable, though, If you want to use my body as a consolation prize for all the help you gave to me, I won't object, as long as you can live with it."
Even after hearing Steven's rather dangerous words, Talulah didn't show much reaction. It wasn't like she didn't understand what kind of person he was. And besides, this was something that was bound to happen sooner or later—she wasn't the type to regret it.
Her slender fingers traced lazy circles on Steven's chest, yet there was a hint of hesitation in her eyes, a kind of confusion she normally shouldn't have had.
Then, in the very next moment, she reached up and began undoing the buttons of the outfit she was wearing—something that looked halfway between a military uniform and a formal dress. Soon, the upper half of her perfectly proportioned body was exposed before Steven's eyes.
Though her chest was still wrapped in something akin to a binding cloth, even the mere sight of her delicate, alluring shoulders and elegant collarbones was more than enough to drive most people mad.
Almost as if he'd lost control of his own body, Steven reached out and brushed his fingers across her exposed shoulder. Skin-to-skin contact, no distance at all. Her youthful flesh felt so tender it seemed as if it could be pinched into water, and even her higher-than-normal body temperature couldn't stop him from savoring that milk-smooth texture.
But in the very next second, Steven simply pulled the clothes she had loosened back up from behind her, covering her upper body again.
"This kind of temptation won't be enough to make your boyfriend lose to his lust, you know?" he said with a chuckle.
"At the very least, you should've taken everything off first, right? And besides, just like you said—I'm not the type to take advantage of someone when they're vulnerable. Compared to your body, I'm greedy enough to want your heart too."
As he spoke, Steven took the opportunity to poke her chest twice. Judging from the surprisingly firm resistance beneath his fingers, it seemed that whatever monster was being restrained under that binding cloth was even more terrifying than he'd initially imagined.
"You know," Talulah said lightly, "if you don't make a move now, you won't get such a good chance next time."
She didn't seem to mind Steven's obvious excuse to cop a feel at all. Instead, she merely held onto her clothes and leaned back into his embrace once more.
Though she said it like that, the blissful smile curving her lips made it clear that she was more than satisfied with Steven's current behavior.
"Then next time it is," Steven replied calmly.
"So—how about you tell me what exactly happened? What turned the tsundere little fire dragon I remember into someone so self-destructive… that she's basically trying to serve herself up to me like an all-you-can-eat buffet?"
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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