Several minutes later…
Pudding clutched the collar of Zechs' shirt, breathing heavily. "Haah… haah…" Her face was flushed deep red, her eyes moist, and her lips trembled as she lingered in the lingering sensation of the long kiss.
Swallowing nervously, she looked up at him, her expression uneasy and shaken.
"W-what was that?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Why did you kiss me like that?"
Zechs shrugged lightly. "Because I didn't want to deal with a woman who was crying."
"For that reason… you kissed me?" she asked, stunned by his reason.
"My strategy seems to have worked, though," Zechs replied with a playful smile. "You've stopped crying, haven't you, Pudding-chan?"
"That's only because I'm too shocked to cry!" Pudding nearly shouted.
"Hey, the process doesn't matter. The result does," Zechs said with a shrug. "You've stopped crying. That's what matters."
"You… you…"
A surge of anger rose within her. He had taken her first kiss, her very first, and he had done it without even asking.
It was true that the kiss had felt unexpectedly good, so much so that a small part of her found herself wanting more. But the fact remained: he had taken it without her permission.
That realization stung deeply, and her eyes began to fill with tears again.
"Hey," Zechs said lightly, an amused smile on his face. "If you start crying again, I'll just kiss you again to make you stop."
Pudding fell silent. But when she saw his expression, she realized he might actually do it.
Startled, she hurriedly forced her tears back. "I… I'm not crying," she said, trying to steady her voice.
"Good girl…" nodded Zechs, patting her head.
Pudding felt an unfamiliar sensation as her head was caressed.
Part of her felt irritated and wanted to pull away, wanted to make him stop. But at the same time, she couldn't bring herself to do it. No one had ever treated her like this before.
The feeling was strange… but warm.
Slowly, almost without realizing it, she closed her eyes and leaned forward, resting her face against his chest while he continued to stroke her hair.
'Damn it… why does this feel so nice?' The thought lingered in her mind, and for a moment, she even felt the urge to cry again. But this time, she held it back. Instead, she stayed where she was, letting her emotions slowly settle.
Everything that had happened, the words he had said earlier, and the kiss that followed, had left her overwhelmed.
She needed time to calm down.
And strangely, the gentle sensation of him patting her head gave her exactly the comfort she needed.
After a while, her emotions gradually settled.
Even so, Pudding didn't lift her head from his chest. She stayed where she was and spoke from there, her voice slightly muffled.
"Hey… did you really mean it? When you said I'm beautiful… that I'm cute? Am I really not hideous? Not a freak?"
Hearing her question, Zechs gently held her head and drew her back a little so he could look at her face. Her eyes were red and damp, trembling as she searched his expression for an answer.
And the answer he gave her was—
Chu.
Another kiss.
Her eyes widened again in surprise, and once again, her head felt muddled, her senses overwhelmed as she found herself unable to resist… She allowed him to do as he pleased.
But this time, he didn't go deep or act forcefully. He gave her a soft and brief kiss, their lips touching quietly for a few good seconds as she kept her eyes closed, accepting the kiss and the sweetness it made her feel before he pulled back.
She looked at him with watery eyes and bit her lip… as if feeling a little reluctant that the kiss ended so quickly. She seemed to want more of it, but also felt afraid and hesitant about it.
Noting the desire in her eyes, Zechs smiled slightly. He caressed her cheek with his thumb and asked her, "What do you think of that as an answer?"
Actions often speak louder than words. Zechs hadn't said anything, yet Pudding seemed to understand what he meant.
Even so, she wasn't fully convinced. She wanted to hear it from him directly.
"I don't know what to think about that," she said hesitantly. "It feels like you might just be pitying me… Are you pitying me? Or… maybe you're the type who doesn't care about appearances… and… and…"
Before she could continue, Zechs pressed his hand firmly over her mouth, preventing her from speaking any further.
Her eyes trembled as she looked up at him… wanting to speak more.
"Shhh." He signalled her to stop… and she fell silent without much struggle and stared at him, waiting for him to speak.
Keeping his hand firmly over her mouth, Zechs spoke in a calm, unapologetic tone. "I'll be completely honest with you, Pudding-chan. When it comes to women, I'm very particular about their appearance. If I find a woman physically unattractive, I wouldn't keep her close, let alone kiss her. You could even say that I care far less about personality or character than I do about how a woman looks. She could have a terrible attitude and be a total bitch, but if she's attractive to me, that's enough. I'll claim her as mine and mold her into the shape I want. On the other hand, it doesn't matter how kind or pure her heart is; if I don't find her appealing, I won't touch her, and I certainly won't kiss her... well, at least, until the woman changes herself and becomes sexy enough for me to take an interest in her."
[Shallow man,] Miss System remarked.
'Not really, Miss System,' Zechs replied inwardly. 'I'm only like this because I'm not looking for love or anything deep from these women. All I care about is pleasure… and the Attribute Points and Bloodline Points that come with it. So if that makes me sound shallow for wanting to gain those benefits, only using women I find attractive, rather than women I find unattractive, then so be it. It's not like I intend to love them or seek love from them.'
This was also why he had no reservations about marrying someone like Linlin. He was fully aware of the kind of person she was, especially when considering how she might have obtained her Soul-Soul Fruit.
And yet, he still agreed to marry her.
The reason was simple: she was sexy as hell, and fucking her offered the potential for significant benefits.
And that judgment had already proven correct. Through her, he had gained the Steel Balloon Physique, along with two Gold-tier Summoning Cards.
Miss System fell silent. Her host was so blunt and unapologetic about his reasoning and desire that she found herself without a response.
Ignoring her reaction, Zechs continued, "So… the fact that I kissed you, not once, but three times, should be enough to tell you something. If I didn't think you were beautiful, I wouldn't have said it. And I certainly wouldn't have kissed you."
After a brief pause, he removed his hand that was clasping her mouth and asked her, "Do you understand what I mean?"
"I understand…" Pudding nodded. Then she looked at him with sarcasm and taunted, "What do you mean is that you're a bastard…!!!"
Zechs shrugged. "I won't argue on that."
Pudding rolled all three of her eyes and looked at him with a pout, clearly displeased. "Aren't you even going to deny that you're a bastard?" she asked.
"What's true is true," Zechs replied calmly. "I am a bastard." Then, flashing a charming smile, he added, "But it's also true that this bastard thinks you're a very cute girl, Pudding-chan. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
"C-cute?!" The moment Pudding heard the compliment from him, her heart began to beat rapidly.
Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!
Normally, compliments like that wouldn't have affected her at all. She was used to compliments and rarely took them seriously. After all, most people who praised her didn't know her secrets and had never seen her hideous third eye.
But at this moment, hearing those words from Zechs felt completely different.
It wasn't just the words themselves. There was something about the way Zechs spoke, as if there was some kind of magic that made her feel he wasn't lying. More than that, he had called her cute while looking directly at her third eye.
And he hadn't stopped at words. He had reinforced them with his actions, proving his claim through those repeated kisses.
In a situation like this, what else could she do but believe him?
Even when she tried to doubt him, she found herself persuaded that he truly meant what he said.
And as she accepted the fact that he was really calling her cute, her eyes turned to spiral, a trickle of blood leaked out of her nose, her face turned bright red, and she felt so damn hot that steam exploded out of her.
Puff.
"Cute… c-cute… I'm cute… hehe… I'm cute… he called me cute…" She began murmuring to herself, her words growing soft and unfocused. A dazed smile spread across her face as her body relaxed, her expression turning hazy and dreamlike.
'Fufu… It's done. She's fallen for me,' Zechs thought, a satisfied smile forming inwardly. That had been his intention from the beginning: to make her fall in love with him.
In the canon, Pudding had fallen for the twirly-brows the moment he called her beautiful. Zechs had used that knowledge to his advantage, recreating the same situation to draw her feelings toward himself.
In fact, he had gone even further than Sanji ever did; he had even taken her first kiss, her second kiss, and even her third kiss.
'I wonder if Sanji in that parallel timeline is coughing up blood right now,' he thought with amusement. Then he added, 'Miss System, tell me he is coughing up blood for the green hat I gave him.'
Miss System rolled her eyes but replied anyway. [Host… the Charlotte Pudding you summoned never had her engagement finalized to Vinsmoke Sanji. He doesn't even know her. Why would he be coughing up blood?]
'He'd do it on instinct. Doesn't he have that lady radar or something? Miss System, make sure to confirm it. I've got a feeling he'd definitely be coughing up blood. It would be strange if he wasn't,' Zechs insisted.
If it were anyone else, Zechs might have agreed that nothing would happen. But if it was Vinsmoke Sanji… then he was certain the reaction would be exactly that.
[…] Miss System was speechless… her host was being unreasonable again.
In any case, whether Vinsmoke Sanji had coughed up blood or not didn't really matter. What mattered was that Zechs was pleased. He had successfully won over Pudding's love.
After all, people in love were easy to manipulate.
When emotions took over, judgment slowed. Decisions and actions came from the heart rather than the brain. And now that Pudding's feelings were tied to him, her actions would naturally follow her emotions. As long as he continued to give her 'attention' and 'affection,' she would be far less likely to question him, regardless of what he demanded from her.
While Zechs was feeling satisfied, the dazed expression on Pudding's face suddenly disappeared as a realization struck her.
"Wait… you… aren't you supposed to be my stepfather?" she blurted, flustered.
Only now did she remember that he was meant to be her stepfather. And this so-called stepfather had not only called her cute, but he had also kissed her on the lips, and even invaded her mouth with his tongue.
The thought horrified her. "You… you bastard! How dare you do all that? H-how could you k-k-kiss me?!"
"How could I do that, you ask?" Zechs murmured, a smile forming on his lips.
Before she could understand the meaning of that smile, he leaned in again and captured her lips for the fourth time.
Pudding's eyes widened in shock once again, her pupils briefly turning dreamy as her body softened, 'Aaahnn… h-he is k-k-kissing me again~'
But only a moment later, she snapped back to her senses. "N-no… chu… what are you… chuu… doing…?" she protested weakly, trying to push him away.
Zechs pulled back and slowly licked his lips before answering calmly, "I was answering your question about how I could kiss you. So… do you understand now?"
Pudding was left speechless. Her heart pounded rapidly in her chest, and her face burned so hot that steam continued to rise from it. Still, she forced herself to regain her composure and protested, "T-that's not what I meant…"
"Is that so?" Zechs replied with a smirk. "Then I'll just take back the kiss I gave you."
Before she could react, he leaned in again.
"No—wait!" Pudding cried out in alarm, seeing his approaching lips. But her alarm was nor naught as her lips were claimed again.
Chu~
"No Wai—!"
Chu~
"Wai—!"
Chu~
"No—!"
Chu~
"N—!"
Chu~
Chu~
Chu~
'Woooo… he is being so dominant… but… being kissed like that… ohh… it feels so goodddd~'
…
A little while later…
Pudding hid behind a wooden pillar, peeking out cautiously with only her head visible.
"S-stay there… don't come any closer…" she warned, face still red, and steam still leaking out.
"Really?" Zechs asked, his expression turning slightly dejected. "You really don't want me to come over, hold you, and keep you close, Pudding-chan?"
Her heart wavered instantly. "O-okay… you can come… and… and hold all me all you like…" she said, her eyes turning to heart.
But the moment Zechs took a step toward her, she snapped back to her senses and hurriedly shouted, "N-no! Stay right there! You beast… Y-You perverted stepfather!"
"Fufu…" Zechs chuckled in amusement as he watched her personality shift from a woman in love… to a woman afraid of him and wanting to get away from him.
Something similar had happened in the canon. After developing genuine romantic feelings for Sanji, Pudding began displaying an erratic emotional pattern. Her mood would swing rapidly between her defensive 'tsun' side, where she spoke harshly and rejected him, and her affectionate 'dere' side, where she blushed and acted warmly toward him.
And something very similar was happening now.
At the moment, the focus of her feelings is Zechs. Her emotions toward him had begun to fluctuate in the same unstable way. The difference this time was the conflict within her; he was the first person who had ever called her hideous third-eye beautiful, yet at the same time, he was someone she hardly knew and is supposed to be her stepfather.
That contradiction only made her reactions even more unstable.
Seeing him laugh, Pudding froze for a moment, and then a small nosebleed appeared. 'He looks so charming when he laughs…'
But the thought only lasted a second as she snapped back again and exclaimed at him in irritation, "Don't laugh!"
"Oh?" Zechs tilted his head. "You want me to stop laughing? Then what should I do instead? Should I come over there and kiss you again?"
"N-no!" she cried, trembling as she quickly hid behind the pillar again.
A moment later, however, she slowly peeked her head out, her eyes already soft and filled with hearts as if telling her to kiss her.
That sight only made Zechs chuckle even more, "Fufu… hahaha…"
Watching her get all flustered and bashful like that… and then acting like a tsun and tremble… it was really amusing… and he decided to tease her some more…
[Host, it's not good to play with a maiden's feelings,] Miss System couldn't help but comment as she watched Zechs tease her.
'It's fine, Miss System,' Zechs replied lightly. 'I'm sure Pudding-chan will forgive me, no matter how much I toy with her.'
Miss System remained silent, though she understood that what he said was likely true. Now that Pudding had developed a romantic fixation towards him, she was becoming increasingly easy for him to influence and would probably go along with whatever he asked of her.
Miss System couldn't help but feel a trace of pity for the girl. In her view, her host really was a bastard for toying with an innocent girl like her.
If only she hadn't been holding a tub of popcorn in one hand and a can of Pepsi in the other, her concern might have seemed more sincere.
As things stood, Miss System looked less like a worried observer and more like someone quietly enjoying the show as her host played with his unsuspecting doll.
…
Sometime later, Pudding seemed to have calmed down a little and didn't react that erratically anymore. Even so, she remained hidden behind the pillar, still too shy and embarrassed to face him without blushing.
"Alright, Pudding-chan, come sit down," Zechs said. "Let's get back to what we were talking about."
"I… I'm fine here," she replied quickly. "We can talk like this."
Zechs let out a quiet sigh. Then a faint smile appeared on his lips. The next moment, he vanished from the chair he had been sitting on, only to reappear a moment later. The difference was that this time he held a startled Pudding in his arms, seated on his lap.
"H-hey! W-what are you doing? Didn't I say—!" Pudding exclaimed, wanting to struggle. Sitting on his lap, she felt too embarrassed…
Zechs clasped her mouth and silenced her. "Shhh."
'Aah… so dominating~' she thought, her face burning as her heart began pounding again, but she stopped resisting and stayed seated obediently on his lap.
Once she had quieted down, Zechs spoke calmly. "Now… let's talk."
After hesitating for a moment, Pudding began, "About what happened earlier—"
"You're asking about that?" Zechs replied instead of answering directly. "Weren't you more concerned about why I summoned you here?"
"That… I still want to know," Pudding admitted. "But right now… I'm more worried about what you did to me."
"Oh?" Zechs reacted, a faint teasing smile appearing on his face. "Did you hate what I kissed you?"
"N-no… I didn't hate it," she said a bit shyly.
If anything, it would be more accurate to say she had liked it. Those kisses… with her heart already fixated on him, she had found herself responding to everything he did. A part of her even felt that, if he had gone further, she might not have resisted him at all.
'W-what am I thinking? I barely even know him!'
The realization made her flustered. Her face turned red as she hurriedly pushed those thoughts away and forced herself to focus. "But… t-that's not the problem!" she said, trying to steady her voice.
"Then… what is the problem?" Zechs asked, tilting his head.
"The problem is that you're supposed to be my stepfather," she said, her voice rising slightly. "And yet you did all that with me, your supposed stepdaughter. No… even beyond that stepfather-stepdaughter thing… there's still the fact that you kissed me. How am I supposed to interpret that?"
"You can interpret that as me proving to you with more than just words, with my actions that I genuinely think of you as cute and beautiful…" replied Zechs.
"Is that it?" Pudding asked, sounding slightly disappointed. A trace of anger rose in her chest as well. He had kissed her so many times, and now he was acting as if it were nothing more than proof of his sincerity
Although his actions did make her feel his sincerity, it made her feel as though he had taken advantage of her.
"'Is that it?' you ask?" Zechs said, a teasing note in his voice. "Pudding-chan… could it be that you wanted it to mean something more?"
Her face instantly turned bright red. Her defensive side took over, and she snorted. "Who would want it to mean anything more? Hmph!!"
"Well… if you don't want it to mean anything more," he said lightly, "then there's no need for you to interpret it as anything beyond what I've already said."
"I… This…!" Pudding was at a loss for words.
In truth, she wanted to tell him to take responsibility, but the moment she remembered that he was supposed to become her stepfather, she hesitated and swallowed the thought.
After all, he was going to marry her Mama.
How was she supposed to ask him to take responsibility for stealing her first kiss?
Still, her heart ached. 'He's going to marry Mama…'
Even if she didn't want to admit it, it would be a lie to say she hadn't already developed feelings for him. True, she barely knew anything about him, yet her emotions had already taken root. That only made everything more complicated, knowing that he was going to marry her Mama.
Noting her expression, which was at a loss, he pinched her cheek, "What are you thinking about?"
She glared at him in irritation. "I'm thinking about how to make you pay for taking advantage of me."
"Oh, you want to make me pay?" Zechs asked curiously.
"Definitely… you took advantage of me. I'm going to make you pay for this," she huffed.
Instead of getting angry, Zechs only looked amused. He even leaned in slightly and said, "Oh? Really? Then… want a suggestion?"
"You're going to give me a suggestion to help me make you pay?" Pudding raised three eyebrows.
"Yep. Want to hear it?" Zechs asked with a smile.
"T-tell me…" she said, her attention sharpening. Of course, she was only asking out of curiosity to hear what he'd suggest; it didn't mean she intended to follow whatever he suggested.
"You can make me pay," Zechs said with a smirk, "by taking advantage of me in return. An eye for an eye. If you want revenge for being taken advantage of, then the only way is to take advantage of me back."
"You…!" Pudding stared at him, not expecting him to suggest something like that. Didn't she understand what he actually meant? If she tries to take advantage of him… doesn't that mean she would just be delivering food to him?
The mere thought that he could suggest something like that with a straight face left her speechless at his shamelessness.
Pudding wasn't the only one; even Miss System was left at a loss. [Truly… in all of heaven and earth, you alone stand as the most shameless one.]
'Miss System… It's not good to mock your host,' Zechs replied lightly in his mind. He then turned his attention back to Pudding. "So? What do you think?" he asked. "Do you want to take advantage of me as your revenge?"
"N-no…" She shook her head quickly.
In truth, part of her did want to, but the embarrassment was too much. And more than that, the fact that he was supposed to become her mama's husband held her back.
"Eh? Really?" Zechs pressed. "Are you sure? You might not get another chance."
Pudding swallowed, feeling tempted, but chose to restrain herself, "Yes… I am sure…" and in the same breath, she decided to change the topic, "Anyway, let's talk about why you summoned me to this era."
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Drop Power Stones.
The current PS goal is to reach 70 PS within 24 hours. Help me reach it.
And don't forget to leave comments and reviews to keep me motivated.
Of course, if the readers wish, they can certainly read up to 20 advanced Chapters on p-a-t-r-e-o-n: Knockturn_Alley