NOVEL NEXT chapter 224
Chapter 224. Noah: What? Transformation items? What’s that? (9)
Putting aside Delia, that woman she hated so much she couldn’t even bring herself to call her “sister,” Valentina didn’t dislike bathing with her younger sister, Veronica.
Even helping Veronica wash her own body.
Though their relationship wasn’t exactly intimate, not by a long shot.
They could still feel the distance between them.
But even so, it was still much better than their previous lack of contact.
Simply put, their relationship had started to thaw, but it wasn’t yet at the level of a normal sisterly bond.
While they were starting to look out for each other’s feelings and attempt to become sisters, Delia was only treating the maids around her like useful tools.
It was easy to see the difference.
“Excuse me, I’ll head back first. Let’s bathe together again sometime, Veronica, Lady Delia.”
After a while, Valentina, the first to finish washing, got up and left.
Long accustomed to bathing alone, she waved goodbye to her sisters and walked out the door with graceful steps.
Delia, who was having the maids help wash her hair, simply closed her eyes as if she hadn’t heard a thing.
And Veronica, who was already clean, wanted to leave with Delia, with whom she hadn’t said a word during the bath, so she climbed back into the tub and waited for Delia to finish.
And before getting into the tub, she very obediently put her black stocking back on that she’d taken off when washing her legs.
She was all about making sure big sis, second sis, and even the god were all taken care of.
Noah was planning to leave with Valentina as well.
Because he wanted to get back to his room first and use today’s events to further increase Valentina’s dissatisfaction with him.
After all, he’d already spread the news about the holy sword capable of sealing the evil god.
He didn’t believe Valentina wouldn’t take action.
Could she possibly tolerate being constantly tormented by him, this wicked evil god, for the rest of her life?
When the time came, Valentina would wield the holy sword Noah had created to challenge him. Then, he would pretend to be sealed away and disappear. That would be the end of his and the princess’s whole feud.
But just as Noah was about to leave…
Delia immediately had the maids bring her soaked stockings and hurriedly put them on herself.
And when she accidentally tore a hole in her white stockings in her haste, the look of annoyance on the eldest princess’s face, the way she ‘tsked!’ was not lost on Noah.
“Goddess, I am very sorry that I took off my stockings and then tore them, but I absolutely did not do it on purpose, please understand!”
Delia, who usually had countless maids at her beck and call, now had the meek and pious air of a saint, offering a prayer to the pool while wearing her ripped white stockings.
Noah knew, of course, that her apology wasn’t sincere, but just stemmed from her own loss.
But the fact that he could make an arrogant, noble princess act this way in itself was enough to make him laugh.
So Noah didn’t make things difficult for her.
She replied with golden words, “It’s alright.”
“Thank you for your magnanimity! I’ll go back and change into a new pair of tights right away… Huh? It’s okay to change after washing too? Such incredible benevolence!”
— Ha, that idiot goddess is so easy to fool, I bet all the gods are pretty easy to trick.
Delia praised the goddess with a smile on her face, but secretly looked down on her.
The complete opposite of her sister Veronica, who didn’t praise but expressed gratitude with her actions.
But whatever, Noah isn’t a real goddess anyway, and isn’t planning on sticking around forever. When the day comes that she can no longer see holy light and golden words,
that proud eldest princess will probably break down again.
After quickly dealing with the eldest princess, Noah immediately rushed to the second princess, Valentina’s, room.
She arrived about 5 seconds earlier than Valentina.
The moment Valentina, already changed into casual clothes, pushed open the door, Noah taunted her with a mocking voice:
“Yo, Princess, you have a nice relationship with your sister, huh? Nice enough to bathe together.”
“…So it *was* you who did it. Bathing in tights, what kind of special fetish would people think I have if they saw that.”
Forcing back her happiness at seeing Noah, Valentina replied with feigned disgust, her gaze towards Noah full of false aversion.
“Ha, but the eldest princess looked pretty happy doing it, didn’t you see? Little princess was just caught in her sister’s mess. It’s hilarious, your reactions when you’re resisting but have to do something are exactly the same, you really are sisters.”
Knowing that Valentina hated Delia, Noah deliberately said they were similar.
Though they really were similar, in reality.
“…That’s a terrible thing to say, I don’t want to be compared to that woman, okay?”
Unsurprisingly, an unhappy expression immediately appeared on the princess’s face.
This time she wasn’t faking it, that’s truly what she felt.
She only called Delia “elder sister” to annoy her, but she didn’t think that kind of person deserved the sacred title of “elder sister” at all.
Saying she’s like Delia was the worst possible thing.
“Heh, don’t say that, Princess, when I see her reluctant face, I think about when I forcefully took off your tights and how pathetic you were! Hahaha!”
But the princess’s mood was quickly lifted by Noah’s self-righteous words, which she thought should be lowering his favorability with her.
Seeing Delia’s face reminded him of her?
Then doesn’t that mean Delia is just her substitute?
Just a stand-in?
Then it’s all good!
Noah ultimately was happy because of her, Valentina!
— Oh, my dear God~, you’re so nonchalant in expressing your love for me❤~ I love you the most too❤~
“…This is awful, I feel like throwing up.”
Though she had to say it to avoid suspicion, the princess’s lips twitched into a smile she couldn’t suppress as she turned away. Finally, she had to cover her mouth with her hand, feigning disgust.
And Noah, completely fooled by the acting she’d painstakingly honed, thought the princess really *did* feel sick, and was actually quite happy about it.
And so, Noah’s day also ended under the princess’s ‘disgust’.
While Noah was still here ‘lowering rapport’ with Valentina.
On the other side, Delia, having finished her bath, was in her dressing room, being helped into her clothes by the maids. Of course, she’d already had another maid bring her new stockings and put them on herself.
The little princess, having politely declined the maids’ offers to dress her, wanted to put on her pajamas directly after slipping into her cute underwear, ready to go to bed.
“…Huh? What’s this?”
But before she could put on her pajamas, she saw a strange ornament on top of the folded clothes, something that felt like a magic-storing gem.
But she didn’t remember having anything like this? Who would put it here, and why?
“…Huh? A… transformation item?”
For some reason, a voice seemed to echo in Veronica’s mind.
It felt eerily similar to what she’d experienced when she’d almost fallen a while back.
—Ah, that’s right! The Goddess must need my help!
So she naturally assumed that this voice, like the previous two, was the same.
And so, with a grateful heart, she discreetly pocketed the magic stone, careful not to attract anyone’s attention.
Little did she know, this careless action was the moment that would drastically alter her fate…