NOVEL NEXT chapter 235
Chapter 235. The Presence, or Lack Thereof, of Stockings Seemed to Prove Something (2)
After cleaning her body with purification magic and throwing on the black coat that had been discarded nearby, Clotilde smoothed her slightly disheveled long hair. Using the mirror conveniently located in the room, she tidied her appearance.
However, she intentionally took off her stockings. This was because they were torn from her actions earlier, and given how short her pencil skirt was, there was a real chance someone might see the damage while she walked.
To prevent prying eyes from wandering to the insides of her thighs and under her skirt, Clotilde had no choice but to go back with her legs bare, stepping in her high heels.
Her purification magic could cleanse filth, but it couldn’t restore torn things.
So, she had to take off the stockings and put them in her skirt pocket.
Even without the stockings, Clotilde could still play the part of a female teacher perfectly.
At least, no one in the Marquis’s household seemed to think there was anything strange about her, before or after.
“Yippee! Alright! I can do it! I can do it again!”
Before Noah and Clotilde even returned to the Marquis’s room, they could hear his crazed, joyful voice from a distance.
“…”
Hearing the Marquis’s unbecoming outburst, Clotilde sighed, pressing her hand to her forehead in exasperation.
It seemed even high-ranking figures couldn’t escape the clutches of desire.
Perhaps, in that way, desire was quite fair, treating kings and generals and common believers all the same.
Ten minutes later, Marquis Nelson, now dressed and trying to maintain a facade of composure, yet unable to suppress the joy on his face, along with the Marchioness, appeared in the original room to greet Noah and Clotilde.
Clotilde took the opportunity to briefly describe the events that had occurred downstairs.
Of course, “briefly” meant concealing the more intimate aspects and simply stating how they had found the key magical item and defeated the demon within.
“I see… so the treasure I bought from the black market for a high price was actually an evil magical artifact. Wait, then that beautiful girl I saw that day, who was she exactly…”
Marquis Nelson, now dressed in lavish formal attire, frowned, looking at Noah and Clotilde with some confusion.
He couldn’t figure out which girl he had wronged that day.
According to the two, the demonic human form was supposed to be a bit faded, like a washed-out color, a strange being that couldn’t talk, right?
But the girl he met that day was certainly very beautiful, with normal coloration, and she screamed and shouted, not like this supposed demon at all.
Could she have been a child from the neighborhood who accidentally wandered into his room?
“Ah, regarding the answer to that question…”
Noah paused, not finishing his sentence, and instead turned his gaze to the Marchioness, who was standing beside the Marquis, her face now slightly flushed, her expression awkward.
Clotilde followed Noah’s lead, looking at the Marchioness without saying a word.
Nelson wasn’t stupid either; he understood everything from their attitudes.
—Wait, that beautiful girl he’d encountered that day was actually his wife?!
“…That’s how it is.”
No explicit words, but Noah nodded a faint acknowledgment of Nelson’s guess.
The truth was just that simple.
That day, the Marchioness had first been hit by a magic of age reversal, losing her age and memories.
Subsequently, Marquis Nelson, under the influence of a l*st magic, had violated his own wife, and then, likely due to physical weakness, had passed out.
And the Marchioness hadn’t taken days to recover like the original novel’s heroine, but had immediately returned to normal. It must be that demon’s twisted sense of humor, thinking it would make the two suffer more.
As for why the Marchioness hadn’t immediately explained it, it was probably because Marquis Nelson had confined himself to his room after the curse of lost desire, and she figured explaining it under those circumstances would only confuse him further, so she held off.
In other words, the Marquis couple was a kind of parallel situation to Noah and Clothilde.
All in all, this incident was indeed a perfect resolution.
Apart from the Marchioness and Noah taking some losses, there weren’t any major casualties.
However, after realizing that he’d been so rough with his younger wife, Marquis Nelson seemed at a loss, not knowing what to say.
The Marchioness, on the other hand, didn’t exactly seem unwilling.
Back then, she resisted because she’d lost the memories of them being a couple. Looking at her expression now, she probably even enjoyed that kind of “play.”
Clothilde watched the Marquis couple, looking like they were experiencing first love, and silently prayed that such upsetting incidents would never disrupt their marital harmony again.
…Come to think of it, she hadn’t realized that having desires could actually improve marital relationships.
It seems that believers shouldn’t be made to follow the same vows of abstinence as clergy.
And so, the Demon Pot incident was temporarily brought to an end.
Since the Marquis absolutely insisted on them not leaving, the two stayed until after dinner before departing the Marquis’s estate.
The Marquis’s dinner was indeed lavish, a luxurious feast that the monastery and church probably wouldn’t see even once a year.
But since Clothilde was already ‘full,’ she didn’t eat much.
Noah, on the other hand, ate quite a bit, because he was ‘very tired,’ okay?
If he didn’t eat more, how could he make the sister feel guilty?
As night fell, Noah and Clothilde finally rose to bid farewell to the Marquis couple.
So filled with gratitude toward Noah and Clothilde, the Marquis didn’t notice anything strange.
“…Huh?”
But standing next to Marquis Nelson, the Marchioness noticed a change in Clothilde’s attire.
She remembered the female teacher wearing pantyhose when she’d arrived, but she’d taken them off when leaving?
…I see, so you’re the same, huh.
Realizing that something similar had happened to Clotilde, the Marquise slowly revealed a smile of empathy towards the backs of the departing two.
But she wouldn’t know, would she, that it was actually Noah who could truly empathize.
“…Sorry about that, Sister.”
Just after leaving the Marquis’s mansion, Noah suddenly and unexpectedly apologized to Clotilde.
This made her feel incredibly bewildered.
Mr. Noah actually apologizing!?
And what for?
He’d done so many things that needed an apology, she had no idea which one it was!
“…Is it really necessary to be that surprised, Sister? I’m just apologizing for not helping you find any news about the succubus.”
Noah glanced at Clotilde beside him, who was putting her glasses back on, and explained with a deliberately self-mocking tone.
Ah, so it was about that.
As if suddenly understanding, Clotilde adjusted her glasses and replied in a voice that seemed like she didn’t care as much anymore:
“It’s alright. You’ve said it to me several times, so I didn’t expect to find one for sure anyway, and besides…”
And besides, today’s events weren’t half bad.
Clotilde didn’t say those words out loud. She just gazed at the distant nightscape of the Water Capital, a genuine, joyous smile gradually blossoming on her lips.
—Of course, they were just not half bad, nothing more!
She certainly wouldn’t let an opportunity to bully Noah once wipe away everything that had happened before, okay!
In the future, she’d make Noah taste the humiliations she’d endured!
……
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PS. Today’s (May 31st) fifth update, one more to go!