Breaking the stoic façade

I woke up the next day, refreshed.

Stretching my body, I felt a strange joy and tranquility in my heart. I felt content.

Then I remembered why.

'Right, that happened.'

It was a surprise, but a pleasant one.

A small smirk crept on my face as I remembered the memories from the last night.

I scored a big one last night. A really big one.

She was almost mine, after a long time. And interestingly, the way to conquer her was by being forceful and harsh.

I relished in the memories of the sweet euphoria I got to experience last night.

***

[~Flashback~]

"Fucking hell."

I was distressed. I was really, really distressed.

Olivia had left.

And she left me with a raging hard-on. I was still sporting a furious boner and now that I was not planning evil things—I mean, talking and discussing happy-sad things with Olivia, my brain had realized that I was really horny. No, horny couldn't even define the amount of desire that I was feeling.

"Jeez, why am I so horny right now?"

I rubbed my furrowed eyebrows and the root of my nose as I tried to control my wild emotions.

I figured that Olivia's sexiness and our little make-out session had made me quite excited, and my junior stayed standing even when we stopped and started having the "talk". But it was still erect, after over an hour and a half, without any signs of going down.

'Ugh.'

I tried to calm it down, but nothing I did seemed to work. Taking deep breaths and "clearing my mind" didn't work; Drinking water didn't help either.

"Fuck."

[Alex.]

"Iris, where were you?"

[I was just enjoying the show, with popcorn and coke.]

"…"

'How does she even have that with her? Was she eating ethereal popcorn and drinking ethereal coke or something?'

Iris's strange reply made me forget about the problem for a split second as I pondered on what she said.

"Good for you. But why am I so unnaturally horny right now? This is not normal. It's not going down."

Iris and I had spent enough time together for me to have shed any ounce of embarrassment in conversing with her about such topics. Now it felt somewhat natural. That's what 2 years of bonding (with my mind-mate) did to me.

[Uh, about that. Remember the description of that Foundation Pill.]

"That diarrhea pill? Yeah, what about it?"

[In one of its points, it said to increase your libido permanently.]

"Yeah, but I thought it was countered by my Perfect Body skill giving me more control over it."

[In the normal situation, yes. But in this case, where you were given a very intense stimulus, your natural libido started to overpower the said counterbalance and so as a result, you're feeling intense arousal. You're still able to have control over your emotions, but your body is excessively aroused.]

"Well, fuck. I'll have to get rid of it the good old-fashioned way… what a pain!"

[Yep, give it a little shake or two. Maybe 3. Preferably 4. It'll be back to normal. Hopefully.]

'4 times?! Are you for real?!'

[I'm just kidding. XD Just once will do.]

I gave her a half-lidded glare inside my head, but then sighed and resigned. It seemed I had no other choice.

"Will this happen every time I get a 'stimulus'? Coz that's very annoying."

If it did, I would have to find a way to fix it. I couldn't have such a weakness in my life. Not in an Eroge-inspired world.

[Oh, no. Once you start having intercourse, it should get under control on its own. This won't be an issue in the future. Tonight was just special. You've been pent up for a while now and Olivia's seductions cracked the dam holding your enormous libido.]

"Sigh, fine. I'll go jack of—"

I suddenly woke up and sat, then turned to the side to see the door being opened.

And from behind the door appeared someone I wasn't really expecting to see at this time.

"…."

She spoke something but I couldn't hear her voice. Even the muffled sound of the door opening had barely registered in my head. And I heard it AFTER it was unlocked.

'Ah, the sound barrier charm.'

A quick realization hit me.

I turned to find the charm somewhere behind the pillow, but just when I was about the reach it, she came inside.

"Young Master. Are you alright? Apologies for disturbing you this late and entering without permission, but you weren't answering my calls and it made me worried."

Her voice finally came as she crossed the sound-blocking barrier that was covering the whole room, to the borders.

"Laura… I am fine."

I was NOT fine; I was frustrated.

Unbeknownst to me, a certain desire began to fester in my heart subconsciously as I looked at her figure. I immediately shoved it back in. The dim lights in the room barely lit my face but hers was fairly hidden due to the lights from the hallway now peeking through from behind her back. Yet, I could clearly see her face since my eyes were adjusted to the dark.

She was also wearing comfortable clothing for once—her sleeping attire, unlike her standard black and white conservative maid attire. She looked different in normal clothing. Her stoic face was the same, and so was her prim and proper body language, but her figure was more defined.

Laura looked at my slightly stiff face and seemed to have misunderstood my feelings. She bowed politely and gave a short reply.

"I see…"

She didn't continue as she deliberated if she should speak any further.

She looked at me briefly, trying to gauge my feelings. I looked at her, wondering when she would leave so I could do my business.

"Young master."

She finally spoke.

"Yes, Laura."

"I noticed lady Olivia walking through the hallway at such a late hour. She seemed to have been going towards her room, but she was in this hallway when I found her. Did she…"

I looked at her 'Observe' to see she was feeling guilty and sad, yet her face was stoic.

"Did she…?"

I parroted her, hinting her to continue.

She spoke after a brief silence.

"Did she make a late-night visit to your room, Young Master?"

She finally asked, her face devoid of expression, yet her heart was wrenched.

I broke the eye contact as I briefly glanced towards the boner I was carefully hiding under the blanket and a pillow.

"She did."

I noticed her inner emotions going slightly haywire but then soon get under control, none of it leaking outside.

"Did she…"

She tried asking but didn't finish, as she once again looked at me in contemplation.

It was starting to get a bit annoying. I wouldn't have minded normally, but currently, I was frustrated and wanted to be left alone. Something that my next words harshly pointed out.

"Did she what, Laura? Please hurry up. It's quite late and I have to sleep."

"Did she do something, Young Master?"

"Do what exactly?"

I raised an eyebrow, curious to see her openly trying to talk about "that" with me when she had been quiet all this time.

I had wanted to talk with her about it later, but right now I was not in the right mood to do so. So, her surprise visit and her now asking these questions was not something I was fully prepared for.

"Are you hurt?"

"What?"

"Are you okay, Young Master?"

"What are you saying, Laura? Speak clearly. I can't understand your vague questions."

I noticed her breaking eye contact for a moment to look down, and then she looked back at me. Her expression never changed, but her emotions clearly did.

"Did she hurt you, Young Master? Did she do anything you didn't like?"

'Huh. So she just asked it. Fine, then let's do it right now. My boner be damned.'

She had just given me the opportunity and even though I was not in the best mood, I had to deal with her now, now that she was clearly weaker to my attacks.

"… Did you know?"

"I…"

She tried to speak, but couldn't continue. She seemed to deliberate some more but then spoke clearly.

"I was aware, Young Master."

"And you didn't do or say anything? You didn't help me."

"I'm a horrible person. I saw your suffering through the hands of lady Olivia, but due to my own selfishness, I didn't speak about it, let alone help. I can understand if you're furious at me. I'll accept any punishment you have."

I scoffed at her as my inner storm tried to stir me.

"You, of all people… I didn't expect you to be so… appalling."

[+1 Obedience with the user from Laura.]

I glanced at the Obedience raise I got from reprimanding her.

'Hmm, maybe…'

A phantom evil smirk graced my face in my mind while my true face remained stern.

"How could you, Laura? You saw everything—what Olivia did to me and didn't say a single word."

I saw her close her eyes as she readily accepted my chastising.

"You didn't ever come and ask me if I was okay. When I was scared of my own sister, when I was suffering, you didn't relieve me either, but played the role of an impassive spectator."

[Remark changed from "feels apologetic to you" to "feels subservient to you".]

[Remark changed from "feels guilty" to "loathes herself".]

I looked at her 'Observe' page and… it was quite interesting.

[Name: Laura Barton

Age: 28

Gender: Female

Race: Human

---

Tier: 3(Foundation grade: Copper)

Talent: Cleaning, Cooking, Management, Leadership, Arithmetics

---

Affection/Obedience/Reputation: 68/96/93

Capture Difficulty: A-

---

Remark: In great turmoil, loathes herself, feels very dirty and improper, feels subservient to you, sees you as someone worth her respect and obedience, sees herself as unworthy of serving you.

---

Status: Troubled, Apprehensive, Remorseful]

She was slowly losing her strong will as I confronted her with hurtful facts.

Seeing how harsh words made her feel more subservient, I decided to increase the intensity.

"And yet you had the gall to reprimand me, in the past, when I was not up to your "standard"? You're a hypocrite, Laura. What kind of standards do you have that you didn't help a victim of sexual abuse but instead scolded me when I acted improperly? Is that what you consider 'prim and proper'? You're not 'prim and proper'. You're not the perfect maid of the Maximus household that everyone calls you. You're not even reliable as an elder. You're a selfish and cruel woman who would let a child suffer from abuse while doing nothing. You acted as if you didn't know how messed up my life was. You didn't help me then, Laura.

So how DARE you show concern over me now?!"

For the first time in my (second) life, I saw the supposedly prim and proper Laura Barton, the cold and proper head maid, break her stoic façade as a single drop of tear traveled through her cheek and fell on the carpeted floor.

I had made the cold and stoic maid cry from my words.

She didn't make eye contact with me—she couldn't—but instead, she dropped to her knees.

"You're absolutely right, Young Master…"

***