Chapter 464: The Night at Petra’s Mansion, Part 1

Kouhei and Yuuna eventually accepted Petra’s offer, although Yuuna still had some reservations about the whole arrangement and clearly was not completely convinced that staying at the Witch’s mansion was the smartest thing they could do.

Kouhei had already informed the other members of his faction that he would be staying at Petra’s mansion for the time being. He figured that there was little reason to keep everyone wondering where he had gone, especially since this was something that could potentially take some time depending on how much information Petra was actually willing to give him.

Yuuna, however, could not help thinking that accepting Petra’s invitation might have been some kind of mistake. She understood why Kouhei had agreed to it, but understanding his reasoning did not automatically make her comfortable with the situation. Petra was still a witch, after all, and Yuuna had learned enough about the Witch now to know that she was not someone who could simply be taken at face value.

Kouhei, on the other hand, had decided to accept the offer because he wanted to learn much more about Petra. There was still a lot about the Witch that he did not understand, and speaking with her directly seemed like the easiest way to fill in some of those gaps.

More importantly, he needed to learn more about the nun he was supposed to seduce.

That was the part that Kouhei did not particularly want to discuss openly with Yuuna. The objective itself was already awkward enough, and explaining that he was planning to deliberately seduce another woman was something that he would rather handle privately. Even if there was a practical reason behind it, the whole thing still felt somewhat questionable from a personal standpoint.

In order for Kouhei to learn more about that person, he needed to have a longer conversation with Petra. She seemed to know things that could prove useful, and whatever else could be said about the Witch, she clearly had information that Kouhei could not easily obtain somewhere else.

Yuuna understood how seriously Kouhei was taking the situation, and she knew that he was not simply going along with Petra’s offer for the sake of having a little adventure. Even so, she still could not completely trust Petra.

Petra appeared willing to help them, and so far, she did not seem to have any obvious ill intentions toward them. Her behavior had not given Yuuna a concrete reason to accuse her of anything, yet something about the Witch still made her uncomfortable.

Yuuna simply could not shake the feeling that Petra might eventually do something unexpected.

It was difficult to explain exactly why she felt that way. Petra had not openly threatened them, and she had even gone out of her way to offer them assistance. Still, Yuuna felt that lowering her guard around someone like Petra would be a bad idea.

"You don’t have to worry about the Witch, Yuuna," Yuka said, noticing the concern on her face. "Although she seems rather callous on the outside, she won’t actually do anything to anyone unless you are openly hostile toward her."

Yuuna looked at Yuka for a moment.

She did not completely trust Yuka either, although that did not mean she considered her unreliable.

That still did not mean Yuuna was going to throw all caution out the window, though.

Instead of continuing to think about every possible thing that could go wrong, Yuuna decided that it would be better to focus on the situation in front of her.

"More than anything, aren’t you worried about the fact that Kouhei-sama is going to get another girl?" Yuka suddenly asked. "You’re not jealous or anything?"

"Why would I feel jealous?" Yuuna asked, genuinely confused by the question.

Yuka already knew that Yuuna, along with some of the other girls in the Kouhei Faction, was part of Kouhei’s harem, so the existence of those relationships was hardly a secret to her. Within the demon race, someone with enough power and status could have multiple partners, and because of that, Kouhei having several women around him was not particularly strange from their cultural perspective.

Yuka did not know exactly how far Kouhei had gone with the girls in his faction, nor did she know the private details of their relationships. She at least knew that they were romantically involved with him, however, which made Yuuna’s lack of jealousy somewhat surprising.

From Yuka’s perspective, adding another woman to an already existing harem should have caused at least some kind of reaction. Jealousy seemed like the obvious response, especially when the person involved was someone as important to Yuuna as Kouhei.

Yet Yuuna did not seem bothered.

"I trust Kouhei," she said.

The words were simple, but the certainty behind them caught Yuka completely off guard.

Yuka stared at Yuuna for a moment, trying to understand what exactly she was feeling. It was not simply that Yuuna trusted Kouhei, because plenty of people claimed to trust the people they cared about. Something about the way Yuuna had said it made the statement feel much more sincere than that.

She had not hesitated.

She had not tried to justify herself.

Yuuna simply trusted Kouhei.

For some reason, Yuka found that strangely difficult to process.

***

Kouhei was together with Petra inside the mansion, sitting across from her while the two of them spoke privately. The atmosphere was relatively calm, although Kouhei remained cautious because he knew better than to assume that a quiet room meant he was completely safe.

Petra, meanwhile, appeared perfectly comfortable.

"Grab a cup of tea, and don’t be shy," Petra said, gesturing toward the cup sitting in front of him.

"I would have to refrain from doing that," Kouhei replied, keeping his eyes on the tea.

Petra raised an eyebrow.

"Are you terrified that I might have put something in there?"

"I’m not terrified, but I would rather be careful," Kouhei answered. "Given who I’m dealing with, I think that is a reasonable precaution."

"You do not have to worry," Petra said casually. "I do not do something that crude to my guests."

She spoke with such confidence that Kouhei almost wondered whether that was supposed to reassure him or make him even more suspicious.

"Although, I understand that you are a little alarmed," Petra continued. "Still, isn’t it somewhat crude to refuse the tea when I took the time to prepare it for you? I took my time to give it some nice sweetness, you know?"

"You saying that makes me feel like you definitely did something to it," Kouhei replied.

Petra smiled.

"But well, since you’re telling me to drink it, I guess I should trust you for now."

"Well, it isn’t as though I have anything in there to begin with, so you really don’t have to worry."

Kouhei stared at the cup for another moment before finally deciding to take a sip.

The tea tasted perfectly normal.

He did not notice anything strange about it, and there was no unusual flavor that immediately suggested Petra had added something. Of course, that alone did not prove anything, because if someone wanted to hide something in a drink, making it tasteless would probably be the sensible approach.

Still, Kouhei decided that he had already spent enough time being suspicious of a cup of tea.

"More than anything, I’m surprised that you wanted to speak with me privately," Petra said. "Did you not want Lady Sarushima to hear what you wanted to say to me?"

"Well..."

Kouhei paused.

That was precisely the problem.

He did not want Yuuna to know that he was planning to seriously seduce another woman. Even though there was a clear purpose behind the plan, and even though he was doing it to obtain information, the idea still felt somewhat like a betrayal.

Kouhei knew that Yuuna trusted him.

That made the situation even more uncomfortable.

He could probably explain everything to her if he really wanted to, but he had a feeling that discussing the details would only make the situation more awkward than it already was. Because of that, he had decided that speaking with Petra privately would be the simpler option.

"I see," Petra said.

Kouhei looked at her.

Petra seemed to understand immediately where he was coming from, even though he had not actually explained the reason behind his request.

"Well, I would have assumed it was because you wanted to bed me."

"It’s nothing like that," Kouhei immediately said.

Petra smiled.

"Truthfully? Well, I wouldn’t mind if you did, though."

Kouhei’s expression became slightly more complicated.

"I would be really interested in seeing the great Child of Anti-Prophecy in bed," Petra continued, clearly enjoying his reaction.

"Don’t joke around like that," Kouhei said.

His tone was serious enough that Petra laughed.

"Kuhihihi..."

The Witch covered her mouth as she laughed, looking far too entertained by his discomfort.

"Well, it’s not as though it needs to remain a joke," Petra said. "We could do it for real, you know? I wouldn’t mind at all."