Chapter 113: 113 | A Change of Scenery

In the early morning, Natasha stood in front of the window with a troubled look on her face.

'What should I do...' Her thoughts trailed off as she recalled the past few days.

Three days had passed since her lesson with Emma and it had been a week since the first teaching mission. She received two more missions with the same requirements and earned two Ascension Essences from them.

But that was it. Nothing major had happened.

'His guard has only been going up...' Natasha figured it had to be because of the gala. 'Did he make some kind of decision after that night?'

Her heart couldn't help but ache as she thought about his recent behaviour. Every day after their lesson ended, Dante rushed out of the mansion saying he was going to spar with Felix and Freya. He didn't even bother staying for lunch.

It was like he was afraid of being alone with her.

"Did he notice something?" She muttered, staring at her own reflection in the glass. "I thought I was hiding it well enough. Where did I mess up?"

***

Back in his room, Dante watched the scene through her feed with a smile forming on his face. 'Everything is going according to plan.'

He had originally planned to push things forward with Natasha the very next day. But that night, he changed his mind after coming up with something better.

Natasha had decided to seduce him outside of the teaching sessions. And he was more than ready for it. That had been his original plan. But then he thought about Natasha's approach and realized there was a problem waiting down the road.

'Master wants to seduce me before Emma and I get into a relationship. And when it happens, she's planning to play innocent and put everything on me. At least in the beginning.' Dante didn't mind taking the blame.

But there was a bigger picture to consider.

He needed Natasha on his side completely. He needed her as an accomplice who would actively help him.

He was already getting a headache thinking about how he was going to convince seven big sisters to join his harem. The last thing he needed was Natasha siding with them when things got complicated.

Unlike Ryan, he didn't have the protagonist's aura. He didn't have luck that bent the world in his favour.

All he had was Natasha.

'Emma won't be at home today. This is the perfect time to start.' Dante pulled up the mission panel while watching the feed, an evil smile spreading across his face. 'Tonight is the night.'

***

Natasha was still staring out the window when the system's voice sounded in her head.

[New Mission Triggered]

[Chain Mission: Change of Scenery!]

[Description: Dante has been avoiding you outside of training, leaving you with no chance to make a move. Today, keep him home under the excuse of helping with daily tasks and tempt him in various ways!]

[Don't let him slip away from your hands!]

Natasha's face slowly brightened as she read the details. The confusion clouding her eyes cleared up. 'Right. I can't let him keep slipping away from me.'

'Things can't go on like this. I need to make him stay even if I have to be a little forceful.' She had already thought about doing this but a small part of her kept hesitating, afraid of pushing too hard and scaring him off.

But now that the mission was here, hesitation was a luxury she couldn't afford.

[Triggering Task 1...]

[Task 1: Can I Use Your Shower?]

[Description: Your shower isn't working! Use Dante's bathroom to take a bath and come out wearing nothing but a towel. Make sure he sees you!]

"Since when is my shower broken?" Natasha's face turned red the moment she finished reading the task. She knew for a fact it was working perfectly fine last night.

And even if it wasn't, this was a mansion.

There were at least a dozen other bathrooms she could use. The idea that she had to use Dante's specifically was so transparent that she wanted to crawl into a hole.

'Who would believe that excuse? He's not stupid.' She covered her face with both hands.

She then imagined herself walking out of his bathroom wearing nothing but a towel, water still dripping from her hair, and running into Dante in the hallway.

Two voices immediately started arguing inside her head.

'No, no, no. You can't do this. This is way too shameless.' The angel spoke first.

'If you keep worrying about every little thing, you can forget about being with Dante forever.' The devil fired back.

'...You are right.' The angel still seemed to hesitate. 'But…'

'But what? Do you want her to give up on him?'

'No, I mean... what if the towel slips?'

Both voices went silent at the same time.

'Shut up! Both of you!' Natasha's face reddened to the extreme as she imagined the scene and shook her head.

She took a deep breath and tried to think about it rationally. "As long as I act like it's no big deal, he'll be the one who gets flustered. Not me."

***

A few minutes later, Natasha stood in front of Dante's door, clutching her bath supplies against her chest. She was wearing a silk robe over her nightgown with a towel draped over her arm.

Her hand hovered over the door for a good ten seconds before she finally knocked.

There was no response.

She knocked again, a little harder.

"Mmh... who is it?" A groggy voice came from the other side.

"It's me." Natasha kept her voice steady. "Open the door."

A few seconds of shuffling later, the door cracked open. Dante stood there with messy hair and half-closed eyes.

"Master? What's going on?" He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, looking confused.

"My shower isn't working." She said, keeping her tone flat and casual. "Can I use yours?"

Dante opened his mouth like he had something to say but then closed it.

"Is there a problem?" Natasha's eyes narrowed slightly.

"No, no problem at all." Dante stepped aside and held the door open. "Go ahead."

"Thank you." Natasha walked past him without making eye contact and headed straight for the bathroom.

After walking into the bathroom, she let out a shaky breath. 'Step one done.'

She untied the robe and let it fall to the floor. Then she pulled the nightgown over her head, revealing her full breasts and smooth curves, and placed it neatly on top.

She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and quickly looked away.

The shower turned on and warm water ran down her body.

She closed her eyes and tried to calm her nerves but it was impossible. Every small sound from outside the door made her tense up.

'He's right there. Just on the other side of this door and I am completely naked.'

On the other side of that door, Dante was sitting on the edge of his bed with the feed open.

Natasha had her back to the shower head, letting the water run down her neck and shoulders. Her long black hair clung to her smooth skin all the way down to her waist. The steam blurred the details but the silhouette of her full breasts and the curve of her hips was more than enough to make his mouth go dry.

'Fuck.' Dante closed the feed as he felt the monster under his pants starting to wake up. 'No matter how many times I see her body, this woman is dangerous.'

Inside the bathroom, Natasha turned off the water and stood there for a moment. Her heart was pounding.

'Okay. Now I just need to walk out.' She reached for where she had left the towel with a determined look.

It wasn't there.

'.....' She froze on the spot like an ice cube.

She was sure she had left it on the counter right next to her robe. But the towel was now sitting on the shelf by the door, just out of reach from behind the shower glass.

'Did I really put it there?' She couldn't remember. Her nerves had been such a mess when she walked in that she could barely recall what she did with anything.

She bit her lower lip and weighed her options. She could step out and grab it herself.

'Or...' A naughty smile slowly formed on her lips.