Chapter 817: Time Difference

“Young Master Muen, the head maid is very scary.”

“Hmph.” Muen was disdainful.

“Young Master Muen, Miss Ariel is very scary.”

“Heh.” Muen scoffed.

“Young Master Muen, when those two start fighting, that’s even scarier.”

“All right, that’s enough.”

Muen frowned and finally cut Noah off after she had been chattering nonstop ever since they left Marquis Angus’s residence, going on and on about how terrifying An and Ariel were.

Scary?

How scary could they be?

In bed, weren’t they both still teary-eyed and pleading for mercy in the end?

Having just defeated Ariel the night before, Muen felt like his back was straight and his bones were hard as iron!

It was just a little fight. Watch him put those two disobedient troublemakers in their place in no time...

“Boom!”

The moment Muen pushed the door open, a huge chunk of stone came hurtling toward him. It barely grazed past his cheek and slammed straight into the ground beside him.

“...”

The stinging pain on his skin lingered. Muen’s cheek twitched as he cast a sidelong glance...

Only after the dust settled did he realize that didn’t seem to be just some random chunk of rubble. It looked more like the marble statue in the garden his father loved most.

Apparently that statue had been the work of some abstract artist, famous for a bizarre style and profound meaning ordinary people couldn’t understand. Meaning or no meaning, Muen had never understood that complicated structure and indescribable shape in the first place.

Now he understood it even less, because only half the statue was left. As for the other half...

Patpatpatpat...

Those stone fragments pelting down like hail were probably it.

“No way...”

Muen instantly went dumb. “You call this a fight?”

“Huh?” the little maid asked in confusion.

“If this isn’t a fight, what is it?”

“This is trashing the house!”

Muen strode into the residence.

In an instant, scorching heat and icy killing light, like the two poles of the world, pierced into his pores and savagely assaulted every one of his senses. The violent pressure crushed down like a stampede of wild bison across the grasslands. Even the weather seemed to have been affected by the oppressive atmosphere here. All of Belrand was clear and bright, yet dark clouds hung thick over the ducal residence alone.

The maids huddled in the corners, trembling, while above the estate two beautiful women faced each other in midair. Where their gazes met, it was as if sparks were flying—except this was no beautiful romantic scene, but a hell of killing intent and fury intertwined.

“You little bitch in heat, surrender now and get out of the ducal residence, and I might spare your life.”

An spoke coldly. Iron condensed beneath her feet into a gigantic steel serpent, and every sway of its body kicked up endless debris. But this time, her main method of attack was no longer her Steel Divine Favor. Vast battle aura surged around her, imposing and terrifying.

“Who are you calling a bitch in heat? You’re the one in heat! Your whole family’s in heat!”

Facing An’s threat, Ariel showed no fear at all. Her willow brows drew tight as she snapped back,

“How about you get out? I can spare your life too.”

“I’m a maid of the ducal residence. Why should I leave?”

“And Muen personally invited me here. What right do you have to tell me to get out?”

“Heh.”

An sized Ariel up, her gaze mocking. “Shameless. Don’t you like women?”

“W-who’s shameless?! Whether I like men or women is none of your business!”

Ariel flushed red and shouted,

“You’re the shameless one. You’re a maid, and you’re still getting all cozy with your own master...”

“Shut up! Watch me strip you bare, you little bitch in heat!”

“Watch me rip your mouth apart!”

Boom!

Flames and steel, battle aura against battle aura, the two overwhelming forces crashed together once again.

The moment Muen got close, he saw one familiar thing after another turn to dust in the aftermath of their collision.

“Ah! Father’s favorite flowers!”

“Ah! Father’s favorite tree!”

“Ah! Ah! Ah! Father’s favorite fountain!”

Watching those things march one by one toward destruction, Muen’s heart began to contract violently despite himself. In terms of value, they were insignificant compared with the ducal residence as a whole, but he still didn’t dare imagine...

just how high Father’s blood pressure was going to go when he saw this.

Probably higher than the tallest bell tower in Belrand.

No, this couldn’t go on. He couldn’t let these two do whatever they pleased any longer. As the current master of the ducal residence, he had to stop this.

“That’s enough!”

Muen shouted in a low, angry voice:

“Both of you, stop!”

“Hm?”

The two of them turned their heads slightly.

An’s beautiful face was still dignified and serene, but now it carried a trace of frigid killing intent, making her gorgeous and deadly, like a poison flower too beautiful for words.

Ariel, meanwhile, had already hidden the fury from a moment ago. Her expression was utterly calm, her eyes deep as the sea. But Muen, who knew her well, understood that this meant she had become completely serious now—her most dangerous state...

“Ha... haha...”

Muen shuddered, and the backbone he had just straightened went soft again. He forced a handsome, gentle smile onto his face and said warmly,

“What I meant was... you really shouldn’t keep fighting. If this keeps up... hurting a few flowers and plants, or even some of my father’s collection, doesn’t matter for the moment, but if you hurt yourselves, that would be bad. I’d feel terrible.”

“...”

“...”

Muen’s words seemed to act like a pause mark, making both of them stop for the time being.

But just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Noah, standing behind him, suddenly gave his sleeve an innocent little tug.

“Young Master, Young Master, didn’t you say you were going to smack the head maid’s and Miss Ariel’s asses and make them understand who the real master of the ducal residence is? Why aren’t you doing it yet?”

“...”

Noah!

Muen was so furious his blood nearly ran backward.

That silly girl—how could she not read the situation at all?

He had indeed said he was going to smack both their asses, and he had indeed said he was going to make them understand who the master of the ducal residence was. But obviously now was not the time, okay?

Would it have killed her to wait a little?

Wouldn’t it have been better in a different place?

A real man knew when to bend and when to stand tall.

Only a man who could go soft and hard as needed was a true man!

Unfortunately, Muen didn’t have time to scold the little maid now. The moment she said that, Ariel’s brow arched.

“Oh? Smack asses? Master?”

She sneered. “Go ahead and try it now.”

“Who? Who said that?”

Muen straightened his face. “I never said anything like that!”

“Huh? But Young Master, didn’t you—mmph mmph mmph!”

Muen clapped a hand over Noah’s mouth and signaled for the other maids to hurry up and drag this idiot away, or the entire ducal residence was going to be destroyed by that one mouth of hers.

Once the threat from his idiot friendly-fire teammate had been removed, Muen finally let out a breath and hurried forward, taking both women by the hand.

“How could I possibly hit either of you? You’re both the most important people in my life. You’re my treasures. I barely know how to cherish you enough as it is.”

“Ugh—”

Ariel shivered, goosebumps breaking out all over her body.

“That’s disgusting. Revolting.”

“What do you mean, disgusting?”

Muen looked straight into her eyes. “I mean every word.”

“That makes it even more disgusting!”

Ariel bared her teeth. Muen’s hypocritical act made her deeply uncomfortable.

But An suddenly clasped Muen’s hand back and said deeply,

“I believe you, Young Master.”

“See? An really is—”

“That’s exactly why I’ll pay any price to wipe out these pests. They don’t deserve your love, Young Master...”

An turned cold again, murderous intent filling her beautiful eyes as she looked at Ariel. Naturally, Ariel refused to back down and glared back just as fiercely.

“All right, all right, stop.”

Cold sweat dripped down Muen’s back as he hurriedly cut An off, stopping her from saying anything even more dangerous.

“You’re both people I love most, understand? I can’t stand by and watch either of you get hurt, understand?”

“Young Master, I’m only cleaning up pes—”

“An.”

Muen laced his fingers with hers. “Stop, okay?”

“...”

“Hmph.”

Ariel pouted and muttered,

“I’m the one who wanted to build a beautiful-girl harem, and somehow I ended up being the one added to yours. You’re pretty pleased with yourself now, aren’t you?”

“Of course.”

Faced with Ariel’s sour remark, Muen nodded openly.

“I’m very pleased.”

“You...”

“Because both of you are one in a million.”

Muen said seriously,

“And because ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) of that, I think I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

“...That’s way too underhanded.”

Unable to resist the sincerity and heat in Muen’s eyes, Ariel turned her head aside and muttered softly, “Damn you, Muen Campbell...”

“Yes, I’m underhanded. I’m shameless.”

Striking while the iron was hot, Muen pulled both of them a little closer.

“So let’s stop here for now. Come on—put the weapons down, put away the battle aura, go bathe and change, and when you come out, I’ll have dinner with you. Look at you both, you’re filthy.”

“...Fine.”

“Hmph!”

...

Watching the two of them finally stop fighting and leave, Muen let out a long breath of relief.

Quite a lot of his father’s favorite things had been sacrificed, but thankfully the situation hadn’t developed to the point of no return.

If that was the case, then those sacrifices had been worth it.

“Don’t worry, Father. Before you get back, I’ll do my best to patch everything up.”

Muen pressed his palms together and offered a prayer to the goddess.

Hopefully, when Father got back, he wouldn’t be able to tell that all his favorite things had been repaired.

“Quick, quick, quick, go prepare dinner. Candlelight dinner. Make it romantic!”

After that symbolic little prayer, Muen hurriedly ordered the maids to get tonight’s meal ready.

He was going to dine with An and Ariel and consolidate the results of this victory.

“Should I prepare a candlelight dinner for three?” Noah asked.

“Idiot!”

Muen viciously flicked the little maid on the forehead.

“In a situation like this, and I’m going to do all three of us together? You think this hellscape isn’t exciting enough already? Two-person candlelight dinners. Set up two of them for me!”

“Huh?”

Noah blinked blankly. “Two of them? How would that work? Young Master, do you know how to split into clones?”

“What would I need a clone technique for? So I could screw myself?”

Muen answered with complete seriousness:

“All I did was make a little plan.”

“What plan?” Noah still didn’t understand.

“Why do you think I told them to go bathe?” Muen asked.

“Because...” Noah thought about it. “They’re filthy right now?”

“Idiot! It’s to create a time difference!”

Muen flicked her forehead again.

“An moves fast, and because of her usual maid work, she’s always extremely quick when she bathes. She can finish in about fifteen minutes. Ariel isn’t the type to drag it out either, but she’s completely unfamiliar with the ducal residence’s luxurious bathing facilities. So as long as no one helps her, she’ll waste a huge amount of time on something like that. It’ll take her at least an hour to finish. Got it? That’s the time difference!”

“Ah... I get it, I get it!”

Noah nodded, staring at her young master in utter shock.

So there really was a reason so many girls liked Young Master. At least when it came to being a scumbag... he was amazing at it!

“If you get it, then go do your job.”

Muen straightened his tie and took a deep breath.

“You go work, and I also need to... go fight my own battle.”