Several minutes had passed since Venn reached the conclusion that things weren't looking good for him. He initially thought that liberating the Oni clan from the goblins would be a straight forward quest, but little did he expect that things would turn out to be so complicated.
Now, he would have to think more carefully on how to tread the dangerous roads ahead of him.
Meanwhile, whilst he was contemplating if he should unbind himself from the sinking ship of the Shuten family, things haven't changed a bit in the tent.
Heavy silence was hanging over the atmosphere with all the elders closing their eyes and resting their minds. Even though the Brugvun elder wanted Venn to stand aside and focus on the "matter" at hand, nothing had happened since then. All this time, everyone was just patiently waiting.
Unsure of what was going on and what everyone was waiting for, Venn took a quick glance at Ysera with the intention of asking her.
Time was of the essence. He only had less than eight days to complete the quest given by Blood Serpents. Thus, he simply wanted the supposedly cutscene in the war tent to proceed so that he could carry on with the quest.
After spending some time thinking, he had made up his mind, and had now given up on removing the label of the Shuten family from himself. It was probably too late anyway. In addition, after what happened with Ysera in the guest room, he couldn't possibly be that heartless to abandon Ysera after taking advantage of her.
Glancing over at Ysera and looking at her refreshingly face, Venn couldn't help but be reminded of the texture of her lips. He could not believe that such an adorable girl would be so skillful in that aspect. Just moments ago, her lips were wrapping itself around his rod.
With her hair tied up in a bun, he found that the current Ysera was looking much more youthful than before. Prior to this, Ysera was looking much more mature with the aggressiveness and assertiveness that she had displayed to him. Thus, his interest was fully intrigued by her.
The more he looked at Ysera's facial features, the more he found her irresistible.
"Gosh… Am I falling in love with a NPC?" Venn panicked. He knew he had no time for this, but it was the first time he was involved in the affairs of the heart.
Even though it was unofficial, he remembered that Ysera did technically say that she could only marry him as his wife now.
"What am I thinking? This is so unlike me." Venn lamented. Ever since the incident with Ysera, he has been behaving strangely. The difference between reality and the virtual world seemed to have become non-existent. An intense feeling of wanting to tease Ysera surfaced in his mind. Before long, he was starting to convince himself that it was a good idea to follow through.
"Isn't this a perfect chance to test whether one can have a relationship with an NPC in Heaven Descent? A longstanding question that had left tons of players heartbroken could finally be answered. Furthermore, if I think about the benefit of having a NPC as my wife, doesn't that mean that I can have all sorts of advantages in the game? Not that I would do it, but I bet that I could be popular just by being a streamer and livestreaming my virtual life with an NPC wife. Moreover, my partner is a princess as well. Marrying her would mean inheriting the entire Oni Clan!"
The more Venn ponders about it, the more exciting he gets.
As such, even though the quest takes precedence, his feeling emboldened. Figuring that there would be no harm in teasing Ysera covetly, he reached out his hand towards Ysera from below and held her hand tightly without anyone noticing. As he did so, his heart was pumping crazily like riding in a roller coaster.
***
"What are you doing?" The sudden action from Venn seemed to have Ysera terribly surprised that she let out a small exclamation. Fortunately, due to the nature of her soft voice, it meant that no one had noticed her sudden yelp. Furthermore, she managed to stop herself from letting out any weird sound by covering her mouth with her alternate hand.
Immediately after she recovered from her initial surprise, anger overcame her. She stared at Venn with her intimidating eyes and tried to withdraw her hand away. However, Venn wouldn't allow her to do so with how tightly he held her hand.
"Release my hand, you… you uncultured hooligan!" Ysera squeezed the harsh words out of her cherry lips. She had controlled the volume of her voice just at the perfect volume such that only Venn who was close to her could hear.
Venn was able to hear her perfectly and he was taken aback. Within seconds, he became furious as well due to the sudden change of Ysera's attitude.
"Didn't you say that you will become my wife? After showing me your naked body in the guest room and servicing me like a wife would, you are denying everything that has happened?" Venn whispered into Ysera's ears, he could not understand why Ysera was denying her relationship with him.
"What nonsense are you talking about? This is the first time that I have met you. How could you slander my reputation and say such crude things and accuse me of doing such a shameful thing. Ah! Do you mean?" Ysera fiercely rebutted Venn's claim, but at the end of her sentence, her eyes widened when she realised it was all a big misunderstanding.
Venn was alarmed. Looking at the rapid changes of Ysera's face, even a fool could understand what happened. Withdrawing his hand instantly, he backed off several steps away from "Ysera."
And as if the world was playing a joke on Venn, a shout from the guards outside the tent resounded.
"Princess Ysera has arrived!"
***
Ysera entered the tent clad in light silver armor. With her unsheathed sword at her waist and a clean ponytail, she looked as valiant as a medieval knight.
Wearing a serious expression on her face, she stepped into the tent as lightly as she could as if she was walking into a trap.
And indeed, even though she knew that she was walking into the den of tigers, she remained undeterred.
Meanwhile, in the other corner of the tent, Venn had not recovered from his shock. With widened eyes and his jaw agape, he looked like Dracula that was being confronted by a bunch of garlic.