The World Is Mine For The Taking

Chapter 1450: Intermission 8: The Future With You (6)

Even as I asked the question, I already knew the answer.

Or at least, I thought I did.

The answer felt painfully obvious. It was sitting right in front of me, close enough that I could practically reach out and grab it, yet for some reason I still found myself asking anyway.

Maybe I was nervous.

Maybe I was apprehensive.

Maybe I simply didn’t want to be the one who said it out loud.

Whatever the reason was, the words just refused to leave my mouth. Every time I thought about saying them, they seemed to get stuck somewhere between my brain and my tongue.

Tris, meanwhile, looked completely unbothered.

In fact, she looked like she already knew exactly what was going through my head.

She smiled knowingly.

"We’re the ones scheduled for tonight."

Then she winked.

Actually winked.

I almost couldn’t believe it.

The woman genuinely had no shame whatsoever.

Not even a little.

"Leon can handle an orgy with at least ten women at the same time," she said casually, as if she were discussing the weather. "I don’t think adding one or two more is going to bother him very much."

Then she tilted her head slightly.

"What do you think?"

So that was it.

I was being invited.

Not indirectly.

Not as a joke.

Not as some vague hypothetical situation that would never actually happen.

I was being genuinely invited.

To join them tonight.

For a few moments, I just sat there thinking about it.

And honestly...

I didn’t really mind.

If anything, the opposite was true.

The idea didn’t bother me at all.

Actually, the more I thought about it, the less bothered I felt.

If I was being completely honest with myself, I thought I’d probably prefer that outcome.

That realization alone made me feel strangely self-conscious.

My eyes drifted toward Leon again.

This time, I looked at him for a little longer than before.

He was still helping with the preparations, seemingly focused on what he was doing.

Nothing about his expression suggested he was paying attention to me.

Still, I found myself watching him.

Then I kept watching.

A few seconds passed.

Then a few more.

I didn’t even realize how long I had been staring until it suddenly hit me.

Only after what felt like nearly ten full seconds did I finally force myself to look away.

My heart was beating noticeably faster now.

And one particular thought kept repeating itself over and over inside my head.

...Am I really going to do it with him tonight?

The question kept coming back no matter how much I tried not to think about it.

While I was busy dealing with that particular crisis, the event itself had already started.

To be completely honest, I wasn’t even entirely sure what kind of event this was.

Tris had called it their scheduled night, but beyond that, I didn’t really know what to expect.

Still, everyone else seemed perfectly comfortable.

Maybe I was the only one overthinking things.

That wouldn’t exactly be surprising.

"I sure am a little surprised that you’re here."

Leon looked at me while smiling.

His expression was relaxed, completely natural.

"W-Well, I’m done with work, so..." I replied. "And Tris invited me to come over. It would’ve been incredibly rude to reject her."

That was true.

At least, it was partially true.

"I see..." Leon said.

Then his smile widened slightly.

"Well, the more the merrier. This is going to be fun."

"Uh, what is?"

The question slipped out before I could stop it.

The moment I heard my own voice, I immediately regretted it.

My face had suddenly started feeling warm.

Why did I say something like that?

Seriously.

Why?

"The drinking," he said.

Then he paused.

"Or are you thinking of something else?"

A smirk appeared on his face.

A very deliberate smirk.

For some reason, seeing that expression made me feel strangely aware of myself.

It was irritating.

And embarrassing.

And somehow unfair.

"I-I don’t," I said quickly.

The response came out a little too fast.

A little too defensive.

Which probably didn’t help my case at all.

"Well, if you say so."

The fact that he sounded so unconvinced made everything worse.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Tris looking at me.

When I turned toward her, she was wearing an incredibly smug expression.

It was the sort of expression that said she already knew everything.

The sort of expression that made me want to immediately look away.

She looked as though she was silently asking why I was still trying to deny something that was already obvious.

Not that I was denying anything in the first place.

At least, that’s what I told myself.

But...

Well.

Maybe I really was that weak.

I reached for my glass and took a sip of wine.

The moment the liquid touched my tongue, something immediately stood out.

The taste felt different.

Not bad.

Just different.

I took another sip.

Then another.

The more I tasted it, the more obvious the difference became.

"Is this a new brew, Leon?" I asked. "It kind of tastes a little richer compared to the ones your company has been selling before."

Leon nodded.

"Well, we’ve been trying some new formulas along with different fruits to create a better blend," he explained. "I think we managed to make something good, but it isn’t out for sale yet."

"Oh."

That actually made sense.

The difference wasn’t huge, but it was noticeable enough that I had picked up on it almost immediately.

"Basically, Leon brought these out so we could try them and give our opinions," Tris said while looking at me. "So, is it good to your taste, Hertrude?"

Well...

That was an easy question.

The taste was great.

Honestly, it was noticeably sweeter than the previous versions.

The older ones had always been good.

I had never disliked them.

But they didn’t have quite as much sweetness.

And since I generally preferred sweeter drinks, this version immediately stood out to me.

As far as my personal taste was concerned, this one definitely had the advantage.

"It’s good," I said honestly.

"Is that truly so?" Leon asked.

"Well, I think it’s very good. Honestly, after tasting it, I prefer this one over the previous version."

The moment the words left my mouth, I froze.

Wait.

Hold on.

That didn’t sound right.

I immediately realized how that could be interpreted.

The way I had phrased it made it sound like I thought the previous version was bad.

Which wasn’t true at all.

My eyes widened slightly.

"N-Not that I’m saying the previous one is bad," I quickly added. "It’s just that compared to the previous one, I think this is a step better."

For a brief moment, I worried I had accidentally insulted his work.

Then Leon laughed.

Actually laughed.

"It’s not like I’m going to be mad," he said while chuckling.

The reaction immediately made me relax a little.

"In fact, criticism is valuable. Thanks."

His response was so casual that I felt a little silly for worrying in the first place.

Still, I couldn’t really help it.

Sometimes my mouth moved faster than my brain.

And when that happened, I usually ended up spending several minutes worrying about something that turned out not to matter at all.

Fortunately, this seemed to be one of those times.

So I took another sip of wine and tried not to think too hard about the fact that tonight was only just getting started.