Can Someone (Anyone!) Please Turn Off the Auto-Skill Setting?! - Chapter 55
“Bije was flirting with another woman while looking just like you! You saw it! I was just about to rip her hair out!”
Nancy had never once truly mistaken that succubus for Aaron.
She hadn’t even properly looked at his face, so she was confused for a brief moment.
Nancy, who had been crouched timidly, boldly lied with her head held high.
Yes. It was a lie.
She had clearly looked at Bije’s face and even thought he seemed strange today.
But never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that he was Bije, one of the Four Cardinal Guardians, and a succubus.
She had only suspected he might be lying to cover up an affair.
“I knew she was Bije the moment I saw her.”
But of course, Aaron had no way of knowing that.
Nancy brazenly tried to lie.
“So, you knew, and yet you still let her kiss you?”
“…What?”
“You knew everything, and yet you were so happy to offer up your lips to the succubus that looked like me.”
Of course. He had figured it out.
Aaron mumbled with a laugh.
Nancy glanced at him, then forced an awkward smile to follow his lead.
Their stiff laughter filled the bedroom with an uncomfortable atmosphere.
Nancy suddenly realized this wasn’t the time to laugh.
There was something frighteningly cold, almost murderous, emanating from him.
From opportunity to crisis.
She had a strong gut feeling that, once again, she had made the wrong choice at a critical moment.
Maybe it was better to tell the truth.
Resolving herself, Nancy finally confessed.
“…I lied. I knew it was Bije and just stood there.”
“…….”
“R-Really. That woman who collapsed! I thought it was you seducing her, and from that moment on, I lost all reason! But then you—no, Bije said it was a misunderstanding, and…”
“And?”
“So, um, well, she said…”
Would he still be mad if she told him that she’d let her guard down because Bije had been so sweet and affectionate, whispering with Aaron’s voice that ‘he’ loved her?
Nancy’s mind raced, trying to come up with an excuse that would gloss over the fact she had fallen for it.
“You enjoyed him calling you ‘darling,’ didn’t you?”
“Wh-What?”
Faced with a question she shouldn’t agree to, her response came out wrong.
Nancy, noticing Aaron’s sharp gaze, quickly shook her head in denial.
Aaron narrowed his eyes and glared at her.
“You liked it when ‘he’ told you ‘he’ loved you?”
She closed her throat tightly to avoid letting out any weird sounds, but now her mouth just hung open.
Nancy realized she was getting cornered more and more.
There was one method she could use in situations like this.
A trick she had developed from a young age, one she used to protect herself when she was pushed into a corner.
“The succubus’s magic is irresistible! No one can resist it!”
Her solution: blame it on the magic.
It seemed to work, as Aaron stepped back and crossed his arms, watching her closely.
“Do you know why succubi are so dangerous? If they were so easy to resist, the heroes would’ve sealed them away ages ago!”
But hadn’t she just sealed a succubus?
Didn’t that make her a much more righteous and mentally strong hero than anyone else?
Nancy added a dash of logic to her excuse.
That way, it wouldn’t be entirely wrong, and it would make it harder for him to argue.
Back at the orphanage, Amanda—who had bullied her—couldn’t say a word when Nancy used this trick.
Aaron, who was just as intimidating as Amanda, would surely stop with that piercing gaze now.
Nancy thought optimistically.
“I resisted it.”
Aaron was a much tougher opponent than Amanda had been.
He wasn’t at all swayed by Nancy’s nonsense—no, her reasoning—and easily brushed it aside.
Nancy was indignant.
She wanted to fire back that it wasn’t because of his strong mental fortitude.
But she couldn’t.
Saying that would mean she’d have to explain, from start to finish, why Aaron was already under mental attack.
Soothing an angry man who was upset about almost kissing a succubus would be a good way to get herself killed.
Nothing could be more foolish than that.
Absolutely not.
“If you didn’t feel anything when she said ‘I love you,’ you’re lying.”
“Emotionally, you were cheating. Physically, you were about to cheat, too.”
If things continued this way, she’d be in serious danger.
She didn’t know what kind of dangerous thoughts Aaron was having, but she was too scared to find out.
Nancy urgently shouted at him.
“I told you, I thought it was you! If it wasn’t you, do you think I would’ve just stood there while someone tried to kiss me?”
Aaron’s eyebrows, which had been raised high in betrayal, slightly lowered.
“You can tell just by the fact that the succubus took on your face. I really like you, and it’s only you.”
Good. This time, she found a proper excuse.
