VIP Chapter 435: A Toast
Her face flushed slightly, and the ears on top of her head began to droop and curl downwards.
Will placed his hands on the table and was the first to spear some diced meat from the plate with his fork, putting it into his mouth.
“Uh oh… it seems a little salty. Can Canines not eat too much salt? Otherwise, tear stains will get worse…”
“Pfft.”
Iaar chuckled at his words and speared a piece, putting it into her mouth.
Then, like a dog panting to cool down, she opened her mouth and fanned herself.
“You did put too much salt. But aside from being a bit salty, it actually tastes quite good.”
“That’s good then.”
As he finished speaking, the lights outside the window flickered as if they were broken, and then went out completely.
“…Huh?! What’s happening?”
“Don’t be scared.” Will reached out and lit a flame with his finger, igniting the candelabra in the center of the table. “It’s time for lights out here. The lights out time in the Dungeon is always pretty random. Well… it’s also possible that Liya and the others were messing around with something and blew out the power source.”
“So, we’re now entering a night where it’s just the two of us?”
Iaar said this with a faint smile on her face.
While she continued to eat, she looked at Will across the candlelight.
Sitting at the table made Will recall his “ordinary” yet peaceful life from his previous existence.
After a busy day, the two of them sat in the arriving night, facing the candlelight on the table, eating a simple meal.
There were no servants surrounding the entire manor, nor any master-servant relationship.
It was simply like…
Like a newly married couple, savoring a dinner they had personally prepared.
It might not have been as delicious as the meals made by the most skilled maids from before, but it carried more of a sense of life.
“Actually… I did this because I wanted to apologize to you properly.”
After eating a good portion, Will stopped his fork, looked at Iaar opposite him, and said these words.
“Apologize…?”
“Yes. I didn’t explain clearly before, and you should have realized. Whether it was my blindness, disability, or loss of magic, it was indeed all an act.” Will said in a very formal tone, “It seems I made Iaar grieve sincerely for a very, very long time – I apologize for that.”
“N-no! If anything… if anything, I’m the one who should be apologizing.”
She lowered her head, looking down at her hands, which were constantly fidgeting beneath the table.
Although she had expressed her “apologies” many times before, a calm conversation like this, allowing them to truly open up and communicate, was a first.
“Before that, as ‘Iaar,’ just as you said, I lacked the confidence to be loved by anyone, which is why I wanted to seek your love by hurting you…”
Iaar pouted slightly at this point and looked up.
“So, I should also apologize to you for my actions in the past.”
“Then we’re even.”
Will reached out and picked up the stemmed wine glass of red wine beside him.
When they entered the room, he had already poured red wine for himself and Iaar. Although he didn’t know Iaar’s exact age, since she had celebrated his birthday, she was certainly old enough to drink.
“Hmm… you said before that Canines can’t drink alcohol…”
Iaar glanced at the glass with a hint of apprehension but still raised it.
However…
Instead of clinking glasses with Will, she stood up, walked around the table, and sat down next to him.
“Huh?!”
“Sitting across the table always feels a bit… a bit distant. I still don’t like it, just like when we were master and servant.”
She said her opinion with a pout, as if acting coy.
“I want… I want to get closer to you… just a little bit closer… just a tiny bit, okay?”
Iaar’s actions were both “cautious” and “proactive.”
Cautious because she only managed to lightly bump her shoulder against Will’s.
Proactive because her palm wasn’t just resting on the armrest of her chair; it was close to Will’s chair, and her fingers were entwined with his.
“Clinking glasses like… like this feels more… more like… Hmm, Will, have you heard? After a long day, Adventurer couples don’t go to a tavern or the Adventurer’s Guild restaurant. They have a drink at their own home to celebrate surviving the day.”
This was something she had heard from the couple who had commissioned her to deal with the Fire Dragon of nearby Dream Dance One-Air-Eight-Ling…
“So, is now a good time?”
At the same time, her glass clinked against Will’s glass.
A crisp sound echoed in the small room, and before Will could even raise his glass, he heard Iaar gulp it down.
He knew he had told her before that it wasn’t advisable for Half-Beastmen to drink alcohol.
But…
The current Iaar seemed uninhibited, perhaps because she was having a drink with him in this capacity – doing something so memorable.
“So, this is what wine tastes like.”
After drinking a glass, Iaar seemed particularly excited and didn’t experience any discomfort, as Will might have expected for a first-time drinker.
However, the red wine from the Witch was top-quality, making discomfort unlikely.
“Thank you so much. Then… let me cook tomorrow! Hmm… Oh, right, I should also thank Miss Liya for providing this wine. Hmm… let’s include her too!”
“Alright, alright.”
For Will, toasting and drinking with Iaar like this, without her addressing him as a maid, was also a novel experience.
Iaar was no longer just following his commands. Although she still acted “obediently,” she possessed a confidence that seemed to allow her to take control of Will and make proactive moves.
Except…
She seemed to be getting drunk rather quickly.
As the diced meat in the plates dwindled and their wine glasses gradually emptied…
In the candlelight, her fuzzy beast ears were leaning on Will’s shoulder, and Iaar appeared to be drowsy.
“Iaar, you might already know, but this is probably the best time to say it…”
Will poked Iaar’s slightly chubby cheek where it rested against his shoulder.
Because she was a Half-Beastman, her cheeks were very elastic, making Will want to poke them a few more times.
“From the moment I met you until now, over ten years, thank you for always being by my side.”
“Actually, on that day, when we returned to the Hysterm Family, in that dilapidated old house…”
“When I saw you standing in the garden below, I already realized…”
“It seems like a long, long time ago, I had already fallen in love with Iaar.”
Perhaps it was the first time he had confessed so formally to Iaar, or perhaps it was the effect of the alcohol, but as he spoke, he felt his heartbeat quicken.
He looked at Iaar’s head resting on his shoulder.
From this angle, her furry ears would tremble slightly, and uncharacteristically, he could see the fur on her ears with great clarity from this vantage point.
“So, I hope you’ll stay by my side, just like before… Hmm, of course, you are free now, so this is a request, not a…”
Will thought she was drunk and not listening, but he noticed that the fingers intertwined with his seemed to grip tighter.
Somewhat surprised, Will finished his sentence—
“…not a command.”
