Annie came in holding a tray in each hand.
The breakfast was ordinary: butter croissants, vegetable salad, and Parisian coffee.
As for where this otherworldly version of Blue Star’s Parisian coffee came from, such questions could only indicate the game’s scriptwriters had a screw loose.
Unable to understand the system’s ways, Lauren set it aside for now, deciding not to dwell on it.
Since things had come to this, he might as well eat first.
“Annie, have you eaten breakfast yet? I’ll share half with you. Come, let’s eat together.”
Looking at the obedient and adorable maid standing before him, Lauren had no intention of putting on any masterly airs and casually invited her to join him.
However, what he didn’t notice was that Annie was staring intently at him, her eyes flashing with an unusual light, as if a flame had been ignited.
Only Annie herself could feel it—her heart was pounding wildly at this moment, her mind racing with countless thoughts, the excitement nearly driving her mad.
The tactile sensation of a real person, the warmth of a living being, and her boss, whom she hadn’t seen for a hundred years!
I actually reincarnated back a hundred years ago, meow!
God, meow! Is this a dream, meow?
If it’s a dream, then please let this dream last a long time, so I can make up for all the regrettable moments in my life, meow!
Lauren was just about to start his breakfast.
Who would have thought that Annie would sweep her small hand across the table, clearing it instantly?
The breakfast scattered all over the floor, leaving Lauren utterly dumbfounded.
My breakfast!!!
But before he could even recover, Annie single-handedly flipped the entire table.
With a loud crash, the dozens-of-pounds heavy solid wood desk smashed into the wall like a toy, creating a large hole.
Lauren was left wide-eyed and stunned, not daring to make a move.
Damn, the maid is rebelling!
Where are the guards?
Isn’t anyone going to save me!
Wait, no, Annie herself is the strongest combatant in the entire mansion.
No one can come to save me now.
Seeing the maid walking toward him with reddened eyes, Lauren didn’t even dare to breathe heavily.
He could only pretend to be calm, determined to die with dignity if he had to!
Annie pinned Lauren against the wall in a kabedon, her two pale small hands blocking his left and right sides.
The situation seemed extremely dangerous.
It felt like he had unlocked another death CG for the yellow-haired villain, entering some Bad Ending.
His thoughts were in turmoil, his mind a mess.
He couldn’t figure it out, couldn’t understand why Annie had suddenly flipped the table.
What did she want?
Had he said something wrong that made her realize he wasn’t the original yellow-haired villain?
Recalling their earlier conversation, he seemed to have only told Annie to come eat at the table.
Lauren grew alert.
Could it be that the original yellow-haired villain had a setting where catgirls weren’t allowed to eat at the table?
So he steadied himself and softly reprimanded:
“Annie, calm down!”
At worst, I won’t ask you to eat at the table anymore.
Annie had Lauren pinned against the wall.
Only then did Lauren notice her eyes were moist, tears welling up, and her breathing was heavy.
“Boss, I like you, meow. Do you like me, meow?”
What does this mean?
What does this mean?
Although he didn’t understand the situation, Lauren tried to go along with it as much as possible:
“I… I like you too!”
At that moment, a “ding” sounded in his mind.
The system had come to stir up trouble too.
[Personal Side Quest Triggered: Bloodline and Guardianship]
[Node 1: A Cat’s Gratitude?]
[You have encountered the demi-human maid by the Evil Duke’s side—Annie Liko. After some casual conversation, you inadvertently discover that she seems to hold favorable feelings toward the Evil Duke, Lauren. With keen insight, you realize she has been deceived by the Evil Duke, Lauren, mistaking that scoundrel for her lifesaver.]
[But you are the daughter of a knight who once served the ducal family and know the truth about the maid’s adoption.]
[As the Flower Hero, upholding the ideals of truth and kindness, you are determined not to let Annie be deceived any longer. You resolve to expose the Evil Duke’s hypocritical facade.]
[Quest Time Limit: 1 day]
[Player Note: If Yuli cannot complete Node 1, her subsequent personal side quests will be locked, and the talent, Beast God’s Blessing, will be unobtainable!]
[Quest Requirement: Tell Annie Liko the truth about the Evil Duke’s lifesaving favor.]
[Quest Reward: Beast God’s Blessing – Unending Vigor, Flower Crystals ×100, Experience ×300]
Another protagonist’s personal side quest had been triggered.
Lauren had no mood to deal with it for now because he was currently being overpowered by a strong woman!
“Boss, you can’t imagine… how long I’ve waited for this moment, meow!”
So long it spanned over a hundred years.
This dialogue truly caught Lauren off guard. He wondered inwardly:
‘Huh? Was there this part behind the original plot?’
He remembered that although the original game’s plot was from the protagonist Yuli’s perspective, it clearly stated that the catgirl maid was someone deceived and exploited by him, the yellow-haired villain.
Because the original host had little talent since childhood—whether in magic, martial arts, or divine arts—he was a complete and utter weakling in every aspect.
Therefore, the original host’s parents specifically selected a demi-human cub with potential from the slave market, raising it from a young age to serve as his guard-maid.
That demi-human was Annie Liko.
Annie and Lauren had been bound by a master-servant mark since childhood, their lives linked.
If the master died, the servant would die in their place. If the servant died, the master would not perish.
Simultaneously, this master-servant relationship had a double insurance: brainwashing day and night about a lifesaving favor, making Annie completely devoted to Lauren both emotionally and in terms of life, unable to betray him.
And Lauren had always looked down on demi-humans, believing they would taint his noble Dragon-Slayer bloodline.
However, because Annie’s power was truly formidable, he had kept her on a leash using PUA tactics, which gave Yuli the opportunity to win Annie over.
The information players received from Yuli’s perspective clearly showed that in this relationship, the yellow-haired villain held the dominant position.
But now, personally transmigrated into the perspective of the “Evil Duke,” he was beginning to realize that might not be the case.
While he was still lost in wild thoughts, Annie had already begun putting her thoughts into practice.
Without overly flirtatious dialogue, she merely let out a light laugh, transforming the palpitations in her heart into action.
She directly and forcefully kissed him.
The kiss was so long and lingering it was suffocating.
More importantly, the initiative was not in Lauren’s mouth.
One must know that a cat’s tongue has barbs.
Under Annie’s active entanglement, their two tongues intertwined and played together, making Lauren’s mouth itch and his heart itch too.
Since he couldn’t resist, he might as well enjoy it.
The kiss lasted a long, long time—so long that Lauren lost track of time.
It was only when the warm sunlight shone on the two of them that Lauren snapped back to reality.
The world turned upside down, the master bullied by the servant.
Lauren felt he was about to be kissed until oxygen-deprived.
When he tried to struggle and escape this forceful kiss, he realized he was tightly locked in place by Annie’s overpowering hold.
Only when Lauren was nearly suffocating did Annie reluctantly let him go—though not completely.
Their faces remained pressed close, rubbing against each other.
With only a centimeter between them, their gazes met.
Her eyes seemed to reveal a watery, deep affection that moved Lauren’s heart.
The morning light cast the shadow of the two tightly embracing.
The sound of heavy panting echoed in their ears.
At this moment, the world contained only the two of them, and nothing else.
“Gods! Thank you, meow! Whichever god it is, thank you for letting this miracle be born in the world, for letting me return to before everything happened, meow.”
“This moment is a dream I’ve had countless times, meow!”
“I’ve really… really returned to the past, meow!”
Annie couldn’t contain the joy in her heart; her eyes were already brimming with hot tears.
“Boss, this time, I…”
A flash of determination and resolve passed through her eyes.
“…will definitely save you from the harm of those women. I will make sure all the tragedies, all the regrets, never repeat, meow!”
Watching Annie holding him and crying like this, Lauren, for a moment, didn’t know if he had triggered some hidden plot and was at a loss for what to do.
‘What a moody woman!’
He thought inwardly.
However, maintaining such close contact, his heart rate rising over time, Lauren’s heart couldn’t help but accelerate with “thump-thump-thump” beats.
For a vigorous teenager like him, this position was too stimulating!
The impact on a teenager was simply immeasurable!
He felt he was about to lose control of himself.
Lauren took a deep breath, quickly adjusted his state, and finally managed to calm down somewhat before tentatively saying:
“Um, could you let me go first?”
Annie didn’t respond.
Her pair of green eyes stared directly at Lauren as she repeated like a confession:
“I like you, boss, meow! Like, like, like, like, like you the most, meow… I’ve liked you for so, so long, meow…”
“I like you, meow… I love you, meow…”
“Don’t go… never leave me, stay together always… always together…”
Annie recalled how long it had been since she had spoken these words buried deep in her heart.
In the end, the boss she had always relied on died.
Even though she had sworn an oath, she hadn’t protected him.
She never got the chance to say this “I like you.”
To this day, today, she wanted to make up for all of it—that hundred years of solitude.
Under the morning light, weeping and whispered murmurs echoed for a long, long time.
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