Chapter 29: Self-Reliance and Abundance

When Roland burst into Aunt Yukio's room, the scene before him was...

Aunt Yukio wasn't asleep as he'd imagined, nor was she in any danger. On the contrary, her face seemed utterly relaxed and cheerful.

Well, perhaps "relaxed and cheerful" didn't quite capture her current state.

Yukio had already shed her thick pajamas. With her eyes closed, she leaned against the headboard, completely nude except for a blanket casually draped over her lower half.

Of course, none of that was the most important detail. The crucial thing was that one of her hands rested on her chest, while the other was hidden beneath the blanket, and no one knows what she is doing.

All Roland could tell was that Aunt Yukio's closed-eyed expression radiated pure bliss. Perhaps she was... simply resting with her eyes closed?

It wasn't until she heard someone barge in that Yukio startled as if caught in the act. Her hand on her chest hastily moved to cover herself, and the hand beneath the blanket yanked the blanket up to conceal her upper body in a panic.

Yukio glared angrily at the intruder, but when she saw it was her little Roland, her fury vanished as if it never exist, and was replaced by a feeling of resentment.

"Little Roland? Why didn't you knock before barging in?" Yukio scolded, her voice a mix of affection and exasperation.

"Uh... I'm sorry, Aunt Yukio. I was worried about you and rushed in without knocking," Roland stammered, thoroughly embarrassed. He hadn't expected to stumble upon Yukio in... that state.

Don't ask what "that state" was. Isn't it obvious?

She was simply "taking matters into her own hands," so to speak.

Ahem, a special shoutout to big sister Haruno, who earlier had needed his "assistance" to "take matters into her own hands," nearly crippling his hand from exhaustion.

But none of that mattered. The real issue was that damn System had actually plotted against him!

That wretched System had suddenly issued an urgent mission to make him rush to Yukio's room. He'd assumed she was being tormented by nightmares again—otherwise, he wouldn't have been so anxious to break in without even knocking on the door.

Yes, the System hadn't explicitly mentioned nightmares. That was just his own assumption.

But why had the System insisted he hurry to Aunt Yukio's room?

ASAP!!

Wasn't it blatantly trying to make him see the Yukio most embarrassing scene as soon as possible?

Wait a minute... Now that he thought about it, all the System missions were issued by his Mom. Could this whole thing be part of her scheme too?

That scheming scumbag Mother!

How did she find out about what happened here?!

"Aunt Yukio clearly told you not to worry too much about me tonight. You should be spending time with Haruno," Yukio said, both embarrassed and resigned helplessly.

She was naturally delighted that Roland cared so much about her well-being. If only she hadn't been... occupied with that at the time.

She never expected him to arrive at such an inopportune moment. She had merely called out his name while taking matters into her own hands—how could that have actually summoned him?

Now this was awkward. The boy had witnessed such an unseemly scene, and she couldn't tell if he had guessed what her hand had been doing under the quilt.

If he had, she would be utterly mortified and be too embarrassed.

"Big sister Haruno is already asleep. I couldn't stop worrying about you, Aunt Yukio, so I came over," Roland said, feigning ignorance and putting on an innocent expression.

"You... Now that you see Aunt Yukio is fine, hurry back to your room before Haruno notices you're missing," Yukio said. She couldn't tell if he had figured it out, but upon reflection, what did it matter?

Would her little Roland really think less of her for this?

That's impossible. Her little Roland loves her so much, she doesn't need to care about this matter.

She look at Roland infatuatedly while secretly moving her hand away...

"But Aunt Yukio, you see, I'm here now, so let me stay here with you tonight. I feel more at ease watching you." In order to stay and complete the system task, Roland once again used his invincible tactics of acting like a spoiled child on Yukio.

This temporary mission comes with a reward of 200 points. This is undoubtedly a piece of fat meat for Roland, who is seriously short of points. He can't waste it no matter what.

So this is definitely not because he is craving for sleeping with Yukio, absolutely not~.

In order to make the tactics of acting like a spoiled child work, Roland simply approached Yukio boldly, and then hugged her intimately through the quilt.

"Ah? You kid! You're doing this again!" Yukio obviously didn't expect him to suddenly come over and get so close to her body. As a result, the hand that she had just moved down felt a little... stimulating.

"Is it not possible?" Roland continued to act coquettishly.

"Well... I need to think about this carefully."

"Then Aunt Yukio, take your time to think about it. I'm not in a hurry~"

Roland clung tightly to Yukio, as if determined to stay regardless of her answer.

As for Yukio, it was unclear whether she was genuinely pondering or secretly scheming. After a while, Roland distinctly felt the mature beauty in his arms tremble slightly.

Realizing the moment had arrived, he whispered softly in Yukio's ear, "Aunt Yukio, are you ready now~?"

No one could be certain what he meant by "ready."

Yet a flicker of embarrassment seemed to cross Yukio's eyes before she regained her composure and smoothly cooperated with Roland. "Yes, Aunt Yukio agrees to let you stay. Turn around while I change into my pajamas."

"Okay~ I'll turn around right away." Roland nodded eagerly and moved to the side, turning his back.

True to his word, he neither left the room nor retreated to the bathroom. He simply stood with his back to Yukio.

Yukio paused, taken aback by his boldness. But she didn't know if it was because of the way Roland had just acted like a spoiled child towards her that the atmosphere between them became particularly ambiguous.

Whatever the reason, she silently tolerated his bold move.

After a moment of silence, Yukio finally lifted the only thing covering her—the blanket.

She then slid off the bed, her alabaster body gleaming, and walked to the nearby walk-in closet. There, she retrieved a nightgown as thin as a gauzge and changed into it.

To describe its sheer quality, one could say it was akin to wearing nothing but black stockings from head to toe.

While changing, Yukio glanced back, as if checking whether Roland was peeking.

Oddly, though she was clearly verifying Roland's gaze, she didn't look at his body. Instead, she stared at the flat-screen TV mounted on the wall.

The screen was dark, but just as a phone's black screen can still serve as a mirror for fixing one's hair, the TV screen offered a faint reflection.

Through this reflection, Yukio's eyes met Roland's in the screen.

In that instant, both knew their little secrets had been discovered. Yet they tacitly chose to play dumb, pretending nothing had happened, maintaining their incredibly ambiguous relationship as it is.

Only after Yukio had changed and washed her hands in the bathroom did they finally face each other, clasping hands. As always, their fingers intertwined before they climbed back onto the plush, oversized bed—large enough for them to roll around in.

As the blanket enveloped their heads, who knows what kind of drama might be unfolding beneath its folds...