Chapter 17
Husband is the Main Character in a BL Novel 17
Luise ladled a spoonful of stew, and a square chunk of meat tumbled into his bowl.
Steam rose from the stew, still warm.
However, he didn't feel the need to eat more, so he tried to decline, but he couldn't finish his sentence.
"I'm okay, th-"
Ting.
He heard the familiar sound effect.
Soon, opaque letters appeared in front of him.
[Congratulations!]
"......"
[You have succeeded in a hidden Quest.]
[The System will be unlocked upon the success of the first hidden Quest.]
[Hidden Quest: ~Receive three or more pieces of lamb secretly hidden by Luise~]
[Quest Reward]
[Affection level increased by 3.]
[Experience points increased by 10.]
[Trust increased by 1.]
"......"
He blinked blankly.
"Alex?"
Waving, waving.
Luise waved her hand in front of his eyes.
Only then did he snap out of it and turn his gaze to Luise.
"Ah, I'm sorry."
"What were you thinking about so suddenly?"
"It's nothing, just for a moment-"
He felt he needed to get out of this place quickly.
He turned to leave the dining room.
[Warning!]
[If you do not consume Luise's sincerity, the Quest reward will be canceled.]
[Please enjoy it!]
"......"
What is this...?
He was dumbfounded.
This was clearly his Status Window, which he thought had disappeared.
The letters, which were originally blue, turned pink and reappeared.
He never thought he'd see it again.
It felt like a game he thought was over had started anew.
He ignored the pink letters floating in the air and moved on.
He didn't want to eat more anyway, and he didn't want to do what the suddenly appearing System told him to do.
But as he completely left the dining room and went out to the hall.
The System was very flustered.
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
A beeping warning sounded with every step he took.
He continued to ignore it and reached the stairs.
[Please consume your wife's sincerity. The Quest reward will be canceled!]
He glanced at the Status Window and then went up the stairs without hesitation.
'What's with this all of a sudden?'
The contents of the reward notification he had just seen came back to his mind.
'Affection level increased by 3.'
Affection level?
It's not like a dating simulation game, what's with the Affection level...?
He had no intention of eating lamb stew on purpose for something like Affection level.
He didn't know why he had to raise such a thing, and he didn't want to.
'This is supposed to be the final reward, but it feels like square one.'
He sighed softly and rubbed his face lightly.
He arrived in front of his door.
[It's not too late yet. Get the hidden Quest reward and improve your relationship with your wife!]
"......"
[The next Quest will be unlocked only after you pass the hidden Quest.]
...I see.
He just opened the door.
It was a Quest that he didn't quite understand.
Luise wasn't his real wife, and he didn't have any feelings for her, so why should he improve his relationship with her?
He didn't like the idea of deceiving Luise.
He wouldn't like it even if she was an NPC, let alone if she wasn't.
[Warning!!!]
[You must build Affection level to level up.]
[Raise your level to defeat the tyrant Axen and destroy the forces of evil!]
"......"
Thud.
He just closed the door.
He stared intently at the System Window.
This time, it seemed that Affection level, not Experience points, was the key to leveling up.
Soon after, he heard the sound of Ting again.
[Hidden Quest ended: Failed]
[Luise ate all the remaining stew.]
[Quest Penalty]
[Affection level decreased by 3.]
[Experience points decreased by 10.]
[Trust decreased by 3.]
Didn't Trust increase by 1 earlier? But why did it decrease by 3?
[Trust -2]
[Your title has been changed.]
[Savior Who Killed God → Cold Beginner Husband]
"......"
Alex collapsed on the bed.
Although the Quest reward was invalidated and Trust became negative, the Status Window that had appeared did not disappear.
He checked a few things in the System that had reappeared.
Level.
Surprisingly, it was 1.
Considering his level, which had exceeded 600 near the end of his previous life, it felt like he had become a newborn again.
Since his level was that of a beginner, the state of his skills and stats was needless to say.
'Then is my job the same?'
He also checked the job skills he had acquired in his previous life.
If he could revive his job skills, he could easily subdue the tyrant of this world in the near future.
[Job Skill: Not Available]
[It is currently unavailable. To unlock it, you must succeed in the 'Challenge! Re-employment Job Quest,' which has not yet been revealed, or achieve an Affection level of an intermediate husband.]
"......"
Are job skills also useless?
Then, could he use the weapons from his previous life that he had stored in his inventory?
[Inventory: Locked]
[It is currently unavailable. It will gradually expand according to your level.]
'......Nothing works.'
Not only job skills, but he couldn't even see the items in his inventory.
He felt a little empty for some reason.
Like his bleached skin, everything was bleached, and his abilities had disappeared.
What he wanted was a reward, not a reset, but this was neither a reward nor a rest.
As he was about to close the System Window, a menu he had never seen before caught his eye.
[List of Characters]
List of Characters?
Could it be that he could see something like that because this is a world inside a novel?
Curious, he opened the List of Characters.
However, except for the three family members and himself, everything was filled with question marks.
First, he checked the information about Alexis, whom he had possessed.
[Alexis Myers]
[Male, Age: 23]
[Duke of Bretton. An unparalleled beauty that no one can match in appearance. He committed suicide by taking poison.]
[Special Notes: After death, his soul is rolling around in another world.]
[??????????]
[??????????]
"......?"
Like the question marks that decorated after Special Notes, his mind was also dominated by questions.
Alexis's soul is rolling around in another world?
Then does that mean he went somewhere after he died?
Where did he go?
Could he possibly come back?
'Then what happens to my soul that entered Alexis's body?'
His mind became complicated.
Maybe he could go back to the world he used to live in.
Could he go back?
He thought it would be nice if he could read the parts marked with question marks, and then he checked about Luise.
[Luise Shannon/Luise Myers]
[Female, Age: 24]
[Duchess of Bretton. Originally, she was the daughter of the Shannon dukedom in a neighboring country. She has the highest standards for men in this world.]
[She had a political marriage with her husband, but she has never had a marital relationship, so she is filled with resentment. She desperately wants a happy married life and children with her husband.]
[??????????]
[??????????]
"......"
Alex paused for a moment after reading all the explanations.
Then he opened Alexis's information again.
Was it written why he couldn't have a proper marital life with Luise?
As he had confirmed this morning, the sexual function of this body was too normal.
Rather, the mana in his body was overflowing and boiling, filling even the center, so it was larger and hotter than ordinary.
...Mana?
'Right, there's still mana in this body......'
