Chapter 73 Carol's request
“Excuse me, but can I take a moment of your time?” the junior that Mathew generally ignored up until this point suddenly approached him.
“Hmm?” Mathew turned his head around, directing his eyes towards the one the younger girl that pulled on the back of his shirt. “What’s up?” he asked, masking the annoyance from his face.
‘I’m about to get Naida to masturbate for me. Could you please find better timing to bother me?’ he thought while putting a gentle smile on his face.
“I…” the girl hesitated, lowering her eyes as if she couldn’t look Mathew directly in the face. “I…” she attempted to speak up again, only for a blush to appear on her cheeks as she pulled her hand away from Mathew’s shirt. “Actually, never mind, I’m sorry to bother you,” she finally said, giving up on whatever she initially wanted to convey.
“Well, if you say it’s nothing,” Mathew said, shrugging his shoulder. He then turned around and moved forward, eager to get his share of Nadia getting embarrassed before his eyes.
“Actually…” the girl’s voice reached Mathew’s ears right as he was about to escape from his junior’s vincity.
‘Damn,’ Mathew thought, slowly closing his eyes and exhaling all the air from his lungs. He then breathed in again before putting a fake smile on his lips as he turned back to the girl again.
‘Should I just shush her away?’ Mathew thought, his crotch slowly pushing him towards the decision to risk the morale of their group.
“I actually wanted to ask if I can help in any way,” the girl revealed her wish, only to avert her eyes right away.
“What’s so hard to ask about in it?” Mathew asked, unable to hold all of his emotions back. “Was there really any need to hesitate so much?” he asked again, shaking his head as he thought about the question itself.
‘Something for her to do…’ he thought, trying to lead his thoughts in a certain direction.
‘Well, Nadia would kill me if I just invited her to become my wife,’ he thought, feeling the threatening aura from the girl standing just a few feet away.
‘She is willing to concede when it comes to Leila and Daria; I would rather not push my luck any further,’ Mathew thought as he refocused his eyes on his junior’s face. ‘Even if it’s the most rational choice in our current situation,’ he thought before shaking his head.
“First, can you remind me, what’s your name again?” Mathew asked, just for the sake of buying himself a little bit more time.
While they were never on talking terms before, not to speak about being on a name’s basis in a conversation, he still knew how this junior of his was called.
After all, she was one of the very few girls that the majority of the dick-possessing population of the school lusted after. And it was a fact that even her boyfriend couldn’t change.
‘Thinking about that guy,’ the direction of Mathew’s thoughts suddenly changed. ‘Where is he?’ the young man asked himself, moving his eyes a little as he scanned the surroundings.
Normally, those two would be inseparable. That’s how they acted before the apocalypse, and that’s how they were ever since they joined Mathew’s group.
And yet, right at this moment, when the girl was clearly vulnerable from how she acted, the guy was nowhere to be seen.
‘There he is,’ Mathew thought when his eyes finally located the person in question.
He stood in the back, resting his back against one of the few walls that were left standing on the ground floor of the school. His head was lowered, and his eyes appeared to be pointed at the ground…
But there was something to his aura that Mathew just couldn’t figure out. Or rather, this very something made Mathew believe that this male junior of his observed and listened to every last detail of his conversation with that guy’s girlfriend.
“I’m Carol,” (A/N I, for God’s mercy, don’t remember if I brought her name back before. If I did, tell me in the comments where and I will fix it – even if this particular name is pretty lit) the girl replied after a moment of hesitation.
She then grasped the opposing sides of her shirt before bending her knees a little in a small, cute curtsy.
“And what do you think you could do, Carol?” Mathew asked, shaking the girl’s boyfriend from his mind as he refocused on the girl herself. “Picking the life cores for me is already a great help,” he added without even batting an eye.
It was a stupid job that even someone with half of his limbs could complete. And yet, it was a job that was tedious, boring, and time-consuming. A job that they ultimately couldn’t afford to skip.
‘She doesn’t look to be dumb enough not to realize it,’ Mathew thought, still puzzled by the girl’s request.
Yet, it took the young man only a mere moment to shake his head as his mind filled with self-critic.
‘No, I can’t assume they know everything that I’m aware of already,’ he realized, changing the perspective with which he looked at the girl.
“I’m not talking about menial tasks!” Carol protested, tightening her hands into fists.
“What seems to be the problem, then?” Mathew asked, truly puzzled.
‘She wants to help, but she is not talking about helping?’ he thought, leaning his head slightly to the side.
Then, Mathew released a tired sigh.
‘I guess the sages of old were right on the point when they claimed women are mystery not to be ever understood,’ he thought.
“I want to get stronger!” Carol finally revealed cancer that weakened her soul. “You have that system of yours; Nadia, Leila, and Daria are all somehow included in it; even Sasha appears to have one!” the girl listed out every member of Mathew’s group but herself.
“I don’t have any idea why you are bringing it up now,” Mathew replied when a cold sweat appeared on his back.
Courtesy of a deadly stare that Nadia penetrated Mathew with.
‘Right now, all I can do is play dumb, and home Nadia won’t blame me for it later,’ Mathew thought, forcing a confused smile on his lips.
“I only heard a little, but I believe it’s enough,” Carol said as a look of determination appeared on her face. “It something related to wives, isn’t it?” she pointed out to Nadia’s clear although mute dismay.
“Hmm?” Mathew muttered, still set on playing dumb.
Between the young flesh of this girl and infuriating Nadia that he already had a good thing going with… Not to speak about the abundant charms of the two girls that Nadia was starting to somehow accept…
The downsides of playing along with where this discussion was heading far outweighed the potential benefits!
“In other words,” Carol shook her head before finally raising her head and looking directly into Mathew’s eyes. “I want you to make me your wife so that I can get stronger as well,” she said.
Carol then turned her eyes towards Nadia as if in a wish to confront her.
“Isn’t that how you got those weird powers of yours?” she asked, leaning her head to the side as a flash of brilliance appeared behind her eyes.
‘Hmm?’ Mathew froze for but a moment as a bad premonition appeared in his mind.
His current understanding and judgment of this girl were pretty simplistic and brutal. In Mathew’s eyes, Carol was nothing more but a cute doll that made half of the school’s population salivate… but a doll without much to her brain.
And yet, for but a moment, he felt as if there was actually more to this petite girl than she herself allowed the rest of the world to realize.
“It is,” Nadia admitted without even a second of hesitation. “All my power steems from my dearest’ system,” she said before crossing her arms over her chest.
“Then, I want to become his wife as well,” Carol stated as she once again looked right into Mathew’s eyes.
‘I guess the cat is now out of the bag,’ the young man thought as he lowered his eyelids for a short moment.
“I don’t think your boyfriend will endorse this idea,” Mathew said, openly throwing a glance at the guy in the back. “And it’s not like I already know what exactly needs to happen for you to become my wife,” he added, only to then shake his head. “It’s not like simply accepting your proposal would suffice,” he stated, only to avert his eyes. “Trust me, I already tested that.”
“I don’t care,” Carol said with a resolute look behind her eyes. “In this world, cuteness no longer matters. If I want to stay alive, I need to get stronger,” she stated, only to tighten her hands into fists again. “No matter the cost!”
“Well,” Mathew crossed his hands over his chest as he shook his head for yet another time. “It’s all sound and dandy, but to be honest, right now, I don’t give two fucks,” he admitted while shaking his shoulders. “And to be perfectly honest, I don’t give a single fuck about your desires either,” he added, not holding his brutal honesty back at all.
“Right now, all I want,” Mathew turned around and took a few steps forward, only to grab Nadia’s hand. He then took turned his head and spared one last glance at the girl. “Is to take a shower and enjoy my time with my prime wife.”