Chapter 66: 66 | The Standard
’I didn’t expect the lie I told Emma about being sick would actually help Master.’ Dante thought about it and shook his head with a smile.
He had been worried about the effectiveness of stage three of his plan, but this was turning out to be very helpful. Especially Emma’s guilt toward Natasha for making her deal with everything on her own.
’With the way things have turned out, this is more than just a gamble.’ He thought, excitement flickering in his eyes. ’Master, I will make you realise how foolish it was to try to forget about me.’
The mission he gave Natasha had ended, but the one he had for himself wasn’t even halfway through.
After the movie mission failed, his original goal was to somehow push her favorability to 60. But then he realized something. Even if he managed that, the relationship between him and Natasha would stay the same once Emma returned.
He had been focusing solely on Natasha from the start and still hadn’t managed to take their relationship to the next stage. With Emma back, he would have to divide his attention and that would make the progress with Natasha even slower.
’If I don’t do this, Master will keep putting up walls every time something happens. As much as I’d like to take my time breaking all of them, I simply don’t have the luxury.’ He looked at Natasha’s awkward face on the feed as she talked to Emma. ’And even if I did take the slow route, she would take the short end of the stick willingly every single time.’
The thought of her believing she could just sacrifice anything whenever she wanted made him irritated. That selfless personality would only bring her more trouble down the line.
And it did. In the novel, that’s exactly what happened.
She ended up as nothing more than an emotionless robot whose sole purpose was to help her son manage his harem.
As a villain, he wanted his women to be selfish and possessive.
He wouldn’t lie.
He did have plans to ask Natasha for help if there was ever trouble with his big sisters. She would be managing his harem to a certain extent.
But the difference was... she would be doing it because she wanted to be the queen of his harem. That was the standard he held for all his future women. He wanted every single one of them to be queens.
Queens generous enough to let others stay, but selfish enough to never let go of what’s theirs.
’In that regard, you are way behind the woman standing right next to you, Master.’ Although Emma didn’t show it on her face, he was sure she was already suspicious after seeing Natasha walk out of his room.
After all, this was a woman whose dream was to become the richest person in the entire world.
***
After the scene at the stairs, Emma quickly pulled Natasha to the couch in the living room with an anxious look on her face.
"Emma, what’s the matter?" Natasha looked at her with confusion after being dragged here out of nowhere. Emma kept glancing in the direction of Dante’s room like she was making sure he wasn’t coming.
"Ah, Master." Emma finally turned to her with a flustered face after confirming it was safe. She leaned in close and signaled Natasha to do the same.
Her actions made Natasha curious despite herself.
"Master, has Dante been behaving differently since the fight with you?" Emma whispered.
Natasha thought about it. He had changed a lot, but for the better. "Yeah. What about it?"
"Really?" Emma’s eyes widened like she had been hoping Natasha would say no.
Natasha was starting to get worried seeing her like this. But she nodded, wanting to hear what she was thinking.
Emma’s eyes turned red all of a sudden.
"You... why are you crying?" Natasha grabbed her shoulders with a stunned face.
"M-Master, I think Dante has given up on his life." She said, wiping her tears. "What do we do?"
"WHAT?" Natasha’s brain stopped working. ’What the hell is this girl talking about? He gave up on his life? When?’
She quickly went through everything that happened after their fight but none of it pointed to that at all. However, knowing how he was going about the revenge, he was perfectly capable of hiding something like that from her.
A worried look appeared on her face.
"Emma, stop crying and tell me why you think that." She said, shaking her by the shoulders.
"Okay okay, stop shaking me first."
***
A few minutes later, Natasha had heard everything from her, including his new texting style. She had an absent-minded look on her face after taking it all in.
"Master, are you okay? Do you have any way to save Dante?" Emma asked in a hopeful tone.
Whenever she faced a challenge she thought was impossible, Natasha was the first person she came to. That was why she didn’t hold anything back and told her everything.
Natasha came back to her senses and looked at her student with heavy disappointment.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Emma’s heart dropped, thinking there was no way to save him.
"You trusted an AI over your own judgment?" Natasha asked in a speechless tone.
"Master, that’s OUR AI. And doesn’t it make sense? He suddenly started being nice, saying he misses me, being warm out of nowhere—"
"No. It doesn’t."
"But—"
"No." Natasha said sternly. Then she added with a tired smile. "That just means he finally stopped hiding from you."
"Do you really think so?" Emma’s voice came out normally but the tips of her ears were red.
"That’s right." Natasha nodded with a smile. After hearing everything from Emma, she was now fully convinced that Dante only liked her.
Suddenly, a sound came out of nowhere.
It was from her student’s stomach.
"Haha," Emma held her stomach with an embarrassed face, "Haha, I had a long flight. Haven’t eaten anything since."
Natasha sighed with a smiling face, standing up from the couch.
"Tell me, What do you want to eat?"
