The Hero Stole My Lover, So I Decided to Steal the Hero's Lover Instead - Chapter 34-35

Chapter 34

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A week had passed since then. It was probably around the right time for the cooldown period to be over—a good moment to confess.

I told Sharon that I was going to confess to Alicia. She said, “Go get her!” Then I went to see Alicia at her house. I knew today was a day off. But there was always the possibility that she might be out somewhere.

Fortunately, Alicia was home.

“Sorry for showing up out of the blue.”

“Not at all. Please, come in.”

“Excuse me.”

I entered Alicia’s house and quietly drank the tea she served. I was thirsty. Not just because today was hot—though that might have been part of it. I was nervous.

Why am I so nervous? All I’m doing is confessing something that’s got an eighty-nine—no, ninety-nine percent chance of success.

I needed to say something—anything—so I opened my mouth.

“Um…” “Um…”

Our voices overlapped perfectly.

“…………”

It felt like the moment had been derailed. I gestured toward Alicia with a light hand, inviting her to go first. She nodded.

“Um… did you come over just to hang out today? Or…?”

Or…?

There was clearly something she wanted to add, so I waited a moment—but nothing came after that. What did she mean by ‘or’? When I glanced at Alicia’s face, I saw her fidgeting shyly. It looked like she had something she wanted to say, but just couldn’t bring herself to say it.

The air between us had grown tense. We were both nervous, creating a unique kind of atmosphere. To nudge her to continue, I asked.

“What do you mean, ‘or’?”

“Um… No, uh… It’s just… Well… Never mind!”

It was clear she didn’t want to say the rest. The way she dodged the question made that obvious. Well, if she didn’t want to talk about it, I wasn’t going to force her… Still, I couldn’t help feeling a bit unsettled, and I tilted my head slightly.

“So, um… Did you have some business with me today?”

“Yes…”

I lightly wet my lips and said.

“About a week ago—you broke up with Cain, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Which means… You’re single now, correct?”

“That would be the case.”

Alicia answered politely, carefully.

“Do you… Have any plans to date someone else?”

“No, not at the moment…”

Alicia’s eyes locked onto mine. Her gaze was intense and unwavering. I returned her gaze just as steadily. I took a deep breath and said.

“Alicia-san. Will you go out with me?”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt a surge of embarrassment and wanted to look away. But I held my ground. Looking away would feel like running, so I forced myself to stay focused on her.

Alicia gasped. With her hand over her mouth, she froze like a statue.

What is she feeling right now?

I wanted to hear her answer right away—but I waited patiently, without rushing her.

Before long, Alicia’s eyes began to glisten.

“Yes. I’d be happy to.”

She said in a trembling voice. 

“I’m looking forward to being with you.”

“Ah, same here.” I said. 

“I’m looking forward to it.”

And just like that, I became Alicia’s boyfriend, and Alicia became my girlfriend.

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Chapter 35

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“—So, in short, the confession was a success, and now I’m dating Alicia.”

The day after I confessed to Alicia, I reported the news to Sharon.

“Congratulations.”

Sharon responded calmly, without much surprise or excitement. Still, she clapped her hands a few times politely.

“Well, it was obvious your confession would go well, so I’m not particularly surprised.”

After saying that, she grinned and asked.

“So, did you stay over last night?”

“…Huh?”

“Did you stay over at Alicia’s place?”

“No, I didn’t.”

When I denied it, Sharon looked puzzled.

“Why not?”

“Well, even if you ask me that…”

If I had asked to stay over, Alicia probably would have let me. But for some reason, the idea of staying at her house never even crossed my mind. Alicia was a pure and innocent girl.

She had dated Cain only because everyone around her told her to, not because she actually liked him. In my case, I had fallen for Alicia, and Alicia had fallen for me. In other words, we had mutual feelings for each other. But just because she liked me didn’t mean we could immediately take things to the next level. Especially for someone like Alicia—so naive, or maybe just shy (?), it wasn’t that simple.

That was why I thought that if I tried to force a deeper relationship too quickly, she might reject me—or worse, get seriously hurt. But when I explained all this to Sharon…

“Hmm… You’ve got a point.”

She nodded, somewhat convinced.

“But still, you need to get close to Alicia as soon as possible. The current situation—namely, that you and Alicia have started dating… if we subtly let Cain know about it, there’s no doubt it would deal him a heavy emotional blow. However…”

At that, Sharon looked up at the tavern ceiling. Wondering if there was something there, I glanced up too. It was just a plain ceiling. Maybe it was just a habit of hers when she was deep in thought.

“As for me, I still want him to experience the shock of having his lover stolen. I want to crush him completely, leave him so broken that he can never recover. If possible, I’d like to either steal the Holy Sword or destroy it too.”

How brutal…

I thought to myself, but to Sharon, this was a matter of life and death.

If Cain were in perfect mental shape and hit her with the Holy Sword, there’d be no hope for survival. Since the power of the Holy Sword was directly linked to the hero’s mental state, Sharon had to make Cain experience as much despair as possible.

She might sound like a heartless Demon King, but considering she hadn’t actively tried to kill him yet, maybe she wasn’t so bad after all. 

…Though really, when it comes down to it, which is worse: being killed physically, or being killed emotionally? I couldn’t say for sure.

“…Huh?”

Wait a minute…

“What is it?”

“Just now, you said, ‘I want him to experience the shock of having his lover stolen,’ right?”

“I did.”

“So, uh… How exactly are you going to let him know that his lover’s been stolen? Isn’t the fact that Alicia and I are dating enough?”

“It’s not. That alone won’t be shocking enough.”

Sharon stabbed a sausage with her fork, ate it, and washed it down with beer.

“You had your ex-lover, Sheryl, stolen by Cain the hero, right?”

“Yeah, that’s true…”

I wasn’t sure where she was going with this.

“How did you find out that Sheryl had been taken by Cain?”

“Well, that was…”

That was—the beginning of everything. I remembered it clearly. It happened when I returned home after finishing a quest.

“When I walked into the house, I found Sheryl and Cain naked in bed, holding each other.”

“Right.” 

Sharon nodded. 

“When a man and a woman are naked and holding each other in bed, that’s a pretty clear sign that they have a deep relationship with each other.”

“So what about it…? Wait, don’t tell me…”

“Exactly. That’s what I’m talking about.”

Sharon pointed the tip of her fork at me (how rude) and with a wicked smile, she said.

“We’ll let him see you and Alicia naked in bed while holding each other.”

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