Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

He quickly got behind her and poked her on the back to surprise her, but she didn\'t seem surprised.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, acting normally.

"Lady Maria just went to the bath and asked me to keep an eye on you. But when I came here, you weren\'t there," Lilim replied. "But you seem okay, so I guess it\'s fine."

Rudy sat on the couch and tapped to the side to ask Lilim to sit beside him.

"Oh, I would never. I can\'t sit beside someone like you," she uttered in a repulsive manner that somewhat offended Rudy.

"Ouch. I got rejected by a driver."

"I can stand beside you and sit beneath you if you want me to," she then added.

"Sit beneath… me?" Rudy imagined sitting on top of Lilim and said, "If you are okay with that, sure."

"I am pretty sure you misunderstood what I said," she remarked.

"I didn\'t say a word." Rudy shrugged and chuckled softly before speaking, "How would you know what I understood that as?"

Lilim stared at Rudy without saying anything. She was still wearing sunglasses for some reason, but Rudy could see her gaze staring at him.

"Why are you wearing glasses inside?" he asked.

"It\'s a part of my character."

"Take them off."

"Why do you think I would do as you say? You are not my master, so what makes you think you can order me?" she asked with a slight grin on her face.

\'See… I knew she would say that! She is awfully similar to me. Is this what they call the \'friend I didn\'t know I needed\' type of thingy?\' he wondered.

Lilim took off her glasses and tossed them at Rudy. Then, she walked to him and stood in front of him with a smile on his face.

"You amber eyes are beautiful. Why do you hide them?" he asked calmly.

"It\'s kind of a rule for the bodyguards to wear glasses so one can\'t see where we are looking at," Lilim responded in the same tone.

"So… Maria is taking a bath, and I don\'t have anything to do. How should I pass the time?" Rudy asked her. Although he didn\'t expect an answer, he wanted to have a chat with her.

"What do you want to do?"

"I don\'t know. I have never been at someone\'s house, to be honest. Only at my friend\'s and that too to play games," he chuckled softly. He then looked into Lilim\'s amber eyes and asked, "How about we gamble? That\'s a good way to pass the time."

"Oh, I would love too. But unfortunately, I am not good at it."

"I didn\'t say anything about that. We are just gambling with nothing at stake. So it doesn\'t matter if you are good or bad or lucky or unlucky."

.

Lilim pondered for a few seconds and said, "That sounds boring."

\'Dammit. So savage!\'

"Then we can put something at stake. I will gamble… umm, one million?"

"Money doesn\'t matter much to me." Lilim sat on her knees in front of Rudy and said, "Do you know how much I get paid monthly as Lady Maria\'s bodyguard and driver?"

"Since Ross syndicate is the wealthiest, I guess one million a month?" Rudy made a random guess to keep the conversation going.

"Five million per month." She got up again and said, "I have been Lady Maria\'s bodyguard for a long time, and I have never used a single penny yet."

She shrugged and continued, "I live here, so I get free food, free room, and free everything. I would use the money for gambling, but I am not interested. Gambling is… hell\'s game."

Rudy raised his brow in confusion and thought, \'What is she on about? I just wanted to pass some time while talking with her.\'

"Then how about you suggest?" Rudy grabbed Lilim\'s hand and pulled her on his lap.

"...!" Lilim tried to get off Rudy\'s lap, but of course, she couldn\'t. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Just getting to know you better," he responded with a cheeky smile.

"I believe this is called flirting?" Lilim smacked her lips against her teeth and said, "Even though you have Lady Maria, you are doing such a thing with me."

"What is such a thing? You refused to sit beside me and seemed tired as you just sat and got up again. I just gave you a seat to sit on."

Rudy tried to use the same trick Lilim used on him a while ago, which Lilim has realized already.

"So it\'s completely normal for you to let girls sit on your lap?"

"Depends on the girl, but yes." Rudy replied nonchalantly. "There is nothing wrong with that."

Lilim was smiling with Rud, but her face suddenly turned pale as she said, "Lady Maria. This is not what it looks like. He forced me to—"

Lilim stopped on her words when she noticed Rudy was unfazed by that and let out a soft sigh. She raised her brow with a curious look on her face and asked, "You didn\'t react, not even a bit. Did you know I was acting?"

"Yeah. I didn\'t hear footsteps, and you did something I would have done if I was in your shoes. We think a lot like each other, so I knew you were testing me out."

"Hmm~" Lilim hummed in amusement and said, "I have to admit that I am impressed. Too bad you belong to Lady Maria, or we would have made a fine couple, don\'t you think?"

"Whoa. Now, who is the one flirting, huh?" he chuckled softly.

"I was just playing along with your game."

"Is that so?" Rudy smirked from the corner of his lips and said, "Putting everything aside, you are pretty good at acting."

"Thank you."

"It makes me wonder about your true self. You could be acting right now too. You could be pretending to be a savage and straightforward girl."

Rudy looked into Lilim\'s eyes and asked, "What is your true self?"