Harry, who didn’t believe it was nonsense, looked around at the last moment and eventually chose death himself.

“You escaped by deceiving your brother?”

At Anaïs’s expression as if he had been bad, Roderick shrugged. Wasn’t it Harry’s own doing after all?

‘Please let me die. Anaïs is waiting!’

When he knelt down and begged, only then did Harry barely believe his younger brother’s words. He died first in front of his brother as if to show off. He did say he was sorry. The triumphant dead face, thinking he had escaped first, was still vivid before his eyes.

“That guy will never escape from that game for the rest of his life.”

By now he would have lost his memory too, so he would have completely forgotten even the high-level information given with a slight twist. Roderick clicked his tongue, recalling his brother’s end, who would never realize the true meaning of ‘sacrifice.’

Well, he wasn’t in a position to curse Harry. If he hadn’t met Anaïs, he too would have lived tenaciously in that game for life, encountering Harry and eternally hating each other. Struggling desperately for no meaning.

“By the way, I didn’t know you were such a heavy drinker.”

Enough about his foolish brother. Roderick turned the topic to Anaïs. Rather than a story filled with betrayal and anger, he was curious about how she had been living.

“I usually don’t drink much. Recently, I started frequenting your regular shop because I was waiting for someone……”

Anaïs avoided his eyes and trailed off. It felt like she’d been drinking while he was suffering, so she ended up making excuses. But soon, she gave up and simply admitted she was sorry.

There’s nothing for you to be sorry to me about. Roderick muttered and rolled his eyes, then blurted out.

“If you want to see me from now on, just wait obediently at home.”

“Will you come all the way here to see me?”

“No.”

“Then why are you telling me to wait at home……!”

She bolted upright in indignation, then belatedly realized she wasn’t wearing a single thread. She hastily pulled the blanket and bent her waist to cover her exposed chest.

The man with his arm on the vanity found her flustered behavior amusing.

Anaïs’s face turned bright red with embarrassment. She felt like she was going crazy showing one disgraceful scene after another right after meeting. As her waist kept bending, she eventually lay face down and covered her body with the blanket like a caterpillar.

“What are you being shy about all of a sudden? I’ve seen your body enough times that I could picture it with my eyes closed. More importantly, Anaïs.”

Roderick pointed to his left fourth finger and called her to look.

Anaïs slightly lifted the blanket above her eyes. She did look at the hand he pointed to, but couldn’t understand what he was telling her to see. There seemed to be nothing particularly special about his hand. Just as she was about to pull the blanket better to cover her body, something sparkling entered her field of vision.

No way.

Anaïs examined her own left fourth finger, exactly the same place he had pointed to. A ring with a transparent, very sparkling gem was fitted on it.

It wasn’t a ring she owned. She didn’t have such an expensive-looking ring. Nor did she have any memory of receiving it from someone last night.

Then where had this ring suddenly appeared from? There was only one person she could guess.

“What is this?”

“This house won’t be particularly necessary, so how about we settle things quickly? It’s troublesome for you to keep becoming a heavy drinker saying you want to see me.”

Roderick didn’t answer about the ring and only said what he wanted to say. She wished he would speak properly, but what he was trying to say was conveyed. It was tantamount to telling her to settle this house and come live in his house.

Where is there a person who proposes like this? Anaïs looked at the ring with a sulky expression. Though it was a ring that had been put on without her knowledge as if a thief had secretly visited, it was pretty. Anaïs’s heart softened slightly.

“Are you planning to marry me or something?”

Roderick frowned and clenched his fist, folding the finger he had shown her to remind her of the ring’s existence.

“I thought that was all settled?”

“When was it settled?”

“You declared we were going to marry. You didn’t particularly say no either.”

Though you said you didn’t remember.

He muttered quietly, barely audible. Anaïs’s mouth, which had been slightly open, gaped completely. At her reaction as if shocked, Roderick made an uncomfortable face.

“If you hate it, take it off and throw it outside. I’ll quietly back down.”

Though he came on strong, he looked quite anxious. His facial muscles twitched, then he soon looked for a cigarette. Anaïs realized that he often looked for cigarettes when he was nervous.

When things were very serious, he would sometimes fall into thought while holding a cigarette without smoking it. And now he was glaring at her while just holding a cigarette without lighting it.

“If we marry, can you grant me one wish?”

“What is it?”

He asked as if he had been waiting.

“Quit smoking.”

“……Can’t you make another wish? I could do something like making you feel good every morning.”

When she clamped her mouth shut and stared intently, the furrow between Roderick’s brows grew deeper and deeper. Eventually he raised both hands.

“I’ll try my best.”

When Anaïs smiled asking if he really meant it, Roderick clicked his tongue. He put the cigarette on the vanity and approached the bed.

“It doesn’t make sense for only me to grant something. What can you do?”

“I’ll do anything I can.”

You say such things so casually. Roderick thought it was really fortunate that she had met him before Harry.

“If I get murdered, will you get revenge for me? I think you could do it sufficiently.”

“……You mean actually kill a person?”

Anaïs’s face darkened as if she hadn’t expected that. She thought deeply, then soon nodded with a firmly resolved expression.

“I understand.”

“It’s a joke. Don’t take it seriously. More importantly, never hold a gun again. I’ll make that my wish.”

Do you know how startled I was when you pointed the gun at me? Not just once, but twice. Roderick squeezed her b*ttocks tightly as if punishing her.

“So what’s your answer?”

“Why do you bother asking such things? You said it was all already settled.”

The man who had been stroking her b*ttocks over the blanket slyly lifted the blanket and put his hand inside. When he caressed her bare legs, Anaïs’s body flinched.

“Well.”

“……”

“It seems I want to hear a proper answer from your mouth.”

“……Fine.”

She answered in such a small voice that he showed no reaction, as if he hadn’t heard. She was about to speak once more when Roderick suddenly swept away the blanket that had been covering her body.

He grabbed the b*ttocks exposed before his eyes, then set his teeth into the plump flesh that had risen. Anaïs screamed, “Kyah!” It wasn’t painful enough to make her twist her body, but it was enough to startle her.

Roderick licked the flesh that was slightly dented from his bite with his tongue and put his hand between her legs. As he caressed her moist p*ssy while biting and sucking her b*tt, he felt a gaze. Anaïs, who had looked back over her shoulder, was sending him a pounding gaze.

“Anaïs, you said you wanted to have one son and one daughter, right?”

“It’s really amazing how you seem not to listen to what I say but remember everything.”

Anaïs complained. Roderick answered that it was because he had a good memory and climbed on top of her body to bite her ear. He had intended to kiss her, but it was a second choice since she buried her face in the pillow.

“If we’re going to have children anyway, wouldn’t it be better to make them quickly?”

Roderick whispered into the ear of the woman who had hidden her face.

Anaïs trembled because her ear tickled. She slowly turned her body to face him. Since he had swept the blanket aside and pushed it away, there was nothing left between them to cover her.

Anaïs, who had squeezed her eyes shut and steeled her resolve, reached out her hand to him.

* * *

A few days later, Anaïs received a formal invitation from Mr. Cortez and headed to the mansion. Had she ever thought the day would come when she would set foot in a place like a mafia mansion? She showed an anxious appearance the entire way, her body frozen stiff with tension.

“We’re just having a meal.”

Even when Roderick tried to reassure her, it didn’t reach her ears. She was busy worrying about whether his adoptive father might not like her, and how she should persuade him to accept her.

Her face, which had turned pale from thinking too hard, looked quite pitiful. Anaïs’s complexion grew more and more haggard until the very moment she entered the mansion.

But the moment she entered the entrance and saw the hall, the strength completely left her stiffly hunched shoulders. A Christmas tree. A very splendid Christmas tree was placed in the center of the hall.

The decorations were also very elaborate, and underneath were baskets full of bells and ribbons of different colors, and dolls with strings attached. There were even several such baskets.

It was already June. It was too late in the season to leave a Christmas tree up, and too early in the month to decorate a new one. Yet Roderick really seemed to plan on keeping a Christmas tree up 365 days a year.

“You’re really crazy about Christmas.”

Roderick raised one eyebrow, saying her complexion seemed to have brightened a bit now. It was as if she found it fascinating.

That’s what I should be saying. Anaïs thought as she grabbed his arm that had been extended toward her without her realizing it due to nervousness, and linked arms with him.

“Merry Christmas, Roderick.”

When Anaïs spoke, Roderick’s face froze for a moment. Those words were like trauma to him. The gaunt expression of someone who had cut their life short without any lingering attachment overlapped in his vision.

Roderick frowned and looked at her again carefully. He saw no sadness in her. She was smiling brightly, filled with happiness rather than betrayal.

“I’ll be hearing those words every day from now on.”

He would have to steel his heart so he wouldn’t be startled every time. Having made this resolution, Roderick kissed Anaïs and smiled gently.

『Player B’s Survival Volume 2 (Complete)』 The End.