My wife believes me; how could I be a cuckold?

However, she had only closed her eyes for a short while when she suddenly felt an intense gaze, so hot it felt like it was going to burn her skin.

As for whose gaze it was, there was no need to think about it at all.

Upon realizing that Makoto Asano was watching her sleeping posture, Eriko Miyajima's face turned bright red, and her shame seemed to overflow.

Overwhelmed with shame, she instinctively pulled the blanket over her head.

After a few more seconds, she pulled the blanket down a little, leaving only her eyes exposed, and looked at Asano Makoto with a hint of resentment.

"Asano-kun, I can't sleep with you looking at me like that..."

Upon hearing this, Makoto Asano, who had been stunned by her inexplicable commotion, couldn't help but burst into laughter.

So cute.

I'm getting more and more excited for tonight.

Looking at Eriko Miyajima's incredibly shy appearance, he couldn't help but subconsciously recall his plan, and suddenly couldn't suppress his somewhat restless heart.

The reason he had been staring at Eriko so intently that he forgot to look away was the same one.

However, having already made a mistake once, he naturally wouldn't repeat the same mistake a second time, nor would he reveal his inner thoughts.

He gently patted Eriko Miyajima's head and comforted her tenderly, "Alright, I won't stare at you this time. Go to sleep, you really need to rest right now."

"Um……"

Eriko Miyajima nodded slightly.

This time, however, she showed no intention of closing her eyes and continued to stare at Makoto Asano.

Asano Makoto was momentarily stunned by Eriko's unwavering gaze, unable to understand why she was reacting this way.

However, it was clear that Eriko did not give him a clear explanation. Instead, she continued to stare at him, and even her eyes became somewhat hazy.

This made Makoto Asano even more puzzled.

But at that moment, looking at Eriko Miyajima's eyes, which seemed to be drawn out like silk threads, a bold guess suddenly popped into his mind.

Now that you've thought of it, go ahead and do it.

Holding this belief, Makoto Asano leaned forward slightly and slowly brought his face closer to Eriko Miyajima, who was lying on the bed.

Just as he had expected, as he approached, Eriko Miyajima slowly closed her eyes.

The meaning of this is already obvious.

As if by natural order, their lips met.

It wasn't a passionate kiss, but a gentle touch, like the fingertips of lovers brushing against each other's lips.

But even such a simple, instantaneous separation caused Eriko Miyajima's face to turn completely red.

That vibrant color was more intense than ever before.

Her shameful heart could no longer bear the gaze of the one she loved.

"Good afternoon! I'm going to sleep now!"

She said that quickly, then immediately turned her back to Asano Makoto and pulled the blanket up over her head again.

This time, however, she never pulled the blanket down again.

Compared to her, Makoto Asano appeared much more composed.

He paused slightly at Eriko Miyajima's reaction, then nodded gently: "Good afternoon, Eriko, get some rest."

However, his slightly narrowed eyes and the corners of his mouth that he couldn't suppress no matter how hard he tried, clearly showed that his inner state was definitely not as calm as he appeared.

In fact, at this point, he was already eagerly researching how to complete another task.

Chapter 173, Stage 3

Although Makoto Asano now wants to take Eriko Miyajima away from Yuta Yamada and make her his own.

But he still clearly understood the principle that one must eat one bite at a time and walk one step at a time.

However, compared to the task of raising Eriko Miyajima's moral character to 100 points, there is clearly another more important task now.

This is the third phase of specialized training he unlocked after he appeased Eriko Miyajima in the car yesterday.

[Phase 3: The host must engage in a two-person battle with another target in front of any target, making that target jealous and then appeasing them. Limited to fifteen days.]

[Stage 3 Completion Rewards: Master-level Acting (Note: Your acting skills are unparalleled, and you are especially good at lying; you can utter any lie without any emotional fluctuation), a choice of high-level items (Note: Items priced below 40000 Love Points in the shop), +10000 Love Points, 100 million yen.]

This is the final stage of the mission, and the objective is roughly what Makoto Asano had previously guessed.

Moreover, the rewards for this mission are quite generous.

Although the value of that high-level item has decreased from over 50,000 Pure Love Points to less than 40,000 Pure Love Points, which seems like a loss, the way to obtain it has changed from random to self-selection.

In that case, the value of this reward would be maximized.

After all, some items may be priced very high, but they are actually just pure CJB (Critical Jail Bomb), and their actual performance is not worth the price.

The price of the props has changed from a minimum of 50,000 to a maximum of 40,000. Although it seems like a little less, there are actually quite a few good quality and inexpensive props at this price point.

Aside from this high-level item reward, the other rewards are also quite good.

Needless to say, 10,000 points of pure love and 100 million yen are money; no one ever complains about having too much money.

This time, the Master-level skill series is not as useless as before. For a certain person who is a master liar, this skill is simply a perfect match.

After confirming the mission information, Makoto Asano sat and waited for another ten minutes or so.

Finally, Eriko fell asleep.

It took her about ten minutes to fall asleep, most likely because she had a lot of random thoughts on her mind, which made it difficult for her to fall asleep.

However, because she was so exhausted, she inevitably fell asleep in the end.

Perhaps feeling uncomfortable with the blanket covering her head, she subconsciously pulled the blanket down after falling asleep, revealing her face again.

Listening to her steady breathing, Makoto Asano watched Eriko Miyajima's sleeping face for a while, then took out his phone and sent a message to Yuna Kanno.

"Yuna".

Today is Saturday, and at this time of day, Yuna Kanno is usually writing furiously at her desk.

However, she would keep her phone nearby and even set a special notification sound, so Makoto Asano naturally didn't have to worry about her not seeing his messages.

Just as Makoto Asano had predicted.

A short while later, Yuna Kanno sent a reply.

"what."

Her tone wasn't very friendly.

However, Makoto Asano was not angry; instead, he couldn't help but smile.

He knew why the little pet looked like that.

Yesterday evening after school, Yuna Kanno sent him a message asking if he could come over to see her.

However, at the time, Makoto Asano was busy taking Eriko Miyajima to avoid the typhoon, and he only replied to her message later when Eriko went to take a shower.

The answer was naturally a refusal.

After all, he had planned to take down Eriko Miyajima last night, and he didn't know what the situation would be like the next day.

So he declined Yuna Kanno's invitation with the excuse that "something came up and I couldn't go" and "you need to study hard too."

Clearly, the little pet is still sulking about this.

Realizing this, Makoto Asano burst out laughing, his fingers tapping rapidly on the screen: "Nothing much, just wanted to ask if you want to come to my house tomorrow."

This wait was rather long, but Yuna Kanno finally replied: "What? Not busy anymore? Don't you want me to study anymore?"

The little pet still seemed angry, and the sarcasm in its words was quite strong.

Asano Makoto naturally wouldn't care about such trivial matters.

And the fact that he gets angry only proves how much his pet cares about him.

So the smile on his face didn't diminish; instead, it became even brighter.

However, at this moment, he suddenly remembered his plan and subconsciously restrained his expression.

His fingers tapped incessantly on the phone screen, but after editing his reply, he hesitated to press the send button.

After hesitating for a moment, he deleted "because I miss you" from the edit box.

He felt it was somewhat cruel to lure Yuna over with such words.

So after a moment's thought, he ignored the little pet's question and replied instead, "Then remember to come over tomorrow morning."

He then added, "Come here yourself. My car got damaged by hail last night, so I can't pick you up. Anyway, you know where my house is."

This time, Yuna Kanno replied quickly: "Hey! You haven't answered my question yet, and I haven't agreed to come to your place!"

"Okay, that's settled then. Don't forget tomorrow morning."

"Why won't you listen to me! You're really... infuriating! You're always like this, I'm not talking to you anymore!"

Upon seeing this message, Makoto Asano couldn't help but give a wry smile before putting his phone away.

Honestly, he didn't want it to be like this either. Normal conversation, or even inviting Yuna Kanno over with ambiguous words, wouldn't have been out of the question.

However, this is indeed the most suitable way for him now, which is to command his pet as the owner.

At least this way, she'll come here with a grudge, and when she finds out the truth, she won't feel much worse.

If she gets angry at herself and vents her anger on herself, and then comforts herself properly, her condition will probably improve a lot.

But if I were to lure her over with something like "I miss you," and then make her realize her relationship with Eriko Miyajima, it would be too cruel to her.

It's quite possible that she might burst into tears due to the huge emotional shift.

Although it might not be appropriate for Makoto Asano to say this, given that he has always been rather rough with small pets.

But he didn't really want to order Yuna around like he was now; he preferred to interact with her as an equal.