The Villain Can't Catch A Break

In Japan, a new word was introduced to the general populace.

'Hikikomori', This word is a noun and was used when referring to shut-ins.

The social outcasts believed that their mental world and the comfort of their own 4 walls that confined them were far better than their real life.

There were many types of 'Hikikomori' in Adam's original world.

Some preferred the allure of '2D women'(fictional women from animations, games, and fictional stories.) While admonishing the existence of '3D women'(real women).

There were other 'Hikikomori' who acted as secret admirers and super fans of real-life idols and were obsessed with them.

Adam Alastair Dacre turned out to be a 'Hikikomori' from the latter category.

This fact in itself would have been enough to set Adam's mind ablaze but, the idol that his predecessor worshipped made that rage even more intense.

The idol whose posters were stuck on all the walls of Adam's room, posters in all shapes and sizes, was none other than Cassandra Ein Yenalova.

Cut-out photo shoot clippings from popular magazines that had articles made on Cassandra for her beauty and her talent in magic, posters, and news clippings that sang her praises, whether all of these articles were paid for by the Duke family or not was redundant.

On the bed, he could even see a body pillow with an image of Cassandra's entire figure on it.

Body pillows didn't even exist in this world, this meant that his predecessor had spent some money to make a custom body pillow with Cassandra's figure on it.

If Adam could jump into a river and drown right here - right now, he would do it in a heartbeat.

The 2nd hand embarrassment he felt from this, while letting someone else see the mess his predecessor had left him was too much for him to bear.

Especially because Adam always disliked obsessive behavior like this. Specifically in males.

He could already feel the judgemental gaze he was getting from his maid and all the thoughts that were crossing her mind.

However, all of this turmoil was only felt internally.

On the outside, Adam had only one expression on his face.

An expression of disgust.

"Henrietta, help me get rid of all this trash from my room," Adam said, in a voice loaded with minor undertones of anger.

Henrietta, who had her mouth covered with one hand trying her best to control her laughter couldn't reply to Adam's order.

If she removed her hand and opened her mouth right now, she wouldn't be able to control her laughter and it would leak right out of her mouth.

Adam already knew about this and wanted to get this humiliation over with as soon as possible rather than delay it any further.

"You don't have to keep it in. Laugh away, I won't hold it against you." Adam said as he turned towards her.

She stared into his eyes as he said it, his eyes remained unflinching and resolute.

She knew her Young Master whom she had served for over a decade better than anyone else.

She knew he was an unruly and childish individual who would always take his frustrations out on the people around him in a pathetic manner.

This time, however, when she looked into his eyes, something deep inside her told her that her master meant what he said.

She felt that he wouldn't go back on his words for once.

She finally let go.

"Pfft- hahahahahaha, Young Master I didn't know you liked Lady Yenalova this much!"

Even though the humiliation of his servant laughing at him intensely triggered his ego, the fact that this woman in front of him showed genuine emotions for once, softened up the wrath within him quite a bit.

The quest was already as good as completed.

However, this wasn't enough for Adam.

He wanted her to experience emotions that were even more genuine and raw.

After removing all the Cassandra memorabilia around his room and putting it all in a corner, he sat down on a chair, Henrietta sat on the chair opposite to him.

A lengthy conversation had begun.

"When I was at the Duke's estate, I had flashbacks to when mother was still alive."

A sentence that contained a topic that would make even this withered emotionless flower right in front of him, twitch in shock.

Henrietta's eyes widened in shock, her flaccid expressionless face could no longer maintain itself.

It was replaced by an expression of surprise but, Adam was just getting started.

"You have seen with your own eyes, how Cassandra has treated me since our childhood. She was doing the same at the estate during the party."

Adam continued,

"I thought about mother, I thought about how she would have felt if she was alive and knew what her son was going through and how he behaved, pathetically chasing after a girl who didn't have a single ounce of respect for him."

"I realised that I have failed Mother and the expectations that she had from me due to my behaviour over the years, I have tormented you with my behaviour as well."

"I have to change, I have to become a man that mother would be proud to call him as her son if she were alive today."

While Adam was too busy reciting the script that he had made to successfully break down any suspicions that Henrietta would have had due to the sudden change in his behaviour, he didn't notice that his words had rendered her physically frozen and set her mind on fire with deluded thoughts.

'Oh my god! Oh my god! Madam Alastair's son has finally gotten back to his senses!'

'Does this mean that he will finally take charge and pay back everyone for the humiliation he experienced over the years?'

'Oh Madam Alastair, did you know from the start that your son would correct the trajectory of his life before it was too late?'

'I am so sorry for doubting your very own offspring madam, I will do better in the future!'

If Adam could hear her inner thoughts right now, I think we can all agree that he would have bashed his own head on the wall due to how outrageous her thoughts were.

Thankfully for Adam's physical and mental wellbeing, he didn't have a trait or skill that could read other people's thoughts so he was clueless to the delusional tornadoes that spun within his servant's head.

Thus, ignorant of his servant's delirious state, Adam continued,

"Henrietta, both you and I know that this estate and the Count have no respect for mother or her fallen noble family."

"Soon, I plan to cut all ties with the Dacre family and revive Mother's noble family in the empire."

"I know I'm quite lacking right now but, I have made a vow in my heart that I would do anything in my power to make Mother proud."

"All I ask of you, Henrietta is for you to have faith in me, one last time. If I fail you this time, I will give you 100 gold coins for you to live out the rest of your life happily ever after. I'm sure Mother would like for you to be happy as well, I make this vow with my noble heart."

What Adam had just made was a Vow of nobility.

When the noble families and the royal family came together, they created a 9th-tier magic spell that would continue through every generation of their noble bloodline.

What this magic did was produce an ethereal chain around the heart of the noble who made this vow.

The physical proof of the vow is inscribed on the surface of the noble's skin right where the heart is located.

The more vows a noble makes, the more chains will be present.

Breaking a vow makes the noble incapable of using mana for the rest of their life, this includes their offspring, as they have failed to uphold the dignity of a noble by failing to keep their vows.

Once again, our ignorant playboy Adam, completely ignorant to the feelings of women around him, went all out on his performance to win over his maid.

What he didn't realise was that he had already won her over 5 sentences ago.

But he kept going, covering more and more ground.

He got so immersed in his performance, that he ended up leaning towards Henrietta and grabbing both her hands with his.

For Henrietta who had never been touched by a man in her life, having her hands in the hands of her Young Master whom she served for over a decade, while he gave an intense, passionate, and admirable speech about how he would turn his life around, provide her with the happiness he believes she deserved, took a heavy toll on her heart as she felt a tsunami of emotions she hadn't felt before take over her entire being.

The whirlwind of thoughts rampaging in her head as well as the flood of emotion recklessly ramming the walls that enclosed her heart were too much for her to bear.....

Henrietta ended up fainting due to high blood pressure.

When Adam felt the stiffness and strength in the arms that he had subconsciously grabbed onto during his speech start vaining, he realised that his only audience who was listening to his speech had fainted and was about to fall off her chair.

Adam believed that his job here was done.

Now all that was left to do was to let her rest comfortably so that she would wake up soon.

Funnily enough, Adam was so weak that he didn't even have the strength to pick up his maid who was all skin and bones.

He ended up dragging the chair along with the unconscious body of his maid who sat on it unconscious, towards the bed.

Then, he pushed her body onto the bed since he was incapable of carrying her to the bed himself.

He sat back on his chair, looking at Henrietta as she slept peacefully, a rare expression of relaxation along with a slight smile on her face.

Adam believed he had accomplished his mission with flying colours.

The system notifications followed right after.

|| EXISTENTIAL QUEST #1 COMPLETED!

REWARD: 1000 CE ACQUIRED

HIDDEN QUEST: TUG AT HER

HEARTSTRINGS COMPLETED!

BONUS REWARD: UNIVERSAL

HEADPHONES ADDED TO THE HOST'S

INVENTORY! ||

(SYSTEM TIP: WE KNOW THAT WE ARE HARSH ON THE HOST MOST OF THE TIME, BUT WITH THIS BONUS REWARD WE HOPE THAT THE HOST CAN RETAIN HIS SANITY IN THIS CRAZY WORLD AS HE TRAVERSES THROUGH A ROAD UNTRAVELED.

THIS ITEM ALLOWS YOU TO ACCESS ANY SONG FROM ANY ARTIST FROM YOUR PAST LIFE THROUGH THE SYSTEM WHENEVER YOU HAVE THIS ITEM EQUIPPED.

EVEN WHILE WE CONSTANTLY MAKE FUN OF YOU, WE WILL ALWAYS CHEER YOU ON. EVEN IF YOU ARE SCUM, YOU ARE OUR SCUM.)

Once again, the system had managed to leave Adam utterly speechless. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.