Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos
chapter-209

Hearing Chloe's words, Vahn felt slightly pained but also felt a gentle warmth slowly spreading through his body. He could tell she meant her words, but Vahn also understood that she was vulnerable after telling him her story. Though it was a strange realization, Vahn felt like the Chloe in his embrace right now was similar to himself from the past. It was almost as if their roles had reversed and Vahn felt that if he accepted her at this moment, Chloe might dedicate herself to him entirely. She already did so much for him, and Vahn didn't want her to experience such a sad life, even if he did his best to make her happy.

Chloe had been watching him attentively and realized that Vahn felt a little lost at hearing her confession. Though she could see the affection in his eyes, Chloe felt like she had pushed things too far, too quickly. Since he was going through a lot of rapid-fire changes in his life, her confessing to him now almost felt like she was trying to take advantage of his weakness. Her initial reason for coming to him tonight was to help comfort him, but now their roles had reversed entirely because of the security he brought her.

Before she could get lost in her own thoughts, Vahn tilted her head and locked eyes with her as a smile spread on his face. He spoke gently and with a firm conviction as a subtle blue light shone in his aquamarine eyes, "I don't want you to become reliant on me, just as you didn't want me to become reliant on you in the past. You should know, better than most, that I care about you deeply. Ever since our first date, your image has been firmly implanted within my mind. The things you taught me have helped to shape my character and have put me on a path where I can experience real happiness."

The warmth that had begun to fade from Chloe's body began to spread again and she could feel her own body temperature rise. From Vahn's perspective, he could see a flush cover her face as her eyes turned slightly glossy. Taking a breath, Vahn continued, "I love you as well Chloe...for a long time. I want to save you from the darkness and help you find happiness."

Chloe's face beamed with a smile, but Vahn could see a sad expression in her eyes as she anticipated his next words. Holding her closely against his body, Vahn said in a pained voice, "I want to accept you right now...but I'm not ready. I'm not strong enough, and there are too many things going on in my life that it feels like I'm being spread thin. I want to shower you in affection and be together, but I don't want us to cross the line. Just like you told me after our reunion not long ago, I don't think either of us is ready to have sex..."

Unexpectedly, Chloe began laughing after hearing Vahn's words and it caused his brain to buzz a bit since he wasn't sure what he had done to garner such a response. In Chloe's mind, she had been worried that Vahn was going to turn her down because she pressured him too hard. She didn't expect that his mind had immediately turned to sex and that he had been worried about them being too intimate with each other. They had already affirmed their feelings during the reunion he talked about, and she just wanted to confess how she felt since she hadn't been able to do so previously.

Vahn didn't know how to respond to how she was behaving, but he noticed her affection had hit 99 after hearing his words. This actually made him feel even more confused and he failed to react before Chloe sat on his lap with her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes with her gleaming green eyes. Vahn's felt a bit of a panic well up inside him until Chloe smiled and said, "You idiot, I don't need something like sex to love you. It's more than enough right now that we both feel the same way about each other. I'm aware of your situation better than most and I wasn't going to try and pressure you into doing anything since one of the things I was worried about was your reliance on sexual activities to begin with."

Her words made Vahn realize that he had jumped the gun on matters and drawn a strange conclusion because of his lack of experience with these types of situations. Because he had dealt with girls like Hephaestus, Tiona, and Ais, Vahn had a slightly skewed version of what it meant to love someone other than family. He also remembered that it had always been him telling Chloe how he felt and her giving him a chance. This was the first time she had genuinely confessed to him, and he got a bit carried away considering that they were currently in bed and he had been somewhat distracted by her breasts.

Chloe saw the goofy look and the realization in Vahn's eyes and began to laugh in a mischevious manner that made Vahn's healthy tanned skin blush. At this moment, Chloe truly felt like Vahn was a young boy who lacked experience and it made her heart itch a bit even though she resisted her own urges. She did, however, lean forward slightly to the point where her face was just a few centimeters away from his.

Vahn was feeling a little flustered after being laughed at in such a serious moment. Even though he knew Chloe wasn't actually making fun of him, it still felt strange having one of the girls he cared about laugh at him. When she leaned close, Vahn felt like she was teasing him since he could see the outline of her breasts and cleavage when she leaned forward. Even though her breasts were on the smaller side, they had a healthy and youthful appearance which seemed to glow in the moonlight.

Chloe had seen where his eyes had been drawn, but she ignored it as her smile took on a strange, almost predatory look. She leaned against his chest and pressed her body to him as she whispered in his ear in a sensual manner, "Even if we don't have sex...I want you to show me your love..." The itching in her heart continued to increase in intensity, but Chloe maintained her relative calm as she waited for his response.

Vahn could feel Chloe's heart beating powerfully in her chest since she had been pressing herself to him so closely. His heartbeat seemed to try and match her rhythm and her words had caused a buzzing sensation on his temples. Thinking what he could do to who her his love, Vahn suddenly realized why she had leaned forward since he saw a slim black figure waving gingerly behind her back. As the realization hit him, Vahn reached his hands around her lower back as he grit his teeth in preparation.

Tracing his hand along her lower back, Vahn's right hand came into contact with Chloe's tail and it immediately twitched and became rigid with his touch. He felt Chloe hold on to him more tightly without resisting so Vahn mustered his courage and gripped the base of her tail in his hand with a bit of strength. Immediately after, Vahn felt a throbbing pain in his shoulder as Chloe bit painfully into his flesh with her slightly sharp canines.

Without shying away, Vahn continued to stroke her tail with his palm while pressing into it with his thumb. Each of his movements caused Chloe's body to tremble and he could feel a wet sensation flowing down his chest. Vahn recognized the sticky dampness as his own blood but paid it no mind as he used his left hand and made use of [Hands of Nirvana] to trace his finger from the connecting point of her tail and up her spine. Chloe immediately clamped down even harder onto his shoulder and Vahn could feel her drawing deep breaths that tickled his neck. Her heart was beating powerfully, and Vahn felt like it was on the verge of exploding if he continued any further.

When he finally released her tail, Chloe pulled away from his body with an enamored expression that actually made Vahn feel a strange emotion that was hard to explain. Since she had bit into his shoulder with enough force to leave a scar, there was a bit of his blood that had stained her lips and had dripped down her chin. If not for his interactions with Eva, Vahn probably would have been somewhat terrified of the glowing green-eyed cat girl with his own blood dripping from her mouth. Instead, he showed a gentle expression as he reached his right hand to her face and wiped the remaining blood from her chin.

His response and reaction made Chloe feel like she was about to lose her mind since she had expected him to have at least a little bit of hesitation. It had to be known that, because of the intensity that he grabbed her tail with, she had actually bit him much harder than she intended. Even now, there was a fair amount of blood coming from his shoulder which hand stained the entire left side of his tunic. She felt a mixture of guilt and excitement at having been able to leave her mark on him after he gripped her tail with such tenacious fervor.

As Vahn was preparing to clean up the mess, Chloe leaned forward and opened up the buttons of his tunic as she began to run her somewhat rough tongue along the blood stains on his body. Her actions reminded him a lot of how Ais had reacted when she tasted his blood in the past and how Eva almost always treated him. Curious, he wiped up a bit of his own blood on his finger and tasted it to understand for himself why they behaved in such a way. He already knew his blood was special, but he had never gone out of his way to ingest it himself.

Other than the taste of iron, Vahn also noticed there was a strange...sweetness? Though it didn't taste good, Vahn felt like his own blood had a calming effect that made him feel strange. Worried that Chloe might learn a bad habit, he stroked her hair a bit before he pressed her shoulders to separate her head from his body. She still had the enamored look from earlier but it was tinged with a bit of confusion as she looked into Vahn's eyes.

Worried that he thought she was weird, Chloe explained, "I just wanted to help you clean up...since I was the reason you bled so much. Saliva helps close wounds~nya..." Vahn noticed her vocal tick had come back and realized she felt embarrassed by her own actions. He laughed a bit and continued to stroke her ears as he said, "You don't have to worry about that, I can heal the wound easily and there are towels and water to clean up the mess. Come on, let's get ready for bed, its already pretty late."

Then, without any hesitation, Vahn leaned forward and kissed the blood-stained mouth of Chloe with a bit of passion until she fell back onto the bed to escape. She looked incredible defenseless and was breathing heavily as she looked at Vahn with her same enamored eyes from earlier. Seeing the lithe body of Chloe wearing nothing but a pair of white shorts and black stockings, Vahn felt like a dangerous feeling was welling up inside of him before he quickly removed a towel from his inventory and wiped down his own body.

Chloe stared at his actions as she spent nearly three minutes just trying to calm her own breathing. When Vahn had kissed her earlier, it felt like her body had gone into heat because of his earlier action of grabbing her tail. Everything he did made her emotions compound and she had to escape his embrace before things got dangerous. However, she hadn't expected that, the moment she fell back, all of the strength in her body had failed her. She was stuck laying there on the bed as Vahn looked at her defenseless body.

For a very brief moment, Chloe overlapped the image of Vahn with the knight from her memories and felt an inexplicable sense of dread. The powerlessness of her body reminded her of her past trauma and she feared that Vahn would try and take her with the same possessive greed that she associated with men even though they had promised temporary celibacy. The scariest part was that she was in a state of such excitement that she wouldn't be able to resist him at all.

When she looked at his face with a bit of fear and trepidation, her mind temporarily blanked because she saw, not possessiveness and greed, but love, affection, and concern. He didn't make an attempt to ravish or dominate her body, he just stared at her with his same gentle expression as he began to wipe down his body with a towel. All of the fear she felt began to melt away as the image of the knight in her mind shattered into inconsequential fragments.

//Chloe Lolo Has Reached Maximum Affection//

//Quest Completed: [The Hearts Desire:C-SS]//

Completion Grade: B

Rewards:10,000OP, 1x[Hearts Desire: Chloe Lolo]

Grade Rewards: 1x[Proof of Affection], [Mixing:C] Development Ability obtained, 4,000OP

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Om nom nom','Vahn has high blood sugar','Touchy the Cat')

(A/N: For those unaware of Chloe)

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https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/dungeon-ni-deai-o-motomeru/images/4/49/Chloe_Rollo.png/revision/latest?cb=20150522230640

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I am currently at $735/1200 of my new goal~! If I can reach this amount, I intend to start having character profiles and images of all the characters created so I can update the information to a wiki~! Though the Wiki will be accessible by anyone, only Patrons will receive the high-res versions of the images <3