Grind-to-Cash System: Buy SSS Skills to Spam them Infinitely with Cash-Chapter 28- A Waifu?

"You gave me something I didn't even know I was missing," he said, his eyes gently looking down, as if he were some kind of introvert trying not to get slapped by this woman.

He ruffled his hair, now acting shy after having previously behaved shamelessly.

In a timid voice, he said, "Most of the time, women misunderstand me, but... you were different. You hugged me even though no one has ever made me feel this warm."

He lifted his gaze again, looking into her eyes, blinking as if listening to himself, then in a pleading tone said, "Will you forgive me for trying to relax in the warmth I felt from you?"

Maira's breath caught.

She turned her face away slightly, her hair shielding the faint glow of red rising across her cheeks. Her hands lowered awkwardly, fingers curling inward near her stomach. She looked down.

She didn't know how to respond.

No one had ever said something like that to her.

Her life had always been measured in limitations.

Too sick to walk.

Too tired to cook.

Too fragile to protect.

Always leaning on Mirea. Always apologizing for being a burden. Never once being seen as something... comforting. Let alone vital.

And now this man—this strange, ridiculous, half-naked man—was thanking her as if she'd saved him.

She tried to say something.

The words caught in her throat.

But somehow, they came out anyway.

"...No, it's fine," she whispered, barely audible.

Her fingers clutched the edge of her dress. Her thighs pressed together shyly. She didn't dare meet his gaze—but inside, her chest trembled.

Something had shifted.

Not just in the moment.

But in her.

And Vex... knew it.

He let the silence linger a second longer.

Then, with that same soft edge, his lips curled into the faintest smirk as slowly the dome started to disappear from around him.

"...I hoped if I ever fell in love with a woman as kind as you—" he murmured, just loud enough for her to hear.

But the air shifted.

And then—

THWACK!

A bare heel slammed into his left cheek with the wet, meaty sound of skin-on-skin impact. Asperia, landing mid-air like a panther, her long leg outstretched, toes curled, fury in her eyes.

"YOU DAMN PERVERT!!"

His face snapped sideways, spit flying, jaw flaring with instant pain—he barely even had time to groan when—

SMACK!

A right hook caught his other cheek—Mirea's fist slamming into him with all the pent-up rage of a little sister watching her fragile big sister get wrapped up in some half-naked lunatic.

"Let go of my sister, you DOG!"

The force spun him—one foot skidding, balance lost.

His eyes swirled.

He staggered like a drunk man caught between karma and regret.

And then—

DING—

[ +1 GC: "Cheek Slap by Barefoot Beauty" – Direct Skin-to-Skin Impact Registered | Cranium Cracked ]

[ +1 GC: "Angry Romantic Punch" – Full-Force Fist to Face Recorded | Jawbone Fractured ]

As the sword on the wound came a voice enough to make Vex curse inwardly, given no words came out of his mouth, with his body flat falling directly on the floor, eyes rolled back with blood gushing out of his head as he lost consciousness.

'Ah....' Just an inward fading voice which did not even understand what exactly happened here as he lost in oblivion.....

----

Darkness.

Then a pulse.

A dull, throbbing weight behind his right eye. His jaw felt like it had been kissed by a goddamn brick wrapped in a metal coil.

Groaning internally, Vex slowly swam back to consciousness.

But something was... off.

He wasn't lying on dirt or stone. Not cold wood either.

It was warm.

Soft. Cushioned. Alive.

The right side of his face was buried in what felt like the plushest pillow he'd ever known—except it rose and fell gently.

And smelled faintly of soap, lavender... and the subtle, human warmth of sweat and skin.

Fabric shifted under his cheek—thin cotton, stretched over skin that curved naturally, folding under his weight.

Thighs.

His head was resting on someone's thighs.

No.

Not just someone's.

Maira's.

Even before his vision returned, he knew. Her scent, the tension in her breath, the tentative but steady pressure of her palm on his shoulder—it was her.

And he hadn't just passed out into her lap.

She'd placed him there.

Protected him.

But the air around them wasn't peaceful.

It was heated.

"I'm telling you, I'm taking him with me," Asperia's voice snapped nearby—measured and icy. "He's dangerous. Manipulative. That thing he did to your elder sister—"

"What thing?" Maira's voice shot back, flat and unflinching.

"You know well what I'm talking about! He was dry-humping on you like a rabid dog."

There was a beat of silence, and the tone of Asperia was slightly tinged with jealousy, anger, and annoyance—emotions definitely only noticed by Vex due to his sensitivity towards women's intuition, a result of his incubus bloodline.

But he could only wince internally.

Harsh.

But before anyone could follow up, Maira responded, voice firmer now, tone sharp:

"He was unconscious by the end of that 'humping.' From a kick to the skull, might I remind you."

Vex's lashes fluttered.

'Eh? Is this love?'

He felt it... Forget warmth, but that angel was taking his side.

Love at first sight... nah, first word. Yes.

His sight adjusted—warm candlelight painting the rough wooden ceiling in soft gold. His body ached. His mouth was dry. His entire face throbbed like a drum.

But he didn't move yet.

Didn't want to.

Because from his angle, barely tilted to the side, he saw it:

Maira.

Her body seated upright against the headboard of a modest bed, legs tucked beneath him. Her arms cradled his head gently.

His cheek rested across her upper thigh, but not at the edge—he was nestled into the center of her lap, where the warmth radiated deepest with the smell of sweat mixed with her body aroma.

Every breath she took made her chest rise softly above him.

Her breasts, heavy and natural, swelled with each inhale—softly brushing the air just inches from his face, close enough that the subtle movement of her heartbeat might've kissed his skin if he leaned a little higher.

He didn't.

But god, he felt it.

The gentle pressure of her thigh under his jaw. The quiet heat of her body wrapped in the scent of cloth and woman.

She wasn't overly firm like a soldier or rail-thin like some aristocrats—no. Maira's softness was human. Comforting. Grounding.

And somehow... nurturing.

"I know what he is," she continued, eyes still locked on the two across the room. "He is a man who tried to save us and did not lay a hand on me without my permission."

"Tch, how can someone be so naive?" Asperia huffed.

"...S-sister, y-you." Mirea could barely speak up due to being overwhelmed for the first time by her elder sister acting as such.

"And he stepped away on his own," Maira added.

Her voice didn't waver once.

Vex, still groggy, felt her palm gently adjust its position on his shoulder. Not stroking. Not clinging. Just... there. Like a quiet wall of protection.

"If either of you try to take him again," Maira said, her voice dropping low, "you'll have to go through me first."

Another pause.

Silence.

Then—finally—she looked down.

And their eyes met.

Her brows were furrowed, her eyes glassy with leftover tears as if she cried for a long time seeing his state—but her lips parted with shock as she realized he was awake.

"...Are you alright?" she whispered, breathlessly.

Vex's throat hurt too much to answer. His jaw barely moved, yet he did because he felt it.

Yeah, it might feel cringe to see in dramas, but he felt it.

Thump

His heart...beating.

Just a hushed reply, "...Yeah..."