RSE CH 43 (Patreon)

In an addled daze, Mimi and Maria followed Lucy back to Leo’s home. The master of the house trailed behind them. Since Lucy was a master of spatial transportation, it didn’t take them more than a second to reach their terminus. Which, along with the shocking revelation of Leo’s power, didn’t give them any time to adapt to the influx of revelations.

Finally home, Leo immediately noticed a flustered Asa standing over the forms of two sleeping Nephilim. It seems Lucy had left the petite blonde to guard those who’d been sent to kidnap her.

“I used my dream powers to render them unconscious,” Lucy explained. “I judged that Leo was likely to execute those he faced so I decided to keep these two, who dared to come here, alive for questioning.”

“Leo killed Regina and Duane…!” Asa muttered to herself in a dazed state, rooted to the spot. Hearing how they had attacked Leo, she was unable to cope with the reality of what had happened.

Interpreting the questions Leo would have, were he in his right mind upon seeing the scene in front of him, Lucy explained what had happened on her end of things. As he’d expected, the Nephilim had been powerless to resist Lucy, and she’d made short work out of the incompetent pair.

“Good,” Leo said once his maid had finished her report. “I believe you have some explaining to do, right Lucy?”

Lucy sighed when she heard the detached tone in his voice and made a gesture for everyone to take a seat on the sofas in the living room before beginning her story. The situation was so convoluted that she wasn’t sure where to begin.

“Very well, Master Leo. First, let me explain the situation with my family...” 

Ahem. She coughed into her fist to clear her throat. Lucy paused before revealing some of her adopted family’s secrets. 

“In the Mephisto family, officially, there are four siblings. Unofficially… there are five. As you may have inferred, I’m the fifth—adopted—child.”

Leo raised his brows at this and rolled his wrist for Lucy to get on with it.

“Zane Mephisto has three wives. His first wife bore him Salvatore and Rayne. Mimi is the daughter of his second wife. With third wife, he got Maria.” She paused, then sighed. “As for me, I am the daughter of his third wife, though from her first marriage.”

“Father adopted me, and I took on the Mephisto name.” Lucy shrugged. “That is pretty much everything about our…rather complicated family tree.”

Leo pinched the bridge of his nose at her flat tone, a bit taken aback by the reveal. He’d known Lucy was a Mephisto, but thought it was a cadet branch of the family. “I thought devils were supposed to have low fertility, no?”

“That’s right. However, this situation is quite unexpected. There hasn’t been a case where a noble family has had four heirs since the Phenex. Though I guess Madame Phenex is a true wonder since she is the mother of all four heirs.”

Sitting on the sofa across from Leo and Lucy, Mimi couldn't help the blush that heated her cheeks without any other change in her expression. She’d never had a problem with her many mothers or her siblings, but it was awkward to hear Lucy lay out their family situation like that.

For Maria, sitting next to the blushing Mimi, it was the complete opposite. She was proud of her lord Father’s prowess in the bedroom.

“Sister,” the bolder Mephisto sister spoke up, “since you have explained our family situation to Leo, I believe it’s only fair he explain his situation to us.”

Lucy glared at Maria for speaking without invitation. “I was coming right to that. You don’t need to remind me.”

Maria gave her older sibling an awkward, nervous smile and made herself look small as she huddled into her spot on the sofa. Lucy was the only one in the entire Mephisto family who had evert been able to stop the perpetual craziness that was Maria’s presence. Just a cold stare from her emotionless eyes, like the one she’d given the impertinent young woman, was enough to restrain her behavior.

“As I was about to say, Leo… I believe you have always wondered at your mother’s identity before she married your father?”

“Not really…” Leo shrugged by way of a response, not particularly interested in the topic. “To me, Mom has always been, and will always be, just… Mom. It doesn’t matter who she once was or what her identity once was.”

“Fufufu~! This is so very like you.” Lucy pursed her lips. “Still, it will be helpful for you to know your origin in the long run. Even more so since the situation with the Fallen Angels might complicate things in the future.”

Maria, who had gone silent at Lucy’s stare, couldn't help the gasp that escaped when she deduced what this was about. She remembered the magic Leo had used against the Fallen and Nephilim at the very start of the fight and her mind latched onto the inevitable conclusion.

“Sister, don’t tell me that…”

“Mimi? Maria? Greet your long-lost cousin… Leo Karteros, the son of Saphire Karteros nee Mephisto—your father’s distant cousin on his sire’s side.”

The story that followed was pretty simple, all things considered. Back when the three factions were still at war, Lane Karteros—as the strongest exorcist of the Human faction alongside Nico Caputo, fought long and hard against the devils. Nico mainly took care of the Heavens and the Fallen Angels, while Lane had been more active against the Hells. 

On the Devils’ side, there had been one woman who’d been particularly battle-hungry—Saphire Mephisto, then the heiress and future head of the Mephisto Clan. She and Lane had clashed many times, always fighting to a draw. 

Unbeknownst to everyone else, the two of them had slowly grown close.

One day, while Lane and Saphire fought in the underworld, in what was turning more and more into an elaborate lovers’ quarrel, an unidentified third presence intervened. To this day, there was no information about who that person had been—other than the fact that it was a woman.

With the addition of this unknown woman, their three-way fight threatened the whole realm and brought it to the very brink of collapse. They’d broken down the dimensional wall, and the broken fragments of reality sucked them all in when attempting to repair itself. All three combatants had vanished for a dozen years.

Where they were during those years remained a mystery. No one knew exactly what happened during that time. But what everyone could agree on was that Lane Karteros—who’d truly been a monster when he’d disappeared with Saphire and the unknown woman—came back stronger than ever. 

He became known as the Red Dragon King.

Saphire returned a changed person. She eschewed the battlefield and gave up her birthright as heiress to the Mephisto clan before vanishing from the public eye. To most devils, her fate was another mystery.

Most Devils speculated that her last fight with Lane wounded her so gravely that she eventually succumbed to them. Others believed that she simply lost her thirst for battle and had sought a peaceful life away from bloodshed and the machinations of the hells.

Either way…

“I think we now know the truth,” Mimi said softly.

Silence fell in the room. The revelations were simply too much to take in. 

To think that he was related to Rayne and these two through his mother. It was unbelievable—shocking even. Mind-numbingly so.

‘Is that why mom and dad wanted me to go to school here?’

Perhaps that was why. Or perhaps it was just a coincidence. Either way, he suddenly found himself with five distant cousins… four of which had come on to him. Though that wasn’t a problem, was it?  

Lucy had said his mom had been their father’s ‘distant cousin on his sire’s side’. That meant that they were related, though distantly. Did it really matter if they were his fourth or fifth cousins?  

He was lost about what to do about them.

“Well, I believe my Master has much to process.” Lucy swept one hand towards the kitchen. “I’ll whip something up for us all to eat and you two can stay the night. It will give you a chance to get to know your distant relative a bit better.”

***

Returning back to the room that had been assigned to her, Asa sat down on the bed with a lost expression on her face. Those who had tricked her and put her life in danger were dead. 

She was free—free to do whatever she wanted to. She could go wherever she wanted to go. She should have been happy… exhilarated even. 

But why couldn’t she find even the kernel of happiness inside herself?

‘Hah…’

The reason was clear, even to a romantically stunted klutz like her.

‘I don’t want to leave Leo.’

The reason Leo had invited her to stay with him was because he’d offered to protect her. He didn’t wish to leave her helpless and alone with the Fallen and Nephilim still out there. But now, there was nothing for him to protect her from.

Though it had only been two days since she’d been rescued by Leo, and only a few months since they’d first met in Chemistry lab, Leo made her feel… things. He made her feel emotions and things she’d never experienced before.

To her, he was both her savior and a dear friend. He had the decisiveness she lacked and simply being near him brought her a deep sense of security that she hadn’t known she was missing.

But now….

She buried her head in her hands and began to sob.

“Do you want to stay?”

The voice, coming from right beside her, startled her. Frightened, she jumped like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, turning to find Lucy sitting on the edge of the bed beside her.

“Wh-What are you doing here?!” the blonde gasped.

The corners of Lucy’s mouth twitched, as if she was trying to smile but lacked the muscles for it. It looked unnatural in Asa’s eyes. 

“I am here to help you make your fondest wish come true.”

Asa blinked at the maid before blushing profusely.

‘Fufufu! I guess pure little Asa isn’t so pure anymore.’

Lucy laughed inwardly at seeing how Asa reacted to her words. It was exquisite to tease timid beauties like her. Still, it wasn’t the time to have fun teasing the poor woman.

“Just staying here won’t change things… not the way we both know you want them to change.” The maid tilted her head to one side. “You do know that Leo is a part-devil, right?”

Asa nodded. While she had been out of it during their little talk, she’d still listened so as to learn more about Leo.

“Then, you should know that as a High-caste devil. Leo has the right to form his own Circle; in fact, he already has his pieces. All you have to do now is to convince him to use one of those pieces on you to make you part of his circle.” Lucy squeezed the young woman’s shoulder. “If he offers you one of his pieces, you will never be separated from Leo again.”

Lucy didn’t bother explaining the part about Leo’s piece not transforming Asa into a devil. Unlike normal pieces, Leo’s pieces were a special case. It didn’t mean that she wouldn’t gain some power from the exchange, just that she wouldn’t be cut off from Heaven, she’d still be able to express her faith.

For an extremely pious woman like Asa, without this information, what Lucy suggested should be an excruciating choice to take. It would be a demarcation line for her. 

It was also Lucy’s final test of the young woman’s loyalty.

Did she possess the resolve to break free from her connection to the Church? Would she loyally follow Leo as her new master? Or would she disappoint and choose her faith over Leo? 

Either way, no matter what her decision, Lucy would support her.

Asa thought deeply for some time before gritting her teeth, a determined glint shimmering in her emerald, green eyes. She’d made her decision,  

“Lucy? Is Leo in his room?”

“He is.”

“Thank you.”

Asa stood and squeezed the maid’s hand before leaving the room.

Watching the set of Asa’s determination filled shoulders exit the bedroom, Lucy shed a fake tear as she half-jokingly muttered. “They grow up so fast.”

***

Asa knocked on the door to the master bedroom.

“Yes? Who is it?”

When Leo opened his door, he was surprised to find Asa standing there. Opening the door wide, he invited her in. 

“Is everything okay? Do you need me to do something for you?” he asked.

Asa looked all around before releasing the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. It was her first time entering a boy’s room, a detached part of her brain noted. But she was so stressed that it hardly registered.

Taking a seat on his bed, Asa turned to her savior and finally spoke. “Leo, I… I want—no, I need—to share something with you.”

“Oh? What is it?” He blinked at her. “I have to admit I am curious about what would bring you to my room.”

“My past…”

Asa took a deep breath, then revealed everything about her to the man she’d decided to follow.

For eternity…