#37

"I felt it last time too."

Leonia placed her hand on Scandia’s chest. Then she pressed firmly, pushing him.

Scandia offered no resistance and fell back onto the sofa.

"Our Boom-Boom these days..."

Leonia’s fingers, resting on his chest, began to move slowly, like a brushstroke—smooth but deliberate.

Past his pectorals, to the space between his collarbones, then to his prominent Adam’s apple.

And finally, the clean line of his jaw.

"Are you climbing?"

"Climbing, you say?"

Scandia looked deeply offended as he asked.

"I am always beneath you. Just like now."

"All talk, aren’t you?"

Leonia pressed her finger against his lips with a look of mock disdain.

"You’ve been subtly trying to provoke me, haven’t you?"

"Well, what else can I do?"

He answered in a grumbling tone.

"I'm about to become an adult soon."

He spoke while ignoring the finger that continued to fiddle with his lips.

Rather, as he spoke, he deliberately let his tongue slip out to lick it.

Her fingers twitched and jerked away.

Moments like this reminded him—she was still young.

"But Leo still has a long way to go."

"So what, you blaming me now?"

"I'm older than you, and once I become an adult, I’ll have to restrain myself for your sake."

Leonia tilted her head slightly as she listened.

"So you’re saying we should get it over with while we’re both still minors?"

"That’s not what I meant..."

Scandia trailed off, lips slightly pouting.

Leonia, staring at them, unconsciously flicked her finger again.

"It’s not that I disagree. I’m just saying... it’s hard to hold back."

"But you're going to hold back, right?"

"Yes."

"Then hold back."

At her cold command, Scandia nodded.

Of course he should hold back, but still—he was hurt that she didn’t seem to understand how he felt.

"But."

Leonia lowered her head slightly.

"I won’t."

Her warm breath brushed against his ear, and Scandia flinched.

When he turned his head in a hurry, he saw her black eyes above him, beautifully curved in a smile.

Only then did Scandia notice Leonia’s hand playing near his waist.

Startled, his hand unconsciously found its way to her thigh.

"I told you to hold back, and here you are touching."

Leonia smirked mischievously and leaned down again.

Between the curtains of her black hair, their heated gazes locked.

No one needed to say who leaned in first—it was inevitable.

Their lips devoured each other, and heated breaths exchanged back and forth.

Scandia’s hand crept behind her thigh, gripping tightly.

And just as Leonia’s hand slipped inside his loosened shirt—

“Peekaboo!”

A chubby little finger poked in between them.

At the playful and innocent voice, goosebumps broke out across both their bodies.

“...Huh?”

Leonia turned toward her baby sister in disbelief.

Belleani, leaning her chin on the edge of the sofa and watching them, tilted her head.

“Sis!”

Then she smiled so brightly her chubby cheeks nearly touched her lower lashes.

“...Aaaaah!”

Finally realizing the situation, Leonia shot upright.

In the rush, she toppled to the floor, groaning as she scrambled back up and hastily straightened her clothes.

“W-When did you get here?! Why are you here?!”

“By carriage! Gate!”

“Muscley, did you come alone? No, wait, why didn’t I...”

Why didn’t I sense you? she was about to wonder—until something caught her eye.

Varia, frozen stiff by the door.

“Ah!”

The eldest daughter screamed.

Then she spotted the black diamond brooch on Varia’s collar, and the same black diamond on Belleani’s shoes.

‘That damn dad!’

And she immediately knew who was behind it.

“He’s a pretty mister! Mister!”

“You can’t come in! Not now!”

While Leonia stood frozen in shock, Belleani kept chasing Scandia around the back of the sofa.

Scandia, unusually flustered, hurriedly grabbed his jacket off the floor and wrapped it around his waist.

“......”

Belleani, clearly sulking now, puffed out her lips.

“I’m telling Dad.”

And she dropped the final bomb.

The clever little one had picked up on it—her sister and the handsome mister had been doing something they shouldn’t have.

“Daaad—!”

Without giving anyone time to stop her, Belleani ran straight out into the hallway.

Moments later—

“...Leonia Voreoti!”

An erupting voice roared, murderous intent approaching at terrifying speed.

“Boom-Boom, run!”

Crash!

That day, countless servants witnessed someone jump out of a shattered third-floor window of the Voreoti estate.

***

It was assumed—somehow—that Scandia had escaped the estate.

Only assumed.

No one could say for certain that he was safe.

No one was worried that he might have been hurt jumping from the third floor or cut by glass.

That sort of thing was no problem for a Sword Master.

The real issue lay elsewhere.

“Is the Empire finally crumbling?”

Tra shuddered faintly as he poured a drink into his glass.

“I always knew a day like this would come.”

Lupe accepted the drink, his face wearing nothing but a dry smile.

“This country is finished.”

Just a little while ago, he had been ordered by Ferio to calculate the cost of crushing the Imperial family and the West.

Now the fate of the Empire was in Ferio’s hands.

“Still... do you really think he’ll go through with it?”

Tra clung to some faint hope, however futile.

“Isn’t a coup one of those things he only mentions when he’s bored?”

“That’s the problem. This time, he wasn’t bored.”

Lupe brought him back to reality.

“We might really have to brace ourselves.”

“Miss Leonia...”

Tra folded his hands and offered a solemn prayer.

“Everything depends on her now.”

Even the speed with which Lupe drained his drink betrayed his inner turmoil.

And whether she would come out of this intact—no one knew.

Tra thought of the last glimpse he’d had of Leonia’s back.

It tore his heart, like watching a cow being led to slaughter. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

He wanted to help—but there was nothing he could do.

Lupe and Tra both turned instinctively toward the door.

Just one floor below the staff break room, a little ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) further east, was a familiar room.

The cozy family lounge where the Voreotis usually gathered in the evening.

But today, it was far from cozy.

“...Haaah.”

Ferio let out another sigh—who knew how many it had been.

The armrest of the sofa he sat on had long been crushed beyond recognition.

Broken fragments lay piled on the floor.

If Tra had seen it, he would’ve mourned yet another piece of fine furniture that met an untimely end—but at least it was the sofa and not someone’s neck.

Otherwise, that young man’s spine would’ve been the one broken.

“Leonia Voreoti.”

Ferio uttering both her name and surname meant one thing:

Leonia was about to be severely punished.

“I told you.”

Ferio finally broke the silence.

His voice, heavy to the point of dragging on the ground, had all the sharpness of a claw.

And that claw now hovered menacingly over his eldest daughter, who knelt at his feet, carefully gauging his mood.

“I told you countless times.”

Ferio worried her legs might go numb—but today, he was too outraged to offer leniency.

“To wait until you were of age.”

“......”

“Answer me.”

“Yes, sir...”

Leonia responded with feigned politeness.

“I was under the impression we all agreed to this. Or am I wrong?”

“Lea wasn’t there.”

“......”

“Of course, I do agree with you, Father.”

Snapping her tail between her legs, Leonia instantly regretted her slip of the tongue.

Now was the time to pretend to reflect and show remorse.

The Voreoti family had strict rules about underage sexual autonomy.

Ferio’s cousin had once suffered a tragic incident, and Leonia—born of that very incident—had lived with the consequences.

Varia, too, had once had her younger sister brainwashed by a pedophile, and thus was also unrelentingly conservative on this matter.

That was why both had told Leonia again and again: they respected her relationship, but until adulthood, do not cross the line.

Leonia had promised to be cautious until she graduated the Academy.

‘But like hell that’s easy...’

Leonia had actually been maintaining a surprisingly wholesome relationship.

But this sly, gentle-mannered puppy had started bending the rules.

He would look at her with pleading eyes, or shamelessly flirt without even asking.

Even today, hadn’t he been rubbing his face against her neck?

Scandia knew very well he was the perfect match for Leonia’s tastes—both in looks and muscle.

And so he used that, seducing her in hopes that his master would love him first.

For someone like Leonia, raised in a den of monsters, this was a trial.

“...May I offer an explanation?”

Leonia raised her right hand as if seeking permission.

“Depending on what you say, it could be your last breath in this life.”

“That’s so mean! Would you really kill your daughter?”

“You? No—the brat.”

“Oh dear.”

Leonia clamped her mouth shut and began brainstorming excuses that wouldn’t further provoke her father.

Ferio’s fingers hovered precariously over the shattered armrest.

“So? Have you thought of your excuse?”

“Well...”

Leonia hesitated.

Not only was Scandia’s life on the line, but depending on her words, the West and the capital could be drenched in blood.

“Still...”

After a long pause, Leonia spoke as if steeling herself.

“I was on top.”

“......”

“I, Leonia Voreoti!”

The black beast stood proudly and shouted at her father.

She beat her chest as if to emphasize her declaration—needlessly spirited.

“I was the one on top!”

“I see.”

Ferio, who had been silently listening, rose to his feet.

From beneath his slowly blinking eyelids, a red mist began to rise.

“I’ll go stage a coup real quick.”

“Daaad!”

Leonia lunged to grab Ferio’s leg.

But Ferio simply walked into the hall—with Leonia still clinging to him.

Thankfully, no one else was in the corridor.

Ferio’s murderous aura had scared all the servants into hiding.

“Ugh, I was being careful!”

Leonia screamed.

Still, Ferio was a father.

“Wouldn’t it be beautiful,” he said, “if you carried a bouquet made from your groom’s severed head at your wedding?”

Leonia’s mouth dropped open.

Even now—her father was thinking about her wedding.

She was deeply moved.