"I can't believe you took them." Vera shook her head in disbelief, The mother-daughter pair hung on Damien's arms in quiet delight. Vera felt an eye twitch in annoyance just seeing them.

"I can't believe you thought I'd leave them," Damien replied. "You don't find such exceptional women so often, you know?"

"She's married," Vera reminded drily.

"Already fucked her," Damien shrugged, as if to say the rice had already been cooked. "And her husband is a cunt anyway."

"She's also got responsibilities to the city," Vera reminded. Especially since her husband was forcibly deposed.

"Someone else can step in." Her sons, most likely.

She eyed the younger woman of the two and cocked a brow.

"....Even the daughter?"

"I couldn't bring myself to separate a mother and child."

"But you can separate father and daughter? Husband and wife? Mother and sons?"

Damien helped them onto the vehicle. "Refer back to my previous statement of the man being a cunt. And grown men should learn to live without their mothers anyway."

Vera could only sigh. "Do you two understand what you're about to do?" She saw the futility in the conversation and switched tactics, finally addressing the women in question.

Linia smiled. "It's irresponsible and reckless," She admitted. "But I've lived all my life adhering to duties I never asked for and married a man who I now know allowed all manner of crookedness to infest the city in which we raised our children." She looked at her new lover. "I've no desire to deal with his mess. As for my children, I will miss them terribly but they hadn't needed me in years if I'm truthful. So I think I'll do as I please for the time being." Her eyes sparkled like jewels.  

Vera knew that look by now. She was utterly smitten by the Young Master, wasn't she?

 Well, its not as if girls ever needed the influence of supernatural Sex Demon energy to want him.

The Young Master's body matured very fast recently, but he was a rather persuasive bastard since long ago. 

A face like his, women softened. Humans were weak to beauty, and who could possess more than a Dragon with succubus royalty in his veins?

But still...Linia has an excuse, yet what of the ones before her? Perverts, every one.

She was suddenly reminded of Lord Avery's wife, Lady Bridget. Now that was a woman with no shame if ever there was one. 

"As for me, I want to study him," Lani cut in cheerfully. "Whenever I'm with him, all I want to do is bury his face between my legs. Its fascinating!" Her eyes glowed. "Even now, my undergarments are moist with anticipation. Is that not unnatural? I've met many handsome men before, but I'd never been so overcome with the desire to breed. Something about him simply makes women want to become naughty. It's worth a thorough study."

Vera cast a baleful eye at her. "Such a noble cause would be more convincing if you weren't running your hand along his crotch" She snorted. "Aren't you just a bitch in heat?"

Lani looked down in surprise and caught herself. She quickly removed her hand and bowed her head. "I didn't even realize." A moment later the glow returned. "In heat...that may be a thought worth pursuing," She stroked her chin thoughtfully. The woman cast a sideways glance. "Mother, have you experienced any loss of appetite lately?" 

Before the woman could respond, Damien rolled his eyes and spoke up. "I know what you're thinking, but humans don't experience estrus."

"Yes, but that's not what I'm getting at. I simply want to know if you're affecting our menstrual cycle. It varies between women, but there are times during our cycles where we experience increased sexual arousal."

"You think I'm putting you in a constant state of ovulation?" He asked. 

"Well, perhaps. Sex drive and ovulation do have a connection but they aren't mutually exclusive. It's more likely you're affecting our hormones. Whether or not you are making us more fertile, though, I won't know without further study. But well, Mother is still very youthful so using her as a test subject wouldn't be ideal."

"--Test subject?!" Her mother eeked out. 

"--She's still quite fertile, you see." Lani plowed on. "Since they were still sexually active, father might've simply had weak seed. He isn't too old, so you think he would've been able to foster another child or two, no? Unless he got some mistresses pregnant we don't know of," She rambled. "Regardless, we should look for a group of women of forty to fifty and see how long it takes you to im--"

All of sudden Lani had her mouth invaded. Tongue met tongue in a hot, slick mess. She tasted hints of vanilla. Sweet and sensual.

A minute late, when she was finally released, she blinked. "I...I just lost my train of thought," She looked devastated by the fact. "What was I saying again?" 

Damien ignored the question. Why the hell did she sound so similar to a certain other woman he knew? All this talk of research.

"I'm only going to say this once," He stared at her sternly. "Stay away from my bone marrow."

Lani, whose eyes were previously muddled with confusion and regret, gained new radiance yet again. "That actually--!"

"No!"

"But-"

"So help me, I will turn this damn carriage around!" His nostrils flared. 

The woman had the nerve to click her tongue at him. "Fine," She replied sulkily. "A steady supply of your semen should be sufficient." 

She'll win him over slowly, Lani decided.

"See? Compromises are fun." Damien smiled and rubbed her head. "Good girl."

Vera used the armrest and propped her head up, turning her gaze to the window. "Careful with that one," She warned mildly. 

Lani hmph'd in displeasure at her words, refusing to comment. Then something caught her ear, causing her to open the back window. "Who...?"  She muttered, looking at a lone horseman steadily catching up to them. She strained her ears and a faint sound of galloping reached her.  

"Stop the carriage."

Damien didn't ask, simply ordering the driver to pull off to the side. A few moments later, they all heard what had caused her to react as she did. From behind, a familiar face atop horseback came into view. 

He stopped a dozen paces away. For a moment, he simply stared at them. Then, he climbed down and began to approach. 

Damien was the first of them to move. He opened the carriage door and stepped out.  "Son," He greeted warmly. He opened his arms wide, ready to embrace the man. Damien thought he'd come to join them. In which case, he'd be like a stepson to him. Naturally, Damien would treat him well. 

Abrahm didn't even stop to pause as he threw out a solid punch to the younger man's chin. Damien magnanimously allowed the hit to connect, taking the blossoming pain with grace.

He was then forgotten as Linia and Lani stepped out. They closed in awkwardly, unsure of how to face him. 

Ever since that first night, they'd rarely seen him. He hadn't taken Damien's sudden rise to influence well. Not that they blamed him but overall, the results spoke for themselves. Damien had uprooted decades worth of corruption from top to bottom. 

It was a cleansing of their city that no other in it's history had the boldness to implement. The way it came about and his collateral damages aside, a great many evils had been righted and the policies he introduced would not just stabilize, but strengthen, Valen for years to come. 

But that didn't matter to him. To his eyes, Damien had turned his entire family on their heads. And that...was indeed the case.  Linia was not blind to the situation. She'd fallen at the first sign of temptation, had forgotten her vows in the first minute of Damien's appearance. 

Much worse was that she'd shared a man with her own daughter, one of the gravest of sins she, as a mother, could commit. It was shameful and vile. Who in their right mind would be unaffected seeing their mother and sister in an entanglement over the same man?

She couldn't imagine what everyone must think of her, much less Abrahm. Among all her children, he was the one who cared for and cherished her the most. Yet now, he looked at her with none of the affection and respect she had come to know.

  It made her throat close up just seeing it.

"Mother," He greeted. His gaze flickered to his sister. "Lani." The words were clipped and his voice was distant, lukewarm, almost as if talking to a pair of strangers.

He stood there rigidly, like a stone statue. A hand rested on the rounded pommel of the sword at his side, clutching it tight. 

"Tomas sends his regards," Again, that cool tone. "If you even give a fuck anymore."

And that was it. Despite the man's outward appearance, those short few words were filled with such raw resentment. Neither his mother nor his sister had ever heard him speak with so much emotion, so much... vindication.

"Abe--" Lani started, reaching out her arm. Unlike her and Tomas, she and Abe had always been close. Never had there been a time where he had anything but pride in his voice when speaking of her, or love in his eyes upon seeing her. 

Even when she was young and mischievous, annoying and angering him at some prank gone wrong, it had only ever taken a pout and a hug to earn forgiveness. 

Now?

He stepped back, avoiding her touch. 

"Son, I--"

"Don't," He cut her off. "I didn't come to hear anything you two have to say," He spoke with cold viciousness. "I only want to make one thing clear," He started, his voice going low and harsh. "If you leave with him now, don't expect to be welcomed back. Ever." The word was spat with a wicked edge.

The force of such a statement left Linia standing there in shock. Her scalp tingled, dread running a cold finger down her spine.

Finally,

"You can't mean that," Her lips felt numb. "We're your family. We..." Words deserted her.

Abrahm didn't care for any of her turmoil. "Family?" He let out a hollow laugh. "Are you joking? The mother and sister I knew wouldn't just abandon their loved ones to be with some bastard who barged into our lives and brought absolute anarchy. " He shook his head. "Wouldn't have let some boy have his way with them like a couple of lowly lust-driven wh--" All of a sudden his eyes rolled back into his head and he started to collapse.

"Yeah, enough of that." Damien caught the man and quickly put him over his shoulder. 

"Abe!" Lani spluttered in concern as he started walking off.

"What're you doing?" Linia cried out. He answered while placing the unconscious male into the carriage.

"I'm kidnapping him, obviously."  Thinking he'd probably resist upon waking, he also grabbed some rope. 

"I can't separate a mother and child after all, on second thought," He continued. "If he's going to make some bullshit ultimatum like that, it's better to bring him along so you guys can work this out. I mean, you two looked like you were about to burst out in tears and I can't stand to see my women sad. So, he comes with." He walked back out of the carriage and headed towards Abe's vacant horse.

"We're going to need another carriage and extra rations.  Driver, turn her around," He called out an order.

"I hope that Tomas fellow will come along without a fuss. He seemed alright," He thought aloud. With that, he trotted back up the road.

Linia looked from her unconscious son to the retreating back of her lover. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, clearly at a loss. Eventually, she turned a pair of slightly dazed eyes toward Vera and asked, "Wha...what just happened?" 

Vera gave her one little pat on the back. "What happened," She replied lightly, "Is you just met the Young Master."

***

Your Majesty,

How've you been?

Lucius couldn't read the first sentence without a wave of annoyance sprouting to life. After the disdain he showed me the last time, he has the nerve to speak so flippantly? Lucius shook his head. Dang brat. 

Lucius nearly wanted to rip the paper up, but knew it must be important after the kid had gone dark for so long. As such, he read on. 

So,  I have a favor to ask.

Annoying. So annoying. Now he wants a favor? After calling me a coward last time we met? Ah, hell, he felt a headache coming. He pressed on. 

You're probably going to be getting a report on it soon, so I won't bore you with too many details, but It'd be great if you could send a new City Lord to Valen as soon as you read this. Anyway, say hi to Charlotte and Alex for me.

Sincerely, Damien.

The contents of the letter made utterly no sense. Valen? Why is he bringing that place up for? And a new City Lord? Ridiculous. He stared at the piece of parchment for several long minutes, trying to understand. He ran the letter over a candle, expecting more words to appear. It didn't.

A cipher? He scanned it again and again, looking for any abnormality at all. Turning it over, reading it backwards, up-down, down-up, diagonal, casting every decryption spell in his repertoire....nothing.

Now completely sure there was no more to the letter, he was even more confused. Slumping down on his chair after a good two hours of effort, he had to admit defeat.

A hint of unease coiled around his stomach.

What the hell did that kid do..?

***

A few days later, he knew.

Lucius quietly put down a thick stack of papers that had arrived by courier the night before. 

Standing, he opened the doors to the balcony and breathed in the cold, crisp morning air. A serene smile was plastered across his face. 

"Fuck my life."

...

.......

...............They're trying to drive me insane.