The rain pattered down outside the window without pause, carrying a hint of early autumn chill.
Inside Leon's house, the warm lamplight and the easy chatter at the table kept the chill comfortably outside.
In the dining room, Rose had made good on her promise.
Spread across the table were more than a dozen dishes, each one prepared with care.
Her skill was so refined that even Leon had to admit: setting aside the boost from his treasure-chest recipes and judging on pure cooking technique alone, Rose left him in the dust.
"Alright, everyone!"
Rose stood with a wineglass in hand, smiling as she swept her gaze around the table before letting it settle on Leon.
"Looks like you've all heard the news. So..."
"To celebrate Leon reaching Lv.3, cheers!"
"Cheers!"
The voices rang out in unison, the heavy wooden cups clunking together. Then, faces beaming, everyone drained their drinks in one go.
"Aaah! It's been ages since I drank this freely! Lady Demeter's chilled white grape juice is just too good!"
Laurier wiped her mouth, eyes glistening with theatrical emotion.
The whole table cracked up at her.
Beside her, Aura nearly sprayed her juice across the table at how blunt Laurier was being.
Leon tugged off a tender, golden roasted lemon-chicken drumstick and passed it to tonight's MVP, Rose. Then he tore off a chunk of breast meat, stuffed it in his own mouth, and mumbled around it:
"Look at you, getting worked up over nothing... It's just chilled white grape juice. It's not like we can't afford it..."
"Cough. The point is... Demeter's side hasn't started mass production yet, you know..."
Rose watched Leon's eyes drift sideways, amused, then leaned over to whisper something in Jeanne's ear. When the two of them looked back at Leon, there were knowing smiles on both their faces.
"..."
Leon caught the playful curl at the corner of Jeanne's mouth and knew without asking that those two had just been gossiping about him.
Fair enough. He'd been working them over thoroughly enough lately that even morning training left them wobbly. If they weren't talking shit behind his back, he'd actually be worried.
...
Time slipped by amid the laughter and chatter.
Cup after cup went down. Laurier and Aura kept their faces buried in their food, oblivious. The other three were a different story. Worn down by Leon's relentless refills, Jeanne, Rose, and Kureha all wore the soft pink of too much wine.
Kureha, who held her drink the worst, had already gone past tipsy. Her eyes were glassy, her cheeks feverish, her weight slumped boneless against Leon's shoulder.
A coy smile played at the corner of her mouth as she clung to his arm.
Looking down at Kureha's face inches from his own, Leon felt a pull he didn't bother to fight.
That single tear-mark mole below her eye, paired with the cool steel of a swordswoman's gaze, made for a contradiction Leon could never quite get used to. Combined with the soft warmth pressing against his arm, he had to take a slow breath through his teeth.
"Darling..."
A languid, wine-soaked voice drifted in from his other side. Wineglass in hand, Rose flopped boneless against his chest.
"Snuggling up to Kureha like that right in front of us... isn't that a bit much?"
Watching this big-sister cook of his nuzzle into him like a clingy cat, Leon's face fell.
"Cough. Jeanne."
He worked up the brightest smile he could and met the loaded look across the table.
"You get me, right... but I'm not taking the fall for this one alone!"
Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, he shot to his feet, hauled both arms up, and slung the two thoroughly drunk women across his broad shoulders like sacks of rice.
Then, without missing a beat, he turned and headed straight upstairs.
Forks slipped from Laurier's and Aura's hands at the same time, clinking against their plates.
Both girls stared in stunned silence, brains grinding to a halt.
Leon had just carted both Rose and Kureha off to bed at once? With Jeanne sitting right there? And then Jeanne stood up and followed them upstairs?
Aura and Laurier exchanged wide-eyed looks, completely lost.
"This world... is so unhinged..."
"The relationships between them are way too complicated..."
"I genuinely can't follow it!"
Aura shot Laurier a sidelong look. Forget you not following. They probably can't follow it themselves. Look at Jeanne, whose body is moving in the exact opposite direction her face says it wants to.
...
Inside the room, Leon had just dumped Kureha and Rose onto the bed and turned to close the door.
Smack!
A slim hand caught the door before it closed, with a force that made it clear it wasn't a request.
Leon's gaze tracked up the arm, amused, and found Jeanne, face burning red, head bowed so low she wouldn't meet his eye. Without a word she squeezed past him into the room.
The corner of his mouth tugged upward in a knowing smile, and he gently turned the lock.
"My Holy Maiden!"
He turned and stepped toward the bed, his voice taking on a teasing lilt.
"How does the saying go? Ah, right..."
"If you can't beat them, join them!"
"Since you can't fight it, you may as well enjoy yourself, wouldn't you say?"
Jeanne's brows shot up and she crossed her arms, indignation and embarrassment fighting it out on her face.
Leon advanced on her step by step. She shrank back on the bed, knees folded beneath her, until her back pressed against the cool wall. She tilted her chin up stubbornly, eyes wet, watching his face come closer.
"Mmm...!"
"Leon... you... you horrible man!"
The tearful, half-cried protest dissolved into the dark.
Click.
The lights inside the window went out and the residence settled into quiet. Only the rain outside, and faint sounds bleeding through the locked door, marked the rest of the night.
...
...
While Leon was busy enjoying his quiet streak...
On the other side of Orario, in the Eighth District, Twilight Manor was burning lights deep into the rainy night.
Across the inner courtyards, the gardens, the colonnades, figures hurried back and forth in umbrellas and rain cloaks, every part of the manor humming with activity.
[Read 70+ chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/NiaXD]