The apartment was thick with tension.
While Ashen wore an awkward expression that screamed I'm fucked, Lucia sat with a devil-may-care attitude, completely ignoring the frigid atmosphere as she calmly sipped tea. Alice, meanwhile, was akin to a volcano just about ready to erupt.
And how could she not be? The moment she looked away, her "dear" boyfriend didn't waste time expanding his little harem.
Ashen cleared his throat. "Alice, look—"
"Shut up." Her voice was ice.
He shut up.
Lucia didn't even glance their way, continuing to drink her tea with infuriating serenity. The woman had nerves of steel, Ashen had to admit. Most people would've fled by now under Alice's glare.
The silence stretched for another minute before—
BANG—!
The apartment door flew open with enough force to rattle the hinges.
"It's not fair!" Seraphine's shout preceded her entrance as she stormed in, practically vibrating with indignation.
Her voice briefly dispelled the tightness in the room. She didn't even greet anyone and honed in on the relieved Ashen.
He wasn't shocked about her entrance as much as he was glad that she broke that frightening air. She had come back a day after Alice, after all, and they had caught up with each other plenty.
"I heard about your new project, Ash! How come only Alice gets to contribute?! My business isn't any less successful than hers!"
Ashen's eye twitched. 'Of course she knows.'
He shot a subtle glare at Alice, who responded with an unconcerned shrug while continuing to listen to Seraphine's whining. The message was clear: You didn't tell her, so I did.
The reason Ashen hadn't told Seraphine straight away about his organization was simple enough. He knew she would want to join and throw all her money at him while doing so. But unlike Alice, where they moved as one and didn't bother with concepts like "that's yours" or "that's mine," his relationship with Seraphine was still relatively new. They hadn't explored many aspects of their personalities yet; that's why he held back.
With Alice, he could accept her resources without guilt because he knew she'd take his just as freely. With Seraphine, it felt like taking advantage.
"I can also be your sugar mommy!"
"No… please stop…" He palmed his face with both hands, suddenly feeling ashamed.
"I won't until you let me in!" Seraphine was already upon his sitting position, putting two hands on his shoulders and shaking him backward and forward like a spoiled girl begging her father for candy.
"I. Won't. Stop. Until. I'm in! You're so mean, excluding me like this!" She put on an exaggeratedly sad face as she complained, but Ashen thought that she was right when he looked at it from that angle.
"Alright… you're in… you're in… please no more shaking."
"...Really?" She blinked, and the tears that threatened to fall from her puffy eyes mysteriously vanished.
"Really." He answered, a cramped smile finding his face.
Blink. Blink. "Promise?"
"...Yes, yes, I promise, so stop batting your eyelashes at me… haah."
Seraphine grinned, then took him by the hands and lifted them up. "Yaaay!" She cheered happily as she bounced in place.
Ashen's eyes were involuntarily drawn to those curves and how they moved alongside her little dance, from that ass shake to the springiness of those breasts… but they suddenly stopped.
"Wait." Seraphine finally seemed to notice the oppressive atmosphere, her joy dying midway. Her eyes darted between the three of them, landing last on Ashen's awkward face. "Why does it feel like I walked into a funeral? Did someone die?"
"Not yet," Alice said coolly, still staring at Ashen.
Seraphine blinked, confusion written across her features. Then her gaze shifted to Lucia, who was still calmly drinking tea, and something seemed to click. Her eyes widened. "Oh. Oh no. Ash, you didn't—"
"He did," Alice confirmed.
"I'm right here, you know," Lucia finally spoke, setting down her teacup with a soft clink. "And I can hear you."
Alice's head turned slowly toward her, and even Lucia felt a chill run down her spine at that look. "Good. Then listen closely." She looked back at Ashen. "My dear boyfriend is going to step outside. It appears we're doing the harem thing now. The girls will be having a conversation."
Ashen stood up so fast he nearly knocked over his chair. "Yeah, I'll just... go. Anywhere else. Far away."
'A man should know when to retreat,' he consoled himself.
"Smart boy," Alice said.
He was out the door in seconds, and when the lock clicked behind him, it sounded like the universe washing its hands of him.
The three women sat in silence for a moment. Seraphine fidgeted nervously on the couch, Alice maintained her icy composure from the armchair, and Lucia remained perfectly still at the dining table, her earlier nonchalance cracking just slightly.
"So." Alice stood, walking slowly toward the center of the room where she could face both of them. "Let's have a conversation about what's happening here."
She pointed at Lucia. "Ashen is getting out of hand, even daring to seduce another woman." Her tone was sharp. "I want you to know there are exactly two reasons I'm not plotting your death right now, Lucia Evernight."
Lucia raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"One." Alice held up a finger. "You saved our lives by using that skill on Ashen. I'm not ungrateful enough not to recognize that, even if you were only thinking about him when you did it."
"Two." A second finger rose. "My scumbag of a boyfriend already thinks of you as his person. And I don't hurt his people, no matter what. Even if it pisses me off. Even if I want to strangle you both."
Seraphine shifted uncomfortably, but Alice wasn't finished.
"But since we're apparently all in this boat together now, you both need to understand what you're getting into. Because after this commitment, there will be no turning back." Her eyes hardened. "Even if Ashen changes later. Even if he becomes a cripple. Even if he becomes useless. You will stay by his side for life. Anything less is considered betrayal in my books."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
"And betrayal will be met with death. No matter who you are." Alice looked directly at Seraphine. "Even if you were my closest sister. You could run to the ends of the earth, and I would still follow you."
Seraphine swallowed hard. She'd known Alice her whole life, knew the woman behind the cold logic and analytical mind. And she knew without a doubt that Alice meant every word.
"I..." Seraphine's voice came out smaller than she intended. "I understand why you're angry, Ally. I do. But I—" She took a shaky breath. "I can't help it."
"Can't help what?" Alice's tone softened, just barely. "Falling for the same man I love? I'm aware. That's not what I'm asking."
"No, I mean..." Seraphine's hands twisted in her lap. "I literally can't help it. It's not just about wanting him. It's about how I'm built."
Alice's expression shifted from anger to confusion, then to recognition. She moved to sit beside Seraphine on the couch, her posture relaxing slightly. "Your trait."
Seraphine nodded miserably. "Yeah. My trait."
Lucia watched the exchange silently, her mind piecing together the information even as she maintained her detached facade.
"I know you already know most of this, Ally," Seraphine said quietly, staring at her hands. "But I need to say it. So she understands too." She glanced at Lucia briefly before continuing.
"When I was seventeen, I thought I was in love. Really in love." Her voice was steady, but her hands trembled slightly. "He was charming, attentive, everything I thought I wanted. I gave him everything—my time, my trust, my heart. And then I found out he'd been using me the entire time. I was just... convenient. A stepping stone to the success of his career."
She laughed bitterly. "That alone might not have been enough to break me. People get their hearts broken all the time, right? But it came right after my parents' divorce."
"As for them…" Seraphine's voice grew quieter. "They didn't fight over me, nor did they argue about custody. They just... left. Each went their own way, and I became an afterthought. My mother remarried within six months. My father moved to another country. It was like I'd never existed to them. Like all those years meant nothing."
Alice's hand found Seraphine's, squeezing gently. She'd heard this before, years ago, but it still hurt to hear the pain in her friend's voice.
"After that, I tried to move on. Made friends, lots of them. Got popular at university, had people around me constantly." Seraphine's smile was hollow. "But they were always after something. My money, because I made something for myself. My looks, because I could make them look good by association. My connections, because having the 'right' friend could open doors. No one wanted me. They wanted what I could give them."
She took a shuddering breath. "All of it piled up. The betrayal, the abandonment, the superficial relationships. I built walls so high that no one could get in. I became warm and approachable on the outside because that's what people expected, but inside... inside I was locked down tight. Romantic love, especially, I couldn't even entertain the idea without my chest tightening with panic."
"But the longing never went away," Alice muttered softly, knowing where this was going.
"No. It got worse." Seraphine looked up, tears gathering in her eyes. "The more I pushed people away, the more I craved a genuine connection. Something real. Someone who would choose me, not what I could offer. It created this... paradox inside me. I was desperate for love but terrified of it. Guarded to the point of isolation but aching to let someone in."
She wiped her eyes roughly. "My therapist said it was a trauma response. The fear and the longing feeding into each other until they became part of who I am."
"…And then when I walked the Lust pathway, it crystallized into a trait." Seraphine closed her eyes and whispered, "Status, show Guarded Devotion."
A small window appeared in front of her, visible to all three women.
==============================
Guarded devotion: Warm and approachable, yet guarded in romance, keeping others at arm's length. Once they choose someone, they become deeply devoted and single-minded, revealing unwavering loyalty.
==============================
"Once I choose someone," Seraphine said, her voice almost a whisper, "that's it. All or nothing. I can't settle for anyone else. Even if Ashen changes, even if he becomes someone completely different from who I fell in love with, I can't stop. My devotion won't fade. It doesn't waver. It's permanent."
She looked at Alice with desperate eyes. "So when I say I can't help it, I mean it literally. My heart chose him, and now there's no going back. I didn't plan this. I didn't want to hurt you. But I also can't just... stop."
The room fell into silence again, but it was distinctively less hostile this time.
Finally, Alice sighed. "I know, Sera. I've always known." She squeezed Seraphine's hand again. "It's why I wasn't as harsh with you as I could have been when I found out."
"Thank you," Seraphine breathed, relief flooding her features.
"Don't thank me yet." Alice's voice regained some of its edge as she turned to Lucia. "Your turn. Explain yourself."
Lucia had been watching the entire exchange with that same detached expression, but now she set down her teacup and met Alice's gaze head-on.
"I don't have a tragic backstory like hers," Lucia said bluntly, nodding toward Seraphine. "No childhood trauma or abandonment issues. My damage is self-inflicted."
She leaned back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other. "I spent my entire life treating people like assets. Useful or useless. Valuable or disposable. I prided myself on never forming attachments because attachments make you weak. They make you vulnerable. They give others power over you."
Her fingers drummed once against the armrest. "If my world were filled with things I could discard, he became the first irreplaceable thing." She said it matter-of-factly, as if discussing the weather. "And I fucking hate that."
Alice's eyebrow rose. "You hate caring about him?"
"I hate that I can't discard him," Lucia corrected. "I hate that the thought of losing him makes my chest tight. I hate that I used my lifespan, literal years of my life, just to get a glimpse of the future to save him. I hate that he's become the one weakness in my otherwise perfectly controlled existence."
She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward slightly. "But I can't change it now. He's irreplaceable. And irreplaceable things are worth protecting, even if they make you weak."
"You offered your lifespan for him?" Seraphine asked, eyes wide.
"A hundred and six years, nine months, and twenty-two days," Lucia confirmed. "Why do you think I look so old otherwise? Or as Ashen puts it… a MILF." She smirked.
Then, tilting her head, she added, "Of course, I'd do it again if I had to. That's how I know this isn't some passing infatuation. That's also how I know he's become something I can't walk away from."
She reached up, and a skill window materialized.
==============================
Singular Envy
Choose one target to envy. From that moment on, envy can only be felt toward that person. The feeling vanishes for anyone else, no matter their accomplishments or qualities. If there comes a day when envy cannot be mustered for the chosen target, all admiration for them will transform into envy instead, maintaining the bond.
Choice is permanent and irreversible.
==============================
"Let me tell you a little secret about myself." She nonchalantly continued. "I'm cursed."
Both sets of eyes lifted from the glowing window and fixed on her face.
"This curse makes my body instinctively obey whoever I envy… and as for the focus of my Singular Envy… well. Who do you think it is?"
"..."
"..."
"I chose him," Lucia simply answered her own question. "I can only envy Ashen now. No one else."
She cast a glance at Seraphine. "I may not be blindingly devoted like this foolish blonde over here, but I can absolutely declare that I would never leave Ashen. I'm practically his little slave, after all~" She finished in a teasing tone.
Under Alice's Determinant's Eye and Seraphine's Inner Resonance skill, there was no room for lies, so the two didn't doubt her.
'…But a slave, huh… Aren't we all practically his slaves at this point…' Alice mused, yet the thought didn't sit particularly poorly with her.
Unlike Seraphine's emotional confession, Lucia's delivery was almost nonchalant despite her practically confessing that she had handed her life and ascension ticket to the same person. Her no-nonsense tone made it sound like discussing contract terms rather than matters of the heart.
Despite that, the women listening didn't take her confession lightly. Both were perceptive enough to sense the genuine emotions she masked behind her calm expression… and the courage it took to expose one's own weakness.
Seraphine, in particular, felt it keenly, and her gaze toward Lucia softened visibly.
Alice studied both women for a long moment.
Two completely different people, two completely different reasons, but the same result: they'd both bound themselves to Ashen in ways that couldn't be undone.
Finally, she stood and walked back to her own armchair. "So we're all on the same page then. Three women who've permanently attached themselves to the same man, whether by choice or trait or skill."
Seraphine nodded, while Lucia simply smiled.
"Then we should work together." She interchanged her gaze between them. "There shouldn't be any fights between us. Two of us are too smart for that anyway." Her gaze lingered on Lucia, who gave the tiniest nod of acknowledgment. "And one of us is too much of an airhead to start any real conflict."
"Hey!" Seraphine protested immediately. "I'm smart too!"
Both Alice and Lucia smirked at her, and Seraphine deflated with a pout.
But inwardly, Alice knew the truth. It wasn't Seraphine's intelligence or lack thereof that would prevent harmful actions. It was her good heart. Despite any jealousy she might feel, despite the complications of sharing someone she loved, Seraphine could never bring herself to hurt those she considered sisters. It simply wasn't in her nature.
A wry smile crossed Alice's lips. "What are the chances? Three mentally unstable women coming together to suck on the dick of a single man. How fitting."
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Seraphine let out a startled laugh, half-shocked and half-amused. "Ally, don't slander me please. That's you, not me~"
"But she's not wrong," Lucia interrupted, a genuine smile finally breaking through her composed facade. "Mentally unstable is accurate."
"Speak for yourselves," Seraphine tried to protest, but she was already giggling.
"Oh please." Alice settled back into her chair, her posture relaxing for the first time since the conversation started. "A woman who can only love one person with cult-like devotion, a woman who offered years of her life for a man she claimed to hate, and me—someone whose entire concept of lust revolves around a single person to the point where I can't even feel it for anyone else." She gestured between them. "If that's not mentally unstable, I don't know what is."
Lucia chuckled. "When you put it like that..."
"We're all insane," Seraphine finished, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "Utterly."
The tension that had filled the apartment had finally broken, replaced by something strange and new. Not quite friendship… Perhaps a mutual acknowledgment of the ridiculous situation they'd all willingly walked into would be more fitting.
"So what now?" Seraphine asked after the laughter died down. "Do we have rules or something?"
Alice shook her head. "No formal rules. We're all adults. We handle it as it comes." She paused, then added with a slight smirk, "Though I maintain veto power on particularly stupid decisions."
"Such as?" Lucia asked, eyebrow raised.
"Such as if he tries to add a fourth. Then I'm putting my foot down."
"Agreed," both Seraphine and Lucia said simultaneously.
"Three is already pushing it," Lucia added.
"Any more and we'd need a scheduling system," Seraphine said with a grimace.
Alice nodded, satisfied. "See? We can agree on things. This might actually work."
There was another pause, and it surprisingly felt even more comfortable this time.
"He's going to be so smug when he finds out we talked it through," Seraphine said eventually.
"Let him be smug," Alice replied. "He's earned it. Though I'm still going to make him suffer a bit for the stress he caused me."
"That's fair," Lucia agreed, thinking about how much she had to suffer so he could play hero. "He deserves some suffering."
"Just a little," Seraphine added quickly. "Don't be too mean, Ally."
Alice put on a saintly smile. "I'll be exactly as mean as he deserves. No more, no less."
"Speaking of which," Lucia said, standing and stretching. "Should we let him back in? He's probably cowering in the hallway."
"Let him sweat a bit longer," Alice said dismissively. "It's good for building character."
Seraphine giggled again, despite herself.
"You are thorough." Lucia looked almost impressed.
Alice shrugged, then her expression softened slightly as she looked at both women. "But seriously. If this is going to work, we need to actually communicate. No secrets, no schemes against each other. If there's a problem, we talk about it like we did today."
"Agreed," Lucia said.
"Agreed," Seraphine echoed.
"Good."
⛧ ⛧ ⛧