"You can come out now."
Following Lacus's call, the bedroom door opened.
Luo Shu peeked out, glanced at the living room and asked:
"Is it over?"
As he spoke, he looked towards the dining table and immediately saw Kisara and Mukuro Hoshimiya sitting obediently on chairs with lowered heads, not daring to move, looking exactly like primary school students being lectured by their headteacher.
Seeing this scene, Luo Shu was instead startled. He stepped out of the room, approaching while asking:
"What happened? They were fine just now, why do they look like wilted eggplants?"
Hearing this, Lacus tilted her head slightly and said somewhat uncertainly:
"Perhaps... because I was too realistic?"
"Eh?" Luo Shu was taken aback, then gave Lacus a strange look before actively moving closer to Kisara and Mukuro Hoshimiya, placing a hand on each of their shoulders:
"Don't be upset. Tell me what's bothering you and I'll try my best to help."
"Big Brother~"
Upon hearing this, Mukuro Hoshimiya grabbed Luo Shu's hand, turned her head and said pitifully:
"Muku will be good from now on, so... please don't reject Muku, okay?"
"Eh?" Luo Shu was stunned by these words. He turned to look at Lacus with an extremely odd expression.
Wasn't this supposed to be about educating Kisara? How did Mukuro get scared, too?
Lacus calmly sipped her black tea from a teacup.
The tea had been brewed by Kisara earlier as an offering - the reason for such an offering need not be explained.
Seeing that Lacus had no intention to explain, Luo Shu could only suppress his curiosity and gave Mukuro a light hug:
"As long as Muku behaves, Big Brother definitely won't abandon you."
"Mmm." Mukuro Hoshimiya made a nasal sound, seemingly in response.
At this moment, Luo Shu turned to look at the ashen-faced Kisara, then back at Lacus, unable to resist asking:
"What exactly did you say to Kisara? She was fine earlier, why is she like this now?"
"Kisara simply couldn't accept reality."
Lacus sighed softly, seemingly full of regret about Kisara's situation.
And why wouldn't she be regretful?
If Kisara hadn't seduced Luo Shu, everyone in the Familia could have pretended to be just colleagues. But after this incident, they all became romantic rivals.
Realising that these rivals were of her own making, it would be strange if Kisara's mentality didn't collapse.
As for whether Lacus was deceiving her, Kisara didn't think so. After all, it was an indisputable fact that Utaha had immediately followed suit not long after Kisara made her move.
Utaha understood the situation much better than Kisara and was more composed.
From the beginning, she knew that once Luo Shu tasted the sweetness within the Familia, things would become irreversible. That's why, despite knowing Luo Shu had feelings for her, she continued to hesitate.
But facts proved that hesitation leads to defeat.
The Familia's atmosphere couldn't remain static - it would either improve or continuously deteriorate.
After Kisara opened Pandora's box, everyone had to descend into depravity; otherwise, an imbalance within the Familia would occur.
Hadn't Luo Shu, upon learning about the method for rapid Demigod ascension, immediately thought of Kisara and Utaha —the Familia members he'd already been intimate with?
If Kisara hadn't already possessed top-tier Hero Rank abilities, the first person Luo Shu would have provided cheating solutions to would have been her instead of Utaha.
So the moment Kisara made her move, the internal competition within the Familia began.
And what's more terrifying—and crucial—is that Familia members can't quit.
Thus, the only possible outcomes for Familia members are either no one competes... or everyone competes.
And now, because of Kisara, everyone has no choice but to compete to the bitter end.
In the future, there won't be just one person like Tabane Shinonono shamelessly throwing themselves at Luo Shu, offering themselves up for his amusement.
After Lacus bluntly laid all this out, Kisara was now thoroughly withdrawn.
"So, that's pretty much how things stand~"
Lacus calmly explained the situation to Luo Shu.
She had never intended to hide anything from him. With her empathic abilities, she understood clearly that honesty was the trait Luo Shu valued most in people.
An ambitious person in her position might have tried to control Luo Shu, manipulating his actions to satisfy their own desires. But for Lacus, such things were meaningless.
She already had wealth, power, and beauty from birth.
With nothing lacking in her life, the only thing she could truly crave was the realisation of her ideals.
And ideals were something one had to achieve for oneself.
So when it came to Luo Shu, Lacus only really thought of him as a decent marriage prospect—albeit a bit of a playboy—an absolute asset to her ideals, even a pillar. Their thoughts aligned, their personalities meshed well... that sort of thing.
Such thoughts were enough for Lacus to make her choice and establish a closer relationship with Luo Shu.
In truth, Lacus was aware that her emotional system was already abnormal.
But precisely because she knew, she cared even less about secrets and privacy.
Having secrets known by more people seemed more interesting to her.
"So, you plan to form an alliance, rally more Familia members, and force everyone to abide by your rules to prevent internal chaos within the Familia."
"And the price for preventing infighting is that I must spend equal time alone with each Familia member?"
After hearing all this, Luo Shu was utterly dumbfounded.
The first thought that crossed his mind was: 'How is this even a bad thing?'
"Does this mean I'll get to flip a signboard later? Pick whoever I want to sleep with?"
Luo Shu scratched his head, looking thoroughly bewildered.
Because after he said this, apart from Lacus rolling her eyes at him, Kisara and Mukuro Hoshimiya showed no reaction whatsoever.
'Damn, are you all silently agreeing to this?!'
Seeing their lack of protest, Luo Shu actually felt a bit embarrassed.
"Do we really have to go this far?"
"This is just the worst-case scenario, and things might not even get that serious."
Lacus calmly held her teacup. Despite being a stunningly beautiful girl in the prime of her youth, her demeanour now resembled that of a perfectly aged elderly lady:
"After all, in this distribution system, the only one being treated as less than human is you, Luo Shu."
At this point, Lacus shot Luo Shu a playful glance:
"Right now, the Familia is small, so it's manageable. But once it grows to hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands... Luo Shu, do you really think you'll be able to do anything other than lie in bed and 'sow seeds' all day?"
Hearing this, Luo Shu was stunned.
He did the math and realised she was absolutely right.
Even if each session only took half an hour, that would be 48 per day, 1,440 per month, 17,280 per year...
'Damn, with ten thousand members, it'd take nearly half a year!'
Did that mean he'd have to spend six months every year just... performing in bed?
Was that even humanly possible?
Instantly, Luo Shu felt his scalp tingle with dread.
No matter how much of a lecher one was, this situation would kill anyone's libido!
"Don't worry, I've already commissioned Kurumi to develop time-dilation bullets. With some luck, we might even compress a year's worth into a single day."
"At that point, perhaps just one day could satisfy all Familia members. Doesn't that sound wonderful?"
As Lacus spoke, Luo Shu's face twitched violently:
"Lacus."
"Yes?"
"You're a devil, aren't you?"
"Should I take that as a compliment?"