novelraw Chapter 55: Giving Explanations...
Chapter 55: Giving Explanations...
I took a breath and let it out slow.
"No point in putting it off."
Reina’s fingers brushed against my wrist, a light, questioning touch. "You want me to wait somewhere else? Give you time to explain first?"
I looked down at her. The shirt I’d given her hung loose around her shoulders, and without anything else to wear, she looked smaller than she had in the dungeon. Less like a creature of myth and more like a normal woman with cute horns.
"No," I said. "Come with me."
She smiled, soft and a little uncertain, and fell into step beside me.
The walk from the training room to my chambers felt longer than usual. Servants stepped aside as we passed, their eyes widening when they saw Reina, but none of them spoke. The whispers would come later, after we were out of earshot. I could already feel them, the ripples spreading outward from this moment.
So I decided to nip that in the bud.
"What happens in my estate, stays in my estate, understand?"
I said it firmly, and the servants immediately answered with a loud, "Yes, Lord Noctierre." If I wasn’t careful, that response alone might have gone to my head.
"They’re staring a lot," she murmured.
"You’re new. And you’re not wearing pants."
I glanced down. The shirt hung past her hips, but just barely. Any sudden movement and the situation would become significantly more difficult to explain.
"We’ll find you something else to wear once we get there."
"You have women’s clothing in your chambers?"
"No, but it shouldn’t be too hard to let you borrow one from the servants."
"They won’t mind?"
"I’ll just offer to buy them new ones."
The door to my chambers loomed ahead, familiar dark wood with iron fittings, guards stationed on either side. They straightened when they saw me, their hands moving to their chests in salute.
"Your Grace."
"At ease." I paused at the door. "Has Faye left the room at all today?"
"No, Your Grace. She requested lunch be left at the door, but otherwise, she hasn’t emerged."
So she’d been resting. Good. She’d needed it after last night.
I pushed the door open.
The room was dim, curtains drawn against the gray afternoon light. And there, in the center of the massive bed, buried beneath a mountain of blankets, was Faye.
She stirred when the door clicked shut, a sleepy mumble escaping the cocoon of fabric. One hand emerged first, fingers curling against the pillow, followed by a tangle of brown hair and a face still soft with sleep.
"Cassian?" Her voice was thick, groggy. "You’re back soon..."
Then she saw Reina.
Faye went still. Her eyes, still half-lidded with sleep, tracked from Reina’s violet hair to her curved horns to the oversized shirt hanging past her hips. To her bare legs. To her bare feet.
The silence stretched.
"...Cassian." Faye’s voice had lost all trace of sleep. "Who is this?"
I closed the door behind us.
"Her name is Reina."
Faye sat up slowly, the blankets pooling around her waist. And she was surprisingly wearing one of my shirts too. And, same as Reina, the collar slipped off her shoulder, and she didn’t bother to fix it.
She hadn’t changed at all, the moment I left her here alone?
Actually, that isn’t surprising...
"I see," she said quietly.
Reina shifted beside me, her tail unwinding nervously from her thigh. "I can explain—"
"I’m sure you can." Faye’s voice was calm, so calm that I kind of preferred she would just be openly angry instead. "But I’d like to hear it from Cassian first."
She looked at me, waiting.
I crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed. Close enough to touch her, but I didn’t reach out yet; I needed to use words first.
"The training room spawned a dungeon," I said. "A-Rank. I got pulled inside before anyone could stop it."
Faye’s composure cracked instantly. Her face snapped from guarded to horrified in less than a second.
"What!? Are you injured!? Do I need to call for—"
I held up my hand before she could scramble out of the blankets.
"I’m fine. The healers patched me up, and Reina helped with the rest."
Faye’s gaze flicked to Reina, then back to me. Her fingers twisted in the fabric of the blanket.
"Helped how?"
"She’s a succubus," I said, because there was no gentle way to put it. "She has abilities that accelerated my recovery, along with my own healers. Without her, I’d probably still be limping."
Faye’s jaw tightened. I could see her processing, filing away the word "succubus" like she was deciding whether to panic or be angry.
"And the dungeon?"
"Destroyed. But Reina was tied to it. If I’d just left, she would have died, and I wasn’t going to do that."
"So you brought her here instead."
"Yes."
Faye was quiet for a long moment. Her eyes moved to Reina again, taking in more than just the horns and the bare legs. The way Reina stood in the middle of the room. The way her tail curled and uncurled against her ankle, restless but controlled.
Then Faye finally spoke again, but her words were even more surprising than I’d expected.
"Let me get this straight, you took pity on a dungeon monster and decided to save her?"
"...Yeah."
Not the whole truth, but close enough.
"Cassian, you really are kinder than people give you credit for..."
W-Wait... that’s her response?
"...Kind?"
Faye nodded, her expression softening. It didn’t look like anger or jealousy. Well, it might be a bit of jealousy, but it was definitely something softer.
"You could have left her there," she said simply. "That’s what most people would do. That’s what anyone would expect from a duke. But instead, you chose to save her."
She glanced at Reina, then back at me. "I don’t think even some saints would do that."
"You’re not mad?"
Faye shook her head and let out a reluctant chuckle.
"No, I’m definitely mad." She emphasized the word with a pointed look.
"But..." Her gaze drifted to Reina again, uncertain this time, searching. "It’s kind of hard to stay mad when I know why you did it."
Right. I’d almost forgotten. This was still the Faye Amberlyne I was talking to, the main heroine of this entire world. Of course she’d be absurdly forgiving. Impossibly kind. But surely there had to be a limit—
"But," she added, "I want to make it clear that I’m only okay with this because seeing you help other women the way you helped me is nice, okay? But I do have to ask... do you plan on making her... y’know?"
"A lover?"
I decided to finish it myself. Up to now, Faye had been carrying the conversation, but I needed to see it through on my own. I couldn’t let her shoulder all the burden. Besides, if there was ever a perfect time to come up with an excuse for a harem, this was it.
I stepped closer and cupped her cheek, guiding her to meet my eyes. Right now, I had to use every advantage at my disposal.
For my own sanity, and for everyone else in this room. I didn’t want to have to explain everything all over again when Anastasia inevitably entered the conversation.
[Sweet Scent]
"Just trust me, Faye, it’s not like I’ll be collecting cards."
Faye’s eyes flickered at the touch, at the warmth spreading from my palm to her cheek. She didn’t pull away.
"Collecting cards," she repeated flatly. "That’s a horrible comparison."
"That’s why I’m not calling it that." I let my thumb brush her lower lip. "You’re not replaceable, Faye. Neither of you are."
Behind me, Reina made a small, surprised sound, like she hadn’t expected to be included in the same breath.
Faye was quiet for a long moment. Then she sighed, some of the tension draining from her shoulders.
[Faye Amberlyne: Personality fundamentally shifted due to actions.]
"Fine..."
She glanced past me at Reina, and this time, when she spoke, her voice was softer. "You really helped him? In the dungeon?"
Reina nodded, her tail stilling. "I did. He would have survived either way, but... I wanted to."
Faye studied her for a moment longer, then nodded slowly.
"Then I suppose I owe you thanks." She pulled the blanket tighter around herself, but her expression had shifted. Not quite warm, but no longer cold. "But if you hurt him, I don’t care what you are. I’ll find a way to make you regret it."
A ghost of a smile tugged at Reina’s lips. "Understood."