"Should I go check on him?" the maid murmured.
While cooking, plating the meal, and then placing the food on the table, she kept glancing at the ceiling. Leo had been taking an awfully long time for a shower. Lucy couldn't help but wonder what he was doing up there.
Despite her confusion, or maybe it was curiosity, her face remained impassive.
'I don't think he is masturbating,' she thought to herself. 'I haven't even tempted him… beyond my natural beauty.'
As a succubus, Lucy could sense the lust in the air.
When she'd first met Leo, his lust had increased when he saw her. He was male, after all. That was all there was to it. She'd actually been surprised by the amount of control Leo had over his desires.
Devils rarely constrained themselves. They certainly didn't suppress their needs—be it lust, anger, greed, or anything related to a sin.
'It makes him more… interesting,' she decided. 'Yes, I will have to tempt him. I wasn't sure if I would when I decided to respond to Lady Saphire's request… but having met the young Master, how could I not?'
She understood the real reason Saphire had asked her to take care of Leo. From what she had seen and sensed, Leo had absolutely no need for anyone to protect him—not in this town. If those pesky flying chickens tried to bother him, their end would be a miserable one.
As for her two unruly little sisters… well, they would be no match for him.
'I bet Lady Saphire wants me to become a member of his circle.'
Lucy shook her head. She had yet to choose a master. Rarely had she even considered doing so. There was a time she had been interested in Salvatore, but she hadn't wanted to intrude on his relationship with Gray.
As for Rayne, she was currently too weak to even think of joining her circle. The same went for her Mimi, too. Lucy was picky about who she would call her master.
It wasn't about the rank at all. She wouldn't care if she was offered a pawn… if it came from the right bestower. In fact, she would be more at ease if she had a lower ranking piece. After all, she had something worth much more than the power Leo could grant her with one of his pieces.
She had a ritual that would give her and her master an incredible boost in power—as long as certain conditions were met. This ritual was the reason nearly all succubi had been exterminated during the Great War.
She snorted, though her facial expression didn't even twitch.
'It's too soon to even think about such things.'
From what she had seen, this power wasn't likely to suit Leo.
"What is a little too soon for you to speak?" a male voice asked.
Lucy spun around. She was shocked Leo had snuck up behind her, though you couldn't tell it from her expression. She had always had a hard time emoting.
'…I seriously need to re-evaluate the power of my young master!'
Looking up and down at his well-toned muscles, handsome face, and jewel-like eyes, Lucy smiled inwardly.
'This job won't be so bad, after all.'
Leo took a seat at the dining table and picked up his knife and fork. He frowned when he noticed his was the only setting and the only plate of food on the table.
"Aren't you going to eat? This smells delicious."
"No," she replied.
"Won't you at least sit down?"
"I am but a maid, It's not proper–"
He silenced her by raising a hand for her to stop. "Since you are a maid, you should follow the orders of your master, no? I order you to sit down."
Lucy was surprised at the authority she heard in Leo's voice. If earlier she thought that he wasn't suitable for the ritual and what it entailed, it seemed she would need to reconsider that judgment.
***
After Leo set his fork and knife down and wiped his mouth with a napkin, he let out a sigh of deep contentment. "I must say, you are a very good cook."
His mother wasn't an awful cook—not by any means. His father also knew his way around in the kitchen. Leo even knew how to cook a few simple meals, since he'd practically lived alone when his parents had gone on extended missions.
Lucy, however, was on another level altogether.
It had been a while since Leo had food this good. It was so good, he'd stuffed himself. Well, he'd also been hungry, but that took nothing from the meal Lucy had made. The Chicken Marsala in caper sauce had been delicious.
Lucy nodded as she took away the dishes to put them in the dishwasher.
Leo noted that while her lips never moved, he could see a smile in her eyes.
Lucy had to admit, the conveniences of modern human technology were always a delight. She'd always found it funny how older nobles looked down on humans. They were ever so creative. And that creativity made life much easier!
Once that was done with, she served some tea to Leo and sat on the other side of the table.
"Leo, I am sure you have many questions about the pieces, but you need not worry. After all, your pieces differ greatly from the norm."
Leo tilted his head to one side, blinking slowly. "How so?"
"Those pieces were created with your own blood. You could say they are the only ones of their kind in existence."
Leo tapped the table as he thought about what this could mean, but then he stopped. His eyes narrowed. "You mean that if I bestow a piece on someone, that person would become the same race as me?"
"That is impossible." Lucy waved her hand.
Few people were privy to the knowledge, but Leo was outside of all norms. From what she remembered, Aiden Leviathan had lost months of sleep trying to solve the puzzle. In the end, even he could not understand how those components could be in the boy's blood.
"Once your piece integrates with someone, it will fundamentally change their race. Though you are not one, your pieces will turn those who accept them—at least those who are not already supernatural—into something akin to dragons." She paused, tapping a finger against her lips without changing expression. "These pieces were made special for you by Aiden Leviathan himself."
Dragons were one of the superior races in this world. It wouldn't be a mistake to say that they were the most superior race of this world, right alongside gods. She didn't exactly know how Leo had inherited dragon blood, nor which dragon it came from.
All she knew, was that a while back, Lane Karteros—who was already a monster in his own right—had come back after disappearing for a few years and surprised the world with his might all over again. What had surprised everyone were the obvious draconic features he showed when using his power.
This had earned Lane Karteros the nickname 'the Red Dragon King'.
Of course, this wasn't the only thing Leo's pieces were capable of. Lucy knew Aiden had added another interesting feature in them…though that was for Leo to discover himself. She knew this, because Saphire had told her about it when she'd summoned Lucy to care for her son.
Leo was surprised at the information he just received. What really intrigued him, though, was that they'd been made for him… by no less than the creator of the Circle sets, himself.
"Why did Aiden Leviathan put so much effort into creating special pieces for me?" he asked.
It didn't make sense. Aiden Leviathan was one of the four calamities, the devils who ruled over the underworld — the devils' native plane. He had created the Circle set pieces to increase the number of devils.
Why, then, would he create pieces with a different purpose than creating devils?
"Saphire was the one who convinced him to do so, by calling due one of the life debts he owed her." Lucy let out another snort when she remembered how helpless Aiden had been before Saphire's unreasonable demand.
'Mom seems to be even more powerful than I thought,' Leo mused.
Aiden stood at the top of the world — he was literally one of the top ten most powerful beings in the world. Even if he'd been weaker back then, for Saphire to have saved him—and it sounded like she'd saved him not once, but many times—meant that she was at least near or equal in power to the Ascendant.
'Might she even… surpass him?'
Leo had never really been interested in the past of his mother. It wasn't because he didn't care about her, but because he knew that she was uncomfortable about speaking of her history. She'd said that her past was a page she had already turned. All she wished now, was to be Lane Karteros's wife—Saphire Karteros.
His mother had likely been well known, but since Leo had been excommunicated and kicked out of the Vatican before becoming a full exorcist, there was much information he wasn't privy to.
Sighing, Leo shook his head. Now that he knew that his mother had called in a big favor to have those pieces made, he couldn't refuse them.
'It isn't like I will have an occasion to form my Circle…'
After dinner, Leo had contacted Lane and Saphire and confirmed Lucy was trustworthy. From what Saphire had told him, Lucy would have been his personal maid if Saphire had not relinquished her noble title when she'd married Lane. The day after that was pretty peaceful.
All the talk about nobility among devils had made Leo curious about which family his mother was from. In the end, though, it hardly mattered. He had none of the hate the Vatican had tried to instill in him for devils, but his lack of concern didn't mean he was blind to the truth.
Devils were not inherently evil. Rather, they were no more evil than humans. It was just that devils were simply more forthright about their chaotic nature. The latest generation of devils were rather friendly to humans… at least compared to the ancients. Ancient devils had viewed humans merely as livestock.
That didn't mean that it was all roses and sunshine, however. If Leo had a choice, he'd rather not have to deal with the supernatural. Unfortunately, he knew that this was a naïve dream—still, he wanted to hang onto his dream for as long as he could.
(AN: If you wish for more, you can read ahead on Patreon up to CH 35 on patreon. https://www.patreon.com/c/HikaruGenji)