Chapter 371 - 371 - Persephone's Matchmaking Application

"It wasn't anything all that important, just the usual talking points... city security, keeping order, dealing with international public opinion, that sort of thing."

"Mm, and the reconstruction and funding issues you mentioned."

"But none of that really matters."

Thinking about how he'd shoved Demeter's accumulated contribution points all in on one bet, Leon couldn't quite meet Persephone's eyes.

"Ahem..."

"Persephone, take a look at this first."

He held out the rolled-up parchment scroll he'd tied off.

"Hm?"

Persephone pushed up her glasses and unrolled the parchment. One glance was all it took for her to recognize it as a high-grade contract with binding enforcement.

"First District... Plot Number Six Hundred Sixty-Six?"

She skimmed the contents in a flash, then snapped her head up, staring at Leon in utter disbelief.

"This is... a deed of land ownership?"

Setting aside the Familias that would never come anywhere near this level, as the captain of Demeter Familia, one of the most influential Familias in all of Orario, how could she not know what this contract meant?

And the more she understood, the more stunned she became.

She sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth.

At her low murmur, the others couldn't help but lean in to look.

Except for Lydia, who still didn't grasp the situation, everyone, including Iri and Margaret, who were already familiar with Orario's common knowledge, drew in a breath.

"Leon! You... you actually got your hands on a piece of land?!"

"Does this mean..."

"W-we can finally put building a real headquarters on the agenda?!"

Laurier practically leapt off the sofa, her voice brimming with barely contained excitement.

As an elf from a forest tribe, she'd long felt how cramped this mansion was. The current house was perfectly comfortable for two or three members, but the Familia had grown to ten people now, and the space had been stretched thin for ages.

It was just that everyone kept these thoughts to themselves, since they all knew exactly how astronomical Orario's land and buildings were.

And now Leon had casually tossed a land deed onto the table.

There was no way they could not be shocked.

"Ahem, Persephone, about that..."

Seeing Leon hesitating, his gaze flickering, then catching Jeanne and Rose unnaturally looking away, Persephone furrowed her brow and said sourly:

"If you've got something to say, say it. Don't worry, I... can take it."

At that, Leon dropped the act entirely and laid his cards on the table:

"I bet the contribution points Demeter Familia spent fifteen years building up... all of them, all in."

Persephone: ?

"...Huh?"

She slowly took off her glasses, as if she doubted she'd heard right.

"You... say that again?"

Leon spread his hands with an innocent look, like a little bear caught red-handed:

"Contribution points. All in."

"Naaaniii?!?"

...

After a chaotic uproar, Persephone finally gave up.

Her gaze went hollow, her enviable figure slumping into the sofa, an aura of utter resignation radiating from her.

"It's over... Lady Demeter is going to kill you."

To this, Leon wore the expression of someone long past caring and grinned:

"What's there to be scared of? The rice is already cooked anyway. It's not like we can count on that Royman guy to issue a refund."

Looking at the shameless, self-righteous face of the man in front of her, Persephone felt like her head was about to split open.

"Fine, fine."

"What's done is done. Let's just sleep."

...

Inside Persephone's bedroom.

As for why Persephone had a room of her own here in Leon's house... well, that could only be said to be a tale from the old days, from before Jeanne ever arrived.

Now, by the dim yellow glow of the bedside lamp, Persephone lightly kicked aside the pair of ten-centimeter nude-colored heels with red soles and cutout sides. Then she set both hands at her waist and deftly peeled the thin sheer stockings down her legs, the tips lingering for a moment at her red-lacquered toes before finally pooling softly into a heap.

She was just about to lower her slender pale leg when...

The balcony's sliding door clicked softly.

A dark shadow slipped up silently from behind, one arm circling around from her back to clamp her slim, soft waist, the other hand swiftly covering the red lips that were about to cry out. In the instant her body went rigid and her breath caught...

A familiar, intoxicating scent of his washed her mind blank, followed by the warm, lingering breath against her neck. In that instant... her body went weak, and she lost all ability to think.

"S-scum..."

"Breaking into a lady's room through the window... just how much of a pervert do you have to be before you're satisfied?"

Color bloomed across Persephone's cheeks, embarrassment and irritation mingling with a hint of allure in her eyes. Her voice dropped low, trembling faintly as she leveled an almost powerless "accusation" at the man buried in the crook of her neck, breathing her in.

To Leon, words like these carried no threat at all, and only added a bit of spice.

Especially when the target was this aloof, mature beauty of a superior.

Add to that everything he'd been through with her in the past, and the things she'd once done to him, and then picturing how their roles were now reversed...

Just the thought of it stirred a quiet hunger to conquer, and his blood caught fire.

"Mm..."

"Why'd you take the stockings off? I still prefer you in sheer hose and nude heels... paired with that pure-yet-seductive high-slit gown."

Persephone's eyes glistened. She turned her face slightly, her gaze tangling with Leon's.

Her red lips curved into an alluring arc, her eyes silken:

"You... this little kink of yours hasn't changed in all these years. You really are a pervert..."

She made a token struggle in his arms, then shot him a sidelong glare, but still obediently, unhurriedly slid the stockings back on under his watchful eyes.

Leon's gaze started from the toes painted with crimson polish and traveled up as the stocking rose, inch by inch sweeping over the arch of her foot, her ankle, the elegant line of her calf, then higher, across thighs toned to just the right degree, until at last...

His stare burned, and Persephone's sensitive body flushed a faint shade of pink in response.

When she finally slipped on the pair of nude-colored cutout heels, crossed her legs, and made a thoroughly tempting little gesture of dangling one shoe, lifting her chin at him with challenge in her eyes...

Leon studied her closely, then pushed her down into the bedding.

"You brought this on yourself, my dear Miss Persephone."

Persephone lay back on the soft bed, staring straight up at the man pinning her down, a mocking little laugh playing at the corner of her mouth:

"Heh... you? Don't overestimate yourself."

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