Chapter 673 - 673: [673] : You Haven't Tried This with Rias Yet, Have You?

That night, the intensity didn't let up until dawn.

By the time the bedroom finally fell silent, the clock had crept past five in the morning.

Pale, pre-dawn light leaked through the curtains in thin ribbons. Bokue lay flat on his back in the center of the oversized bed, and from the corner of his eye he could just make out the faint grey-blue of a sky not quite ready to commit to sunrise.

He glanced to his right.

Chysis was curled on her side facing him, eyes closed, cheeks still touched with residual color. Both arms were locked around his right arm, hugging it tight against her chest like a child clutching a stuffed animal in her sleep. The grip was firm, almost possessive, as though she was afraid he might vanish the moment she relaxed.

Then there was Runeas.

Despite being five digits old on paper, the First Generation Gremory's sleeping habits matched her actual psychological age perfectly: that of a teenage girl who'd never shared a bed with anyone in her life. Which meant she slept sprawled out like a starfish, limbs flung in four different directions, claiming every square inch of mattress her body could reach. She'd migrated all the way to the far right edge, occupying a truly impressive amount of real estate for someone her size. A single rebellious strand of hair stuck up from beneath her little crown, swaying gently with each breath.

The practical consequence of Runeas's territorial sleeping style was that Bokue's left side had been claimed entirely by Venelana.

He turned his head that way and found himself looking directly into a pair of soft, wine-red eyes.

"...Auntie?"

A small blink of surprise. He hadn't expected her to still be awake.

"Mm~ After everything that happened last night, I'm still a little too wound up to sleep. My body hasn't quite cooled down yet."

She kept her voice barely above a whisper, pitched for his ears alone, and accompanied it with a quiet, knowing laugh.

"I have to admit though, I really didn't think you'd win Mother-in-law over this quickly. And in my room, no less..."

In fairness, the shock she'd experienced earlier was justified. When she'd stepped through the magic mirror expecting a quiet rendezvous, the last thing she'd anticipated was walking into a scene that made her question whether the mirror had glitched and dropped her into a parallel universe.

"Yeah, about that..."

Bokue opened his mouth as if to explain, then hesitated.

Venelana's voice lilted upward. "Hm? Was there something different from what I'm imagining?"

"Kind of. It's a long story."

After a moment's thought, he walked her through the whole sequence. How Chysis had used transformation magic to disguise herself as Venelana and infiltrate the old schoolhouse's nightly pool party. How she'd coaxed him into staying the night afterward. How the following morning she'd dropped the act entirely and revealed herself. And then, of course, the "beauty secret" ploy she'd devised to reel Runeas in.

"Wait. Mother-in-law disguised herself as me? And then she..."

Venelana's brain visibly short-circuited for a moment.

She'd assumed it was the other way around. That Bokue had charmed Chysis through sheer force of masculine magnetism, the way he'd won over everyone else.

The revelation that Chysis had been the instigator changed the entire equation.

"So if that's the case..."

Venelana's mind was already connecting the dots. Transformation magic was child's play for any devil with decent magical aptitude. And Chysis and Runeas shared enough facial structure that, setting aside hair color, they could easily pass for sisters.

But none of that mattered without a critical prerequisite: Chysis would have needed to already know about Bokue's relationship with Venelana and the other girls before she ever attempted the disguise.

Which meant...

"Yeah. Exactly what you're thinking."

Bokue tightened the arm wrapped around Venelana's waist, pulling her closer against him.

"Chysis-nee never told me how she found out, but she knew about us from the very beginning. And she made it clear she had zero objections."

"Really?"

Venelana sounded genuinely caught off guard. She'd spent so long dreading the moment Chysis discovered the truth that hearing the woman had known all along and approved was almost harder to process than the alternative.

But then again, Chysis had gone ahead and joined the fold herself. At that point, objecting would've been rather hypocritical.

"So how exactly did Mother-in-law end up..."

Venelana still couldn't quite let the question go.

"Hard to say for certain."

Bokue gave a slight shake of his head.

"If I had to guess, she probably overheard us during one of the pool party nights. You, me, Rias, the others. And after enough nights of listening to all of that through the walls... curiosity got the better of her."

"..."

Fair enough, actually.

Venelana thought back to what those sessions sounded like from the outside. The noises she and the other girls made weren't exactly subtle. Any woman within earshot, night after night, would eventually start to wonder what all the fuss was about.

It was the same principle as a guy watching adult content with the video off, audio only. Even without visuals, the imagination filled in every gap. And the imagination, as it turned out, was a very persuasive recruiter.

Women were no different. Desire wasn't exclusive to one gender. And Chysis, for all her dignified composure, was still flesh and blood.

"Well, well. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

Venelana's laugh was soft, carrying equal parts resignation and unmistakable pride.

"That's the man I chose, after all. Winning over even Mother-in-law..."

"Although, this does mean every single woman in House Gremory now belongs to you. You realize that, right~?"

"Chysis-nee said the exact same thing."

Bokue's deadpan landed perfectly.

Venelana didn't seem bothered in the slightest. She burrowed deeper into the crook of his arm, settling her cheek into the hollow of his shoulder. Warm breath ghosted across his ear with each whispered word.

"Well, it's simply the truth."

A beat of comfortable silence.

"Anyway. Enough talking. It's still early. I want to catch a little more sleep before the sun comes up properly."

She paused.

"Oh. Bokue. Before that. Want to try something?"

"Try what?"

The question came out of nowhere, and Bokue had no idea where she was going with it.

"What do you think?"

Venelana smiled, her expression soft and inviting. She released her hold on him and turned slowly onto her side, presenting her back to him.

"Something like this. You haven't done it this way with Rias and the others yet, have you?"

...

❁❁❁❁

Meanwhile.

High above Itogami Island, suspended in the empty sky, a small figure hovered in perfect stillness.

A girl. Tiny. Dressed head to toe in gothic black, like a porcelain doll plucked from a Victorian shadow box. She gazed down at the sprawling artificial island far below, lips barely parting as if murmuring to herself about some private revelation.

"So that's the kind of thing Bokue Keikain enjoys."

"Maybe I should learn."

"Make him happy."

"And then he'll help me defeat Great Red."

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