Chapter 239: …D-Darling…?

"That was so cool! The moment you burnt it, and then how you suddenly appeared before the monster and sliced its head like butter... how were you that fast?! Even I couldn’t get a proper look at you!"

Jake, Lucian’s newly acquired fanboy, instantly barraged him with praises and questions, his eyes practically sparkling with admiration, making Lucian’s lips twitch slightly.

He barely opened his mouth to answer before—

"There’s another monster in there!"

Jennifer’s voice immediately dragged everyone’s attention away.

All of them turned toward her, and she pointed toward the other side of the cave, where another opening could be seen.

And standing near that entrance—

Was another Kobold.

Unlike the others they had already fought, however, this one had a thin yet particularly visible scar running across one of its eyes.

The monster had apparently noticed them as well, its body tense as it stared at the group from a distance.

Ella’s eyes narrowed, but before she could even take a step—

Ava shot forward, immediately closing the distance between herself and the monster.

The creature let out a startled sound as it barely managed to dodge Ava’s attack, and before she could try to attack it again, it immediately turned around and bolted at an incredible speed, carrying its small body deeper into the passage.

"Tsk!"

Ava clicked her tongue and immediately prepared to chase after it, but—

"Ava, stop."

Isaac’s voice came instantly, stopping her as he watched the cave ahead with narrowed eyes before finally turning toward her.

"Don’t go there alone," he said seriously.

"And leave the monster. We don’t know if it has some trap waiting for us. There might even be a group of them."

Ava remained silent before slowly giving him a nod.

She turned around and returned to the group.

For a moment, silence settled over the cave before Isaac ordered all of them to take some rest for a few minutes.

Hearing those words, Jake immediately dropped to the ground first, and seeing him, everyone shook their heads before sitting nearby.

Ella, noticing the corpses of the monsters, slowly began to stand up, wanting to remove the cores from their bodies.

"You rest. I’ll take care of the cores," Lucian muttered, already having a slight idea of what she might be thinking.

That girl was too much into handling all the aftermath of the battle, even when nobody had asked her to.

Ella looked at him for a few seconds.

Then she nodded and sat back down beside Jake, who was still looking at Lucian.

"He’s so badass," Jake muttered under his breath.

Hearing that, Ella turned toward him, slightly confused by that strange look on his face, almost as if he were looking at his favourite idol.

"Hmm," she merely hummed in response.

And... that was a mistake.

"You think so too?!"

Jake’s head snapped toward her so quickly that she almost flinched.

His eyes lit up, and before she could even understand what was happening, he suddenly started blabbering about Lucian’s actions, as if genuinely wondering how a person could have all these skills while still being this handsome.

Slowly but surely, Ella began shifting a little farther away from him, while everyone else inside the cave just wanted to close their ears.

Lucian, who was standing near the corpses, briefly glanced toward him, and in the next second—

[Analysing...]

[Analysis Complete.]

A translucent screen appeared before his eyes, and Lucian shifted his attention toward the information.

And the moment he did—

[STATUS WINDOW]

Name – Jake Collins

Race – Human

Rank – F

Titles – None

Bloodline – Lionheart Bloodline

Affinity – None

Talent – D

[Attributes]

Strength: F-

Agility: G+

Endurance: F

Charisma: C

[Evaluation — A cheerful young awakener with a reckless mouth and an even more reckless personality. Though he often acts without thinking, Jake is a loyal companion who genuinely cares about his teammates.]

[Affection: 42% (Admiration)]

Lucian immediately flinched hard as he saw the last line in the man’s status window.

He took a few steps backwards, feeling cold sweat appear across his face.

’Just... what is wrong with this fucker...?’

Shaking his head free of those crazy, horrifying thoughts, Lucian turned toward the corpses beneath his feet, trying his best not to burn that bastard off the ground for good.

He could clearly see their bodies, and even smell the faint burning scent coming from the one burnt corpse lying a few metres beside him.

Soft footsteps approached him from behind.

Lucian turned his head, noticing Selene walking towards him.

She reached towards her waist before removing one of the daggers she had been carrying.

She held it towards him.

"Use this. Don’t use your inventory here. Others might notice that," she said quietly.

Lucian accepted it from her, but then, noticing that she was still standing there and seeing her fingers twitching slightly...

He understood something.

"What is it, Mo—Selene?" Lucian immediately corrected himself as he saw Jennifer walking towards him.

"Do you need help?" Jennifer asked, knowing what he was about to do.

"Nope. You all take your rest. I’m fine."

Jennifer blinked before smiling.

"Okaay~ Tell me if you find it hard to find the core~"

She waved casually before turning around and returning to the others.

Even though these two were supposed to be newbies, and they should have been the ones being trained and shown how things worked inside a dungeon, after watching Lucian’s skills...

It didn’t feel like Lucian needed any of their advice.

If anything, it felt almost like the opposite.

Lucian turned towards Selene again.

He didn’t say anything at first, merely looking at her for a few seconds before a faint chuckle escaped his lips, almost as if he could hear the words she wanted to say despite her remaining completely quiet.

"Come here, I’ll tell you how to remove it."

Selene’s fingers twitched slightly.

She had been noticed so easily that she almost felt embarrassed, especially since she hadn’t even managed to say anything yet, nervous about how he would react to his mother asking how to carve out cores from monsters.

But seeing him react positively, she quietly nodded before lowering herself beside him, removing another dagger from her waist and holding it carefully in her hand...

While her son guided and taught her the process of butchering a monster.

Yeah, a bit strange...

But that was how the world had become, and neither of them seemed particularly bothered by it.

And for some weird reason, Selene was even enjoying this small moment.

’Am I becoming like them too?’

She couldn’t help but wonder, thinking that her mind was slowly becoming just like the women around Lucian—mainly those Scarletts.

After removing the remaining cores from the corpses, Lucian walked towards the resting Isaac before tossing them towards him, dropping them right onto Isaac’s head.

An irritated glare immediately met him from the leader, though Isaac reluctantly placed them inside his bag.

After another few minutes of catching their breath, and after Jake had bandaged the cut on his arm, all of them eventually set off towards the same direction the Kobold had escaped into.

The cave became darker the deeper they went.

Isaac walked at the front, holding the torch up and pointing it forward so that everyone could get a clearer view of the path ahead.

Their footsteps softly echoed through the rough walls, and after a while of silence, Lucian was suddenly interrupted by Jennifer’s voice.

"Hey, Lucian?"

Lucian turned his head towards her.

She walked a few steps closer before looking at him with a faint smile.

"I can call you Lucian, right?"

Lucian nodded.

"Yes, it’s fine."

He honestly didn’t really care, and besides, after spending some time with these people, he was beginning to feel a little closer to them, perhaps because of their different yet still likeable personalities—though he had to make sure to stay away from Jake.

"I am curious about something, so I wanted to ask you a question."

"Hmm?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

The moment those words escaped her mouth—

Almost everyone paused for a brief moment before continuing shortly afterwards, though their attention had clearly been pulled into the conversation between the two.

Even those who pretended not to care were listening.

Lucian tilted his head slightly, confused by the sudden question.

For a moment, he actually thought about it.

Then...

"I do," he answered, a soft, fond smile naturally curling across his lips.

Though he knew Lia was now supposed to be his lover, he couldn’t help but feel a strange feeling, since she was supposed to be his sister too—well, step-sister, but whatever.

That distinction didn’t really make the situation any less complicated.

Selene, who heard those words, was feeling even weirder inwardly, turning towards her son with an intent gaze, not knowing what to say to his exact words.

***

"Heh... hehehehe~~"

"Why are you suddenly laughing like an idiot?"

Vivienne asked with a frown, seeing Lia suddenly laughing to herself, her expression slowly becoming more and more distorted as she felt a faint affection travelling through the connection of the blood she shared with her bro—

"He’s not my brother now, right? Wait..."

Lia’s eyes widened as she suddenly realised something.

Her expression immediately became serious.

"What should I call him now?"

Vivienne simply stared at her.

Lia placed a finger against her chin, genuinely thinking about it.

"Babe?" she considered for a moment.

"..."

"Honey?"

Her cheeks gradually became red.

"...D-Darling...?"

The redness spread further across her face.

Her golden eyes began sparkling as they flickered to red for a moment, and her smile widened even further.

Vivienne, who saw that seemingly creepy smile, couldn’t help but comment.

"Now you’re even smiling like your mother," Vivienne muttered, not even bothering to notice when she realised that the brat wasn’t listening to her.

"Darling... darling, darling, darling, darling, darling..."

Her body grew hot as she thought about calling Lucian that, feeling a strange tingle in her lower body as she wondered what he might call her.

Her thighs pressed softly against each other, and her breathing grew heavier by the second.

Vivienne’s brows twitched, though she remained quiet for a few seconds.

But after looking at the smile on her face and hearing her chant more and more names that she was deciding to call that fucker, a faint vein appeared on her forehead.

"You’re irritating me!"

BANG!

Vivienne slammed her fist against the sofa Lia was sitting on.

"Fuck! What are you doing?! I was dreaming about my brother!"

"You were awake..."

Vivienne replied with a deadpan look.

"Doesn’t matter! I’m missing him!"

Her expression suddenly turned angry as she was interrupted from her dreamy state.

"Aaaaaahhh! When is he coming back?! I want him... NOW!"

Her hair fluttered as flames began appearing around her body, and her face twisted into an obsessive intensity before her flaming, rage-filled eyes landed on Vivienne.

Without saying another word, she shot towards the younger redhead, pulling back a flaming fist, only for it to be easily grabbed by Vivienne.

"Here we go again."

The serene, calm hall instantly turned into a battleground, and it took over an hour before Lia finally calmed down, though she wanted to meet Lucian soon.

Very, very soon.

She was suffering from the lack of his scent...

And from the lack of his blood!