Leon's house, the bedroom.
Silence was the main theme of the night.
But Leon was who he was. Forget the fact that he could stay perfectly composed even in the warzone of having Jeanne, Rose, Kureha, Persephone, and Demeter all gathered in one room. Back in his days navigating the Pleasure Quarter, with a face only a hair less handsome than yours, dear readers, he had long since mastered the art of staying cool under pressure.
When it came to sheer nerve, no one in Leon's life had ever outdone him.
Heh, just a woman!
As long as I'm not embarrassed, the one who's embarrassed is someone else!
He rose from the carpet as if nothing had happened, sat down smoothly at the edge of the bed, completely ignoring the woman's mortified glare, rested one hand casually on the blanket she was wrapped in, and curled the corner of his mouth into a smile.
"Beautiful, what should I call you?"
The red-haired woman: "..."
This man!
The nerve of him!
She glared daggers at Leon, her eyes a tangle of three parts hurt, three parts indignation, and four parts of something complicated she couldn't even name.
Baffling. This whole thing was completely baffling!
She'd just gone to an ordinary graduation dance, so why had it come to this?
She had only attended a perfectly normal graduation dance, so why had things turned out like this? First she'd been drugged, then somehow teleported to this strange place. She'd gotten lucky and slipped away from the clutches of those men, but with the drug taking hold, her mind had already gone hazy... if it hadn't been for the man in front of her...
Her chest rose and fell slightly. She drew in a few deep breaths and forced her scrambled thoughts to settle.
"Before you ask someone else's name, shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"
Leon: "..."
Damn that invitation, pulling this stunt again!
Couldn't you at least let a guy know the terms of the contract during the forced summoning!
Leon cursed the System for causing trouble again, but his face stayed unruffled as he answered with a smile.
"Sorry, sorry, you're just so beautiful I lost myself for a second and forgot my manners."
"Let me introduce myself. I'm Le..."
"Knock knock knock!"
Right then!
A knock came suddenly from the hallway!
???
The next second, the smile on Leon's face froze solid.
"Jea..."
He looked at the woman in front of him, then down at his own bare shoulders, and his eyes shot toward the door in terror.
But before he could get a word out, Jeanne pushed the door open out of pure habit.
After all, they were practically an old married couple by now. This was standard procedure!
But the current situation had clearly broken with standard procedure!
"Leon! I called you a dozen times and you didn't answer. What are you doing holed up in the bedroom in broad day... light...???"
Jeanne's words cut off the instant she pushed the door open.
Her gaze swept over the red-haired woman wrapped in the blanket, looking flustered, then slid slowly toward a certain man whose expression had gone stiff in an instant, and the ease drained from her face into a flat calm.
"Heh heh."
Jeanne let out a cold little laugh that didn't reach her eyes, turned, and walked out.
"I'm done..."
...
...
The sitting room.
Every member of the Familia was gathered.
Flames blazed in the fireplace, filling the winter house with warmth.
But Leon's heart right now was like the snow that kept drifting down outside the window.
The red-haired woman, the subject of all this, sat in the middle, with Jeanne and Rose flanking her on either side like guards. Rose held her hand gently, murmuring something to her in a low voice, glancing over at Leon every now and then.
There was no telling what Rose had been pouring into her ear, but the woman's cheeks flushed crimson all at once, and a fresh layer of bashfulness joined her already uneasy expression.
Unlike Rose's faintly cunning reassurance, the look Jeanne shot at Leon, as the first one to discover the scene, was cold as ice.
The fire crackled, burning through the wood, leaping up lively now and then.
After a long silence, Jeanne crossed her legs, folded her arms, and fixed Leon with a gaze utterly without warmth.
"Talk. What exactly is going on here?"
"We just went to the Dungeon for our usual training, and in less than half a day you've gone and made a mess this big!"
"..."
Leon glanced around. Everyone wore a different expression.
Laurier and Aura were tucked away in a corner, one covering her mouth to stifle a laugh, the other blank-faced.
Kureha was still in the combat gear she hadn't changed out of. Sharp as she was, she'd already picked up on something from the atmosphere between Leon and the strange woman. Her eyes darted away with a touch of shyness, who knew what scene she was sketching out in her head.
And Iri, who soaked up knowledge of the New World like a thirsting sponge, had "I'm so curious" written plainly across her pretty face, not hiding it in the least. Maybe only once she truly understood what lay behind the scene in front of her would she wear the same look as Kureha.
...
At this moment, every one of the women sat upright on the sofa, their eyes like so many spotlights, all trained on Leon at once.
Facing this three-judge tribunal Jeanne had convened, the corner of Leon's mouth twitched.
The situation... was looking a little grim!
"Ahem, Jeanne, hear my pathetic excuses... no, my explanation!"
Jeanne lifted her chin, her tone flat but carrying an invisible pressure.
"Begin your performance."
Catching the glint of mischief in Jeanne's eyes, Leon quietly made a note against her.
Fine. Just a Holy Maiden, and you're looking for an excuse to turn the world upside down? Good, good, good. Tonight there will be filling, and I'll fill you good and hard!
Conveniently, the Metatron set I had custom-made at the Fine Tailor's Shop is finished. Just you wait tonight!
You'd better not beg for mercy then!
While his mind worked over how to deal with the Holy Maiden, his mouth had already begun laying out the whole story for everyone.
Of course, only the parts he knew. As for the woman's part of it, sorry... despite several rounds of deep communication, the regrettable truth was that, even now, Leon still didn't know her name.
...
...
"And that's how it happened."
Having said his piece, Leon struck a "good little boy" pose, sitting there meek and downcast, as if he'd suffered some terrible injustice.
But who among the present company didn't know Leon's nature? Not one person was fooled by this act of his.
Right now, everyone's attention had long since shifted to the newcomer.
"Hmph, those filthy noble tricks again."
"Don't worry, sweetie. From now on you've got us big sisters to back you up. We may not be many, but when it comes to strength, we're pretty confident."
After Rose's gentle coaxing, the red-haired woman's once chaotic state of mind had calmed considerably.
"Thank you, everyone."
"Heh heh, it's nothing. By the way, my name is Rose Marbleheart. Just call me Rose."
"And you?"
"Margaret Odius. Um... I'm a Mage. I look forward to your guidance from here on, big sisters."
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