Marcus stayed silent.
He had gone over, again and again, the reasons why Tamayo might reject him.
He thought maybe she just couldn't shake the weight of her old family from her heart. He thought maybe it was her own obsession, that desire to give herself over completely to revenge.
He even came to believe it might have to do with Yushiro.
… The only thing that had never even crossed his mind was that the reason might be him.
"You're very fragile."
"... Yes."
Tamayo admitted it without beating around the bush.
"Throughout all these years, the only thing that has kept me alive has been revenge." She lowered her gaze. "If I keep sinking deeper into you, I'm afraid that one day I'll end up begging you to take me far away. To some place where Muzan can't find us. Run from everything… forget it all."
"But you see me as too fragile." Marcus lifted her gaze.
"Huh?"
"I won't die."
"And it's not just that Muzan can't kill me. No one can. The only thing you have to do is trust me."
"But..."
"There's no 'but' here."
He cut her off cold and, without transition, his voice softened.
"I can understand you. And I'm going to respect your will." A dangerous shadow clouded his smile, "But you also know... that I'm impatient."
"A-Aahh~!" A gasp of surprise escaped Tamayo. "... You, you can't... I'm still..."
"Relax. I'm not going to force you before you accept. But you have to give me a deadline."
"F-For what?" she asked with difficulty, "K-Killing Muzan?"
"That's too long, I can't wait that long, and I can't hold out that long either..."
"P-Pervert..."
"Yes. I'm a pervert. And one with no patience." Marcus smiled, "At the most, I'll wait for you until the experiment is finished."
"By then, with the medicine that can kill Muzan, or neutralize him, in our hands, you shouldn't have so many worries anymore."
"And even if at that moment you really do feel scared and want to run away with me, we could also hand over the results of the experiment to the Demon Slayer Corps."
"That way we can finish off Muzan, and you won't have to worry about losing everything."
"I..."
"It's decided." Marcus didn't give her time to think it over.
"W-Why are you so domineering~?"
"Heh, you'll get used to it."
Marcus smiled in a strange way. "But before that, for not having rejected me from the start, and for not being submissive right now, you'll have to take on a little bit of responsibility."
"What responsibili—Mmm!~♥️"
The room filled with faint, muffled moans.
Outside.
Yushiro remained there, standing, lost in a daze for a long while.
Tamayo's voice, gradually shifting from resistance to acceptance, was like a knife that, slice by slice, kept cutting away at his heart.
Especially the: "I see him as a little brother"...
It went round and round in his mind.
He didn't know how long he had been standing there.
Maybe a long time.
Maybe just a few seconds.
When he finally came to his senses, he realized he was no longer in front of the door.
He was going down the stairs.
On his way to the basement.
"I think I remember... that in the storeroom... there's still some wine left…"
The unrequited love of a young man is always something that gets seared into the soul.
And Yushiro was no exception.
Even if he had already lived a hundred years, when it came to his character, he was nothing more than an innocent kid who had barely had any contact with the world.
That's why, when he got drunk for three days straight in the basement, nobody took it too much to heart.
Just a simple case of heartbreak… It was enough to let him recover little by little.
That day, Tamayo and Marcus had already realized, quite a while back, that he was behind the door. What they were saying to each other was, at heart, also directed at Yushiro.
That's why all of that was something that, sooner or later, had to happen.
Nobody bothered him. Everyone went off to take care of their own business.
Of all of them, the busiest was Tamayo, who had to handle modifying Ivy and Pearl.
The technique was already pretty refined, but even so it required constant observation, so she barely had any free time left.
Marcus, for his part, took charge of the logistics and of looking after the little family.
And the result was as expected. In just three days, the modification was complete.
Ivy and Pearl completely lost the desire to devour humans.
When, encouraged by Tamayo, they uttered the name "Muzan," the blood curse that should have activated remained absolutely silent.
Immediately the two of them hugged each other and burst into tears.
Compared to having lived every single day under the fear of what was out there, the place where Marcus and Tamayo were was, simply, a paradise.
Now without the craving to devour humans, they could also, just like Tamayo and Yushiro, enjoy a good meal normally.
Although they didn't have the gut flora needed to digest it, the mere fact of being able to eat was, in itself, a blessing.
The first day after the transformation, the two of them ate what would normally be consumed by several people over the course of three days.
They ate until their little bellies were rounded out, brimming with happiness, and even so they refused to stop.
In the end, it was Marcus who had to order them to quit.
In the days that followed, every time mealtime rolled around, they were the most enthusiastic ones at the table.
Luckily, Ivy also began putting into practice the recipes she had stored in her memory; recipes she had never used, but which she knew by heart.
And Pearl was her assistant in the kitchen.
That way, culinary matters stopped being something Marcus had to worry about.
The following days were spent on strengthening.
Or, to be more precise, on blood transfusions.
Didn't Rui usually share his abilities with the members of his family? Well then, this time he shared them in full.
That said, Rui had already handed out the poison ability with "Son Spider," and a portion of his strength and physical capabilities with "Father Spider."
Those, Ivy and Pearl could no longer inherit.
But their own abilities — the manipulation of threads, characteristic of Ivy, and the cocoon, Pearl's specialty — received a drastic upgrade.
The most notable difference was in the resistance of those threads.
When Marcus saw that Ivy's threads cut through steel like it was nothing, and that Pearl's cocoon, once hardened, was as tough as steel itself…
All the problems he'd had over these past days vanished into laughter.
With the two of them unleashed, one attacking and the other defending, as long as they coordinated well, taking down a Lower Moon shouldn't be a big deal anymore.
Even so, all of that came at a price.
Maybe because they had absorbed too much of Rui's blood, the appearance of both of them could no longer go back to what it was before.
Ivy ended up as if frozen in the look she had at that moment; even her figure became… more voluptuous. Bigger breasts, full and firm, and a much rounder ass that obscenely showed itself off under any piece of clothing.
Pearl, on the other hand, kept her figure and her face almost completely intact.
But the red dots on her cheeks had disappeared, and her eyelashes, previously green, had turned white.
Her whole body was now as white as snow…
And combined with the kimonos, also of an immaculate white, that Tamayo had carefully picked out for them…
The effect was, simply, impossible for Marcus to bear.
"Tomorrow I have to travel to Headquarters, and since during these days that I'm gone a lot of things are going to be left in their hands, tonight the two of them are going to have to come to my room… for one final review."
Ivy and Pearl glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes, and on their beautiful faces, white as porcelain, a subtle pink blush peeked through.
Tamayo, who was smiling beside him, shot Marcus a reproachful look, rolling her eyes.
How could she not have noticed what was going on between Marcus and those two?
At this point, with Marcus, she had practically already done everything… except the most important thing.
But she had never had any intention of butting into his private life.
For one thing, it had been a long time since she was an innocent young girl.
Not like those two, whose first man was Marcus. She, on the other hand, had nothing to fight for, nor any reason to feel jealous.
For another, in the era she had lived in, what man of any standing settled for just one woman?
Having a single woman, in her time, was a sign of incompetence.
So, for her, this whole "monogamy" thing that had become so trendy in recent years wasn't part of her principles.
And much less did she plan on using it to demand anything from Marcus.
That eye-roll was nothing more than a soft reproach for the lack of subtlety from that pervert Marcus, who had barely broken in the new kimonos on the two girls…
And the only thing he was already thinking about was when he could rip them off.
After all, you didn't have to be very perceptive to notice the way his eyes lingered over every curve: in the way the fabric hugged Ivy's generous chest, or in how it adjusted to Pearl's hips at the slightest movement.
Tamayo sighed inwardly. That man was a hopeless case… But, deep down, she didn't really want him to be cured either.
"I don't have any problem with Nezuko sleeping with me tonight, but you promised me you'd help Yushiro…" Tamayo turned her gaze toward the basement, with a hint of worry.
Seven days had passed since Marcus's return.
And for seven whole days, Yushiro had been holed up down there.
Even if he was a demon, if he stayed locked up like that, sooner or later something bad was going to happen to him.
She had never thought of Yushiro as a partner; otherwise, after a hundred years living together under the same roof, something would have happened between the two of them a long time ago.
But she did, sincerely, see him as a little brother.
How was she going to just sit there with her arms crossed while something happened to him?
However, in the face of all that, Marcus simply smiled.
"His thing is easy. Tomorrow, as soon as I'm gone, head down there and tell him. You don't even have to push too hard. He'll come bouncing out on his own, jumping for joy."
Tamayo opened her eyes slightly. "…That simple?"
"That simple."
"…All right, I'll try tomorrow…"
That night, from Marcus's room, wet, rhythmic sounds rumbled out. The slap of skin against skin that wasn't trying to disguise itself in the slightest.
A pinkish mist, loaded with a sweet, intoxicating aroma, began to seep through the ventilation duct that connected both rooms, slowly creeping its way toward Tamayo.
Broken sighs. Muffled moans that mixed with the deep voice of Marcus giving them orders. Every now and then, a sharp cry that gave Pearl away, followed by Ivy's hoarser, more shameless panting.
Tamayo, completely flushed, carefully tucked the innocent Nezuko in until she fell peacefully asleep. But she, no matter how hard she tried, couldn't manage to fall asleep.
It wasn't just because of the sounds.
But because Marcus, every now and then, was also taking advantage of that ventilation duct to "interact" a little with her.
Wanting to make sure she was riled up enough that she wouldn't be able to sleep.
Tamayo squeezed her thighs together under the sheet, her breathing ragged and her cheeks burning hot.
Demon of a man!
The next day, Marcus left Tamayo's house in a sky-high mood.
And Yushiro, the moment he heard the news of Marcus's departure, shot out of the basement, beaming with joy.
Fixing his hair, adjusting his clothes, strutting around like a peacock.
Watching him recover his vitality like that, Tamayo didn't know whether to burst out laughing or smack her hand against her forehead.
Oh, men…
So fragile… and, at the same time, so incredibly resilient.
Meanwhile, Marcus, who was heading alone to Headquarters, didn't go directly to look for Kagaya about the money matter.
Before that, he decided to swing by the Butterfly Mansion first, ready to visit Shinobu and Kanao, and, while he was at it, meet little Aoi and the three other adorable girls.
And if he was lucky enough to bump into them… take the opportunity to get a look at the current state of the three weirdos.
But what he really hadn't expected was that the very moment he saw Shinobu again, his face, which had been euphoric just a second ago, darkened completely.
[High-Potential Female Target Detected!]
[Name: Shinobu Kochō (Human)]
[Strength Rank: Hashira]
[Potential: Medium-High (Can activate the Fourth Level of Analysis)]
[Current Analysis Grade: 53.21%]
"..."
The analysis grade was still the same as on the day of their farewell, without any change at all, just about to reach the second level.
That, in itself, was good news. But that wasn't where the problem was!
THE POTENTIAL RATING!
Just a week ago, Shinobu's potential evaluation had still clearly read "Extremely High"… AND NOW IT WAS SHOWING UP AS "MEDIUM-HIGH"!
In the span of a single week, without having gone out on any mission, without having taken a single wound, her potential had dropped drastically.
THE REASON!?
WHAT OTHER REASON COULD IT POSSIBLY BE!?
The only cause capable of triggering a drop like that… HAD to be THAT matter!
__________
Throw your stones, drop them ALL! 💎
And don't forget to comment, I wanna know if you liked the chapter 👀
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And if PS aren't your thing but you still want more chapters...
P-a-t-r-e-o-n → Athome790