I Reincarnated as a Noble Bastard, So I'm Seducing All the Villainess

After what happened that day at the mansion, I don't know if I can look Moriah in the eyes. We had sex, yes, but the feeling involved was different, the vibe hit differently. She threw me to Nirvana and pulled me back, and even here, having returned to a nice punishment of working forcedly on paperwork, I find myself thinking about it.

Sometimes, it takes my breath away to remember the beautiful image of her, on top of my lap, gyrating and making the world exist only in that moment. I didn't even respond to those appeals of "I love you", because frankly, I'm lost in the middle of this mess.

I take a deep breath and put my hands on my face. Some peace and silence would be nice right now, to sleep and not worry about the bureaucracy behind the funds needed to repair the courtroom and also the ballroom we used... but here I am, reading this nonsense and thinking about that moment as if it were yesterday.

Duke Moonlight continues to take advantage of interrogating Philomeu along with Leonhardt. In addition, the two are also kind of working on other internal matters involving the families of those who died in the middle of that attack. There's a chance nothing will come of it, but some heir or idiot will also emerge swearing revenge on the crown and on my father because of the event.

At least, there's one person helping me in this hell, even if I don't like it that much.

The door opens abruptly. I look up at the not-so-pleasant woman marching in with a new pile of documents to be checked. It's that bitch Leliana.

"Lift your head, we have a lot of work to do."

"Couldn't Kristia take my place in this...?"

"With her magical talent, it would be more worthwhile for her to focus on classes with the professors to guarantee a spot at the Academy than to waste time with useless tasks like this."

"I agree this thing is pretty damn useless..."

We reached a consensus, marvelous. The paperwork falls beside me with a dull thud. Fortunately, nothing goes flying, but my eyes feel like they want to roll on the floor and explode just from looking at these things.

"At least, be happy", Leliana says, placing one of her hands on the waist. "Your father now respects you and is even offering you a worthy job. He might even accept you as his heir now."

"I'd prefer the original plan of being sent to a fertile aristocrat in the countryside so he can take my child, but thanks."

I slide my fingers over the fine print of the documentation using a comically large monocle. Most of the content is repeated nonsense, with that repetitive jargon you see in soul-sucking contracts from big companies. This doesn't even take up my time properly, I just stamp what needs to be stamped and set the rest aside.

Leliana, however, picks up a specific document and drags it to the middle of the table. It talks about the specific funds of Count Vandric. I don't have a good feeling about this...

"It's important that you read this. Here are Ravena's complaints about the damage caused by her uncle's farce, but there's also the part about the now widowed Moriah."

"But aren't the Galbraiths marquises? Why would Ravena ask for more from someone who is in a lower position than hers?"

"Vandric seized the lands and also the means of production of the Galbraiths after the death of the family patriarch and matriarch, adopting Ravena in the process. He is only a count in name, but he had a political autonomy and power not too far from a duke if we consider what he accumulated."

"So why didn't the king or the duke give him a new title?"

"The mysterious conditions of the deaths of the Galbraiths made them wary of it. They thought it was a planned murder, because Vandric and Ravena's father were brothers, so envy or a desire for power would explain the reason behind their death. Promoting a man like that to duke or marquis would sound too dangerous for royalty and nobility."

It makes a lot of sense. If the count remained a count, then he could be controlled by those in higher positions and they would also keep a psychopath away from those who wanted to stay in power.

Now that he's dead, his assets and the status of those things are ownerless, and we can't let things stay like that for too long because it could cause problems with barons and the residents within those territories. Okay, the division technically has to be fair too, so how can I work on this?

Leliana and I spent practically the entire morning discussing the content of that paperwork. The reason I'm specifically doing this job is for two reasons: the king hasn't returned yet and the duke is in charge of everything, even certain decrees like this one.

Honestly, this stuff is a pain in the ass to work with. It was more fun when I was going around the entire Scorn screwing with the lives of the shady people there. Now I have to deal with bureaucracy and a bunch of documents I don't even care about because a certain someone says it's more important to torture a revolutionary criminal.

Well, that's life.

At least Leliana is making the job easier for me. The door opens slowly while we gather all the stuff on the table. I look up, the person at the door is none other than Moriah. Why is she here? Shouldn't she be concentrating on her lab stuff and working? This is strange.

"Excuse me..." she says, closing the door slowly behind her and taking a few steps forward. "I came to make some requests regarding the division of assets."

"There's nothing to worry about, Lady Moriah", Leliana replies, now dropping the title of "countess" because it's no longer necessary. "We were already looking into this and making a fair division."

"It's not... about that." The moth-woman taps her fingertips together several times, looking a bit awkward. "I wanted most of the assets to be given to Ravena. I just want some specific objects that involve alchemy, which I need for my work."

My eyebrow shoots up. Is she serious? There's something very strange about this mentality of wanting to give everything away. Moriah isn't a saint, so I highly doubt there's a good reason behind this.

"Hey, are you being serious?"

My voice comes out louder than normal, maybe with a tone of irritation because of all the effort I put in to get rid of Count Vandric and help us get to this point now.

"My dear Darius, I have never been more serious than now."

Something's fishy. I turn my head to Leliana.

"Can you step out so we can talk alone?"

"Hah." My stepmother narrows her eyelids, clearly not liking this. "Fine. I'll be back in a few hours with more documentation."

Son of a bitch, why do you only come back to bring me more problems?! She gets up and leaves the room, so Moriah takes the courage to come closer for a fair dialogue. I cross my arms and harden my face, wanting to understand what the hell she's planning.

"Are you asking to become a commoner so you can go back to eating people?"

"No. I intend to return to my homeland."

What? This... wait, you can't do that!

"Wait, Moriah, but if you go there, doesn't that mean you'll die sooner because of what you told me before? You're already artificially keeping yourself alive. If you go there, then..."

"I understand, Darius, but I can't stand by while my sisters die. I want to develop a new method to extend our lifespan, so all of them can be freed from this destiny of dying young."

"But that doesn't change the fact that you might die, damn it!"

I get up on reflex, slamming my fists on the table and rattling the papers. Shit, I lost control. I pull back, this isn't very normal for me, but the problem is that Moriah remains as impassive as before, showing nothing but a neutral face.

"Do you think I haven't considered that?" she asks, with that irritating calm that makes me feel like I'm the only one losing control here. "Every day I spend in this palace is one less day my sisters have. I know time is against me."

I take a deep breath, trying to process it, but my head is aching and boiling.

"Then why did you come to tell me this? To know that you're going to the slaughterhouse while I waste my time on this pile of papers?"

"It's not the slaughterhouse, Darius. It's home." She takes a step closer, challenging my indignation. "And if I stay here, I'll die sooner or later, or, who knows, they'll catch me killing someone else to increase my lifespan. I love them and I love you too, but you don't understand what it's like to see everyone you love disappear one by one, while you keep breathing just because you were lucky enough to find a bizarre way to survive for another day."

I close my eyes for a second. The image of her alone in that moth village keeps hammering in my mind. For some reason, it bothers me a lot. She's a crazy psycho who would kill me in any situation, yet it doesn't leave me at all in peace to see her leaving here and dying on the way or alone over there.

"Even so, I can't just stand here and watch."

"Darius, do you love me?"

Shit. I grip the arms of the chair. This question stabs my chest in a way I hate, because I can't answer it honestly, and I don't have the courage to say anything. My tongue trembles, trying to form the words.

"I... don't know."

Moriah's expression doesn't even change, which only makes the damn feeling that keeps destroying me inside worse. She finally stands in front of the table, placing her hand on mine and caressing my fingers.

"That's what I needed to hear."

"But... do you have a plan? Are you sure you can help them?"

"I am."

The silence that follows is thick, broken by the sound of my fingers drumming on the wood because of the anxiety pounding in my chest. Deep down, I already know the answer I'm going to give, the problem is that this answer won't let me sleep.