I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

After everything that had gone through during the breakfast Elizabeth finally noticed something, or to be precise, she noticed what was missing. “Where is Rena?” Asked the blonde girl, she hadn’t noticed how Rena was missing.

 

Mostly because she had been too busy this morning, between her talk with Lizbeth and then what happened at breakfast, it was after she had settled her emotions and made sure everything was okay that she finally noticed the missing red-haired girl.

 

“She didn’t want to impose and decided to eat in her bedroom, and that works for us too.” Lizbeth said turning to her daughter, “So Rossy, what do you think about Watanabe Rena?”

 

Oh, well, that would be a dangerous question to answer…. One that Elizabeth also wanted to listen.

 

“She is okay, her body is well proportioned, and has the correct mindset, and she knows her place.” Rossie answered without stopping to think about it, then turning to look at Elizabeth she added, “Also, Eli-Eli wants to keep the pooch, so long she takes care of the dog’s needs I don’t mind it.”

 

So cute, I mean. So adorable…I mean! No Rossie, Rena is a human, she isn’t a dog!

 

“I see. You are quite understanding, if Albert wanted to keep a pet like that I would castrate him…” Lizbeth said looking at Rossie’s father whose face paled, “But then again Elizabeth doesn’t have anything to castrate…Is that the difference?”

 

….Thank the gods that she had been born female.

 

“It matters not, Rena can give Elizabeth something that I can’t, and that is enough. So long Elizabeth still loves me…” Rossie said squishing her hand under the table, “I will understand and play along.”

 

“Of course I love you Rossie, the pooch—I mean, Rena will not change that!” Elizabeth said kissing her girlfriend on her cheek, “You still will not get smoochies today, and don’t think I forgot!”

 

This was this, and that was that after all.

 

“Fine, now for the next part…Bring her in.” Lizbeth said to one of the maids, who in turn walked to the door and made a motion with her hand, letting in Rena, had they been keeping her waiting? Rude!

 

“Greetings Lady Singh, Lord Sing…” Rena said bowing to Rossie’s parents, then turning to them, her eyes turned warmer when they saw Elizabeth, “Good Morning Elizabeth…Rossaline.”

 

“Morning Rena, wish you had come to eat with us,” Elizabeth said waving at the girl, Rena just smiled and walked to sit at her side, that meant that Elizabeth had Rossie her girlfriend to her left, and Rena to her right.

 

Her left hand was holding her girlfriend and as soon as Rena sat she felt a hand dart to her right getting hold of her. The only difference with Rossie was that Rena’s expression didn’t change at all, even if she could feel the turmoil of emotions from the red-haired girl thanks to the thread that joined them.

 

“Now Watanabe Rena. This is a question that from your point of view, I probably have no right to ask, but since neither my daughter nor her lover seem to want to do it I will do it myself.” Lizbeth started, then without waiting for Elizabeth or Rossaline to say anything, “What do you think about Elizabeth?”

 

“I love her.” Rena answered without batting an eye, “Or I think I do. These feelings are different from what I thought was Love, what I thought was [Love] was giving everything to someone else, to only think about what they wanted without thinking about myself. To give everything that I had to them and want nothing back. To let my flesh be theirs to play, to bleed for their whims, to [Kill their enemies]....”

 

Rena’s eyes turned a dangerous glint, and Elizabeth could feel the hand of the girl tremble, so she gave her a squish and let some of her mana leak into her, soothing the raging mana within.

 

“But Elizabeth doesn’t seem to want that from me, as far as I can tell she is happy enough with me being myself.” Rena turned to look at Elizabeth and Rossaline, “And as far as I can tell, the relationship she has with Rossaline isn’t one of [Slave] and [Master]. So I’m not sure what is it they have, but I want in. I want to know that someone will burn the world for my sake…I want to have someone who will do as much as I for them back…”

 

“That is not usually how Love works,” Lizbeth said shaking her head, “Usually a relationship is something where one brings out the best in their partner while taking care of them, you strive to make the other one better while they do the same for you. You are with them, you help them…”

 

“I want to do that. I will take care of Elizabeth, even if she never loves me back. Even if all I am to her is a toy to enjoy.” Rena said, Elizabeth felt the hand of the girl going slack, so she took hold of that hand and made sure the other girl would not let go. “I just want someone who will look at me and let me be with them.”

 

“I will never use you as mere enjoyment.” Elizabeth said with a frown on her face, “Even if I like how you taste and love how you look.”

 

“Eli-Eli, that doesn’t sound believable while you are ogling Rena’s chest,” Rossie said at the side.

 

“I mean. I’m not sure what to think about this, but as long as you are happy staying with us and don’t mind that my main interest is Rossie… You are welcome to stay, at least while we heal your soul. If after that you want to leave you are free, I will release you from my grasp if that is what you wish.”

 

“NO!” Rena screamed at her with tears in her eyes, “No…don’t….don’t leave me….please…”

 

“...I will not, I promise. Not unless you want to.” Elizabeth said as she saw the red-haired girl cry while going as far as to grab her hand with both arms trembling. It was almost as if she was scared about being hit, but at the same time didn’t want to let go for fear of being left.

 

“Watanabe Rena!” Rossie raised her voice making the other girl flinch, “ Elizabeth is too much of a good person to leave those in need, so long you are in need she will not discard you, she even indulged me.”

 

That made the other girl relax a little, “But I am looking, the moment I suspect you are damaging yourself to make sure Elizabeth doesn’t leave you…” This made Rena flinch, “I will kill you. Elizabeth will never forgive herself if she thinks that you are hurting yourself to stay with her.”

 

“Rossie!” Elizabeth was surprised that she would even say something like that…for some reason.

 

“It needs to be said Elizabeth, you don’t know how much of an enticing light you are to those of us with damaged souls. You Elizabeth Starbright are a drug, a sweet allure that opens her arms to all.” Rossaline said with a smile, “But you are only human, you can’t take care of all, so those that hurt themselves only to stay with you aren’t worthy of you. And that includes me…”

 

“You would never…You are a Healer Rossie, you know how wrong is to hurt yourself.” Elizabeth said, the mere idea of her lovely, cute, and bright Rossie hurting herself…

 

“No. I will not, and I made sure of it. Beatrice will make sure too of it, the moment I ever act on that idea they will stop me.” Rossie said, what kind of deal or order did she give Beatrice… Elizabeth didn’t want to know. “Don’t say you weren’t warned, Watanabe Rena.”

 

“Yes…” Rena said in a small voice.

 

“And so, the next question,” Lizbeth said turning the attention back to her, right. They were with Rossie’s parents…. “What do you think of my daughter Rossaline Singh?”

 

….oh. What did Rena think about Rossie? The same Rossie that just now glared at her? The one that exposed what probably was her plan to make sure she wasn’t discarded?

 

“...I envy her. I hate her. I wish it was me the one that met Elizabeth first.” Rena answered, “Had I met Elizabeth first, perhaps I wouldn’t have suffered as much. Had I been born near her…My life would have been happier.”

 

Then turning to look at Rena once more, Rena added. “But I know my feelings aren’t fully recovered, I know that my emotions are unstable. Because even though I know that she isn’t at fault, sometimes I find myself thinking about Rossaline. Thinking about how her kiss felt…thinking about how her body felt…Wanting to kiss her…”

 

…what?

 

“So I don’t know. Do I love Rossaline too? I know she doesn’t love me. I know that if it wasn’t for Elizabeth, then Rossaline wouldn’t even look at me. So my feelings for her are complicated at best and contradictory at worst.” Rena said turning to Lizbeth, “But I will never hurt her, even if she does attack me. Elizabeth loves Rossaline, so even if it kills me, I will make sure that Rossaline Singh lives.”

 

“...that should be good enough I guess.” Lizbeth said nodding, “Fine, you will be sponsored by the Singh, your previous scholarship was under the name of Suzuki Akira, and since he is MIA you would be in trouble next year. But we will take care of you now.”

 

“Thank you, Lady Singh,” Rena said grabbing a handkerchief and cleaning the tears on her face, at no moment did she let go of Elizabeth’s hand. “I will make sure to live up to whatever demands you have of me.”

 

“There will be no demands,” Elizabeth said with finality, making Lizbeth raise an eyebrow.

 

“How are you so confident of that?” Asked Rossie’s Mother.

 

“Because as long as you wish to keep an amicable relationship with me, you will stay away from anyone who is under my care.” Elizabeth said with a smile on her face, even though her eyes weren’t smiling at all, “Or in other words, you will stay away from my women.”

 

…that sounded so cringe.

 

“It’s okay Eli-Eli, Mother would never do something so banal as trying to blackmail.” Rossie said while trying to hide a blush that seemed to want to blossom on her face, “If anything we have more things to blackmail her than she has on us.”

 

“...I wouldn’t mind listening to some favors, but I wouldn’t accept anything that was against our interest Elizabeth.” Rena added on the side, “One favor here and there should be okay, if it makes it easier on the money front.”

 

“No is No.” Elizabeth said, “And you can call me Eli-Eli like Rossie does, or any other way.”

 

Rena was stumped at that, and even stopped thinking all together for a few seconds, “I will use Eli then…” And said as such in a small voice.

 

Yep, cute girls acting shy for her was cute after all.

 

“Was there anything else you wished to say, Mother?” Rossie said, she seemed…not angry but annoyed. Was it because Rena was acting all cute? But Rossie was cute too! What was she supposed to do if a girl acted cute?!? Cute girls are justice!

 

…was she turning into something like her Mother? The horror….

 

“Well, I wanted to make sure the hierarchy was okay, but you seem to be…not at the top, but at least above Rena…” Lizbeth mumbled.

 

“Oh trust me Mother, I’m the one at the top when it matters,” Rossie said with a smirk turning to Elizabeth.

 

Elizabeth, of course, couldn’t help but blush at what Rossie was probably implying, they hadn’t done anything like that (Yet) so it was impossible to know who was at the top!

 

…It would be probably Rossie tho, but they didn’t know that for sure yet!

 

…It would totally be Rossie, and Elizabeth wouldn’t mind any second of it, and was going to enjoy it very much. But still!

 

“Hmm….so long you are happy with that Rosy, just remember that we do need one of your daughters to be a Singh.” Lizbeth nodded at her, then turning to Elizabeth, “Or yours…Depends on who ends pregnant I guess? I don’t know how you [Magical Girls] even decide that. But who cares, so. Do you three have any questions?”

 

Yes, she had. Many questions.

 

“What do you want after giving us these properties?” Rossie started before Elizabeth could even ask. Weren’t these gifts?

 

“...Your firstborn having the Singh name will be enough of a payment,” Lizbeth answered.

 

That made Elizabeth think, were they selling their firstborn? That…

 

“Will you take our child?” Elizabeth growled the words, she didn’t mind the fact that they wanted for her future daughter to have their name, it was, after all. Just a name, she didn’t hold the last name of either of her parents either. And that didn’t make her less of their daughter.

 

But she still grew up with her parents, and these puny humans wanted to take her daughter?

 

“N-No, w-we j-jus-t…w-a-n-t….the….li-nea-ge….to….be….l-l-in-ke-d.” Lizbeth wheezed the answer.

 

Was she lying? If not why would this pathetic meat bag speak like this?

 

“Eli-Eli….calm down, think of the baby. If something happens to my sister it will turn more annoying.” Rossie spoke at her side.

 

The baby? What of it? What if that puny brat died? THEY WANTED TO TAKE WHAT WAS HERS! SHE OUGHT TO….No wait, wasn’t that Rossie’s sister?

 

Huh?

 

Elizabeth took a deep breath and took notice of what was happening, information flooded her mind as soon as she looked for it, her new skills giving her the data she needed, she had lost her temper, and her [Instincts] acted to grant her access to what she needed to [Protect what was hers].

 

And then taping into her [Inheritance] they enhanced her [Draconic Instincts]. This meant that when she felt a threat to her bloodline, she acted on impulse, trying to squish the threat using her might. How did that translate in simple terms? She had projected all the mana that she could generate and used that to try to squish what she felt was an enemy.

 

Just like how Nyx had manifested his Mana into a pillar that he used to squish Akira like the [Bug] he was.

 

Only she didn’t have nearly as much mana as him, so this meant that what she managed to do was increase the pressure she exuded and pointed it toward the threat…In this case…Rossie’s parents.

 

Albert Singh was unconscious, he still looked very much awake, but his eyes betrayed the truth, there wasn’t anyone at home in that head. Lizbeth Singh had dealt with that better, and…her unborn child was also okay. It seemed the Shadow Assassin had protected the girl from the pressure.

 

“Apologies…I am very [Protective] with my loved ones.” Elizabeth said, calling back all the mana that she had released, making so the heavy punishing aura disappeared. As soon as she did so, the bodies of those who had been frozen in fear fell.

 

First, it was Rossie’s father, who fell to the table, then one by one the maids and guards. Leaving only awake Rossie, Rena, Beatrice (She was sitting like a proper lady not minding the adults speaking), and Lizbeth Singh.

 

“It’s okay, as I said before. We will not take your daughter, we only want her to have the Singh name, so if something happens to…us. The bloodline of the Singh can carry no.” Lizbeth said fixing her attire with trembling hands, this time however, she didn’t disguise how her hands hovered above her belly, using the artifact in her ring to make sure her daughter was okay. “And should something happen to Albert or me…We want you to take care of Rossaline’s Sister.”

 

Well, that was easy enough. Elizabeth didn’t mind taking care of another girl, heck, she already had Beatrice and Aura around, might as well add another one.

 

“I don’t mind taking care of her if something happens to you. But it will not come to that, you are Rossie’s parents, and you will be taken care of.” Elizabeth said she would summon more [Minions] to make sure of that, she probably could summon more now…Probably.

 

“....If I didn’t know you, I would take that as a threat.” Lizbeth said with a small laugh, “But if anything I don’t think you would go about like that, your [Pride] wouldn’t allow you to go about in such a way would it?”

 

…Was she prideful? She didn’t think she was.

 

“Eli-Eli does not need to make threats, anyone that even dares to stand in her way deserves what they get,” Rossie said with a nod.

 

“And if they don’t get it. We will make sure they get what they deserve, those that don’t see Eli’s greatness deserve death.” Rena added with gravitas in her tone.

 

Rena? Weren’t you one of those? You were very rude at first!

 

“That is good and all, but you may want to keep these outbursts in control. If it was someone else it may have not worked, and in other cases, you may have invited retaliation from them.” Lizbeth said, still struggling to control her trembling hands, “If it had been done to the [Galaxidae] for example, you would have found yourself fighting with their powerhouses, and if you think [The Nine] are the only one with power…You are for a rude awakening.”

 

“Are there more people at that height of power?” Asked Rena, she…seemed worried about that idea.

 

“Of course, even if we don’t count [Framework] and [Odyssey] since they ascended, the original twelve still have two members that aren’t in the current lineup,” Lizbeth said taking a sip from a cup of tea, she was trying to play off the scare she got.

 

“[Shadow Pact] and [The Juggernaut]?” Rossie asked at the side, making Elizabeth yelp unconsciously at the mention of her childhood crush.

 

Would she ask for an autograph? Probably, she wasn’t sure if she would fangirl over him, to be honest, she…never quite got around to meeting [Shadow Pact], mostly because she didn’t want to taint their meeting by making her Father get him to come to her birthday parties.

 

And he did ask if she wanted him to boss him into coming.

 

“So, since Echidna took one of the spots…Does she have the same power level as [Shadow Pact]?” Rossie asked, “Actually, what happened to [Shadow Pact] and [The Juggernaut]?”

 

Rena at the side turned, “There were more people at the peak?” Oh right, she didn’t have memories pre Advent.

 

“...We don’t know, [Shadow Pact] wasn’t a very sociable person, and [The Juggernaut] only was seen in action, no one has seen it in public, unlike [Shadow Pact].” Lizbeth answered, then turning to them she added, “And that isn’t the only danger. The [Galaxidae] have their own powerhouses…And we the Singh are nurturing ours too.”

 

Elizabeth turned to Rossie, was she one of those projects?

 

“Yes, Rossaline is one such example, even if she isn’t going to be one of our powerhouses….” Lizbeth admitted, right. Rossie probably would be tied to her more than to the Singh. “We, unlike the [Galaxidae], will not nurture kids into loyal cultists. Everyone that is nurtured by us will have the choice to leave.”

 

She could respect that, Elizabeth too, after all, wanted for those who followed her to have the choice to leave if they wanted.

 

“No one will leave Mistress,” Beatrice spoke finally, even after not saying anything during this meal, “Anyone that has been under your wings will never want to leave.”

 

…Well that was ominous.

 

“That is what we wish to nurture too,” Lizbeth said, “So, what do you want to do?”

 

That was the question, right? What did they want? She wanted to leave and go back home… But they had many things to deal with before doing so, [Avalon] even if it wasn’t isolated as before, was still a place that didn’t have many of the advantages of an open world.