This was something he had heard from Eva which had quite surprised him. Zaine had engaged in s.e.x.u.a.l acts with a girl from the Church of Light, which in itself was a problem since the Church of Light might not take too kindly to such a matter, especially since she was an aide to Madam Carrie.
Eva had already explained that Zaine hadn't acted before seeking her permission first, so he wasn't going to make things hard for her. However, he wanted to inquire more into the matter.
Zaine seemed to have expected this matter to come up at some point, so she only smiled languidly as she spoke candidly. "As a Devil, specifically as a succubus, I mostly subsist on the s.e.x.u.a.l discharge of males to acquire sustenance."
"In essence, a succubus is engendered to feel attraction towards males while an Incubus is the exact opposite. Of course, normally our targets are more attracted to us than the other way around."
Zaine pointed to Draco. "Thanks to your presence, I can gain enough to live on for months in just one serving. You have the aura of the most powerful Incubus I've ever encountered. I can claim to seduce almost any male in the world, but you could seduce every female in the world."
"But that is beside the point, I'm just saying first and foremost that toying with that s.e.x.u.a.lly confused girl served me no benefit. I have no s.e.x.u.a.l attraction to my own gender and there's nothing for me to harvest."
"When I entered the Church of Light, this girl displayed a strong reaction to Riveting Night's presence. I could sense untamed l.u.s.t emanating from her, the likes of which were quite obnoxious."
Zaine opened her palm and gestured flatly. "This kind of l.u.s.t was deadly, not too far off from obsession. and in due time it would have undoubtedly developed into such. As you are quite well aware, once a person becomes obsessed with another, they can go to very frightening lengths in their pursuit."
"Their fundamental logical reasoning changes and things you wouldn't expect anyone to do would be a risk worth taking to reach their goal, even if it means a great sacrifice on their part."
Zaine looked Draco right in the eyes. "What we might categorize as causing harm might be to the girl something beneficial. She was a risk I was not willing to let remain for Riveting Night."
"She is the most important of us, the linchpin of this whole genealogy. If anything were to happen to her, we would all become flower vases with no use other than decoration."
"It doesn't matter if I am a Royal Devil, Hikari is a White Dragon or Roma is half Ultima Sunt. Our potential for the future might be astounding, but our utility currently is limited to say the least."
"Yet even if we were to reach the pinnacle of our power, nothing would change. You only care about us because of Riveting Night. The moment Riveting Night decides we should be gotten rid of, we would be disposed of, regardless of any emotional or familial ties."
Draco leaned back in his seat and his mind churned. He realized he had truly underestimated Zaine's intelligence. Despite being an NPC and one of the women he had least interacted with intimately among his 'inner circle', she had managed to see through everything in great accuracy in very little time.
Roma might have gained the Pinnacle Intelligence, but she failed to see this despite being the one who had arguably spent the most time with Draco since his reincarnation. Let's not even mention Hikari, who was still in the process of maturing right now.
"And? What does this have to do with the subject matter?" Draco asked neutrally.
"Make no mistake, I am not complaining about our circ.u.mstances. After seeing and understanding your bond, it is clear to even the densest idiot that you and Riveting Night are two sides of the same coin, two halves of a whole."
"Your existences hinge on each other in ways I cannot even begin to understand and being able to even be intimate with you was only thanks to Riveting Night's choice."
"Which bleeds down to my second point, Riveting Night is more important than any of us. Harm, direct or indirect, cannot be allowed to come to her. Not only due to my respect for her, but also due to self-interest. Without her, we have no purpose beside you."
Zaine rubbed her belly and stuffed more gr.a.p.es down her mouth. "My third reason was because I had received permission from her. She is your other half, and her words are as good as yours. If she could look at it and tell me such a matter was okay, then you would probably tell me the same."
"Finally, and the main reason for my course of action, I wanted to do something for Riveting Night that would win her favor. If I did that, my position in your genealogy would be solid."
"I know you value me for my intelligence, but I am smart enough to realize that I am not the only one with a brain. Frankly, if Roma had as much life experience as I do, she might be able to outdo me easily since she is part-Ultima Sunt."
"My body is suited to your tastes, and you have hinted as much many times. I dare say I have the most suitable of all the women you have encountered."
Zaine chuckled dryly and pulled on her skin. "However, in the end it means nothing. This is just a fleshy bag of skin that does nothing but court trouble if its structured in a way that garners desire."
Draco looked at Zaine with confusion. "Is that that what you succubi love?"
Zaine nodded. "It is, but when we dedicate ourselves to another, it isn't as important. Even more so for me whose s.e.x appeal is so far below yours that I can only feel stifled in your presence."
"It's hard to care much about appearance or effect when your partner will always outshine you." Zaine added wryly.
Draco nodded. "So, in essence, your reasoning was fourfold. One, you had no interest in her and nothing to gain by toying with her. Two, you've recognized Riveting Night's existence is more important than yours, so by shifting the l.u.s.t of the girl onto yourself, you volunteered to suffer whatever backlash would occur instead of Eva."
"Three, you had permission from her, which you felt was the same as getting it from me. Finally, you wished to curry favor with Eva to secure your position in case you became redundant in terms of utility."
Zaine sat up a little more and put away her gr.a.p.es. "Yes."
It seemed that her nonchalance was not as solid as she had made it seem. She had made her case, and it was now time to hear the verdict from Draco. This would decide her future of course, so she couldn't even muster the will to look tough.
Seeing this, Draco was amused. Zaine was the most mature in his genealogy, always able to see the crux of the matter and always self-confident.
She was different from Roma and Hikari who had started out pure and innocent, slowly being corrupted by him, forced to mature by their circ.u.mstances.
As such, it always made her seem level-headed and inviolable, but that was a facade. No matter the person, everyone had emotions, fears, desires and goals.
It was simply a matter of how well it was hidden. Even the kuudere Jade had a myriad of emotions. She wasn't an emotionless robot, it just that she didn't like expressing them.
Zaine was also no exception. It was at this moment that all her masks fell off, leaving the true her on display. Frankly, the way she took this matter so seriously made Draco feel strange.
Even if he cast her out, it wasn't like she would die okay? She was the favorite daughter of Mephisto, who would be quickly collected into the Devil Realm, returning to her life of opulence and endless pampering.
Even more so that she held his child. Even if Draco cast her out, unless he was willing to slaughter his own child, he would always have some connection to Zaine.
Yet, she seemed so worried about the matter…
Draco tapped his chin and pondered about the matter thoroughly. He eventually came to a decision after weighing the facts and intentions.
As such, he leaned back in his chair and smirked. "Has Eva ever told you about our previous conflict?"
Zaine's heart froze as she felt her stomach cramp slightly. "Yes… she mentioned it on our way back from the Divine Auction."
Draco seemed surprised by this. It seemed that Eva had really valued Zaine's help back then if she even chose to share something like that. "And what did she tell you?"
"In the World of the Gods, she had encountered a situation where she would have to sacrifice her dignity for your life, and she had chosen to make the sacrifice."
"Before it could be carried out, you appeared and flew into a rage, thereby turning you from lovers into sworn enemies for a very long time. It was only after you destroyed her faction completely that you were sated."
"The Gods had been touched by your tale and had rewound time for you both, allowing you to reunite before all the pain, making your bond twice as strong as ever."
Draco rubbed his chin. Zaine had really summarized the matter and made it sound simple, but it was really more than that. However, Draco liked the clever way Riveting Night had structured the story.
It captured the crux of the matter without divulging key details that the AI didn't already know or had guessed.
"And? What do you think of the matter?" Draco asked Zaine pointedly.
"This…" Zaine clutched her bedsheets tightly as she failed to answer Draco's question. She truly did not know what to say at this moment that would smoothen things out.
Draco saw her plight and sighed. "I am not bringing this up to push you in a corner. What I want to highlight is that at one time, Eva and I had been torn apart by similar circ.u.mstances."
"Even though it wasn't with another man, which lowers the impact enormously, nothing can change the fact that you actually did the deed which also happened outside my knowledge and without my presence."
"I trust Eva's judgment and agree with you, her words are mine to the letter. However, do not try to do anything like this without either her or my permission/presence, even if you reason that it would be in my best interest."
"Do you understand?"
Zaine nodded demurely. "Yes, I do. I swear to never do something like this even if I am compelled to by another at the threat of your, my or anyone else's life."
Draco smiled. "Now that we've handled the unpleasant matters, we should talk about the pleasant ones."
"This is the second time you have been candid with me, and I value that. Just like in the Aether Hall back during the Impartial Arbitration, you did not mince words or find loopholes. You revealed everything as it was, even the things people would hide in order to maintain a good impression."
"Not only that, your actions successfully managed to simultaneously curb the problem of the l.u.s.tful girl, the bidding war and most importantly, Eva's emotional crisis. All of this in just one day."
"This is putting aside your plan for the Aether Crystals and your insight in following Eva for such an occasion."
Zaine seemed a bit muted. "Oh…"
Truthfully, she had been proud of her achievements that day. She had certainly proven her use to both Riveting Night and Draco, so her merits should have outweighed the risk she had taken on Riveting Night's behalf.
After being berated by Draco, she felt a bit strange. Her confidence in herself as well as her decisions had wavered and she felt like such things were just superficial achievements.
It was a normal thing that everyone experienced yet it was a first for Zaine. She hadn't been scolded and then praised afterward by anyone, as very few could dare to do so to her.
This was a common tactic parents and teachers used for their wards. It made the lesson stick, and the person would first remember their scolding before their praise.
If one praised before scolding, it would make the ward indignant deep down. It was like the parent or teacher was downplaying their achievements because of what they did wrong, which wasn't fair.
However, if one scolded before praising, the ward would be subdued. They would still be feeling down from their scolding, so the subsequent praise would lift their spirits. They would feel touched and grateful for their parent being kind enough to recognize their good work done even though they had done bad.
Draco sighed and looked at Zaine straight in the eyes. "I met you long before I met Roma, Hikari or even Eva to be honest. I met you in the very first few hours of my time in this world actually."
"Yet among you four, my chemistry with you is the shakiest. It might be due to the circ.u.mstances and occurrences between us since then, but it has persisted until now."
Draco shook his head. "This shall not continue any longer."
"As you have said, your intelligence is one of the things I value most about you. You are able to see through the crux of many different issues with a quick glance, despite not having something like Pinnacle Intelligence."
"Another thing is your wisdom. You know your situation in my 'inner circle' is the most awkward, so you don't try to butt in. When Hikari and Eva came to my room to sleep, you quietly situated yourself elsewhere. You make no demands and do not try to cross any lines."
"And finally, your body. You are right about that too, in terms of s.e.x.u.a.l attraction, yours has the strongest appeal to me. This has nothing to do with your succubi aura, as it has little of no effect on me."
"This is mostly due to your body structure, your looks and frankly, your personality. I'd say your personality contributes the most to it, as many men like me are attracted to confident yet playful women… which is usually our downfall."
Draco shook his hands and moved to sit by Zaine on her bed. "My point is, there is no real reason for there to be a rift between us. I have already ascertained that you are a woman I desire, can trust and one of extreme talent."
"You are no different from Hikari or Roma. That is precisely why you have been allowed into my 'inner circle'. So why do you segregate yourself like this?"
Zaine seemed at a loss for what to do. Succubi were queens of the bedroom as well as general s.e.x.u.a.l matters, but intimacy on this level was new to Zaine.
She wasn't exactly sure what the right choice here was supposed to be. Her mind rationalized many responses or actions, but she pushed them away because this wasn't a scenario that required brains.
It was a scenario that required the work of the heart, and she would make things worse by using her brain too much. As such, Zaine let go and spoke truthfully.
"The truth is… I honestly feel inferior to you."
Draco had already seen this in her mind back then, so he remained silent. As such, Zaine continued.
"When we first met, you were able to resist my s.e.x appeal even though your bloodline was still locked. That was the first blow, as I had yet to encounter such a thing in my life."
"Next, when we questioned you, I displayed my half-form and yet you looked at me like I was a piece of dogshit. That was the second blow."
"After you razed the village, you were ready to kill me. My only saving grace was that you kept me around on the whim of Riveting Night, which was the third blow."
"After that, you took my true v.i.r.g.i.nity, which is not the same as my physical v.i.r.g.i.nity. When I submitted to you back then, it meant I would no longer gaze at another man ever, and I would be able to bear your children."
Zaine's head drooped a little. "After that, I didn't see you until Sublime Notion brought us to Vita City State. I spent more than two weeks alone in an unfamiliar castle without the presence of the one I had dedicated myself to."
"No one dared to approach me and I dared not do anything lest I overstep my bounds."
"When you called me into the Impartial Arbitration, I received the first blast of your aura... your released bloodline. Every aspect of my being submitted then, not just s.e.x.u.a.l submission."
"You also made it clear that you valued my intelligence over my body, which simultaneously made me content and depressed. My sentient side was pleased while my succubus side was saddened."
"Since then, you have only shown more and more greatness. I decided to enter this genealogy because my body and mind submitted to you, but I made the decision to forgo my father's orders because I saw your potential."
"Whatever ceiling or highest point exists in the world, I have no doubt you will reach it... and smash through it. I wanted to be a contributor to this and see what the world looked like from the top."
"I knew you were aware of my intentions, which was why I decided to work my way up diligently until I got the right to bear your child and ride along this ship with you."
Zaine laughed bitterly. "However, I was deluding myself. My considerations and plans meant little to you, because as long as I kept your interests at heart, you would allow me to join anyway."
"I was planning on bitterly fighting for something you gave out easily, as long as loyalty was assured. It made me realize how little I understood you or Riveting Night, as well as your goals."
"Even now, I'm not sure I do or ever will. However…"
Zaine rubbed her belly gently, with an uncharacteristically gentle smile on her face. "After this short duration where I was on my own with our child developing inside me, I've had a lot of time to think."
"After our talk today, my will has been set."
Zaine raised her head and gazed at Draco, and there was that very same strange gleam that existed in the eyes of Eva, Hikari and Roma growing in them.
"Draco, I want to dedicate my life and soul to you for eternity."