Lust Knight

Lucien is overjoyed to hear Mira's words. Of course, all his wives trust him, but there's a difference between having the approval of young girls and a woman with thousands of years of experience.

Mira's faith makes Lucien certain that he is on the right path, not just as a man who protects his family but as a King who can lead different races.

"I am so glad you're by my side." He continues to caress and kiss Mira as they fly through Crystal City.

She smiles and kisses him back. "Being by your side makes me happy."

Lucien truly enjoys such moments with his wives. Even though brief, moments like this make him feel that everything is alright, that the many problems surrounding them cannot prevent him from making his beloved ones happy.

So he savors it to the fullest with Mira as they make their way to the city center. Everything is beautiful in that place, streets and buildings made of magical crystals, the water alive, shaping the city itself.

Lucien and Mira don't pay much attention to the view, but all the Mermaids and Nagas watching them do.

For the Mermaids, seeing Lucien happy is heartwarming because they already love him as their brave King. And for many Nagas, it is also true, but they all love seeing their Queen so happy.

Nevertheless, the city is in euphoria. Lucien can already see and hear so many happy Mermaids and Nagas on the surface of Crystal City, but that is the smaller part, while the submerged part is even more animated.

Soon, Lucien and Mira arrive in front of Nea's grand castle. The building is beautiful, with its upper part entirely made of crystals, its towers reaching the clouds, and a gigantic submerged part.

"It's beautiful as Claire mentioned," Lucien comments, marveling at the view. A part of him can't help but see it not only as Nea's castle but as their castle now.

"It truly is beautiful..." Mira had visited the Mermaid capital with her father, but that was thousands of years ago. "It's been so long since I've been here... I guess I'm really old."

Lucien gently holds Mira's chin and makes her look into his eyes, then he smiles. "You look great to me."

She can't help but blush slightly as her heart swells with pride. "Of course."

Without wasting any time, Lucien enters the crystal castle, carrying Mira in his arms. The scene is somewhat bizarre for the Mermaid guards, but they are getting used to having a King, one who has several Queens.

"My King. My King! My King..." All the Mermaids inside the castle greet Lucien with respect and affection in their voices.

He spent much more time among the Nagas than the Mermaids, but his actions to protect them were so extreme that such a result couldn't be any different.

Still, seeing that those Mermaids truly love him leaves Lucien happily surprised. It is only possible because they are such sensitive creatures who can see through his intentions, see that he genuinely cares about them.

After smiling at several Mermaids, making their hearts melt and their tails weak, Lucien and Mira reach the central hall of the castle.

Lucien's sisters are waiting with Nea; they all seem very tired but also tense and anxious.

"There you are!" Naomi gives Lucien a annoyed look. "I thought you were going to make us wait for hours."

"Shut up, Naomi," Claire complains. "There are more serious things at play than your impatience."

"Everyone calm down," Eve speaks in a calm tone. She is usually stricter with her siblings, but she is too exhausted to scold them now.

In fact, all of Lucien's sisters are exhausted due to the amount of demonic energy they have spent and generated in such a short time.

Their bodies are recovering quickly, but their minds need time and for their bodies to relax so they can return to normal.

"Eve is right," Lucien speaks in a neutral but gentle tone. "We have to focus on the real problem here."

"The Leviathan..." Nea comments while staring at Lucien and Mira.

Since they arrived in the hall, she has felt something strange upon seeing Mira in Lucien's arms like that.

Nea certainly no longer doubts that he is good for the Mermaids and that her people already see him as their King, but she still doesn't know what kind of relationship they will have.

Regardless, now she can sense through the connection with Lucien that the mysterious Leviathan is causing him great concern.

"Yes," Lucien nods to Nea. "I don't know what the creature is planning, but I doubt it's good."

"I understand." Nea shares Lucien's concerns. "Saria and Ramla are coordinating the creation of a network of scouts around Crystal City."

"It will be as extensive as possible, and they will use our best magical tools to maintain communication, so we will know if the creature approaches from any angle." She explains.

Lucien truly missed having Saria with the group; he already sees her as part of his family, just like Nea.

But another person is missing, and he can't help but ask about her. "What about Maya?"

Nea again feels that strange and unfamiliar sensation upon seeing Lucien so interested in another woman.

The Mermaid Queen is absolutely certain that she is not in love with Lucien, but she doesn't realize that she is already experiencing common feelings among his wives.

And for them, it's impossible not to feel jealous of Lucien, especially when Envy, Greed, and Gluttony are present.

The combination of the influences of these three Sins makes the women around Lucien desire him even more, wanting him to be exclusively theirs and unavailable to other women.

"Nea?" Lucien doesn't understand why the Mermaid Queen suddenly fell silent.

The Soul Contract allows them to share feelings, but some feminine emotions are too complex for Lucien to comprehend.

"Ah?" Nea gets lost in thought for a second but quickly regains focus. "She went to see how Layla was doing."

"I see," Lucien responds and then looks at Sophia. He was so focused on many things during the battle that he didn't get a thorough report on Layla's situation.

Sophia quickly understands Lucien's concerns and promptly voices her report. "Tyrion drained the fire essence that Maya gave to Layla; that caused serious damage to her body, especially reducing her power level..."

Lust had already explained that to Lucien when he found Layla in Tyrion's prison, so Sophia quickly moves on to the news.

"But she will recover, especially because Maya can provide more fire essence to her..." Sophia pauses and then looks apologetic. "The worst part was the mental damage Tyrion inflicted on the poor girl, and only time can heal that."

Lucien feels truly sorry for Maya; she is such a pure and kind person and certainly did not deserve to see someone she loves going through that ordeal.

The worst part is that even though he helped Maya, Lucien still needs her magic core to prevent his Sisters from being destroyed by the power of the Bloody Rose, which makes him feel even worse.

Lucien's sisters share such sentiment, so Eve quickly tries to change the course of the conversation to avoid losing focus. "What about the Leviathan? What are we going to do?"

When Lucien thinks of ways to increase their power quickly, one thing comes to mind, and he looks at Nea. "Do you have more of those fruits?"

Nea has already made it clear that she fears the use of the rotten fruits from the sacred tree, but she won't hide anything from Lucien anymore. "We have seven of them."

"Wait!" Sophia quickly expresses her concerns. "Don't you remember how sick Maya became after eating those fruits? If it weren't for the energy from Lucien and Lust, she wouldn't have been able to handle it for a few minutes."

"And she still exploded in the end..." Naomi comments. "No one else would be able to use those fruits besides her."

"But she can use them again, right?" Claire asks.

"With Lucien's help, yes," Lust materializes her body and speaks aloud.

She and the other Sins are avoiding materializing their bodies to conserve energy, especially because the Leviathan could appear at any moment, and they need to be ready.

Still, Lust can't stay away from the touch and kiss of Lucien for long.

"But she needs some rest," Naomi speaks about Maya.

"We all do..." Sophia comments.

"And a bath too," Donna speaks as she tries to clean the blood off her face.

All of Lucien's sisters killed many Nagas alongside him before the fight against Tyrion. It was short, but enough to leave their bodies quite dirty.

The seawater helped to clean off the heavy dirt, but they need a hot bath to feel truly clean.

"We have plenty of bathing chambers here," Nea quickly suggests.

Donna can't help but smile. "How about the one with the hottest water?"