A Restaurant’s Reckoning and the Awakened Mistress

Outside the Blood Manor dungeon, in Emes Town, stood a rather cheap restaurant.

“You know, I really think we should just give up on the Blood Manor dungeon.”

Ailur poked at the rock-hard beans on her plate, meticulously picking them out one by one with a clear look of annoyance.

“Are you insane? If not the Blood Manor, then what dungeon do you plan to tackle?”

Avril retorted, coiling a clump of cold, congealed pasta onto her fork. She only bothered to reply to Ailur out of fear that the simpleton would launch into another endless tirade of complaints, not because she genuinely cared to engage with the increasingly brain-dead idiot.

“What about Abyssal World or the Land of Spirits?”

“…Has your brain been gnawed by a ghoul?”

Faced with Ailur’s utterly idiotic suggestion, Avril struggled to rein in her temper. “All your current gear was bought with a loan from the Krieger Consortium. Where do you expect to get the money for other dungeons?”

“But I truly don’t want to stay in this dungeon any longer,” Ailur murmured, clutching her chest. “I’m afraid of being killed by the blood kin…”

Bang!

The moment her words faded, a violent thud suddenly echoed, making the cutlery clatter.

“Then use your brain, you imbecile!”

Avril rose to her feet, shouting at Ailur. “We clearly escaped last time! If you hadn’t stabbed that Bloodkin, how could the boss have come for us?”

“I told you! That couldn’t have been Shulk!”

“Does that even matter?”

Seeing Ailur’s stubborn irrationality, Avril felt her temper flare to a dangerous red. “Someone like you, even if a pie fell from the sky, you wouldn’t manage to catch it!”

With that, she slammed her hand on the table and stormed out.

“Hmph, just because she’s from the main family, she really thinks she’s hot stuff…”

As Avril’s retreating back vanished, Ailur gathered saliva in her mouth and spat, aiming at her. She missed, however, merely staining the floor.

“Esteemed guest, spitting on the floor is prohibited in this restaurant! Please clean it up immediately!”

Though a cheap eatery, the waiter was diligent, especially with their keen eyes.

Hearing the waiter dare to reprimand her, Ailur, already seething with anger, instantly erupted. “Who the hell are you to tell me what to do, you mongrel!”

“This restaurant also prohibits public provocation! Please show some self-respect!”

“Damn it! I can’t deal with Avril, but I can’t deal with you? Yes, I’m provoking you, so what?!”

Ailur slapped her thigh and abruptly stood up, startling Levilan, who had been silently sitting beside her, into a shudder.

“You mere commoner, do you even know who I am?! I hail from the illustrious Bernoulli family, bearing the surname L’Hôpital! Apologize at once if you know what’s good for you! Perhaps I might even spare your life!”

“How dare a lowly commoner speak to me in such a manner? You must be tired of living!”

Having declared this, Ailur tilted her head, her nose in the air, and began fantasizing about the waiter kneeling, begging for mercy, and profusely apologizing to her.

Alas, while her fantasy was rich, reality was stark. The waiter merely gave a knowing smirk at the two surnames Ailur had brandished.

“Bernoulli? Never heard of it. As for L’Hôpital… who doesn’t know about Lord L’Hôpital’s fall from grace a few years ago? I daresay he’s worse off than a stray dog on the street now!”

“You’re full of it!” Ailur vaulted onto the table in a few quick movements. “Back in the day, L’Hôpital followed the Emperor into the passes! You better show some damn respect!”

At this, the entire restaurant erupted in laughter. Men and women, different races and statuses, all joined in the joyous mockery of Ailur, filling the eatery with a lively, mirthful atmosphere.

“Hehehe, please, don’t joke around. Do you truly think that story will make us respect you more?”

The waiter sneered. “I thought we had some grand young lady here, but it turns out to be just a little punk from the L’Hôpital family!”

“Alright, this establishment does not serve unreasonable young ladies such as yourself. Please leave!”

“What did you say!? Today, I absolutely will—”

Just as Ailur was about to charge forward to argue, the waiter neither fled nor flinched. They simply gestured subtly towards Ailur, and from behind them, two burly men in white tank tops emerged.

They seized Ailur’s arms, executed a powerful spin, and flung her out of the restaurant.

“You’re with her too, aren’t you?”

“No, no, I’m not, don’t throw me out…”

“Throw her out too!”

Barely having scrambled to her feet, Ailur collided head-on with Levilan, who came flying out right after her.

“Hiss, ouch, ouch… My clothes nearly ripped at the seams…”

“It’s all your fault, Miss Ailur…”

Compared to the continuously groaning Ailur, Levilan, who had a human cushion to break her fall, was clearly in much better shape, even having the energy to complain.

“My fault?”

Hearing Levilan blame her, Ailur became agitated once more. “If you had just helped me a little, would I have lost so much face?”

“Even if you hadn’t lost face, we still would have been thrown out, wouldn’t we?”

Compared to the furious Ailur, Levilan merely furrowed her brows. “I’ve told you countless times before, can’t you just control your temper a little?”

“You… you’ve always just stood there, staring blankly, never helping us when things happen…”

****

At that moment, not far from the bickering duo, Avril emerged cautiously from a narrow alley, clutching a small mountain of information scrolls.

“Hey, Ailur, Levilan, come help me…”

Before she could finish, Avril witnessed a sight that made her heart stop.

Her two teammates, who proudly touted their ‘noble’ lineage, were now completely disregarding any semblance of aristocratic image.

They sat sprawled on the ground, legs splayed, passionately bickering back and forth in front of the passing crowd, clearly airing long-held grievances.

Clatter!

Then came a series of heavy thuds as the scrolls in Avril’s arms tumbled to the ground.

She made no move to pick them up, instead staring blankly at her two ‘good’ teammates, her face devoid of expression.

In the face of this spectacle, she couldn’t help but recall a certain figure—a figure who had always toiled tirelessly without complaint.

“Shulk…”

She clutched her collar tightly, striving to maintain her composure lest she lose control.

Yet, she herself didn’t notice that, inadvertently, she had uttered his (former) name.

****

While Avril was experiencing a mental breakdown due to her two idiots’ idiotic behavior, Seraphina, on the other hand, was…

“My dearest Seraphina, look, I personally made this new dress for you~ What do you think? Do you like it?”

…

“My dearest Seraphina, look, I personally cooked this beef shank for you~ How is it? Doesn’t it look tender and delicious?”

…

“My dearest Seraphina, look, I commissioned a craftsman to customize this ruby necklace for you~ It even contains a drop of my vital blood~”

…

“This is a treasure that can save your life in a critical moment~”

…

“Seraphina, what do you want from me already? ﾉ(ﾟ´Д`)ﾉﾟ｡”

Finally, after countless fruitless attempts to reconcile, Iqiyah completely broke down.

“I am your mistress, after all. By all rights and reasons, you should at least respond to me, shouldn’t you?”

“Oh, read.”

“Eek! That’s far too perfunctory! ΩДΩ”

“…Lady Iqiyah, please mind your demeanor and conduct. This is hardly becoming of the mistress of the Blood Manor.”

“Wuwuwu, why have you turned into Levian too…?”

“…If you say that aloud, Levian will be very sad.”

Perched high on a dining chair, Seraphina coldly observed the tearful Iqiyah weeping on her knees, her own heart a tumultuous mix of emotions.

After a day of probing, she had grasped a crucial truth: Iqiyah couldn’t truly harm her.

Firstly, perhaps it was due to being the mistress who bestowed Seraphina with the [Initial Embrace], but Iqiyah was obligated to be responsible for Seraphina.

This meant Iqiyah could not allow Seraphina to die, much less take her life with her own hands.

Secondly, and likely the main reason for Iqiyah’s deference towards Seraphina, was that Seraphina was the only person Iqiyah could currently access who could temporarily alleviate her own curse and bring her immense pleasure.

From Iqiyah’s own perspective, breaking the taboo to kill her now would be too great a loss, as such a person was found once in a millennium.

To torture her? Given Seraphina’s fragile constitution, what if she broke her? That would surely lead to lifelong regret.

Could she simply spank her every day?

It didn’t seem entirely out of the question, but such a mild punishment… wouldn’t it be more like a reward?

“Ugh, damn it all! I can’t be fierce with her, nor can I hit her… What am I supposed to do?!”

Outwardly, Seraphina remained utterly indifferent, but inwardly, she was roaring with laughter.

It was night now. She considered that it had only been… three days since she was given the [Initial Embrace] by Iqiyah and arrived at this manor?

In just three days, she had transformed from a plaything to a mistress whose favor was eagerly sought.

Moreover, the members of the Church of Iqiyah, and even Levian, seemed to have made no move regarding Seraphina’s overstepping of boundaries.

This felt incredibly satisfying, didn’t it?

Naturally, as Seraphina basked in Iqiyah’s yearning gaze, she recalled the days of humiliation and abuse she had endured just a few days prior.

Country bumpkin.

Useless.

Seraphina frowned. Even now, recalling those humiliating days still made her feel a natural sense of discomfort and nausea.

But ever since arriving at the Blood Manor…

Little puppy~

Little Seraphina~

Lady Seraphina~

Hehehe, hehehehehehe…

Deep within Seraphina’s heart, something had awakened.

She possessed the world’s strongest support ability, capable of dispelling curses that even blood kin couldn’t resolve with a mere wave of her hand, yet she had meekly lived under the feet of others, enduring eighteen years of humiliation.

How utterly foolish!

With a protagonist’s build, shouldn’t one achieve a protagonist’s glorious ending?

Seraphina’s lips curled into a standard Dragon King’s smirk.

“Lady Iqiyah.”

“Yes!”

Hearing Seraphina call her name willingly, Iqiyah’s ears perked up like a puppy summoned by its master.

“Do you truly, truly desire my [Purification]?”

“Yes, very much so.”

Gazing into Iqiyah’s crystalline eyes, which shimmered with hope, Seraphina shed her last vestige of hesitation.

She raised her hand and waved it at Iqiyah, much like one would train a dog.

“Then, Lady Iqiyah, stand up first.”