Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
April 7, 2008
I took one last turn while observing everything around me. The engagement party would begin in a few hours, and everything had to be completely ready. Everything was prepared and in place, and now I am waiting for the Phenex And Ravel. The servants had been settling in for some time and familiarizing themselves with the place.
I had tightly sealed off all other areas of the mansion and set up defenses across the island. There were a large number of Schiavos scattered everywhere, and while They definitely wouldn't stop a High-Class Devil, they would hold them back long enough. I even had the idea of placing several Bludgers hidden around the grounds.
I found the book of Quidditch-related charms. I don't know where Lucius had gotten it, but it didn't hurt to use what I could, and a 25-centimeter diameter iron ball enchanted to hit you at high speed was an outstanding defense. Especially when there were dozens of them around the island boosted to increase their speed.
All of that, combined with my natural plant defenses, like the devil's snare that has spread across the entire swamp or the Whomping willows that had been raised and transplanted near the mansion. Including the wards and alarms would be enough to stop those who decided to enter the forest without permission.
I looked around and saw the others were already waiting for this engagement party to begin. Everyone was dressed similarly to the last time we went to Phenex Castle, except for Enid, who, for this occasion, decided to wear a tight white dress, magically dyed pink hair, and jewelry placed on her face.
On the other hand, I was dressing more provocatively, which surprised me. Narcissa was becoming increasingly brazen with the dresses she designed; she was beginning to lose her shame and was getting used to highlighting people's sexual attributes. In this case, mine.
It was a black dress that covered almost nothing on the top, no shoulders, no sleeves, no upper back, with nothing until the small of my back. Just a collar around my neck from which a pair of straps came out that went down to my chest and held the dress up. A dress that barely covered a third of my breasts, right in the center while wrapping them with a pair of straps on either side of them.
Once my breasts ended, the dress clung to my stomach like a second skin, highlighting my belly and navel. The skirt was long and tight, reaching just above my knees and flaring out, leaving more room for my legs. The only notable thing was the two wide slits on either side of my hips. They started at my waist and went down to mid-thigh, leaving everything visible. Depending on the angle and my movements, it would become obvious I was not wearing underwear.
Finally, the dress is blanketed in gold chains; starting from where the straps held the dress together with a gold metal ring, a pair of chains fell and arced across my chest from one strap to the other. From the same rings, two more chains emerged, descending past my ribs and up my back to join the back of the necklace I was wearing.
And the next ones were right at my hips. On either side of the slit came three gold chains that seemed to bounce in low arcs from one side of the slit to the other. In the center of the dress, just in front of my crotch, through the other slit, and in the back above my butt. Pretty lewd if I had to say something, but it's not like I cared.
The dress was Aria, so there was no way it would run or let me have any kind of carelessness, so I wasn't worried.
I was brought out of my thoughts when the mansion's defenses signaled someone teleporting away a fraction of the way before a circle appeared in front of me. From it, the Phenex emerged. My gaze immediately fell on Ravel. My eyes widened slightly. I wasn't at all surprised that we matched and were dressed similarly. After all, Ravel had requested the design for my dress from Narcissa. But I wasn't sure if what Ravel was wearing was any more daring than my dress.
Ravel was much curvier than me. Her dress was entirely red, the color of the Phenex; it had two straps that came out of her neck that went down and also covered almost a third of Ravel's plump breasts, then clung to her waist, but didn't cover it completely, there was a V-shaped patch of skin where it was still visible.
Her skirt was also long, reaching her knees. The red dress train slowly began to tinge with gold, and by the time it trailed along the floor, it was completely golden. Also, where I had partial slits, her skirt had a split; it was completely open on one side.
On the right side, the dress opened just below her waist, exposing her entire right leg and enshrining her pink skin without any problem. Just like me, she wore gold chains around her body.
Three gold chains emerged from her neck and joined a gold ring in the middle of Ravel's cleavage. One chain ran down between her breasts to a second ring below her belly. Five chains emerged from it—three on her right and two on her left. The chains also wound around her body and arms.
It looked amazing.
"You look wonderful, Ravel." I said with a smile as I stepped forward and approached her before gently taking her hands. Ravel smiled shyly, her face blushing.
"Y-you look beautiful too, Sera," she replied. I smiled widely at her and drank her image in from head to toe once more, not disguising it in the slightest. Ravel blushed more intensely but made no effort to hide from view, and instead, she leaned in close. I chuckled before taking Ravel's hands and kissing her knuckles.
"Ready for this?" I asked playfully; Ravel's expression was completely determined as she nodded.
"I'm ready to get engaged," Ravel said firmly. I nodded and finally looked at the rest of the Phenex. To my surprise, they all had smiles on their faces. Well, Riser was grumbling while looking to the side; Lord Phenex had what I could barely count as a smile, while Lady Phenex's smile was wide and genuine slightly scaring me.
"Welcome to my mansion. I hope you like the decorations." I said simply, not separating from Ravel as I welcomed my future in-laws.
"It's beautiful, Lady Prince. Ravel has been describing it for the past few days, but seeing it is a completely different experience. It's wonderful." Lady Phenex complimented shamelessly as she looked at everything around her. The ceiling especially drew her attention. It was truly something; she had noticed the devils, and even the Phenex servants had been surprised by the ceiling.
The sight of the night sky was truly a novelty for most of them, who didn't regularly go to the human world. Even more so because we were inside a mansion, which can be really confusing.
"Thank you, but please call me Serena, or Sera; I'll soon be engaged to Ravel. Speaking of her, she deserves all the congratulations. I really wouldn't know where to begin decorating all this." I said with a smile as I stroked Ravel's hand, which was still in my grasp. Ravel blushed but didn't contradict me in any way.
"You seem quite skilled with magic. Ravel said you did most of the work yourself. That's truly amazing," Ruvel complimented with a smile. I nodded.
"I love magic, all kinds of magic, everything from potions to battle magic. All of it, it's something I excel at, and I love researching it. I could spend days researching and creating magic if I didn't get kicked out of my lab," I said honestly. "Which I already did." I smiled nervously, making the others laugh.
"I hope you don't neglect my daughter, Serena," Lady Phenex said with an amused smile, but I could see the implied threat for what it was. I smiled shyly.
"I'll try not to." I said timidly, earning a giggle from Lady Phenex.
"Very well, I hope so. My Ravel is a high-maintenance, very needy girl," Lady Phenex said, covering her smile with her fist.
"Mom!" Ravel exclaimed, blushing. I laughed lightly. But I didn't say anything. Finally, she looked at Lord Phenex, who had been waiting for us to finish our banal conversation.
"We can go to my office to sign all the papers before the party starts." I said lightly. Lord Phenex nodded.
" Lead the way." Lord Phenex said simply. I nodded and was about to start walking when I stopped and looked behind the Phenex entourage. There were four people I had never seen, but… I recognized one of them and wanted to moan loudly.
"Who are they?" I asked, simply looking at the people. Lord Phenex barely glanced at them before looking at me.
"The apprentices you requested." He said simply, and I raised an eyebrow at him.
"I remember the agreement was only for two of them. My Pawn took care of that," I said simply. It was in the final contract Lucius had finished negotiating with Lord Phenex. Lord Phenex grimaced at my words.
I found it funny: Lucius had been looking like a kid on Christmas when he came back with the completed contract, and he had practically gutted Lord Phenex as much as he could. Tattletale's ability, Negotiator, was truly terrifying if used correctly.
Fortunately for Lucius, Lord Phenex wasn't a complete stoic, so he could easily glean information from his microexpressions reaching all the boundaries Lord Phenex had been considering and push them just the right way with the right words. In addition to that, Lucius had had years in his adult form, and he was actually quite good at negotiating.
"I know, I remember," Lord Phenex said dryly, "but you also said you would get rid of those who didn't meet your criteria, whatever they may be, so I brought those promising ones for you to evaluate and choose two from." He said simply, and I paused before shrugging.
"Fair enough," I said simply. I stared at them. I didn't recognize two of them. One was a woman who seemed to be in her 20s. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, and She must be someone closely related to the Phenex family. That didn't matter to me. What mattered was the smug, arrogant look on her face. I wasn't interested.
The other was a man with a more docile look, but lacking any distinctive features. I had no problem impartially assessing both of them. I was sure I'd need all the help I could get with my potions. They'd be fine if they followed all my orders to the letter.
Continuing on and much to my surprise, there was a girl between 13 and 15 years old with blonde hair and green eyes. Aside from her green eyes, the girl also had easily recognizable Phenex features. Still, she had enough distinct features to know that she was somewhat removed from the main family, or had simply inherited more from her other parent.
But finally, I came to the one I recognized. A girl about my age. She was tall and thin, with ashen grayish skin, long pastel mauve hair, and red eyes—maybe a vampire. Her bangs covered her left eye, and her right eye seemed droopy and half-closed, as if she were completely indifferent and bored by the situation. She had a huge bag under her eye, as if she hadn't slept in days. Despite that, she looked around at everything, especially the ceiling.
Sucy Manbavaran from Little Witch Academia. This was getting weirder and weirder. I really need to do that world check-out so they don't keep sneaking up on me. I looked at them again.
They were all wearing fairly simple dresses or evening gowns compared to the other Phenex as if trying not to stand out. But that wasn't important.
"Should we do the test before or after signing the contract?" I asked simply. That seemed to surprise Lord Phenex.
"Uh... and the party?" Ravel asked from beside me. I shrugged.
"I'll just have you brew a fairly simple potion and ask a few questions. It won't take more than an hour; I was thinking of using the time bubble," I said simply. Looks of understanding crossed the others' faces.
"As you wish. Can we be present?" Lord Phenex asked curiously. I paused before shrugging once more.
"I don't really care. The simplest potions just aren't important enough for them to get anything out of copying it. As long as they don't get bored and bothered or interfere, there shouldn't be any problems," I said simply.
"We won't interfere," Lord Phenex promised, nodding. The girls' expressions now seemed excited, especially Sucy's. I nodded then waved my hand, and my spider patronus appeared in a light blue glow.
"Find Maomao and tell her to bring the portkey. There's urgent business to attend to." I told my spider. The Patronus began bouncing around me, it happily circled Ravel as well before shooting off at high speed through the wall. The funny thing about the Patronus was that they were almost instantaneous, even though it didn't seem like it.
So I ignored the curious and questioning glances of those present and waited calmly. Maomao appeared with her portkey a few seconds later, this time much more firmly than usual. Curiously, Jester was clinging to it.
"Jester! I told you to stay with Maria! " Maomao scolded. Jester just laughed and looked in our direction.
"Hi! I'm Jester! " Jester greeted the people behind me happily. Maomao turned around and paled slightly.
"Lord Phenex, Lady Phenex, it's an honor to meet you," Maomao said meekly as she bowed her head. "Miss Ravel, it's a pleasure to meet Serena's fiancée," Maomao said in our direction.
"You're so cute!" Jester squealed in our direction. I didn't know which of us she was talking to so I just nodded in her direction.
"Jester, I wasn't expecting you," I said simply.
"Sorry Serena, we were all getting ready together. Jester heard the message and clung to me when I activated the portkey because he thought it would be fun." Maomao explained simply. I nodded. Yes, that would be enough.
"No problem, but Jester, I expect you to behave." I said simply and stared at her, Jester paused for a few seconds before nodding much more seriously, although she still had that trademark smile on her face. Well, at least she understood that this was important. I would have to do something nice for her. "Very well, Maomao, these are candidates to be my apprentices in potions. We were about to do a test by preparing some potions, and I wanted to know if you wanted-"
"YES!" Maomao exclaimed, her eyes wild. She really needed to stop interrupting me. I sighed and looked at the dimes, who were watching the exchange curiously.
"She is Maomao, a succubus, and she will also become my apprentice." I Introduced to the Phenex. Lord Phenex frowned.
"That wasn't stipulated. You said you would only teach two people from the Phenex family." Lord Phenex said, and I nodded.
"And I'll choose two of the four people you brought. Maomao is going to be my direct apprentice, after all. I hope you didn't think I'd only teach the Phenex, did you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. It wasn't an insult nor an attempt at trying to upset him, but I certainly wasn't going to leave all or most of my business directly under Phenex's control. Lord Phenex pursed his lips but nodded reluctantly. "Follow me. We'll go to my laboratory." I said simply before starting to walk away with Ravel on my arm.
I quickly led the entire group to my lab and opened the heavily ward-lined door. Everyone immediately began to look around the enormous potions lab with curiosity. All the ingredients, all the boiling and steaming cauldrons, the potions, and the rows of books against the walls. Everything.
" Mmmhh! I think I had an orgasm." Sucy moaned as she looked around eagerly. I could hear a palm smack against her face.
"I understand, I had one the first time I was here," Maomao moaned in solidarity. Jester laughed beside her while I rolled my eyes.
"If any of you stain my lab with your fluids, I swear to Satan I'll have you clean it with your tongues until the floor is sparkling." I threatened both of them. They both smiled at me in the same way, mockingly and defiantly.
""Kinky."" They both said in unison. I snorted.
"I take it back. I'll make you both wear diapers while you brew potions." I threatened again, the incredulous, almost horrified looks on both of their faces making me smile sadistically, Until Lord Phenex cleared his throat making me roll my eyes.
It was time for a potions class.
Author's Notes: Serena's dress is the sexy halter hollow of Modakawa Dress. While Ravel's dress is BB Dubai's from FGO in red.