Mira can't help but feel like a silly girl in love when Lucien whispers something naughty in her ear. [How can he make me feel so good when I just failed??]
For her, not having damaged his barrier, even with him holding back so much, was a failure. But for him and Lust, her performance was impressive, considering everything that happened to her.
Clearly, Lucien's demonic energy affects his women in different ways. But it is rather related to their mindset than his personal preferences.
While young girls like Lena and Kamala are fine with being protected by Lucien and just enjoying life, women like Mira and Angela feel that they are at the peak of their lives but still have a lot to do, a lot of responsibilities, and want to enjoy all that he has to offer the maximum.
"Impressive!" Lust materializes her body next to Lucien and praises Mira. "Now I'm more optimistic for this competition; if we can use your bloodline abilities to attack, we just need to train the other girls to defend you."
Mira feels especially proud to receive such praise from Lust, one of the seven deadly sins and most powerful creatures in the universe. But she feels weird that it doesn't seem nearly as good as Lucien's praises, even a simple 'you're beautiful.'
"Thanks..." She smiles and tries to look away to not let her feelings be so evident.
But nothing escapes Lucien's eyes, and he gently holds her chin before kissing her lips and whispering in her ear again. "You are beautiful."
His demonic energy, along with his life mana, enters Mira's body, restoring her energies quickly, and making her think aloud. "It would be so easier if you could give us your energy during the competition..."
Lust quickly agrees with Mira and makes a thoughtful expression. "Maybe he can..."
Because their minds think so similarly, Lucien quickly understands that Lust is talking about his mysterious ability to pass his energies on to his wives just as they passed to him during the battle against Alexa.
"Wouldn't that be against the rules?" He quickly comments.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"..." Lust doesn't respond but makes a naughty smile, very similar to the expression Envy makes when she's planning something wrong.
Lucien can't help but laugh; however, his expression quickly turns neutral. "It would give us a big advantage, but there's no point doing something like that when I'm trying to get the Mermaids' trust."
"Is this a denial?" Lust pouts, increasingly similar to Envy.
He sighs before looking at Angela and her daughters. "Are you ready?"
"To do something like Mira?" Lena quickly asks. "Hell no!"
Angela laughs, but Marie makes an annoyed expression and bumps her shoulder on her sister's arm. "We can impress Hubby too!"
Lucien swims up to them with a gentle smile on his face. "This isn't about impressing anyone, just making it clear what you can do right now."
"We can do great!" Marie quickly comments. She's discovering how proud and competitive she can be.
He enters the protective barrier, lands in front of Marie, and caresses her face before kissing her lips. "I don't doubt your potential and intelligence, my love."
Marie always mentally mocks the other girls for getting so emotional when they receive compliments from Lucien. Still, the rational part of her mind can't stop her body and heart from feeling so good about that either.
"Are we going to fight underwater?" Lena quickly asks, breaking the romantic atmosphere between Lucien and Marie.
"I guess so." Angela comments. "I mean, the Mermaids are certainly going to take the fight underwater, so we have to get used to it."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Indeed." Marie comments and then kisses Lucien's face before stepping out of the barrier getting into the water. She quickly uses her water magic to absorb the water's oxygen to breathe normally.
Due to her water affinity, she also moves in water very quickly, in fact much faster than she does out of water. Not only is her agility improved, but also all her senses and even resistances. Out of the water, she is a mage, physically weak, but in the water, she is also swift and strong.
She looks at Lucien and smiles with a naughty expression. Then her body starts to glow, especially the low part. The blue light grows brighter and creates a long fish-tail around Marie's legs.
That fish-tail is just a creation of Marie's water mana, but it still looks genuine and makes her seem like a half-Mermaid, which leaves Lucien fascinated.
She swims around the barrier, swinging her tail gracefully as she continues to look into his eyes. "How it looks on me, Hubby?"
"Wonderful!" Lucien quickly responds.
"How..." Lena makes a shocked and disappointed expression at the same time. "I'm really an idiot for not thinking of something like this first!"
"Now you don't have to imagine it." Angela comments as she crosses the barrier, enters the water, and also creates a water fish-tail around her legs.
No matter how much Marie looks like a Mermaid Princess, as soon as Angela does the same, she looks like a Mermaid Queen, and Lucien's eyes are drawn to her tail like a hungry shark is drawn to blood in the sea.
To most people, he appreciates them equally, but Marie recognizes that look right away and gets upset. But instead of pouting, she smiles.
Angela knows her daughters very well and smiles at Marie. "So, this's your plan?"
"Hehe..." Marie makes a naughty expression. "You saw it, didn't you? I mean when he lost focus and Kamala hit him."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"He didn't expect that." Angela quickly responds. "But now that you've said it out loud, he's certainly not going to fall for this trick."
Marie continues to smile with a confident expression, so she points to Lucien behind the barrier. "He's not listening because I asked him not to; he's also not reading our lips or anything... he has something better to fill his mind after all."
Angela shakes her head. "You planned everything, didn't you?"
"If I can't be better than you at something, it doesn't mean I can't be better than you at everything else." She responds in a proud tone.
"You want me to praise you for manipulating us like this???" Angela raises one of her eyebrows, gazing at her daughter with an inquisitive expression.
"Oh, come on!" Marie rolls her eyes. "Don't make me look like a villain who stole your candy!"
"..." Angela doesn't know how to comfort Marie because she always seems so contradictory and rebellious; it's impossible to know what she really wants.
But Marie's stubborn expression quickly fades, giving way to a vague and somewhat sad look. "When I first met Lucien, I thought a lot of bad things about him... and that he was very mysterious."
"Only because of that, I kept following him despite my mind constantly telling me to stay away from him." She continues. "So all that shit happened... I knew I had to get away from him, but he was with Cassidy, and she could help us..."
"..." Angela remains silent, only listening to her daughter.
Marie shakes her head, fighting her own thoughts. "Everything I did with him was like a science experiment; I just wanted to see how someone like he could make me feel... it didn't was real, or even important..."
"Yes, he wasn't important to me." Marie speaks again as if she doesn't believe her own words. "But then..."
She sighs, creating air bubbles in the water as she makes a sad expression. "But then, I saw him gazing at you with this same expression..."
"Marie-" Angela feels really bad for her daughter and tries to say something.
"No!" But she quickly interrupts her mother. "That's okay, Mom; before, I only saw a stupid man who desired you more than me... that made no sense. I mean, I was young, virgin, and free while you were old, a mother of two children, and a married woman..."
Marie bites her lip before continuing. "My mind was telling me he was crazy or just had a weird fetish... but that wasn't just about your body; he also admired and respected you... rather than me."
"..." Angela wants to say a lot, but she stays silent to let Marie release everything that is hunting her heart.
"Well…" Marie pauses before continuing. "Now I understand why it was and still is like that; you are a truly extraordinary woman, Mom."
A hopeful glow passes through Marie's eyes as she glances at Lucien. "But I know that I can be like that too; I can also get his respect with my own qualities."
"Because he loves me… the way I am." She smiles at him. "So I'm going to do my best and keep working hard to get his respect… so he looks at me the way he looks at you."
Angela can't help but feel proud of her daughter for being so honest and confident. Instead of trying to comfort her, Angela just nods and smiles. "Mm."
Marie smiles too, and then Lena finally manages to make her mana fish-tail and join them while Lucien just watches them from behind the barrier.
"So, how are we going do it?" Lena asks.
"Mom will attract his attention, and then we will attack together." Marie quickly speaks while Lucien still doesn't hear them.
"Will it work???" Lena clearly doesn't trust that plan.
Marie shakes her head. "Of course not. He'll notice our strategy and try to avoid our attacks, but then he'll let his guard down to Mom..."
"Oh..." Lena smiles. "And she'll be able to attack him!"
"No." Marie quickly responds. "Hubby will notice that too..."
"Huh?" Lena gets really confused.
Marie smiles. "Exactly. I mean, let's confuse him by changing our strategy over and over until we get a real chance of damaging his barrier."
"Ohhh..." Lena thinks she got that but isn't sure. "Seems quite simple."
"But it also looks good." Angela finally speaks. "I mean, simple strategies can also be very effective, especially when the opponent expects something complex."
"It makes sense," Lena comments but then looks at her mother and sister with a curious expression. "Is that why you were talking about something just ago?"
Marie can't help but be concerned. It took her a lot of courage to open her heart and expose her most significant secrets to her mother, but she definitely doesn't want her sister or anyone else to see that side of her.
"Yeah, we were just pretending to wait for you." Angela quickly lies to protect Marie's secrets, just as she would do for Lena.
Marie smiles at her mother. "So, I think we're ready, right?"
"Mm." Angela nods.
"Yep." Lena also agrees.
"Keep something in mind, we won't be able to do this with the Mermaids, but right now, we're doing it for the sole purpose of getting Hubby's reward." Marie explains.
Lena nods again, and Angela smiles. "All is fair in Love and War."
