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When evening came after dinner, inside the hotel on Itogami Island, Venelana Gremory—who'd just finished eating in the hotel's ground-floor restaurant—took the elevator back up to her guest room floor.
Naturally, she was alone.
After all, her eldest son Sirzechs had returned to the Underworld this morning. As Lucifer, the Satan who governed all seventy-two pillars of high-ranking devil nobility, he had countless political matters demanding his attention every single day.
Ravel Phenex, the fourth daughter of the Phenex family, had also successfully moved into Saikai Academy's student dormitory today, so she was no longer staying at the hotel.
As for Serafall... she was probably still keeping her little sister Sona company at this hour.
Thinking along those lines, Venelana had already reached her room door.
She swiped her keycard, opened the door, stepped inside, and closed it behind her. The brown-haired beauty let out a small sigh of relief.
Returning to one's private space naturally brought mental relaxation—that was perfectly normal.
Speaking of which, Bokue and the others should have received their "surprise" by now, right?
"I wonder what Rias will think~"
As though already visualizing her daughter's shocked expression in her mind, Venelana couldn't help but laugh softly to herself in the empty room.
However, that laughter was cut short the very next second.
"What's so funny, Venelana? You seem pretty happy."
Just like two nights ago, accompanied by the young man's voice suddenly speaking from behind her, a familiar masculine body pressed against her from behind, arms wrapping around her waist and pulling back the brown-haired beauty who'd been walking further into the room.
And Venelana simply leaned back naturally into the embrace of the young man who'd appeared behind her, showing absolutely no resistance—in fact, the smile on her lips widened slightly. Her wine-red eyes gazed upward, reflecting the youth's face with perfect clarity.
Already anticipating her fate for the evening, Venelana expectantly and sweetly bit her lower lip, raising one hand to press her index finger against the young man's chin. Her pale, tender fingertip traced across the skin around his Adam's apple—skin that felt slightly rough with stubble.
"Hehe~ I should be asking you the same thing—aren't you happy, Bokue? About the... gift Mom sent you?"
"Happy? Sure, I'm happy. Though the method feels a bit too blunt and forceful, don't you think?"
Bokue Keikain grasped the elegant hand of the beauty in his arms, their fingers naturally interlacing.
"Rias looked ready to skin me alive with her eyes. And besides—aren't you worried about her getting suspicious from this, Venelana?"
"Suspicious of what?"
Venelana's voice grew even softer, her eyes rippling like spring water, thick with unspoken emotion.
"Suspicious that... you're hiding something else from her, obviously."
Bokue's free hand slowly traced down along gravity's pull, caressing the still-flat and delicate exterior of the beauty's womb.
"After all, from Rias's perspective, she had absolutely no idea about the relationship between Grayfia and me. But not only did you know about it—you even went to Sirzechs to plead Grayfia's case. That might make Rias feel uneasy and start getting suspicious."
"Is that so?"
Venelana tilted her head, thinking seriously for a moment.
"I suppose you have a point there. But if Rias wants to be suspicious, let her be suspicious. I still haven't figured out how to explain things to her anyway. Maybe letting her figure it out on her own would be the better choice?"
"Are you serious right now..."
"Hehe, just kidding~"
Venelana smiled without elaborating further, clearly changing the subject as her expression shifted to something more intimate and inviting.
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Having come this far already, it would be far too anticlimactic not to fight until the very Dao itself was ground to dust.
And so time flowed onward, the battle intensifying.
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Eventually, Bokue released his hold and gently lowered himself to lie on his side at the edge of the bed, pulling Venelana tenderly into his embrace.
"Feeling all right?"
"...Mm."
A few strands of hair plastered to her forehead, Venelana leaned against the young man's chest, her flushed face nodding lightly.
She could clearly feel the aftermath still settling within her, warmth spreading through her core in waves that left her breathless and satisfied.
"By the way, Bokue—now that you're the owner of Itogami Island... you don't have any plans to renovate this hotel, do you?"
"None. Why do you ask?"
Bokue looked at her curiously.
He had zero interest in infrastructure projects or building wonders. Hell, he didn't even have high standards for his own living space—as long as it was big enough and not cramped, that was sufficient.
"That's good then."
Venelana's wine-red eyes glimmered with satisfaction and subtle mischief.
"I've changed my previous plans. I'm going to rent this suite long-term and use it as my residence whenever I visit the human world. And remember those magic glasses I gave you before? Keep them here in this suite."
"After all, I still need to remain at the Gremory estate for the foreseeable future, and staying at the Keystone Gate would make it too easy for Rias to discover us. So let's make this our meeting place instead."
"Once I return to the Underworld, whenever I have free time after dinner, I'll use the magic mirror to come here to the hotel. You can come over anytime without worrying about Rias and the others seeing us."
"Plus, this is right in the city center—we could even go out together on... dates."
"This way, we don't have to worry about Rias finding out, right~?"
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