As the familia's head steward, Rose didn't just keep the household running smoothly day to day. In all the corners no one ever saw, she quietly maintained the delicate balance between people.
For instance, that philandering Leon would never know how many headaches she'd quietly cleared away for him behind his back.
Even this household's current "battlefield of jealousy," calm on the surface but seething with undercurrents, owed plenty to her behind-the-scenes scheming and upkeep.
Take Jeanne's sudden fit of temper today. A few small maneuvers, a little nudge here and there, and the Holy Maiden fell right into line, easy to handle. As for whether Jeanne could follow her method and successfully push Leon into post-nut clarity, sparing them any further complications tonight, well, that came down to Jeanne's own skill.
All that long training, surely you can't be standing still, can you? My dear Holy Maiden.
...
Mulling over this and that, Rose tossed the parchment onto the tea table, lifted her glass, and took an elegant little sip.
She narrowed her eyes slightly, listening with full attention to the faint sounds drifting down from upstairs, not even noticing when the slipper hooked on her toe slid to the floor.
As time passed, the noises from above grew louder. Rose could even clearly make out Jeanne's whimpering pleas, like something inside her had broken.
"Nngh..."
Rose's plump, black-polished toes curled involuntarily. She sank deeper into the sofa, her body tightening in time with the sounds upstairs, charged with an indescribable tension.
Before long her face flushed, her gaze went hazy...
In the dancing firelight of the hearth, Rose's body suddenly gave a faint shudder, then twitched and spasmed.
"Ha... ha..."
After a good while her body went slack, her arched back collapsing against the cushions as she gulped for air, faint tremors still running through her against her will.
Dazed and unfocused, she slumped weakly into the sofa, gazing up at the ceiling with glassy eyes, a low murmur escaping her glistening lips:
"My dear Mr. Leon... you'd better hold out nicely for me. One little Jeanne is nothing..."
"Mm..."
...
...
Leon, who had just finished his all-out assault on Jeanne, sending the Holy Maiden to heaven and leaving her thoroughly unconscious, had no idea about all the maneuvering and counterplay going on tonight.
From his romp with both women, to the saint arriving at his door, to that "mastermind" pulling every string behind the curtain, this drama of hidden schemes was far more entertaining than a straight-up catfight.
Still, even if he knew everything, faced with such a sweet trap, Leon would probably just take the sugar and fire the bullet right back.
He glanced at the Holy Maiden, drooling, eyes rolled back, body still spasming even though she'd long since passed out, and a faint, amused look crossed his face.
He toyed with and stroked Jeanne's soft, tender feet wrapped in black stockings and her long, slender legs, while turning over all the unusual little clues from tonight.
Looking down from above at Jeanne's flushed face, his fingertips wandered to her slightly rising and falling belly, drawing a thin, frail moan from her in her sleep. In that instant, an elegant figure with sea-blue hair flashed across Leon's mind.
"Rose..."
He'd found the last piece of the puzzle.
Jeanne going on the offensive so out of character, wearing that smug look like she was going to wring him dry...
If there'd been no master strategist behind it, then with her amateurish technique, where would Jeanne have found the nerve to come up and throw herself at him?
If Rose had been stirring all of this up from behind the scenes, then it all made sense.
"When two fight, the third walks off with the prize... is that it?"
Leon slid the several lovely legs wrapped around him aside, rolled silently off the bed, and walked straight for Rose's room.
Click...
The door swung open at his touch, then quietly locked again.
By the faint light, Leon clearly saw Rose lounging on her side on the bed, her eyes brimming with allure, as though she'd been waiting a long while.
A closer look: that black evening gown with the high slit, paired with flesh-toned stockings and pointed nude studded heels, was plainly the work of careful dressing-up. Even these clothes and shoes had probably been chosen with great care to suit his own little preferences.
Dressed to the nines, eyes glistening, cheeks flushed...
Leon's eyes narrowed. He strode forward, swept her up into his arms, and tossed her roughly onto the soft bedding without a word.
Then his hands clamped around that waist barely a hand's span wide, and from his vantage above her he asked in a low voice:
"Jeanne's strange little performance, you were the one fanning the flames behind it, weren't you? My dear Miss Rose."
A smile played at the corner of Rose's lips, the outer corners of her eyes tilting upward, her tone teasing:
"Who... who knows..."
"Playing tough? You dare to scheme against me?"
"Good. I like a defiant woman!"
"Mm..."
Leon hauled her up, laid a hand on the back of Rose's head, then slowly pressed it down.
"You dared to scheme against me, so you should've expected there'd be a price."
"Now swallow it down nice and good for me!"
"Mmgh..."
Rose gagged.
...
Until daybreak.
Tears and drool streaking her flushed face, Rose lay limp and weak on the bed, her eyes hollow and dull, her hair fanned out in disarray across the sheets. Now and then her body would still give a faint twitch, broken murmurs slipping from her lips:
"No, no more..."
"It's, it's broken..."
"Please... let me go!"
She looked for all the world like a beautiful doll someone had played with until it broke.
Leon stood barefoot on the floor, rubbing his aching lower back as he looked down at the wrecked Rose and hissed through his teeth.
"This woman, she's vicious!"
"First she sends Iri and Margaret, those two rookies, as the vanguard to wear down my stamina. As if that wasn't enough, she stirs up Jeanne to keep grinding away at my energy and willpower. Then she saves herself for last, the grand finale, going for the kill!"
"If I hadn't had the edge in skill, I'd have nearly crashed and burned on that run!"
Recalling Rose's reckless offensive last night, sometimes charging like cavalry, sometimes bearing down like infantry, pulling out every trick she had, lips and hands and feet and body taking turns in that frenzied display, Leon knew better than to underestimate her again.
"I can't go on like this. I have to get stronger."
"If I keep coasting like this, next time Rose pulls some little scheme, she'll probably wring me completely dry, with no chance to turn the tables!"
The moment he imagined a future that hopeless, Leon shook his head like mad.
"No way. There's absolutely no way I'm taking that loss!"