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Shea is speechless, she looks at me almost like she is waiting for me to admit it's a joke. when she realizes I am telling the truth likely coming to that conclusion since I have the shadow cloak she opens her mouth and then shuts it not finding words. after gathering her thoughts and thinking about all we just discussed she looks confused before angry then finally a hint of embarrassment. I am probably more surprised than her seeing so many emotions at once.

"You had sex with Catherine?" I nod.

"Yes, I had sex with Catherine." it's her turn to nod.

"Ok so let me get the facts straight, you happened to just meet her when she was on the way to begin Nirvana."

"Yes, I happened to meet her and she used fruits I had in exchange for two favors which are redundant at this point." she puts her hands together and picks up from there.

"Then one thing after another happened and you fought someone, then gave her the last fruit and she jumped you."

"More like tried her best to seduce and I reluctantly gave in to her advances." she scowls at me. "alright so maybe a mix of seduction and jumping or maybe I just wanted to fuck, who knows?" shaking her head with a slight quirk to the corners of her lips.

"Then after bedding her you found out she is Catherine the empress and the artifact worked for you and she also can use it, somewhere in there reincarnating her."

"That's right." her face shows red and she grits her teeth, hands balling into a fist I realize she is greatly embarrassed, not accustomed to being embarrassed like this she is getting angry. but why is she embarrassed I don't get it, all I did was get with Catherine. if anything she should just be angry for one reason or another, but being embarrassed doesn't make sense.

"And you said you also want the fallen angel sword and will share it with me like you share the cloak with Catherine?" of course I will share, it's not like I will use it every second of the day.

"Yes I will share it with you so you can also use it." she takes a deep breath and looks up and makes eye contact as she enunciates each word.

"And how do you plan to share it with me Nova?" she smiles but it's not a happy one.

"I will get the sword from the capital and then bring it back and we wi- oh." quickly coming to the conclusion I realize I pulled a dense idiot move and forgot the part where it looks like sex is mandatory. not sure if I should clarify since this potentially could work out for me but squashing the Asmodeus horny thoughts down I open my mouth to speak but Shea beats me to it.

"And what? we will just fuck so I can use the sword? the sword is the emblem of the empire and would have everyone recognize me as their rightful ruler or be branded traitors. but do you think I would fuck you without so much as a complaint? Gauss has admittedly talked about us marrying before and I agreed with most of what he said but you have never shown anything other than general interest, now you're going to proposition me with the fallen angel sword?" she looks more disappointed than angry. I have finally seen the hidden lucifer trait to jump to conclusions that Chen Rui suffered from.

"Hold up I think you are jumping to conclusions here, I honestly wasn't thinking about sex. because the way it all went down I was confident in replicating it with just having you as my queen piece already since that was the most likely trigger."

"Really?" she asks already deflating probably believing that to be the case.

"yes really, I don't need you to fuck me for the sword." she looks down and mumbles. "What?"

"I said sorry... I guess I shouldn't have assumed that but you have to admit the story you told me made it seem like it was necessary to do whatever it was that you did to get the cloak."

"Yea I guess." she uses her hands to on the desk behind her to push herself up and sit on it as she lets her legs hang off.

"So what happened with her? there is no way she just had sex with you and reincarnated and left." she starts to swing her legs back and forth.

"Well after telling her about the Abyss and my goal of stopping them by getting the demon world to unite and face the threat she decided to join me and help. she also is planning a wedding for us apparently." she nods hearing about the Abyss because I have mentioned it to her before and the importance of taking the throne fast to prepare, but hearing about the marriage her eyes go wide.

"Y-Your marrying her!?" she jumps off the desk and grabs my shoulders.

"Yea I don't do one-night stands any way or I would be screwing half the succubus I see since we fucked I am down to try a relationship and she said the only way we can be together is if it's serious and that means marriage. lots of steps to get to that point but we agreed to just get hitched and figure it out, if we end up hating each other after spending more time we can just divorce. it will be awkward as hell since she is tied to me by my queen piece but still, I won't force her to continue a romantic relationship if she doesn't want and she can't force me." Shea's arms drop and she walks around the desk and paces the room. "you alright? I get that it was fast but you should be able to adapt a bit better than this Shea." she whips around and glares at me.

"I am adapting and that means I likely will have to marry you as well." when it rains it pours around here, what is this chick's deal today?

"Why?"

"You can't figure that out? you should be able to figure it out a bit better Nova." I think about it and the only conclusion I can come to is that if I marry Catherine then Shea might think I will neglect to help her as much as I do Catherine.

"I would help you the same as I would her without you marrying me, we already are partnered with the reincarnation and I don't plan on throwing you out to unify the demon world or something dumb like that. giant empires always fall they never last because infighting picks up and that sounds like more work than it's worth. the balance that there is now is only because there are three empires and they use each other to threaten one another. they would only fight when there competent in one hundred percent victory and as long as that's avoided then there will be peace, well whatever peace there is in the demon world."

"And what if I wanted to marry you as well? it's not something I was in a rush to do since I am still only a Lord and need to defeat my uncle. I have heard probably a hundred times from Gauss all the benefits and things you have done as if I don't already see it myself. it's not like I also don't have an interest as well or I wouldn't have taken a queen piece that quite literally ties myself to you, there is also the problem of lifespan." wide-eyed I listen to her wondering what the hell is her deal today, first the misunderstandings and now she is salty Catherine is marrying me because she sees me as a candidate for herself.

"Hold up, ok just wait for a second Shea. I don't plan to be just a candidate for you for the sole purpose of fitting into the spot. your hot and all but I don't plan to be used in such a way, Catherine has her political problems but she made it clear she is only doing this because she wants to try with me for a real relationship. in your case it seems that you're saying that I meet the recruitments same as her case but instead of wanting it for the sake of using it to try a relationship your using me for the sole purpose of meeting your recruitments." she looks at me like I am crazy and I wonder if the lucifer jumping to conclusions trait has affected me somehow.

"Are you stupid Nova? if I just wanted to marry you because you could give me things I need then I would try to marry Obsidian. I could have Alice rule dark moon and with me as empress, I would support it to grow, then ally with other estates slowly over time and take the majority of the power of the empire that way. the dark moon is the biggest estate the only problem is capital suppression which I would get rid of as empress and then it would thrive and I would use basic politics to slowly pull the rug out from under Obsidian. the old man is infertile anyway so I wouldn't bare him any kids, with thirty lovers or however many concubines he has and no kids I am confident no backlash on my part would arise with no results. and on top of all of that if I got the approval of the sword I would have all the pull in making decisions as the wielder of the empire's artifact. I am only truly considering marrying you because I refuse to marry anyone I don't want to." I guess it was me jumping to conclusions. "I mean our relationship thus far is professional with some fun moments here and there but you are the only person I talk to that I don't hide my reactions from. that's not because I got reincarnated but because I don't want to hide my reactions from you Nova. so back to the main point of what started this, Catherine swooping in and snatching you up first does affect me."

"Technically I did a blood marriage with Athena first so she is the one who did the snatching." Shea deadpans before seeming to remember something, slowly a wide smile spreads on her face.

"If you count trading blood as marrying in the demon world's old marriage rituals then we did that when I gave you the dark will and it is the embodiment of our marriage contract." I look down at the ring on my finger and sweat. "so if anyone asks then that means I was technically first despite the lack of more personal interactions." she has a victorious aura spread out as she looks at the ring.

"Damn man this is getting more and more complicated." I can see why those harem protagonists always pretend to be dense and just enjoy the fan service that springs up randomly. being in multiple relationships is starting to look like a real challenge.

"Well, to be honest, I would want to have a real wedding before calling us married so you don't have to take it seriously, but the ring will stand as a way for me to claim seniority should anyone start to run their mouth." Shea shrugs and then looks out the window. "it's getting late, why don't we go and get some food together and talk about something else for awhile. as I said we lack actual personal interactions and I am willing to take the blame for that since I put the majority of my time into running the dark moon."

Athena and Kia are making dinner so I would be a jerk to not show back up after saying I would be back. especially after what Athena and I did earlier, if I just ran off with Shea that would seem scummy. but standing up Shea after she is really starting to open up also seems foolish. I will just be the asshole this time and teleport home to inform them that I am going to be a few hours to eat or wait, it's up to them. guilt rises and I squash it down promising to make it up to both soon, especially Kia since the pawn I recruited should almost have made it to the estate her mom is at and I can finally save her.

"Ok, sounds fun."