A few moments after Aelia made her decision, Lyra and Anna stood up to leave the room. Lyra was blushing heavily, her gaze conflicted, as if unsure whether she should feel disappointed or not.

Anna, on the other hand, was clearly miserable and frustrated. Her eyes were downcast, and her fingers twitched. Occasionally, while getting up and moving to the door, she glanced back at Kane, as if she wanted to say something, but never did.

Everyone knew what was going on. She was afraid of being left behind, yet she didn’t want to have sex either. She was far too afraid of losing control over her lust, like so many other harelings before her.

No one said anything, though, because the only one who could offer any relief was Kane. Yet, he was content to watch her leave with a calm expression.

In the end, the door closed behind Anna and Lyra without another word being spoken.

Lyra turned to the hareling with an awkward and sad expression. "Anna, I—" she began, but was immediately interrupted by Anna, who shook her head and smiled softly.

"It's fine, Lyra… It's my own problem, and some days are harder than others… I'll get over it."

Despite Anna’s words, Lyra didn’t seem content to leave it at that. But before she could speak again, Anna continued, "Really, I’m fine," she said with a brave smile. "Go practice your new technique. I’d just like a moment."

Lyra tried a few more times, but eventually, she was playfully chased away by the hareling. After the tall, grey-haired human was gone, however, Anna quickly lost her smile. She turned back to the door she'd just left behind and sighed with a complicated expression.

Before her thoughts could go very far, the door opened again, and a serious Kane stepped out.

"Anna," he began gravely. "Let’s talk for a moment."

"Ah!" Anna yelped, startled. Her eyes went wide in surprise. "U—Uhm, boss… Is something wrong?"

Kane scoffed and rolled his eyes. "That question either implies I’m dumb, or you’re dumb. So which is it?"

Anna’s expression fell, and she looked miserable again. "P—Please, I just don’t want to talk about it. I get that what you’re doing is important, and you can’t make an exception for me, but—"

"Stop, stop," Kane interrupted, chuckling and waving his hands. "I actually do want to make an exception for you, and I want to give you some options."

His response caused Anna to take a step back. "O—Options?" she stammered, her voice a mix of surprise and curiosity. She had no idea what to think of this.

"Options," Kane nodded with a small smirk. "First of all, no matter what you choose, I’d like you to keep working with Ella. As long as you do that, I’ll continue supporting you in whatever way I can, even if you refuse to make use of my abilities."

Instantly, Anna's previous misery melted away like snow under the sun. Her eyes sparkled, and a bright smile appeared on her face.

"Really?!" she asked, her voice high-pitched and full of excitement.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Kane chuckled at her enthusiasm. "She’s cute," he thought to himself with a hint of amusement.

Before he became lost in thought, he shook his head and continued with a smile and a nod. "Yeah. But I still need to give you those options, and for that, I have to ask you a question first: If you lose control of your lust, are you more afraid of having a lot of sex in general, or specifically of having a lot of sex with strangers?"

Anna quickly deflated again. She poked her fingers together and fumbled awkwardly for a moment before finally speaking up, her eyes darting nervously. "U—Uhm… the latter, I guess? Mostly? I—Is this really important?"

Anna groaned inwardly. She really didn’t want to talk about this and didn’t even know why she was. It’s not like she knew Kane that well. And yet, there was something about him. Perhaps it was the lust-free touches he gave, or his generally dominant demeanour, or perhaps his relation to Ella.

Whatever the case, the words spilled out of her.

“It is important,” Kane smiled as he took a step forward and grabbed Anna’s chin.

Anna nearly recoiled but didn’t. Instead, she surprisingly began to lean into his touch with a small shiver as tension left her body.

Her previous unease drifted away into that same warm feeling she’d felt when he touched her earlier. A small smile spread across her face as she looked into his eyes. She wasn’t even thinking about the fact that his touch didn’t make her lust rise anymore; she just felt relaxed.

“You see,” Kane continued while Anna became lost in his piercing amber eyes, “if you give yourself to me, the Mark of Loyalty prevents you from having sex with anyone else, even if you lose control of your lust.”

Though such a thing obviously didn’t sound ideal, Anna barely reacted. She was far too relaxed and comfortable to care.

Kane realized the same, so he continued, “But that’s not all, because I can also do this…”

Suddenly, Anna's eyes widened. Heat began building inside her, and she started to hyperventilate. “Wha— What’s happening…” she muttered in shock as she began to recoil and struggle against Kane’s grip.

She knew this feeling. Her lust was rising again. But something was different this time. It was much worse. Along with that lust, fear now surfaced.

“L— Let me go!” she exclaimed in panic, continuing to struggle against his grip.

Fortunately, Kane did exactly that. He released her chin, and Anna finally managed to stumble back until she hit the black and green metal wall behind her. At the same time, Kane took a few steps back to create as much distance as possible between them.

They were now at least a few body lengths apart, yet Anna didn’t seem to improve. She continued hyperventilating as her body heat rose exponentially.

“Wha— What did you do?!” she nearly cried, tears of betrayal welling up as she grasped her rapidly beating chest, fighting hard against the instincts that screamed at her to throw herself at this man.

“I can’t take away your lust, Anna. It is ingrained in your being, and I can’t change your existence as a hareling,” he calmly yet quickly explained. “But what I can do is redirect it. That’s how I touched you earlier without any problems. I redirected the lust you felt for me toward everyone else.”

It was something he realized he could do the moment he touched Anna. She was like a massive conduit of lust that he could directly interact with using his rune. Naturally, he wondered if every hareling was like that, and if he could somehow use it to his advantage, but that was a question for another time.

For now, he continued. “This time, however,” he told Anna, “I’ve redirected the lust you felt for everyone else toward me alone.”

The struggling Anna blinked as she internalized this new information. “B— But… why…?” she panted, her gaze drifting uncontrollably to Kane’s crotch.

“Simple,” he smiled softly. “If you choose to give yourself to me, I could make this your permanent state. You’d never suffer from your lust around others again. You might not like the idea based on what you’re feeling now, but you have to remember that this is a lot of repressed lust trying to get out all at once. You won’t feel this way again, so long as I can satisfy you.”

Slowly, his smile turned into a confident grin. “And I can satisfy you.”

Then he shrugged. “Regardless, it’s all up to you. I won’t force anything on you. For now, though, I suggest you go see what it’s like to engage with your fellows without having to be fearful of your lust all the time.”

With that, he left a bewildered Anna behind and went back into the sanctum, closing the door behind him.

He had other things to deal with right now.