Will this stream of anguish ever end? I thought as I watched Ren and Ireela cry their eyes out, doing their best to comfort each other. Did Kojiro's depravity really know no bounds?

‘Are you asking rhetorically, or do you seriously think that a man who left a letter in which he threatened to rape you in front of his sister would find murdering his own father distasteful?’ asked a voice in the back of my head.

Good point.

After the Viscount left, we have been mostly wandering listlessly around the house. Nobody knew what to say. Was there anything left to be said? Ireela tried to get the Viscount to stay, she would be a bad host if he slept somewhere else, but he insisted.

‘I will leave you to your grief. I also promised the nice lady at the inn I would be staying there with my wife, and I’d rather not rob her of the boast that the Viscount once stayed there. Let me know once you’ve held the funeral. I’ll rejoin you then.’

As Ren and her mom wanted to be together, I helped Aki with Lilyth that evening. My jelly took her killing of the elf very badly. I think she just wanted to stun him, but what happened happened. Truth be told, I wasn’t feeling terribly good about killing that guard either. The man was just doing his job and I stole his life. But at least I meant to kill him.

I was protecting the people I love.

‘He also had loved ones,’ that annoying voice said. ‘He was providing for them.’

The Viscount said they would be cared for.

‘And that makes it all right.’

Needless to say, I didn't sleep all that well that night. At some point, both Lilyth and I just gave up, the poor jelly still had nightmares, and we went to the library to sit and talk. It ended with us eventually drifting off in each other’s arms.

Her presence is definitely comforting.

I wasn't planning on going to the funeral, assuming it would be a private affair, but Rennie asked me to join her. To my shock, all the others were there too.

‘He was Ren’s father,’ Lilyth explained. ‘That’s enough of a reason.’

As Kenji was well-loved here, most of the village gathered in the local cemetery for the ceremony. No one from the Viscount’s entourage attended, which, per Lilyth, wasn’t that surprising. Mutual respect or not, the Viscount couldn't be seen honouring a crime boss.

So we just stood there with Lilyth and Aki holding hands and watching as another piece of Ren’s world crumbled.

‘Can we go to Dan-Hem after the Viscount leaves?’ softly-weeping Aki asked. ‘Just the three of us. I want to see home. Talk with Bergia. Visit my mom’s grave.’

‘Of course,’ Lilyth agreed. ‘It will be an honour.’

‘Aye,’ I agreed. ‘Just the three of us. Like the old times.’

Lilyth, standing between us, squeezed our hands tightly.

And here I worried it would be difficult for me to manage all of this. And yet… maybe it won’t be that bad.

After the ceremony, including a truly heartrending part where a procession of people gave Ireela and Ren their condolences, the four of us, so me and the three women I loved, found ourselves sitting on a wooden bench in the small garden behind the house. I was holding Rennie close to me, while Aki and Lilyth were sitting next to us, also cuddled together. Chirpy and Veenaya were running around near us, the best I could tell, playing tag. Or maybe it was some sort of an epic battle that involved them switching who was chasing the other. You never quite knew what was what with those two, but it looked like they were having fun, so I guess it didn't matter what exactly they were doing.

‘You know… I wasn't on the best terms with my father,’ Ren said. ‘I hated him for how… how… he would always try to control me. Like there was this painter…’

She told us a story about a man who was courting her that her father ended up throwing out.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

‘But weren't you not int..’ Aki began, but Lilyth cut her off.

‘Not the point, sweetie. The problem isn't that Ren wasn’t interested. It’s that her father didn't consider she could be.’

‘Oh… Sorry, Ren.’

‘No problem, Aki. In fact, I must thank you and Lilyth because I always had trouble describing why exactly I was pissed off here. My marriage to Leera always had this hidden… “Fuck you, Dad” aspect to it. And well… now he is gone. And so is she.’

Ren began to weep again, so I held her tighter. After she calmed down again, I heard Aki’s speak in almost a whisper.

‘I’ve been thinking, Rennie. We were planning to go to Dan-Hem after this, well me, Lilyth and Caei. Do you want to come with us?’

‘I concur,’ Lilyth agreed. ‘A change of scenery could do you some good.’

‘And… well… I was viewing that as a family trip, but you are now a part of that too.’

My heart beat harder at that.

‘I’d like that, yes,’ Rennie smiled through her tears. ‘Thank you.’

‘You are important to Caei, Rennie,’ Lilyth smiled. ‘So you are important to us.’

And so we managed to give Ren some joy during that sad day.

While we were resting in the garden, Ireela was arranging things with the Viscount. I think she was happy to have something to do to take her mind off things.

‘I wonder if we are going to meet Lady Malika,’ Aki mused.

‘Who’s that?’ I wondered.

‘Viscount von Caiver’s lady wife,’ Aki explained with a smile. ‘I heard she was a demonborn too, so ever since I heard about her I always wanted to meet her.’

‘I can't see we can't go meet her, even if she doesn't join the Viscount,’ Ren said. ‘She’s here.’

‘Will they just let us in?’ Lilyth asked.

‘Daughter of a Baroness, remember?’ Ren pointed to herself with a thumb.

‘That will take a while to get used to, Rennie,’ I gave her a peck on the cheek.

I was hit then with that strange sense of belonging. I was surrounded by people who loved me and whom I loved in turn.

Apparently, our pets decided to temporarily drop the pretence of not understanding us, as they stopped their game, came over to us and looked at us expectantly.

‘Yes, you two are coming too,’ Aki laughed.

The two critters let out happy noises, and then Chirpy touched Veenaya’s head with his paw, chirped and ran away with our lumizu in hot pursuit.

We couldn't help but laugh at the display.

‘I don't think life will ever be boring with those two,’ Aki said once she caught her breath.

Then a mischievous grin appeared on her face and she slapped me on the shoulder.

‘Tag, you’re it!’

She then bolted away and, after a moment of confusion, I couldn't help but chase her. Ren and Lilyth just looked at each other and joined in.

I hadn’t had this much fun in a long time. Maybe ever. Whenever Lilyth was “It” we had to slow down to accommodate her still needing a cane, but I could see she was also having a lot of fun. In fact, a weird variant developed when the other two people would try to protect her from the current “It”.

We were so engrossed in the game that we didn't notice at first that we had an audience. They only made themselves known when Aki tripped while trying to catch me and we ended up both on the grass laughing.

‘So those are the heroes of Mer-Cas,’ the Viscount chuckled. We looked up and saw that he, Ireela and a woman I first took to be Savri were standing in the doorway to the house. She had the same tail, horns, pink hair and orange eyes as her, but for the life of me, I couldn't ever imagine Savri wearing a gold-embroidered black sheath dress, or any dress for that matter.

‘Sorry to interrupt, kids,’ Ireela said sadly, ‘But the dinner will soon be served and we have guests.’

‘Don’t bother changing,’ the woman, whom I realised was likely Lady Malika, added. ‘You look perfect the way you are.’

While Aki was looking at her awestruck, I could see a bit of curiosity in the eyes of Lilyth and Ren.

She definitely isn't demonborn. That's a full-blooded demon, if Ereshkigal's words about the rarity of cases like Aki are to be believed, and I can’t think of a reason why she would lie.

‘Savri never mentioned having a sister…’ I heard Lilyth whisper to Ren.

The resemblance is there.

We gathered ourselves and headed inside. We wanted to introduce ourselves, but we were asked to wait with this, not to ruin the surprise, which only made us more suspicious.

Everyone was already in the upper-floor salon when we arrived there.

Ireela clapped her hands and said:

‘Guys, we’ll be joined by the Viscount and his wife for dinner and the rest of the day.’

‘Yes, allow me to introduce myself,’ the woman said in a singsong manner. ‘I’m Malika.’

Savri looked as if she had seen a ghost.

‘Mom?’ she asked.