"Duchess, we found the traitor." Spoke the knight on the other side of the door.
Hearing the knight's words Alice's eyes turned horrifyingly cold.
"I'm busy, bring them to me." She said,
After learning of the attack on Eva, she almost immediately found out that it was 'Sombra' who had attacked her. But one thing that confused her was that Eva had left back towards the Dukedom earlier than expected because of the threat of 'Sombra'. This was planned even before she left for the imperial capital, so how did 'Sombra' know when she was supposed to leave? She could only come to one conclusion…they had a traitor.
After some investigation and interrogation the knights had finally found out who it was. How could a mother not be enraged at the person who almost caused the suffering of her daughter!
Soon, the knights came in with a middle aged looking woman. Alice recognized her as a maid in the Astaril family service.
All three of the Astaril women turned to the woman with a terrifying glare coming from each of them.
Then Alice spoke.
"I don't care what your reason is but you tried to bring harm to my family, and that's punishable by death, therefore that's what you're getting. You girls know what I'm about to do, do you have any objections?"
Both of her daughters shook their heads.
"Good. Knights kill her right now, in front of me." The ruthless words the duchess spoke chilled the knights hearts but they weren't going to disobey.
The knights unsheathed their swords and lifted them above the maids head, ready to strike down, before a wave of energy passed through the room, knocking both of them out.
"What!"
The Astaril women were getting into a fighting stance when Aria noticed Dantes body glowing a blue and white.
"What is wrong with him?"
Hearing her sister's words Eva shot her eyes towards Dante, along with her mother, just in time to witness a white/blue flame coming out of his body.
Realizing what the flame was, Eva shouted.
"Don't go near it! It's his attribute!"
From what she has noticed so far, Dantes attribute only worked to help him, as long as it could help that is. So, seeing his attribute she shouted so her sister and mother wouldn't act aggressive towards it.
Under the unbelieving eyes of the Astaril women, the flame approached the traitorous maid, and entered her body. Following that, a green wave of life energy left the maids body from her life attribute, trying to fight off what was invading it, but it ultimately proved useless. The maids body started to age rapidly before finally turning to dust, only leaving the flame in her place.
After finishing devouring the maids' life attribute, the flame returned to Dante's body and engulfed him.
Once again, something strange happened, Dante's body started to mature! Soon Dante's clothes ripped from his rapid growth revealing his body in all its glory. By the time he stopped growing, he looked like a 12-year-old boy at the beginning of puberty.
The flame again disappeared inside his chest, leaving the girls to witness how he was now.
Coming out of her shock Alice approached Dante and channeled some of her attribute into him to make sure he was okay.
"Great! His condition was resolved, he's just regularly resting now. He should wake up in an hour or so."
Eva, hearing her mothers words, ran up to Dante and pulled him into a hug.
"I'm so glad!" She said before her sister pulled her off of him.
"What's your problem?" Eva said, slightly aggressively.
Aria didn't respond, only pointed a little lower on Dante's body with a heavy blush coating her face.
Following her finger, Eva's face also blushed. When she realized she was hugging a naked and more mature Dante, she quickly hopped off of him.
"Fufufu, you girls are getting to the age of being interested in boys, huh. Oh, how they grow!" Alice spoke in an obnoxious manner, obviously teasing the two sisters.
Knowing this they responded with completely different responses.
"NO! I don't know what you're talking about mom!" Said Aria.
Eva on the other hand wasn't even trying to hide the affection she had for Dante.
"I'm not interested in boy"s", only Dante." She said as if it was natural, putting an emphasis on the 'S' in boys.
Alice couldn't help but think, 'It seems she's serious about this boy…'
"Let's let him rest and go back to my office."
***
Back inside Alice's office, she sat in her chair while Eva and Aria sat on the other side of the desk.
"Eva, I think we should talk about your life blood, and that boy."
Alice spoke with a serious tone.
Hearing her mothers words Eva sat up straight, prepared to speak in favor of Dante, after all she is the reason he was in this predicament so how could she not speak up for him.
"Mother, I…"
"Let's adopt him!" Alice spoke, all of her previous seriousness gone, only an adoring expression was left on her face.
"Huh…"
"Huh…"
Both of her daughters' minds blanked out when they heard their mothers words. They both knew that she loved kids but could she really just adopt someone?
"Don't look at me like that, it would solve the problem we currently have. First it would solve Eva's life blood problem, with your life blood in him if he dies you would also suffer greatly so I can't just let him out of my sight."
Even though she said this, both of her girls knew that their mother had always wanted a son, but also didn't want to remarry to have another child so she just dealt with it. But now that an opportunity to have such a good looking and talented son showed up, how could she not take it!
Eva soon thought of an issue but was hesitant to bring it up.
"U-Umm…"
Alice encouraged her to speak.
"Is there an issue?"
"Would me and him…you know…still…be able to have a relationship."
Eva hated to crush her mothers dreams of having a son but her future was on the line, she had to step up!
"Fufufu, of course, daughter. Mommy won't get involved in your love life." Alice said as she gave her daughter a teasing grin, causing Eva to sigh in relief.
Alice spoke up once again though.
"I may as well say it, so please listen. From what I can tell, Dante is going to be a good looking and powerful man when he grows up, so you might not be the only person who makes a way into his heart, are you sure you are prepared for that. Would you be okay with sharing him?"
Alice's words sent Eva into deep thought.
Her mom was right, good looking and talented individuals tend to be surrounded by multiple people, and it wasn't just men surrounded by multiple women but even some powerful women were surrounded by multiple men.
Eva's mind then started to weigh the outcomes.
One outcome was that he fell in love with other girls and she didn't allow it so he left her to be with them. Thinking of this outcome alone made Eva's heart clinch in pain. The thought of Dante leaving her made her feel like her inside was being ripped out.
It should still be noted that they are not even in a relationship yet and she was already hurting this much by the thought of him leaving her.
The other outcome was that he fell in love with other girls but still loved her and she allowed him to be with them.
Thinking of this outcome she felt a little bitter but then thought that if she would let him share his "love" he might love her even more! This made the previous bitterness lessen greatly, and replaced it with determination!
She was determined that even if Dante does have multiple women she will not be left behind, but instead make her position in his heart soar even more!
What Eva didn't notice this entire time was that she was already thinking as if she was Dante's woman.
Eva then looked back up at her mom and said,
"I would rather share his love than not have his love at all."