The guard’s hands are shaking so bad it takes him three tries to even get a proper grip on the cloth, mumbling something under his breath that might be an apology, might just be shock, hard to tell.
I leave him to it and turn to Seraphina instead. She’s still catching her breath from the pressure, kneeling there in the frost with her composure half back together, trying to stand on her own before I get there.
I reach down and tip her chin up gentle with two fingers, making her look at me properly.
"You were worried about me," I say, a slow grin creeping up.
"I was not," she snaps immediately, way too fast, cheeks flushing even as her voice stays sharp. She jerks her chin out of my hand, standing up on her own now, brushing frost off her knees like that’s the only thing that matters right now. "I was concerned about losing a valuable asset before he could even fulfill his end of the deal. That’s all."
"Uh-huh." I don’t drop the grin. "That’s why you were pacing a hole in the floor for twenty minutes."
"I was not pacing—"
"The guards literally mentioned it."
Her glare snaps toward the guard still scrubbing my boot, like she’s considering making his punishment worse for that little detail alone. "They’re mistaken."
Viperess, off to the side, doesn’t even try to hide her amusement, tail swaying once. Frostine just watches, composed as ever, though there’s the faintest curve at the corner of her mouth too.
Seraphina crosses her arms, chin lifted stubborn and proud despite the blush still sitting high on her cheeks. "The deal’s done. Dragon’s tamed. I’m yours — professionally," she adds again, quick, like she needs to keep reminding both of us. "Don’t get used to teasing me, Jake."
"Wouldn’t dream of it," I say, exactly the same line I gave her before, and this time her glare cracks just slightly at the edges into something almost like a smile she’s fighting hard to keep down.
I pull the contract out — already drawn up, waiting for exactly this moment — and hand it over. Seraphina takes it, scans it fast with sharp, practiced eyes, then signs without hesitation, like once she’s committed to something she doesn’t waste time second-guessing it.
[Seraphina — Contract Signed][Role: Personal Secretary / Operations Manager][Binding: Professional Contract — Non-Maiden]
The system chimes soft, confirming it, and Seraphina straightens up afterward, still a little shaken from the last few minutes, brushing invisible dust off her sleeves like it’ll help her get her composure fully back.
Then she turns toward Frostine, arms already lifting like she means to pull her into a hug — years of guilt behind it probably, all the time she spent keeping Aurelia chained and feral instead of finding someone who could actually help.
Frostine steps back before the hug lands, expression cool, arms crossing.
"No."
Seraphina blinks, arms still half-raised, awkward now. "...No?"
"You kept me locked away," Frostine says, tone even but pointed, "and called specialists to subdue me rather than understand me. I do not embrace so easily."
"I—" Seraphina falters, and for the first time tonight her sharp edges actually soften into something genuinely apologetic. "You’re right. I should’ve tried harder to find someone who could actually help you instead of just... containing the problem. I’m sorry, Aurelia. Truly."
Frostine studies her a long moment, pride and old hurt warring plain across her face.
"...Frostine," she corrects, quieter now. "That is my name now."
"Frostine, then." Seraphina holds her ground this time, arms lowering but voice steady. "I really am sorry."
The silence stretches a beat longer before Frostine finally, reluctantly, unfolds her arms and lets Seraphina step in — stiff at first, tail curling awkward at her side, clearly not used to being touched with anything gentle. But she doesn’t pull away this time.
"Do not make it a habit," Frostine mutters into the hug, and Seraphina actually laughs, a small watery sound, arms tightening just slightly.
Viperess watches the whole exchange with quiet approval, glancing sideways at me. "Your harem grows warm quickly, Master."
I just smile, watching my strange little found family stitch itself together right there in a frost-covered corridor.
Two maidens down. Two more to go before the real door opens.
The system flares up bright the moment Seraphina steps back from the hug, quest thread finally closing out clean.
[Quest Complete: The Proud Hunter’s Secret][Reward Distribution...]
[New Skill Acquired: Frost Manipulation]Inherited from Frostine — manipulate ice and cold at will, scaling with Master’s rank.
[Rank Advancement: E → D][Stats Increased]
[Wealth Multiplier: +100 EXP Applied][Doubling Speed: +50% — New Multiplier Rate: 2.5x per cycle]
I feel the cold settle into my hands first, not painful, just present, like I could reach out right now and frost would answer if I asked it to. I flex my fingers and a thin curl of ice creeps along my knuckles before fading back to nothing, controlled, easy, like it was always mine to command.
[Maiden Count: 2/4 — Realm Hopping Full Unlock: 50% Progress]
D-rank. Two maidens bound, real power finally sitting under my skin instead of just borrowed for a moment. My money doubles faster now too — 2.5x instead of flat doubling, which means whatever I feed the system next grows even quicker than before.
I look between Viperess’s calm dark presence and Frostine’s cool regal one, standing there together like they’ve always belonged beside me, Seraphina still catching her breath a step away, officially mine now in her own way too.
Two down. Two to go before that door swings all the way open.
I glance at my hand, frost still faintly clinging to my fingertips, and grin.
"Alright," I say. "Who’s next."
The system flickers to life again almost immediately, a fresh quest thread unfurling in front of my eyes.
[New Quest Available: The Condemned Ember][Target: Captured Demon — scheduled for public execution][Details: A high-ranking hunter has captured a demon beast and intends to execute her publicly, harvesting her core afterward for guild profit.][Objective: Disrupt the execution. Rescue the demon. Bind and Evolve into Maiden form.][Reward: Fire-Class Skill Inheritance][Maiden Count Progress: 3/4 upon completion]
I read it twice, jaw tightening slightly at "harvest her core after death" — like whatever she is, whoever she is, she’s already been reduced to nothing but loot in somebody’s ledger. Same way I got treated not too long ago. Same math, different victim.
Viperess catches the shift in my expression, tail flicking once. "Master?"
"Public execution," I say, turning the quest over once more in my vision. "Guy’s not just killing her. He’s making a show of it first."
Frostine’s expression cools further, something old and personal flickering behind her eyes — probably remembering her own cage, her own chains, how close she came to a similar fate before I walked through that door.
Seraphina steps up beside me, arms crossed, but this time there’s no doubt in her voice at all. "Tell me when and where. I’ll pull whatever intel I can on the hunter and the execution site."
I look at my growing harem — Viperess steady and lethal, Frostine regal and thawing, Seraphina sharp and already working the problem before I’ve even asked — and something settles into place, solid, certain.
Three maidens’ worth of quest sitting in front of me. Halfway there already. One more after this and that door swings wide open.
"Let’s go save her," I say, "before that guild profits off one more life."