The Conquerors bloodline

Things between Mine and Sheele had grown… 'awkward' to say the least. Sheele simply sat by the table flipping through a book with one arm in a sling. While Mine crossed her arms, fingers rapping on her arm unable to look Sheele in the eye. Not after what she did with Parc.

Just the mere remembrance had caused a bubbly content feeling in her stomach to rise. Which only made speaking with the girlfriend of Parc more difficult to accomplish. She had gotten the speech from Parc that he wasn't very faithful, and she was sure he said the same to Sheele, after all he didn't seem very ashamed of proclaiming himself as an adulterer. Not even including his continued sessions with Leone which she was all the more knowledgeable about.

But still, it didn't help the feeling that she was feeling like a homewrecker trying to pry herself in-between them. Even if it wasn't really of her own free will. She was still avoiding even bathing with any of the other girls because of the several red marks of ropes that still littered her body.

"Sheele… I… I um," The words were finding themselves latched to the back of her throat unwilling to come out. 'Why is this so difficult?' she cried internally.

Sheele lifted her eyes from her book, head following just shortly behind, her glasses shifting down a little threatening to fall off. "Hmm? Yes, Mine?" she asked, oblivious to Mine's distress.

Mine sucked in a breath, of course she was going to look so innocent and pure, it was Sheele after all, "I, I uh… with Parc I had, um…" she still struggled to say the actual word that popped into her head, the mere thought causing a wave of red to assault her body.

"Sex?" Sheele tilted her head to the side and finished for her. Mine falling silent and nodding her head. "Good for you." Sheele looked back to her book, continuing her reading.

It was said so offhandedly that it left Mine blank with mouth hung agape.

"But I- With your-" Mine's voice came out in partial sentences, the cogs in her head spinning faster and faster in an effort to reason with whatever line of logic going through the empty head of the girl before her.

"WHY ARE YOU SO OKAY WITH THAT!? He's your boyfriend isn't he!?"

Sheele looked up to Mine with a hint of confusion, "yes he is…" she poked her chin, looking contemplative, "or… I think he is… though… do boyfriends sleep with other girls?"

"NO!" Mine shouted.

Sheele shrugged, "does it really matter..."

"YES!" Normally, Mine was quite fond of Sheele's aloofness it gave her the sense of being the smarter, older sister. But at certain times, it really annoyed her. "Couples don't just sleep around on each other! That's not how love works!"

Sheele looked to Mine with an inquisitive stare, "really? I thought love didn't care about circumstances, it just was?" she said thinking, 'I think that's what that book said… Kama something… I think it was.'

Mine was utterly flummoxed, of course love didn't care about circumstances! It wouldn't be… love… Suddenly Mine seemed to realize her own mental trip. "It- that is- Graah!" Mine roughly ruffled her hair in frustration before looking to Sheele with tired eyes, "It just isn't love like that, love is between two people eventually leading into-" the word got stuck in her throat, "-marriage." She went rosy, picturing the scene of her in a wedding dress and Parc in a suit. Quickly shaking that away.

"What about polyamorous relationships? Aren't those love between multiple people?"

That was a big word for Sheele, Mine wasn't sure to be proud or stuck in a thought loop.

"That- that's different-"

"How so? If there's only love between two of them then what's the point of being in a relationship with multiple people?"

Mine was actively being pushed into a mental corner by the last person she had ever expected, and it was frustrating her, "s-sex! Of course!" Mine stuttered with utmost 'confidence.'

"If the two love each other why would they need another for sex?"

"Some people just like having multiple partners!" Mine really didn't want to lose to Sheele of all people.

"Then can't they love said partners?"

'WHY ARE YOU ASKING SO MANY QUESTIONS!?' Mine screamed in agony. Body slumping in her seat, finally giving up after having all her points thrown back at her.

"I… just… sure. yeah… they can…" Mine's arms hung over the armrests, blankly looking to the confused expression of Sheele, no so much more aware to why this dolt was so accepting of her boyfriend being a discount gigolo that didn't get paid for his 'services.'

'I'm done with this…' Mine sighed internally. Hand going to her stomach to scratch an itch but finding her nails scraping against the strange pink gem that had popped up on her belly after the deed was done. 'Right… that thing.'

"Sheele," Mine got a hold of the purple haired ones attention once again, "do you also have a weird crystal on your stomach? It just sort of appeared out of nowhere after-" Perhaps she shouldn't have asked that because that just brought up memories of her gagging and bondage and subsequent deflowering, "after… I did THAT with him."

"Hmm? Yes, I do." Sheele answered, "Leone also has one. Mine is purple, hers is yellow." She pinched her chin in ponderance once again, "I think Parc said it was a sign of us being his now?" She asked completely unsure of her own memories, "at least, I think he said that…"

Mine's cheek twitched at Sheele's doubting tone. "Don't you find it a little much? Marking us as his? If its really like that, doesn't it make you feel like… not a person? Like we're just objects to him?"

"No." Sheele shrugged, flipping to a new page in her book. Mine waiting for her to continue, "when I'm with him he treats me well. He's been the kinder to me than anyone from before I joined Night Raid." A light flush took to her cheeks, herself recalling her first time with him, how he treated every part of her body as a delicate treasure, even the part of her that caused her the most discomfort.

Her hand rose to her cheek, trailing over the scar running beneath her eye, "he…" she smiled, looking Mine in the eyes, "… he makes me feel like a girl and not an assassin. He doesn't care about the blood on my hands or my wounds. He just cares for me and it makes me want to do the same for him… and if that means becoming his… then I am happy to do that."

Mine went silent. It wasn't as if she was entirely against the idea, its just, that it all happened suddenly, and she felt it would be easier to vent on someone. Except, all she got was everything thrown back in her face.

"Plus," Sheele continued, "I'm enjoying being in a relationship with him even if it means I have to share. But that's something he warned me about, so I know that if I get angry, I can only be annoyed with myself for getting angry when he told me that he wouldn't only be with me."

Mine leaned back into her chair with a sigh, "don't you feel jealous at all? Leone sneaks into his room whenever he can. He ogles Najenda and Akame. He spends hours every day with Sayo, Maya and Eris. I've only seen him speaking with Lubbock and Bulat maybe once a week." Lubbock was one thing, not even Mine would want to be anywhere near that pervert. But Bulat? He was the older brother to everyone.

Sheele thought for a moment before nodding lightly, "mhm, I did. Mostly at first when I was still getting used to being with him. But I got over it after a few weeks."

Anything Mine wanted to say or question quickly dried up after their exchange. Part of her mind was still reluctant to accept Parc for what he was, a triple timing bastard who can't keep to one girl. The other, the other had long since stopped minding it, and after speaking with Sheele like this, that part was growing larger.

She still had things to ask and vent, no doubt about that, but she knew Sheele wasn't the one to be asking them to. The only one who could answer them was still away on a mission. So she'd have to wait a few more days at the least before she could get them.

Leaning her head back, Mine stared to the stone ceiling above, finger lightly trailing circles around the gem on her stomach. Her eyes slowly shutting, 'Love is complicated…'

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Short chapter but next ones introduce a new character, so look forward to that.

Question. I've actually gone onto the actual released versions of this story and I noticed the paragraphs are just big glomps of text. Do you guys want me to try and make them smaller and more well, legible? You'd only see it like, a week and a half from now due to the backlog.