Leveling Up by Seducing Milfs-Chapter 254. Pay Attention to The Gaps

"Thanks." She went inside.

Sophia, who was on Zephyra’s hip and looking Rick in the eye, grabbed his sleeve with the firm grip of someone who has found something interesting and plans to look into it more.

Zephyra gently took the small hand away with an automatic motion. "Stop holding on to the Demon King, Sophia... he’s going to eat you."

Rick smirks at Sophia with the kind that looks terrifyingly teasing and thinks to himself. "I won’t eat ya, little girl... but I would eat your mother because... just look at her!"

After thinking about this order for a moment and seeing Rick’s face, Sophia grabbed Rick’s sleeve again very deliberately while laughing this time.

Zephyra turned to look at her daughter. Then at Rick.

Then she just walked forward, which meant that a nine-month-old with an unexpectedly strong grip was now gently pulling Rick along.

"I’m sorry... she always does this," Zephyra said, as if she were giving information.

Rick said, "It’s fine; she’s still a baby and probably wants to play around," and he went along with it because he had no other choice.

...

After weeks of ocean problems, corrupt guardians, and an ancient empress crying for the first time in fifty years, the night turned into something calm and comfortable.

The mansion was warm and well-lit, and the sounds of the city outside were normal city sounds like market noise, cart wheels, and distant conversation. None of them were trying to hurt anyone.

Carmilla and Natasha were in the main common room quietly going over Natasha’s ward analysis notes, like people who really enjoy their work.

Sylvia had not gotten up from her big chair. Zara had been in the tactical map room for two hours and didn’t look like she was going to leave.

Rick ended up in the kitchen trying to make tea, which he had never been very good at. He knew the water temperature was wrong, but he was doing his best anyway.

And then... Zephyra came into the room. What a coincidence again.

She had changed out of her travel clothes and into something more comfortable. Sophia was finally asleep, and her folio was under her arm like it always was, but she wasn’t writing in it.

She stood in the doorway for a moment, watching Rick fight with the tea kettle with the kind of patience that comes from deciding whether or not to step in.

"Hahhhh..." She sighed and said, "You’re doing it wrong."

"I know."

"The temperature of the water is very important to make a good tea."

"Yes, Ma’am... I’m sorry... I’m just an amateur at tea making."

"And you’re the Hero of Mature." Zephyra sighed.

Without asking, she walked in, went to the other side of the counter, and used a small, precise gesture of water magic to change the temperature, just enough, no more than needed. Rick had been trying to get the kettle to the right soft simmer for a few minutes, and it finally did.

They made tea without saying a word. The kitchen was quiet enough that you could hear the small sounds of the city outside through the window.

The light was warm and low, and it was a perfect moment to start a conversation with just the two of them being there, but Rick had already formed a sick mind about it.

"So, uh..." Rick finally asked, "Where’s Heinz?"

"He still went to give the plant back." Zephyra poured her tea. "He’s not back yet... I guess he got lost."

"Should we send someone to check?"

"He’ll find his way eventually, and he always does about that." She stopped and looked down at her cup. "It just takes time as usual."

She said it without any heat in it. No frustration, no resentment, nothing sharp at the edges. It was the flat, matter-of-fact tone of someone who had given up and stopped fighting.

Rick drank his tea and didn’t ask any more questions because it seemed like it didn’t need one anyway because today, it’s just about them having a lonely time.

’The narration is exaggerating shit... you know I won’t do that to a married woman with a baby...’

’...yet."

"So..." He said, "You don’t have to work tonight, huh?" after a short pause.

Zephyra gave him a look. "I know."

"You could just sit there and not think about anything."

For a moment, her analytical gaze stayed steady. "I’ll think about it."

She didn’t sit down. Five minutes later, though, she was still standing at the counter with her folio set down and closed next to her.

She was holding her tea with both hands and staring out the kitchen window at nothing in particular. Not thinking about it, and also not writing about it either.

She was just standing there in the warm kitchen light with her tea, looking out at the city.

Rick slowly realized that for Zephyra, sitting was pretty much the same.

He didn’t say anything about it. He drank his tea and let the night be quiet.

After a while, Zephyra said, "The Council meeting tomorrow will be civil," without asking or taking her eyes off the window.

"I want you to expect that... Fredrich will be polite, informative, and completely reasonable."

"And?"

"And you should pay attention to what he doesn’t say." At last, she looked at him. "He’s very good at making his version of events seem like the only one, and try to look for the gaps."

Rick nodded. "G-Got it..."

"Good, I’ll be taking my leave now."

Zephyra grabbed her folio and went out of the kitchen. He could hear her footsteps going down the hall to the guest room.

A few seconds later, Heinz’s voice came from outside the kitchen window. He sounded a little confused and asked someone on the street if they knew where the noble district mansion was.

It seemed that he had successfully returned the plant and gotten lost on the way back.

Rick stood in the kitchen for a little while longer, holding his tea and listening to the sounds of the city and the distant, mild disaster of Heinz trying to find his way back to where he had been thirty minutes earlier.

"Again... how the fuck did a loser like that pull a 10/10 MILF like that?!"

"I really need to know more about it... there must be some good lore in it, but other than that... I’ll just enjoy tea... yeah... a good fucking tea, innit."

Then he went to his room after sipping all his tea.

...

It was dark and quiet in his room, which was just right. Rick lay on his back and stared at the ceiling.

He felt like his mind was worn out enough to want to sleep but too busy to find it right away.

"Fuck... it seems like now I can sleep like a child is to have sex with some—"

Sebastian appeared at the foot of the bed. Rick turned his head to look at him because it was so strange that he didn’t say anything right away.

The chibi butler looked different tonight. Not proud. Not like a play. Something more careful than either of those.

"Hear me out," the butler said.

"Thank god, I thought you were going to roast me, but..." Rick said, "That face... something’s wrong, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Fredrich. The Council moves while we’re gone."

"The way he greeted us today, knowing Liora wasn’t coming before we even landed." Rick looked up at the ceiling again. "The letter said, ’Took the liberty of managing affairs.’"

"That’s a very specific way to say it."

"It is."

"You know something."

Sebastian was silent for a while. He moved his monocle around, which he did when he was carefully considering what to say and in what order.

"The system monitors bond networks," he stated.

"All of them, not just yours."

Rick stared at him.

Sebastian went on, "I have been watching a bond in Valdris for a while now."

"Not a spirit bond, but something ancient, and it’s more political in nature. It’s the kind of bond that forms between people who have made promises to each other in secret."

Rick slowly got up. "Whose bond?"

Sebastian opened his mouth.

There were quick, purposeful footsteps in the hallway, and then Carmilla’s voice came through the door, low and urgent.

"Rick...! Get up! Something is going on at the Council building!"

"What!?"