Chapter 142: Alexandra doubts her life
Leon and Louise returned to their carriage.
"We're ready to continue our adventure, Leon." Celes came out with a dazzling smile and wrapped her arms around Leon's neck, calling him by his name.
She pecked his lips and let him go, basking in everyone else's attention.
The vampiress had realized that it was much easier for her to display her emotions in a confident and lovely manner with others around her. Perhaps, she was a little attention seeker, or her master's charm was too strong when they were alone, so Celes needed a third party to look at her flaunting her love.
Maybe it was related to her inspiration of the queen!
Nonetheless, Celes felt much better with others around her. And now that she had given it more thought, Celes realized she had always been like that. She always went crazy with love for her master, with enemies around, for example. She made others shiver with her mad feelings and turned some jealous.
Celes was fine with herself turning docile and sweet in her master's arms, with him working to bring out that craziness.
"Alright. Nothing else keeps us here, so let's head forward!" Leon chuckled, ruffled his vampiress' hair, and boarded the driver's seat.
And then, Louise took the spotlight as she raised her hand. "How about we leave Master alone and play some card games inside the carriage?"
Else's eyes gleamed with excitement. "War!"
Louise smirked as though she had been waiting for that. "Yes, war. I won't go easy on anyone."
"Me too!" Else nodded a few times, then crossed her arms, making herself seem like a pro.
Alexandra and Celes looked peculiarly at the adorable fox.
She was a little different.
And while it was hard to see through her heart, the two other women couldn't really ask what had happened between her and Leon. She still called him through the former title, so nothing that significant must have occurred. It was also good to kill some time through a card game, so Alexandra and Celes boarded the carriage and took seats.
Feeling comfortable with everyone having a good time and understanding, Leon took over the driver's seat and shook the reins, forcing his complaining horses to pull the carriage away from the village.
Leon marked that village on his minimap.
[My Vampiress' Memorable Day.]
And with that, he opened his system shop and prepared a little more to snatch his adorable fox's heart.
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Leon's natural clock worked better than any alarm.
He woke up before everyone else except Alexandra, who was on watch duty. Leon no longer slept the same as Celes had all the privilege to sneak into his sleeping bag and splash her softness on him. He also instinctively coiled his arm around that beautiful woman, feeling her with his entire body.
Her sleeping habits hadn't come out because of her beloved's warmth.
Leon would love to keep that routine for at least a few days, but he knew that it was impossible.
Louise had suffered from his decisions, so he needed to face her feelings. He didn't like how he had to confess so fast, but that was inevitable. Just like Louise and Celes were selfish for wanting to be with him and didn't mind harem, Leon also had to be selfish.
"I know you hate waking up in the morning, so sleep more." Leon kissed Celes' forehead as she opened her eyes due to his abrupt movement, only to close them as Leon's whispers were better than a lullaby.
Leon went through his morning routine, which was quite annoying in his adventurous life.
"Good morning, Master." Alexandra approached her master, who had already washed his hair and body, smelling fresh and looking great. "I've scouted this forest and found no one other than us. Even beasts don't live in this area. There's also a good clearing quite far away from our carriage."
"Thanks." Leon asked his dragon maid for that because he already had an idea for his confession to Louise. "We'll take a longer break than usual in this forest. Louise and I will also be gone for some time."
"Understood. I wish you good luck, Master. I know you won't need it, though." Alexandra lifted her face up after her usual bow, smiling.
Leon saw that she knew what he was about to do, so he broadly smiled and nodded. "Gotta make it memorable, right?"
"Yes." Alexandra nodded.
And as Leon was prepared to leave, for Louise should soon finish her morning routine as well, Alexandra stopped him with a faint and shaky voice. "Master…"
Leon turned around and faced her. "Yes?"
Alexandra took some time to share her troubling thoughts. She gazed at her master with her hands clenching the hem of her maid dress, and her violet eyes flashed and narrowed with many emotions.
Knowing she couldn't take too much of his time, finally, Alexandra parted her lips. "Even if the past is fake, I'm experiencing genuine emotions, right? It's all real…"
Leon instantly inferred that the demon's words had caused ripples in Alexandra's heart. The evil dragon within her must have also used that as a chance to prove her identity.
"You're an altruistic dragon loyal to me. That's all that has been written within your soul, Alexandra." Leon didn't hide the truth and seriously spoke. "Altruistic is quite a broad concept, you know? You can be evil and altruistic, for example. But you haven't yielded to the evil dragon within you and decided to go around the world and learn about it from different perspectives. What you become is all up to you. You can twist your existence and become evil, too, and I'll tolerate it unless you aim for innocents, which I outright refuse. I don't think I'll ever let you go because having a strong maid around is comfortable. Do you like your maid duties, Alexandra?"
"I do." Alexandra easily replied to that question while her master's other words heavily pounded on her heart.
"I have simply named you the dragon maid. It's not a part of your setting. You've taken a liking to it, so the real and pure satisfaction fuels your real heart. Your soul is real, too. Even if you leverage the memories of the evil dragon, those are just a base to shape the real you. That's why don't think too much about it, Alexandra. Don't forget about your duties and live your own life." Leon brought out a pure smile.
While controlling memories were bad, and he swore to never do that again, it was his duty to make Alexandra part of the world and have her fight her past while getting a new identity.
"Thank you, Master. Thank you for being honest with me." Alexandra faintly smiled.
"My pleasure." Leon patted her shoulder and finally left her alone, going to Louise's side.