The interrogation leaves me in a bad mood that stretches into the following day. I’ve reached the point where I’m ready to leave the prince to the wolves and wash my hands of the affair, damn the consequences.

“Perhaps you should take the day off, my summoner.”

Lying in a warm bed with the sun barely over the horizon, I look at the succubus standing at the side of the bed. Kierra is still fighting sleep, mumbling in her dreams with her head on my shoulder.

“It would give you some time to unwind while allowing time for the grandmaster to circulate news of your innocence and investigate your accuser.”

Hard to argue with her when I rather not face the day anyway. “Mmkay,” I mumble, wrapping myself in my blankets tighter.

“Excellent. Enjoy your rest.”

“Mm.”

There’s a perverse joy watching the day go on, knowing there’s somewhere I should be. Makes the bed extra comfortable or maybe the extra time gives me the chance to appreciate it.

“Hm?” Kierra eventually raises her head from my shoulder, smiling softly as she looks down at me. “What a wonderful surprise but don’t you have somewhere to be, dedia?”

“Day off,” I mumble, reaching up to pull her into a sleepy kiss. She indulges me but pulls away far too quickly.

“How brave of you, freely declaring to avoid my lessons.”

I freeze, a quick burst of adrenaline banishing the webs of drowsiness as my eyes widen. “Um, no, you see—”

I relax at the sound of her chuckles. “I am only jesting. It’s fine.” She gives me a quick peck on the cheek before rolling out of bed. Evil woman, scaring me like that. If only I could properly get angry with her about anything. My ire is already starting to slip as my eyes devour her naked form, strutting across the room to push aside the curtains without a care in the world.

“You have earned a day off, hm? Perhaps use the extra time to have the pet give you those scheming lessons you so desperately need.”

My rising libido is cooled by the reminder of the mess Marcus dumped me in and I retreat into my covers with a pout. Kierra chuckles on her way to the bathroom.

I could easily join her but the bed is making good arguments for me to stay put. To compromise, I change my ears to that of the wolf’s and listen as Kierra steps beneath a warm spray of water. I can hear her sigh as she relaxes, her humming as she lathers herself up, her little moans as she gives herself a little extra attention…

Just as I’m about to get up and join her, she rinses and cuts the water off. Ah ah, missed opportunities. I stare in wistful regret as she re-enters and quickly dresses.

“I’ll see you later, Lou,” she calls from the doorway. “Try not to laze about in bed all day, hm?”

Then she’s gone and the room is silent. Strangely silent. Huh, now that I think about it, have I ever been in our room alone? I leave before her and she usually gets home first.

“Sap,” I mumble as the thought brings on a strange melancholy. I shrug off the mood before it can take root and push off the covers, deciding to take my wife’s advice and do something. What, I have no clue, but if all else fails, there’s always early lessons with Geneva.

After a quick wash, I’m out exploring the house. My stomach leads me into the kitchen where I find both my elementals. Geneva has her back to me, dressed in a frilly white apron, messing with something on the stove.

Bell spots me right away, leaping from her place on the counter to dash over. I easily scoop her into my arms. “Morning, Bell~ What are we going to do today?”

“Start with breakfast,” Geneva answers. “I’ll be done in a moment so take a seat.”

“Alright, thanks.”

Geneva is true to her word. Just as I take a chair at our rarely used dining table and settle Bell in my lap, she appears over my shoulder and lays down a plate, quickly followed by a glass of something. I raise it and take a sip, brows going up. “A little early to be drinking, isn’t it?”

“Fruit wine hardly counts, Lou.”

She takes the seat next to me, her tail idly playing with Bell as she watches me eat. “You want some?” I ask, feeling a little guilty with her eyes on me as I tuck into the food.

“I would gladly partake of you, my summoner.”

“Not what I was offering.” Guilt gone. “Is there something I can do around here so I don’t end up sleeping the day away?” Kind of hoping she says no.

“Not much.” Haha! “Though, I suppose you can sit in as I instruct the members of the house. You should grace your servants with a word every now and again.”

“Ah, right.” My collection of wayward bandits. I rarely see them except for Earl, my young steward who seems right at home in his role. Nomad every now and again the few times I go down to the kitchen in the middle of the night. “Sounds interesting enough. Let’s do it.”

I finish my breakfast and then we’re off to find the servants. Unsurprisingly, the first is Earl. He’s in the middle of straightening the sheets in one of the spare rooms when he hears us in the doorway. His eyes move to Geneva and he straightens up, hands crossing behind his back as his chest puffs out. “Good morning!”

I blink. What is this, the royal army?

Geneva doesn’t return the greeting. She steps over and circles him, eyes flicking over his uniform. He stands as still as a tree, eyes forward, without so much as flinching. I can almost see the tension wrapped around him.

Her inspection moves to the room. She checks the furnishings and pushes her hand down on the bed. Then she returns to standing in front of Earl. “Good morning, steward. Full points for your uniform and work but you lose points on your greeting. While I am due respect as your superior, it is rather rude to ignore one of the masters of the house.”

Earl flinches. He opens his mouth but catches himself before making the same mistake. His eyes flick to me. “I endeavor to do better!”

“Er, yeah.” Ugh. He is far too intense for this hour and his eyes have a worrying gleam. Very worrying. Hm. Now that I think about it, I never told her not to use her abilities in training the bandits.

What was it she said? Given a year, she could make a man think he’s a dog and no one would find a trace of her influence.

She’s had half a year with them without any supervision. There is no telling what knots she’s tied these people in. Oh boy. As her summoner, I should take some responsibility for this but I don’t want to be so much as a spear’s length to it. One of those things where it’s better not to know. We’ll say it’s because of extreme gratitude and my personal charisma, yeah.

“Excellent. Come, the duties can wait. It is time for lessons.”

I follow behind them as she leads Earl to another spare room. From the looks of it, it might have been meant for a study but neither Kierra nor myself are here enough for such a thing. Maybe next year when I’ve got the leeway to begin my summoning research.

It has a long table with four simple chairs on one side. There is a small stack of paper next to a box of smudge sticks. I blink in mute astonishment as Earl grabs a few sheets, a stick, and sits down with his back straight, paying Geneva rapt attention.

…does she enjoy being a teacher or something?

My surprise continues to grow as the lesson begin. The topic for the day? Economics. I only know the word because Geneva uses it. Something to do with money. As soon as I clear that up, I think I’m going to be able follow the lesson. Has to be something about arranging supplies for the house, nothing big.

To an extent, it is. It includes a bit on how to spot a good deal and avoiding being scammed by subtly scoping out several shops before making a purchase. However, the simple lesson quickly becomes more complicated as she gets into market trends, recognizing quality of material, how supply, travel routes, and demand affect price.

Rather than a steward, it looks like she’s training him to be an ace merchant. She’s even teaching him how to feel the difference between the different varieties of silk, with examples. Where did she get those? And does he really need to know all this? I don’t know this. Not to mention this is a little much for a fourteen-year-old boy.

[My summoner, such knowledge is the very basics if he intends to run errands for you and other nobles. The steward reflects the house, sometimes even more than its owner. There is no need to worry about him keeping up with my teaching. I will ensure he commits every detail.]

That’s ominous. Oh, well. I suppose I prefer her using her abilities to make him a better student than engendering a fanatic loyalty.

After an hour and a half, the lesson wraps up. Earl gives us both an enthusiastic goodbye before returning to his duties and we are back to searching the house for Geneva’s next victim, er, I mean student. Yeah.