A few minutes after Theo and Vex entered the tent, a moan came out. But unlike usual, the moan came from Theo along with him pleading Vex to slow down. Ed and Tomoe's faces turned red as they heard that. "E-excuse me." Tomoe bowed before heading to her tent. Bry followed her without uttering a single word. "I-I'm also going to get some sleep." Ed stood up and left the campfire with both hands covering his ears. They already agreed that Lyana and Alina would be on guard duty for the night. Lyana couldn't sleep to save herself from hearing Theo's moan, and she mustn't wander too far either. Vivi was about to walk away when Lyana caught her hand. "Please, stay here with me. I ... want to talk." Lyana said. "Sure." Vivi sat next to Lyana. "How can you-" "Vex, God! S-slow down a little." A voice rang out, interrupting Lyana. Lyana sighed. "Bear with that? How can you accept this whole harem thing? Him fucking other women?" "The question is not how I can bear with it. It's how can you bear with it?" "What?" Lyana looked at Vivi with a curious look. "I can just say that I'm not bothered that he sleeps with other women. Of course, the truth is more complicated than that. I want him to love me only, I NEED him to love me only, but I believe that love is about letting the needs of the person you love over your own needs and wants. And despite what I've been doing with him all this time, I know that a relationship is more than just physical and sexual contact, we also have to satisfy each other's emotional needs. And I can satisfy him neither." "Really?" Lyana raised her brows, surprised. "He always looks pretty happy after he done it with you." Vivi turned towards her and smirked. "Oh, so you were observing us? Ck, Ck, Ck. Naughty, naughty, Lyana." When Lyana realized what she had just said, she turned her red face away. "I-It's a one time only, w-when I can't sleep." "You're pretty amazing, you know." Vivi waited until Lyana peeked at her direction again before continuing what she was going to say. "To be able to sleep in the same room as us." She laughed. "Well, I ... find a way." Lyana's cheeks turned bright red when she remembered all those nights she spent in the same room as them. All the noise, the rocking bed, the moan, and the name calling. "And there's also my detached emotion." Vivi said. "Detached emotion?" Vivi's violet gaze wandered from side to side, then it rested on Lyana. "It's a secret. I never told this to anyone, not even to Theo, so can you please keep this a secret? I don't want him to worry." "Y-yeah, sure." "Have you ever read a mediocre fiction book, Lyana?" Lyana raised her brows. "I have read some, why?" "How do you feel when there's a sad scene or happy scene when you read those mediocre books?" "It depends. There are mediocre books that really hit hard when it comes to the emotional part but fail at everything else. But I understand your analogy." "I feel that way in this world. I can feel emotion like all you do. Fear, happiness, jealousy, but the extent and the scale never really hit the same point as my previous life. There are a few exceptions, however, the fear when I fell down to the Crawler nest was unlike anything I've ever felt before." "So when you see Theo with other women, you don't feel THAT jealous?" "No. Which is kind of good, I don't know how I can bear with my own feelings if my jealousy isn't reduced." "But, your happiness ..." Vivi smiled. "It's fine. I'm used to a mundane life anyway." She stood. "And I think that's why I also love Theo, I've never felt that kind of happiness and love before." She stood right in front of Lyana and smiled. "Now I've told you my reasoning, why don't you tell me yours? Why are you still with Theo?" Lyana pupil moved to her right."I ... I mean I'm a, you know what I am, stuck on this side the realm." "Stop with that." Vivi interrupted, her violet eyes locking gaze with Lyana. "You're not weak Lyana, and you're most definitely not stupid. You're not dependent on Theo and you know it. Right now you know how most human society works, and how most human relationship works. And your disguise magic while not perfect, would be enough to live normally among human for however long you want. So why do you stay with him?" Lyana stayed silent for a few moment while looking at Vivi's eyes. She then sighed. "You know why, Vivi, I don't have to tell you." "Then just be honest with your feelings. It's useless to reject your it." "This is not about telling him my feelings. I know that he knows my feelings, but I can't accept it. I can't accept this whole harem thingy and this whole sharing with other women things. I ... just can't! It reminded me too much of my father! Of home, and all the suffering and the bad memory I have there." "But Theo is not your father, he is not as bad as him. I mean yes, Theo is not the best man out there in this world, but at least he cares for his women." "I know, I know that, but I ... I-" "Do you hate it when you see me together with Theo? Do you hate it when we are doing it?" Lyana looked away. "I- Don't ... know." Vivi grabbed her cheek. "Look at my eyes. Do you hate it when I was doing it with him?" Lyana was unable to stare at Vivi's eyes. Vivi's gaze was unshakable while Lyana's was wavering. "Ye-N- ... I don't know. At first, I hate it, Detest it. I even hate you and hate him ... But I don't know anymore. My mind knows that I should hate it, but there's no hate in my heart." "So you get used to it?" Vivi smiled and her gaze softened, but Lyana was still unable to look at her directly. "I-I guess so." "Then you should be able to get used to his other women." Vivi smiled innocently and then turned away from her. "I'm not telling you what you should do or what you should feel, but if you have anything you want to say to him then it would be better to say it to him directly rather than just speaking to me." Lyana smiled. "Thank you." "You're welcome. You know, I'm here not just to be with Theo, I'm also here to help and support you. You can talk to me anytime you want." "Thank you." Lyana chuckled. "But if I tell him if he wants to do it with other women, do it in private. He would storm my room at night and do it on my bed just to look at my reaction." Vivi laughed. "Hahaha. Yeah, he would probably do that." ----- Theo stared at the ceiling of the tent, still basking in the afterglow. He was naked with Vex next to him. "Well, that's a first." "What first?" Vex asked, she was looking away from him. "You didn't force me until I faint, or blue-balled me the whole night." Theo answered, his breathing still rough. "That was the most normal sex we ever had." "Variation is necessary to spice things up." Theo looked at her. "Is there a problem, problems?" "None of your concern." Her answer was followed by silence. Theo looked at her back. He remembered what Sara said to him about avoiding Vex and why he feared her. He wanted Sara to be wrong, he wanted to prove her wrong, but what she said was the truth. The more he thought about it, the more guilty he felt. The reason he was still alive was partly because of her. The man he was now, was partly influenced by her. All the things she had done to him, all the good things, the bad things, and then he left her without a word. He disappeared from her life for four years without any communication. If he only left her but still communicates with her, he wouldn't feel that bad. But that was not the case. "Vex, I'm sorry." "Huh?" Vex turned her body so she faced him. "I'm sorry. For leaving you, for ... everything." Vex raised her brows. A smile crept on her face before she laughed her ass off. "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" She sat up and tried her best to stop her laughter, but she failed. "GOD! HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!" Theo waited until Vex stopped laughing, which amazingly took a few minutes. "Do you think I'm still angry at you for leaving me?" She asked. "Maybe. You're an unpredictable woman." Theo answered. Vex smiled. "Thank for your concern, but my problem is not you. But ..." Vex looked at the tent entrance. "Yesterday, I talked with your women. They asked me about our history together and how we met." Vex chuckled." Strange, I never talked about us to anyone before. And it made feel guilty for sending you down that path." She looked at him. "I'm sorry too. for making you like that. Now you have a lot of trouble with criminals from the Free Cities." Theo took her hand, which surprised her. "But you gave me more than just trouble. You gave me a lot of things. Good things, bad things." He took and kissed her hand. "So can you tell me your trouble? Other than your obsession with increasing your level cap." Vex glared at him, took his hand and bit it. "That's for making fun of my level cap." She sighed. "The Miracle is ... breaking up." "What?" He was surprised, there was no indication of the Miracle going to disband. "Is there a problem between the members?" "No." She answered quick. "But each member has a problem on their own, including me. Theo, do you know how the Miracle is before it becomes an all-women party?" Theo shook his head. He was never interested in Miracle before it became an all-women Adventurer Party. "Before, The Miracle was an excellent party, with all its members having a common goal and common passion. It has a substance that keeps it together. But then, Kai, our previous leader, died during a mission, then the mantle of leadership falls down to me for some reason, despite being the weakest member." "Well, you're a good leader, and you have experience leading an army during your time as mercenary." "No, I'm a good commander, not a good leader. During battles, yes, I'm good at it. But keeping people together for a common cause? No. Our three last male members left after I took leadership." "Well, I have to agree that you're shit at understanding men's emotion." Theo laughed. Vex hit Theo's gut with her elbow. "Well, I'm shit at understanding women too. The only reason it hasn't broken up yet is because each member still has use of the party." "Do you care about the Miracle?" "Honestly, yes. I care about the Miracle and its members, all of them, former and current. Val, Bry, Tomoe, Tina, Alina, Kai, Leo, John, Simon. The Miracle is one of the few things in my life I can truly care about. One of the few things I can get attached to emotionally." There was a hint of sadness in her voice. It was rare for Vex to show any sadness. "Do you want the Miracle to stay intact?" "Of course." "So, can you tell me what their problems are?" "W-" Vex stopped and stare at Theo. "Are you going to use their problems to get close to them?" "You always told me to take an opportunity whenever it presented itself. If the Miracle is going to break up no matter what, why not reform it in my harem? You get to keep the Miracle intact, and I get some more women. It's a win-win situation." Vex smirked, then giggled, then chuckled, then it turned to a full blown all out laughter. "You sick bastard. But that means I'm part of your harem." Theo sat then hug her from behind. Funnily enough, that was the first time he hugged her outside of sex. "Why not? You know, I've been thinking about us." "Us?" Vex asked. "I thought you said there's no us." "There's no us, yet." He kissed her neck, prompting her to giggle. "Stop that." She pushed his head away from her neck. "Don't try to be romantic. But what about our open relationship agreement?" "I give you an exception, of course. You're free to do it with anyone you want, but I just want you to know that if something happens or if you have a problem, I'm there for you." Vex turned and locked her gaze with him. "What's with you?" Her question reminded him again about what Sara said. Mary has changed him in more than one way, but there was still a lot of past mistakes he hasn't fixed yet. He didn't care about all the killing he did, or the stealing, or blackmailing, or whatever, but he also did some bad things to his women. He couldn't just turn his eyes away from them, they were important to him after all. "I want to fix things, my past mistakes." Vex smiled softly, not her usual smirk or predatory smile. She then pushed Theo back and kissed him. But before she could get any action, Theo stopped her and flipped her body so he was the one on top. He then kissed her. "Vex, if the Miracle disband, do you want to join me?" Vex rubbed his cheek. "Of course."