[Book of Eros] Chapter 117: Necessary manipulation. (Patreon)

Delilah Wisler made her way to Victoria’s house as quickly as she could, yet keeping a cool head at every moment. She made sure not to say a word to the girls at the house, as it may cause undue worry. She wasn’t sure what had happened, and though she had a few theories, it was best to save them for after she saw Leonardo’s state. She was up to date with the young man’s agenda, as he told her most of his plans and new developments with the Book of Eros exactly so she could react to this sort of situation.

She exited the cab and, with firm steps, went into past Victoria’s gym and into the house behind it, knocking on the door.

“Victoria?” she called. “I’m here.”

“Mrs. Wisler,” The woman came out of to receive her, hastily dressed in a T-shirt and sweatpants. Her face a clear window to her troubled mind. Worry, restlessness, confusion, but all of them tightly contained by experience and maturity. By the way her breasts moved, she wasn’t wearing a bra. Then something HAD happened as they had sex, just like she had thought. After all, it was difficult to believe anything could be naturally wrong with Leonardo’s health. “Leonardo’s still sleeping and his fever isn’t going down, but it seems he’s getting worse,” she explained with sufficient calm.

“The Book?” Delilah asked as she walked into the living room and watched Victoria’s guilt ridden eyes turn away from her to a certain spot on the floor. The small grimoire was there, making her raise an eyebrow.

“Sorry…” Victoria immediately apologized. “It was glowing, just as you said. I still opened it and saw… words writing themselves. I dropped it and didn’t dare touch it again.”

“It won’t do anything to you,” Delilah shook her head and sighed. “It responds to Leonardo alone.” Still, seeing the item she poured so many years of her life crating discarded on the floor stung harder than she would’ve thought. She had some troubles bending over to pick it up, but nothing she couldn’t handle. “What did it say?”

“…That it didn’t want to talk to me and to ‘give it the old lady’.”

“Is that so?” Delilah raised a curious eyebrow. But first things first. She needed to check up on Leonardo. Victoria led her to her bedroom, where she noticed the faint but still lingering scent of sweat and sex despite the attempt at hiding it behind lavender-scented air freshener. Normally, she would’ve been happy for the obvious proof of Leonardo’s hard work, but that was overshadowed by the sight of the young man on the bed and under the covers, face red, sweaty and twisted in pain. That last one sounded the loudest alarm. Leonardo’s pain tolerance was inhuman, and yet he shifted in bed from something that seemed to hurt from within.

The Book of Eros in Delilah’s hand shone again, and she braced herself for whatever Aizen-Myo had to say. She opened the book and saw the letters writing themselves.

‘Alright, old lady, pay attention! I have good news and bad news. Good news is Leonardo is gonna be fine. He’s not gonna die, or remain catatonic, or even be left with any permanent damage. Bad news is that he’s not ganna have a good time for the next few days. Right now there’s more sexual energy flowing into him than he can handle, and this is how his body is reacting. Not even his pain tolerance can take it all, so yeah, he’s gonna feel awful for… I don’t know, four to six days, maybe? I don’t really care. He deserves this. I warned him and the stupid boy forgot about it in the heat of the moment. I told him too many Gifts would flood him with sexual energy and have a bad effect on him, but he was too busy fucking like a monkey. Oh, don’t get me wrong though. THAT was very fun to watch! I’m just offended he forgot about the warning I so graciously gave him, you know? How many people can claim to have a goddess watching over them, right? Uuuurgh! I know my brother must be having a huge laugh right now! I’m so pissed! He’s such an ass! Why does he get to be worshiped more than me? People just don’t get it! Anyway, that’s all! Let the boy be for a few days. He’ll get better as his body grows used to the energy, even if he’ll feel more pain than he ever has in his life. Maybe next time he’ll remember my words, don’t you think? I’m too pissed right now for my usual goodbye, so yeah, bye!’

“…” Delilah sighed. She still couldn’t get used to it. Getting direct messages from a goddess, yet not feeling like a goddess’s words at all. Simply a matter of preconceived notions not matching reality, she knew, but jarring nonetheless. She looked back at Leonardo, and though she felt for the poor boy, she was glad this would go away with time. “It seems he’ll be fine,” she informed the worried Victoria. Now that the immediate uneasiness was gone thanks to Aizen-Myo’s information, she could appreciate how amusing it was to see the usually lively and strict woman looking so troubled an anxious. Some interesting things must have happened between the two for Victoria to get attached so quickly. “You were right in calling me. There’s nothing we can do about him, but I’m told he’ll be fine in a few days. This is a strictly supernatural phenomenon, and doctors would have little to do about it.”

“…I see,” Victoria sighed with some relief, yet a frown remained on her face. “He really looks like he’s in pain.”

“He’s a big boy. He can take it.” Delilah sighed. “I’m more worried about the reaction of the girls back at the house.”

Her gut feeling was telling her things were going to get loud back there. But then again, she should see this as an opportunity. An opportunity to steer things further along in Leonardo’s favor.

***

Taking him back home had required Delilah to call in for a favor from someone she knew within the island who had a car and who she was sure would keep quiet. It wouldn’t do to call a cab and have a random person start spreading rumors around the small town. Once at the house, it was just a matter of calling Angela.

“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!?” the blonde screamed her surprise at seeing her boyfriend in the state he was in.

“Answers later, dear. Could you please carry him to his room?”

Angela grunted, but didn’t hesitate in doing as asked. She effortlessly carried Leonardo in her arms from the car to his room, getting the attention of all the other women in the house as she walked.

“W-Wha…!?”

“Leonardo!?”

“Is he okay!?”

“Mother, what happened!?”

“Shhh! Answers later. Help me get him to bed,” Delilah shushed them and had them start helping. The youngest two, Kaede and Valerie, stayed out of his room while Angela, Seina and Lucia undressed him and changed his clothes. Leonardo still looked like he was hurting, but it didn’t seem like any of it came from being moved around. They tucked him into his futon, made sure he was as comfortable as he could be, and they all converged in the living room for an explanation.

“Alright, mother, you better start,” Lucia demanded with a frown and arms crossed. “What has Leonardo of all people in that sorry state?”

Delilah sighed, mostly to buy herself time. The looks on the women at the table revealed all she needed. Two of them, Kaede and Valerie, might still be on the fence about the whole thing, but to those who had finally tasted the fruit of pleasure with him, Leonardo had become someone important. It pleased Delilah to see so clearly that theirs weren’t the selfish and shallow feelings they could’ve been. Leonardo had somehow crawled his way into their hearts, if only a little. The true problem, the one who would become an obstacle in the future, laid not in the relationships these women had with Leonardo, but in the relationships they had with each other. Brewing jealousy held back by cold, hard logic and the looming threat of losing it all if they let those bitter feelings get the better of them.

Would Leonardo ever be able to calm their worries? To reach a compromise? To keep a healthy distance between himself and the women? Delilah only knew the answer to the last one of those questions, and it was a hard and flat “no”. It was a complicated situation, but Delilah understood it well enough. Leonardo was not the type of man to put his own desires before those of others. There was something we wanted, but he wouldn’t be able to get it if he wasn’t willing to dirty his hands a little.

But that was fine.

Delilah didn’t want him to dirty his hands. She chose him to carry the Book of Eros because she knew he wouldn’t be able to even if he wanted to. When she gave him the Book, he knew he was going to have to do unpleasant things that would hurt others, and so far he had been able to avoid heavy conflicts, but if things continued the way had so far, it would all explode in their faces, leaving none of them unscathed.

That’s why Delilah was willing to be the one to dirty her hands. She had never been above some light manipulation. For the sake for ridding them of the curse, she had done a lot and would continue to do as much as she could so long as she continued to draw breath. Let Leonardo be innocent of any dirty scheming, she would take on that job, because she simply couldn’t let him fail.

“Leonardo is currently suffering from an overload of sexual energy,” she told them. “Some of you may understand this better than others, but the Book of Eros has been granting extra Gifts to Leonardo for accomplishing certain tasks. These are meant to make the cleansing of the curse easier, and yet they are taking a toll even on Leonardo’s superhuman condition. His body is being overflowed by an amount of foreign energy even he can’t handle, and this is the result.”

Even as she translated for Valerie, Delilah kept an eye of the girls, watching their reactions as her words settled in. They had the effect she had hoped for, though none of them wanted to put their thoughts into words. Seina looked down in shame, while Lucia and Angela grunted and scowled.

“You get it, don’t you? You’ve probably been thinking this is all fun and games for the young man, but he’s carrying a heavy load. He’s trying to keep everyone happy while accomplishing the task I forced on him. I wonder, what would you do if you were in his shoes?”

To everyone’s surprise, it was Kaede who answered. “I… I don’t think I could do it,” she said with a shaky voice and swallowing nervously. Her face was also growing hot. “The most logical and pragmatic solution would be to just… Have sex with whoever, r-right? Or it would be… if people were just blank slates that acted the same.”

“But we’re not,” Angela groaned again, nodding in agreement with Kaede’s words and resting her chin on her knuckle. “I try to ignore the things I don’t like, but I suppose Leo doesn’t have that luxury.”

“Leonardo will probably be bedridden for about five days, feeling pain he never has before. He’ll be fine eventually, but he’ll just have to toughen this out. There’s nothing we can do.”

“Five days like that…?” Valerie muttered to herself. “I couldn’t imagine it.”

“I have nothing more to say, and I won’t bother you with a sermon you clearly don’t need. Just keep this all in mind next time you think he’s in a better position than you are. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side, after all.”

With those last words, Delilah rose from the table and went back to her room. She was satisfied, though she wouldn’t claim joy over that conversation. The girls were starting to rethink the situation, to rethink their jealousy. In the end, her words had managed to turn Leonardo’s pain into a favorable outcome for him. The girls would have a week to think things over before he woke up, and hopefully that would open their minds to this unusual but highly needed arrangement.