Title: Villainous Villainess-Various Scenes

Summary: A lot of rough concepts for the snippet. Poorly written, but gives a general view of key events. May polish in the future.

Soulmates

I sat on the alien floor looking up. The room had disposed of the elves that had surrounded us in the ruins. It had obeyed Leon's commands.

Leon had spoken in a tongue that I could not comprehend. It was alien. It clashed with my mind. I could not make sense of it. My mind pondered how a human could utter such a sound.

The room communicated back.

It was then that I realized that Leon was speaking the tongue of the Lost Ones—the ancestral race that far surpassed us. Beings considered to be gods.

I was not blind to my inevitable fate. I was going to die here. What being would ever allow themselves to be bound by something inferior? What being would tolerate such humiliation? What being would not punish those that had caused them suffering?

It was merely the imbalance in power that had allowed me to reign in Leon. With the power of the Lost Item, I was at his mercy.

I could hear the whirl of metal. It appears my turn was next. Closing my eyes, I accepted my fate.

A rush of footsteps echoed in my ear and the whirling stop. Leon uttered something. He was arguing with the room?

Looking up, I saw him standing between the weapon and me.

"Why?" I asked weakly.

Leon paused his discussion and turned to look at me. He then proffered a hand.

"Why not?"

"You could finally be free of me. You could blame it on the elves of this rogue Lost Item. It would be easy with the number of corpses. You could go on to live the simple life you so crave with Olivia. So why? Why are you sparing me?"

Leon took on a thoughtful look before finally saying, "It's like you said before, I belong to you."

He belonged to me? A feeling rose up in me. It was a ridiculous notion. He had me at his mercy, and yet he claimed he belonged to him. At this point, the roles were reversed. I belonged to him. The feeling grew stronger.

Ah, it was a pleasant feeling. It felt right. A sudden clarity came to me.

We belonged to each other.

Dissatisfaction

Leon and I returned from our inspection of a border territory. It had been a lovely retreat in which I could freely indulge in his embrace. However, it had been dragged down by one detail.

I wasn't able to be lost in ecstasy. I couldn't allow myself to bear another child.

If only I weren't tied to Julius. I couldn't bear him desecrating my body any further. Every time he touched me felt like a betrayal of Leon. Every union with him filled me with disgust. Birthing my second son was the greatest blessing as I had reason to abstain from Julius's touch.

But this came with the caveat that I could not truly be completed with Leon.

No. Had Leon and I truly been bound together?

I eyed as Leon approached the Pet. He wrapped his arms around her, twirled her around, and smiled openly. His wife drew him into a passionate kiss. A kiss no one batted an eye towards. Their kids rushed to draw his attention.

"Mama!" my eldest said as he rushed to me from the Pet's side.

Pet had likely babysat Vincent. Julius hadn't been the greatest of fathers. I don't believe he suspected anything. He seemed to think it was a woman's duty to care for and raise the child, which suited me just fine. I didn't want Julius to corrupt Leon's son.

I smiled at Vincent. Julius's lack of interest had allowed Leon to occupy his heart. It was to the extent that he saw his half-siblings as his siblings (no need to fear of inbreeding for a generation or two).

But, Vincent would never be able to acknowledge his father. He could never know.

Keeping my thoughts to myself, I lifted my boy into my arms.

A Father's Love

I sat in my study. Leon had returned from his latest mission. It had been a rousing success.

While I was glad my friend had returned, I always felt uncomfortable with his returns. It had to do with how well he got on with Vincent.

It was rather silly. Leon was my son's godfather, but there were times I felt he was too close. It was to the point that Vincent would excitedly see Leon the soonest he could.

And Leon would oblige. He would tell wonderful tales of his most recent escapades before gifting Vincent with a souvenir—the latest being a lion plush.

It was supposed to be a good thing. Leon would and could be there for Vincent should the worst happen to Angelica and me. But, Leon would delay his return home to Livia and his children.

It was a silly rumor. People had often spoken about how close Leon and Angelica were. There was never any evidence, but it prodded at the back of my mind.

I heard a knock at my door.

"Julius, it's me, Leon."

Speak of the devil.

"Come in."

Leon walked in. He looked vaguely upset.

"Julius, Vincent wanted to come over for his birthday," Leon said hesitantly.

"Hoh? Do you have a reason to refuse?" I asked. Leon always seemed to dote on my son. Why the change?

"Not on my end, no. Livia and the kids would love to celebrate his birthday with him."

"So why the hesitation?"

"... It's nothing."

"Then I'll leave the arrangements to you."

"... Julius, Vincent's birthday is today."

Trigger

"Mistress, we have found the scroll," the floating orb said.

"Excellent."

"We shall dispose of the document."

"No."

"No? Did you not wish for us to find it before Olivia could learn it's contents and see your true character?"

"The opposite, actually."

"You wish for a conflict to occur?"

"Indeed."

"We require an explanation."

"This is all to preserve Old Humanity."

"Continue."

"As you know, Olivia and my children are of Leon's blood. Despite the closeness of our families, the inevitable truth is that the interests of the Temple will always be at odds with the Royal Family. There will come a time in which the two bloodlines will be drawn into conflict with one another. Children of Old Humanity will be forced to slaughter each other."

"You wish to remove Olivia."

"Removing Olivia isn't enough. I need to dismantle the Temple and all it's teachings. Only then will our lineages be safe."

"Olivia is currently capable of giving birth to more children. Your social obligations prevent such. It is of our assessment that Olivia is a better candidate to keep."

"Not if Julius is also removed."

"... Continue."

It would be a long discussion to convince the AI to leave the scroll in a place for Olivia to discover.

AN:

1) Really short chapter. It's mainly because Villainous Villainess was stuck in my mind. Obviously not complete. These are just ideas of potential events. I just could not be bothered polishing them. It's been a hectic week for me irl. When I eventually port this to AO3, I'll probably polish it then. Or not.

2) Angelica basically sees Leon as the avatar of a god in the ruins and revels in the idea of being his chosen. That someone as twisted as her is loved by the gods.

3) Angelica is naturally is dissatisfied with her original plan now that she is irrevocably in love with Leon.

4) Julius does love his son. The unwritten details is that Angelica naturally pushes her son towards Leon, which leads to Vincent getting attached to him. Leon naturally obliges because he wants to be there for his son. Julius's misgivings are a combination of not having a healthy outlet and because his paranoia is actually true.

5) Vincent is named after his grandfather, Vince.

6) The Temple and Royal Family aren't a single entity. In real life, this causes issues due to conflicts over who should be in control. I figured it would be a good way of persuading a logical being.

7) So to people who thought the Jilk Incident part was bad writing due to Angelica having to be incompetent to be caught and go against the meticulous nature presented from the first part, congratulations, you got played.

Review Response:

katakuri374567: I don't take requests. It'll happen when it happens.

swordmaster888: I'm not upset. I just sound irritated in the replies because I tend to write these things late in the night and stop caring how I sound. Feel free to just take the chapter if you want. So long as a fic is born.

Sarcasm Sage 626: He's not asking for sponsorship. He's just making an earnest apology. Unfortunately, he still hasn't apologized to Angelica yet.