The five of us—my mother, my sister, Leon, and me—sat around a round table, tension thick in the air, with no one else daring to interrupt. Still, a few were clearly trying to catch bits of our conversation from a distance. Sesillian, especially, was lurking nearby, his sharp gaze boring into me like a blade, eyes narrowed with jealousy that practically oozed from him.
He’d been watching me earlier with those jealous eyes, hadn’t he? Now that I knew he swung towards men, it all clicked into place. He was after Leon. And when he found out about my engagement to Leon, that jealousy turned into a seething glare that drilled right through me. Was I just taking the heat for Leon here? It sure felt like a bullet with my name on it. But the way Leon carried himself, that confident smirk playing on his lips, hinted that he had something up his sleeve.
“Um, Mr. Faust, am I right in hearing that you’re planning to marry our… uh… daughter?” my mother’s voice wavered, a momentary crack of uncertainty slipping through.
Leon’s lips curled into a smile—charming, sure, but it never touched his eyes. “Well, yes, I do, Madam.”
My sister shot him a glance, her gaze darting toward a woman seated a few tables away. The woman sat elegantly, flanked by two other graceful women, like they were her entourage. “Um, aren’t you… already involved with someone, Mr. Faust?” my sister asked.
Leon chuckled softly. “You might not like my answer, but I’m not really a believer in monogamy. I think that when a man has many women by his side, it makes him stronger. And being able to make them accept each other, to get along… well, that’s what makes a man a good husband.”
His words made my skin crawl. It wasn’t just what he said—it was the self-assured way he said it, like he was preaching some twisted gospel. He wasn’t lying when he claimed he didn’t believe in monogamy; he had a whole parade of women around him, after all. Watching them fawn over him earlier only made that belief of his crystal clear. But honestly, that wasn’t my problem.
“I-Is that so? Well, some of the men I know also keep women around, but they don’t go so far as to marry them. They just keep them as concubines. Are you… planning to take her as your first wife?” my father said.
Leon leaned back. “I don’t intend to rank them—who’s first wife, second, or whatever. I want all my wives to see themselves as my equals. Even though Rose isn’t the first, I plan to treat her the same as those who came before.”
My mother blinked, clearly taken aback, struggling to wrap her head around the concept. “I… I never realized there could be something like that. I guess your thinking is part of why you’re so successful,” she admitted, sounding almost dazed.
Leon nodded, his smile widening just a touch. “Well, yes. It’s nothing to brag about, but if not for the women by my side, I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere close to where I am now.”
“I-I see…”
They sat there, staring at Leon, his words leaving them speechless, scrambling to understand this strange philosophy. It was like he was speaking a different language, one that clashed with everything they knew.
Leon’s expression softened, but his eyes remained as calculating as ever. “I never really had the chance to say this properly, but since you’re Rose’s family, I ask that you allow me to take your daughter’s hand… even if I already have other women by my side.”
The sheer audacity of his request hit like a punch to the gut. Claiming someone’s daughter while being involved with others—it was downright scummy. If I were the one he was asking, I would’ve slapped him across the face.
But my family was anything but ordinary. If they thought there was something to gain, they’d grab it without a second thought.
“She’s yours,” my father replied, not even a hint of hesitation in his voice.
***
Leon’s/ Christopher Faust’s POV
“You really are scummy, you know that, right?” Rose’s voice was sharp, slicing through the tension like a blade. Her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, glinting with a fury that made my breath hitch. It was like staring into the eyes of a storm, and for a split second, I felt a cold chill run down my spine. But beneath that intensity, I couldn’t help but notice how cute she looked when she was pissed off. That scrunched-up expression, her furrowed brows—it all had this weird charm. God, I almost wanted to reach out and pinch her cheeks right then and there, but I knew better. One wrong move and she’d knock me straight into Tuesday, and I wasn’t up for a mid-week concussion.
“This all fits into my plan,” I said, managing a smirk despite the electric tension in the air. “With this, Sesillian’s just going to get even more frustrated.”
Rose’s eyes sharpened further, skepticism radiating from her. “Oh yeah? And how do you know that?” Her arms crossed tight against her chest as if she was daring me to make sense.
“I know for a fact that Sesillian’s got a possessive streak a mile wide. He wants to keep whatever he desires all to himself,” I explained. “So if something he wants is already owned by someone else, what do you think he’d do, with that possessive nature of his?”
Rose paused, her expression shifting as she mulled over my words. For a second, uncertainty flickered in her eyes, then she gave a half-hearted shrug, clearly stumped. “I don’t know, honestly.”
“Think about it this way,” I pressed on. “If you were a compulsive shoplifter, and there was something in your friend’s house you wanted so badly… what would you do?”
“Steal it, I guess,” Rose replied after a moment, realization slowly dawning in her gaze. Her eyes widened, the pieces falling into place like a puzzle she hadn’t even realized she was holding.
“Exactly.”
It was satisfying to see the lightbulb go off for her, like she’d finally cracked a code she didn’t know she’d been struggling with. I’d swapped “possessive nature” for “shoplifter” to make the comparison hit home, but it was all the same in the end.
