Somehow, Luxuli felt like crying, nothing bad had happened, Edrick was on his best behaviour, no matter how absolutely creepy and ominous it felt- In fact, she was being treated like a little princess almost, Anoteros explained what each of the things listed on the menu was about, which made the demoness water at the mouth as everything sounded absolutely awesome and tasty.
"Hum… This one, the hot oil fondue with beef…" she eventually said, and Edrick called a waiter to take the order, which was done so swiftly that they were left all alone again in less than ten seconds.
The snow-white demon shuffled in her seat, Edrick's arm was extended behind her on the top of the couch-like seat that extended from one wall to the other, clearly meant to receive more than two people at once, which only added to the unease she was feeling.
Something was definitely off with her, she felt weird, but not in the way that she was afraid, there was that too as there wasn't a second Luxuli didn't expect something terrible to happen with him right there, but there was something else too…
She kind of wanted to say something, but didn't know what exactly.
'What if mom was right, and I am picky?! And what if my type- My type is this?! Oh… By the gods, this is it, isn't it?! What sin did I commit in my past life to deserve this? He's a psycho! A murderer! But so strong and handsome too… I bet his body is covered in powerful muscles… He can so easily lift me up and overpower me… Aaaah!'
She cradled her face with both palms, thankfully, Luxuli was so awfully white that even intense blushing was unseen on her visage, but she felt so warm right now…
This was definitely it, she just had to be attracted to the worst possible man she had ever encountered! Anoteros could actually kill her once he was done with what he wanted.
Her eyes sneakily fell on his thigh and then slowly crawled up to the crotch area, against reason, she was seriously wondering what Edrick was packing beneath his clothes, not once had this thought went through the demoness's mind before, but right now, it was all she could think about.
Just like her mother had said, when a virgin Docilis Succubus spotted a male whose reproductive essence, a wave of craving and yearning would come crashing down and muddy all thoughts, normally, this occurred early as most would just feel it once maturity was reached, and once the deed was done, it wouldn't happen again.
Luxuli was still a virgin however and had never felt even an ounce of desire for anyone before, but right now, sitting right by Edrick, his manly and domineering presence looming over her, his smell tickling the demon's nostrils, it was like her brain had been hijacked and a bunch of raunchy thoughts were being forcefully inserted.
'Resist Luxuli, calm the hell down!' she spoke to herself, strongly grasping at her own legs and biting her tongue to try and get herself out of the gutter.
For now, Luxuli managed to control the urge to jump on him and beg to be done things that the demoness didn't even know where she had learned of, the food arrived and it allowed to focus elsewhere, doing her best to make the fact that Anoteros was here fade out of her mind.
'Just don't look at him, don't look at him, don't acknowledge his presence, Edrick does not exist… He is just your imagination… He does not exist…'
"Luxuli, what do you think of the food?"
But that was all easier thought than done as Edrick hadn't just brought her to eat, like he had done with Hui, he intended on questioning the demon and learning more about her, so as to determine where she shall stand.
He already had a pretty favourable impression of her, she had a strong personality, although it was hard to tell as she turned fearful and submissive when he was around, but the barman got to experience getting bossed around quite a bit, so clearly, she wasn't so nice and fragile with everyone.
Anoteros wasn't the kind to want to crush the ego of those he wanted to bed, at least, not always, when it came to his wives, he wanted them to have personality, agency and talents outside of their ability to please his shaft.
Fanqia had many interests, such as craftsmanship and had the charm of a country girl.
Linmin was a great maid and also a rather good swordsman, his professionalism contrasted to how he behaved in private was always a delight.
And Hui turned out to actually be very interesting to talk to, she was an expert on languages and books, once again, the stark difference between the near-nymphomaniac that wanted to be treated like dirt and the shy girl she was the rest of the time was simply great.
Edrick knew a bit, but not nearly enough about Luxuli's character to be able to decide if she should be the fourth, or just be kept as a pet for her special abilities as a partner.
He was thinking about getting himself some maids to help Linmin, and to trounce every so often naturally, but didn't really have any good occasion to do some hiring as it couldn't really be done within the sect.
"It- It's great, simply delicious"
"You seem a bit tense" he immediately remarked, her current state of disarray not lost on him, although he could not quite suspect the true reason behind that sudden spike in unrest.
"J-Just a little bit nervous…"
"Mmh… Tell me Luxuli, what do you like to do?" he asked, stabbing a piece of beef and placing it in the hot oil.
"Well… There wasn't much to do where I came from, I wanted to become a mage, but Docilis Succubus like me may be good at magic, but only when it comes to spells regarding… Certain activities… But I couldn't really progress much as my mother didn't want me to become a mage at all" she said, producing some sort of pink sparks from her fingers.
"Hum… The slavers didn't know it… But I actually have an innate ability that works with my eyes…" she began saying.
"I can appraise objects and materials even if I know nothing about them and know their quality, purity… A whole bunch of parameters as well as deciphering their uses, the better I know something, the more I can learn about it… I thought it was fun, so instead of a mage, I was thinking of using this ability to make a living" she smiled as she thought about it, a rather sad look on her face.
Anoteros pulled out the piece of meat out of the oil and smiled as well.
"Do you still want to be an appraiser?"
"Huh? I guess so, even if-"
"You can be an appraiser, and you can be a mage too" he grabbed her chin and propped her head up so that she would look up at him.
Edrick leaned forward, his hand caressing Luxuli's hair as he whispered something :
"You can be whatever you want, once you belong to me…"
The demon felt like lightning coursed through her spine, words that would make most recoil in horror at the notion of being treated as an object made her feel weird inside, she didn't respond but only unconsciously nodded.
An odd sensation, a sort of tingle emerging in between her legs…