Chapter 184: Sauce and Sensibilities

Vuvi leads them into the house, past the front hall still buzzing with waiting clients, nobles and commoners alike perched shoulder to shoulder on velvet benches, fanning themselves in the warm, perfumed air, the faint hum of the desk’s ledger-charm ticking off names one by one.

The steps up to the desk where Veena shoots bolt upright out of her chair the instant she spots who’s trailing behind Vuvi. "W-What are you two doing here?"

Eris takes one look at the mask strapped over Veena’s face and bursts out laughing, a rare, genuine sound from someone who usually keeps her amusement locked down tight.

"What, exactly, is with the mask?" Vexena tilts her head, brow furrowing.

"Work hazard..." Veena mutters, refusing to elaborate further.

"I have to go," Vuvi announces, already backing toward the door. "I’m already late. I’m sure you can handle things from here."

Veena’s eyes go wide with panic. "Don’t you dare abandon me—"

Vuvi’s already gone, the door swinging shut behind her.

Eris and Vexena both go still a heartbeat later, noses lifting in near-perfect unison, sniffing at the air drifting through the front hall.

"That’s holy magic!" Eris says slowly, savoring the words like she’s tasting something rare. "Saint sisters?"

Vexena’s nose curls, and she jerks her head back sharply. "It’s the strangest holy magic I’ve ever sensed." A blade of crimson demonic energy flares to life in her hand, coiling with sharp, hungry light. "Where is it coming from?!"

"No weapons in the Pleasure Palace!" Veena scolds, snapping upright behind the desk. "Relax, would you? It’s coming from Pip." She gestures at her own mask. "Hence this. Turns out he got a blessing from the Saint Sisters or something... comes with the ability to use holy magic now, apparently."

Maribelle shakes her head, incredulous. "I had no idea he could even learn new abilities like that."

Veena scoffs. "He’s been picking them up like candy from demi-goddesses. Water, plants, air, earth... he can control all of it now."

Both Vexena and Maribelle’s eyes go wide.

"I have to see this!" Maribelle says at once. "I was the very first to test him, you know. I think I’ve earned the right to see what he’s learned since."

"This is ridiculous." Vexena snaps. "And dangerous. Holy magic is not something to be trifled with." She turns sharply. "Eris. We’re leaving."

But Eris is already drifting toward the source of it, feet barely seeming to touch the polished floor, eyes gone soft and dreamy, a dopey, unfocused grin spreading slowly across her face. It was a stark, almost alarming contrast to the sharp, composed general Veena’s grown used to seeing at her mother’s side. "I’ll be right back," Eris says, voice distant, already halfway down the hall. "Just want to... check something."

Vexena groans, rolling her eyes, already turning back toward the door. "I’ll wait outside. I don’t trust this place."

"You don’t trust anything." Veena mutters.

"I trust plenty of things. I simply don’t trust buildings that make my own general forget her name within thirty seconds of walking through the front door."

"That’s rude!" Veena gasps, hand pressed to her chest. "We are a reputable business. We have stellar reviews!"

"You’re wearing a gas mask behind your own front desk." Vexena says flatly. "Your opinion on the matter is meaningless." 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Veena gasps again, thoroughly offended.

"Maribelle. Come." Vexena starts for the door.

Maribelle hesitates. "Actually, I was rather hoping to indulge, if that’s alright with you. It’s been months since I last... let loose."

Vexena groans, long and pained. "You’re all hopeless. I haven’t been satisfied in twenty years, and I’m perfectly fine."

"Please." Veena plead as she sinks slowly beneath the desk, mortified. "Please just leave. You’re embarrasing me."

"You should be the last one talking." Vexena says over her shoulder, smirking faintly. "You’ve never even been touched."

Maribelle turns toward her, eyes wide. "Wait... seriously? Not even once? Not even with Pip?"

Veena disappears entirely below the desk.

Maribelle chuckles, warm and knowing. "You and Vuvi really are too alike, you know that? Both of you, all brains and no follow-through." She stretches, rolling her shoulders with anticipation, grinning wider. "As for me... I’ll take any chance I can get at what Pip’s offering."

She turns, eyes glinting mischievously. "Does he still make that special sauce Vuvi spoke about?"

A single thumbs-up rises from beneath the desk.

Maribelle licks her lips, practically glowing. "Lovely! Was hoping to try some of that."

Veena’s head pops back up. "Vuvi actually forbade him from... dealing that out without permission first."

Maribelle waves a hand, already turning for the hallway. "I’m her mother. I’m quite sure she won’t mind. She wouldn’t dare."

She grabs Eris by the arm and tugs her deeper into the house. Veena calls after them to wait in the designated waiting room like everyone else. Maribelle just shoots a thumbs-up back over her shoulder without breaking stride.

Veena sinks back down behind the desk, muttering quietly to herself, "...Why are both our families have so... utterly weird?"

Further inside, past the perfumed hallways and their steady murmur of magically-produced ambiance, past doors marked with small brass numbers and filled with bttles, and vials and beds of every geometry, Raikya leads the first proper client of the day toward Pip’s private chamber. A bright, airy room near the back of the building, freshly furnished with silk sheets and a canopy bed nobody’s broken yet, tall windows overlooking the manicured palace gardens below.

Pip stands at the window itself, arms folded neatly behind him, wraith-glass catching the morning sun in warm, gilded streaks, patiently waiting, watching the light shift slowly across dew-heavy hedgerows and fountains still catching the first rays of the day.

The high-elf noble steps inside and very nearly stumbles, knees going weak at the sight of him. "I-I can’t believe it’s really him," she breathes. "The Prince. In the flesh."

"He’s mostly metal, actually." Penelo corrects gently from her spot near the door. "The softest, cuddliest metal you’ll ever touch."

The woman edges closer anyway, hands trembling. "Can I... really touch him?"

"Oh, you’ll be doing much more than that, m’lady." Penelo snickers.

Pip turns slowly, extending one welcoming hand toward her, and activates his pelvic port in the same motion.

Penelo shields her eyes immediately. "Give a warning whistle or something before you unleash that thing!"

She waves the high-elf onward, already backing out of the room herself. "Good luck! Post-coital medical is three doors down, to the left. Ring the bell if you need assistance."

The woman drops to her knees in front of Pip, face washed gold in the sudden light, eyes welling with emotion as she reaches reverently toward the divine glow radiating from between his legs.

"Oh, Great Mother," she murmurs, lips parting slowly as her mouth leans in toward Pip’s pelvis, "I’m coming home!"