Tell me over breakfast, I already know that you want to

“Hey, Vivian.”

Carly approached the heiress and pulled her aside as the other girls walked into the Banquet Hall.

“Oh?” Vivian batted her eyelashes and gave Carly and Marley a coy smile. “What can I help you with today?” She cooed. “Because if this is about going easy on that cute little tomboy crush of yours, about that bounty, well…”

Carly blushed. “No, it’s not… well, not exactly, I mean…”

Vivian crossed her arms over her chest. “Go on,” she urged her.

“…Why were you suddenly so eager about claiming the bounty?” Carly questioned. Marley nodded along with her sister.

“Yeah, that kind of struck me as odd,” she agreed. “I would have thought you’d want to have your night with Nick. Especially with how you were acting the other day.”

Marley remembered how Vivian had all but **** her way into the Master’s Suite the morning after Marley claimed her reward with him. There had been a lot of drama, and even though the fashionista had left on her own terms, she’d hinted that she would intend to continue things on their night together.

Nick had been cautious, but seemed amenable to the idea.

Right now, though, it looked like Vivian was calmly disregarding the entire idea, which left Marley seeming very confused.

“It’s a simple calculated risk,” Vivian replied with a smile. “What you guys were saying earlier, about how I’d probably get even more VP on my night with him… you raised a valid point, I won’t deny that,” she said, shaking her head. “But… that’s still just a possibility.”

Marley furrowed her brow. “What do you mean by that?”

“Yeah, I agree…” Carly glanced appraisingly over Vivian’s body. She had a very nice figure, and Carly could easily imagine Nick having a lot of fun with the heiress. “You haven’t really done anything with Nick yet, so you have the opportunity to get a ton of Victory Points from him.”

Vivian shrugged. “Maybe. But then again… maybe no.”

Marley narrowed her eyes. “Oh, so that’s it…”

Carly got it too, and had to hold back a smirk. “So wait… you don’t think that Nick would want to do anything with you, is that it?”

Vivian sighed. “That… is certainly a possibility that I’ve been contemplating,” she admitted. For a moment, it almost seemed like she was genuinely disappointed, before her playful expression returned. “I mean… I was definitely surprised, when he rebuffed my advances. Though I can see why.”

Now it was her turn to devour Carly with her eyes, and she didn’t spare Marley from her attentions either.

“…As someone who makes a living off of recognizing the attractive qualities in other people and using that to my advantage, I must say, you girls have really got it put together,” Vivian said, stroking her chin and smiling. “You look… damn.”

Carly preened at the compliment and Marley blushed.

“Um, th-thanks,” she stammered. Even if that had been mostly directed at Carly, Marley couldn’t deny that she warranted some credit.

“…But that’s just it, when Nick can have women who look like you, and when he’s going to bed every night beside a beautiful woman like that Mary gal, it leaves me wondering… what do I have to offer him?” Vivian questioned, tapping her cheek. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite wealthy, and quite beautiful, and for a lot of people that would be enough. But Nick doesn’t strike me as the superficial type.”

“That’s the truth,” Marley agreed, and Carly nodded along with her.

“So you’d rather establish a serious relationship with him first, before you do anything together, is that it?” Carly clarified. “I can understand that.”

“Well, it’s not what I’d rather do, but what I can get away with,” Vivian clarified. “No need to rush things. From how you all described getting VP, I’ve got plenty of time, there are still a lot of rounds in this competition. And as anyone making an investment will tell you, sometimes you’ve got to stick with it through the rough patches until things turn your way.”

Marley had to admit- she admired the surefooted way Vivian carried herself. Her confidence in her own victory reminded her a lot of Rose, but with Vivian, it felt a little more… practiced.

Then again, Rose has the edge because Nick actually loves her, Marley recognized. I’m not sure what he thinks about Vivian yet.

“So in summary, 5 VP could be better for me in the long run than a night with Nick where he’s too hesitant to actually do anything,” Vivian finished. “So that’s why I’m considering it. Of course… I’m not just gonna hold back, either.”

She gave Carly a saucy wink. “I’ll still be putting the moves on him. And who knows? Maybe I’m underestimating my own appeal. Wouldn’t be the first time… Could be that he ends up falling for me fast, and I’ll take that night with him on my own terms. We’ll have to see…”

Humming to herself, Vivian turned and sauntered into the Banquet Hall, leaving the twins with a bit of a conundrum.

“…So what do you think?” Marley turned to her sister. “Think Dani’s in trouble?”

“Could be,” Carly mused thoughtfully. “But honestly… I’m not sure if even Dani wants to give up her night with Nick just yet.”

She remembered the time they spent together yesterday, when her girlfriend was practically glowing with delight as she talked about how much fun she’d had playing video games and watching anime with Nick.

Dani might not be attracted to him, but it was clear she valued his friendship, and the feeling of stability and normalcy hanging out together offered her.

Would she give that up for 5 VP, when she didn’t really seem all that interested in winning this competition to begin with? Carly couldn’t be sure.

But she’d support Dani in whatever she tried to do.

They joined the others at breakfast, and Carly noted that Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin wasn’t eating, either. The strange woman seemed to have disappeared from the hotel entirely, which was odd- and worrying.

Another thing Carly found odd and worrying?

Sylvia and Amelia were having a conversation together, and Sylvia seemed to be enjoying herself.

The last thing that girl needs is to get her emotions even more confused, Carly thought, sighing. She cared about Sylvia a bit due to the other woman’s relationship to her sister, but because of Sylvia’s emotional instability, she couldn’t be sure who was a good influence on her and who wasn’t.

At least this way, Sylvia probably won’t be encouraged to do anything to weird Nick out, she supposed, remembering Marley’s story the other day about Sylvia coming on strong with Dani’s transformation. They could definitely do without a repeat of that, thank you very much.

Then Carly spotted something that really worried her.

A third blonde was approaching the table to join in the conversation.

“Bonjour, good morning!” Rose sat down across from Sylvia and Amelia, wearing a charming smile on her face.

“Good morning to you as well,” Amelia politely greeted her. She carried herself with a detached, icy demeanor that brought a wince to Rose’s lips, but she refused to let herself be shaken by that and pushed onward.

She wanted Amelia to like her, she really did.

“What’s up, Rose?” Sylvia asked. “Come to taunt today?”

Her question was an innocent one, as innocent as the smile on her face. But it still threw up question marks for Amelia.

“Not at all,” Rose assured her with a titter. “I just wanted to come eat with you two. And maybe do a little talking about Nick?”

“Oh?” Amelia raised her eyebrow curiously.

“Yeah, Rose is, like, head over heels for Daddy,” Sylvia giggled. “It’s kind of adorable, actually. I think that’s why she wants you to like her.”

Rose blushed. She didn’t appreciate Sylvia directly outing her like that, but she pushed through her embarrassment regardless.

“…Yes, well… these things do happen,” she said, clearing her throat. “I just wanted to check in with you, Amelia. Tonight is your night with him, after all.”

“You’re not invited,” Amelia said, bluntly slamming the door on the question she anticipated coming from the blonde.

Rose’s mouth fell open and Sylvia nearly burst into another laughing fit.

“That… that’s not what I meant to say!” Rose’s face flushed with humiliation. “I understand that tonight is your private time with your stepson, I would never get between a mother and her child!”

Amelia blinked. Rose’s response surprised her, and a stab of guilt surged through her. “…My apologies. It seems I got the wrong impression.”

She’d reacted with such a stern demeanor because in her eyes, Rose was like a daughter who needed to be guided with a firm hand.

But perhaps she’d been too strict with the other woman.

“…I really did just want to talk about Nick,” Rose said, twirling a finger through her hair. Once again, she forgot how much pleasure that brought her.

“What about him?” Amelia questioned. “And before you answer, you should know that I do not appreciate gossipmongering, or talking about others behind their backs. If there is something personal you wish to know of my Nicholas, then it would be in your best interest to ask him yourself.”

“Ooh, Rose, she’s really got your number!” Sylvia cackled.

Rose was clearly flustered by the other woman’s words, but she stood her ground and shook her head. “I understand that,” she said gently. “But this isn’t about violating his privacy or anything like that. I wanted some advice. Advice that you, as his stepmother, would be best equipped to provide.”

Amelia studied Rose carefully, before judging that she was being honest. The Frenchwoman may have held a considerable amount of guile, but she also seemed to ooze with honesty.

Which greatly informed the advice she would give, before Rose even had the chance to ask a question. “If you would like my advice, young lady, I would say that when it comes to my son, your best course of action is to hold an honest discussion with him. Talk to him as an equal, and through that, learn what he likes, and dislikes, and what he wishes from you. That is how any relationship should work.”

Now, if only Amelia was capable of following her own advice, that would be great.

Rose winced. “I-I know that,” she mumbled. “But what if… what if I wanted to give him a surprise? It’s kind of hard to have a conversation with him about that…”

“…Oh. Yes, I suppose that would be an issue,” Amelia admitted.

“Ooh, a surprise? What kind of surprise?” Sylvia leaned forward intently. “I just love surprises!”

Rose cleared her throat. “Well, as I’m sure you know, my night with Nick is going to be the last one of the round.”

Amelia didn’t both replying. Rose had made that abundantly clear to everyone for days at this point. She just nodded slightly.

“Go on.”

“Well… I would… I’d like to spend some time with him, before that, if I could,” Rose admitted. “But I’m realizing that’s not gonna be the easiest thing in the world.”

“Of course not,” Sylvia said, shaking her head. “That’s why you have your own day. At this point in the show, every girl in the harem is going to be making sure that they’re maximizing their own day with the master, so they can showcase off their best appeal to him! There’s almost no chance of pushing your way into an earlier slot because of that.”

Even as she said that, she’d managed to score exactly that thanks to Amelia’s generosity. She was already looking forward to how her day with the two of them would go.

Rose seemed greatly wounded by Sylvia’s words. But she held her ground, and didn’t back down.

“I’m not trying to take anything away from anyone,” she assured the two of them. “However… I would like to do something nice for him, even if we can’t spend the day together. You know, like cook him a nice lunch, perhaps? Or drop by the Master’s Suite with a gift? Just something to show I’m thinking of him, that’s all…”

She squirmed a little in her seat, smiling as she imagined Nick’s response to her actions.

Amelia studied her carefully. While she appreciated Rose’s eagerness to please, and she could tell how deeply the blonde’s feelings for her stepson ran just from the tone of her voice as she spoke about him, she still wasn’t sure what Rose wanted from her in particular.

“So what do you want?”

That was certainly the wrong way to word Amelia’s question, because Rose recoiled almost like she’d been struck on the face.

“…I just wanted some advice, that’s all…” She looked so small and weak in that moment that Amelia couldn’t help herself. She rose from her seat and walked around the table, and hugged Rose from behind.

“Eh!?”

Amelia wasn’t even fully in control of her actions. She just knew that she wanted to comfort the other woman, and felt that a hug was the best way to do that. At the same time, she reached up and patted the blonde on the head.

Sylvia slowly drank her milk as she watched the two of them together. Rose was clearly having difficulty processing how she should feel about this display of maternal affection, but she didn’t look displeased by the gesture.

“You… you can let go now,” she stammered, even as she didn’t shake the other woman off.

Finally Amelia let her go, and looked a little embarrassed herself at having hugged the woman out of nowhere like that.

She saw Rose as her daughter… but she didn’t know the first thing about the blonde.

It was a rather odd emotional state to be in, Amelia supposed.

“…I apologize for such odd behavior,” she said awkwardly, and returned to her seat. “I wanted to make you feel better.”

Was that so hard to say? No, right?

So why did Amelia always have trouble with it.

“I think Rose felt something, alright,” Sylvia noted with amusement, eyeing the blonde’s flushed complexion. “The headpat was what did it.”

She could tell by the fact that Rose’s hair had returned to its original length that she must have borrowed Carly’s transformation. And since that was one she came up with herself, she knew what the other woman must be feeling right now.

Rose couldn’t even look her way, she was so flustered.

“I… so you’ll help me?” She asked hopefully. “I was thinking, maybe I could cook him lunch, you know, as just a treat. And since he’ll be spending the day with you, I was wondering if could get permission for that?”

Amelia flinched. “That… I see. Lunch…”

“Daddy already has Mary to cook for him,” Sylvia pointed out. “Why would he need you?”

Rose wanted to chuck the obnoxious brat off the Master’s Suite balcony. But she held her tongue and took a deep breath.

“…I’m just doing the best I can,” she said honestly. “Sylvia, you know how Nick feels about me. There’s nothing wrong with this.”

Sylvia said nothing. She just nodded, relenting to Rose’s point.

Nick did like her… even if he probably liked Mary more.

“…I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to help you on this matter,” Amelia said, trying to keep the hostility out of her voice. “Our meal plans are already prepared for.”

“…Oh…” Rose looked crestfallen to hear that, but Amelia found that preferable to explaining herself.

It didn’t prevent her from feeling bad, however.

She cleared her throat. “…But I do recognize and appreciate your intentions,” she added softly. “It’s clear that you have a deep love for my Nicholas. And I would certainly like to support your effort in that regard.”

Rose’s face lit up with glee as Amelia’s words blew away the cloud of self-doubt and uncertainty that had been hanging over her.

“Really!?” She gasped. “You mean it?”

“Certainly,” Amelia nodded. “Is there any other way I can be of assistance to you?”

Rose blushed. “Well… if we can’t do lunch, then… what about a gift? Is there anything I could get him as a present? Or maybe any hobbies? I could surprise him with his favorite activity, maybe…”

Amelia’s brow furrowed in concern. “You have a relationship with my son, and yet you aren’t even aware of his favorite hobbies?”

Shame burned through Rose like a gas fire. That did sound pretty bad, hearing it repeated back to her.

“W-well, our relationship, it’s a little… unorthodox,” she admitted. “But our feelings for one another are the real thing! I swear!”

Amelia blinked. “…I have no reason at all to doubt that,” she replied, not sure why Rose would even say something like that in the first place. “But you did not answer my question.”

Because Rose wasn’t really sure she could answer it.

“I just… I’m not the best, when it comes to that stuff,” she admitted sheepishly.

“I see. Well, Nicholas has always been a very avid reader. Perhaps you could give him one of your favorite books to read? Or read one of his? That could be a wonderful surprise to bring you two closer together,” Amelia suggested.

Rose blanched. “Err… well, I guess that… um…”

Confused, Amelia studied the flustered blonde. “Is there a problem with that?”

“Well…”

“Rose is illiterate,” Sylvia gleefully chimed in.

“I am not!” Rose exploded. “I just… I don’t like reading very much, that’s all! I prefer movies to dusty old books!”

Realizing what she’d just said and who she’d said it to, Rose gasped. “Not… not that I have a problem with books, or anything!” She said hastily, shaking her head. “I would never look down on someone who likes reading!”

That wasn’t how Sylvia remembered it. But she figured she’d tortured Rose enough for one morning.

“Could the same suggestion still not hold?” Amelia questioned, choosing to move the conversation forward rather than continuing to focus on a topic that was clearly a great cause for concern for the woman in front of her. “Instead of a favorite book, choose a favorite film instead.”

She remembered how much her stepson had adored curling up with Dakota and watching movies together when they were kids. She knew that had to be a treasured memory of his.

Rose looked like she was about to collapse with relief. Finally, an actionable idea!

“…I appreciate your advice,” she said. “Still, though… that sounds like it would serve better as a date night, than a movie.”

Amelia nodded. Perhaps Rose was right. It had been a considerable amount of time since Amelia had gone on a date herself, so she was far from an expert.

“But on that note… that’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

Rose suddenly looked even more bashful than before. She glanced down, and played with her food a little before finally raising her head up to meet Amelia’s gaze.

“I… I wanted… I wanted to go on another date with him,” she admitted. “That’s why I backed off about that bounty poster. Because if my night with Nick is going to be last, I want to make it special.”

“And you would like my advice, is it?” Amelia sighed and removed her glasses to wipe them. “While I would like to help, my advice in matters of courtship is somewhat out of date.”

Rose shook her head. “No, it’s just… you know Nick. Better than me, anyway. Last time, I spent 5000 BP on a day trip to Paris using Dream Alley. And it was wonderful.”

Amelia found herself slightly taken aback. “…That was an excellent decision,” she informed the other woman. “Ever since he was a boy, Nicholas always wanted to go on a trip to Paris, but we never found the time.”

“I know, I could tell,” Rose mused, thinking back fondly on their day together. “It so magical… and I want to capture that feeling again.”

“You’re going to spend another 5000 BP on a Dream Alley date?” Sylvia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “That’s a ton of money, Rose!”

“I can afford it!” Rose sniffed. “And it’s like you said, Amelia… spending time together is important.”

Amelia nodded in agreement.

Rose sighed. “The thing is, though… Paris was perfect. How am I going to top that? It would have to be something even more spectacular! That… that’s why I want to know, what you think I should do, Amelia. Is there anywhere you can think of, that Nick would just love? Something I can surprise him with, to make sure he’ll have a wonderful time?”

She was **** for Nick to enjoy himself. ****!

And Amelia could see that. Actually… it warmed her heart.

“Rose… your date doesn’t matter.”

Again, her words struck like a slap.

“Err… excuse me, what I meant to say, is that it doesn’t matter what you do,” she said. “If Nicholas loves you, then your company will be enough for him.”

On some level Rose knew that was true.

“Thank you, Amelia,” she said softly. But even as she spoke words of gratitude, she was hesitant. Would her presence really be enough? For Nick?

She just couldn’t believe that he’d have that much fun if she didn’t make it fun for him.