Reborn As The Minor Villain In A Romance Fantasy Novel

"Ugh my head hurts…" Luna said with a sigh as she rubbed her hand around her head, pressing her fingers against her temples in small circles.

Doing all of this… working on the Streambots for the entrance exams as well as coordinating production schedules, debugging sensor arrays, and managing the engineering team made her head throb with a dull persistent ache.

The leather seat beneath her felt too hot with the afternoon sun streaming through the tinted windows doing nothing to help. "All I want to do is to cuddle with Hubby right now."

Her voice came out more whiny than she intended, but she didn't care. She'd been awake for nearly thirty hours straight.

"I understand how you feel Lady Luna." Villy said and focused back on the road as the dwarf was driving, her hands gripping the wheel with practiced ease despite needing a cushion to see over the dashboard properly.

Luna had initially been worried because of her size but it was alright, Villy drove better than some people she knew.

Though she really didn't like the Lady Luna thing since they were both sister wives but there was no convincing her otherwise. Villy was stubborn about respect and hierarchy and as for Lilliane…

Luna turned to the beastkin who had her fox ears and tail swinging left and right as she looked at her with bright, eager eyes. The tail swished back and forth so fast it was almost a blur thumping occasionally against the car door.

"All the work which you did was really cool!" Lilliane said excitedly. "The way you programmed the flight patterns and the camera stabilization algorithms and the real-time data transmission protocols, whatever that means!"

Luna chuckled, waving her hand dismissively even as a small smile tugged at her lips. "There's no need for you to get that excited, it was just normal drone work. It's just standard engineering stuff."

Lilliane perked up even more, leaning forward in her seat.

"That's more reason for me to get excited because it had been so cool to see Villy as well as the other workers assemble all those drones from scratch! The soldering, the circuit board assembly, the casing fabrication! I've never seen anything like it!"

Apparently Beastkins learned things pretty quickly…

Luna rubbed her own head with a smile, feeling some of the tension ease at the genuine enthusiasm. "Aw~ You're making me blush Lilli."

Lilliane had cutely asked to come along and see what she did for work… which made her agree. The foxkin's curiosity was endearing and as for Judea…

BURP!

A loud, unladylike burp came from the top of the car, echoing across the quiet street and a can dropped from one side of the car hitting the pavement with a metallic clatter as they drove past, bouncing twice before rolling into the gutter.

Judea was on the roof and honestly Luna didn't mind the dragon woman wanting fresh air, she had said that she wanted wind to hit her face and feel the speed but that didn't mean that she should litter or something. They had a reputation to maintain.

Luna wound down the window and brought a hand outside with the afternoon breeze immediately hitting her skin. "Could you not litter? What if something happens to someone because of that…? What if a car runs over it and pops a tire?"

Judea replied by hitting her legs on the roof of the car with the metal denting slightly under the impact.

THUMP THUMP!

"I want my Blazing Pup! Where is he? I miss him!"

Luna raised her eyes, pulling her hand back inside. "Wasn't Vanessa the one that took it for check-ups? You should trust in Vanessa to bring it back then. She knows what she's doing."

Luna brought her head back inside and wound the window back up as Villy said

"Uh…" Her voice had gone quiet.

"What happened Villy?" Luna asked the dwarf woman and looked forward through the windshield.

Their wide mansion was up ahead with the gates gleaming in the afternoon sun, however… there was someone standing at the gate that they didn't recognize and he was looking pretty rough.

His clothes were torn as his armor was dented and dried blood stained his sleeves. The car pulled to a stop with tires crunching against gravel as Luna stepped out first before Judea could react and potentially scare the stranger.

"What are you doing outside our house?" Luna asked him while keeping her distance cautiously. She wasn't Lucius… She couldn't just teleport away if things went wrong but she could use Kinetica.

The man turned to her and smiled.

He was currently her height which wasn't that tall… maybe five foot six at most, and he wore light body armor that looked like it had seen better days alongside clothes that had been completely gashed through by claws or blades with the fabric hanging in strips but he still looked pretty confident despite the injuries, standing straight with his shoulders back.

"Sorry for disturbing Miss Luna but I came to pick up my little sister Shiori…" He said, his voice rough like he'd been shouting recently. "I am very grateful for all of you allowing her to sleep over here and healing our mother as well from her sickness. I know there's no way I can pay you back but I can try."

He bowed down deeply, nearly ninety degrees, making Luna wave her hands in front of her face frantically.

"N-no no, you don't need to bow like that!" She stammered.

However, before Luna could answer properly, a luxurious car pulled up to the gate from the opposite side of the road… It was completely white, pristine and expensive-looking.

The engine purred as it came to a smooth stop and Rita stepped out, the Saintess was wearing casual clothes for once wearing a simple sundress instead of her usual robes as she had tied her pink hair into a high ponytail that swayed as she moved.

"Oh Lulu~ What are you doing out here?" Rita asked with that teasing tune in her voice as a playful smile made its way to her lips.

Luna's eyes twitched with a vein visibly throbbing at her temple. "Don't call me Lulu again… My name is short, why are you shortening it even further? It doesn't even make sense!"

Rita replied with a laugh, covering her mouth with one hand. "It's because it's cute… and you're cute when you get mad about it."

Luna puffed out her cheeks like an angry chipmunk and then she turned to the man, changing the subject. "Oh, are you Shiori's older brother?"

The man nodded quickly, straightening from his bow.

Rita smiled warmly at him, though she kept her distance, at least two meters away. "You better take care of her as well as your mother properly. Shiori's a sweet girl."

The man smiled while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, his calloused fingers scratching at his scalp. "I'm trying my best… Work's been rough but I'm doing everything I can."

"Thank you for healing my Mother." He said as his voice cracked slightly with emotion. "The doctors said she wouldn't last another month Ma'am, You saved her life."

Rita nodded graciously, though her body language remained closed off.

"It was no issue and since Shiori is best friends with Freya, if you want small healing favors in the future, you could come to the Saintess Guild. Just mention you're Shiori's brother."

The guy opened his mouth wide in shock before closing it and swallowing. "Really? You'd… you'd do that?"

Rita nodded again, more firmly this time. "Really."

She didn't like men except for Lucius which was why she was keeping her distance from this specific one, maintaining that careful gap, but if she could score more brownie points with Freya by helping her friend's family then it was pretty good for her.

The wide gate slid to the side automatically and upon opening fully, they could see Lucius there with the two girls on each side of him.

Freya naturally clung to her papa with her green hair flowing over her shoulders, the strands catching the light while Shiori was looking a bit shy with her eyes downcast as she shuffled her feet.

They were both wearing their white GIs from training and the fabric was still slightly damp with sweat. Lucius blinked, running a hand through his black hair with a confused face.

"What's going on here?" Lucius asked, looking between the gathered group at his gate.

Shiori's face then broke into a smile, her shyness evaporating as she ran forward with quick, excited steps and hugged the man tightly around the waist.

"Big brother~! You're back!"

The man bowed immediately as Shiori hugged him with his spine straight despite his fatigue. "Thank you Mr. Lucius, I am in your debt. Truly. For everything."

Lucius waved his hand dismissively as a small smile appeared on his face. "No worries, I was happy to do it. Shiori's a good kid and Freya likes having her around."

Freya let go of Lucius's hand, running up to the man and patting his chest armor with her small hand.

"You're a good big brother… Keep being good to Shiori hehe~"

The man smiled down at her. "Thank you Freya. I will, thank you for being friends with my sister."

The two of them waved as they walked off down the street, Shiori's hand in her brother's, and Lucius immediately turned his head to his wives gathered at the gate.

"What was the delay? Come on in. We've got things to do."

…

Vanessa sat in the middle of an underground training room in the mansion and all around her was everyone else.

The space was massive, easily fifty meters across, with reinforced concrete walls covered in protective runes that glowed faintly blue.

Elara, Emilia, Judea, Rita, Selene, everyone except for Elena because she was probably busy with work… they were here and watching her with anticipation.

Even Lucius was here, except he was seated on the ground with Rita on one lap and Selene on the other and the two women had buried their noses in his neck inhaling his scent deeply like it was a drug they couldn't get enough of.

Emilia laid across the ground and sitting with her head resting on his crotch with a perverted grin plastered on her face with her eyes half-lidded.

"Pervert." Vanessa told her sister.

Emilia raised her middle finger before dropping it back and nudging her head against Lucius's crotch feeling it turn a bit hard beneath her.

"Bad boy~" Emilia said.

Lucius used space to flick her forehead making her kick up her feet in pain. "Ow ow ow~ Hubby did you really have to do that?"

"Yep." Lucius said and then looked at Selene who removed her face from his neck and blushed.

"Uhhh, I should have helped more in the raid but I was knocked out so sorr—"

Lucius patted her head. "You don't have to worry about it, you did your best babe. Besides it's my fault for overcharging your stigmata."

Selene practically melted into his touch and then she wrapped her arm around his neck, intruding on the space of not one but two of the other girls who immediately started complaining.

"Hey! You're crushing me!" Rita protested.

"Get your fat lap out of my face!" Emilia added from below.

Selene patted the back of her head. "Sorry Sister wives~"

Judea on the other hand was twirling a bit with her puppy.

Apparently it had been sold pretty sick to the auction as the clan hid the sickness somehow from the advanced sensors but Vanessa handled it by purifying its blood and organs with her magic alongside other blood mages.

Despite how chaotic it was now, Vanessa smiled. This was her new family… Lucius, everyone here and she wanted to stay with them forever.

"Alright I'm ready Daddy." She said before lifting her hand to her mouth. "Oop."

She was only supposed to call him that when he was fucking her hard in bed or when they were in private and immediately a blush covered her cheeks.

Emilia perked up. "Heh and I'm the pervert right?"

Lucius placed a hand on her head and pushed her back to his crotch as he looked at Vanessa with serious eyes.

Ranking up from A to S wasn't as easy as doing the other rank ups but he trusted in her completely. In a flash of bright blue spatial energy, the Heart Titan core appeared in his hand, materializing from his storage.

It was a light fist-sized crystal glowing with deep crimson light, pulsing like a living thing, and it looked disturbingly organic… almost like a crystallized heart ripped straight from a chest with veins made of liquid mana crawling across its faceted surface like blood vessels.

The blood inside it pulsed like an actual heartbeat and the temperature in the room dropped several degrees just from its presence.

"If I remember correctly, it should be directly implanted into the user's body. You can handle it right?" Lucius asked.

Vanessa nodded with her crimson hair bobbing. "I can… I've been preparing for this for years."

It floated over to her slowly, rotating as it moved. As the Heart Titan core got closer to her, she could feel the immense power coming from it… The mana felt oppressive and suffocating then in a flash of blood magic, her clothes ripped apart violently revealing her full naked figure with the fabric shredding like paper.

She had longed for S-class for so long that she knew the basis of what to do when using an item to increase your rank… Clothes were not advised to be worn beforehand as the energy would destroy them anyway.

As the throbbing Heart Titan core made way into her hands, immediately a burst of wind flowed across the training room aiming to hit them in the face but it dispersed as soon as it hit the barrier of space protecting them with the invisible wall holding firm.

None of the girls even flinched as they knew that Lucius would protect them.

The core cracked open widely with a sound like breaking bones.

CRACK!

Blood flowed out violently, completely drenching Vanessa's body in thick red blood that splattered everywhere, covering her from head to toe and pooling on the ground beneath her.

Crimson mana covered her whole body as she was encased in a pod made of dense blood which nobody could see through… it had become a cocoon of swirling red energy.

Vanessa's hands felt heavy all of a sudden like lead weights dragging her down and her mana hearts were trying desperately to circulate all of this new blood that was making its way into her system…

It was completely drowning her internal pathways, flooding her veins, however that was not the only issue…

One of her mana hearts burst completely with an internal explosion that felt like her chest had been ripped open.

CRACK!

She threw up blood with red liquid spraying from her mouth and splattering against the inside of the blood pod, but new blood converged inside immediately, forcibly rebuilding what had been destroyed.

'Fu… Fuck…' She thought.

She had messed up the first step in her excitement which was doing it gradually, absorbing the power slowly over time.

Now she was B-rank and dropping and the pain was very real… burning through every nerve but she couldn't stop now.

…Not when she was so close.

'I want to…'

The blood kept flowing into her and the mana heart that had burst was healed immediately filling her up with the lost power.

'Stand…'

The energy kept swirling across her body drenching her completely as even the pod began spinning as blood was swallowed into her body.

All she wanted right now… She wanted to be like Selene. Selene was an S-rank and so was Rita so why couldn't she join them? Her eyes closed as all of the mana hearts that she had converged together to form a bigger one.

'Beside him…'

The blood in the dome was swallowed completely into her body leaving a tattoo like a red drop mark on her stomach with the symbol glowing in residual power.

Lilliane immediately dashed for the barrier with panic in her eyes.

"Master, I want to check on her! Vanessa!"

Lucius reached out and held her back firmly by the shoulder. "Hold on… Wait."

Immediately there was a wet pop sound as blood shot out of her body explosively and splattered everywhere that wasn't covered by the barrier, spraying in all directions, and as if it was acid, the concrete floor and walls began melting where the blood touched, smoking and hissing, making the foxkin take a step back with wide eyes.

Lucius immediately disappeared in a flash of blue, making all three girls that were on him hit the ground hard.

Emilia hit her head first with a dull thud.

"Ouch ouch! Why me again?!"

Lucius then appeared in front of Vanessa in an instant and the crimson haired woman looked up at him while letting out exhausted sighs with her chest heaving.

"Haah haah…"

"Are you okay?" Lucius asked with a concerned expression, kneeling down beside her. So far he couldn't feel anything wrong with her body but then Vanessa reached out her hand to touch his face with a smile.

"I am… I'm okay babe, now I can stand beside you like the others… I'll be the best wife I can be to you, thank you for believing in me." She said and with that Vanessa leaned herself upward and kissed Lucius on the lips and as they disconnected, a strand of blood connected them as his face scrunched up and she became embarrassed.

"Uh, it'll take some time to get used to all this new blood flowing in my system."