"Hmmm? Heng? Hooh?"
Beatrice continuously made sounds of surprise and interest as she circled around Dante, touching his body all over. From his biceps to his face, his legs, and even almost his crotch until he smacked her hand away.
Beatrice folded her arms, which had the unfortunate effect of raising her already noticeable chest muscles into focus.
"Ehh. Your Stats index has risen greatly. That's pretty amazing," she remarked with a raised eyebrow.
Dante folded his legs and smiled smugly. "This is the effect of having talent. An evil woman like you wouldn't understand."
Beatrice was speechless.
She looked Dante up and down once more and hesitated. "I don't think the Student Enhancement Center's technology and methods have increased that much since I graduated."
Beatrice sighed tiredly. "Don't worry Dante, if you used any orthodox means, like having to become a gigolo for that headmistress to attain your current power, I, Beatrice, will not make a fuss."
Dante was left speechless by this.
ραndαsnοvεl.cοm He facepalmed and stood up, glaring at Beatrice who was still dressed very skimpily and stood in a very feminine pose that happened to attract the eye to very large assets. It was clear that Beatrice was very 'rich' and 'powerful' in terms of her 'capital assets'.
"First of all, why not change? You're almost naked," Dante pointed out with a frown.
Beatrice waved her hands boredly. "No way, I feel comfortable like this. Besides, who else is here to see?"
Dante was confused and pointed to himself. "Me, obviously."
"And who are you to me that makes this wrong? Why should I be bothered about how I am dressed with you? If you dare, I will strip naked right now," Beatrice retorted with a sharp look.
Dante was speechless. He didn't know whether to be happy that Beatrice was indirectly telling him that they could be intimate at any time, or to be worried that he couldn't yet be intimate with her in the way that she… they… both wanted.
"Fine, fine, it was a 'me' problem. I came here not to bicker with you, but to rely on the most trustworthy person I've known to help me." Dante gave in and began getting serious.
Beatrice smiled. "No matter what you want, I will help you, even if it means destroying the universe."
Dante was about to continue when he froze. He glanced at Beatrice with incomprehension and shock, wondering if she was really serious. Due to her smile, he couldn't really tell, but his growing extrasensory abilities were telling him that she was serious.
This made him go silent. He was initially about to get down to the matter at hand, but he knew that in this current mood, he would better focus on what he had put off for the longest time because he was worried about the outcome.
But some things couldn't be postponed forever.
Dante sighed and sat down, then patted the spot beside him. Beatrice maintained her casual smile and sat down, allowing Dante to take a sniff of her perfume which smelled of lavender and strawberry, two of his favorite scents.
Not to mention that she sat right beside him, so he could not only feel her body heat, but her presence as well. That slightly shorter feminine form that was beside him made a certain masculine beast within rise, wanting to spread his big meaty claws and display his dominance.
Dante now understood why men were easily seduced by beautiful women unless they were guarded. The woman herself, her actions, her words only did about 30% of the work. 70% of the work was that damned instinct to push down and assert dominance.
He focused his mind by taking a deep breath and began.
"Beatrice, from the moment I met you, you have been playful, teasing, and very seductive. While I will admit it's exactly to my taste because I like women with your build, your beauty, your proportion, and your personality, I have a problem closing the gap between us because I can tell this isn't the real you."
"I am not trying to be melodramatic, but it feels very uncomfortable to know that there is probably a wall between the two of us. I also understand that this is not something directed specifically at me, but is something you've built to ward off everyone else."
"But it's going to be difficult to forge something meaningful between us if such a barrier exists. The 'me' that stands before you is about… uh… 70% the real me, I think. Apart from a few secrets I can't share yet, you're pretty much seeing the full picture."
"I am not going to ask you to shatter that wall on contact for me, but we need to start from somewhere. And I think the best way is for me to know more about you, so I would like to hear about you from your own mouth."
"What do you think?" Dante concluded with a glance at Beatrice.
Beatrice had maintained her casual smile the entire time, but it had weakened greatly the more Dante spoke. Now, she was looking at him with a slightly surprised and slightly sad expression.
She looked away and then brought her legs onto the sofa, remaining silent for a few seconds as she seemed lost in thought. Dante did not rush her nor show any impatience, opting to wait patiently for her to make a decision.
"I… well. I don't even know how to begin." Beatrice finally answered with a look of confusion on her face.
"Let's start from the beginning. What is the Portinari Clan?" Dante assisted her gently.
"The Portinari Clan, huh…"
Beatrice's eyes misted over slightly. "They are my family, the only ones I love and trust in this world. My father is the current Patriarch of the clan, and he is very kind and loves to dote on me, but is harsh to everyone else."
Beatrice smiled softly. "Part of the reason I have so much authority is because he delegated the majority of his power and connections to me, along with my own… special talents."
"There is… was, my mother as well. She was the light of my world and was often able to make our nuclear family brighten because she bullied dad every day until he wailed in defeat."
"At that time, we wanted for nothing and everything was perfect."
Beatrice's face clouded over. "And then, at the age of 5, my genetics were tested and they discovered my special physique, a superpower of its own if you will."
"I inherited my mother's superpowers, but passively. My mother was a graduate of the Unique Batch and had the superpowers of Gluttony, Devouring, and Regeneration."
"I basically have the ability to increase my SDI limitlessly by eating and can regenerate from pretty much any injury as long as I have enough food or energy."
Beatrice went silent for a short while. "Whether it was the scientists who wanted to dissect me to find out how such a phenomenon occurred, the military who wanted to raise me as a humanoid weapon,
or the superpowers faction who wanted to throw me into the First Gate, I became a hotcake overnight."
"The Portinari Clan is strong, but the pressure was too much. However, my mother adamant that everyone should back off and forget about making her daughter do anything, and this included my father and even the entire clan. No one was willing to sacrifice me."
"The matter seemed to die down, and I was almost guaranteed to be raised normally. However, some factions didn't like how my mother handled things and felt that she was an obstacle to their goals, so they simply found a scapegoat rebel organization that had no future and set them up with the best of everything needed to assassinate my mother when she took me out to a resort planet in the Andromeda Galaxy."
Beatrice clutched her fists tightly as her eyes darkened. "They severely underestimated my mother and how strong she was. They did manage to injure her through a surprise ambush, but her array of superpowers made her extremely tanky, and she was able to whittle down the enemy slowly."
Beatrice lowered her head. "Of course, once they realized they were losing, they made the obvious decision to switch their target to me, the defenseless and scared child. This naturally provoked my mother but also opened her to many mistakes and opportunities."
"My mother only died because she protected me dearly. The injuries she suffered were too great for her regeneration to keep up, no matter how much liquid energy was pumped into her body. My father and I had to watch our beloved wife and mother die on the sick bed after she escaped the siege by killing everyone."
Beatrice sighed deeply, releasing her fists. "However, killing everyone and dying later of injuries was the best-case scenario for the factions who besieged us. No loose ends left to clear and the target was taken down successfully. By the time father and I came down from our grief and he decided to investigate, the other fellows had naturally swept everything clean in that period of time."
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