My Wives are Beautiful Demons

Chapter 834: Katharina is going to go through hell.

The training field behind the castle seemed to have stopped being an ordinary practice area and turned into an ancient war barracks ever since Sapphire returned to her true self. There were no unnecessary shouts, no spectacle, none of that exaggerated violence some people confused with discipline. What existed was worse. There was method. Sapphire stood at the center of the arena with a long spear in one hand, her posture too straight, her gaze too cold, and her patience far too short for any mistake Katharina might make.

Katharina held her own spear with both hands, sweating more than she would have liked to admit. Her body trembled slightly, and it was not from physical exhaustion, though there was exhaustion too. It was fear. A familiar, old fear she thought she had left behind when Sapphire became calmer, more domestic, and more open to the kind of life the family had built around Vergil. Katharina had grown so used to her mother sitting in halls, arguing with the others, teasing Vergil, and acting like a dangerous but controlled woman that she had forgotten one basic truth about her. Sapphire was not dangerous because she shouted. Sapphire was dangerous because, when she became serious, everyone immediately understood that survival was optional.

"Again," Sapphire said.

Katharina swallowed dryly. "Mother, I have already done that movement about forty times."

"And got it wrong thirty-nine."

"That is mathematically offensive."

"It is technically optimistic."

Katharina opened her mouth to complain, but closed it when she saw her mother’s eyes. Sapphire was not irritated in the normal sense. She did not look about to explode, curse, or throw something at her. That was precisely the problem. She was too calm. Too rigid. She looked like a demonic Spartan dressed as a war queen, evaluating her daughter as if every flaw were an unacceptable crack in the foundation of a wall.

Sapphire raised the spear and demonstrated the movement once more. The strike began at the foot, rose through the hip, passed through the shoulder, and ended at the tip of the weapon with absurd precision. It was not only strength. The technique looked simple when she executed it, but Katharina knew that simplicity was a cruel lie. The weight of the spear, the extension of the arm, the angle of the wrist, the displacement of the body, and the exact timing between advance and retreat needed to work together. Any mistake turned the strike into a fatal opening.

"You are treating the spear as if it were a long sword," Sapphire said. "It is not. The spear controls distance, rhythm, and territory. If your enemy enters your range without paying for it, that is your fault. If he retreats without being pursued, that is also your fault. A spear does not ask whether the enemy wants to approach. It decides whether he has permission."

Katharina tried to copy the movement. The tip of the spear cut through the air in a quick arc, but her foot lagged half a second behind. Sapphire appeared beside her before Katharina realized it, struck the shaft of her own spear behind her knee, and made her lose balance. Katharina fell seated on the ground with a deeply offended expression.

"Ow."

"You died."

"I fell."

"In combat, it is the same thing."

Katharina looked up, holding the spear as if it were the only thing preventing her moral collapse. "You are very intense today."

Sapphire tilted her head slightly. "And you are very weak."

Katharina froze.

The sentence did not come with gratuitous cruelty, but that did not make it lighter. On the contrary. Sapphire said it like a diagnosis, like a technical observation, and perhaps that was why it hurt even more. Katharina clenched her jaw, slowly standing. Her mother observed every movement without softening her expression.

"I will not allow my daughter to become complacent," Sapphire continued. "Not after what happened. Not after seeing Deadly Sins, Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and organizations trying to break dimensions. You live near Vergil, near me, near people who attract cosmic disasters as if they were dinner guests. If you are not strong enough, someone will use you as a weak point."

Katharina lowered her eyes for an instant.

That part, she could not refute.

Outside the arena, Raphaeline watched the scene with her arms crossed and a discreet smile on her face. Ada sat near her, wearing training clothes, but clearly in the emotional stage of someone who wanted only to watch Katharina’s tragedy without being dragged into it. Raphaeline’s expression, however, promised nothing good.

"You also have to train," Raphaeline said.

Ada slowly turned her face toward her mother. "I already trained today."

Raphaeline raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, you already trained?"

Ada waved her hands, as if that were far too obvious to justify interrogation. "I woke up early, did physical exercises, practiced energy circulation, did short-blade training, and still ran in the courtyard. I am not complacent like Katharina."

"Katharina heard that!" Katharina shouted from the center of the arena, still holding the spear.

Ada did not even look at her. "You were meant to."

Raphaeline seemed genuinely interested. "You trained all that without me telling you to?"

Ada sighed and lifted the hem of her shirt a little, showing her defined abdomen, marked by recent effort and real discipline. "I am putting in work here. I may look like a saint traumatized by a demonic family tree, but I still have self-respect."

Raphaeline looked at her daughter’s abdomen, then at her face, and began to laugh with satisfaction. "That is my daughter."

Ada lowered her shirt with a victorious air. "Thank you. Now, please, do not throw me into the same hell as Katharina."

Katharina pointed at her indignantly. "Betrayal between wives!"

Sapphire struck the shaft of her spear against the ground, and the dry sound crossed the entire arena. Katharina immediately returned to her stance, as if her body had reacted before her pride. Ada saw that and became even more convinced that she had made the right decision by training early and hiding in the audience.

"Again," Sapphire ordered.

Katharina took a deep breath, adjusted her feet, and tried to repeat the technique. This time, the movement came out better. Not perfect, but better. Sapphire did not praise her, she simply did not knock her down immediately, which, coming from that version of her, already felt almost like a maternal hug. Katharina noticed this and decided not to comment, because she still wanted to keep her knees working for the rest of the day.

Then a magic circle opened in the air near the edge of the training field.

Energy spread in elegant lines, and Vergil stepped out of the portal with his usual expression, as if crossing space were equivalent to opening an ordinary door. He barely had time to take two steps before the entire atmosphere shifted.

Sapphire turned her face first.

Katharina looked right after.

Ada raised her head.

Raphaeline narrowed her eyes.

The reason was immediate.

Vergil smelled of Aphrodite.

It was not something an ordinary human would notice, but for those women it was impossible to ignore. There was a floral, sweet, divine trace on him, mixed with an energy of ancient love and flower shop perfume, something far too soft to belong to the castle and far too specific to be accidental. The entire field went silent. Even Katharina, who normally would speak first, had the rare instinct to remain quiet for a few seconds.

Vergil stopped.

He looked at Sapphire.

Then at Katharina.

Then at Ada.

Then at Raphaeline.

The tension was so visible that even he, with all his tendency to ignore family dramas until they exploded, realized he was about to enter dangerous territory.

He raised one hand in surrender. "We need to talk."

Sapphire rested the spear on her shoulder, but there was nothing casual in her gaze. "You smell like Aphrodite."

Katharina widened her eyes, completely forgetting the training. "I knew it. I knew that smell was a woman."

Ada closed her eyes for an instant. "Katharina, maybe this is not the best moment."

Raphaeline, on the other hand, seemed amused. "I think it is an excellent moment."

Vergil kept his hand raised. "Before this goes in the wrong direction, Aphrodite is fine. Persephone appeared at her flower shop."

The name was enough to change part of the atmosphere. Sapphire did not lower her spear, but her gaze became serious in a different way. Ada straightened her posture. Raphaeline lost her smile. Katharina, still startled, looked from Vergil to her mother, realizing that perhaps the smell of Aphrodite was not the biggest part of the problem.

Sapphire narrowed her eyes. "Persephone, Hades’s wife?"

"Yes."

"At Aphrodite’s flower shop?"

"Yes."

"And why were you with Aphrodite on your lap?"

Vergil was silent for half a second.

Katharina brought both hands to her mouth. "He did not even deny it."

Ada murmured, "Definitely not the best moment."

Vergil released the air through his nose. "Hades is trapped in Tartarus. Thanatos too. Tartarus was sealed to prevent a dimensional rupture. Helheim was attacked. Valkyries were wounded or killed. Naraka suffered an attempted artificial opening. The Underworlds are being attacked at the same time."

Silence fell immediately.

Even Katharina forgot the accusation she had been preparing.

Sapphire slowly lowered the spear, but did not relax. Her newly recovered version seemed even more dangerous when processing a real threat. "Who is doing this?"

"Probably the same organization that moved Spectre, Dante, the Sins, and Famine."

Ada slowly stood. "Then what happened in the Abyss was only part of it."

"Yes," Vergil answered. "Persephone came to propose an alliance. Hades is offering the Helm of Darkness if I help."

Raphaeline let out a low whistle. "That is a large payment."

Sapphire looked at Vergil for a few seconds, then returned to analyzing the scent on him with a colder expression. "And Aphrodite?"

"She gave me her opinion on Hades, Persephone, and Thanatos. She thinks we can consider the proposal, but on our terms."

Katharina raised a finger. "And the lap?"

Sapphire only turned her eyes toward her. "Katharina."

"I am merely representing public curiosity."

Raphaeline raised her hand. "I also have public curiosity."

Ada looked at her mother. "Not helping."

Vergil slowly lowered his hand, realizing that the political danger had been partially accepted, but the domestic danger remained alive. "Aphrodite was happy because I called her my woman."

The silence returned.

Katharina opened her mouth.

Ada put a hand over her face.

Raphaeline smiled.

Sapphire remained absolutely still for one entire second.

Then she took one step forward, spear still in hand, posture too straight and gaze fixed on him. "Interesting."

Vergil held her gaze. "Sapphire."

"I am not irritated."

Katharina whispered to Ada, "Is she irritated?"

Ada answered in the same tone, "She is evaluating whether she is going to be."

Raphaeline crossed her arms. "I would say she is more offended that he did not use the phrase with her today."

Sapphire slowly turned her face toward Raphaeline. "I heard that."

Raphaeline smiled shamelessly. "You were meant to."

Vergil took a deep breath. "The important part is the threat against the Underworlds."

Sapphire turned her eyes back to him. "I know."

"Then can we talk about it?"

"We can."

Katharina relaxed a little.

Then Sapphire completed, with the same dangerous calm: "After training."

Katharina froze. "What do you mean after training? There is a crisis between Underworlds happening."

"Exactly," Sapphire answered, turning back to her. "So you need to stop getting the basics wrong."

Vergil looked at Katharina, then at Sapphire, and immediately understood that her daughter was living through a form of private war. He almost felt pity. Almost.

Katharina pointed at him in despair. "Vergil, say something."

Vergil remained silent for an instant, analyzing her stance. "Your left foot is late."

Katharina stared at him as if she had been betrayed by the entire universe.

Ada started laughing first.

Raphaeline followed right after.

Sapphire smiled from the corner of her mouth, satisfied in a terrifying way, and raised her spear again. "See? Even he noticed."

Katharina looked at Vergil, then at Sapphire, then at her own spear, and finally released a defeated sigh. "I hate this family."

Vergil walked to the side of the arena, standing beside Ada and Raphaeline. "You will thank us later."

Katharina pointed the spear at him. "I will remember this when you need emotional support at the next wives’ meeting."

Vergil did not answer.

Sapphire struck her spear against Katharina’s, correcting the angle with enough force to make her daughter’s arms vibrate. "Less drama. More foundation."

Katharina returned to her stance, still grumbling, while Vergil remained watching with his usual serious expression. The scent of Aphrodite remained on him, the threat to the Underworlds continued hanging over everyone, and an alliance with Hades might be about to be born. Even so, in that moment, on the training field, Sapphire seemed to consider one thing more urgent than any dimensional collapse.

Making sure her daughter was not weak.

And no one there had the courage to say she was wrong.