Catherine, meanwhile, was thinking about something different.
She sat up on the bed, leaning against the headboard as she covered herself with the blanket.
Jace, looking at her serious face, immediately got nervous and sat up before her.
"Why the serious face? I thought you'd be amused with the 'demoness incident'," Jace said...
"It was amusing... I suppose," Catherine replied.
"Then?"
Catherine looked at Jace sitting before her; though it was not visible in any real sense, she could feel that he was a little nervous.
"Now that I think of it, we've never quite defined our relationship, have we..." she said.
"I suppose," Jace replied.
Catherine thought for a moment. "Our relationship started through a business transaction, and you have completed your part; only my side remains...
"Throughout the year, we have gotten close enough that one calling us lovers would not be that far off... and it would be a lie to say that I do not hold any... affection and fondness for you..." She turned her head toward him. "I can probably say that you feel feel something same for me as well."
Jace stayed quiet.
Catherine continued, "...So how about it? Let's be lovers for real... or if that's not what you want, then we can stop right here. Of course, I'll still fulfill my part of our transaction of helping you."
Jace thought for a moment. It was true that he had feelings for Catherine—likely more than he'd like to think—but he was still young and wanted to do many things. It felt... unwise to bind himself to a person when he knew he would likely want and take more...
"Ah, I get what you're thinking," Catherine said, as if reading his thoughts. "You are still young, and I know you well enough to know that you are somewhat fickle with women. Even though I was your first, it's likely that you have been with more than a few women since that...
"I'm... willing to overlook that as long as you don't let me find out. If I find out, there will be consequences..." As she said that, Catherine's eyes turned cold.
'Damn!' It seemed that watching Jace with a Demoness brought out some feelings in Catherine that made her want to define their relationship.
Jace again thought for a moment. Hiding things from Catherine was easy enough, but what if she found out? What would be the 'consequences' she mentioned? Jace went into deep thought.
But in the end, he decided he really did like Catherine very much, and it would be nice if they could be together...
"Okay, Catherine, let's be lovers," Jace said seriously.
Hearing him, a smile appeared on her face. She immediately leaned in, as Jace did as well, and kissed him affectionately.
But Catherine didn't seem satisfied with just that, as she immediately pushed Jace back and got on top of him.
While she did not like Jace—even in a different form—being intimate with a Demoness, she was still aroused by watching their exchange.
"Now, be quiet and let mommy fuck you~" She immediately brought herself down on Jace's hardness with a soft moan and started moving while kissing him.
'Oh, there she is,' Jace thought as he held her waist while she moved. Catherine always preferred to be the dominant one in matters related to intimacy; before, when she was being submissive and letting Jace do whatever he wanted with her, it was just her pampering him, and now she was doing what she wanted.
After a while, as Catherine moved slowly, she said something that baffled Jace.
"Haa... Jace."
"Mm?"
"Take that girl form of yours that looks like you," Catherine said while leaning in and whispering in his ear.
Jace, who was enjoying himself, went blank. "Excuse me?" he asked, baffled with confusion.
Catherine leaned back and looked at Jace with a dark glint in her eyes. "You heard me. Do it," she said—no, commanded.
'Oh boy.' Jace realized that this was one of those moments where Catherine would likely force him to do whatever she wanted, even if he said no.
"Okay," he said in a low voice, and did what she wanted.
For the rest of the day, Jace did all sorts of embarrassing things Catherine wanted him to do.
—
A few days later, both returned to Backlund and went back to their daily lives.
Well, Jace mostly lazed around...
Then he found the other main ingredient for the Sequence 5 Dream Walker potion.
Since his cat was already a Sequence 5, he sold the ingredients to Natalie for Sarah and helped her perform the ritual with the help of his cat to make Sarah stay lucid in the dream, while feeding her the potion.
Soon a week passed by, and Jace decided it was time to go on an adventure!
His marionette Christoph was a veteran 'Traveler' and had many safehouses all over the countries and cities.
And Jace wanted to see this world; even as messed up as it was, it was still quite beautiful.
His first stop was the Intis Republic, Trier!