Chapter 194: Ultimate Germaphobe Keep Watch

Seeing Lucas finally leave, Sora suddenly felt as though the air around her had become much cleaner.

She let out a small sigh of relief.

If Lucas continued following her around so closely, she felt as though she wouldn’t even be able to breathe properly.

He had been hovering around her since morning, staring at her whenever he wasn’t doing something for her. Even when she gave him work, he still somehow managed to keep his attention on her.

Sora couldn’t help but feel a little worried.

If she couldn’t even stand Lucas behaving like this, how was she supposed to complete the mission that required her to turn all of them into Obsession-like love?

Just imagining several men constantly keeping their eyes glued to her made Sora feel as though she had completely lost her personal space.

At that thought, she couldn’t help calling out to the system.

"System, this Obsession-like love won’t make these Beast Husbands pester me all the time, will it?"

If that were really the case, she would never be able to handle it.

One Lucas acting like this was already enough to give her a headache.

If several of them behaved the same way at the same time...

Sora felt as though she might lose herself completely.

The system’s voice soon sounded in her mind.

"Host, do not worry. Once you successfully upgrade to the Obsession-like love level, the system will automatically proceed to the next stage of the mission."

"That’s good."

Sora immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

At least there was an end to this particular stage.

She couldn’t imagine having to deal with several clingy Beast Husbands forever.

After finishing washing the dishes, Sora heated some water and took a satisfying hot bath in the tub.

Ever since she had realized that the tub could easily be watched by her Beast Husbands, she had rarely used it.

Most of the time, she preferred bathing in the Hot Springs.

After successfully winning over Ryan, however, she wasn’t as guarded around him as she had been before.

After all, both sides had already seen each other plainly.

Ryan wouldn’t randomly deduct her heart-throb value or attraction value simply because he happened to see her bathing in the Hot Springs.

Therefore, Sora no longer had as many reservations.

Besides, Martin had called everyone over to the Plaza today.

There was no one around to watch her.

That meant she could finally bathe however she pleased.

As she relaxed in the warm water, Sora couldn’t help examining herself.

Since becoming pregnant, she had rarely done any skin-whitening treatments.

Although the products she used were completely natural, she was still worried that something might harm the little cub in her belly.

Surprisingly, even without deliberately trying to whiten her skin, her complexion seemed to be becoming fairer and fairer.

Sora also noticed that the inner corners of her eyes seemed to be becoming more defined.

The change wasn’t particularly obvious.

Yet when she looked into the Mirror, she could still tell that she looked slightly different from before.

She couldn’t determine whether her previous whitening treatments had finally begun showing their effects or whether she was simply maturing.

Either way, she looked much better than before.

Sora was quite delighted by the change.

Since she no longer had to worry about her complexion, she finished her bath, dried herself, got dressed, and walked out of the bathroom.

Now that she had some free time, she needed to think carefully about how she was going to upgrade the Obsession-like love mission.

After conquering Lucas today, she had successfully completed the first stage, attraction Brain, for all five of her Beast Husbands.

The next stage was something she needed to consider carefully.

Sora sat down and furrowed her brows.

While she was deep in thought, a bird suddenly flew toward her.

The bird flapped its wings rapidly before speaking.

"Madam, go to the woods in the east."

Sora froze.

For a moment, she stared at the bird in surprise.

She had not expected a bird beast to suddenly speak to her.

But when she noticed that the bird also had a long plume trailing behind it, she immediately understood.

Lucas had probably sent it.

"Wait..."

Sora wanted to ask the bird a few more questions.

But before she could say anything, it flapped its wings and flew away.

Sora watched it disappear into the distance.

To be able to command bird beasts so easily, it seemed Lucas was far from being an ordinary Beastman.

With no other choice, Sora followed the bird’s instructions and headed east.

As soon as she entered the woods, she stopped.

A vast field of blue flowers spread out before her.

Above the flowers, green-glowing fireflies danced through the air.

The bright moonlight poured down from the night sky, illuminating the entire field.

The combination of blue flowers, green fireflies, and silver moonlight made the place look exceptionally dreamlike.

It was almost like stepping into a fairy tale.

Sora slowly looked around.

She didn’t see Lucas anywhere.

Just as she was about to call out his name, something suddenly descended from the sky.

A pair of magnificent emerald-green tail feathers swept downward.

Then Lucas appeared.

He began dancing gracefully among the flowers.

His emerald-green feathers shimmered beneath the moonlight, and his long tail feathers moved elegantly behind him.

For a moment, Sora was completely mesmerized.

The moonlight spilled across his feathers, making it seem as though she had stepped into a magical fairy-tale kingdom.

Lucas’s unique long neck was held high.

His posture was light and graceful, yet there was still a powerful masculine beauty to his movements.

This time, Sora finally saw a phoenix Dance in the truest sense.

Ace had once described the beauty of a phoenix Dance to her.

Now that she had witnessed one herself, she understood exactly what he had meant.

It really was beautiful.

Sora couldn’t help clapping her hands.

When Lucas finished his dance, he turned toward her.

A bright smile spread across his face.

His eyes seemed to sparkle with joy, and his expression was filled with unmistakable pride.

"Do you like it?"

He looked at her expectantly.

"I danced it specifically for you."

Sora blinked.

Lucas had clearly put considerable thought into this.

After hearing Ryan sing to Sora the previous night, Lucas had secretly made up his mind.

He absolutely could not lose to Ryan.

Ryan could sing?

Then he could dance.

And the phoenix Dance was beautiful.

If he performed it beneath the moonlight, surrounded by flowers and glowing fireflies, Sora would definitely be captivated by him.

At least, that was what Lucas had believed.

Sora nodded.

"It’s very beautiful."

Her compliment was rare in its sincerity.

Lucas’s eyes immediately curved upward.

The pride on his face became even more obvious.

He had succeeded.

She liked it.

After enjoying his moment of triumph, Lucas walked toward Sora.

He stopped in front of her and said, "Get on. I’ll take you somewhere."

Sora raised an eyebrow.

She hadn’t expected Lucas to have such a strong sense of occasion.

For a simple Night Guard, his activities tonight were coming one after another.

First, he had carefully dressed himself.

Then he had danced for her.

Now he had another surprise prepared.

Sora didn’t know what he was planning, but she quickly climbed onto the phoenix ’s back.

Lucas spread his wings and took off.

The place he had mentioned wasn’t far away.

After flying for a short distance, Lucas landed on a tall, straight tree.

Sora carefully climbed down and looked around.

The tree itself had been decorated in an extremely flashy manner.

All sorts of flowers had been placed around it.

There were flowers hanging from the branches, flowers arranged along the trunk, and flowers carefully positioned around the entrance.

It was a little extravagant.

But Sora had to admit that Lucas’s aesthetic sense was actually quite good.

The tree had been decorated beautifully.

Then Sora noticed something else.

On the main trunk of the tree, Lucas had built a Wooden Hut.

The little hut was also decorated with fresh flowers.

But that wasn’t all.

There were numerous shiny objects scattered throughout the place.

Sora stepped closer and took a careful look.

Her eyes widened.

Good heavens.

Those weren’t ordinary stones.

There was jade.

Gold.

Sapphires.

Rubies.

And all sorts of other glittering stones.

The moonlight reflected off them, causing the entire hut to sparkle.

Sora stared.

This wasn’t merely a Wooden Hut.

This was clearly a golden nest!

There were so many shiny things that Sora felt as though her eyes would become blinded if she kept staring.

Lucas seemed extremely pleased with his creation.

He led Sora inside.

Then he lit a torch made from pine resin.

The moment the flame appeared, the entire Wooden Hut became bright.

Sora looked around once more.

Everything was carefully prepared.

She found a chair and sat down.

She didn’t say anything.

Instead, she waited for Lucas’s next move.

She had a pretty good idea of what was likely to happen tonight.

However, she didn’t want to take the initiative this time.

When she had conquered the other Beast Husbands before, she had often been the one to take the lead.

This time, she wanted to relax.

Besides, Lucas had clearly made so many preparations.

He should be the one to take the initiative.

So Sora simply sat there.

She waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Yet nothing happened.

After a long time, Sora finally looked at Lucas in confusion.

What was he doing?

She was surprised to see that Lucas’s expression looked strangely conflicted.

Sora stared at him.

Could it be that he was actually shy?

That shouldn’t be possible.

How could someone who loved showing off so much possibly become shy at the crucial moment?

Sora continued observing him, trying to figure out what was going through his mind.

Then, after what seemed like a long internal struggle, Lucas finally asked the question he had been struggling with.

"Kaelira..."

He hesitated.

"Did you take a bath?"

"Huh?"

Sora was momentarily stunned.

That was what he wanted to ask?

Lucas knitted his brows.

His expression looked genuinely troubled.

"Will your body be too dirty?"

He glanced at her cautiously.

"If it’s too dirty, I’m afraid of getting my feathers messy."

Sora fell silent.

"..."

She stared at him.

Had his germaphobia evolved to this extent?

She had expected Lucas to take the initiative.

Instead, he was worried about getting his feathers dirty.

Sora couldn’t help wondering what they were supposed to do tonight.

Were they simply going to cover themselves with a blanket and sleep?

And judging by Lucas’s personality, he probably wouldn’t even want to share the same animal-hide bedding with her if he thought it was dirty.

Sora hadn’t expected that, in the end, Lucas would actually be the hardest one to conquer.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to find some complicated way to conquer him.

He had practically delivered himself directly to her door.

Otherwise, with his habit of refusing to touch this or feel that because of cleanliness, conquering him from the beginning would have been a hell-level difficulty.

After all, what else could a person who could say something like this possibly do?

Sora took a deep breath.

"I bathed."

The moment Lucas heard that answer, his expression improved considerably.

But he still didn’t move.

His eyes flickered uncertainly.

If the two of them held each other, wouldn’t that still be very dirty?

Sora couldn’t be bothered to continue looking at him.

She simply asked directly, "Are you going to sleep or not?"

"Sleep?"

Lucas was immediately conflicted again.

Naturally, he had to sleep.

If he didn’t sleep, how would his little cub come out in the future?

But...

That business was really quite dirty.

Lucas stood there, caught between his desire and his overwhelming concern about cleanliness.

He had prepared everything so carefully.

He had even created this beautiful golden nest for Sora.

Yet now that the crucial moment had arrived, he couldn’t figure out how to begin.

For the first time that night, the normally arrogant and flamboyant phoenix found himself completely at a loss.

He was torn between his desire to get closer to Sora and his deep-rooted obsession with cleanliness.

And he had absolutely no idea how to resolve the contradiction.