Chapter 265: Colorful (7)

And so, the time to part ways approached. All this time, I had been spending happy days covered in sex and paternal affection. Ati's lair possessed the perfect coziness for one more person to live in, to the point that I almost didn't want to leave. Arus had grown attached to me and hated letting me go. She held me tight and tried to stop me from leaving.

"Arus? Could you let go of Dad for a bit?"

"No!"

Arus was clinging to me, hugging me tightly. Was it because she was a dragon? With her growing rapidly day by day, her hanging onto me felt quite heavy even to me. It seemed her muscle density was on a whole different level. Ati carefully detached Arus and spoke.

"Arus. Dad has to go somewhere else. Because in order to kill Mister Deorgon, he has to get stronger. If we don't kill Deorgon, we can't live with Dad."

"Hing... I don't want that either..."

"I'll come again, Arus. You know Dad loves you, right?"

"Even so..."

Arus was looking at the ground with a sullen expression. Was this the joy of raising a daughter? The coachman, who was watching this scene from a distance, had gained about 10kg. It was the result of doing nothing in the warehouse and only receiving and eating delicious things. He let out a Ggeueuk burp and stared at us with a blank state of mind.

I peeled Arus off and asked Ati in a quiet voice.

"Ati. By the way, um... how do you plan to explain to Arus that I have another wife?"

"Oh my, Dad should be the one to explain that. I've been locked up here, so I don't know anything about such stories."

Ati feigned ignorance as if she knew absolutely nothing. I could only offer an awkward smile and nod my head. I wasn't going to get hit by Arus later for this, was I? Even so, I couldn't just say right now, 'Arus, Dad is going to go see another woman from now on. Dad is running two households, you see.'

"Anyway, I'll be back then."

"Alright. Don't push yourself too hard."

"Oh right, Ati. This carriage uses a method of charging magic power to use teleportation, but is there by any chance a way to charge the carriage separately?"

"Charge the carriage? Hmm... could you wait a moment?"

Ati opened a portal to her warehouse, shoved her hand in, and started rummaging through various things. After searching for a long while, she pulled out a small stone from inside the warehouse. Magic power was overflowing from the sharp, diamond-shaped stone. Ati handed me the stone and spoke.

"It's a high-purity magic stone. It has magic power concentrated inside, and if the carriage operates on the principle of absorbing ambient magic power, keeping it close will probably increase the charging efficiency. It's hard to find outside, so don't use it for anything else, okay?"

"Yes."

I accepted the magic stone and climbed into the carriage. The coachman burped once again and apologized to me.

"Ggeueuk, aigo, I apologize. I must have gotten indigestion from only eating and sleeping lately."

"It's fine, coachman. I should have given the coachman better treatment. But given the nature of this space, this was the only way I could treat you. I'm sorry for making you stay in the warehouse."

"Aigo, not at all. It was my first time in my life eating so luxuriously. Rather, I should be sorry for acting rudely towards the young lady. Young lady! I apologize!"

The coachman apologized while calling Arus 'young lady'. Arus tilted her head, looked at Ati, and asked.

"What's a young lady?"

"It's a word used to call our Arus. Since our dad is a lord. As the lord's daughter, Arus becomes a young lady."

"Huh? Is a lord higher than a dragon?"

"No. Huh? Is it an incorrect expression then?"

Ati also frowned her face in confusion. I suddenly fell into thought as well. When a lord and a dragon married, would calling their daughter a young lady be downgrading her? What should she be called? The coachman discreetly read the room amidst this somewhat complex dilemma. I lightly patted the coachman's shoulder and spoke to Ati.

"Young lady is also a respectful expression among humans, Ati. Not just for a lord, but they call all nobles that, right?"

"Right? It wasn't really something to worry about."

Ati smiled and stroked Arus's head. It was truly time to leave now. The coachman grabbed the reins of the horseless carriage and spoke to me.

"My lord. I am all ready."

"Yes. Let's depart."

"You should say, 'Dad, please come again.'"

"Dad, please come again!"

I waved at Arus and pulled the carriage's lever. Blue particles floated up all around and enveloped us. The sight of Arus and Ati waving was sucked into the light, and we crossed through space while feeling a peculiar floating sensation.

"Wow."

And I closed my eyes. When I opened them, we were already in the territory. It seemed the location had been set properly. The carriage sat exactly in its usual parking spot. The coachman, who normally had to tend to the horses, habitually shouted 'whoa, whoa' before realizing there was nothing on the reins he was holding and clicked his tongue. The deaths of the horses were unfortunate, but what could be done? We had to give whatever it took to cater to Deorgon's moods.

The coachman soon regained his spirits. He looked to be in a good mood at the sight of the territory we had arrived back at. With a beaming smile on his face, he spoke to me.

"I will go clean the carriage a bit, then. My lord. You've worked hard."

"Yes. Good work, coachman."

I left the coachman behind and walked around the mansion. As I reached the entrance of the mansion, a servant sweeping in front of the door saw me suddenly appear and shouted in startlement.

"Aigo! My lord!"

"Yes. It's the lord. Have you been well? What is Eve doing?"

"Ah, that's..."

The atmosphere was strange. Had there ever been such a gloomy atmosphere circulating inside the territory? It hadn't been this bleak since the last murder case involving the grand duke's son. I asked the servant again.

"Is something going on?"

"Ah, well... it's a bit difficult for me to say, it might be better to ask Lady Peta directly..."

"Fuck, what is it? I told you to just tell me."

As I expressed my annoyance, the servant stood as stiffly as dried yellow corvina and shouted.

"A-Ah, r-really! It's because it's hard to put into words! This is, um... it's not really my place...!"

If he went this far, it could only really be that kind of story. I entered the inside of the mansion. Inside the mansion, the servants were all working with gloomy expressions. What could it be? What on earth was going on? Did Eve announce a salary freeze proposal or something? Had there been restructuring? Just then, Aira was moving a flowerpot. I offered her a greeting.

"Aira. It's been a while."

"Ah, my lord! Have you returned?"

Aira grinned as soon as she saw me, but she regained her gloominess just as quickly as she had smiled. What on earth was this? What was the problem? I wrapped my arm around Aira's shoulder and asked.

"Aira. So what is going on? The atmosphere in the mansion is bad right from the moment I arrive. Anyone looking would think some major accident happened."

At those words, Aira bit her lip and looked at me, slightly on the verge of tears. Then, she turned her head away again and spoke in a small voice.

"I'm sorry. It's not a matter that I can speak about... Um, I think it would be better to ask Ms. Eve directly."

What was this? Fuck, what on earth was this talk? What the hell happened? I went up the stairs again. The sound of flipping through documents could be heard from the office. A routine and even movement. Just from hearing the sound, I couldn't detect any change in emotion. I opened the door and spoke.

"Eve... huh?"

"Ah, my lord."

It was Sieri. I was glad to see Sieri again too, so I held her tight for now and also kissed her forehead. She awkwardly received my greeting like someone on the verge of death. I stroked Sieri's hair and asked.

"Sieri. Why are you working here? I did a handover to Eve. Did you two fight by any chance?"

Was this what all the servants were reluctant to talk about? But it didn't seem to be the case. Sieri hastily shook her head and spoke with an awkward expression like this.

"Ah, well... I don't think it's a matter I can talk about. It would be better to hear it directly from Ms. Eve..."

"Where is Eve? Her husband has arrived and she doesn't even come to greet me, I'll have to scold her."

Sieri smiled at those words, but her eyes were sorrowful. What was it? With the atmosphere being this full of anxiety, it was getting to the point of being rather annoying. What the hell was going on? I hastily went down the stairs. Sieri said Eve would be at the swimming pool. I went out the main gate and walked toward the swimming pool. Eve was crouched at the edge of the swimming pool. Beside her, Cellu was blankly staring at the sky.

Eve had her head buried as her shoulders heaved. It was obvious she was crying. I carefully went to her side. Cellu spotted me and lightly waved her hand in greeting. I wrapped my arm around Eve's shoulder and spoke.

"Eve. What's wrong?"

"Husband..."

Eve raised her head and looked at me. Red, bloodshot eyes. She was shedding tears and weeping truly bitterly. What could possibly make her cry so bitterly? Unconsciously startled, I held her tightly.

"What's wrong? Hm? Who made our Eve cry? Huh? Why are you crying? Hm, you shouldn't cry. It'll ruin your pretty face."

"Husband... I, I... Heuheuk..."

Eve continued to cry. I looked at Cellu over my shoulder and gave her an eye signal. But she only shook her head with a gloomy expression and went into the swimming pool. What was it? What on earth was going on? Why was Eve crying like this? The only person who could give an answer to my question was Eve. I patted Eve's shoulder and spoke.

"Yeah. There, there. It's okay. Don't cry. Yeah. Right. What happened?"

"Well, so... um... this time from the capital city... Heuheuk... a mage and... a doctor came so... Heueuk... I got an examination, but..."

"An examination? What kind of examination?"

"Heuheuk... I, I called them... I was curious about when the fertile period is for a mermaid half-blood... so I called them, but..."

I felt anxious. An anxious premonition flashed past.

"They, they said... I have infertility..."