Trust

Not too long after, Edrick reached his residence, it certainly was handy to have two elders knowledgeable in healing and medicine that did not mind helping him in the least, although the other elders might respect him on account of his status and what his presence within the sect could potentially mean for the future, they were not members of clans and did not have the same means, so relying on them would be much less stable at best, and useless at worst.

He had heard a bit about what a blasse-fusse was, and turns out they weren't that interesting, they had once been at war with basically everyone within reach, but had been beaten so badly that they barely showed their faces, even more than a few centuries after it all.

They were a species of human that inhabited a cold tundra, hence the resistance to the frigid temperatures, and were known to be users of various ways of power aligned with magic, but mostly for their banshee-like screaming ability, the strongest of them were said that have a high degree of control over it and could shout hard enough to turn a person into red mist.

To Anoteros, the sheer fact that they had a natural ability of this sort was proof enough that they were powerful, and made him wonder if there was a cultivation technique centered around them, that would be a great upgrade for his sasquatch roar in the future…

But the future was for later, right now, he had a lump of meat to be sliced and cooked in his bag, he could hear that Linmin was already in the kitchen preparing his utensils, it seemed like Edrick was right on time.

After taking off the additional layers of clothing, he went directly into the spacious kitchen area, which was definitely perfect to be put to use by more than one cook, Linmin was the only one of his wives that actually knew how to do this so well, the others had since long been shooed out of this room due to lacking the skills.

"Lord Edrick! How was your day?" like a puppy, his second wife was all excited by the mere sight of him.

"Seeing you just made it much better, do you have anything planned out for tonight's dinner? You aren't usually in the kitchen so early…" Edrick laid the bag on the large counter in the middle of the kitchen and swiftly moved directly behind Linmin, wrapping his arms around the foppoof.

"I was debating whether to cook simple pieces of beef alongside some vegetables, or to do something more difficult, since we have some whole snakes inside of the icehouse… But those can be a bit tricky to get right…" replied Linmin, putting his still gentle and soft hands on the back of Edrick's, a slight redness manifesting over his face.

"You shouldn't worry too much, it isn't a problem if you fail every once in a while… And anyways, there is no need to mull over this dilemma for today, I brought something that I would like you to butcher and prepare for tonight, in fact, I want you to prepare this thing until there is nothing left" explained Anoteros, pushing Linmin's yellow hair behind one of his ears, bringing his lips against the servant-wife tender neck.

"Lord Edrick…" Linmin exhaled sharply, nearly moaning just from this slight show of affection, even his ears turning red "...M-May I inquire what is it?"

"Getting all tense again, you put yourself under too much stress, Linmin… Relax, you already butchered plenty of those before, it's not the exact same species, but you used to cut apart the whores I used from the town back then, remember? It's a human, you have plenty of experience with those" he lightly squeezed Linmin's hips whilst speaking, feeling his wife relax.

"You already found food to use that new bloodline ability? As expected of you, so efficient!"

"It was merely luck- By the way, that red dress and these red tights are new, that is quite a different colour scheme than your usual green and blue" remarked Anoteros.

"Y-Yes… I wanted to try something new, do you like it, Lord Edrick? I was afraid that it would look weird with my dye"

"You look gorgeous, it seems like you can wear any colour without losing any charm, Linmin" Edrick pressed his wife against him, letting Linmin feel the outline of his slumbering dragon, which made him tense up in a way that had nothing to do with over-worrying.

Anoteros whispered directly into his consort's ear :

"I'll be going upstairs to train my weapon cultivation techniques, you can do the same and we can relax together afterwards"

A shiver ran through Linmin's spine as he formed a wry smile.

"Yes, Lord Edrick~ Ah!" then the husband gave his wife's behind a good smack.

"Oh, and did we have any visitors today?"

Linmin was quick to gather his thoughts, or at least, he was quick to conceal his excitement.

"No one came today, Lord Edrick, should we be expecting someone?"

"A feeble-looking girl with white hair and soft green eyes, the Jingyi I spoke about, I gave her an offer to become a maid in the residence, I am not sure whether or not she'll show up, but if she does, don't leave her any time to change her mind, either immediately begin to instruct her, or call me if I am here" he explained.

"Understood, Lord Edrick, but if I may ask, we have multiple different sorts of maid attires, which would you prefer her to wear?"

"We have multiple sorts of such clothing?"

"Erm… Yes"

Edrick smiled but did not mention anything about seeing right through Linmin there as he was clearly trying to be sneaky about it.

"I'll trust your four to make the correct choice if I am not around" he simply stated before leaving the kitchen, letting Linmin focus and calm the severe arousal that Anoteros had just instilled into him.

Then, he opened the bag and carefully pulled out the human Edrick had slain, skin unusually pale, limbs rather lacking in muscles, or fat for that matter, this fool was born to be food for the lord, yet he had not bothered to make himself a greater haul? Simply scandalous to Linmin.

Nonetheless, he did not slow down and removed the burlap robes the prey was wearing, the areas that had been harmed were easy to spot, the abdomen and knee had both been pierced, and the neck had been neatly crushed.

"Heh?"

'What is this? Oh, and Lord Edrick just left! The front door opening and closing had to be him…'

"Girls! I need some assistance over here!"