Unenthusiastic Interlocutor
In the absence of her beloved husband, Hui had been dedicating an absurd amount of time to her personal studies of books and languages. There was no other choice for her.
The librarian’s infatuation with Edrick bordered on obsession. It was hard for her to spend a day knowing that with one-hundred per cent certainty, that his big, rough hands wouldn’t be choking her…
Therefore, she spent her days buried in books instead. To be precise, she was trying to decipher some ancient Dwarvish--A language a bit too complicated and convoluted for her current level. This allowed her to put all of her attention toward it, though, leaving no space to think of anything else.
However, this had resulted in a messy sleep schedule over the last few days. Right now, in the middle of the day, she was lying face-first in bed.
The sheets were changed daily, so Edrick’s smell was absent.
As such, Hui was sleeping like a log.
However, the third wife wasn’t alone in her poor choice of sleep schedule.
Luxuli was a Docilis Succubus. Normally, her kind thrived on sexual interactions with just about anyone or anything... She was one of those special cases who required a specific individual to be satisfied.
This had the side effect of making her crave Edrick even more, as her head was literally only filled with him–And the thought of him filling her up–It wasn’t just a question of sustenance and nutrients. She just felt weird about not being able to see him, like a piece of her was missing.
This was certainly also due to the fact that they also shared a bond, although it had never been used. The idea that she was able to vanish into his soul had been a big point back when the barman had been trying to sell her as a slave to Anoteros.
Naturally, Edrick had rather decided to take ownership of her in his own way- But they had still formed a bond nonetheless.
They would often go on walks. Just the two of them, they would scour the markets and she would use her special eyes to appraise whatever items they ran into…
Although it wasn’t wrong to say that their relationship was strongly founded on carnal encounters, it wasn’t correct either.
‘...Aaaah, I hope he comes back soon…’
Luxuli had been focusing on her appraisal ability and magic, making a little bit of progress by doing so day and night. It was certainly tiring.
She turned her head to the side to look at Hui, the wife who had joined just before her. She was quite the character. Very smart and knowledgeable, but also the weirdest person the demoness had ever met.
Putting aside the tormentophilistic tendencies... She thought that Hui was a very nice girl, which only made sense. One wouldn’t end up as Edrick’s wife by chance.
“Hey, Hui. Can you hear me?”
“Y-Yesh?” the librarian rose from the bed with a yawn, her eyes squinted as she couldn’t see much at all without her glasses.
“I was thinking that we should try to think about what to do when Lord Lucien comes back”
“Ooh… My Lord will surely see us coming from a kilometer away, though”
“Well, yes, but we can still please him! I was thinking that we should rehearse how to take care of his cock and balls…”
Just as Luxuli was explaining an awfully specific technique she had thought of, a knock came at the door, and soon enough, Yifei poked her head inside.
“Lady Hui, Lady Luxuli- I was tasked with informing you that Lady Fanqia has successfully awakened her bloodline”
“By the gods, that’s big news!”
“The Velvet Pixie bloodline, right? That’s not just big, that’s huge!” Luxuli jumped off the bed, and two more things followed that movement in the next moment.
The demoness looked down and reached up to touch her forehead.
Her horns had just fallen off.
It wasn’t too surprising. They were bound to do so eventually, considering the absurd amount of energy her lovely husband delivered to her with each session, but right now, an idea blossomed inside her mind.
“Hui, I think I’ve got an even better idea! Let’s go see Fanqia and Linmin!”
Yifei wasn’t certain what this was about, but the fourth lady’s bright pink eyes glowed sharply for a moment…
___
“Aah… I just received wonderful news! Can you believe that? My first wife finally got past a bottleneck she had been stuck at for a while…”
Within the secret realm, Anoteros was able to know that Fanqia had awakened her bloodline, thanks to the wife crest she wore, and also thanks to the Loving Husband’s Ring he had received a while back. It told him of a change in Fanqia’s condition. This led him to check on her through the crest.
This was incredible news, not just because the bloodline had useful powers, but because it should finally put Fanqia’s worry about not being useful and being unworthy of the title of matriarch to rest.
With that bloodline awakened, she was valuable enough for any noble to welcome a country girl with open arms.
“What’s the matter, are you not going to say congratulations to my wife?”
Edrick, however, wasn’t exactly in a neutral situation when he received the news.
In fact, the air was filled with a rancid smell of burnt hair. His fists were covered in gore, shards of bone lodged into his knuckles.
Right now, a grey-robed corpse was lying at his feet, missing a head.
Anoteros had run into a little bit of a snafu whilst trying to regroup with the rest of the disciples from the Myriad-Arm Sect. Namely, a rogue from Seclusion Underground.
Though this one hadn’t attacked him merely because he was a lone wanderer with bad intentions. Otherwise, he never would have even been able to find Edrick.
The noble scion always moved around with the stealth of a sasquatch, after all.
No, this one had fallen victim to a Laughing Fox.
Having been turned into a mad puppet and directed to launch an attack against Edrick, he had been overclocked with inner energy that did not belong to him. He had become some sort of marionette, as even an arrow to the heart did not stop him. Or rather, it did not stop the one controlling him from moving in his stead.
Nonetheless, Edrick had won in the end. However, he had ended up naked once more, having had to transform to resist a fiery blast. The strength of that fire had been enough to leave some light burn marks even on his human body after he transformed back.
The young noble looked around. There were no signs of the puppetmaster, which was a good thing. This ability was rumoured to belong to evolved Laughing Foxes, and those things were powerful and vicious enough that Edrick did not believe he could win if one showed up.
Thankfully, despite their evolved state, they remained similar to the regular Laughing Foxes, favouring staying away from what they caused.
But it made no doubt that the fox in question had observed everything going on.
‘I swear, what are the odds of encountering a Laughing Fox twice? It feels like they have something against me…’