Awkward Meal
Anoteros cleared his throat.
“I would like to apologise for last night’s commotion”
He spoke as he cut a piece of goose meat. He had intended to make some noise, but Jania and Tylia absolutely surpassed his expectations. It had been enough that he felt like it was necessary to address it at noon–When he was invited to have dinner with everyone.
“It’s… Fine for youngsters like yourselves to have some fun, but I would indeed recommend keeping it down. Absolutely everyone in the residence heard it, and it isn’t the best of looks for young noble ladies to make such sounds… But anyhow, I would rather not speak about the nighttime activities of my Allinas and my Allino-Holt”
Galdon responded whilst Milerva seemingly stayed unmoved–Which meant that she was definitely fuming.
Meanwhile, Jania and Tylia were embarrassed beyond belief. They had definitely gotten way too comfortable with ‘expressing’ themselves last night… They had completely forgotten where they were, and ended up waking everyone with their shouts of satisfaction.
Being the expert that he was, Edrick was quick to bounce back and shift the subject to something else–Which Galdon was very glad to do.
They pivoted to talking about the market and the success of the shop.
“I do not know where you managed to find such high-quality raw materials, or how you can afford to sell them at such a low price, but it brought an incredible amount of traffic to the market as a whole. This might have been one of the best-performing markets we’ve had in a while, thanks to all the influential figures you lured over”
“Oh, that was all thanks to Tylia’s ingenious marketing and Jania’s great management skills. Honestly, I barely did anything”
Anoteros had indeed let the two noble Alrinirs take care of most of the work. Even if he had been overseeing everything, Oie was their city, so he had wanted to let them handle matters themselves.
Discussing business matters took up most of the dinner, but eventually, Jania and Tylia needed to announce a certain something…
It was Jania who spoke up about it.
“Valdre, Valra… Tylia and I are pregnant. We did the test this morning, and there is no doubt about it”
Galdon almost choked on his food.
“...Really?! That’s fantastic news!”
Naturally, knowing that the marriage between Edrick and his Alrinirs was going to bear fruit was great news for Galdon. He hadn’t actively sought to further elevate his bloodline’s influence, but since it had come to pass anyway, he wasn’t going to be sour about it.
Currently, the Oie family was just like the other noble families ruling the satellite cities, but once the news that Jania and Tylia were carrying the seed of their Elt husband spread, it would definitely push them upward, certainly opening up avenues to develop the city in ways that hadn’t been possible before.
Meanwhile, Milerva acted like she was happy about it, but Edrick could swear that he felt her stare blow his head open. This woman was not happy about it in the least, but there wasn’t anything that she could do against Anoteros.
‘At this rate, I’ll never get another occasion to taste this mature redhead again…’
Edrick lamented in his mind, his eyes momentarily moving toward Hilia.
The youngest Allin of the Oie family didn’t have a care in the world. She was just eating without paying any attention to what was happening around her. Instead of having to be fed, a maid had to make sure that she didn’t eat too much.
‘Noble children seem to all have endless appetites, huh? Must be the superior bloodline’
If he hadn’t believed it before, Anoteros would have been convinced now that there was indeed a sizable difference between commoners and nobles that was much different from just being a matter of status or wealth.
It seemed like many generations of cultivators eventually made a bloodline more robust and simply better in every conceivable manner… Noble offspring were far less annoying and more ‘aware’. They seemed to have a much firmer grasp of their surroundings and their own actions.
Hilia right here had a bit of a character, though, trying to slap away the hands of the maid who was preventing her from wolfing down too much food.
In comparison, Edrick’s Simis were much more tame, with their most noticeable traits being Bertian’s curiosity and Milda’s laziness.
Regardless of it all, this was a big piece of news, especially since Jania’s firstborn was deemed to be the first in line to one day become the city lord after her. This was something that was going to be announced to the public soon enough…
Edrick stayed for a while longer, which eventually led him to find out that some forces in Journomanp hadn’t liked the stunt he had pulled the last time he had met some people from Yingzi Sect. They weren’t as empty-skulled as the first impression had made it seemed. They were actually using slander against him instead of sending assassins.
Edrick had to admit that this was pretty good slander, too.
It was basically saying that he only married Jania because of the title she was going to inherit, and that he actually only cared about Tylia–Which would seem believable enough to the layman. Alas, the main target was definitely to fracture his marriage with the two Alrinirs, which wouldn’t happen since they were bound via Goose And Gander, as well as Wife Crests.
Such a little thing couldn’t even be compared to throwing soft dirt against glass. It was more like a one-lunged man blowing air against a solid block of steel after running a marathon.
‘I’ll get Shu to find information about notable figures in Journomanp. We’ll see how they like my handcrafted slanderous propaganda’
Even if ineffective, he was not going to allow them to insult his wives unpunished.
…After staying with his two noble wives for a few more days following the end of the market, he returned to his residence, bringing with him not only his half of the benefits from this venture, but also the materials required to craft the ring Liren desired for his beloved.
Anoteros had spotted an occasion to forge a good relationship with one of Bai’s Alris, and had taken it without a shred of hesitation. He was quite confident that he would be able to make a better ring than whatever tool refiner Liren could have taken the materials to.
That was all thanks to Fanqia. Even if she wasn’t yet a master, her Velvet Pixie abilities allowed her to blow competition out of the water. Velvet Pixies weren’t so respected and coveted for no reason. They were inherently better than most craftsmen, and the same applied to Fanqia.
Though… Edrick wasn’t just planning on having his first wife work on it. He wanted to make sure Liren would feel like he needed to pay him back.
‘Let’s do this’