Chapter 150: Please stop staring at me like that
The following scene has been removed because it was deemed by the author to be a tad boring.
To sum it up, the Zhen Clan and House Ecaredies shared a polite discussion about the prospects of marriage over a luncheon of dragon meat. During said discussion, the adults in the room talked about Carlos’ eldest son, Santiago, while the younger generation talked of other things(read: the boys attempted to impress Bellona Ecaredies to varying degrees of success).
However, during the course of this luncheon, Nepherage, Frosttusk, Hurricroak and the [Voice of Lust] in Zhen Liu’s head made color commentary about the latter’s cousins attempt to impress Bellona.
[Good gods man, have you studied poetry? It sounds like you just decided to tweak the words of a nursery rhyme.]
[Not just…food…talk about…her…]
[Is…is this supposed to be courtly love or something else?]
While this wouldn’t normally affect anything, this commentating had the side effect of causing Bellona to occasionally stare at Zhen Liu more than what would be considered polite.
Evidently, none of Zhen Liu’s brain companions brought up the possibility she could read his/their minds, but they did have their own amusing ideas.
[Maybe she is smitten with you milord?]
[Ah! Love at first sight! How adorable!]
[Doubt…ful…]
{Do it in public so all can see.}
“Pfft!”
This lead to a lot of moments where Bellona had to stifle a laugh and lie through her teeth, something she wasn’t used to doing. However, this had the unexpected effect of making her look more attractive in the eyes of the Zhen Clan boys, gap moe shit or whatever, so…mixed results.
In the end, the luncheon went off without a hitch, Zhen Yue was looking forward to meeting this mysterious Santiago, and Bellona agreed to meeting the boys on a more personal one on one basis over the next week or so.
Of course…she was more interested in one particular boy moreso than the others…
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The day after the luncheon with House Ecaredies, Zhen Liu was informed that he and his cousins were going to be going on solo dates with Bellona in the upcoming week, on separate days. Luckily(?) for him, he had about three days to do whatever until then, with Zhen Hai being sent first, as long as he stayed in the city.
{Just gag me already.}
Zhen Liu had gone back to his personal training area(read:local wasteland no one seems to visit except himself) to perform his “kaijin duties”, namely extracting the excess aether build-up in them before it becomes an active battlefield hazard and activating his new puppet. He didn’t bring Jin Fang with him this time, but he did make sure to inform him about why he was acting weird earlier that day. She wasn’t actually upset about the way he was acting earlier, but when she was given the reason why, her expressions went from shock to realization to… scheming. Zhen Liu however figured that was a trick of the light and definitely not foreshadowing for something.
As he summoned the kaijin one by one, they proceeded to stretch their limbs and do whatever. This was the first time Hurricroak and the Razor Maiden had been to this area, so they took a bit of time to look around a bit.
“So this is where the maestro practices his arts? I figured he’d do it in the actual training arena,” Hurricroak mused as she looked around.”
“Open space! Everywhere!,” the Razor Maiden shouted as she began to leap and run about. She had been stuck in doll mode for the past few days, and had become understandably bored as a result.
“Performance anxiety?”
“In a way,” Nepherage answered, “milord believes that our existence would attract unnecessary attention. Not unfounded given…past events.”
“Spies… and…killers…,” Frosttusk rumbled.
“Oh that’s always fun.”
Zhen Liu was about to tell the kaijin to cut the chatter, when the familiar scent of perfume grabbed his attention, followed by a sweet voice.
“Xiao Liu, you forgot to invite me along.”
“No I di-whoa.{SEXY MAMA}” Zhen Liu was all set to explain on a logical level on why he didn’t invite her along this time, when all of a sudden most of the blood in his brain went elsewhere.
“Hmm? Is something wrong?”
“Jin Fang.” {Spank her.}
“Yes?”
“You know I love you, right?” {Pull down your pants and prove it.}
“Of course.”
“Which is why I was willing to tell you that the reason why I freaked out yesterday is because I ate a desire core made of [Lust] that hasn’t subsided and could basically go off at any moment?” {Release that pent up desire, inside her, repeatedly.}
“Oh right you did tell me that, yes,” she replied nonchalantly. Zhen Liu had to take a deep, controlled breath at this point.
“So…any particular reason why you’re dressed like…that?,{TOP ME ALREADY, DAMMIT}” Zhen Liu asked while he gestured at Jin Fang’s dress. For context, Jin Fang was wearing a training/fighting outfit that reminded Zhen Liu of a certain character from a fighting game that was once labeled as “too sexy” for a certain collab fighting game. What made it worst{better} is that she had the curves to fill that outfit a little too well.
“Oh no reason, it was just hot today,” she said while stretching her arms upward. The look on her face however, suggested that the outfit was chosen for beyond just the weather.
‘We’re in a desert, it’s hot everyday! {SO LET’S SWEAT IT OUT},’ Zhen Liu wanted to retort but restrained himself. He had more important things to do right now,{and he could punish this naughty minx later}.
Off to the side, the kaijin were staring at their lord with a bemused(?) expression. At least, that’s what he felt from two out of three of his bonds with them. The third felt like melancholy for some reason.
“Alright, that’s enough staring. Frosttusk get over here, Nepherage you’re next and Hurricroak, keep an eye on the Razor Maiden.” {Alternatively, watch me as I take Jin Fang here under the desert sun.}
“Yes milord”
“Okay…”
“Of course, maestro.”
Following their orders, Frosttusk walked over to Zhen Liu’s side, while Nepherage stood back and Hurricroak went to go and stop the Razor Maiden from trying to carve up a passing armadillo.
“Stay away from the wild life please.”
“But squishy!”
‘Alright, Now time to get into the right headspace…
Last time Zhen Liu did this aether transfer thing, it was done automatically and he didn’t exactly know what happened during the whole process. However, he did recall on how to start it at least.
‘Alright, the last time this happened I was unprepared for the surge of aether entering my body, but this time I-GAAAAHHHH, NO NEVER MIND THIS IS DIFFERENT!’ {HURT ME MORE.}
The last time Zhen Liu did this, he had surges of Iganti and Teraqi aether forcefully injected into him. This time he was being injected with Ice aether as his own was being drained and transferred to Frosttusk.
It was a good thing he blacked out at some point otherwise this would’ve hurt a lot more.
‘Wait…am I supposed to do this syncing thing…at the Library?'{Or in an alleyway?}
