Chapter 143
She landed in Soren’s lap, both arms went around his neck, she rubbed her cheek against his face.
"Hahaha! I missed you to death!"
"Let me count."
"Wow~!"
"Three whole days since I saw you!"
Soren’s face didn’t move.
Victoria had already told him Celeste was here helping with the workload.
As for Celeste abandoning her post in the next hall and sprinting over the moment she heard he’d arrived.
Soren wasn’t surprised, if she hadn’t come flying across the room at him, she wouldn’t have been Celeste, she pulled her face back a little, her arms stayed hooked around his neck.
The tip of her tongue traced her lips.
She looked at him the way a small starving animal looks at food.
"Did you come to continue the family line?"
"How did you know I was sitting over there thinking about carrying you a little demon child?"
"Wow~!"
"Is this what the old books call two hearts beating as one?"
"Then today is obviously auspicious!"
"Quick. Hurry up."
"Let’s get to it~!"
Victoria’s mouth twitched, her fists closed in her lap.
Celeste, you have monstrous nerve.
Taking food out of my mouth?
Have you forgotten who is First Mistress and who is Second?
For the sake of the larger picture, Victoria said none of it out loud.
She worked hard keeping her face still, her wrist shook slightly as she lifted the teacup, and she narrowed her eyes over a slow sip.
Celeste could not have cared less about anyone’s looks, opinions, or gossip.
Victoria maintained decorum and thought about the bigger picture.
Celeste had never suppressed a thought or a want in her life.
As far as Celeste was concerned.
Whatever she said or did with her own man, was nobody else’s business.
She started tugging at his robes.
"Husband."
"As the ancient sages put it so well."
"’Heaven is great and earth is great, but making a little demon child is the greatest of all.’"
"The husband may be ruthless, but the concubine is willing!"
"Don’t move."
"Let me handle it."
The corner of Soren’s mouth pulled sideways.
What dog-fart sage with no integrity whatsoever said that?
You made it up on the spot.
"Husband, don’t you dare resist~"
"The more you resist the more excited I get~"
"Hahaha!"
Victoria and Cecilia were both frozen where they sat.
Victoria couldn’t hold it any longer.
She let out a cold breath, and stepped in to stop the performance.
"Celeste, you’re showing this Empress very little regard."
"In all things there’s an order, first come, first served, isn’t that right?"
On any administrative matter Celeste would have yielded to Victoria without a fight. On this one, she wasn’t giving up an inch.
"Big Sister is absolutely right!"
"Which is exactly why Little Sister got her arms around Husband first~"
She tightened her grip on his neck and watched Victoria like a woman guarding a plate.
"First come, first served, he’s mine."
Victoria’s chest rose and fell.
One wave of her hand.
A pitch-black barrier dropped and sealed the hall, sound and sight both, those inside could see out perfectly well, those outside got nothing.
Victoria smiled without any warmth in it.
With Cecilia and Celeste right there, she dropped the dignity entirely.
"Then we’ll each rely on what we have."
"And see who’s standing at the end."
Celeste twitched her lip.
She knew her strength was nowhere near Victoria’s.
Competing on raw force was asking to be embarrassed.
But, she had no intention of conceding.
"The one still standing isn’t necessarily the winner."
"The winner is whoever carries his little demon child first~"
Off to the side, Cecilia’s face went red from jaw to ears.
She felt like she’d been hit by lightning, no, seriously, what kind of shameless talk is this?
I don’t fit into this group at all.
Soren, stop them, stop them right now, two and a half days later.
The black barrier finally came down, there was a small, satisfied smile on Soren’s mouth.
He lifted his teacup and drank.
Victoria and Celeste sat on either side of him, both had their hands busy with quiet adjustments to clothing and hair.
Cecilia sat staring at nothing, with the expression of a woman who had watched the end of the world.
The impact had apparently been more than the equipment could handle.
Her brain had shorted out, before long.
A female demon in Imperial Palace maid’s dress came into the hall, she walked fast, urgency on her face, she bowed deeply to Soren first.
Then turned to Victoria and Celeste.
"Grand Mistress, Second Mistress! You’ve finally come out of seclusion!"
Seclusion.
Yes.
Because they had stayed inside the grand hall of the Imperial Palace, and because several people had been in there together, nobody outside had let their imagination wander an inch.
The entire palace staff assumed the obvious, that Victoria and Celeste were in closed-door martial cultivation under Soren’s personal guidance.
Which was neither convenient nor appropriate to interrupt.
Now the session had ended.
So they had come out of seclusion.
Victoria signaled the maid to continue.
"During the two and a half days you were in seclusion, an enormous number of faction leaders arrived at the palace!"
"The reception halls are packed. We can barely fit anyone else in."
A lot of people, which meant loyalty, it didn’t need saying.
Victoria nodded.
She indicated she’d deal with it at once, and told the maid to ask the crowd to be patient.
The maid curtsied, then trotted off.
"Husband, I’ll go on ahead."
"There’s a mountain of work waiting."
Celeste stood up first, then made a small hissing noise through her teeth.
One hand went to her waist, the other to the floor, and she sat back down on the ground.
Victoria let out a cold little laugh at that.
Ruby lips, flawless skin, and an expression that wasn’t frightening exactly, and wasn’t dismissive either.
In short.
Mockery, aimed squarely at a woman who had overestimated her own stamina.
Competing with me over how much we can wring out of Soren?
Silly Little Sister.
You’re a million years early.
"Celeste, do you need help up?"
Victoria asked it from somewhere deep in her soul.
Celeste didn’t turn her head, she waved a hand, assistance was not required.
She got herself upright with enormous effort, and her waist gave out again and put her back on the floor.