Chapter 101
"It’s like you were born with some kind of magic, there’s this pull coming off you I can’t describe."
"I really like you so much."
"Which is why I have to give you a son or a daughter, how else do I prove how much, how much, how much I love you~"
Looking at her face, lit up with expectation, Soren felt his composure start to go, he’d worked out what she was.
A natural-born fanatic, changing her mind wasn’t on the table.
She was dead serious.
"Tell me~"
"Do you prefer a son or a daughter?"
"As long as you like it..."
"...twins, one of each, isn’t out of the question."
"I have special methods."
"I can raise the odds."
Soren stared at her in silence.
"Hm? Why aren’t you saying anything? If you don’t talk, I’m taking your silence as you liking both sons and daughters."
"Hehe, and since you like them so much..."
"...let’s start with twins, a boy and a girl~"
His eye twitched without stopping, he’d made more faces in the last few days than in the last several months combined.
Only Celeste could get his eye going, and the corner of his mouth right after.
"Your silence means you’re very satisfied and very happy! Are you feeling super excited right now? Do you love me even more?"
"You are deeply ill, Celeste, from here on you do whatever I tell you, stop fixating on pointless things."
Celeste stared at him, eyes brimming, saying nothing, Soren opened his mouth, thought better of it, and shut it again.
Only then did she make a show of wiping the corners of her eyes.
"To think you actually despise us, mother and child."
What mother and child? Where is a mother and child coming from? There isn’t even the shadow of a beginning here! Could you please stop treating your own fantasies as established fact?
"Don’t be afraid, my child."
"Your mother is right here." Celeste bowed her head, sobbing softly, patting her flat stomach.
Enough, that is quite enough.
I am a dignified Demon Ancestor, why does this feel like punching a ball of cotton and watching every ounce of strength get swallowed?
Soren dropped the barrier isolating the room.
Outside, wrapped in demonic energy, Caspar had been waiting several days, he was close to breaking.
Lysara was a little jealous, though she held it together, she reined her thoughts back in when the barrier came down and Soren’s aura drifted out, then stood waiting.
Celeste walked out holding his arm.
The two looked extremely cozy, they were even talking as they came.
Calling it talking was generous, Celeste was doing all of it.
"Tell me, what would be good names for our future son and daughter?"
"Oh, this is so hard! I can’t choose."
Soren opened his mouth, stopped, opened it again.
In the end he swallowed the words.
Celeste was sticky candy, no shaking her off, peel her away and she’d be back a second later, like her whole body had become a permanent attachment.
Lysara was stunned, Caspar was stunned too.
"Celeste, you... you’re standing?" Caspar looked like a man watching a ghost walk in.
He’d spent years and never once got her on her feet.
The problem was the Witch Poison, it couldn’t be cleared, and no pill, however high the tier, did anything.
Her constitution had been too fragile for the violent efficacy of top-grade pills, and here she was, healthy, standing before him.
A miracle, plain and simple.
Caspar was no idiot, one look at how they were standing and he had the whole picture, he still wanted it from Celeste’s own mouth.
A short exchange later, he had it confirmed.
His grin split across his face and ran to his ears.
"Good! Very good!"
Even the way Caspar looked at Soren changed, terror out, equals in.
A Demon Ancestor, so what? You’ve become Dao companions with my granddaughter, doesn’t that mean you have to call me Grandfather?
The old man looked downright cheerful, whatever loathing he’d had for Soren was mostly gone.
Soren’s strength was beyond argument, public number one in the whole land of the Exalted Continent.
Soren had cured Celeste, motives aside, that was a fact nobody could dispute.
And above all, Celeste had actually conquered an Ancestor Realm expert, that exceeded everything Caspar had ever expected of the girl.
On the Strategy Encyclopedia, Caspar’s tier moved from Strangers Meeting by Chance to Deep Affection and Righteousness.
Absolute Loyalty flashed bright for a moment.
One more nudge, one more trigger, and the old man would step into it properly.
Soren said that on Celeste’s account, he’d spare his life, Caspar would work for him in exchange.
Caspar had nothing left worth being stubborn over.
The Moonveil Human Domain was already in Soren’s pocket, so was his granddaughter, what grounds did he have to refuse?
One flat no and the consequences didn’t bear thinking about.
Given how ruthless Soren was, being Celeste’s grandfather wouldn’t stop him from being turned to ash.
The concession had already been made, why go looking for death?
Soren told him to stay in the Moonveil Human Domain for now.
First, to recover the blood essence he’d burned through.
Second, to help Basil hold the domain steady, Basil was only a Middle-Tier Human Emperor, and his combat strength still came in under Caspar’s.
As for Celeste, Soren meant to leave her in the Human Domain too.
She refused flat out.
"This lady is your woman already."
"Wherever you go, I go."
"My realm isn’t high and I might not be much use in a fight..."
"...but I’ve read countless ancient texts and scrolls since I was small."
"There’ll always be somewhere my knowledge comes in handy, won’t there?"
"More importantly..."
"...I have to give you a son and a daughter!"
Caspar sprayed his own saliva, Lysara nearly choked.
"Even though I have a few methods to raise the odds..."
"...nothing in this world is certain!"
"What if I didn’t conceive this time?"
"Then we still have to work hard!"
"Don’t you agree?"
"Hahaha! I’m going to build you a sprawling imperial empire of descendants!"
"We’re going to endlessly, endlessly, endlessly, ENDLESSLY increase the number of your sons and daughters!" Celeste threw her arms out and traced a circle in the air big enough to mean infinity.