Chapter 107 | Simon & The Strange Sister
"He’s also your husband," Lyra’s voice teased, the mental tone laced with a playful, mischievous edge. ’He would listen to you if you told him to stay.’
Mira’s eyes narrowed sharply as she glared at the seemingly tranquil Lyra on the couch.
She opened her mouth to retort, but found she had no immediate comeback.
Lyra’s lips curled into a faint, knowing smile. Her dark eyes remained closed, but beneath that calm exterior, a spark of her old self, the rumored "Shadow Saintess" with two faces, was starting to reveal itself.
There was a certain ’madness’ in her quiet amusement, a subtle shift from the broken, withdrawn girl she had been just days ago.
Mira scoffed, turned her head away, and forcefully closed her eyes, plunging herself back into cultivation to escape the telepath’s teasing.
***
Meanwhile, Dexter had booked a taxi heading deeper into the city. He settled into the back seat and gave the driver the name of the district.
A few minutes later, the taxi slowed down as two more passengers hailed it from the curb.
The car stopped, and a young man and a young woman climbed in. The woman took the front passenger seat, while the young man squeezed into the back beside Dexter.
As the taxi pulled back onto the road, Dexter frowned slightly. His enhanced senses automatically scanned the new arrivals.
’Superhuman Realm.’
The man beside him was at the Second or Third Stage of the Superhuman Realm.
The woman in the front seat was even stronge, radiating the unmistakable pressure of a Peak Superhuman.
’When did Superhuman experts become so much?’
Dexter was genuinely surprised.
Ever since he had entered the Superhuman Realm himself, he was realizing just how many powerful experts hid in plain sight in this city.
To find two of them sharing a random public taxi was quite a coincidence.
The car drove in silence for a while before the woman in the front turned her head slightly, addressing the young man in the back.
"Are you prepared for the tournament?" she asked in a cold voice.
The young man straightened his posture. "Yes, sister. I am prepared."
The woman snorted. "That’s what you said last time before you lost to Colin. Just make sure not to lose this time. Don’t lose our family’s face again."
The young man scratched his head, looking a bit sheepish, but then his gaze hardened. "Don’t worry, sister. I’ll try my best."
The woman’s expression darkened. "Try your best? You best isn’t enough. Try your hardest. If you lose this time, it’s not just about losing face. Our parents will be disappointed. And more importantly, I will be disappointed in you."
Dexter tuned out the rest of their conversation, turning his gaze to the city skyline rolling past the window.
’Tournament?’
He hadn’t heard anything about a tournament happening in the city, but it wasn’t really his concern.
About five minutes later, the young man suddenly turned to face Dexter.
"This weather is quite nice, isn’t it?" the young man asked with a bright, friendly tone.
Dexter didn’t respond immediately. He glanced to his side, realizing the young man who looked to be about his own age was trying to make small talk.
"Yeah," Dexter replied neutrally. "It is."
The young man smiled, extending his hand. "Hi, my name is Simon."
Dexter looked at the outstretched hand, then at the young man’s face.
Simon was wearing a wide, somewhat foolish grin, his eyes bright with a naive, harmless energy.
Dexter blinked, then eventually took the hand and shook it.
"I’m Dexter."
"Dexter," Simon repeated, his smile widening.
"That’s quite a unique name."
Dexter shrugged. "My parents were jokesters."
Simon chuckled at the rhyme. "Are you heading to the Titan Training Center too?"
Dexter nodded. "Yeah. I assume you’re going there too?"
"Yeah! There’s a city-wide tournament being hosted there today," Simon explained enthusiastically. "I’m trying to win the tournament and gain some reputation in the city."
Dexter blinked. "Alright. Good luck with that."
"Are you also going for the tournament?" Simon asked, leaning in slightly.
Dexter shook his head. "No, I’m just going there for a friendly spar with someone."
"Oh, alright!" Simon said cheerfully, not pressing for details. "I hope you win your spar."
Dexter offered a small nod. "I hope you win your tournament too."
Simon beamed.
Ten minutes later, the taxi pulled to a stop in front of a massive, building.
The building was enormous, with reinforced walls as a large, metallic archway loomed over the entrance.
’Titan Elite Training Facility’
The three of them stepped out of the taxi and approached the main gate.
Simon and his sister produced their Hero Identification cards, which the guards scanned.
"Go in."
The guards spoke.
The two people headed inside the gate.
The moment Dexter was out of earshot, Simon’s sister grabbed her brother by the arm and yanked him to the side.
"Simon, why are you being friendly with everyone?" she hissed. "You don’t know his intentions! He might be trying to get close to our family, or to me, through you."
Simon shook his head, his expression baffled. "We entered the vehicle before us. He was already sitting in the back when we hailed it. How would he have known we were going to be in the same taxi?"
"Moreover, how could he know exactly where your car would break down? How could he know we would be hailing this exact taxi? Sister, you’re being way too paranoid."
The sister shook her head.
His sister’s lips curled into a thin, disapproving line. "And you’re being way too carefree. It’s better to be paranoid than to be taken advantage of. You can greet him or talk to him, but don’t get too close."
Simon sighed but eventually nodded in reluctant agreement.
As they finished their conversation and approached the gate, they caught the tail end of Dexter’s interaction with the guard. Dexter casually pulled out a sleek, golden identification card and handed it over.
The guard’s demeanor transformed instantly. He snapped to attention, saluting sharply.
"Good morning, Mr. Dexter! You can head inside immediately."
Simon and his sister froze in their tracks.
A gold license card. That was the highest tier of identification issued by the Hero Association.
It meant the holder was a Gold-rank registered hero, a status reserved for those whose evaluated potential placed them in the top ten of the entire city.
But Dexter didn’t wait for them to react.
He simply pocketed his card, nodded to the guard, and strode through the gate, heading directly toward the location he had been given for his sparring session.
"Why would I bother getting close to you? Don’t tell me you’re the Storm Empress."
Dexter’s lips curled into a mocking smile when his enhanced hearing overheard Simon and his sisters conversation.
Lyra opened one eye, looked at him, and simply nodded before closing it again. A moment later, her soft, melodic voice echoed in his mind.
’Good luck.’
Dexter smiled warmly and projected his thoughts back. ’Thank you.’
Mira didn’t react and Selene was in the room.
But Dexter could feel Selene’s echolocation pulses focused on him,
He turned toward the front door, slipped on his shoes, and reached for the handle.
"Knock. Knock. Knock."
Dexter paused, his hand hovering over the knob. He frowned, wondering who it could be.
’Oh shit. The beds.’
The beds he had bought yesterday and for the girls, the delivery must have arrived.
Dexter opened the front door to find two delivery workers in matching uniforms standing on his porch. One of them held out a clipboard.
"Are you Dexter Ashford?"
"Yes."
The worker extended the clipboard and a pen. "Sign here, please."
Dexter scribbled his signature and stepped aside, gesturing them in.
Originally, he had only ordered two beds. But at the last minute before placing the order, he had changed his mind.
Instead of two, he had purchased four, one for each of the girls.
The expense had drained nearly all his money but Dexter was expecting payment from the Hero Association so he wasn’t quite worried.
More importantly, every investment he made in his wives would return a hundredfold through the system.
So it was a win-win situation.
Dexter guided the workers through the hallway.
First, he directed them to the girls’ bedroom.
"You remove the original beds and the three new ones here side by side."
Then he led them to his own small room for the fourth.
The workers nodded and got to work, carrying the heavy mattress frames and bed components through the narrow hallway.
Mira, who had been cultivating silently by the living room window, furrowed her brows.
Across the room, both Lyra and Selene wore similarly troubled expressions, their brows knit in irritation.
Dexter saw this and immediately knew the noise might have been disturbing for them.
Dexter scratched the back of his head, feeling a pang of guilt for disrupting their cultivation.
He walked over to the girls and spoke in an apologetic tone.
"I’m sorry about the noise. I just wanted to make your sleeping arrangements more comfortable. You girls have been sharing two merged beds, and I know that can’t be good for your backs. With these new beds, everything should be properly set up, and you’ll be able to rest comfortably."
Mira’s eyes snapped open. "We never complained."
Dexter shook his head slowly. "You never needed to. I just can’t bear you three being uncomfortable when it’s within my power to change it."
The moment those words left his mouth, the room immediately went still.
[Mira + 3 Affection]
[Lyra + 7 Affection]
[Selene + 10 Affection]
Mira’s lips twitched and her crimson eyes flickered with warmth.
She immediately closed her eyes, lowered her head, and snorted softly, pretending to concentrate on her cultivation.
But the faint pink tinge creeping up her neck betrayed her.
Lyra’s eyes had snapped open as well.
The families that had married them off had treated them as burdens. The world had treated them as broken relics.
But Dexter... Dexter kept on trying his utmost to make them comfortable.
No matter his intentions, he was obviously doing this from his heart.
’Thank you,’Lyra’s soft voice echoed in Dexter’s mind.
Dexter smiled. ’You’re welcome.’
Selene hadn’t moved. Her pale eyes remained closed, and her face expressionless.
But inside, the cracks around her frosted heart continued to increase.
Dexter smiled faintly.
"They just need about thirty to forty minutes to finish setting everything up. I’m sorry for the inconvenience and the noise."
The girls nodded.
Before returning to supervise the workers,
Dexter glanced at Mira’s neck. The Type-5 Protective Amulet rested against her collarbone making him sigh in relief.
He had temporarily lowered the Type-5 House Protection Barrier so the delivery workers could enter the property. That meant, for the next forty minutes, the house was theoretically vulnerable.
But the Protective Amulet on Mira’s neck was more than capable of shielding all three girls if someone managed to slip past the lowered barrier.
And Dexter himself remained on high alert.
If anyone so much as twitched in the wrong direction, he would know.
***
35 minutes later, the workers were done.
Three fluffy, queen-sized beds now occupied the girls’ bedroom, each fitted with fresh sheets, thick comforters, and soft pillows.
The fourth bed, a similarly plush mattress sat in Dexter’s small room.
Dexter touched and admired his new bed. The mattress was incredibly soft, with cloud-like surface that seemed to swallow you whole the moment you lay down.
"So nice!"
He couldn’t help but smile.
Then he quickly cleared his throat and straightened his posture.
’A man shouldn’t behave like a woman, giggling over a fluffy bed.’
Hw quickly stood up and chided himself. He should have bought a harder, firmer mattress for himself. Something masculine.
But the bed was just so... fluffy.
After the workers left, he walked back to the living room.
"You can go in and check the beds now," he told the girls. "If you want to rest or close your eyes for a bit, the room is ready."
All three nodded.
But none of them moved.
They remained exactly where they were.
Dexter shrugged. Patience was part of the process.
After settling the remaining logistics around the house, he turned to the girls.
"I’m heading to the city for the spar," he announced.
’Good luck,’Lyra’s voice echoed in his mind immediately.
"Good luck," Selene murmured softly.
Dexter smiled. "Thank you."
Mira, as usual, said nothing.
Dexter opened the front door, stepped out, and pulled it shut behind him.
"I’ll be back soon," he called through the closed door.
***
Inside the silent living room, Mira frowned at the closed door as Dexter’s footsteps faded down the street.
Lyra caught sight of Mira’s worried expression and smiled.
’If you’re worried about him, why didn’t you tell him not to go?’ Her voice echoed gently in Mira’s mind.
Mira’s head snapped toward Lyra, her crimson eyes narrowing.
But her face quickly hardened into her usual mask of cold indifference.
"He’s a man," Mira said flatly, "Of course he’ll do whatever he wants regardless of what anyone says."
’He’s also your husband,’ Lyra’s voice teased, the mental tone laced with a playful, almost mischievous edge. ’He would listen to you if you told him to stay.’