Chapter 32: A Brief Morning Banter

"What a weird dream…." 

Ryoma opened his eyes, blinking sheepishly as he stared towards the slightly cloudy artificial blue sky.

The temperature from his self created star was just right and the slow chilly breeze elevated the comfort to another level.

But still, they couldn't shake his mind from the dream he had just experienced.

A quite perverse dream involving his beloved Ice Empres sleeping contentedly in his arms… 

But it wasn't just her, in the dreams existed countless variants of his Ice Empress, each with their own irresistible otherworldly charm that could shatter his self restraints easily.

Although the involvement of countless versions of his dearest wife was not the strangest that happened in that dream, it was his complete inability to resist and take control of the "battle royale"!

It was truly odd, how come he was so submissive to let all kinds of Esdeaths ganged up on him like that!

He didn't even lose the last brawl with his own Esdeath except for the promised eight hours!

"Hnngh… Does the dream have me in it dear?"

Speaking of the she-devil, it seemed like his earlier muttering of nonsense had woken her up, so he reflexively gave her a good morning kiss on her forehead. "Good morning Ice Cream~ how was your sleep?"

"Couldn't be better~ Though my waist and legs are still sore…" the sleeping beauty returned his good morning kiss with a gentle peck on his lips. Still, she looked at him with scornful eyes like a wronged woman.

"Heh~ You reap what you sow."

Welp, was it his fault? He said that his revenge would be beyond vicious but who would've thought that this ferocious succubus would pass out in the middle?

Although as a responsible man, he immediately regained his self control then cleaned his victim's body up before dressing her in fluffy white pajamas.

Not gonna lie, even he wouldn't have thought that the sleeping bloodthirsty Ice General could look so innocent and adorable in those…

"Tch! If it lasted a few more minutes then I'd have won already!"

"Nuh uh~ My debts and payments have no interest."

"Sigh, fine…" rolling her eyes and accepting her defeat with resignation as she bit his shoulder, Esdeath brought back the earlier topic. "Now tell me, did that weird dream have me in it?"

"Ouch… Uhh, yes?"

"Hmm? Was it a perverted dream~?"

"Kind of…"

"Heee~"

Interesting~

She wondered what kind of perverted dream could make her beloved World Devourer blush adorably like this.

A dream where he is entirely under her mercy?

"Mind sharing the details with me? It sounds intriguing~" so as to not let her curiosity kill her, she directly asked the man lying beneath her, her gaze mischievous like a fox.

If her conjecture was correct, then the eight hours of absolute dominance that felt like a flash is not in vain as it might have planted the seeds of subservience in her dearest husband.

"It's… kind of hard to explain…"

"Is that so? Or are you too embarrassed about it?~" she questioned again, her mischief slowly growing into morbid excitement as it seemed like her prediction was indeed correct and It wouldn't be long before her dearest Emperor became completely hers and hers alone. 

Oh how good life could be until then~

"Just see it for yourself…"

"Alright!" 

So, as her forehead got flicked by her husband's fingers, Esdeath finally got the memory of 'that' dream…

"....."

And gone was her excitement alongside the light on her eyes, the comfortable ambient temperature her husband managed too had suddenly dropped to almost a hundred degrees below the freezing point which made the trees, grass, and flowers inside the living dimension wither.

Her sudden shift of moods was justifiable though. Because his perverse dream, while still somehow in line with her prediction, it has a goddamned atrocious difference.

Another version of her? Not a clone she deliberately created but a separate entity resembling herself? And they dared to lay their filthy hands on her dearest husband?!

Unforgivable!

"My dear Ryoma~" Esdeath called her man, caressing the side of his face softly with her hellish cold palm as she ordered with a smile that worsened the ominous atmosphere. "It was a nightmare, just forget it and don't you ever dare to have any idea about it, understand~?"

Nevertheless, would Ryoma's adorable murder maniac threat bear any results?

"Oh?"

It did, but the opposite of what the agitated Ice Empress wanted…

"But what if I don't~?"

Because let alone obeying her whims in terror, he even taunted her further!

Hell, she could even feel his excitement reigniting. As if her coercion was akin to a seduction!

"Well, you will soon find out~" although Esdeath couldn't help but be dragged into her dearest's flow…

He had satisfied her wholeheartedly earlier but wasn't it wrong for her to crave for more? No it wasn't, It is her right as his wife after all!

Yet unfortunately….

[My Beloved Master, we only have three days left before our descent into the next world and I still have projects that need your direct approval for their execution. So in that regards, I suggest stopping your indulgence in carnal desires for a while]

An accursed third wheel interrupted her perfect moment!

Trying to remind her beloved husband of his duty? Ha, Like hell she believed that! That thing must've been jealous after being ignored for so long that It could no longer wait to ruin her day!

"Three days left… Wait, then I have been at it for twenty seven– No, twenty six days straight?" 

Too bad that Ryoma instantly snapped from the lustful trance before he sat up straight amidst his Ice Empress's increasing annoyance, though he pulled her deeper in his embrace and softly ruffled her hair to soothe her mood which somehow worked wonders.

His system maid was right, he couldn't indulge in degeneracy too excessively like this and ignoring his duties…

[Indeed, and in those wretched twenty six days I have to endure the suffering and loneliness brought by the lewd sounds my beloved master made while he ravaged my accursed enemy like a beast]

[Good thing that he had already prepared a fuckton of projects for me to distract myself with. Ohh how amazing of a husband he is!]

[Don't you think so, My Beloved Master~?]

"Hahaha…. I'm sorry…"

He really couldn't say anything to Theresa's complaints but apologised…

He ignored his second wife completely for more than three weeks straight with some work while he was having "fun" with Esdeath, truly a remarkable blunder for a man of his caliber!

[I don't think a mere apology is enough to repair my severely damaged heart, vision, and audio modules Master…]

"Uhh…"

Think fast Ryoma! Obviously a verbal apology wouldn't be enough to soothe her heart no matter how heartfelt it is!

Oh right, he still has that promise with her!

"How about this, I will set the search and destroy of system hosts in the next world as our main priority in order to get as many research materials possible for your body creation project?"

[And then? I don't think that will have an immediate results]

"It obviously won't…" Ryoma replied, smiling towards the sky as he continued, ignoring the intensifying frostbite pain caused by the seething Iceberg in his arms. "But at least it will shorten the creation progress by a lot, I too shared your impatience in consummating our marriage you know~"

Indeed, there is no way he will let Theresa stay in her current form forever! He wants to hold her, see her smile, and do so much more!

[Ah My Beloved Master is truly unfair~ Using my own desire as a token of apology!]

[Very Well, then here is the quest to ensure you uphold your promise!]

[Ding! A NEW MAIN QUEST HAS BEEN ISSUED!]

[The Maid is Inevitable!]

[Objective: Slay 10 System Hosts and Capture Their Systems]

[Rewards: Transcendent System Integration Module x1]

Uhhh did that mean his attempt to appease Theresa worked? 

It obviously did, but seeing the reward which could allow him to skip the research for a seamless system integration method, why did it feel like he just stepped on a trap his maid had laid down beforehand?

And one more thing….

[Fall of A Transcendent]

[Objective: Annihilation of High Ranked Transcendental Entity, Anti Spiral]

[Rewards: Prime Origin Essence x2, Essence of Transcendence x1] 

Wasn't there an on-going main quest already that he had issued before being confined for twenty six days straight? So how could there be another one? 

Furthermore, how could she create another main quest forcefully like that when the function was disabled by her Creator for a year!?

"Oh well, it seems like the world we are going to invade would be grateful for our honest work~" Yet he didn't show his internal puzzlement outside as he accepted the quest with glee.

Judging from the quest reward that is only 100% useful for his maid, maybe this is how she asks him for a favor? 

Plus the quest reward seemed like it is self created using whatever Theresa can get from both the captured to be systems and their hosts so this might be the reason why she could bypass her creator's rules unlike the other quests which grant him imbalanced rewards.

All in all, there really was no reason for him to suddenly become extra suspicious of Theresa, she had done things more outrageous than this one before and they didn't bring him any harm. 

And this quest is one of the rare few times she asked him for something so he could use this to repay his debt no matter how insignificant it might be compared to everything she had done for him.

Although…

["But it's quite surprising, it turns out my system maid is a bigger pervert than I am to the point of forcing her own Master in making her a body so that she can do this and that to him~"]

["Who knows what'll happen next? She'll force him to do lewd stuffs too~? Ohh how scary~"]

He couldn't help but tease her like usual using the system's internal channel to avoid enraging the frozen hell queen in his arms, a payback for the forced task!

[Ara~ you should be careful with your words Master, it might turn into reality when you least expect it~]

A payback that was unfortunately backfiring to him…

Did the usually embarrassed maid finally get the guts to fight back? 

How amazing~

["Ohh, is that a threat My dear Maid? So are you going to force me to do it now~? Though since you still don't have a body, maybe you'll make me do all the lecherous stuff to my Ice Queen instead while you imagine her as yourself~?"]

But she was ten years too early to tease him back!

[Wh– what the…. Master, that's not what I–]

["It's alright, I won't judge you! But it's truly unexpected that my maid has such a peculiar preference~"]

See? She was still flustered when countered, her face was truly not thick enough to match him!

"Heh~ I bet this piece of digital junk had been enjoying herself too while watching us earlier~ Truly, I've never expected her to be a voyeur on top of a homewrecker!"

And as he had expected, it turned out his Ice Queen was sneakily eavesdropping on this hidden banter, she even managed to deliver a low blow to her love rival which improved her mood by a lot!

In conclusion, he successfully countered the cheeky maid's counter attack while extinguishing the chilling rage of his wife at the same time, two birds with one stone!

[Tch! It seems like I have been put at an unfair disadvantage here…]

[Very well, here are the earlier mentioned project proposals that need your approval, Master.]

[And if you wouldn't mind, please don't contact me before we reach the next world. Theresa… going offline…]

Thus after showing the proposals in the form of neatly arranged floating digital screens, the System Maid strategically retreated.

[But remember this, My Beloved Master, revenge too can come when you least expect it~]

Though not forgetting to give her dearest Master ominously exciting parting words….

"What's the matter dear?…" Esdeath gazed upwards, staring directly into her husband's pair of emerald gems as she asked with concern and suspicion.

Right after the accursed maid's left, her husband's expression suddenly became odd, it was as if he was trying to forcefully keep his face straight. 

The fluctuation in his mood too was even more suspicious, a twisted combination of fear and excitement.

That kind of "excitement"...

It seemed like her nemesis had said or done something to her husband with a more sophisticated method that could bypass the soul marriage bond.

As for exactly what it was, that was for her to find out from her Emperor.

"Nothing… I'm currently reviewing Theresa's proposals" 

"Is that so?"

Ohh? It seemed like her Emperor was still trying to act innocent, feigning ignorance by focusing his eyes back to the light screens even after knowing that lying to her was a fool's errand.

"Indeed, that is so…"

"I see…"

So should she force it out of him? It would be as easy as flipping a palm because she already knew more of his weaknesses from the eight hour feast.

"Oh well, then would you mind showing me that accursed maid's plans for the next world dear? I'm quite curious of her creative ideas"

But for today, she decided to let her husband be with his pitifully hidden little secrets.

As there would be many more opportunities in the future to unveil it alongside his clothes~

"Sure…."

Still maintaining a natural (forced) poker face, Ryoma shared half of the proposals he hadn't reviewed before creating a large purple bean bag chair using Anti-Spiral energy for him and Esdeath to relax.

Indeed to relax, especially after knowing that both of his wives were planning a vicious revenge and an indecent interrogation session respectively.

Sigh, who said that evil women are the best?

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