36 Max Needs A Beating

*Step*

*Splish*

*Splash*

With each step, streams of water ran down Elizabeth's beautiful body. Her beautiful long blonde hair, moistened by water, stuck to her delicate curves.

"Ahh~! That felt great!" Elizabeth moaned in delight. For the past seven days, she had been bedridden, unable to even take a bath. Once her baby had closed his eyes and his breathing steadied, she had dashed off into the bathroom. After an hour-long bath, she felt rejuvenated.

With her Rank, she had long grown out of the phase of needing to wash herself. But nothing beats a nice warm bath. Just because her body no longer produced waste did not mean she should not partake in a nice warm bath.

Even after her bathtime ended, she still felt warmth coursing through her body. Lying in a bathtub filled to the brim with warm water was one of the most enjoyable things in the world.

After wiping down her body and hair, she leisurely walked to the mirror. 

Twirling around a few times, she nodded with a satisfied look.

"Hehehe, I didn't know it was possible to be this beautiful." Elizabeth giggled happily after she saw the reflection of her body. She was not a narcissistic person, but which woman did not want to be the most beautiful?

Her skin had always been fair and beautiful but it now seemed to be glowing under the illumination from the bathroom lights.

Lightly pinching the skin on her forearm, she squealed in delight. The skin of her body had also become even softer.

The increase in her level from birthing her baby was shocking, but not as shocking as the increase in her beauty.

She felt she had gone from a kingdom destroying beauty to an empire toppling beauty in just a day.

While she was checking herself out in the mirror, her ears twitched, prompting her eyes to widen in panic. Soon, as if she teleported, she disappeared from the bathroom.

—-------------

A few minutes before Elizabeth disappeared from the bathroom.

Nyx opened his eyes. He seemed a bit distracted. 

*Meow*

The cute black kitten who had been curled up on Nyx's chest and lightly snoring woke up. After adorably wiping her eyes with her little paws, with a tilt of her head she curiously gazed at the baby 

Nyx lightly smiled at the kitten's actions, he felt his heart being lightly scratched by her adorable actions. But his focus quickly went back to the shocking information he heard and learned from Ulric and Luna. At the same time, he felt disappointed, his hard-earned Progenitor Bloodline was unusable. The overpowered benefits he would have received were all locked.

Noticing the rapidly changing emotions on the baby's face, something within the kitten told her to cheer up the baby. It was an instinctive feeling that she did not quite understand. Nevertheless, she decided to listen to that gut feeling of hers because she did not like the sad expression on the baby's face. It caused her little heart to ache.

Using all of the strength her little body possessed, she lightly stood up, her legs wobbled, but even then, she took wobbly steps toward the baby's face. Thankfully, the distance from his chest to his face was only mere inches.

After arriving above the baby's face, the black kitten hesitated not knowing what to do.

Nyx blinked, he was confused by the kitten's actions. He had long noticed the kitten was making her way toward his face. As for the reason why, he had no idea.

For a few seconds, Nyx's sapphire blue eyes and the black kitten's golden eyes were locked. Neither of them shifted their eyes away.

Nyx was still bewildered but obliged. He thought, 'Does she want to have a staring contest?' 

Suddenly, the black kitten shifted her eyes away, leaned her cute little head toward the baby's face, and swiped her tiny red tongue across his cheek.

*Giggle*

Nyx giggled, feeling ticklish from the black kitten's lick. He smiled as he thought, 'Was she trying to cheer me up?'

Nyx felt it was plausible. According to Ulric, Spirits and the 'master' were linked via a contract. The contract enabled the master and the Spirit to sense one another's emotions. 

Closing his eyes, Nyx sensed an unknown emotion. Instinctively, he understood the emotion did not belong to him. The concern he felt belonged to the black kitten.

Nyx smiled tenderly. Had he not been reborn as a baby, he really wanted to pet her. Her black fur looked so soft.

'Being a baby sucks.' Nyx sulked.

"My baby!"

While Nyx was sulking because of the limitations imposed on him by his tiny newly born body, he heard a familiar woman's voice. The voice was filled with so much tenderness and affection that he almost felt suffocated.

Lightly smiling, Nyx shifted his gaze away from the adorable kitten and looked upwards where he saw the beautiful face of his mother peering down at him from above the crib he was placed in.

Nyx's expressionless face was met with an affectionate smile from his mother.

Lightly poking her baby's chubby cheeks, Elizabeth squealed in delight, "My baby is so cute."

*Giggle*

Nyx giggled and gave a little smile since regrettably, he could not do much in his new form.

'Mother seems happy.' Nyx thought. His smile widened from the joy and affection that was evident on his mother's beautiful face.

After thinking for a bit, he shakily extended his hand and made a grabbing motion.

Elizabeth's eyes widened at the display, and without waiting a second longer with bated anticipation, she extended her finger toward her baby's open palm.

"Go on! My little baby, squeeze mommy's finger!" Even though Elizabeth knew her baby could not understand her, she exclaimed happily.

Nyx was momentarily speechless.

'Could it be that my mother is stupid?' He mused worriedly. Who did not know that babies could not understand Human speech… on second thought, Nyx remembered, neither he nor his mother were Human. 

'Back in the orphanage, the caretakers also talked to the babies.' Nyx mused after recalling the numerous occasions he had spotted the caretakers speaking to the babies.

While Nyx was lost in thought, Elizabeth was disappointed. Her finger was placed on her baby's open palm but even after a few seconds, he hadn't squeezed her finger yet.

'Why does my right arm hurt?' Nyx exclaimed, breaking out of his reverie, and immediately realized why his arm hurt so much. His arm was upright in the air. He wanted to take his arm back but after seeing the hopeful eyes of his mother, he quickly squeezed her finger and then dropped his arm back down.

'Haah.' Nyx sighed in relief after the ache in his arm disappeared.

'I need to be more careful next time. I'm no longer a twelve-year-old but a baby.' Nyx mused worriedly. He didn't think his arm would stop working but it was better to be safe than sorry. He did not want his new life to be filled with any regrets.

*Creeeeaaaak*

A loud creak erupted from the door breaking the silence of the room, followed by a boisterous voice filled with excitement.

"Little Licht, look what grandpa brought!" Max said as he quickly rushed over to the crib under his daughter's fierce glare. But like a seasoned veteran, Max completely ignored the fierce glare as if he never saw it.

Vlad, who walked into the room a step behind Max, sighed and shook his head. "Max, can you please lower your voice when little Nyx is around?" He inquired, even though he knew it was useless. Max was the type to agree only to conveniently forget a moment later.

Max briefly looked over his shoulder and replied, "Haha, sure, sure." 

Shaking his head lightly, Vlad decided to just let Max do what he wanted. It wasn't as if Max would listen to him. 

Although Vlad could not force Max to listen to him, there was still someone else who could. Vlad gazed at his daughter-in-law and thought with schadenfreude, 'It was nice knowing you.'

Unfortunately, he saw Elizabeth retracting her fierce glare and then started watching Max playing with little Nyx.

Furrowing her brows and with her hands on her hips, Elizabeth said, "Father, my baby's name is Nyx, not Licht."

Momentarily, Max stopped pinching Nyx's cheek, much to the baby's delight, but he quickly felt the pinching continue. 

At least Nyx could take solace in the fact that his grandpa was being gentle in his pinching.

Max briefly gazed at his daughter and replied sheepishly, "Haha, sorry pumpkin, you know I have short-term memory loss." He acted as if he had forgotten.

Elizabeth's smile froze and her forehead creased into a frown. Since when did her father have short-term memory loss? And if he did have short-term memory loss, why did she not know about it? Obviously, her father was spouting bullshit.

She opened her mouth to retort but after recalling her father's way of behaving, she wisely closed her mouth. Berating her father would be a waste of her time.

'Haah, that lass and her soft spot for her father.' Vlad sighed. He was hoping Max would receive a good beating. Ever since Max moved into the castle, he became a pain in Vlad's butt. For Vlad, who preferred silence, Max was just too loud and obnoxious. It was already bad enough that his son was loud and obnoxious but now he had to deal with another one.