Harmonious…?

Sorin had accepted his faith.

Even though his iris shook uncontrollably in front of this cold and menacing man, he had chosen to be a Sovereign. He couldn't run away. Even if he chose not to be a Sovereign, he wouldn't be able to run away!

"Good morning, Papa, Mama," Sorin greeted.

"Who's your Papa and Mama?" Papa sharply retorted.

Although sweating buckets, Sorin pushed his luck, "You asked me to call you Papa three days ago."

"And who had flatly refused?" Papa raised his eyebrows. His crimson-red eyes crushed Sorin with the weight of a thousand suns.

"Then, should I call you Father-in-law?" Sorin put his life on the line.

A storm brewed in Papa's eyes, a silent fury quaking the very air around him. His clenched jaw and rigid posture spoke volumes, menacing anger lurking just beneath the surface, ready to unleash its unforgiving tempest—

"COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!"

Suddenly, Mama was coughing uncontrollably. With a coquettish and hard-to-reject tone, she said, "Papa, please fetch me some water...!"

"COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!"

The man silently stood up and left, while Mama kept coughing dramatically until his figure disappeared completely. Inside that oriental chamber, it seemed the space was eternally expanding. But when the man opened a certain door, they were connected to a normal-looking oriental house.

Mama stopped coughing.

She looked at Sorin and Elara, who sat side by side, and started smiling. She had a lively pair of refined eyes, not like Elara's calm and clear eyes. Even though they looked like twins, their temperament was very different.

Mama said smilingly, "Papa likes you so much. Didn't you see it previously?"

"I can't see it," Sorin answered sincerely. "I came here prepared to be castrated."

"Pfffft—COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!" Mama didn't pretend this time. She genuinely coughed because Sorin spoke something too amusing to hear. She kept coughing when Papa came back with water, his eyes now showing genuine worry.

"You kept coughing lately. What's wrong?" he asked, handing her the water and helping her drink.

Sorin glanced at Elara, seeing her eyes covered with a twinge of sadness. Right. He remembered how she hinted at how her Papa and Mama died and how it affected his death. Mama's death was...

"Don't mind me. Just start the conversation and stop getting irate at our Son-in-law. Be magnanimous for once, or you'll scare me with your anger," Mama said. It was a rare situation, but this time, Mama actually sided with someone other than Papa.

Papa, on the other hand, felt the back of his head was being hit when Mama said so. He turned at Sorin, his eyes emptied of any emotion, thus making him look a hundred times scarier.

Sorin grasped the fabric of his pants and seriously said, "Sir, I am here only to ask for your daughter. I am not advancing for your wife, even though she looks stunning."

Papa understood now.

This boy's way of testing the water was by insulting him left and right. But even after knowing that the water was boiling hot, he jumped into it naked and bared himself clean. Maybe his trait was not a big gut but rather a disrespectful thug.

So, Papa stepped on the same path. He adjusted his language to his style... magnanimously.

"When you need eight quintillion lifetimes to break through the loop and branches of time my daughter makes, you still speak proudly of yourself."

"Can't help when your daughter favors me so much that she readily speaks disrespectfully to you eight quintillion times just to set me free."

"Weak rascal."

"Old senior."

"Good," Papa put a little smile.

"Your daughter lost her virginity to me twice—what?" Sorin was ready to throw another painful jab at him when he was shocked at his sudden affirmation. He stuttered a bit.

Papa beckoned to him, demanding him to scoot closer to him. The man looked calm and benevolent that Sorin confusedly attended to him when suddenly.

KNOCK! CRASH!

Sorin's head hadn't registered what happened when it broke through the floor. Yes. His head was now stuck under the tatami floor, and he wondered how he ended up like this.

Did Papa just knock his skull with his knuckles and send his head breaking through the floor? And what was this floor?! Why was there space and constellation under the tatami floor?

He tried to pull his head back out, and thankfully he could. The hole on the floor immediately repaired itself, and the image of the universe was blocked completely. Sorin turned to Papa and squinted at his benevolent eyes. "Where did you actually build this domain...?"

Papa hummed as he shrugged, "Not that far from Earth."

Sorin shrunk. His gaze toward this senior started to tremble again, even though his face remained stoic.

"I assume you already know how good my daughter is to you. Don't disappoint her, and keep being the person she adores. And since your circumstance is unique and intricate, remember to always resolve misunderstandings," Papa said.

Sorin blinked in wariness. He couldn't accept Papa suddenly being agreeable like this. But while he flinched when Papa raised his hand toward his head again, he was surprised when he felt Papa stroking his head.

"My son, only you can find a way to save my daughter. If not, you know what you've prepared yourself before coming here will come true," Papa spoke so calmly and softly it didn't feel like a threat at all. It even felt like he was giving him wise and sentimental words.

With a benevolent and soothing smile, he said, "I will truly castrate you."

"Fuck, I'm so dead," Sorin blurted out.

Papa's tone became increasingly warm, "Yes, you are, my son."

"Can I at least have your permission to grow it back?"

"You can. How can you make grandchildren for me if you can't?"

As their weird conversation became somewhat harmonious, Elara and Mama couldn't help but sit by the side and smile. Mama turned to Elara and whispered, "What did I say? Your Papa likes him a lot."

Elara widened her smile and nodded. She asked, "And how about Mama?"

"Just because you like him," Mama teased. "I still like your Papa the most."

They chuckled at each other.