Relief : Frustration

Though she was supposed to oversee a class early that morning, Reida ended up sleeping in a lot later than usual. When she finally awoke, she felt more refreshed than she had in a very long time, not just because of the burdens she had unloaded the previous night but because Paul was still there when she opened her eyes.

Catching Reida staring at him, a smile developed across Paul's face as he said, "Good morning, bedhead. Enjoy your rest...?"

Coming to her senses, Reida pushed herself to a seated position, asking, "What do you intend to do from now on?" as she attempted to fix her hair. She ordinarily didn't bother with such things, but hearing Paul refer to her as 'bedhead' made her think her hair was a mess.

"Mmm...I'll probably meet with the King and see what he has to say. After that, there's someone I want to meet up with at the Royal Academy. Think you can arrange a meeting...?"

Snorting through her nose, Reida retorted, "I'm the Water God, not your Secretary." before eventually asking, "Who is it? Another woman?" a few seconds later.

Shaking his head, Paul explained, "It's Philip Boreas Greyrat. The Lord of the Milbots Region advised me to lend him a hand if I got the chance..."

"Hmmm..."

As she had spent the last seventeen months in the Capital, Reida had a basic understanding of the circumstances surrounding Philip and his older brother, James. The latter had been unable to produce an heir, so he was trying to make use of an ancient law that would allow him to claim Philip's first two sons as his own. It was a law that was generally only enforced if the Lord's children died during a campaign, but that didn't prevent James from making promises and lobbying to have the Royal Court take his side.

After collecting her thoughts, Reida remarked, "I'm surprised. Based on your past comments about Nobles and politics, I figured you would try to avoid getting entangled with the affairs of others."

Shrugging his shoulders, Paul retorted, "What can I do? Back then, I only had to worry about keeping myself alive and growing stronger. Now, I've got kids, people who rely on me, and all sorts of things to worry about..."

Hearing Paul mention their children ahead of his other concerns, Reida's expression softened ever so slightly. She had been, and still was, a pretty terrible mother. Since most of her kids were forced on her, she never truly saw them as her own. Her children with Paul were also an accident, but at least she had a choice.

"How were they? I couldn't stay long after their birth, and I haven't seen them since I left them in the care of your parents."

Though he was a little surprised to learn that Reida hadn't at least tried to check on the twins, Paul chose not to question her as he answered, "Aria is a Blessed Child. We're not sure which Blessing she has received, but it grants her tremendous strength. As for Aiden...he possesses a remarkable intellect. As ridiculous as this may sound, I can see him becoming a Saint-Ranked Mage within the next three to five years..."

Adopting a slightly skeptical look, Reida asked, "Are you serious? I don't know much about the Magical Community, but you won't find more than a twenty or so Saint-Ranked Magicians in the entire Kingdom. You're telling me our son has the potential to reach such a Rank, and as a child...?"

With all signs pointing toward Aiden being the same otaku who incarnated as Rudeus in the original series, Paul nodded his head, explaining, "I know how ridiculous it sounds, but he was able to learn Beginner-Ranked Water, Earth, and Fire Magic without a teacher. His reserves are also several tens of time that of an average person, and he hasn't even begun puberty..."

Though most of her children possessed inordinately strong physiques, allowing them to excel in swordsmanship, this was the first time Reida was hearing about one of her children excelling in Magic. She knew Paul wasn't the type to embellish things like this, so a toothy grin developed across her face as she said, "Well, I'll be damned. I knew you were a little monster, but I didn't think I'd pop out two more after sleeping with you. I guess we have good compatibility, huh...?"

Without waiting for Paul to respond, Reida moved to rise from the bed, a faint yet still discernible rosy hue coloring her cheeks that compelled her to face away as she added, "Anyways...so long as you're in the Citadel, it will be easy to arrange a meeting between you and Philip. Swordsmanship is compulsory for Nobles until graduation, and you're pretty famous as the youngest Sword and Water Saint in history. Getting you in as an assistant or guest lecturer should be pretty easy."

Since Paul had courteously washed her body before she fell asleep, Reida grabbed her clothes and began donning them. She could feel Paul's eyes roaming her body, primarily focused on her ass, but didn't mind it in the slightest. Rather, knowing he was looking, she took her time pulling up her snug, extremely form-fitting black pants before saying, "For now, we should head over to the Silver Palace and arrange a meeting between you and the King. I'm assuming you received a summons, but I should be able to secure you a private audience using my position as the Water God. Just don't do anything that would require me to kill you, okay...?"

Though her words may have sounded casual, Reida's expression revealed how serious she was. If the King ordered it, she would have no choice but to cut down Paul on the spot. As unlikely as such an event was to occur, it was still a possibility.

Seeing Reida concerned for him, Paul's expression softened into a tender smile as he said, "Relax. I said it before, right? I'm not actually an enemy of the Kingdom. If the First Prince wasn't such a massive cunt, the entire Asura Kingdom would have benefitted from the changes Ningguang and I intended to introduce. We want to make this world a better place, not flip it upside down or fuck it sideways."

Sensing no falsehoods in Paul's words, the majority of Reida's concerns were alleviated. She had followed Ningguang's advice to a tee, but nearly two years had passed since then. There was no way of knowing just how much things had changed since her last encounter with the white-haired vixen...

"Good. As for those lasses you brought along with you, it's better if they stay here for the time being. I don't need to tell you what kind of people the Nobles in the Silver Palace are. Even the King might be tempted if he caught a glimpse of that woman with purple hair..."

With Reida having completed her reverse strip-tease, Paul had already risen from the bed and started to get dressed. In response to her words, he just nodded his head and said, "Yeah, I wasn't planning to bring them along. If something did happen, Ei would probably slaughter everyone in the palace. At her current level, even you wouldn't be able to stop her..."

Since she had sensed the blade-like aura emanating from Ei's body, Reida didn't immediately challenge Paul's assertion. She knew Ei and the others weren't ordinary girls, but for the sake of keeping at least a few of Paul's secrets, she had never inquired about the specifics. She knew they had a connection to the Elemental Visions, but had no idea Ei was the source of her own Vision's power.

"I'll have to confirm that for myself later. For now, go and say whatever you need to say to those girls. When you're ready, I'll be waiting for you at the Hall of Memories, the place where I gave you a good beating."

Though he had healed mere minutes after Reida's beating, Paul made a show of rubbing his face as he teased, "You should go easier on me next time. You wouldn't want your man to have a face like a pig, would you...?"

Snorting through her nose, Reida was tempted to say it would better match his character, but, in all honesty, she found Paul to be one of the kindest and most considerate people she had ever met. He was a huge pervert, but he showed genuine consideration for his partners. After last night, that truth was now firmly ingrained into both her mind and body...

Leaving Paul at a momentary loss for words, Reida muttered, "Whatever..." before fastening her sword to her belt and adding, "Outward appearances aren't the only thing that matters. So long as you were still you..."

Though he could hear her say something, Paul couldn't make out the final few words of Reida's statement. Immediately after she was finished, she departed the room with determined steps. As a result, he wasn't able to see the surprisingly maidenly look on her face, a brilliant red hue coloring her cheeks as her final few words echoed in her mind...

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After meeting with the girls and having Ei promise she wouldn't go full nuclear if something happened to him during his visit to the Silver Palace, Paul made his way towards the Hall of Memories. However, before he even reached it, he heard the sound of a man shouting, followed by the deep and dignified voice of Reida saying something in response.

"The fuck...?"

Making his way toward the disturbance, Paul found Reida standing with a deadpan expression on her face as a fairly tall man with auburn hair and greenish-blue eyes towered over her, shouting, "At least pretend to have some dignity left! How can you-"

Seeing Paul enter the chamber out of the corner of his eyes, the man's eyes blazed with fury as he said, "You...!" in a venomous tone. Before he could speak further, however, Reida promptly punched him in the gut with enough force to send him crashing into the wall, a 'Guk!' sound emanating from his throat as he hunched over and held his stomach.

"I'm tired of your shit, Vuldar. You're nearly thirty years old, but get your ass kicked by your younger sister. Stop acting like you have any leeway to represent the interest of the Citadel. You're just a brat riding my coattails."

With an expression that looked like he had swallowed a giant turd, Vuldar glared back at both Reida and Paul. In response, she stepped on his pride even further by promptly pulling Paul's collar and planting a big, wet kiss on his lips. Paul was briefly surprised by this, but that didn't stop him from grabbing her ass as Vuldar stared daggers at him.

Though she held the kiss for several seconds, Reida eventually gave Paul a firm push, saying, "Don't get carried away..." in a severe tone. She didn't particularly mind him grabbing her ass, but she didn't want him doing it in front of her sons. They had some pretty extreme mommy issues, so there was a good chance Vuldar would try to kill Paul the first chance he got.

Turning back to her son, Reida narrowed her eyes as she declared, "I've said it a thousand times before, and I'll say it a thousand times more. The only way I'm stepping down from this position is if someone defeats me. I have no interest in you or your father. If he's that desperate for a mistress that matches his standing, he'd have more success greasing the palms of a pig farmer. Now, get the fuck out of my sight."

With tears building in the corners of his eyes, Vuldar grunted, "You...you'll regret this..." before pushing himself to his feet and hobbling off. Since he was going in the direction they were about to head, Reida pulled Paul off to the side for an impromptu makeout session. The sounds they produced caused Vuldar's eyes to turn red with fury, but Reida was more concerned with easing her frustrations than worrying about her man-child of a son...

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