The climate in the kitchen continues to heat up as Arthur and Aria try to deal with their feelings.
Aria has for fourteen years focused all her efforts on making her children happy, so she has neglected her desires and needs.
But now those feelings are flowing through her body without her control, entirely because of Arthur.
"I shouldn't feel this..." She struggles to control her body. "Not for my son ... this can't be right!"
Aria tries to take the focus of her desires off Arthur, but the mere idea of thinking about other men makes her sick.
"No!" She shakes her head. "Arthur must be the only man in my heart... he is the only man who deserves my love."
Aria is very confused because she wants to give all her love to Arthur, even the kind of love that shouldn't be given to a son.
"This is wrong!!" She tries to convince herself of that and think of some solution.
Since she doesn't want to change it inside her, she tries to imagine Arthur with another woman, and just like it happened to him, the first person that comes to mind is Nyx.
"Arthur, my son," She speaks in a shaken and restrained tone. "Since I already know about Nyx, you can talk to her to appear more... I mean, she doesn't need to hide when there are no other people around."
Arthur really likes that idea because he needs to focus his desires on someone other than his mother.
Before he speaks to Nyx, she materializes her body, sitting on the edge of the table right next to Arthur.
She continues to wear that beautiful short dress and tries to appear well-behaved, just swinging her legs while smiling at Aria, friendly.
"I can hear everything around Arthur from his Nexus, so when you need to talk to me, just speak out loud, and I will hear." She explains.
"I see," Aria tries to focus on other things than Arthur's hot body and her intense feelings for him.
And Nyx helps her a lot with that since everything about her is interesting.
"You are really fascinating, Nyx," Aria comments. "I wonder if my owl can also feel everything that happens around me."
She looks at her Nexus, the owl tattoo on her arm, but it doesn't have any reaction.
Then she looks at Nyx again. "There is so much about you that I would like to know… such information can help me a lot in my research on Astral Beasts."
"I will be happy to help," Nyx smiles amicably. She also starts talking more casually since Aria acts so friendly to her.
Arthur can't contain his proud smile as he sees Aria and Nyx's interaction, leaving both confused.
"Oh, my~" Aria cast her charming and curious gaze at him. "Why are you so happy?"
"I can't be helped," He says proudly. "After all, I am very happy to see you two getting along so well."
Nyx blushes and looks away while Aria just laughs.
"Ara Ara~" She looks at him lovingly, but it's impossible to hide some jealousy in her eyes. "I've already made the rules clear, right?"
"Engage first?" He asks, "But how long should this be?"
Nyx blushes more and more, hearing that conversation, but she tries to contain the urge to flee to his Nexus.
Aria puts her hand on her delicate chin and makes a thoughtful expression. Whenever she does such things, Arthur finds her even more charming.
"I would say a few years," She speaks, leaving Arthur depressed at first, but then she continues. "But you are almost fifteen, and by law, you will be an independent adult."
"So we have to wait until I turn fifteen?" Arthur gets a little upset; even though that's better than a few years, it's still a whole year ahead.
He doesn't know how he managed to endure three whole years just sleeping by hugging Nyx without doing anything bolder, and that was only possible because he wanted to build trust bonds with her.
But now that they started to touch and kiss, he knows he won't endure a whole year without wanting to do much more with her.
"Oh, my~" Aria sighs. "You can hardly wait to start your adult life, right?"
Arthur nods several times with an expectant expression, and Nyx is so shy that she wants to dig a hole in the ground to hide.
"One year of engagement, it's decided!" Aria makes the final decision. "And you'd better not disappoint Mommy."
"For real???" Arthur can't help but think that his mother is being contradictory; after all, she had already given him the box with condoms.
Aria now regrets that; she thought that Arthur could be becoming interested in girls very quickly and might end up doing something hidden from her, so it was better to be safe than to become a grandmother much sooner than expected.
But now she doesn't know what would happen if he and Nyx do that, which makes her concerned. Also, the idea of her son giving all his love to another woman seems very painful.
"Can't you do this for your Mommy, my son?" Aria feels a little guilty for asking that, but she still does.
Maybe after watching their relationship for a while, she might be less afraid of something going wrong.
Arthur knows he can't deny anything to his mother, so he nods. "Okay, I'll try to restrain myself... but this is just about the final step and not minor things, right?"
Upon hearing his words, Nyx becomes even more shy and hides her blushing face, but she doesn't realize her tail starts swinging with excitement.
The eyes of Arthur and Aria are drawn to that cute dancing tail, and while he just smiles proudly, she can't help but get more jealous.
"What things are we talking about?" Aria asks, curious.
"Well..." Arthur gets a little embarrassed to talk about such things to his mother. "You know, kissing, touching..."
"Touching where?" Aria immediately asks, her eyes sparkling with different and conflicting emotions.
Arthur feels like digging his own grave. "Do we really have to talk about this now?"
Aria really doesn't want to talk and think about such things right now; she thought that Arthur's revelation about his past life didn't change anything between them, but in fact, it intensified her love for her son.
"All right, we can talk about it later." She speaks. "You know, Mommy just asks you to be responsible with Nyx; you have the whole life ahead of you; there is no need to rush."
Nyx's tail swings more and more cheerfully while Arthur can't stop his cheeks from blushing a little.
He can't stop thinking about such things recently and blames his hormones for it.
But how could he be different with a heart-shaped Nexus?
And it's exactly such thing that makes Aria more concerned about his situation. As a scholar of the Astral Beasts, she understands how people's Nexus reflects their personality.
And what kind of personality comes from a pink heart? Not to mention that recently, that heart began to gain small bat-like wings, gaining an even more "diabolical" appearance.
Arthur has no idea of Aria's thoughts, so he doesn't think about such things.
"Thanks, Mom!" He smiles at her and goes back to eating the delicious omelet.
Aria smiles lovingly as she watches him eating her food, but then she throws a thoughtful look at Nyx.
"What about you, Nyx? I understand that you don't need food, but can you eat it?"
"Not normal food," Nyx responds without thinking, but then she regrets it when she sees Aria's eyes shining with curiosity. "I mean, my body is made of energy, so I guess no food at all."
"I see," Aria can see that Nyx is hiding something, but she has no idea what it is. "It's fascinating that your body looks so real even though it's made of energy..."
"H-her body is real," Arthur comments, his mouth full of omelet. "Well, it is real to me, feels real, and..."
He stops talking when he realizes he is again talking more than he should and leaving his mother with that mysterious expression.
"Ahem," He goes back to eating quickly.
Aria continues looking at Nyx's body curiously. "You don't eat food, but you feed on the energy you share with Arthur... maybe you can change your body just like you materialize clothes?"
"Not at all," Nyx quickly responds. "I've tried it, but I can't change my body; I can only materialize it out of Arthur's Nexus or return to it,"
"And whenever I leave, my body forms instinctively, out of my control." She explains.
"Fascinating," Aria becomes increasingly curious about Nyx and her bond with Arthur.
"So you mature like any other person?" She asks.
Nyx nods, although she's not very sure about it. "I guess so; I mean, the first time I materialized my body was when Arthur was already eleven years old, but since then, my body has grown in the same proportion as other girls my age."
"Really?" Aria analyzes Nyx's body. "Just like Arthur, you don't look like you're fourteen but rather over sixteen."
"I think we're similar in that, too," She nods with a happy and proud expression.
"Yep," Arthur also nods while looking at Nyx. "She has developed very well in the last three years, you know, growing in the right places..."
"Damn, I did it again!" He realizes his mistake, but it's too late. "Why can't I keep quiet?!?"
While Nyx becomes shyer and her tail swings, the flames of jealousy rise in Aria's eyes.
"Ahem!" Arthur quickly finishes eating the omelet and stands up. "It was great; now I just need a nap since I didn't sleep at all last night."
"Alright," Aria smiles lovingly at him. "Just rest and don't worry about anything; Mommy will take care of everything."
Arthur nods and heads toward the stairs in the living room with Nyx, but then he turns and talks to his mother again.
"Oh, Eve is still sleeping in my bed," He casts a quick glance at Nyx. "She also needs a rest, and she can't sleep inside my Nexus."
"I see," Aria doesn't handle well the fact that Arthur has been sleeping with sexy demoness every night for three years, no matter how much she tries.
But above all, even her own feelings, she wants her children to be happy, so she contains her jealousy.
"You can use Mommy's bed," Aria speaks with her usual loving smile.
"Is it really okay?" Arthur can't help but find it strange to sleep with Nyx in his mother's bed, but he also can't sleep with her along with Eve.
"Yeah," Aria smiles, but then a scary gleam appears in her eyes for a fraction of a second. "But don't do anything naughty in my bed!"
"Fine, fine!" Arthur quickly exclaims. "We'll behave."
Aria nods, and Arthur quickly goes up the stairs with Nyx; the whole situation has left him very tense, but at the same time, he feels very good about how his relationship with his mother is going on.
Small edit on chapter 16; if you want to read, it's the last ten paragraphs. The changes are in the power system, which I had introduced in a simple way, but now I am preparing something much bigger and more complete so that it can be satisfactory. I'll start introducing it in upcoming chapters, so you can understand it all with time.