Inside the bedroom, on the large bed, Lily rested her head on Carl's arm.
Carl hooked a finger, and a cigarette flew out from the coat pocket hanging on the rack, landing neatly between his fingers.
Lily lazily glanced up at Carl. With a flick of her finger, a small flame burst from her fingertip, lighting the cigarette held between Carl's lips.
Carl smiled faintly, inhaled, and slowly exhaled a stream of smoke, closing his eyes in satisfaction.
On Earth, people always complained about secondhand smoke, but clearly such rules didn't apply to Lily. Even at this close distance, the smoke didn't choke her in the slightest.
Staring at Carl's side profile, she suddenly asked,
"So this is that 'after-smoke' men love so much, huh?"
"Hm?"
Carl raised an eyebrow and opened his eyes in surprise.
"You even know about that?"
Lily rolled her eyes.
"Why do you always treat me like some clueless little girl? I've lived for over eight hundred years, you brat."
Brat...
Black lines filled Carl's forehead. The arm Lily was lying on twitched, and he suddenly grabbed a certain part of her body with force.
"Ah!" Lily yelped and quickly pressed down on Carl's mischievous hand, glaring at him in shame and frustration.
Carl completely ignored her stare, took another puff of his cigarette, and said domineeringly,
"From now on, don't call me brat. I hate that."
"Tch, petty man. But it's just the truth..."
"Hm?"
Noticing Carl's increasingly dangerous gaze, Lily snorted and quickly changed the subject.
"Hey, did you hear that sound downstairs?"
"What sound? Water?"
Lily froze for a moment. Realizing what he meant, her face turned crimson. Gritting her teeth, she snapped,
"...I meant the talking downstairs! The women chatting!"
"Oh, that. I heard a bit. What about it?"
"Heh. Someone's already scheming to make you 'have sisters together.' At this rate, this palace won't be big enough."
Carl didn't take it seriously.
"Kalifa just got here. Feeling insecure is normal. Plus, her background as a Cipher Pol agent made her grow up in an extreme environment. Seeing Monet and Sugar's sisterly bond naturally reminded her of her own sister."
Saying that, Carl offered the half-smoked cigarette to Lily's lips.
She hesitated briefly before parting her lips and taking a light puff.
It wasn't hesitation out of disgust—just that she had never smoked before.
Though it was her first time, she didn't choke or cough like most beginners. Instead, a thin stream of smoke slipped out between her red lips, adding a seductive charm to her expression.
Carl chuckled.
"How's it feel?"
Lily shook her head lightly.
"Nothing special. Don't really feel anything."
With her body, the so-called throat-hit of smoking didn't exist at all, so she wasn't pretending.
Carl smirked, plucked the cigarette back from her lips, took the final drag, and then let the butt dissolve into nothingness.
"Didn't expect you to start caring about these things. Don't tell me you're jealous?"
"Jealous? Me? Hm? Hm? Jealous?"
"If not, then not. Why so worked up?"
"Am I worked up?"
"Heh. Lily, you're really cute right now."
"Don't you dare use the word 'cute' to describe me."
Their playful bickering gave off the vibe of an old married couple.
After a while, Lily raised her hand and pressed it against Carl's mouth, huffing,
"Enough. I have something to tell you... it's about the moon!"
She quickly added the last part, remembering how last time Carl had used this exact line as an excuse to tease her.
Carl understood immediately and gave her a funny look.
"Alright, go on. What's on the moon that caught your attention?"
"...I'm asking if you checked the scientific instruments the moon people left behind when you were up there today?"
"No. Looked like just a bunch of oxygen-making devices. Don't tell me there was something special? Like an ancient weapon?"
Lily shook her head.
"No. Even the moon people back then couldn't mass-produce something like an ancient weapon. I'm talking about a machine for spatial teleportation."
"A teleportation device? Interesting. But for you and me, creating spatial teleportation isn't difficult."
"True, but not everyone has our abilities. The moon people built those devices to enable mass migration from the moon to here."
"Hm... So the so-called D clan were originally migrants from the moon? Meaning, you're basically aliens?"
"Aliens... that's not wrong. But I'm not a pure moon native. Even the original moon people didn't look that different from the natives here. Over time, as they intermarried, some features gradually faded—except for the ones who went to Skypiea."
"You mean wings?"
"Yes. The original moon people who came here are already extinct. What remains are only descendants carrying their bloodline. In fact, Vegapunk himself is also one of their descendants."
"Heh... the importance of bloodlines, huh..."
Lily shot Carl a glare.
"You're also a beneficiary of bloodline, aren't you?"
"Of course. I never denied it. Just making an observation."
Lily gave a faint smile and continued.
"Even now, the moon itself is devoid of moon people, isn't it?"
"Yeah. When I went there, there were only mechanical puppets left."
"Those are just abandoned toys. What I mean is this: not all moon people chose to come here back then. Some built starships and vanished into the endless cosmos. But they were the weakest—both in intelligence and combat power—so they don't matter.
What matters... are the ones who used the teleportation devices to reach other places."
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+110 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg