"Lord Lucian, when are we leaving for Okhema?"
Right after the letter for Cerydra was sent out, Aglaea turned toward Lucian and politely asked the question that had been lingering on her mind.
"As soon as possible," Lucian replied calmly. "Pack your stuff, take a shower, then we'll head out... actually, forget the shower. We can just wash up at Okhema's baths instead—the water there feels amazing."
Hearing that, Aglaea immediately showed a troubled expression, her brows knitting together slightly.
"But it'll take several days to get from here to Okhema, so if we don't bathe during the journey, then... I'm sorry, but won't we start to smell...?"
"A spoiled lady is still a spoiled lady, huh? Never had it rough before?" Cipher immediately cut in, throwing Aglaea a look full of disdain. "When I was a kid, I went three whole months without bathing, and look, I'm still alive."
"…"
Aglaea was completely speechless.
Three whole months without bathing?
What exactly was this kitty so proud of?
Seeing Aglaea suddenly fall silent, Cipher smugly rolled her eyes, then deliberately leaned close to her ear and whispered in a teasing voice.
"Lemme tell ya, Lucian's seriously good at bathing people. He bathes me every single time, and when he scrubs my body, it feels sooo nice~"
Hearing Cipher's sudden revelation, especially with how smugly she said it, Aglaea's face instantly flushed bright red as she hurriedly stepped back in embarrassment.
"Who wants to hear that?! I'm not listening!"
Aglaea knew that Lucian and Cipher were very, very close with each other, but she had never expected that the two of them even bathed together.
'Always showing off... why don't you two just get married on the spot already?!'
As this thought crossed Aglaea's mind, the corners of her lips twitching slightly, Lucian suddenly coughed lightly.
"Ahem, alright, you two, pack up first. We're leaving immediately."
Standing about five meters away, Lucian had clearly overheard Cipher's words and could not help but cough in slight embarrassment as he chimed in.
"Oh, right. Bring your swimsuits too. We'll soak in the Hero's Bath first, then head over to the Vortex of Genesis afterward on the way."
He knew Cipher really loved teasing people.
Teasing Aglaea alone was one thing, but casually saying such private matters out loud in front of an outsider without the slightest sense of shame?
Even he felt a little embarrassed after hearing it.
"How are we getting there?" Aglaea asked softly, her beautiful face still slightly flushed from embarrassment. "Are we riding dromas? And how many people are coming with us?"
"No, we'll just teleport there directly. Just the three of us," Lucian replied, lightly shaking his head. "By the way, Zagreus is gonna stay behind and guard this place."
Zagreus, who had been standing nearby while carefully observing the silver Coreflame of Trickery in their hands, immediately straightened their posture and gave a solemn salute.
"Got it! I'll definitely make sure our family legacy is properly protected!"
===
Okhema, Hero's Bath.
In the vast and luxurious-looking bath with several large pools, warm spring water flowed continuously from beast-head spouts carved from white jade, while thick mist drifted through the air, blurring the surroundings and making it difficult for one to see clearly.
Cerydra, wearing nothing, leaned silently against the smooth inner wall of one of the pools, her soaked blue hair clinging tightly to her smooth back and shoulders. Crystal-clear droplets slid slowly down her slender neck, rolled across her delicate collarbones, and gradually disappeared beneath the softly shimmering water.
At this moment, her gaze was firmly locked onto the letter in her hand, which was none other than the report personally written by Aglaea. Even though the contents were not particularly long, every piece of information recorded within it was shockingly explosive.
"Stealing the Coreflame of Trickery face-to-face with the Trickery Titan? Impressive."
"Making the Trickery Titan call him 'Dad'? Hmph, distasteful."
"Duplicating a Coreflame?"
"He's coming to Okhema?"
At first, Cerydra's expression remained calm and somewhat disinterested, as though she were merely reading an ordinary report, but the further she continued reading, the more alarmed she gradually became, especially after learning that Lucian could actually steal a Titan's Coreflame so effortlessly.
Even more ridiculous was the fact that he had even replicated the Coreflame of Trickery for Zagreus to use, directly bringing the Trickery Titan under his command with methods that completely defied common sense.
"What did this even mean?"
Cerydra frowned deeply, the hand holding the letter unconsciously tightening slightly as faint ripples spread across the surface of the water around her.
For years, she had led the Chrysos Heirs in a brutal life-and-death struggle against the Titans, paying enormous prices time and time again just to suppress those terrifying existences.
Yet when compared to Lucian, who had casually 'dealt with' a Titan alone through methods that were completely beyond comprehension, everything they had done suddenly felt almost laughable.
Cerydra's breathing gradually became slightly rapid, and beneath the water, her chest continuously rose and fell as complicated emotions slowly surfaced within her eyes.
"If I can bring him into my army, then every time we only need to take him to find a Titan and retrieve their Coreflame, the efficiency and cost… Tch..."
Just imagining it alone, she could already see that the vast amount of resources saved could then be redirected toward stepping beyond the sky itself.
In other words, waging war across the sea of stars would no longer be some distant fantasy, but something truly within reach!
Once this thought emerged within her mind, it spread like an uncontrollable wildfire as it instantly ignited all of Cerydra's long-buried ambition.
Saving the world?
It had never truly been the main goal of her, the Imperator.
From the very beginning, her ultimate goal had always been to contend against those Titans who proclaimed themselves the rulers of the world, to seize their overwhelming power for herself, and ultimately to step out of Amphoreus, to venture beyond the sky, and challenge the vast unknown that existed beyond the stars!
Such a feat was a grand undertaking unlike anything ever attempted before, for it was a game vast enough to make the name Cerydra resound throughout eternity itself!
And Lucian, this unfathomable man with equally unfathomable abilities, was the most critical piece on her chessboard.
Perhaps he himself was also a player standing at the same table as her, but regardless of what he truly was, she had to obtain him no matter what, and then bind him firmly to Okhema's war chariot.
In Cerydra's eyes, a blazing light unlike anything before ignited violently—it was the light of conquest, ambition, greed, and absolute determination.
"When he arrives…" Cerydra murmured softly to herself while tightly clutching the letter in her hand. "I'll keep him here, no matter the cost."
To achieve that goal, she was willing to pay absolutely any price.
Any price at all!
And so, with that unwavering resolve burning within her heart, Cerydra rose from the warm spring water, allowing droplets of water to slowly cascade down her body.
*Splash!*
Large streams of water slid down her small yet perfectly curved body, while the rising steam outlined a breathtaking silhouette as crystal-clear droplets slowly rolled along her long, straight legs.
Her delicate chest rose and fell softly with each steady breath, causing faint ripples to spread across the water around her.
Below her flat and finely toned abdomen lay a hidden place that naturally stirred the imagination, adding an even more dangerous charm to her already flawless figure.
Her delicate body resembled a masterpiece sculpted by the gods themselves, every single curve and line carrying a kind of aesthetic perfection, and amidst the hazy, mist-filled steam, it radiated a suffocating allure capable of stealing away one's senses.
Needless to say, this was the body of a conqueror!
"But... why does Dux Goldweaver keep emphasizing my attitude?"
"Is she worried that I'll end up clashing with him?"
"Judging by the time, it'll still take a few more days to reach Okhema from Dolos, so there's still enough time to prepare."
As those words fell from her mouth, Cerydra slowly straightened her body in the bath, ripples spreading quietly across the water around her.
Yet before she even had the chance to reach for her bath robe and get dressed—
*Whoosh!*
Three figures appeared abruptly, as if they had been forcibly cast out from a canvas, suddenly arriving at the edge of the mist-filled bath less than two steps away from Cerydra!
"I'm telling you, I'm very familiar with the Hero's Bath. I come here often—hmm?"
Among the three, the one who spoke was the figure at the front, a man with black hair and golden eyes.
He was none other than Lucian.
Beside him stood Cipher and Aglaea, with Cipher clinging tightly to his arm while Aglaea grasped his sleeve, her beautiful face completely filled with shock and disbelief.
In an instant, the warm mist drifting through the Hero's Bath was swallowed by an almost suffocating silence.
Regardless, for Cerydra, who had just witnessed them appear out of nowhere, their arrival was far too sudden and far too bizarre.
As a result, she froze in place as if immobilized by a spell—her body, which had just straightened within the water, still maintained that aesthetically perfect posture while clear water droplets continued sliding slowly along her smooth skin before disappearing back into the bath.
Now, her gaze shifted instantly from sharp and wild, filled with the desire for conquest, to stunned and completely blank!
'Dux Goldweaver?'
'Who are they?'
'Why are they here?'
'No... where are my clothes?'
'Where did my clothes go?'
At this moment, Cerydra felt as though her thoughts had completely short-circuited.
At the same time, Lucian gazed at her in surprise, clearly not expecting his lucky pervert trait to activate at a moment like this. He had only intended to take a bath, yet he had unexpectedly been greeted with a view absolutely not fit for children's eyes.
Unconsciously, his gaze swept across her unclothed body within the drifting mist before him, carefully taking in the full view of her figure from head to toe.
In the end, he concluded that aside from being somewhat short, everything else about her was actually nearly perfect.
Her chest was small, but refined and soft.
Her legs were short, but well-proportioned, slender yet shapely.
As for her appearance, she was unquestionably beautiful.
"Huh? Why's there a shorty here not wearing any clothes?! Hey, kid, aren't you embarrassed?!"
At the sight of Cerydra standing there completely naked without the slightest attempt to cover herself, Cipher instantly bristled and questioned her loudly before immediately turning toward Lucian in panic.
"Lucian! Don't look!"
Cipher screamed as she jumped up without hesitation and used both hands to tightly cover Lucian's eyes, afraid that he might accidentally see something he shouldn't.
Lucian, in response, remained completely motionless, merely letting out a helpless sigh.
Aglaea, who had only just finally noticed Cerydra's presence, was stunned on the spot, clearly not expecting to run into her bathing at this particular time.
Now that things had already developed to this stage, the key issue was that Lucian was a man, so how exactly was this absurd situation supposed to be handled?
Back then, she had heard the saying that kings did not meet kings, yet now not only had they met, but they had even met under circumstances in which one of them was completely naked.
'It's over...'
Aglaea sighed inwardly, already feeling a headache coming on.
Looking at Cerydra, who had frozen stiff like a statue while her face gradually turned redder and redder, Aglaea suddenly felt as though the surrounding air had become unbearably suffocating.
With Cerydra's temperament, she would definitely explode on the spot, shout 'Dux Gladiorum!', then immediately escalate everything into a full confrontation, and finally cause a war to break out, ultimately leading to Okhema's complete destruction.
As soon as that terrifying possibility surfaced in her mind, Aglaea's vision darkened slightly, and she immediately stepped forward without the slightest hesitation.
"Imperator, please don't act yet!"
Aglaea moved with astonishing swiftness, rushing forward in a blur to scoop up Cerydra, who was already on the verge of exploding, before swiftly fleeing the scene and forcibly putting as much distance as possible between her and Lucian.
At a critical moment like this, the elegant seamstress displayed surprisingly terrifying physical strength!
===
[A bonus chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
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