The reason she couldn't easily say 'Husband' was mainly due to some lingering little knots in her heart.
Celia's feminine psyche wasn't fully formed yet.
Apart from subconscious slips, actively calling a man 'Husband' was naturally a bit embarrassing for her.
This wasn't a casual mention between friends joking around; it had to be said with genuine feeling—after all, Liam was her bona fide husband.
"How we get home isn't for you to worry about. Just nestle properly in my arms."
"Would you think I'd lose my beloved wife?"
"No... H-Husband is the best to me..."
Celia still hesitated for a moment every time she said the word 'Husband.'
It really was too embarrassing...
"Good. That 'Husband' sounded quite sweet."
"Keep it up."
...
...
The moonlight was bright, making the lake's surface sparkle.
After an hour, they successfully returned to the Emerald Forest and saw the unfamiliar yet familiar barrier.
"We're really home! So amazing~"
"Husband, how did you know the way back?"
"Hmph," Liam couldn't suppress the upturn of his lips.
His voice was low and husky, carrying a note of boastfulness: "As your husband, a respectable Tier 5 expert, if I couldn't manage such a small thing, what face would I have left?"
Celia was amused by his clearly smug yet pretending-to-be-serious demeanor...
No, captivated!
So domineering!
Her fair cheeks flushed with a wifely shyness, and she snuggled deeper into his embrace.
"A Tier 5 expert... so powerful..."
"Hahaha."
Celia, at Tier 1, had married Liam, a Tier 5.
She'd risen too fast, so whenever Liam displayed his overwhelming power,Celia couldn't help but feel shocked, mixed with a sense of happiness.
—My husband is actually a Tier 5 expert~
Liam boasted proudly.
Celia felt equally proud inwardly.
This feeling of falling often came unconsciously.
To an outsider's perspective, his wife's eyes had grown misty, stars seeming to sparkle in her pupils, as if she was getting worked up over him again.
Perhaps at a time like this, Liam should lay the girl across his lap and pat her bottom like he would a cat in heat, to help her relieve it a bit.
But she was an elf, not a kitten.
Such an action would only worsen the 'condition.'
As the flying carpet swiftly passed through the green barrier, Celia didn't hide this time.
Instead, she watched wide-eyed, squirming in the man's arms, full of curiosity.
Whoosh—
A gust of wind rushed past.
As expected, they passed through smoothly.
The night was truly beautiful.
The full moon hung in the sky, exceptionally clear from their high altitude.
The carpet moved at a steady pace, creating waves of cool wind.
The thought of being almost home made Celia's heart restless.
It gradually calmed in the cool breeze.
Her back rested steadily against the man's solid chest, the scent of elf flora and greenery filling her nostrils.
The natural mana, far denser than the outside world, was also gradually integrating into Celia's elven body.
"Husband, when will our babies hatch?"
Celia tilted her head back, suddenly curious.
She rarely asked proactively, but right now she wanted to.
"Three months."
Liam extended his long arm, reaching around his petite wife, his large, well-knuckled hand gently stroking her soft lower abdomen.
"It'll be about three months. I'm truly pleased you have this awareness as a mother."
"These two children of mine will need to rely on you, Celia, to care for them."
Feeling the weight on her abdomen, she instinctively placed her small hand over his, her lips parting slightly.
"Of course I have the awareness. Because... I am their mother, after all..."
Celia gently tried to grasp one of the man's thumbs.
—Hard, very bony, thick yet long.
Actually, Celia was very familiar with the feel of this hand, familiar with every inch of it, familiar with its size.
Looking at it now, Celia couldn't help but feel amazed.
Her own two small hands could barely hold it.
"I know."
"But let me tell you in advance, the next child will be conceived three months from now."
Liam pulled this fragrant, soft bundle closer, clasping her mischievous, cool little hand and enveloping it completely in his.
"Only this time, I won't let you deliver so quickly. Let the child grow slowly within you, the mother, to help it develop stronger talent."
"Mmh," Celia hummed, a bit dissatisfied, but her hands were completely enveloped by his warm palms, which felt rather reassuring.
Pregnancy was always hard work.
Celia clearly loved the eggs that came from her own body, yet she harbored a resistance towards pregnancy itself.
The process of her abdomen being stretched and then delivering was simply too painful.
Even with Liam's anesthetic magic to ease it, the pain remained distinct.
If just one dawn was that hard to endure, let alone watching her belly grow day by day—the long wait and torment, thinking about it made her shiver.
Her voice grew faint.
Liam's single sentence turned her happy mood into one of feeling wronged, wanting to cry.
"Will... will it hurt a lot?"
Thinking of the pain she would experience, Celia instinctively held her breath, shrinking her back against the man's chest, silently hoping he would say something comforting.
"It's alright."
"I'll be with you all the time."
Liam did as she wished, his arms tightly encircling the girl's slender waist, his warm body pressed closely against her small frame.
"Only because I love you enough, love everything about you, would I want you to bear children for me."
"Every time I see you carrying our child, my heart is full of a sense of accomplishment."
"I really want to get you pregnant."
—And then have you birth an entire army.
"Pregnant..."
Celia turned her head away, muttering to herself, "Sure enough... I really don't like being pregnant..."
Liam gently nibbled her hot elf ear and said slowly, "Don't worry too much. Bearing a child for the husband you deeply love is such a happy thing."
"If you don't like it, perhaps I should make you even more unable to leave me?"
Celia pressed her lips together tightly, then relaxed.
Having her ear played with distracted her.
"I... like Husband."
"Good. I was just joking before."
He let out a light, easy breath through his nose.
"When Celia is pregnant, I will take care of you constantly, never leaving your side, pampering you like a princess."
"Since you are my Princess, how could I bear to let you suffer alone?"
"Thank you, Husband..."
The fact that Liam, who usually scorned and looked down on all women, could call Celia 'Princess,'
showed that he genuinely liked this elf before him from the bottom of his heart.
...
...
...
The time spent chatting passed quickly, and they soon returned to the clan.
Surprisingly, Liam didn't head straight back to the villa.
Instead, he stopped at her parents' house and knocked on the door.
The wooden house didn't have great soundproofing.
A response came quickly from inside.
The door opened with a thud, but the head that appeared wasn't her mother, Cyra.
It was a golden-haired elf man—Lego.
He was tall and upright, his posture correct.
In his long, somewhat somber eyebrows and eyes, there was a coolness similar to Liam's, yet fundamentally different.
Liam's features were nearly flawless, yet ashen and colorless.
Up close... he seemed more like a ruthless demon who viewed human life as worthless grass, as if even brushing against his clothes would lead to a vicious death.
Lego appeared cool and detached, but that was just his innate demeanor.
As a member of the elf race, his noble bloodline granted him natural beauty—a kind of cool, elegant temperament that emanated from within.
In reality, he treated people quite well.
"Oh my, it's Sir Liam."
Lego's gaze shifted to the right, to the obedient elf girl holding the man's arm, then he stepped aside, his smile full.
"Would you like to come in and sit for a while?"
"Mm."
"I brought some local specialties from the human lands for you. I came by to deliver them."
Liam didn't stand on ceremony.
He directly led his wife inside, stepping over the threshold.
"Thank you. Sir Liam is very thoughtful."
"No need for the honorific. Just call me Liam."
Within the elf clan, ever since Celiacame to him of her own volition, Liam's attitude towards this particular family was noticeably better than towards other elves.