"I'm not a child."
Unexpectedly, the usual good girl finally talked back.
Being treated as a little wife by Liam was perhaps something Celia could accept.
But being treated as a child was going too far.
Between her previous life and this one, Celia was a total of forty years old!
And looking at the young man before her, he was at most in his early twenties.
If they were going by age, shouldn't he call her elder sister?
No, auntie would be more accurate!
Liam raised an eyebrow, finding it amusing.
He settled himself more comfortably on the sofa, scooped up Celia beside him, and placed her back on his lap.
"So you're not a child?"
"Then who is it that's scared to sleep every night, insisting I hold her?"
"Wah..."
"Who is it that's afraid of thunder on rainy days and even wet the bed once in the morning?"
"That was an accident, stop it~"
"Who is it—"
"I'm a child..."
......
One month later.
In the yard in front of the villa.
The sunlight was pleasantly bright and warm on the skin.
Even though Celia was a mother now,Liam refused to let her dress plainly.
Her petite frame was draped in an ornate, delicate princess dress of a light blue hue.
She sat leisurely on the swing, her small hands gripping the ropes on either side.
Her toes pushed against the ground, swinging slowly back and forth.
The ropes securing the swing to the tree stump creaked screech-screech with the motion.
Huu— She took a deep breath of fresh air.
Watching the two little ones playing on the grass in front of her, she felt a sense of lightness.
But then she glanced down at her attire again, and a wave of self-consciousness crept up her cheeks, coloring them pink.
So weird...
Five months now.
They say it's a dress fit for a princess, but when you get down to it, it's essentially meant for adorable little girls, isn't it?
Liam was particularly fixated on this point. Even though she was already a mother, he insisted on dressing her up adorably all day long.
To make matters even more troublesome, there was even the daily 'scoring' session—where he would judge her cuteness.
The routine was this: Celia would stand there, flushed with awkwardly, her gaze unable to settle, submitting to the invasive sweep of his eyes.
"Celia, if I don't find you adorable today, I'll definitely punish you mercilessly tonight. No... if I'm not satisfied, I'll punish you right now!"
So fierce...
Princess dresses and Lolita fashion were Liam's two favorite styles.
Dressed as she was, she resembled a petite, adorable princess from some dark fairy tale, but where in this image was there even a trace of a mother's bearing?
And another thing.
As much as Liam adored her cuteness, there was a fine line she couldn't cross.
If she became too adorable... her husband was bound to unleash his beastly side and ravish her until she was utterly undone.
"Mmph~"
Celia let out a soft, kitten-like whimper.
She first tensed her body briefly, then stretched languidly with a slight shiver.
Her gaze accidentally swept over the glaring sunlight, making her raise the back of her hand to shield her eyes.
Her small hand lightly stroked her flat stomach.
There was a baby here again...
However, unlike the usual overnight egg-laying, this pregnancy was, as Liam had said, an extremely lengthy process that would take at least one to three years.
On the very night it was done, she saw her husband weakened to an unprecedented degree, to the point where he lost even the strength to lift his hand, let alone hold her as they slept.
The side effects hadn't disappeared that day; they lasted a full ten days.
For those ten days, Liam was in full 'sage mode'!
No matter what adorable dress Celia wore, Liam at night remained cold and distant.
Whimper...
So terrifying...
Forcing poor Celia into a full ten days of celibacy.
There was a price.
But the success was also evident. Liam had used the crystal ball to absorb the vast majority of the surrounding natural mana.
After that night, the natural mana around the villa was nearly depleted.
Without its nourishment, Celia even felt somewhat uncomfortable breathing.
With such dedication, he roughly estimated that the baby's potential had a chance to break through to the seventh tier.
Seventh tier.
Celia had no real concept of it. Just hearing the name made it feel distant and unreachable.
After all, she had been hailed as a genius by the elves since childhood and had the grand dream of becoming an adventurer and conquering the world.
The dream was big, but the absolute peak of her potential was barely the fourth tier.
Her family was different. Husband Liam was a fifth-tier expert.
Son Berryball's talent was sixth tier. Daughter Grassball's talent was fourth tier.
They wouldn't even need a thousand years to cultivate; just ten years would suffice.
In that light, the seventh-tier baby in her belly didn't seem all that distant after all.
He was, after all, Celia's baby~
Maybe after growing up and becoming a supreme seventh-tier expert, he would even protect his mother in return.
"Awoo, awoo."
Grassball sat on the grass, drooling,babbling incoherently, her two chubby little hands holding the wooden ball, shaking it up and down.
It was said—this was the toy Daddy gave to Mommy.
So in the end, it ended up with the baby after all?
Grassball seemed quite lively.
As for Berryball... he was even more lively.
At just one month old, he kept trying to stand up, falling, getting up, falling.
He didn't play the same as his sister either;instead, from the assortment piled on the grass, he found a wooden sword and held it in his hands.
The only pity was... she had a daughter and a son.
Neither of them could call her 'Mommy' yet.
They could only babble and make baby gibberish.
This matter saddened Celia deeply.
Despite her best efforts, holding them close and repeating the words countless times, they still hadn't learned to call her 'Mommy'.
She didn't know how many times she had held them and tried to teach them, but they still hadn't learned.
"Waaah!"
Just as Celia was staring at the two little ones, lost in thought, Berryball accidentally fell, bumping his head against the corner of the slide.
He sat on the ground, howling.
Celia's delicate, adorable face instantly lost its composure.
Her brows furrowed slightly, and without a moment's hesitation, she hurriedly rose from the swing.
She hurried over to Berryball with quick steps, scooped up the sweet scent little one, and held him in her arms, rocking him gently. She soothed him, her tone as soft and sweet as a lullaby:
"There, there, don't cry. Berryball is Mommy's brave little man. If you cry now, you won't grow up to be as strong and brave as Mommy~"
"Do you want to grow up to be a strong, brave boy like Mommy?"
During the daytime, Liam was often outside cultivating.
Therefore, looking after the children naturally fell to Celia, the mother.
Celia, having once been male, indeed couldn't be as meticulous in many ways as a girl.
Now, she was more like a cherished little wife, utterly inexperienced when it came to taking care of a baby.
If there was one thing she could do, it was probably feeding them.
—But come to think of it, that hardly counts as a skill; it's merely the natural instinct of a mother.
Sometimes,Her husband even took mischievous delight in competing with the babies, trying to drink from her himself...