A while later, Cerydra finally changed back into her clothes and tidied herself up properly, restoring the imposing and dignified aura of a ruler once more.
"Alright, he is definitely bathing right now. It's time to get my payback. He looked at me, so I'm going to look at him too—that's what counts as even."
Right after saying that, Cerydra narrowed her sharp eyes slightly, her small face filled with stubborn determination as she pushed open the door to the changing room with a proud and confident stride, looking every bit like a ruler marching toward battle.
"Is that really how you take revenge?"
Aglaea hurriedly followed behind her and asked helplessly, unable to stop herself from letting out a quiet sigh.
Based on her understanding of Lucian, he would probably not care about this kind of retaliation at all.
If anything, he might even find it amusing.
Soon enough, the two returned to the bathing area once more, where thick mist drifted lazily through the air, and the gentle sound of rippling water echoed softly throughout the bath.
As soon as Cerydra's eyes locked onto the figure of the man leaning lazily against the edge of the pool, she was just about to carry out her so-called 'righteous gaze' revenge plan, but at that very instant, what entered her sight made her halt abruptly, nearly stumbling on the spot!
Inside the bath, warm water rippled gently around the two figures.
Cipher was almost completely nestled within Lucian's embrace, her soft, bare body pressed closely against him, making it so that not only had the earlier intimate atmosphere not dissipated in the slightest, but it had actually grown even thicker and more intense than before!
At this moment, she tilted her small face upward ever so slightly.
Her beautiful blue eyes were watery, and with the drifting mist surrounding them, they seemed almost as though they were glowing softly beneath the hazy steam.
Her fair cheeks were deeply flushed, carrying a tempting shade of pink, while her gaze had already become slightly unfocused and dazed.
Her soft pink lips were slightly parted, and even her breathing sounded faintly uneven in the quiet bath.
"Lucian, you're teasing me…"
Cipher murmured softly, her slightly misty eyes carrying a faint trace of grievance, before she suddenly extended her small pink tongue and swiftly licked Lucian's cheek like a real cat marking her possession.
Seeing that, a subtle glint of light flashed through Lucian's golden eyes.
Usually, it was only a light, brief kiss on the cheek, but today, it was actually a lick?
Evidently, a cat person like Cipher would, just like an actual cat, enter a special period once she reached a certain age, causing some of her animalistic instincts to become far more pronounced than usual.
Immediately afterward, she continued licking him with slow, affectionate motions, and a tingling numbness gradually spread across his face, ears, and neck, carrying with it a strangely dangerous warmth.
"Cifera, what are you doing?"
Rarely, Lucian spoke in an unusually composed tone, deliberately calling Cifera by her full name.
As soon as Cifera heard her full name, her movements instantly froze for a brief second before she slowly lifted her head to look at Lucian with hazy, slightly dazed eyes.
"You don't like it...? You're the one who started teasing me first..."
Assuming Lucian disliked her licking, Cipher lowered her gaze slightly, looking a little aggrieved as her voice turned soft and pitiful.
However, it was precisely that expression that only stirred Lucian even more.
In truth, he did not dislike it at all.
On the contrary, the tingling sensation of her tongue brushing against his face, ears, and neck was steadily wearing away at the restraint he had always maintained so well.
"I like it, you just picked the wrong spot."
Lucian slowly reached out and pinched Cipher's delicate chin between his fingers, gently lifting her face before accurately capturing those slightly parted, faintly panting, moist pink lips.
Cipher only had time to let out a short, muffled whimper before her entire body instantly softened like water, while her slender arms instinctively wrapped themselves tightly around Lucian's neck.
In that instant, the warm steam filling the bath seemed to grow even thicker and heavier as their breaths gradually intertwined.
Just as things were about to spiral completely out of control, on the verge of escalating into a full-blown '18+ scene' in the bath—
"Ahem! AHEM, AHEM, AHEM—!!!"
An obviously deliberate cough suddenly shattered the previously intimate atmosphere as Cerydra and Aglaea returned to the poolside.
"Meow!"
"..."
Inside the warm pool, Cipher and Lucian froze at the same time.
Cipher, so startled that her hair practically seemed to stand on end while her entire face turned red as if steam were about to burst from it, immediately let out a small cry before instantly submerging herself beneath the water with a splash, as though she wished she could disappear completely.
Lucian, however, only froze for a brief moment before calmly licking his lips, savoring the lingering sweetness that still remained as he slowly raised his eyes toward the two unexpected visitors by the pool.
Unlike Cipher, Lucian's expression remained eerily composed from beginning to end, showing not even the slightest trace of embarrassment at being caught in such a situation.
"My, my, so the famous Imperator likes watching people bathe now? Peeping into other people's private lives or something?"
Seeing Cerydra cross her arms tightly over her chest while glaring directly at him, Lucian casually joked with a faint, amused smile.
In response, Cerydra immediately struggled to maintain her dignity and composure as the Imperator. Her small face remained taut and prideful while her gaze deliberately swept across Lucian's well-built chest exposed above the water, carefully refusing to show even the slightest sign of retreat.
"Hmph! You looked at me, and I looked at you—that makes us even."
Cerydra spoke with forced composure and even deliberately puffed out her chest afterward, as though trying to reinforce her confidence through sheer momentum alone.
Even though she had not completely seen the lower half of Lucian's body hidden beneath the water, that ultimately did not matter. What truly mattered now was that the advantage between them had shifted.
As long as it was now his turn to feel embarrassed, then her previously damaged pride would naturally be restored as well.
"Besides, this isn't a place for you two to do that kind of thing! Are you out of your mind? Hmph, it's disgusting, indecent, utterly shameless!"
Cerydra continued in a tone filled with completely undisguised disdain as she glanced toward the hiding Cipher beneath the water, a teasing and somewhat triumphant curve slowly appearing at the corner of her lips.
At her words, Lucian merely rolled his eyes helplessly.
"You came all the way back just to peek at me and Fera getting intimate? You're not exactly all that decent yourself."
"I… that was an accident! Tch, whatever. Arguing with you is just a waste of time!" Cerydra said with a frown, adamantly denying it before turning her head toward Aglaea. "Dux Goldweaver! Take this... this gray cat to the Vortex of Genesis."
Aglaea, who had remained silent from the very beginning, finally snapped out of her embarrassed daze, feeling as though she had been pardoned, as she could finally escape this awkward mortal realm of hell.
"Yes! I'll go right away!"
Aglaea quickly responded, nodding with a relieved expression.
Just then, Cipher emerged from the water with her face still flushed, then glared fiercely at Cerydra before reluctantly shifting her gaze toward Lucian.
"Go on, business comes first."
Lucian encouraged Cipher while patting her flawless back, and only then did she pout before reluctantly climbing out of the water.
Moving swiftly, Cipher climbed out of the bath, quickly dressed herself, then followed Aglaea toward the Vortex of Genesis, leaving only Lucian and Cerydra by the bath as the atmosphere gradually became somewhat subtle.
Unable to back down as the Imperator, Cerydra ultimately forced herself to look directly at Lucian as he remained in the water.
In contrast, Lucian appeared completely at ease and nonchalant. He even leaned back slightly, letting the warm water rise over his chest as he exhaled comfortably, a carefree smile resting on his face.
"I say, Cerydra..." Lucian said with a light chuckle, gesturing at himself. "Can you at least wait till I'm done bathing before we talk? I mean, talking about serious stuff like this right now isn't exactly convenient, y'know? Or what, you really wanna watch me bathe that badly?"
He honestly didn't mind if Cerydra wanted to watch him bathe, but with her standing there like some kind of silent guardian statue, it somewhat affected his mood.
"Weren't you looking at me like this just now?"
Hearing Cerydra's retort, Lucian looked at her outwardly fierce yet inwardly strained demeanor, and the corners of his lips slowly lifted as he let out a chuckle.
"Oh? If that's the case, then how about we... just be honest with each other?"
Lucian's gaze held an unmistakable hint of amusement as it slowly swept over Cerydra's tightly wrapped, luxurious blue outfit, lingering for a moment on the exquisite fabric that almost completely hid her figure.
"You should take your clothes off and come soak with me... we can talk properly while we're bathing together."
Take off her clothes?
Bathe together?
Cerydra hadn't expected Lucian to suddenly flirt with her so directly, and for a brief instant, her thoughts came to a complete standstill.
'Does this man not have even the slightest sense of restraint at all?!'
At this moment, Cerydra genuinely felt that Lucian did not seem like a proper person in the slightest.
Was Aglaea's intelligence even reliable to begin with?
"Absolutely not!"
Cerydra practically squeezed these words out through clenched teeth, her beautiful cyan eyes filled with both embarrassment and anger as a faint flush quietly spread across her face.
However, just as her emotions were about to erupt, she suddenly remembered the resolve she had made earlier.
'No, I shouldn't get angry... he's an extremely valuable chess piece, a crucial asset. I absolutely cannot lose him...'
Cerydra took a slow, deep breath, forcibly suppressing the irritation and embarrassment building up inside her heart as she tried her best to regain the rhythm of the negotiation once more.
"Lucian! If you have the ability… I, Cerydra… can let you look as much as you want!"
Even while saying those words, Cerydra still found it somewhat difficult to maintain her composure, and her expression stiffened ever so slightly.
Upon hearing her declaration, Lucian frowned faintly as he immediately sensed that something was clearly off about this little empress.
Would Cerydra really say something like that?
From his understanding of Cerydra in the game, she wouldn't.
In other words, various factors had clearly influenced her current behavior, because the ruthless and prideful empress in the original story would never have uttered such compromising words.
Immediately afterward, Cerydra's tone changed completely, and the gaze in her eyes became sharp and piercing.
"But if you don't have the ability... hmph, then not only must you forget everything that happened before, but you must also pledge your loyalty to me. I want you to join the army under my command and become my loyal warrior!"
Cerydra let out a cold snort before continuing, speaking each word slowly, clearly, and with unmistakable force.
Needless to say, that had been her true objective from the very beginning.
Cerydra had intended to set a trap for Lucian, even to the point of being willing to expose her bare body to him once again, all for the sake of drawing him into her camp and securing his allegiance.
Lucian merely listened in silence as he watched the small figure standing beside the pool. Even though her petite body was still trembling ever so slightly, she continued forcing herself to stand upright, desperately trying to project the proud and domineering aura worthy of a ruler.
'Hmm, she's willing to gamble this much, huh? No wonder her attitude changed so suddenly... does she wanna get her hands on me that badly...?'
A faint trace of amusement surfaced within Lucian's eyes.
Unfortunately for Cerydra, becoming her husband was still something negotiable, but becoming her subordinate was completely out of the question.
In the end, after several seconds of silent pondering, Lucian suddenly smiled.
Even though the smile on his face was extremely faint, for some unknown reason, the moment Cerydra saw it, an inexplicable sense of foreboding instantly rose within her heart.
"You said it yourself, so don't regret it..." Lucian said softly, tilting his head a little. "Well then, I choose... to take a good look."
Right after his words fell, Lucian, without even moving a single finger, merely sharpened his gaze ever so slightly.
In the next moment, an invisible, intangible, yet profoundly mysterious force of laws silently spread outward, instantly enveloping Cerydra's entire body.
It was none other than Lucian's first conceptual ability—Disarm!
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[A bonus chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
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