"Mmm..." A soft moan echoed from the large, plush bed. Long, platinum-blonde curls slid across her skin as she moved, leaving a faint, ticklish sensation.
Her red-orange eyes slowly opened. Half-lidded, her cross-shaped pupils looked like actual flowers, carrying a hint of seductive charm.
Alice's mind, previously blank, gradually began to clear. She instinctively tried to prop herself up.
However...
Soreness. Pain. Numbness.
A wave of various sensations washed over her, forcing her to collapse back onto the bed.
In that moment, Alice could not help but raise her slender, jade-like hand and slap the chest of the man lying beside her.
"Sleep, sleep, sleep! All you know how to do is sleep! Am I some second-hand junk? Am I an old model A8? You think you can just stand up and pedal like that? You damn bastard!"
Alice: 'Do you believe that I will hop on a train and disappear today? I will make sure you never see your own daughter!'
Riku: 'Really? I do not believe you!'
A large hand wrapped around Alice's willow-thin waist and suddenly pulled. Alice let out a soft cry as she found herself pinned against his chest.
Riku's eyes were half-closed. Those pitch-black pupils were not the usual black and white, instead, they seemed to contain the vast, starry sky of the cosmos. If one looked closely, it felt as if they could see the entire boundless universe within them.
"Alice, were you just planning to run away with our daughter?" Riku asked with a half-smile.
Alice's delicate body stiffened. She put on a flattering smile and said, "Of course not, darling. How could I let our daughter grow up without seeing her father...?"
Riku: 'Really? Was that what you meant just now?'
Alice: 'Darling, you definitely misheard me!'
She was defeated. Utterly defeated.
She had no choice but to give in. As a member of the Hexenzirkel and Witch A, Alice was a special member of the Elf Species. Her strength was staggering, to the point where few in Teyvat could even hope to match her.
And yet, here she was. When facing her own man, she could only let out pathetic cries, reduced to the state of a little frog. If this continued, she felt like she was going to break into pieces.
She was simply no match for him.
After some playful bickering, the two finally got out of bed.
Riku was not the type of man who did not know how to cherish a woman. As for what had been happening lately? Never getting enough? Never being full?
Ridiculous. Any man who heard such things would find it unbearable. Riku felt he had to give Alice a proper lesson.
On an oversized, soft sofa, Riku leaned back while Alice lay lazily against his chest, toying with his long, jet-black hair.
Alice rolled over, spreading herself out like the letter X across Riku's lap. She blinked her beautiful eyes and said, "Darling~"
"What is it?" Riku narrowed his eyes instinctively.
'When a child is quiet, they are definitely up to no good.'
Riku knew his witch elf all too well. Her personality was pure chaos, like a "Demon Seed." For her to suddenly speak in such a tender, watery tone—did he even need to ask what was going on?
"Oh, come on..."
"Speak properly."
"I just..."
"I will agree to it."
"Hehe~"
The coquetting witch had won once again.
Alice flipped over and sat up, kneeling on Riku's lap. She cupped his face with her two snow-white hands, forcing her man to look directly at her.
Riku found it amusing. He did not brush her hands away, only saying, "Go on, speak. As long as it is not something dangerous, I will agree."
"I want to go explo—"
"No."
Riku performed an immediate [Spell Interrupt].
Exploring? Exploring my foot. Their daughter had been in the womb for nearly 136 years and was about to be born. How could he let her run off exploring at a time like this?
"How hateful!" Alice's face immediately puffed up in a pout.
Riku smiled. She was clearly a stunning, radiant beauty with the aura of a mature woman, yet she always acted like a child, throwing tantrums and being mischievous.
"It has been two hundred years. I have not been on an adventure in two hundred years!" Alice began to roll around and throw a fit.
*Sob, sob, sob...*
Alice: 'I think you just want to keep me as your "hidden beauty" in a golden cage, darling!'
Riku watched her throw her tantrum with a smile. She immediately jumped up and started pointing fingers.
"I have already finished researching the 'Universe Gate.' Once our daughter is born, we can go exploring together, okay?" Riku had no choice. Pregnant women were like this; he could only coax her like a child.
"Really?!"
"Really."
Alice's eyes lit up. For a witch so lively and active that she once tried to make "Hilichurls self-sufficient," being cooped up at home for two hundred years was incredibly difficult. If it were not for her maternal instinct, her love for her partner alone would not have been enough to restrain her.
Alice's thoughts jumped rapidly. She sat back down and blinked, asking, "Darling, does that mean the Extinction of the entire universe can be cleared away soon?"
"It is difficult." As the Lord of the Universe, Riku felt a headache coming on whenever this topic was mentioned.
Generally speaking, as a universe develops over time, if it cannot advance further, it will naturally enter a state of Extinction. However, a dying universe leaves behind a "Seed of the Universe" to give birth to a new one. Through repeated cycles of accumulation and development, it eventually reaches a true breakthrough.
Riku's situation was exactly like that. When he transmigrated, he happened to arrive just as a dying universe was birthing a "Seed of the Universe." As the final living being, he naturally became the master of that "Seed of the Universe."
Riku had immediately used a [Flash] to leave, arriving in a new universe. The result? This damn universe was also heading toward Extinction.
He had planned to leave, but then he got entangled with Alice, who had also transmigrated. And then?
Well...
While Riku was entangled with Alice, this dying universe also latched onto him.
Dammit. This broken universe directly recognized Riku, a "Humanoid Universe," as its "Lord of the Universe."
Of course, it was not that Riku could not leave, but doing so would require him to "cut off his own flesh." He would have to sacrifice at least seventy percent of his origin essence. That was a complete joke.
So... there was no other way.
Riku could only bite the bullet and accept it. Fine, he would fix it. As long as it had not completely reached Extinction, it could be brought back.
Ultimately, it was not all bad news.
If he, as a "Humanoid Universe," gave birth to a new universe and became its Lord of the Universe, that would be a simple, singular line of growth, which would be very troublesome later on.
But now? By saving this universe from Extinction and combining it with the development of his own "Seed of the Universe," it would be a case of 1+1=100. Or perhaps even higher.
Though it was a bit exhausting, Riku felt the returns were high enough. This profit alone made it all worth it.