After she calmed down, Empress Aeriel started to explain.
"Very soon, a certain secret realm will appear inside of my empire, close to a border. At that time factions from all empires will come there with talented disciples of varying sects, families and imperial clans."
"At that time there might be multiple Martial Emperors attending the event. My empire has a lowest number of Martial Emperor level cultivators among all other empires."
"Until now we only had 2 including myself and another Martial Emperor - 2nd Stage cultivator. Other empires have more than us and I'm worried that they'll send a lot of them and unite to possibly attack our empire or at least monopolize the secret realm."
"I myself am confident that I'm stronger than all of them but if they come in great numbers I will only be able to protect myself and not the empire or a secret realm. So... I came here with hopes that you will help me. You are much stronger than me and with your help it will be easy."
After finishing her explanation, Ariel looked at him with hopeful eyes. Even this gesture looked cute in his eyes.
"Your request is not hard to fulfill and I myself am interested to attend. However there is no free lunch in this world, dear Aeriel. You must give me something in return."
This man was teasing her too much! Stinky man only knew how to bully her! He said multiple times that he didn't want rewards and didn't need anything from her but kept asking for it!
"Then what do you want? You said that I have nothing to give you!"
"How about giving me yourself?"
"W-WHAT!? Y-you want me? Don't you have a wife already? You are just bullying me now!"
She stood up again in shock, stomping her feet on the ground and even breaking the stone floor in the process.
"Hmm... who said I can't have more than one wife? Isn't it normal to have multiple wives as a strong man?"
By this time Red already took Eve and placed her on his lap, hugging her while caressing her soft hair. He was afraid that she would blow up the estate if he didn't keep her like this. Eve was now looking at him with empty and possessive eyes but that excited him even more! Also, feeling her soft ass on his lap, the softest thing he ever felt, didn't help at all!
[Host, you are hopeless...]
'Shut up!'
"Impossible! I will never marry a man that I don't love! Even if you are stronger than me, even if you are the most handsome man I ever saw, even if your character suits me and you're my type, it's still impossible!"
"Hoho? So many compliments... I am grateful. You also admitted that I'm your type? How cute... Then, how about a date with me? If you can't give me yourself like that can you accept a date with me?" Red had a big smirk on his face now.
Aeriel then realized what she said earlier. Her neck, face and ears were now red as an apple. She covered her face with both her hands from embarrassment. She only wanted to dig a hole and jump in it to hide from his gaze.
"O-okay... I can accept a date."
The words were so silent as a mosquito buzzing from the distance, but Red still managed to hear her, and that was enough... for now.
'System, how can she awaken her race, physique and bloodline?'
[You can easily awaken it for her, Host, but if you are asking for a way for her to do it on her own, she can do it with some rare resources for body and blood cultivation. But even with right resources it would take some time.]
'System, give me a spatial ring and fill it with cultivation resources that will be helpful for this. Might as well help her with some resources to earn some brownie points!'
[Ding! The requested spatial ring is deposited into your system storage.]
[By the way, Host, don't turn yourself into a simp!]
'Me? Simp? Never!'
"Excellent, pleasure doing business with you. By the way, take this..."
Red was very happy at the moment. He tossed the ring straight to Aeriel without even checking the contents.
Aeriel caught the ring with confusion. She sent her divine sense into the ring to check its contents and she froze instantly.
The ring was filled with resources for body and blood cultivation that she desperately needed, and the greatest shock was that none of these materials exist in this world! All of these materials are from higher realms! As a reincarnated princess and a phoenix, she naturally recognized them and knew that they were precious even in higher realms!
"You are gifting this to me? Really?"
She was elated but felt that there was a trick behind this, who was the one who said that there is no free lunch in this world!?
"Yes, that is a gift for our first meeting. I am quite happy with our agreement so you can have this. There is no need to worry, I won't ask for any compensation for this as those cultivation resources are useless to me. I can see that you need this so there is no harm in giving this to you."
"Then... Thank you."
Aeriel had a happy smile on her face. This man was not so bad as he seemed after all. These resources were the exact things she needed!
"No problem, if you need anything else in the future, feel free to ask me. I am actually quite rich with cultivation resources."
Red waved his hand, what he said was indeed correct as he had unlimited resources from the system. He continued hugging Eve and patting her head so that she wouldn't lose control. She was now silently biting his collar bone to express her dissatisfaction. And he liked it!
"Okay, thank you again. Now I must leave to make preparations for the following events and maybe I will be able to awaken my bloodline too!"
"Okay, see you later, Aeriel~" He said with a faint smirk on his face.
Seeing his smirk Aeriel blushed, this man was definitely thinking something bad!
She turned around and directly teleported back to her palace.
When she arrived to her room in the palace she caressed the spatial ring she just received with a silly smile on her face. Nobody knew what she was thinking about.
......
Back in the living room of the Vaelanor Estate...
"Darling! Why do you flirt with that woman!? Do you no longer want me!? Darling...!?"
Eve said this so many times that he lost count. She was still sitting on his lap while biting his collar bone over and over again. He found this extremely adorable. Her bites were just tickling him at most. Red continued to pat her head lovingly.
"No, my dear, you are my first wife and I will always want you. Even if I get more wives in the future you will always stay by my side. Even though we just met today, and we don't know each other well yet, since you are my wife now I will do my best to give you my love and care."
"Really!? Darling, promise?"
She looked at him expectantly, but there was still jealousy in her pretty eyes. She knew that he would need to have more wives in the future, but she was still jealous! Okay!?
"I promise."
She finally calmed down a bit and nestled her head against his chest.
'How can such a scary woman be so adorable?'
[Host, there is a certain ritual that can be done to connect souls. It can be used as a marriage ritual. There are many benefits. Beings who are connected can feel each other's feelings and feel each other's location even when separated by a great distance. It might help you to soothe your wife.]
'There is such a thing? Are there any bad effects?'
[Normally beings who use this ritual can connect to only one other being in their life and the connection can never be broken, but it's different for, Host. You can connect to more than one being and you can choose to break the connection if you wish.]
'Sounds interesting. But a ritual? Do I need to draw circles in the ground and place candles on the edges?'
[Of course not, Host. Normally, there is a long process to make the ritual and gather materials for it but this system can activate the ritual for you at any time. You just need to ask your wife to remove her soul defenses temporarily so that the ritual can be safely completed. If the person doesn't remove their soul defenses it can cause some damage to the soul.]
"Eve, my dear, will you marry me?"
"Huh? But am I not your wife already, darling?" Eve tilted her head in confusion.
"Well I already consider you my wife but there is a certain ritual that we can do to really become married. After this ritual is done we can feel each other's feelings and sense each other's location even when separated."
"Really!? Yes! Darling, do it now!" Eve became very happy hearing this.
"Okay, dear, first you need to remove your soul defenses temporarily so that we don't damage your soul in the process."
"Okay, I did it, darling."
'This girl... does she trust me so much?... Okay, system, do it now.'
[Ding! Soul bonding ritual activating in 3... 2... 1...]
[Ding! Soul bonding ritual completed.]
In an instant Red felt the change. Looking at Eve he could clearly feel her feelings and he somehow had a feeling that he would always be able to sense her location even if they separate. Focusing on her feelings - he was stunned.
An overwhelming feeling of love and excitement surged like a wave from her soul to his. The feeling was very hard to describe. He could accurately feel what she felt at that moment and her love for him was heavy. It seemed that she was already obsessed with him.
Understanding this - he started thinking about how beautiful and adorable she was and in the next moment he saw her blushing. It seemed she could also feel his feelings.
"Darling! This is amazing! Thank you!" She hugged him even tighter and nestled her head back against his chest again.
*Buzz* *Buzz* *Buzz*
While enjoying the feeling of a petite but voluptuous body pressing against him, Red suddenly felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.
Taking it out of his pocket he saw the name of his best friend, or rather, the best friend of the original host - Edward Quinn.
Edward was the Young Master of the Quinn family, ranked 3rd among the 4 great families. For some reason, Edward always acted like a little brother of the original host, always following him around like a lackey.
Red found this weird as the guy wasn't bad and was quite talented and smart. He was already a Martial Warrior 9th-stage at the age of 21! With that, his talent could be considered as within the top 5% in the empire! It was weird that he would follow a Martial Disciple waste around!
'Better to see what he wants.' Red answered the call.
"Big brother Red! I heard that you woke up! Why didn't you call me? I was so worried!"
"Hahahaha, calm down Eddy. Everything is fine."
"Good good good! It's good that you are okay. There is also another thing that I need to ask you. Just now some people from your Vaelano Group came to our family estate to announce that your family will be takin the 1st position among the 4 great families!"
"Oh? They work faster than I expected."
"They were all Martial Kings! And 2 of them were even at the 3rd stage! Big brother Red, how did you manage to recruit so many of them!? And while leaving they also said that you are now a Martial Emperor!! Is that true?"
"It's true, I am now a Martial Emperor. Right now there are 7 Martial Kings under me and yes, 2 of them are at the 3rd stage... As for how I got them, I need to keep that a secret for now."
"HAHAHAHA! I knew my big brother is a dragon among men! Everyone was talking bad behind your back but I always knew that you are a genius! I am glad that your family is doing well now, I was worried about you but it seems that I was thinking too much. Now my big brother is a Martial Emperor! Say, big brother Red, how about we go out for a drink to celebrate?"
Red felt embarrassed for a moment. How could he tell this stupid guy that he wasn't the same Red as before. And this guy always knew that the original host was a genius? Please! How could you say that about that idiot!
* * * * * *
[A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! If you have any suggestions, please comment.]