Chapter 181 - Plans

'That was... dangerous.'

This was what Riveria thought as she came back to check on how Lili's training was going. Although her d.e.s.i.r.e to find out more about magic, and especially how Ethan managed to create a ball with physical properties while being originally a mana compound, but at the basis of everything, the fact even this time Ethan seemed not to have chanted to make the mana perform his will, were all things that had intrigued Riveria, but the latter had found herself hit by a rather delicate matter.

She preferred in fact to leave this kind of thing for another moment, when they were alone. Even though she had seen many times in her long life how love works, it didn't mean she was ready to face this kind of feelings as the protagonist.

She understood it wouldn't be easy from now on, also because Ethan seemed determined to resolve the situation at the first chance he would have, which Riveria didn't know if it could be a good, or bad thing, but knowing it wasn't the time to think about it, she inhaled a large amount of air and, as if the redness on her cheeks was just a distant memory, Riveria's classic and serious expression returned on her face.

---

While Hestia was playing with Maple, Ethan stood by for a few moments before deciding it was best to start by deciding what to prepare this time, and it was just as he entered the house again with these thoughts that he saw Lefiya quietly taking some ingredients to start cooking...

The moment their eyes met, Lefiya opened her mouth with an 'Ah' and, as she stared at him, she couldn't help thinking about what would come after the dinner, which quickly led her to look away from Ethan's gaze and, with her face now coloured red, Lefiya began to divide the ingredients while Ethan, curious to know what she had decided to prepare, asked her.

Although the day before the idea had been decided in group, there could be times when others were busy and couldn't therefore decide, so to avoid disturbing and being disturbed for such a trivial matter, an idea had been unanimously approved by the residents of the house that instead of choosing in a group, it was better to assign the role of choosing what to eat one by one, in rotation.

Of course, that didn't include the people who would occasionally come to visit, because in addition to Riveria and Tiona who had come here from day one just to train Ethan, but even Lili, they were sure that at least someone they knew would come to visit out of curiosity, or to simply pay a visit to them. When this happened, the 4 residents decided again that, if this were the case, the person in charge of deciding what to cook will ask if the dish is to their liking or not.

Answering the question that Ethan had asked him, Lefiya returned to what she was doing to avoid thinking and, seeing that Lefiya was laying hands on the onions, Ethan stopped her.

"Let me take care of them, I will help"

At her own words, Lefiya nodded leaving Ethan free to cut the onions and, while the atmosphere between the two became more quiet given the concentration necessary to avoid accidents, everything seemed to proceed for the best until Lefiya spoke.

"..What are your plans for the night..?"

To her question, Ethan pondered for a few seconds what to answer and, although at first he hadn't well understood what she wanted to imply by her words, given the concentration necessary to avoid cutting himself, he managed to understand what Lefiya was implying. Now that Ais was absent because of the expedition, the two were supposed to sleep together, but Ethan was convinced this would not happen anyway.

Stopping the knife, Ethan laid his gaze on the onions he was cutting while he answered her question with a small smile on his face.

"You know already that I wouldn't force you if you don't want---"

But just as he had begun to explain to her he wouldn't force her if she didn't want to sleep with him, Lefiya interrupted his speech, much to his surprise, with words that struck him a lot.

"I asked what are your plans for tonight..."

Hearing her words, Ethan stopped talking and, moving his eyes to look at her back, he could see that Lefiya was looking down and, with her hands holding on to the cabinet, she had asked this question by pulling out all her courage.

The kitchen was in fact structured in such a way as to have a lot of space and two parts, one extending to the right according to Ethan, and another united to the first part by a 90-degree angle, which expanded towards the left according to where Lefiya was.

As a result, the two had both turned their backs at each other, but now that Ethan had turned around and realized Lefiya was serious, Ethan sighed before replying. If he had to think about what he wanted, then the answer was only obvious...

"My plans.. I had in mind to sleep with you..."

Although Ethan wanted to add more, the fact Lefiya's expression hadn't changed in the slightest to his words had silenced him completely, feeling any other reprimand would be useless at this point.

"If that's what you planned, then I... will sleep with you.."

Saying this, Lefiya felt as if a heavy weight had just been removed from her shoulders and, deciding to go back to cooking, she tried to remain calm outside, but in his mind, it was as if fireworks were painting her mind of an immensity of different colours.

'...I don't believe I've seriously succeeded..although indirectly, to express myself...! I wish I could see the expression on Ethan's face...he must have felt it..'

Although originally, Lefiya's words were more the result of her continual brooding over the matter, Lefiya had succeeded in something she wouldn't even have dreamed of before, and despite her red cheeks, her shaking hands, and her stomach that was almost in pain, Lefiya had her first victory, although the opponent wasn't precise, the victory was much more satisfying than Lefiya had believed.

While Lefiya was celebrating in her mind and trying to stay calm, Ethan clearly understood Lefiya had no intention of stopping or sleeping in her room and, although what they would do was only sleep in the same bed, The importance Lefiya had given to the act was enough to make even Ethan feel joyful. The fact Lefiya seemed to be trying her best with everything she had for their relationship, made even the act of sleeping together, something much more special than it was before.

Seeing she had gone back to cooking as if nothing had happened, Ethan sighed before deciding it was time for him to continue as well...

---

After a few minutes, Hestia and Maple, followed by the group of Riveria, Tiona and Lili, returned home and, seeing that Lefiya and Ethan were cooking, Hestia offered to help, followed by Riveria.

Lili on the other hand, exhausted by the hellish training, had decided to recover a little and then help out but at her words, Ethan replied making her notice they had enough people to help in the kitchen, and that in the meantime, she could go to the bathroom to have a relaxing bath, and to this, Riveria added it was better if Tiona accompanied Lili, and even if her main reason was another, Riveria did not hesitate to cover it by answering Tiona's doubts that it was better if Lili had someone to keep her company instead of bathing all by herself.

But to these words, Hestia added

"Since we don't have to do anything too complex, why not following them in the bathroom? You didn't take one before..."

Riveria thought about it, and indeed it was as Hestia had said, but before she could add anything, Tiona nodded confirming her presence was more than d.e.s.i.r.ed, which forced Riveria to take part in the group that was going to have a bath while, in all of this, Maple was still playing with the ball, even though since it had already been some time since Ethan had formed it, The latter was beginning to deteriorate, making it ever closer to a non-physical form, slowly returning the state that the mana had previously.

Thinking that maybe it was better to buy a real toy for Maple rather than having her play with mana, Ethan decided to do this when he had some free time...

---

"Riveria...tell me, is there something going on with you and Ethan?"

After Ethan and Hestia had 'forced' Riveria to bathe with Tiona and Lili, she had decided to follow them and, at the moment, all three were in the water, with Riveria having elbows on the stones surrounding the bath itself to make it more attractive to the eyes as she was trying to relax.

But Lili's unexpected question, being the question she openly didn't want to answer, hit her hard, but even if this was the case, Riveria didn't lose her temper.

"Why are you asking me such a question right now?"

Her calm had surprised Lili, who expected a reaction similar to the one Lefiya had had at the time she asked the same question. But although this was the case, Lili had been able to observe what happened before while she was finishing her training with Tiona.

"Something doesn't feel right between you two. Since the moment you and Tiona came, Ethan tried to avoid your gaze multiple times..but now it seemed as if he didn't mind your gaze at all..."

In her own words, Lili had realized something didn't seem to be normal, but even if that was the case, she thought there were problems she wasn't allowed to know, but from the moment she could glimpse embarrassment in her expression, Lili had understood perhaps she had underestimated the High Elf who, until recently, seemed to consider Ethan nothing more than a member of her own Familia...

(A/N: I'm sorry if yesterday there wasn't a chapter, I am sick so I couldn't write anything at all)

(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8. You may ask me: "Why should I enter the server?". Well, I'm replying to every interesting question you readers are asking in my chapters, so, you should absolutely enter if you want to read my answers. Ah, and you can find some image reference of items in the story such as Light..! (Soon even Qienta).. so it's recommended to join, I frequently post polls as well, regarding things that(most likely) will be present in the story. One last thing, I post chapter updates in my discord right after I posted on , so I guess you can join to be able to know when I post chapters faster.)

(Poll going on in the discord: Who do you prefer? Qienta or Light? | Cat-girl or Renard(Fox) | Are you liking the interactions between Maple and Ethan?)

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(Alternate Titles: "Lefiya's first win - She can now glimpse Ais' location, not anymore as far...?" , "No need to tell me, Lili is annoying, but don't worry, the more annoying one will probably be Tiona, lol", "Meanwhile, Maple's doing her own business with her fluffy tail wagging side to side in happiness as she could finally do something to distract herself..I actually pity her now as she's being ignored")