The sound of water splashing could be heard as William lay Celeste in the Spring of Life.
Princess Aila accompanied her underwater because she was the one that sealed the wound on the Elf's shoulder, when her arm was severed from her body.
She made sure that reattachment would be possible, so now that William had retrieved Celeste's arm, the angelic princess could patch her up without a problem.
With the power of the Spring of Life, any injury would heal as long as they were submerged in it for a time. According to his estimate, it would take at least half a day for Celeste's arm to fully recover, under Princess Aila's, and the Spring's healing abilities.
While this was happening, William found himself being used as a hug pillow by the lazy Elf on the other side of the spring.
Acedia had temporarily set aside her Chiffon Pillow, and replaced it with the William Pillow, who currently had his arms wrapped around her body.
'Will you be leaving soon?' Acedia asked using telepathy.
'Do you want me to leave?' William asked back.
'Why are you answering my question with another question?'
'Why not?'
'You're doing it again!' Acedia angrily used her hair to pull on the Half-Elf's ear, making the latter smile.
Among his lovers, he found teasing Acedia a worthwhile experience because having a reaction from her was priceless.
'You know, this is not a place where you bring your harem and invade my privacy,' Acedia complained. 'Almost everytime you come here, you bring women with you. The next time you bring another, I'll toss them outside of the spring.'
'Wait,' William interjected. 'There is one more girl that needs her arms reattach— hey! She's not my lover. She's only eleven!'
'So what if she's eleven? You brought that little Half-ling who looked no older than eight years old. Don't lie to me. Just a glance was enough to tell me that she is smitten with you. She came from the Underworld, right? Now you're even courting death? Having dead wives is not enough to satisfy you anymore, huh?'
'...'
William was completely speechless. Today, Acedia was quite active and even said more than one sentence at a time. Usually, the lazy elf would only say a word, or two, and sometimes wouldn't even speak and just let her hair do the talking for her.
However, right now, she was having a chat with William, while her hair pulled on his ears.
Clearly, the lazy Elf was not happy with how her personal space was being invaded by William's women.
'Um, just make an exception for the little girl,' William said after a minute had passed. 'She's such a pitiful thing. She got her arm sliced off her body even though she did nothing wrong. Don't you feel sorry for her?'
This time, it was Acedia's turn to stay silent. She just closed her eyes and buried her head in William's chest, while her hair continued to pull on his ears.
Only after several minutes passed did a sigh escape her lips.
'Fine,' Acedia stated. 'But no more, okay?'
'Okay,' William replied.
He knew that Acedia had already compromised with him, so he decided to pamper her a bit and kissed her lips to make her feel good.
The two didn't know that Celeste and Princess Aila were paying close attention to them, and since the Spring of Life was crystal clear, they clearly saw that the two were making it out under the water.
"Is he always like this?" Celeste asked.
"Only behind closed doors," Princess Aila replied. "He's not the type to show off to other people about his relationship with us."
"Then why is he doing it right now?"
"... because he didn't think that we would mind?"
Celeste was baffled. The most she saw was William kissing Chloee's cheeks, and forehead, but nothing as intense as what she was seeing right now.
William was kissing Acedia's lips, while his right hand slid inside her nearly transparent dress, and groped her breast with practiced movements.
Celeste knew that Acedia was still a maiden because her divinity allowed her to see who was still chaste and who was not.
The Elf could even see the lightly glowing tattoo on Princess Aila's womb, which marked her as William's woman.
Naturally, Celeste also had that mark on her womb, but it was different from William's lovers. The color of her mark was golden, while Princess Aila's, and the rest of William's women, were pink.
Perhaps the color was due to her Divinity being represented by Chastity.
'Does that mean that if he took my maidenhood, my mark would be the same as theirs?' Celeste mused.
This thought had passed through her mind countless times in the past, and yet, she didn't know what to feel about it.
William didn't like, or lust after, her, so her title as his bride was in name only.
The person that the black-haired teenager loved was her sister, Celine, making Celeste feel as if she was just a replacement. She was not feeling down that her sister had become William's woman, and was also carrying his child.
She would rather have William be the father of her sister's child than Felix, whose lust for women was insatiable. Just remembering the time when the Heir of Darkness looked at her made her skin crawl.
Celeste even pitied the ladies that had fallen into the green-haired Demon's hands. Their powers taken away from them, and their lives ruined in his hands.
"Your shoulder has successfully reattached without any problems."
Princess Aila's voice brought Celeste out of her daze. Immediately, she tried moving her fingers, and rubbing them on each other.
"I can feel them," Celeste muttered. "Thank you, Aila."
"You're welcome, but don't do anything excessive for now, okay?" Princess Aila reminded her. "It's not fully healed yet. Excessive movements might cause complications later. It will take at least half a day for your wounds to fully heal."
Celeste sighed because one of her worries was now fixed. Now that her arm was healing, and her sister was about to give birth in a safe location, she could turn her attention to the question that had been plaguing her for the past month, and that question was…
Where do I proceed from here?
She didn't know the answer to this question, but she believed that the answer would present itself to her sooner or later.
The only thing she needed to do was wait.
Wait until she had completely resolved herself to defy her own Fate.
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