Chapter 3936 Playing With The Children
"My little angels~"
Davis finally spotted his two naughty daughters in a hall along with Katherine and a few other children from other families.
There was Ancestor Dian Alstreim and Ancestor Tirea Snow's son, Ace Alstreim. Founder Alstreim's grandson, Ermin Alstreim. Davis also saw little siblings Evan and Laura. They were all four or five years old, even though their birth time was similar to Eterna and Celestia, who were now seven years old.
That meant they had more or less spent over three years in time chambers. Ermin was also seven years old, so he was the only one who was at Eterna and Celestia's height.
They were playing with UNO cards, making Davis pause as he didn't know where they came from. He could only think of Mingzhi again.
His presence instantly made the rowdy group silent. The little boys all froze, recognizing who he was. On the other hand, Evan's eyes lit up.
"Big brother~"
He called out and ran to him and pounced at him, causing Davis to catch him and chuckle.
He hadn't seen this pipsqueak for a while, causing him to kiss his cheek before he looked at Laura, Nora's daughter. He smiled at her, causing her to shyly look away. He also panned his gaze at Ace Alstreim and Ermin Alstreim, but they were too scared to even look at him.
"Hmph~"
At this moment, Eterna harrumphed and ran away. Celestia looked at the both of them before she ran away, following Eterna's lead. They ran past him, leaving him with Evan.
Davis blinked. He could tell they were definitely jealous.
However, they had also grown up, so they couldn't fight for him like they did in the beginning. Davis couldn't help but smirk as he thought his daughter possessed ego and pride now.
"Evan, what are you doing?"
"We're playing UNO!" Evan displayed the cards in his hands. "Sister-in-law Mingzhi brought this to us a week ago when we were trying to ask where you were, but we couldn't see you. We can't stop playing it as it's too much fun ousting everyone. Will you also play with us?"
"Of course." Davis chuckled, "But only one game, so let me know the rules."
"Yay!"
Evan shouted with a bright smile and quickly got to explaining the rules. Davis didn't know since he didn't have anyone to play UNO with other than knowing that it existed.
After the explanation, Davis joined them, shuffling the cards with a grin.
Soon, laughter filled the room as cards were thrown onto the pile one after another.
Seated before the bed, Davis looked at the four of them.
He could also sense Eterna and Celestia behind him, watching him play, but he paid them no heed. All he did was laugh and play with the other kids, fueling their jealousy.
He already figured out that Ace Alstreim had a crush on Eterna as his gaze went to her the most. On the other hand, Ermin had similar inclinations towards Celestia. Ace Alstreim was cute since he was only four years old, but the same couldn't be said about Ermin, who was seven years old.
Of course, Ermin was still cute, but he was a tiny bit older than Eterna and Celestia. He didn't think anything was wrong, as this was normal. However, his heart was still irked to know that his daughters would eventually be snatched away, although he wasn't sure if it would be these two as the universe was vast.
He already figured out that Ace Alstreim had a crush on Eterna as his gaze went to her the most. On the other hand, Ermin had similar inclinations towards Celestia. Ace Alstreim was cute since he was only four years old, but the same couldn't be said about Ermin, who was seven years old.
Of course, Ermin was still cute, but he was a tiny bit older than Eterna and Celestia. He didn't think anything was wrong, as this was normal. However, his heart was still irked to know that his daughters would eventually be snatched away, although he wasn't sure if it would be these two as the universe was vast.
Regardless, Davis was intrigued by the groups the kids formed. Here, Eterna was the leader, yet she wasn't paid attention to because he was here. He found it funny but was sure this wasn't the only group as there were many children playing outside as well.
This was naturally— the school, set up right before the World Master sent them out. It was a pet project of Mingzhi that never came to fruition, but it was one of the safest places outside the Nine-Treasured Immortal Ordeal Palace and became a playground for children. Hence, the children were also safe.
Therefore, he thought Eterna and Celestia would leave already, fuming, but they didn't, still looking at him.
Davis dropped a card before his lips curled as victory was within his reach.
"Sorry, Ermin."
"Yes…?"
Ermin was still stiff. He watched Davis deliver a plus-four wild card with a wild smile, causing him to gawk.
"UNO~" Davis declared lazily and threw the last card away.
At the same time, the other kids threw their heads up and whined.
"That's not fair!"
"You quickly won even though you just learned the game!"
Laura and Evan complained while Ace Alstreim was still silent, his eyes looking at Davis with a worshipful gaze.
"Haha. What can I say? I'm a supreme genius."
Davis raised his brows and posed while looking smug. Meanwhile, he just cheated, using his soul sense to finish the game quickly and get to the two enraged daughters behind him.
He innocently turned to look back, "Oh, if it isn't Eterna and Celestia. I thought you two left to search for your mothers since you didn't want to play with your father."
"No, I…" Eterna's expression fell. She glared at Davis, her eyes becoming teary.
"Father!"
However, Celestia was unable to contain her emotions. She ran straight and dived into his arms first, causing him to grasp her firmly and hug her with immense fondness.
"Celestia."
"I missed you so much~ Why didn't you come look for us?"
Celestia raised her head up and sniffled.
"…"
Davis had no excuses. His children didn't know he was being hunted down, and he didn't want to expose them to that either, as they would become hateful of the world. They already knew he was being persecuted, so he intended to keep that to a minimum and not full-blown.
Therefore, all they knew was that he went out on a cultivation journey and returned for a few days but didn't come to see them as he was busy with his wives.
"Father has many priorities, Celestia. It's just that— you're on the top of the list when it comes to playing, and all before that was connected to our survival and your mothers' bliss."
"Oh—"Celestia looked as though she was contemplating before she sniffled and nodded, "In that case, it's okay~"
She tiptoed and kissed his cheeks, and hugged him firmly as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
Davis caressed her back with fondness before his gaze fell on Eterna, "Not going to hug?"
"Hmph! Unlike Celestia, I knew what you were up to with our mothers, father."
She folded her hands and looked away, causing Davis's eyes to go wide. He then relaxed, thinking she must've seen some couple here do some shady things. There were many people, after all.
"Eterna, papa is sorry and wants to hug you. Come here, will you, please?"
He asked with a pleasing and benign voice, causing Eterna's expression to tremble.
She shed tears and ran towards him, "Papa~"
Pouncing on him beside Celestia, she pressed her face into his chest and cried.
"I waited so long, but you didn't come to see us. I was angry with you… but… I won't ignore papa again~"
Davis's eyes glazed, "Yes… papa was wrong. From now on, I will come to see you even if you don't want me around."
"Mhm~" The two of them incoherently hummed.
He almost cried as he sensed the longing behind his daughters' words. They couldn't be any more innocent and genuine. All they wished was to see him and play with him, but he was too busy to fulfill their wishes. He blamed himself for being a bad father, hugging them as he closed his eyes, holding himself back from crying.
After some time, he let them go and patted their heads.
"Shall we play UNO?"
"Yes, please~" Celestia smiled sweetly
"With pleasure!~" Eterna giggled, looking all confident.
Davis turned around and began another round of UNO against the children. This time— he knew what to do as he kept losing against the children, allowing them to have fun.
Their smiling and laughing faces were pure gold. It was as though nothing could beat it.
However, he knew they were also growing up.
He was sure these two pipsqueaks had people and children alike following them around to get to do what they wanted, but it was a pity it wouldn't work for him. So when they could no longer have him follow them and saw him having fun, they became extremely jealous and confronted him, crying to their heart's content.
They failed, but they had already been employing manipulative tactics. He didn't know how they acquired this trait or if it was just children who learned something along the way, like a toddler crying just to get out of a situation or a child falsely blaming just to have revenge.
Either way, he could see they were growing and thought they needed classes on sexual education as well. He didn't think it was too soon, considering this world was pretty screwed up with an eight-year-old prince already having a personal maid to experience the act whenever he wanted to or was ready to, which was him.
Even from Drake, Davis heard that a minority of dual cultivation sects allowed disciples to dual cultivate from the age of nine with their peers. He couldn't believe it, but competition for those who were dirt poor started way earlier.
Such was the world of the survival of the fittest.
Regardless, Davis only wanted his daughters to be safe and know how to differentiate between good touch and bad touch, although he was sure that his wives had already taught them that. The classes on sexual education weren't on having safe sex but on saving themselves for marriage and knowing their worth regardless of their cultivation base. It applied to both boys and girls, as saving primal yang and primal yin was extremely important in the world of cultivation. He had already gone through the curriculum when Mingzhi introduced the legal system to him.
It would be taught to all children above the age of eight years old.
Nonetheless, he guessed they had a month or two to start learning after the entire realm stabilized.
"Yay! UNO! I won first!" Eterna banged the last card on the bed and jumped around, looking so ecstatic.
Davis came out of his reverie and smiled at her before he looked at the number of cards he had. It was in the two digits. This game not only taught strategy but also taught how early birds were the ones to eat and not the late ones, directly superimposing the cultivation world where the one who takes the risk is possibly rewarded the most.
He could see why Mingzhi introduced this game to the children, as they might find chess boring since it doesn't include many participants.
"Ah… why does this keep happening to me?"
Davis got hit with a plus-four from Celestia, causing him to groan while she cheekily giggled. He reluctantly took four cards out of the pile and stacked more cards than the thickness of his finger.
He couldn't help but wryly smile and play for a long time, going past the time stipulated. He also had fun playing with his little siblings, getting to know more about them and their parents as he chatted about what they were doing nowadays.
Davis felt like he had a lot of catching up to do. He also needed to go visit Aurelia, Sheria, Viridia, Azariel, and Lucian, but they were probably still with their mothers, and meeting them would be bad for his self-control.
Eventually, he put Eterna and Celestia to sleep after they were done playing and headed towards Stella, where Shirley, Lea, Calypsea, and Mingzhi had also gathered.
It was time to leave.