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"Yes, honeybun?"   

 

"How was work?"   

   

"The usual except the trail I was tracking in Sokovia end up cold."   

   

"Really?"   

   

"Yes. What's wrong? Is there something you want to ask?"   

   

"I do in fact..." Said Anastasia as she wraps her arms around her husband neck. Usually, such an affectionate gesture would make him feel loved and warm but now, he feels quite unsettling. 

Even more so when the eyes of his beloved turn dark, just like her emotionless tone, he has not seen her eyes turn so lifeless for quite a while. 

"Why does your body smell like woman perfume? You have never worn mine before even when I ask you to... Don't tell me you were cheating behind my back when you were working?"   

   

"Oh." Earnst realizes he does indeed smell woman perfume on his body as he smells his wrist. "Well, I can explain that and no I'm not cheating behind your back with another woman..."    

   

Earnst tried to reassure her wife as he comfort her by holding her small waist but her suspicion wasn't lessening at all, only for him to realize why after waiting a good second.   

   

"...Or a man. I'm not cheating behind your back with a man or woman." Only then did his word put her mind at ease as her expression become soft.  

   

"Good." She said as her eyes that was once dead and empty now appeared full of life.

"I don't need to hear your reason or the rest, I only need to hear your word. No cheating, alright?" She didn't wait for even a second to hear her husband fidelity as she already know the answer. Just as quick, she asked him another question as she turn her body in the other direction.

"Come, have you had breakfast yet? Let's ask Uncle Oeznik to prepare something in the meantime while we wait for dinner." As Anastasia walk away satisfied with her husband answer, expecting her husband to walk alongside her, he, however, grabs her wrist to stop her from continuing walking.

   

"Wait." Said Earnst.   

"Hmm?" 

 

He felt fortunate that his wife isn't paranoid like she used to be or but that doesn't mean he should let her curiosity turn into one. 

If it was years before or even after their daughter birth, she would have a much harder time to be convinced otherwise, at best if not worse, he would be locked in a chain to their bed as they both make love together until she is satisfied.  

   

"I would prefer to keep it as a secret until... our special day. But the secret is already out, might as well go all the way since you will remember about it sooner or later."

   

"I try testing them on myself you see... I thought I wash the scent off with soap but I guess I didn't wash it off properly." He explained to her as he put his hand inside his coat to retrieve a small box.

The moment before he pulled his hand from the pocket inside his coat, he thought to himself. "That or my wife has a stronger sense of smell than I realize." 

As he pulled his hand from his coat, in his hand, he is holding, what appears to be a small box containing a glass bottle of perfume. The name of the brand doesn't seem to be a well-known brand let alone a luxury brand.

 

In fact, at first glance, it could be mistaken as a cheap product because of how the box of the perfume is all crumpled up and somewhat ugly, but if one were to take another look, the design of the box is actually well-made and it was just dirty from mud and dirt.

But it doesn't change the product itself is damaged when he pulled out the glass bottle from its box, although the bottle of the perfume is slightly cracked, the content however seems to be fine as the liquid nor the smell doesn't seem to be leaking.  

 

"I ruined it when I was working. A mistake of mine to bring it along to work. I'm sorry, it was not my intention to give you a damaged gift for our-"   

   

"Oh, love. You remember our anniversary!" She cries out in surprise and pure happiness can be heard in her voice.

   

"Of course I do. And I'm sorry for messing up for our last year..." He said as his wife cover his cheek with kisses.

   

"No, I told you many times it's alright." She stopped her bombard of kisses and reassure her husband of his past mistake, but she didn't stop there as she was the one who started to apologize as well. "I'm the one who supposed to be sorry, for being suspicious of- It just that... I-"   

   

"No... No... You have every right to question why your husband smells woman perfume. It's normal for you to suspect I was with another woman if I came back smelling like one."   

   

"Even still..."   

   

"Anastasia, my love. It is not healthy to keep those questions to yourself. I'm glad you ask. We talk about this many times already as well..."   

   

"I'm sorry that you have to put up with-" But even that was not enough and before she was able to say one last word, her husband gave a stern look. 

   

"Anastasia..." Said Earnst, warning her wife to stop denigrating herself. 

If Carl were to see this, he would sense a Deja Vu and doesn't know why.

   

"I stopped now..." Although she tries to look sad at the fact she is being reprimanded by her husband, her eyes however say otherwise, glittering as if she enjoys her husband serious voice and furious look.

"I stopped... But only if you also forgive yourself for not remembering our previous anniversary."

Surprised by his wife demand but not surprised by his wife cunning side, he accepts. "Alright, I try."

As if the wife were to seal their deal, she kissed him one more but this time, she kiss him on his lips with a little bit of tongue action as she wraps her arms around his neck while doing so. "Good." She said when their kiss ended.

"As for the gift, I will buy your a new-"   

   

"There's no need." She cut him off as she gives him another quick kiss on the cheek. "Mwah."

"This is perfect." She said as she admired the gift she snatch from her husband hand, damaged or not, she doesn't care.

   

"Nonsense." He disagreed as he tries to take the gift from her hand. "My wife deserves a better gift than damaged good. I know you are not fond of an expensive gift, but you still deserve-"   

   

"Nope. I. Want. This." She emphasize her demands as she playfully taps her husband chest each time she said a word.

"But where did you get it?" She asks as she inspects her newly gift. "This box design is different, but the brand logo, the smell, I thought the perfume I smelled from your body was familiar. 

"And it is!" She exclaimed. 

"This is Soria perfume. It's my mother's favourite. I was sure the company went bankrupt many years ago but I don't recall ever telling you of the perfume my mother used to wear."

 

"...I have my source and a way to make it happen."

 

His source was Carl and Silvijia.

His nephew spends quite an amount of time with his wife as well when they visit him but not as much as with Silver. So generally, to please the mother and daughter duo, the three of them spend time with each other, especially when he was much younger which was the peak of his wife obsession with their nephew.

But alas, the company that produces the perfume filed for bankruptcy years ago as the economy of the Symkaria, where the business resides slowly collapsed, years before Carl was even born. Before he can do a single thing to save his mother childhood.

It was his mother's favourite perfume brand as well as it is to his aunt as it greatly remind both of them of their late mother and their childhood. Something that his aunt mentioned about as well.

Despite the fact she only mention it to the kids only once, it was her daughter who brought it up to her husband in the first place, and then her nephew help his husband research it by asking his mother, his sister.

 

As for how Earnst is able to acquire the said perfume that should no longer produced many years ago... 

When you possess a great amount of wealth, you can do many things that ordinary people would never think of in their lifetime.

 

A good example would be buying a company. Not the company product, buying a massive amount of product but the whole business. 

Of course, Earnst wasn't the only one who funded the business from scratch. Not because he financial can't but because there are two other people who wish to help recreate the business.

 

Earnst nephew, Carl and his brother in law, Helmut. When he heard that his son is investing in a business that once produced a perfume that his own wife desired as well. Without hesitation, he too becomes part of the business investor.

The company that bankrupt a decade ago is now running once again. 

With the additional funding they receive from the House of Sablinova and House of Zemo, the business was able to operate faster than they expected, just on time to produce the first perfume to be used as a gift for Earnst marriage anniversary.

 

Anastasia is not a simple woman who only possess a pretty face and a sexy body, which is an understatement of her attractive feature but regardless.

No one can deny the fact her daughter, Silvijia, inherit her talent in martial arts from her father, but not many know who did she inherit her smarts from.

Only those who are close to the Matriach of Sablinova, such as her husband realize the Princess of Sablinova inherit her intelligence from her mother.

As kind and beautiful she is, she was no book smart in her youth, at first glance she was at best and at worst, an average student in school, or so it seems.

In reality, she is what can be identified as a hidden genius, a bonafide genius in terms of intelligence, scoring 165 on an IQ test in her younger day, but IQ tests are not the best way of knowing a human intelligence, not when there's a powerful System that can do many impossible things.

If the System were to inspect her attribute stats, she would no doubt have the potential of a hard 9 INT. And her daughter, Silvijia has a greater potential than her.

The reason how Carl is smarter than his older cousin is as if her INT stat is two or even three points lower than his, despite the fact both possess similar INT points. There are several reasons why.

The first reason is that he is a reincarnator, he possesses a memory of his predecessor who already finished high school. This gave him a massive headstart whether he is a genius or just above average.

The second reason is the System, while it doesn't magically help a person with low INT become genius or a cripple with low DEX become an Olympians athletes, it does however help the System User reach their full potential faster, in a way, acting as a cognition multiplier by depending two different yet specific attribute, and they are INT and DEX attribute.

So let's take high school students for example, even if two students are equally smart but if one student has the System and the other doesn't, the former will progress in their studies at a greater rate as if there's a big intelligent gap between them.

You could say the System influence act similar to that steroid to athletes,  without the side effects of the drugs to the human body except, it can do so much more.

As for why Carl's aunt, Anastasia never untapped her true potential, there are several reasons as well in fact. 

First, the scientific field nor studying never interested her, thus she only study at the bare minimum, enough to graduate from the class.

Second, she prefers a much more simple life, learning how to bake bread and help people upfront such as being a nurse rather than in the cold lab, researching medicine or technology that can improve the quality of life of all humanity. Looking back, she realizes she can do more for the world but nevertheless, she has no regret.

And lastly, her family wasn't financially stable as her sister needed money for surgery when she has the opportunity to pursue higher education but she did not blame her parents or her sister as they had done so much for her and because of the first and second reasons, she didn't see it as a loss even when her whole family sees it as one as they know very well she was special, talented, gifted among gifted.

With her intelligence that can only be found in 1 in 100,000, she is easily able to figure out who help her husband choose a gift for their anniversary.

 

"I seem to have two little angels to thank for." Of course, she thought her sister helps as well but she has a feeling it was the kids who did most of the work. And she is confident her sister also doesn't realize what is going to happen.

 

As for how her husband acquired a perfume that no longer exist in the market, it was no rocket science, not for her at least. Especially since perfume generally doesn't last long. She even estimated the amount of money her husband must have spent to make it happen.

 

She wants to berate her husband for spending so much for a gift as she is not fond of excessive spending but damn she would be lying if she isn't happy with the gift she received.

She can't lie that she isn't over the moon, not to her husband and certainly not to herself, not when she has this big smile on her face that she can't control even if she desperately wanted to wipe it off.

 

With the gift in her hand that she dearly values more than its actual worth, she takes one step forward in her husband direction to kiss him on the lips. 

This time, she put more emotions and feelings into their kiss than ever before, making their kiss last for a good whole minute if not longer.

 

"It seems that I owe my nephew another favour... I wouldn't have succeeded without his help. And of course, I can't forget my little princess as well." Earnst thought as he continue making out with his wife in the presumably empty hallway.

They didn't care if the servants were to stumble into them when they are making out, but it was a different story if it was children who saw them instead as their kiss was more aggressive than their usual lovey-dovey kiss. As in a lot of tongue action and even hands action as well.

The two couples were too immersed in their own world to even notice they are indeed being watched.

  

As for what Anastasia said a moment ago, her husband, unfortunately, did forget about their previous anniversary. She was not happy with the fact he failed to remember one of their most special days together, the anniversary of their marriage.

No woman who is in a relationship would be happy if their significant other forget such an important day. But when they do, or rather when they stopped caring, it's a sign that they are giving up on their relationship.

 

To make it worse for the married man, his wife was not mad, she was however disappointed.  

 

For three whole days, she barely talks to him, only keeping it to the bare minimum, she didn't even look at him in the eyes when they speak to each other. Despite the fact she still sleep on the same bed with her husband, she did not approach him for their daily lovemaking session.

This is not how the loving and caring Anastasia act when she is mad. When she is mad, it involves lots of angry sex.

Usually, it is almost always his wife making the first move and when she didn't, it is mostly because their daughter is planning to sleep together with them.

For Earnst, this has never happened to him in their years of being in a relationship together, and he is too afraid to get berated by his wife if he were to ask her to have sex. 

He might not be smart as his wife or his daughter, but it doesn't require being a genius to know he would be inconsiderate to even ask, that and he would be seeking death as well.

 

He would hundred times prefer his wife to be mad at him and chaining him in their bedroom, making love for seven days and seven nights- no... even for the whole month if he must if it means making it up to her instead of being given the cold shoulder. 

This was something he had never experienced.

 

His wife, Anatasia who have always revolved her life around his existence since he can remember their times together, obsessing over him, loving him and only him, never once even glancing at other men whether he is there with her or not.

For her to ignore him out of disappointment, was an experience he never thought he would greatly fear.

 

That was because he never thought there was a possibility that his beloved wife would ever leave his side. But after that incident, he realize the probability was never zero in the first place. 

 

On the third day after giving the cold shoulder, his wife actually has already forgotten that she was supposed to be upset at her husband as if her silent treatment never happen in the first place, or perhaps she didn't care about it anymore after calming down and wishing to reconnect to her dear husband once again.

Regardless, she once again, continue to express her love, including making intimate love with her husband once more but just to be safe, Earnst ask her for forgiveness one more time and the forgiveness he received.

 

Most men would relax just because their significant other forgive them, Earnst however did not. 

 

He believe their relationship was already at a breaking point when in reality their marriage was still stronger and healthier than 99.9999% of other people relationships and that's a fact. 

He is no doubt being paranoid.

 

The man even has a nightmare that his wife would leave him.

Even his own wife failed to reassure him that she has no intention of leaving him, even if her life depends on it after finding out he is having a nightmare, realizing she was the cause. 

As much as she want to enjoy the extra love and attention from her husband in those days, knowing her beloved had a sleepless night, suffering because she gave him the silent treatment for the first time made it impossible to do so.

 

This is why he, personally alone seek consultation from one of the best marriage counsellors Sokovia has to offer, which his brother-in-law, personally recommends. 

His son, Carl.

 

Although technically, Helmut never said the word "marriage counsellor", he did however claim his son always gave solid advice that helps his relationship with his mother. They too, as a perfect couple as they seem, quarrel with each other before. Regardless of whose fault it is, he alone asks his son for advice, because if there's ever a living human who knows more about his wife as much as he does if not more besides his late parents-in-law and sister-in-law who live in another country, it would be their son.

 

While Carl didn't have an ounce of experience when it comes to marriage let alone a romantic relationship, this includes his previous life as well.

He, however, possesses a great level of intelligence and wisdom, and most importantly, extraordinary charisma that allows him to do that many men, that even women themself cannot do... 

"Understanding women. An ability that is envied by all men from all over the world." - Silver Sable & Baron Zemo.

 

Obviously, that is a joke made by Earnst and Helmut. At least, they are joking about understanding women part.

One needs to remember the system gave Carl a total of thirty-six total attribute points and he invested thirty-three of them into Mental attributes, thus investing only three-point into his Physical attributes, only because the System doesn't allow less than one point in any attribute stats. 

On one hand, because of his predecessor choice, he receives a crippled body but on other hand, he singlehandedly become an intellectual powerhouse intelligence, wisdom and charisma, possessing the brain of a bonafide genius, the mind of a sage and the face of a beautiful angel.

In another word, with the help of the System power, besides physical factors, such as physical fitness, skill and ability, Carl's talents potential is extremely vast as long as they involve mental work and little or none physical work.

This includes understanding people in general.

 

At first, Earnst was sceptical but he play along since Helmut, his brother-in-law, is not a man who jokes around when it comes to serious matters, especially when it involves her sister-in-law marriage. But he soon realized he was telling the truth. 

 

He now knows the counselling he received from his nephew was the best thing he never know he needed.

 

No doubt his strong relationship with his aunt, is equivalent to that of mother and son, allowing his nephew to understand properly of how their relationship works, his wife unique character traits, what they want from others and so on and so forth.

Thus, successfully giving solid advice that improves their relationship. Something many marriage counsellors failed to do, as he has already met plenty and all of them were the best that money can buy, this was before he seek his nephew as an act of desperation.

 

Not only does he help his uncle marriage as a marriage counsellor, but he also acts as a wingman when he needs him to.

And as you can see right at the current moment where Earnst is still making out with his wife even after several minutes have passed by, it shows that not a single of his nephew effort has been a waste. 

 

This is why it is not an exaggeration to say Carl has the potential to be the greatest marriage counsellor (and wingman) the world has ever seen, even earning a nickname given by his own father and uncle, The Wingman.

 

Even after nearly a whole year have passed since the horrible event that Earnst does not wish to speak of ever again, he still seeks advice from his nephew every once in a while, and there are time he seeks him to have a normal talk between as family, as an uncle and sometimes as a friend.

But he never visited him without his daughter or his wife, or else they both will weep for days for not seeing Carl when they have the opportunity to do so.

He would gladly reward his dear nephew for his help whether for his advice or his assistance as a wingman, even as far as paying him one hundred thousand US dollars for every session they have together despite how most marriage counselling would cost around thousand dollars at best but for Earnst, there is no price tag for his marriage.

He would gladly pay millions and even more to repay his help. 

 

Not surprisingly, Carl also believes the same thing, there is no price tag for his aunt and uncle marriage, not just because they are his family as well, but also because their marriage and their love for each other is something that he deeply admired and envied at the same time. Before he is officially in a relationship with Silver that is.

 

This is why he stubbornly reject his uncle rewards, much to his dismay. 

He only asks him to donate it to help the poor if he were to insist, the needy, the sick, the unprivileged and the orphans, all in the name of God as his uncle is also a religious man.

 

And he did. 

Earnst helps the people who need it the most in his country, but instead of helping the people with the exact amount of money he wishes to give to his nephew, he decides to take it to a whole new level.  

 

The man straight up builds a hospital that offers free service to people who are unable to pay for it. Building the largest hospitals his country, Symkaria has ever seen and named it after his beloved wife. 

 

Anastasia Hospital. 

 

A project to build a hospital can easily cost around one hundred million (US Dollars) on average. And running it can easily cost twice the amount running it over the years, paying the doctor's salaries, expensive equipment's and machinery's and so on. Not including the profit, the hospital made assuming a private hospital that offers free service to the poor and needy can even make a profit at that point. 

 

Carl, of course, suspect the reason his uncle just decide to build a hospital out of nowhere was because of what he had said. 

 

Especially since he build several orphanages and funded several dozens more, even fighting to implement policies to help the unprivileged and the poor despite the fact that it was never his main job. 

Although he is a nobleman who primarily works as a Mercenary, just like House of Zemo, he too possesses some political power and influence.

 

As for Carl, he couldn't or shouldn't even be complaining since this is technically what he asked his uncle to do with the money he wish to give.

 

Helping the poor, the unprivileged, the sick and the orphan. 

 

If he didn't know any better, he would have thought both of his uncle and aunt survive cancer and decide to give back to the world as they survived.

 

As for the woman herself. She still has yet to know of it as the hospital is still under construction and the name of it has yet to be revealed to the public. 

 

It might sound overkill just because his nephew provide advice for his marriage and acted as a wingman a few times but that's only because you have yet to see the aftermath.

 

He has never been more happy and excited to see and to be with his wife and daughter since Carl acted as a marriage counsellor for him, that isn't to say he once felt suffocating being with his family before. It is more to say, he feels lighter, as if he never realize the weight that chains him deep inside his heart were to suddenly disappear, a weight he have been carrying long before he even met his wife.

If he were to ask to pay with 99% of his wealth, he would hesitate but would end up agreeing in the end since just having 1% of his is wealth is more than enough for him and his family to live a good life.

 

He truly feels like the marriage between them is unbreakable and nothing can set them apart.

It sounds highly arrogant since he used to have a similar mindset not long ago before he finally realize his wife is still a normal woman who wants to be loved and not just crazily obsessed over him.

But that's because he is now head over heels for his wife all over again but stronger than ever, and that he feels like his love for her would last several if not a dozen lifetimes, the same thing can be said to his wife.

 

Never in a million years, he would think it would be possible for his wife, Anastasia to love him more than she has ever loved him before he ask his nephew for advice.

 

He always felt the love and affection he received from her is to the max and anymore should not be physically, mentally or emotionally possible but he was proven wrong in all three and he's glad he was wrong. 

 

Carl might not realize the things he has done for him and he doesn't need to, which is why he decides to give back to the world on behalf of his nephew name.

There's a reason why as much as he wants his nephew to stay away from his daughter, he can't help but adore him, seeing him and treating him as a son sometimes.

 

What felt to be minutes of making love to his wife feels like an eternity as the two couples finally separate their lips from each other. 

 

"Besides." She continued before she takes a moment to catch her breath after kissing with such intensity.

"The only thing I want for our anniversary is you..." Said Anastasia as she pokes her husband chest one last time before continuing and looking at him, deep into his silver colour eyes. "...Is you to be there with me."