Ardor stood up and let Jeanne sit in his seat. He walked around the translucent egg enclosing Edgar with cold eyes that sent shivers down his spine.

Despite being a simple mortal and possessing no power, Edgar felt Ardor could decide his fate, and he was right.

“You did something you should have never done. Did you think you could simply bend the fabric of reality and not have it snap back at you?” Ardor stared at Edgar with a mocking smile.

“Fabric of reality?” Edgar muttered in confusion, but his voice was not heard, and neither did Ardor care.

“Let me out!” he shouted in anger, looking at everyone around him, especially his mother. “My father will never let you off if something happens to me!”

His threats were in vain, as they would not save him today.

Ardor turned on a new skill he had gained after returning from the gathering. His vision switched from normal as he saw a faint pink thread coming from Edgar and going towards Isabella.

‘The description does make sense! How wonderful! With this, I’ll be able to do many things!’ Ardor grinned, understanding the usefulness of this skill.

[Skill: Lust Vision

Type: Active (consumes stamina depending on the target’s strength)

Description: You can see a person’s lustful desire towards another. This will work on people of equal rank to you and on a wounded/weakened person one rank higher.

Remarks: There’s plenty you can do with this, if you have the right tools.

Cost: 99 LPS]

He waited along with others, as Edgar grew weaker from the suffocation and shouting, and finally fainted due to lack of oxygen. Bella finally removed her aura, covering her son.

“Will he be okay?” she questioned Ardor with some fear.

“Yes, we have no plans to kill him,” Ardor nodded and saw Bella visibly relax. After all, despite not liking what they had done to her, Edgar was still her son.

‘Ah, the love of a mother!’ Ardor felt some envy, then looked at the one who had taken the opportunity away from him. ‘

Alse… even though killing you is justified for what you did to me, I believe my mother will rest well, knowing you will spend the rest of your life strengthening me or until I get tired of using you.’

Ardor took out a small potion from his pocket and beckoned Isabella over and handed it to her.

“Feed him,” he said.

Isabella hesitated for a moment, but obeyed him. She felt that since she was leaving with the mage the next day, Edgar’s clan would not have enough time to hunt them down, in case Lance could not protect her.

She felt complicated. Walking up to him, she looked closer at the very man she decided to fulfill her clan’s mission with.

‘To think I’ll poison you with my own hands… I never thought I’d leave you for someone else. But he’s truly better than you!’ she thought, thinking of Lance while not knowing her mind was influenced by the heavenly pleasure he gave her.

Isabella removed the cork of the small potion bottle, then she fed it to him and stood aside, waiting for a change.

“Now let’s wait,” Ardor said to everyone else and looked at Lance. “You’re up next.”

Lance smiled and carried Isabella as if carrying a bag of potatoes and went to the bathroom to clean themselves while Isabella stayed silent, remembering his words this evening.

‘Let see if it’s enough,’ Ardor thought, remembering the potion’s effects.

[Item: Lust Potion

Description: Feed it to someone to make them fall in lust with you. Will only work on someone up to one rank higher than you.

Remarks: A haughty person? Make them fall with a single bottle!

Cost: 99 LPs]

Even though he was not using it for its intended purpose, Ardor felt it was worth it to maximize the mental suffering Edgar was going to face.

Soon, Lance returned with a shy Isabella, and Edgar woke up, only to find himself tied with thick rope such that he could only kneel.

Ardor looked at the one who tied her son. ‘To think she’s into bdsm as well…’

“What are you doing?” Edgar screamed in rage. “Release me at once!”

He struggled to remove the bindings, but despite his great strength, they only grew tighter.

“What is this?” he asked Ardor in anger.

“Ask your mother. After all, she’s the one who tied you.”

“What?” Edgar looked at his mother in shock. He was speechless, as he never thought she would harm him. “Why?” he quietly asked.

Bella sadly smiled. “Because that’s what my hubby wants.” Before Edgar could curse her new hubby, she added, “And don’t worry, they won’t kill you or cripple you.”

Ardor nodded. ‘We’ll just mentally scar you for life.’

He got Bella to tie her son’s mouth, then looked at Lance, and at Isabella.

“You can start now.”

Isabella looked down with faint red creeping up her ears.

“Here? In front of everyone?”

Despite being a trained assassin, the thought of giving her first time in the presence of so many people felt unacceptable to her.

Ardor’s calm gaze grew cold. He looked at Lance. “Seems like you forgot to clarify their status.”

Lance was eager to get started and felt annoyed at the delay Ardor was causing. Despite that, that was a being he didn’t dare to upset, so despite feeling bothersome, he thought of a solution and answered.

“Okay. Bella is my concubine. Alse and Isabella are my slaves, while Minnie is my servant, my maid.” He looked at Ardor with eagerness. “Now can we start?”

Before Ardor could nod, Isabella felt all that shyness evaporate in an instant as she almost screamed at Lance. “Y-you, how could you? Didn’t you say we were all your lovers, and you loved us equally? Now why am I your slave?”

Her face had a look that meant she would not let this matter rest, no matter what. He was not getting in her pants before she was satisfied with him!

Alse also stared at him, waiting for an answer, while Jeanne had an enlightened look on her face. Minnie simply did what she was trained to do, stand still and wait for her new master’s orders as her status didn’t change. 

As Bella felt gleeful, having the highest status among Lance’s women, Lance looked at Ardor and asked, “Should I?” He added, <tell them a simpler version of the truth or the truth?>

Ardor nodded while replying, <The simple version.>

Lance looked at Isabella and Alse while pointing towards Ardor.

“Look, he’s my boss. You know a subordinate cannot go against his boss, right?” As the women nodded, he continued, “As you know what you’ve done to him, how could he let his loyal subordinate love you? To become a part of his family?”

The women looked at Ardor, curious to know the reason.

“It’s because of me!” As Ardor began feeling this simple version was not what he asked for, he heard Lance say, “I requested him to spare you, to accept you, to let you be a part of us. Otherwise I would regret it!”

<I would regret wasting such good bodies and not making full use of them.> he said to Ardor, which calmed him.

Even though the ladies didn’t understand how Ardor could hurt them, they remembered how he had given them the Soul Flowers, which gave them their talent, how he had Jeanne loyal to him and her high talent.

They looked at him with some respect, knowing he would be capable of enacting revenge on them soon, then looked at Lance with gratefulness.

Ardor once again saw the images sent by Lance of Isabella and Alse and felt his hidden smirk.

‘So it seems this was his plan all along! To forcibly raise their loyalty and fix it without making them his permanent harem members! This guy’s understanding of women is extraordinary.’ Ardor thought, feeling some pride.

Alse calmed down, knowing how much effort Lance put in for their sake while Isabella felt apologetic for shouting at the one who indirectly saved her life.

“Shall we start?” Lance asked, and received a shy nod from her.

All this while, Edgar stared at the couple. He initially felt confused at feeling great attraction towards Isabella that he almost lost it when Ardor told them to do it in front of him. 

Then he felt happy, since it appeared Isabella would not obey Lance. But now, once again, he was feeling angry.

“Mmm mmm mmm.”

Ardor looked at the guy on his knees, trying to speak but spectacularly failing to do so since he had cloth stuffed inside his mouth and a rope keeping his jaw open tied to the back of his neck that disallowed him to utter anything.

He smiled after switching to his Lust Vision and saw that faint pink thread going towards Isabella from Edgar had turned darker and almost solid, feeling nearly unbreakable.