Vol.3 Ch.193 How Many Pups Will You Carry?

Vol.3 Ch.193 How Many Pups Will You Carry?

When Tayna was taking a bath. Johan hurried to his chambers, cleaned himself up, and dressed before Lester could walk in. After putting on his clothes, he walked to the main dining room. The table had several plates filled with food. A couple of servants worked around the room, cleaning the tables and chairs.

"Where's the Prince and his Lady?" Johan asked a nearby servant.

"They are coming, milord. They should be here shortly."

Johan nodded, "Okay."

The servant bowed and continued to work.

Yuliana and Nieren were the first to arrive. Yuliana was wearing a white dress and she was also wearing a tiara that signified her rank as a former princess. She was carrying a special satchel that had the three Elder Tree saplings. She had spent the last two decades trying to get them to grow to no avail. It was Rya who noticed that the seeds were poisoned by wyvern blood. And she healed them.

Nieren was wearing her Fiafyrian retainer armor. Which was black leather and was designed for an archer. She was wearing her cloak, of invisibility, and had her bow on her back with a quiver on her left hip. She also had two knives on her thighs and her leather boots had metal tips on the toes. But her beautiful face had two dark spots underneath her eyes.

"Good morning, Lord Johan." Yuliana said in a chipper tone.

"Good morning, Princess and... Is your daughter okay?" Johan asked as he noticed Nieren bumping into a chair.

Yuliana's chipper attitude turned sour as she looked at her daughter.

"Nieren!" She called out.

Nieren just grumbled.

"My apologies. She didn't use the earplugs I gave her. I think everyone who was performing mating rituals had kept her up to an unreasonable hour."

Johan started feeling bad for the young wood elf, for he was one of the culprits.

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? You weren't the only one."

"Still. I can't imagine what it was like to hear everything around you so easily. But I can understand someone being loud and keeping you up. It can be annoying."

"Thank you for understanding, Lord Johan. But my daughter could have done something about it and she's stubborn in her ways," Yuliana said with a smile.

Nieren had sat down and had her head on the table. She was snoring softly.

"Why didn't she use the earplugs? If you don't mind me asking?" Johan asked as he was concerned for the poor wood elf.

"Haah... She told me that it was her sworn duty to protect Lady Rya. And she thinks she can't do that with her ears plugged up... Sadly, I think she gets that trait from me," Yuliana shook her head as she looked at her daughter.

"What do you mean?"

"Well... When I was her age. I thought I knew what was best for my family. My father was the leader of our people and he would tell me to do things smarter and not harder. I didn't listen to him and did something that made me look like a fool. But luckily I survived it."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Johan said, not wanting to pressure her.

"It's in the past. Oh! Nieren! Watch out!" Yuliana yelled out.

Nieren slipped off her chair and smacked her head against the ground, jolting herself awake.

"Aaaahhh!" Nieren yelled as she jumped to her feet.

"Ouch. That had to hurt," Johan said as he cringed at the sight.

Nieren looked at the human and her mother and saw their concerned looks. "W-What's wrong? What happened?" Nieren asked as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Nothing happened. I just told you to watch out," Yuliana smirked.

"Mom! It was important to listen for any possible danger," Nieren growled.

"I don't think there is any danger. At least not at the moment. Unless there is something we should know about," Johan said as he looked at Nieren.

"W-Well, when Lady Rya and His Highness are done doing there... passionate love session. They seem to get in a slumber that leaves them vulnerable to attacks."

"I see. So, you are just doing your job," Johan responded with a nod.

"Thank you, Lord Johan," Nieren smiled.

Her mother, though, wasn't buying it.

"Nieren, stop using Lady Rya's relationship with the prince as an excuse for your actions."

"But, Mom. She is vulnerable in that state. It's my job to protect her. And if that stupid dog would just slow down then I could hear my prince's moans bett~ I-I mean! His Highness and My Lady wouldn't be at risk from an assassin!" Nieren shouted, as her cheeks were turning bright red.

"Mhm. Well, whatever it is. Just stop it and take better care of yourself. Lady Rya would prefer if you were functional during the day," Yuliana said as she sat down next to her daughter.

Nieren was mortified that she almost let it slip that she enjoyed listening to them. Especially hearing Quinus' passionate husky moans. In the beginning, she thought it was disgusting that an elf, albeit a dark elf, was making love to a human. But now she can't stop herself from fantasizing about the young man. And it was getting worse after Rya healed her mana vein.

"Ugh. My head," Nieren grumbled.

"Good morning, my Lord and Lady," Percy, Johan, and Yuliana said.

Dalia got up and greeted them, "Good morning, Alpha and Beta."

"Morning... Sorry to keep you all waiting. But the bath was divine," Quinus said as he and Rya took their seats.

Nieren yawned and rubbed her eyes, "M-Morning."

Rya smiled, "So? I see you didn't use the earplugs."

"S-Sorry, Lady Rya. I-I couldn't sleep well. S-So, I thought I would... keep watch," Nieren stuttered.

Yuliana just shook her head while Rya glanced at her friend.

"Nieren. Give me your hands," Rya said.

"Huh? W-Why?"

"I just want to see something."

"Okay," Nieren said while complying.

She put her hands on the table and Rya placed her hands on top of the Wood Elf's. Rya summoned her void healing magic and channeled it into the Wood Elf's body. Her eyes glowed a soft blue as her mana traveled through her and into her body. Nieren gasped at the warmth of her lady's mana. Soon the dark bags under her eyes faded away and her face became more vibrant. She could feel the weight lift off her shoulders and her mood brightened up. Rya cut off the mana flow and her eyes returned to normal. Nieren smiled and was about to talk when her head came down and smacked the table.

"N-Nieren!? W-What did you do to my daughter?" Yuliana shouted.

"Yikes... Looks like she didn't have much sleep last night. I just healed her, but I guess the discomfort was keeping her awake. I'm sorry, Yuliana," Rya said.

Yuliana looked at her sleeping daughter.

"She looks so peaceful. It is disrespectful but thank you, Lady Rya. Please forgive my rudeness."

"There's nothing to forgive, Yuliana. I should have taken her to a bedroom first," Rya said, with a sad smile.

"My Lord, My Lady, breakfast is served," a maid said as she brought the food into the dining hall.

Johan asked a few servants to take Nieren to her room.

Breakfast consisted of steak, sausage, potatoes, bacon, and eggs.

"Wow. That looks good," Rya said as she took a deep breath of the scent.

"Yes indeed," Quinus agreed. He looked over to Johan and noticed that he looked better. His features became more defined and his face looked like that of a male model. Quinus softly elbowed Rya's arm and pointed at Johan.

"Did you get the chance to see his mana vein? He definitely looks different," Quinus whispered.

Rya looked at Johan and slipped her fingers into her cleavage. It took her a second to pull out the Seer Stone from her secret hiding spot and brought it to her right eye. She looked through the demonic monocle and her eyes widened.

"His vein is elite ranked," Rya whispered back.

Quinus nodded as he looked at his friend, "Well, he'll be happy to know that he can be a Maja warrior."

"Well, he has a mage's vein too... and it's a rare color," Rya said.

Quinus's jaw dropped.

"Are you serious?" he whispered.

"Yeah, take a look," Rya whispered back.

Rya handed Quinus the Seer Stone.

"Do I need to do anything to make it work?"

"Just channel a little mana into it. Not too much. The thing is sensitive," Rya explained.

"Understood," Quinus said, nodding.

He held the seer stone to his eye and was amazed at the sight. There was a giant blue vein running along Johan's spine and then there were a bunch of smaller veins extending out from the glowing blue one. These veins spread throughout and connected to other parts of his body. These smaller veins were pulsating purple.

"What type of mage is he?"

"I need to double-check the tomes but if my memory is correct. Then he's an illusion mage, a very rare one at that," Rya said while thinking about how those veins pulsated, "Yeah, his mage's vein is a rare variant of illusion mage. I'll check my notes just to make sure."

Quinus lowered the seer stone and gave it back to Rya. Who slipped it back into her cleavage.

"Well, I'll give him the news later. I think he deserves it."

Rya smiled and nodded.

The group enjoyed their meal. Rya and Percy shared some of their food with Dalia. Which made the Wolfkin happy and her tail was wagging the entire time. And just as everyone was almost finished the doors opened to a limping Tayna with two maids escorting her.