After hearing Elke's words, Viktoria was open-mouthed at that information. 'How is this possible? Her mother saw her having sex with someone else's husband and accepted such a thing? Worse, is this woman still willing to hand over her daughter to Lothur?'
She did not have the same information about Lothur that Annaliese and Elke had. So, naturally, Viktoria was shocked to hear all that, trying to understand this absurdity of unimaginable proportions.
'Could it be that the Becker matriarch is up to something? But no, how could she use her own daughter's innocence? It would be absurd!'
'They should be after a spouse for her, so they can connect to other organizations and increase their power... But how will they do that now that Lothur has taken Elke's virginity?'
She looked at the redhead on her right side. 'She said he will have to prove himself...'
"How exactly will Lothur be useful to your family? I know he is capable of cultivating, but he is already my husband, and second wives usually don't earn much... Besides, even if he has some talent, it won't be for your family to use." She said in seriousness.
Elke looked at Viktoria as if she was watching the most ignorant person in the world and laughed. "You say that because you don't know anything about Lothur."
Viktoria closed her eyes and said in a slightly irritated tone. "Oh? Then why don't you tell me?"
Annaliese then said. "Lothur has many plans, sister. He has created a product that the Becker family is interested in buying. Because of this, they will soon have a mutually beneficial trade agreement."
"That's apart from his other plans, which also draw the attention of Elke's family..."
"Business?" She looked at Annaliese and then at her husband. "You will do business with a power that is not even partners with our family?"
Lothur then said. "I had the opportunity to talk to Elke's family, so why would I waste that chance just for such a trivial reason? If your family had opened their doors to me, I might have sought you out first."
Annaliese and Elke were silent after these words from Lothur, as neither wanted to get too involved in this discussion, and they knew he had his point.
Viktoria clenched her fists, staring at her husband. "I don't blame him for acting like this, but..." She then looked at Annaliese. "You knew about this and did nothing? Don't you want to protect your own family, Annaliese?"
Annaliese then defended herself. "Sister, I told Lothur to try to make his arrangements with the coroner Klossner, and he will do that in the next few weeks. It's just that his test product isn't ready yet, and the Becker family has approached him in the meantime."
"They were interested in another product from Lothur, so I believe my brother-in-law hasn't forgotten what I spoke about and didn't act out of spite."
Viktoria turned to Lothur. "I understand. You had no option before, and you didn't mean any harm. But now you have the option to work with others. So what are you going to do? Are you going to harm the family by working with competitors?"
Elke glared at Viktoria but then heard Lothur say. "These families may have been competitors in the past, but they may become allies in the future. So, don't worry about that. I will naturally unite you and avoid the problems you're worried about."
"Oh?" Viktoria looked at him with interest. "How are you going to do that? Do you know about the problems we have? Of the pressure that is against us? Of who her family is related to and what they want?"
"If it were so easy to make alliances and friendships, our family would not have lost so much space in the last centuries, Lothur." She disappointedly looked at him without blaming him too much since he was an amateur. "Her parents probably tricked you into luring you over to their side."
"Tsk!" Elke did not like that, but she remained silent after seeing her man's hand gesture.
"That may be true, and it isn't a simple situation. But no matter, I will help solve these problems by bringing together the only two things that matter in power relations."
"What?" She asked.
"Coins and brute power." He smiled. "Your family is decaying, but it will hardly face its demise in the short term. Instead, your enemies will probably continue to weaken you, as has been happening in the recent past."
"Then I will use this half-time to establish my own family and unite the houses of my wives and a few more allies."
"You?" She stood up, finding such a thing absurd. "That's a bit too ambitious, don't you think?"
He closed his eyes and asked. "Anna, Elke, do you think I'm joking? Do you two think I'm saying this without having the necessary skills?"
Viktoria continued watching him but was surprised to hear those two voices.
"No. You have the potential." Elke said.
"Hmm, my brother-in-law can do it, sister. He is much more talented than you think and has innovative ideas that could create an empire." She said with a twinkle in her eyes. "You have to meet his carriage project. That thing is so interesting. It will change our world!"
Viktoria looked at her sister and Elke, feeling confused about the feelings in her heart. Those two trusted him so much, even when talking about such complicated things. Yet, at the same time, she knew nothing about her husband, while those two knew so much about him made her angry.
"Lothur, aren't you going to tell me about these things? I think it's time for you to explain your plans and secrets to me. I want to see if your ambition is plausible or if those two are trying to fool me."
He smiled at her and said. "Yes, but let's do that later. Soon classes will start, and Elke and I will have our first classes in Sector-2..."
"Then let's continue this later." He rose from his seat, preparing to leave. "Now, let's do what we came here to do? I don't want any of us to be late."
"Sigh..."
"All right. Let's practice a little, so I can see how strong my impressive husband is... But I won't let you get away with it! We'll talk about it later today!"
Hearing that, the three prepared to head toward one of the many training places in this institution.
Lothur could not use the training facilities of this academy, given his position as a mortal incapable of cultivation. But Viktoria and his other women could do so, so they had no difficulty finding a suitable location.
Lothur had done this several times the previous week at Elke's side, so this was not a new situation for him either.
Thus, soon Lothur's two weaker women were sitting on the outskirts of a training room, waiting for the friendly match between him and Viktoria.
"Ready? I will take it a bit hard with you since you are such a wicked husband that hides information from his wife." She said as she showed her fists to Lothur.
"I prefer it that way, dear." He smiled, already with his ax in hand.
...