After spending half the night kissing Nyx, Arthur wakes up early and descends the stairs groggily, going to the kitchen, where he finds his mother almost done with the breakfast.
"Morning, darling" She greets him with her usual loving tone and offers him a cup of hot coffee.
"Morning... Mom... Uuwaaahh" Arthur smiles at his mother, while yawning. His body is taking a while to wake up, especially because he barely slept as he spent most of the night thinking about Margaret and the future of their relationship.
Aria notices that Arthur seems concerned about something. "Difficult night?"
"Not really," He comments while drinking coffee, which helps his body to wake up.
Aria grabs the bread she made and puts it on the table before sitting in front of Arthur and cutting it in slices for him.
"If you want to talk about something, Mommy is here for you," She smiles at him.
Arthur feels increasingly comfortable talking to his mother about anything, but he doesn't quite know how to introduce the subject of Nyx accepting Margaret as his girlfriend.
"Mom... I know it's not uncommon for people to have multiple spouses on the continent of Eldoria, but how common is it really?" He asks, surprising Aria with such a question.
Before she can react, he continues. "I mean, everyone in the village is monogamous, and even you and father... well, when you had something, I suppose you've always been monogamous."
Aria doesn't like to remember her relationship with Draven. She was never sexually active, and the only thing that motivated her at the beginning was to create a new family. Draven, on the other hand, has always been very sexually active, and as she did not want to satisfy his needs, he always sought comfort in the bed of other women.
Aria never cared about that, and that's what made her realize that there was no future for their relationship. It's as if something was missing inside her, and she only started to notice due to Arthur. She tries not to think about it and refocuses her attention on his question.
"Hmm, the things that lead someone to have more romantic partners can be many. Mainly arranged marriages between noble families to maintain lineages, but also very lustful men or women who are not satisfied with their partners,"
She continues. "Anyway, exceptional people do not like to share their partner with others, and simpler people are usually fine with just one partner."
"So having multiple spouses is not very common in the end?" Arthur asks.
"I guess so..." Aria responds. "But why are you thinking about this, darling?"
Before he can reply, she continues with a teasing smile, "Ara Ara~ don't tell me you already want to make a harem?"
"No!" Arthur quickly responds because that idea doesn't seem natural to him yet; after all, all his romantic experience is summed up by what he has with Nyx and Margaret.
Aria laughs. "You don't have to be ashamed of that, my dear; being monogamous doesn't make you a good husband alone, just as having more than one wife wouldn't be the reason for you to be a bad husband, either."
"Hmm..." Arthur wonders about that.
Aria continues. "Think about it: if your woman is not willing to let you have other women, it may be because you already failed to make her happy, and then she would not want things to get worse, but on the other hand, if you already make your wife happy, she might not mind sharing part of your love and attention with others." Aria finishes her analogy.
Arthur hears Aria's words and can't deny that they make some sense. He gets curious about it and mentally asks Nyx. 'Is she right? Do I already make you so happy that you're willing to let me have another wife?'
That's really how Nyx feels, but telling it to Arthur would only inflate his ego and she fears he might stop trying to please her so much.
"You still have a lot to improve on to get to that point!" Nyx lies blatantly, but her shy tone betrays her.
Arthur can't help but feel proud, and the concerns about dividing his love between Nyx and Margaret diminish.
'If I can please them both to the fullest, then there's really no problem...' He starts to imagine the scene of his two cute lambs begging to be devoured in his bed...
Aria notes the glint of greed arising in Arthur's eyes and throws a piece of bread in his face.
While Arthur admires Margaret for making others like her so easily, Aria continues to look at him with curious eyes.
"So, what are you going to do?" She asks again.
"I still don't know," He responds. "I'm not sure I can make both Nyx and Margaret happy."
"Oh, don't be so humble; it doesn't suit you, my son," Aria speaks lovingly. "If Nyx is willing to accept another woman in your life, it can only be because you're doing a good job."
"I hope so," Arthur doesn't want to become too arrogant and greedy, but such feelings are growing within his heart without his control.
"Anyway, I still don't know how I feel about Margaret," He speaks honestly.
"Can I make a request?" Aria asks.
Arthur nods, and she explains. "Whatever your decision, wait a bit before talking to Margaret about it, and also, don't tell her about Nyx right now."
"Why?" He asks, curious.
"For her future's sake," Aria explains. "I just accepted her as a disciple, so she needs to be as focused as possible on her cultivation, especially during the beginning. If you say you're going to make her your wife, she will be too distracted to be able to spare any attention to cultivating."
Aria's words make sense, but Arthur can see that there's more, probably regarding him and Margaret starting to do naughty things if he makes her his fiancée right away.
"Okay, I'll keep it just between us for now, and if I make a decision, I'll talk to you first," Arthur promises.
"Good," Aria smiles. "Now, finish your breakfast, or you can wait a little longer; I bet Margaret is coming with a basket full of delicious things just for her lover to eat..."
Arthur can't help feeling happy as his feelings for Margaret only grow. And now, with a new mindset about relationships, he wonders if he can be a good enough lover that makes not just one but multiple women happy and content.
Just as Aria said, after a few minutes, Margaret arrives to start cultivating with her Master, and the cute girl really has another basket of delicious foods for Arthur. She woke up at dawn to start preparing food, which only makes her even more liked by Arthur and his family.
After having a delicious breakfast together, the trio goes to the garden while Eve continues with her studies. Aria is an excellent teacher and manages to teach many things to Margaret while also helping Arthur with his training as well.
Margaret is shining with happiness without even knowing the best news yet, as she does her best to learn everything Aria has to teach. Not without glancing at Arthur whenever possible and enjoying every second of their interactions.
Due to the training routine with Aria, Margaret spends every day at their house and only goes to her own home to sleep.
She really gives it her all, and thanks to the magical resources that Aria used on her body without concern for the cost, Margaret's hard work bore fruit as she manages to awaken her Astral Pond within 2 weeks, entering the first level of the Apprentice Rank.
There are certainly more Warriors than Mages in the world, but it's only because simple physical exercises can strengthen anyone's Astral Veins over the years, however Mages need specific knowledge and resources to gather and control the Astral Energy.
Since Aria is an experienced Mage, and Margaret doesn't have a powerful Lineage that strengthens her body, Aria prefers that her disciple also follows the Mage path.
She still doesn't know anything about casting spells, but feeling the power of Astral Energy running through her body makes her feel strong and proud.
That is the first step towards becoming the independent and powerful woman she wishes to be, and stay by Arthur's side to support him on his journey.
Arthur is also very happy about Margaret's progress, but he doesn't feel any progress inside the Warrior and Mage's Rank himself, even after two weeks of hard work.
Aria tells him that cultivation is not a quick process, even with the best techniques available, so he must continue to work hard without losing hope.
Although, she also finds it strange that his development is a bit slow after he demonstrated such potential at first, so she is keeping a close eye on him to discover the cause.
And so the days keep passing...