A few moments came and went, and nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Then, a notification window popped up in Theodore's field of view.
[ Ninna Ur has become your Follower.
Heaven's Chosen Level +7. ]
Not allowing himself to feel relief just yet, he waited a little bit longer... only for him to stay absolutely safe. Finally, under the amused gaze of his new Subordinate, his tense shoulders began to relax.
"I almost can't believe this is real..."
Muttering to himself, he shook his head and shot Ninna a contemplative look. Regardless of how this had come to be, he had certainly picked up one hell of a bargain, that was for sure.
"This body of mine, you mean? Oh, I can assure you, it's all au naturel!"
Motioning at herself in an exaggeratedly proud manner, the Ur Family heiress appeared especially smug, showcasing herself as if presenting a high quality product to him. When she was met with nothing more than the raise of an eyebrow and an unimpressed stare, however, her cheeks reddened a little and she hurriedly cleared her throat.
"Ahem! I was just kidding. I'm trying to break the ice, you know? With all the unnecessary charade out of the way now, there's no need to keep up appearances any longer, right? So let's start over anew. What do you say?"
In response to her bright, genuine smile, he put his last remaining worries aside for now and stepped closer to her, extending his hand in a casual manner.
"Sure. Most of my inner circle usually just calls me Theo, so feel free to do so as well. Glad to have you aboard, Ninna!"
"Alright, then Theo it is. Thanks for having me–really."
Grabbing his hand and shaking it, she permitted herself to finally feel at ease. No matter what happened in the future, at least she wouldn't be the one at fault for it. An incredibly heavy burden that she had been carrying for almost as long as she could remember... had silently disappeared.
Meanwhile, however, she had completely forgotten that she was still in the middle of a handshake–and after a short while, Theodore couldn't help but bring this to her attention.
"You know, if you want to hold hands this badly, we should ideally get more familiar with each other first."
His teasing words and grin caused her to subconsciously tighten her grip and freeze up awkwardly like a startled doe. Immediately after, though, she hastily let go of him and skipped a few steps backward, pretending to be nonchalant.
"Sorry about that, I got distracted."
Entertained by her reaction, he chuckled.
"Yeah, I noticed."
This carefree response earned him a silent stare, but after a while, Ninna couldn't continue to keep up the act and began to smirk. In a rather casual manner, she appeared next to him and grabbed his hand again, but this time in a clearly affectionate way.
"Well, jokes aside, I can't say I'm not interested in you. Now that I'll be stuck with you for the rest of time and beyond, I fully intend to make the most of it. And you?"
Impressed by how quickly she had changed her tune, he held her gaze for a moment, then his joking demeanour was replaced by a surprisingly serious one.
"We only just met, so I can't really say yet. I'm tempted, though–you're pretty cute."
Although Ninna tried not to let it show, his frank and straightforward, simple compliment nonetheless caused a shy blush to colour her cheeks. A bit afraid that things might develop far faster than her heart would be able to handle if she kept on pushing, she chose to leave it there for now.
"I'm glad you think so. But let's take it one step at a time."
Nodding in agreement, he noticed that she didn't appear to intend to let go of him, but this time, he didn't remind her–after all, her hand felt quite nice to the touch. He certainly wouldn't complain about this sort of intimacy, especially not when such a gorgeous woman was involved.
'I almost forgot–I should check my Status Panel's Subordinates category. I wonder what rating the Heavenly Dao will give her...'
[ Subordinates ]
[ • Followers: Ninna Ur (Deiform Soma, XX-), Cheong Suhyeon (Deiform Soma, SS), Vigdis Rún (Deiform Soma, SS-), Kjartan Skordýr (Deiform Soma, S-), Xie Mei (Holos Acclimation, S-), (See 20 More Xie Meis)
• Retainers: Navya Aatma (Deiform Soma, S++), Saitou Satoru (Faux Deiform Soma, S+), Cadi Owain (Dawning Numen, S), Han Junqiao (Holos Acclimation, A-), Conrad (Holos Acclimation, A--), Jules Cartier (Dawning Numen, B+++), Annis Galanis (Dawning Numen, B++), Kiran Arya (Dawning Numen, B++), Bogdan Dragović (Dawning Numen, B+), Corinna Booras (Dawning Numen, B+), Marina (Dawning Numen, B+), Juana Olmo (Dawning Numen, B), Soraya Karim (Dawning Numen, B), (See 120 More), Currently locked (2)
• Slaves: Devashtich (Celestial, E), Spandarmad (Celestial, E), Currently locked (1) ]
To no surprise, the position of his foremost Follower had silently changed hands, causing a satisfied smile to steal itself on his lips.
'A rating of XX-, huh? That's even more impressive than the highest one ever recorded in the history of the Winter Family. Truly, she's one hell of a force to be reckoned with.'
Initially having just intended to take a quick glance at Ninna's evaluation, he was about to close the window in front of him... when another snippet of text caught his attention and caused his eyes to widen.
'Mei'er's Reincarnation Clones have finally shown up! They shouldn't have been born yet, so it seems that at a certain point during the gestation period, they qualify to be listed here. I wonder why.'
Uncertain what rationale lay behind the Heavenly Dao choosing to operate in this specific way, he could only mentally note it down and put it aside for now. For a moment, he was tempted to have a look at all of the Xie Meis' information, but then he stopped himself from doing so.
'I have enough to worry about right now. I can properly review it all with Mei'er later, after we've sorted out all of the local factions around Pytho. Unless the Naxsir send another fleet our way, I can then focus on undisturbed cultivation for a while–and I'll have time to give my Mei'ers the attention and care that they deserve!'
Shaking his head, he dispelled all of these distracting thoughts and focused on the major matter at hand again–Ninna. She had been observing him–initially secretly, then openly–until now, theorizing about what had caused his expression to shift multiple times.
"I'll be sending you another invitation shortly. Please accept it. For now, only worry about our private chat. I'll introduce you to everyone once we're back at my main base of operations."
His words puzzled her for a second or two, but right after she joined Kiran's network, a flash of realization flickered in her eyes. The interface was intuitive and simple to understand–similar to technological products that she had used before. Therefore, she instantly grasped how to utilize it properly.
"No worries, I'll be good."
Not intending to make any trouble for him, she nodded obediently, suppressing her curiosity. She ignored all of the other chats that she was free to join and focused on the one that he had told her about–their own private conversation. There, a message from him was already awaiting her.
'I know that there were some things that you couldn't tell me earlier, but maybe in this place, you can give me a bit more information. This mental network was created by one of my Subordinates, Kiran–you've seen his name in the invitation. As it originates from a Talent, it's directly integrated into the Heavenly Dao's systems, therefore it should be as secure as anything could ever be.'
Pausing for a moment, she felt both relieved yet also helpless. Soon, her reply was carefully formulated and sent.
'I know what you want me to talk about, but even under these circumstances, I cannot speak freely. I can, however, give you some hints–those will sadly have to suffice. The reason as to why I was always afraid of becoming the Heavenly Empress is that I would be transformed into nothing more than a puppet. I'm completely safe now, though. Don't worry, you can trust me–I promise. Oh, and I'm just going to mention an utterly unrelated word here, don't mind me: Beyond.'
Exchanging a glance with her, Theodore gave her a thoughtful nod, then smoothly moved on to other matters that they didn't need to use Kiran's network for. Naturally, though, he had understood what she was trying to convey.
'I have long been theorizing about how a family like the Urs could secretly develop to the level of a Supreme Pillar. Now, it seems that forces from beyond the Heavenly Court are in play here. It's no wonder that she can't directly state this, they surely have implemented some fail-safes to prevent intel about them from being spread. Still, if she can hint at it indirectly like this, then she shouldn't be under their control. At most, she's been forced to sign some sort of binding non-disclosure agreement. All I can do now is to take her at her word–because if she's truly compromised in a way that the Heavenly Dao cannot detect, then I'm surely already doomed. Still, having joined me and lost her Heaven's Chosen Level, she might have just lost all of her value in the eyes of those who originally planned to use her... which is a blessing in disguise. And almost certainly, it's actually the case–else she wouldn't have aimed for this to happen from the very beginning.'
Whilst his mind was working through all possibilities rapidly, for the first time since the start of their duel, he paid attention to the Tetrachroma Palace's numerous Celestial Stage experts again.
"Have you already made them your Subordinates? If you haven't, then you probably should–we'll need a good way to control this faction."
Flashing him a confident, cute smile, she nodded.
"Some of them are my Retainers, and others my Slaves. Everything here has been handled properly. My Tetrachroma Palace can be handed over to you without any issue. Think of it as... a part of my dowry, I suppose?"
With a playful wink, she leaned a bit closer to him to mask her embarrassment. Although she had initially just been joking, she had immediately realized that her words rang far more true than she had intended. After all, this faction had been painstakingly prepared for her by her family, so now that she was bringing it with her as she entered a man's household... couldn't that kind of be classified as a dowry!?
"... a part, you say?"
Finding her antics amusing, Theodore didn't let her smitten behaviour distract him from the important details. He did, however, not stop her from getting increasingly closer to himself.
"Yeah. Chances are that we'll come across other factions like this one–both during this round, and during later rounds. I can make them submit to us without a problem, so my dowry will only become more impressive in the future."
Boldly interlocking fingers with him, her blush had crept all the way to the tips of her ears, yet she daringly met his eyes. Maybe it was his fatal appeal, but the longer that she stayed with him, the more brave and courageous she became.
"Then I'll be looking forward to it."
With an intrigued smile, he paused for a moment, then leaned down and whispered into her ear, causing her to shiver shyly.
"Also, before either of us gets carried away here, you should have a talk with my lovers. I'd much rather not drop a surprise sister on them out of nowhere."
Despite the suggestive implications, his words instantly snapped her out of her charmed state. It felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head, allowing her mind to regain clarity.
"Wait, you've already... got together with multiple people? This quickly?"
Not bothering to hide anything at all–except for a certain messy Reincarnation Clone issue–as Ninna would surely come to know all of this eventually, he laid out the situation for her.
"Yes. I have four lovers right now, all of whom are my Subordinates–and one of them is seriously aiming to become my wife. Aside from that, there's a Dragon Family heiress that I'm somewhat close to, and a Losta Family heiress who is currently considering making me her one and only husband. Oh, and there's that one Subordinate of mine who is basically my obsessive stalker. But don't worry about that one."
Hearing all of this, there were many things that Ninna wanted to say or comment on, but eventually, she settled on just silently nodding. If she hadn't already mentally prepared herself for the opposite, then she might have been a bit miffed at not getting the opportunity to become Theodore's first official lover. Yet, instead, she was now feeling a bit overwhelmed by the numerous complex circumstances that he had listed. Especially that last one.
'What exactly have I got myself into here?'