The next day...
After spending half the morning "playing" with his two exhausted wives at the mansion, Regulus set out for his next appointment.
As agreed yesterday, today he needed to help Theresia sow flower seeds in the Astrea garden.
Upon reaching the designated location, Regulus saw Theresia and Carol, who seemed to have been busy for a while. The soil was already turned, and several rows were neatly marked.
The two women, noticing Regulus's arrival, temporarily stopped their work.
"Sorry, I'm late," Regulus said, walking over with a relaxed stride.
"No, didn't you already say yesterday that you would be a little late today? So coming now isn't considered late," Theresia replied with a warm smile.
She didn't mind.
In fact, after thinking about it overnight, she felt that she might have been a little willful with him yesterday.
After all, what happened with the Viscount couldn't really be said to be Regulus's fault; he was defending her honor, and she had scolded him for it.
In other words, Regulus was deliberately accommodating my naivety, she thought.
Feeling guilty, she had prepared a special compensation for today.
"Regulus, have you had lunch?"
"Lunch? No, I haven't eaten yet."
"That's great!"
Theresia breathed a sigh of relief.
To be honest, if Regulus had come a little earlier, she would have been worried.
Why? Because it was already lunchtime. If he had already eaten, the "compensation" she had painstakingly prepared—a homemade meal—would not only fail to be a gift but would instead become an awkward burden.
"Wait for me a moment," she said, turning to head toward the gazebo.
But after taking a few steps, she stopped, turned back, and grabbed Carol's hand.
"Carol, you come with me too."
"My Lady?"
"Your hands are full of dirt, and you won't be able to eat properly like that."
Theresia forcibly pulled her guard away with her to wash up.
Regulus, left alone in the garden, naturally knew why Theresia was really doing this. She was shy about giving him the lunch alone.
He chuckled.
The "Banana Feeding Incident" yesterday had already made Carol quite displeased. Although she didn't show open hostility, she had basically stopped talking to him.
He felt this was a silent protest—anger that he had mentally defiled the pure Theresia right in front of her eyes.
However, Carol's protest has no effect whatsoever.
Yesterday was just the beginning.
To paint the girl he desired with his own colors... to leave his mark on her pure, blank-paper-like soul... then to take everything from her until she completely transformed into his shape.
All of this would be realized, step by step.
After waiting for a while, Regulus saw the two girls returning together.
"It's officially lunchtime now," Theresia announced. "After we eat, we'll continue sowing the flower seeds."
"Alright."
Regulus reached out to take a heavy wooden picnic box Theresia was carrying.
But before his hand could touch it—
"Miss, let me help."
Carol swooped in, snatching the box a split second before him.
She glared at him briefly before turning away.
She had already made a decision.
Even if she couldn't stop the growing feelings between them, she had to try her best to protect the Young Lady's innocence. At least until Regulus formally proposed and took Theresia as his lawful wife.
She absolutely couldn't let the two be alone. She had to prevent this guy—whose head was full of deranged, terrible ideas—from doing anything excessive.
Especially eating bananas!
She shuddered. She couldn't believe someone could come up with such a sick, humiliating game. Surely, that was the peak of depravity. Nothing could surpass it.
With Theresia and Carol's preparations, various dishes were soon laid out on a checkered tablecloth in the garden gazebo.
"I wonder if these will suit your taste," Theresia asked nervously.
"Don't worry, I'm not picky," Regulus reassured her.
This was the truth.
Before transmigrating, there were things he disliked. But after becoming a Sin Archbishop, his constitution and appetite had changed. As long as it wasn't actual poison (and sometimes even then), he could eat anything.
"That's good. Please have a taste; Carol and I made all of these ourselves."
"Carol cooked too?" Regulus raised an eyebrow, looking at the armored knight.
"What? Do I not look like someone who can cook?"
The surprise and doubt in Regulus's eyes made Carol bristle defensively.
"Even if I am a Knight, I am also a woman, aren't I?"
Over the past dozen years, she had carefully considered what would happen after marriage. She had learned many domestic skills a wife should master.
However... she was quite pessimistic about whether these skills would ever be useful.
Because she had agreed to bear a child for this man.
Who would marry a woman with an illegitimate child? Especially now, with the war causing a shortage of men, she—a woman who was no longer pure—would likely be despised even as a concubine.
As for whether Regulus would marry her?
Impossible, she thought bitterly. I am just a vessel to preserve his bloodline. A toy.
"It's just a little surprising," Regulus said, a smirk playing on his lips. "I feel like Carol... you could be a very good mother in the future. A milk-rich mother."
"Mo! Mother..."
Carol flushed red, choking on her tea.
She knew he was hinting at something else entirely.
For a moment, her heart was in a dilemma. She wanted to fulfill their vow... but getting pregnant now would mean losing her job as Theresia's guard.
"Oh, come on! Let's talk about these things later!"
Theresia actively interrupted the two, her voice a little louder than necessary.
"Let's eat lunch quickly. The seeds won't plant themselves."
Seeing Carol and Regulus discussing "having children" and "being a mother" made her feel... uncomfortable.
Jealousy?
Probably not, she told herself. My affection hasn't reached that level yet.
But instinct told her otherwise.
Even knowing that Regulus and Carol had a secret history... seeing the man who was pursuing her speak such intimate words with another girl caused a spike of unpleasant emotion in her chest.
"You're right," Regulus agreed, turning his full attention back to Theresia. "Let's eat."
He noted the flash of annoyance in the Sword Saint's eyes.
This is a good sign, he thought. Possessiveness is the first step to submission.
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