Chapter 774: Chapter 774 - No, I’d like to stay...
As soon as he caught up with her, she started glaring at him. "You’ve reminded me about something," she grumbled with narrowed eyes. "I still need to talk to mother-in-law about Kudzai... and you promised to back me up!"
Erik’s expression turned a little wry. Truthfully, he’d forgotten all about that as well, but he didn’t look forward to it. Still, he wasn’t about to deny her... "Alright," he sighed regretfully. "Let’s go now, then. You can start your seclusion right after."
Naeku nodded curtly and looked ahead with determined eyes. Clearly, her decision to try and repair the relationship with her friend and god-mother had awakened her protectiveness towards Kudzai.
"So," Erik then asked, smirking slightly through the tension in the air, "how did it go?"
Naeku rolled her eyes. "Don’t pretend you didn’t watch every second with omnisense!"
Smiling, Erik shrugged. "Can you blame me for wanting to hear it from my beautiful wife herself?"
Instantly, a smirk started breaking through Naeku’s stern expression, and the tension broke. "Shut up!" she pouted. "Don’t think you can butter me up to make this easier for Runa!"
"I would never!" Erik denied with a dramatic expression, undermined by his smile. "I just want to hear how it went!"
"Ugh," Naeku groaned, rolling her eyes again. Unfortunately, she couldn’t deny he’d already softened her a little for the coming confrontation.
"It went... well," she sighed, a small smile now breaking through. "They were understanding—or at least, Nobuntu was. Kudzai was mostly just enthusiastic. Either way, it feels like a weight is lifted of my shoulders..."
She glanced at him with love in her eyes. "Thank you for pushing me..."
"Heh," Erik grinned. "I don’t like the emotional stuff either! Next time, you might have to push me!"
***
Unfortunately, Naeku quickly turned stern again, determined to see exactly what Runa wanted with her friend. Not much later, they arrived at Runa’s room in the palace. Despite Erik’s offers, Runa had not yet chosen to move into his dimension.
Naeku stormed in without knocking. Inside, they found a naked Runa doing morning stretches in front of a mirror, together with Leia—the fact it wasn’t really morning anymore didn’t bother them. Runa liked to sleep in, after all.
They’d clearly been in conversation when Naeku rushed in with a stormy expression, interrupting them. She was quickly followed by a wry Erik, who waved a greeting at his surprised mother.
Naeku parted her lips to immediately bring up Kudzai, but was interrupted by an excited, high-pitched squeak.
"Daddy!" Leia cried out with a bright smile. Now wearing the servant outfit Elora had once designed, she sprinted over to Erik and wrapped herself around his side with a contented smile.
Erik smirked, Runa looked dumbfounded, and Naeku rolled her eyes with a groan.
"Dammit, Silvy," Runa grumbled after losing her shock. Brushing her hair with one hand, she walked over to them. "What the hell did you even do to Leilei?"
Before Erik could respond, Leia looked up at Erik with a playful pout. "She doesn’t like the new me, Daddy... Can you please talk to her for me?"
"You—!" Runa exclaimed with wide eyes. "You know that’s not true, you bitch! I’m just surprised!"
Picking up on the vibe, Erik looked sternly at his mother while caressing Leia’s hair. "Mom, I need you to play nice with Leia, alright? She’s ha—"
"You brat!" Runa interrupted him, her eyes bulging with motherly anger. The fact Leia was grinning and sticking her tongue out was only making her angrier. She pointed at her son and came closer threateningly. "Don’t think I can’t still beat you up! Let’s see if you have the audacity to avoid my punches!"
Of course, Erik wryly folded. Although his strength certainly surpassed his mother’s, he did not, in fact, have the audacity to avoid her punches, let alone hit back. "Can you at least put some clothes on first...?" he sighed. He didn’t mind some love taps from his mother, but having her do it naked was a little much.
Much to his eternal chagrin, his mother had never been the biggest fan of clothes, as she preferred to ’let it all hang out’. She had the common decency to keep her clothes on in public settings, but it was a challenge to keep her clothes on indoors.
Next to Erik, Leia giggled playfully at the chaos she’d created, while on his other side, Naeku flinched back with a small yelp of surprise. She’d been simmering and on the edge of exploding while the others played around, but her state of mind caused her to not notice Runa’s state of undress. Now that Erik pointed it out, however, it came as a shock.
Her yelp caused Runa to turn her attention from her son to his wife. "Oh, Naeku, hi," she greeted with a gentle grin. "Sorry about that. My son can be quite a handful, as I’m sure you’re aware by now." As she said that, she waved helplessly at Leia, as she was actually a perfect example.
She placed her hands on her hips, still not bothering to dress, and cocked her head. "You look like you have something on your mind, dear," she smiled warmly. "Tell me about it!"
Unfortunately, both Runa’s nakedness, and her warm attitude, caused Naeku’s determination to waver. She’d always had a good relationship with Runa. Not only did her father like Runa a lot, but her mother-in-law had never treated her with anything but warmth and love since marrying Erik.
Honestly, she’d spent some time drawing comparisons between the mother she’d never known and this one.
"I—" she began, still trying to muster up a confrontational attitude, but quickly started to pout like an indignant daughter, instead. "It’s about Kudzai..." she muttered.
"Aaah, I see," Runa nodded understandingly. At the same time, she threw a blaming glance at Erik, who simply threw up his hands in a defensive gesture as well as a shrug—he didn’t keep secrets from his wives. Knowing her son, Runa understood his meaning and scoffed, despite the pride she felt at her son.
"Alright, Naeku," Runa sighed, while waving her hand to pull some clothes out of her storage ring. In a flash, she was dressed in some jean shorts and a shirt, before waving at a nearby table. "Let’s talk about Kudzai."
Still pouting a little, Naeku obediently walked over to the table with a nod. As it turned out, she was quite weak against a stern but warm motherly figure.
Runa then glanced at Erik and Leia, who still clung to each other. "I’m sure you two can find something fun to do while we talk, right...?" she asked with a knowing smirk.
Leia lit up. "I’m sure we can! Right, Daddy?" she grinned up at Erik, seductively licking her lips.
His lower parts screamed at him to accept, yet Erik noticed the pleading, wordless expression on Naeku’s face as she looked at him.
Honestly, it was a struggle. On the one hand, there was a nubile woman clinging to him, ready to fulfil his every wish in another room. On the other hand, there was a conversation with his mother about her love life and intentions for a man about his age...
Unfortunately, he’d promised Naeku to back her up, and he was not enough of an asshole to discard a promise to his wife.
"No, I’d like to stay, Mom..." he sighed deeply.