“Merida, how are you feeling today?” Aella turned around, looking back at Merida, who stood behind her in the line. With her wind magic and Merida’s sharp hearing, the two could whisper, and no one would hear their conversation unless he had extreme senses.

“Nothing changed,” Merida shook her head, “Lydia must be right. Something is off with my body.”

Each of Arad’s wives had something special. Aella was an elf, and no one knew how long it would take for her to get pregnant. Or how long it would take for them to notice that she was pregnant. Just like how humans can’t know on the first day and usually take days or weeks to show signs, elves take months to years for signs to start showing.

Eris was half elf half dragon vampire. It was unknown if she could even get pregnant, and with how hot her body could get, such biological possibilities were outside the normal range for humans to understand.

Isdis being the princess couldn’t simply get pregnant like that, and she was actively trying to wait until the kingdom’s affair settled down. That is simply to avoid unnecessary conflict that might arise with a new possible heir.

Mira is already pregnant and has to either stay close to Arad to feed off his magic or live on a die rich of mana potions. Her human body can’t provide enough mana to nourish the egg inside her.

That has left a lot of stress on Merida, the only human seemingly with enough mana and endurance to withstand a dragon’s egg, and that doesn’t have any reason to avoid getting pregnant… but it wasn’t that easy.

Based on Lydia and Merlin’s observation, Merida’s body is growing stronger by mixing and adapting to the crimson rot already inside her body. Her physical and magical capabilities are growing at an accelerating rate, and that seems to be affecting her natural capabilities.

The rapid shifts in her biology and mana made it extremely hard for her to get pregnant, but as Merlin has theorized, this hindrance will only last for the time she’s evolving. And her body would regain its fertility afterward. She just isn’t stable enough for that.

Merida stared at her hand, sensing the rushing power through it. “It only got worse…”

As an experiment, the wives have agreed to let Merida get more sessions with Arad than them in the hope she gets pregnant early. Aella and the rest expected that she’d be sore after a day or two, but to their surprise, she spent each night with Arad without batting an eye. She showed no sign of getting pregnant, and the instabilities in her body have only accelerated.

“As if my body is feeding on him…It all started that night,” Merida’s mind panned back to when she went out with Arad for the first time.

****

“This feeling,” Merida walked away from Arad and sat on a fallen tree, “I’m a bit. Do you have some water?” She asked, and he pulled a jug of water out of his stomach.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” She replied after drinking half of the jug. “It’s just thirst.” She smiled.

“Thirst? Is it the fungus?”

“Yeah…but it shouldn’t be a problem as long as I drink enough water. The scarlet rot prefers to die than let me get harmed. This light-headedness is a signal that some of the scarlet rot would die if I don’t drink water, losing me some power.” She smiled, tapping the log beside her, “Sit, don’t just stand there.”

Arad sat beside her, “Don’t push yourself too much. We can go back home if you want,”

She shook her head, “I told you…I only needed some water,” She finished the whole jug, “And I’m not backing away after telling Doma to leave us alone. She’ll make a clown out of me.”

“What is a clown?”

“A jester that wears makeup and pretends to be stupid for fun.” She giggled.

“They make people laugh at them?” Arad tilted his head.

“People laugh at them until the bastards pull a saw or a hammer and start a massacre. I’ve read so many horror stories about them,” She swung her arm, “I might end up attacking her if she made fun of me.”

“That means you’ll fight me.” Arad smiled, pulling her closer.

“You love women who fight back, don’t you?” She tried to wrap her arm around his neck. But she couldn’t. He’s too tall, and his shoulders are too wide for that to be possible.

“How are you this wide?”

“Large bones and muscles,” Arad replied, flexing his right arm and tapping his biceps. “In this crazed world of monsters, this is the only thing that would protect us. Or this is what Alcott told me,”

“I have to agree on that,” She smiled, running her hand on Arad’s arm, “But I can’t help but find it…this one is larger than my thigh,” She tapped her thigh.

“I can’t make them thinner.” He smiled, “But you might be able to make your thighs thicker.”

Merida giggled. For a second she misunderstood Arad but quickly realized what he actually meant. At the start, she thought he was saying he likes thicker thighs, but immediately remembered that he probably meant her training and getting more muscles on her thighs.

“How do you like them?” She stared at him, “Thick or thin? Leave strength out,”

Arad blinked twice, racking his head for what she meant. “If we left strength out…then it won’t matter that much to me.” He stared at her, “As long as you can live perfectly fine with it, don’t be like Merlin.”

Merida sighed, “You’re really dense, but what should I have expected? Aella and Mira are inexperienced. I’m sure Eris is as well.” She stared at him, “But, didn’t Isdis say anything?”

“Say what?”

She sighed again, “Just relax and let me take the lead. I’m inexperienced as well, but I’ve read a lot. I might be a bit sloppy, but it’s at least better than leaving you without any knowledge.”

“I’m listening,” Arad stared at her, awaiting what she had to say. .

She moved her hips, swiftly sitting on his lap, staring him in the eyes. “First, we don’t do this just for babies…I mean, eggs? Anyway, whatever that is.” She got her face closer to his, “But, before we do anything. There is something I need to get out first.”

“That’s a lot of things.” Arad smiled, “What is it?”

She took a deep breath, staring at him with worried eyes. He could feel a slight shiver in her legs, as she gently panned back, standing in front of him. “I’m both scared and embarrassed. I’m finding it hard to even speak, so please ignore any shaking in my voice.” .𝒎

Arad looked at her face. He could indeed sense her hesitance, but among that, he could feel the strength she was using to push herself to speak. “You’re afraid of my reaction,” He said, “But know that it’ll take more than just words to get me angry, especially on you or any of my wives. You could spit on my face, and I’ll not get bothered. You could fight and slap one of the others, and I’ll still try to take a neutral state and understand what happens.”

“You won’t believe how much I understand that,” She replied, her voice shaking more than ever.

“You got even more scared of me…am I doing something wrong?” Now even Arad started getting confused. His mind raced left and right trying to figure out what could be troubling her this much. He eventually reached a point of confusion where he decided to place limitations upon his own powers by shutting off his magic to not be able to harm her even if he snapped.

“It’s my fault,” Merida clenched her fist, and he could hear her heart pounding in her chest. Whatever she wants to say is refusing to leave her throat.

Merida clenched her fist tighter and suddenly swung it, hitting herself on the cheek.

“What are you doing?” Arad gasped.

“Getting myself to move,” She growled, going on her knees and then putting her face to the ground, “That night…It was my fault. I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have even thought about it.” She cried as Arad was about to stand, thinking that she collapsed.

“It was an assault, completely on me. Begging for help would’ve been a saner option. I was a fool.”

^I tried apologizing to Aella first, but her answer was anything but what I expected.^ Merida thought… ^Before I could even speak, she picked up on what I was about to say and rejected it.^

You shouldn’t apologize to me. It’s Arad who was harmed. Aella turned toward Merida with glowing green eyes, But I doubt he himself would see it as a harm. Even I fail to understand how his mind works at times. It’s not just ignorance on his part. It’s like a greater power stirs within him, granting him the will to withstand such a moment without batting an eye.

What? Merida gasped, stumbling at Aella’s statement.

I know that you fear confronting him. Apologizing to me first, then having me slowly work things between you and him to lead to a smooth apology is a decent plan to go about it, but I think it’s better and safer for you to not dance around and jump straight into it. I’ll get him to take you into an isolated place where you can have some privacy. Whatever happens to you there, is between you two.

****

Merida was sweating buckets. The bath she took had already become obsolete. Rubbing salt on a dragon’s wound, with her head being so low, she only awaited a kick to fall on her skull.

Arad’s answer was both the best and worst. He stared at her silently for a second, “Does it? Really matters now?” He said, and she felt her whole body dry out.

Even I fail to understand how his mind works… Aella’s words kept ringing in her head.

Arad grabbed her by the shoulder and helped her sit upright, “I care about meanings, motives, and intentions more than what you did.” He then scratched his head, “But I doubt you’ll accept this as an answer…since you went through the trouble of apologizing,” He mumbled, racking his head to find a way out of this situation.

^She probably won’t feel better without me doing something…^ He stared at her for a moment then lifted her from the sides, sitting back on the log with her on his hips facing him as she was before.

“You were about to teach me something?” He said, and she could feel his hand clenching tight on her butt.

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