while aster and the others enjoyed a good night of rest, alexandra went to her mother''s room where tamara was sitting on her bed, normally she is able to move with the help of the wheelchair that her brother ordered from a spirit blacksmith for her.

    but the agitation she went through earlier consumed all her energy, so right now she couldn''t even muster the strength to order the wheelchair to move, with her last bits of energy she came to her room and now she couldn''t even lay down.

    the bone melting palm had made her bones brittle, she had to take a pill every day to ensure her bones won''t just crumble apart over the slightest move, but the effect wore out and after that she had to wait some time before she could take another pill.

    in part that pill shortened her already short remaining lifespan, but she couldn''t bear forcing her daughter to waste her life taking care of her all the time, when the result would be the same for her anyway.

    in part it''s a miracle that she has endured it without alexandra noticing her organs are failing, for so much time, but now that the cat was out of the bag, she couldn''t see her daughter straight to the eyes.

    alexandra entered the room and saw her mother with a troubled expression, before she sighed.

    "i could have resisted the notice you know; it would have been worse if you died without me knowing why", said alexandra.

    tamara bitterly smiled in response.

    "i know that... but your character resembles your father''s too much, so i also know that you would have put your life on the line to help me, like he did back then, chances are i was going to die anyway and i didn''t want you to remember my last days being on a bed and suffering".

    alexandra was speechless for a moment, she did exactly as her mother said, and joined the exploration despite the fact that there was something fishy going on, when the genesis manifestation group entered as reinforcements, not only that, but she offered herself in exchange for aster healing her mother and leaving her alone, back when she thought he was one of the people that made her father fall in disgrace and cripple her mother, which turned out to not be the case.

    "forget it, we can leave that for later, he gave me this pill and said to dilute in a tub of water, for you to take a bath... according to him this will ease the pain and help make your organs function again", said alexandra as she handed her mother the translucid pellet that contained a small drop of a transparent liquid.

    tamara''s eyes glowed the moment her eyes posed on the pellet her daughter mentioned, as someone with a yin type constitution she was sensible towards yang energy, so how could she not notice the huge amount of yang contained in that drop of transparent liquid.

    her daughter didn''t have a yin type constitution, but she is still somewhat sensible towards yang, because her atria lineage which comes from tomas, who has a yang type body constitution, but the translucid material prevented her from notice it, that is a layer of a material which mylene created to encapsule the refined drops of aster''s blood, making sure others wouldn''t notice their effects.

    of course, this one was "liberated" so it was free for anyone to use, because the others could only be used by the girls, otherwise they''ll self-destroy, courtesy of eris''s rune mastering.

    still when tamara was in her prime, she was stronger than tomas, and while her cultivation was useless now, her senses weren''t.

    "did he really just handed this to you?", she couldn''t help but ask.

    "mm, yes, he didn''t seem particularly reluctant or anything, in fact it was very casual as he even said that i could follow his instructions or not, and you will still be cured him, why?", answered alexandra.

    tamara chuckled at her daughter.

    "lass, the thing contained inside that pellet is as good as the plant that was stolen from you by sean fritz, when it comes to nurturing the body, it''s not something that one would find in a middle ranked stellar system... while it might not replace my bones which are too damaged, even if i was dying this would extend my life for a few days, of course that is because i can no longer be considered a cultivator, but it should be effective for anyone below the heavenly realms".

    needless to say, but alexandra was in awe, she saw what aster obtained from the silicon forest, and this wasn''t between those items, so he already had this miraculous medicine prior to that, which means that from the very beginning he would have been able to at least prolong her mother''s life, and cure her organs so that they could find a proper medicine for her bones, it was like casually giving a second life.

    "what are we waiting for let''s take you the bath now!", exclaimed alexandra as she used her many black metal octagonal plaques to carefully bring her mother with her to the bathroom.

    aster was speechless, he obviously knew lilia was just teasing him, but he couldn''t help but feel his heart clench, lilia was simply too captivating for anyone to resist and that is when she isn''t putting any effort, so you can imagine the impact that she has on aster, when she shows him a bit of her true charm.

    "that''s cheating mom", mumbled aster, he simply couldn''t win against the woman that was now embracing him, when she was serious.

    "all is fair in love and war darling, maybe one day you''ll be able to "defeat" me, but for now, you are mine~", cutely said lilia as she kissed aster to the content of her heart, only then she licked her lips as she thanked him for the meal, and then left to the bathroom while making sure to sway her hips in a seductive way, while she gave a tempting gaze at aster from the corner of her eyes.

    "sigh, now she went and did it", mumbled aster as he looked at the tent that raised in his pants, aster shook his head and then dragged sarina into his embrace, the soft gentle motherly woman was giggling, amused by the previous situation.

    unlike before, the previously selfless woman had started to think on herself first in a few subjects, aster being one of them, she who didn''t care about order and always gave up her turn to the others, was now aiming for the main wife position too, so far out of the girls that are present all the time, only lilia was serious about that, rya being the other, but she is limited to the mind space temporarily, but now sarina decided to enter that little competition they had.

    and to symbolize that change in her attitude, she actually turned around and got on top of aster, her large breasts that were on par with lilia''s pressed against aster''s chest, she accommodated her long blond hair behind her ear and then lowered her body to press her pretty lips against aster''s.

    "i don''t mind the order, but i can''t take lilia''s affirmation so easily, i won''t go down without a decent fight~", said sarina, she pecked aster and then got up the bed, her beautiful motherly figure elegantly walked towards the bathroom, leaving an aster who was lost in his thoughts.

    luckily his control over his body was quite decent so after he calmed down a bit, he got up the bed, just to be gazed at by the ligress girl mira who woke up earlier in time to see the morning routine.

    "i''m not ashamed of my lifestyle, and anyone that is in my group will learn about it sooner or later, don''t put too much thought into it, as it won''t affect you, all the others can confirm that", said aster as he joined the others in the bathroom.

    mira softly snorted and then accommodated herself on the bed as she returned to sleep, eris and the others also saw that and they laughed, certainly they were also surprised at first.

    in a sense aster is both the safest man with whom they could interact, since they can be sure he doesn''t have any hidden agenda towards them, so he is easy to become friends with, as eris, mylene and vivian have proven, when he pursues a girl it''s open for everyone to notice it, no schemes or tricks involved at all, like in aria or sarina''s cases.

    but he is also the most "dangerous" one as well, one would be comfortable around him without noticing, his handsome appearance, the continuous impossibilities he achieved and his iron set protective attitude towards his close ones, for all these maidens who had yet to experience love, was a bit too much.

    like lilia said, once they ride into that ship there is no turning back.

    once they were finished with their bath, aster and the girls came out and the others entered, they have stayed in aster''s castle for quite some time to know what his routine is, and while camila, tiana and agnes slightly blushed hearing nim asking to aster, "are you going to bath with them too?", they limited to coldly glare at the tree and then took their baths in peace, mira remained asleep and aster didn''t disturb her, as long as she didn''t try to escape or harm them, she was free to do as she pleased and he won''t force her to do anything, that was his promise to her.

    once everyone was ready, they left the room together and the moment they opened the door, they were welcomed by alexandra, who seemed to be in a really good mood.

    ''she has been waiting for us to come out for around half an hour darling~'', said lilia through the mind connection, while she inwardly smiled.

    oblivious to what his mother was thinking, aster looked at alexandra who bowed towards him.

    "my mother was able to rest for the first time in years and she is even eating due to the medicine, thanks", her words were genuine, she couldn''t believe how much her mother''s condition improved in a single night, tamara was still sleeping but when alexandra woke up and went to check on her mother, she was in awe for a few minutes until she made sure she wasn''t dreaming.

    "that''s good, she needs to be healthier because the treatment on her bones won''t be as easy, but we can discuss that later, do you mind if we use your kitchen", casually said aster.

    "mm, sure", answered alexandra, she was a bit confused about why aster asked for the kitchen, but she still agreed, that is because she didn''t get to taste sarina''s cooking, as she didn''t want to mingle too much with aster''s group, she limited to eat her dry rations or simply take nutritious pills that provided what the body needed but without the pleasure of a warm meal, something that will change very soon.

    sarina gazed at lilia and little sparks seemed to fly between those two, which made aster bitterly smile, things will be getting livelier in his household from now and onwards.