Aren stared at Yilan, who looked as if she were about to burst into tears from sheer frustration, the aura around him growing even colder.
"I no longer have anything to do with the Succubus Clan," he said coldly. "And I am no longer your brother."
"You..." Yilan gasped, shocked by how ruthless Aren was being. She couldn’t believe he was disowning her, his own sister.
"Brother... how could you... how could you say something like that?" She looked at him, utterly heartbroken. Heavy tears spilled over her cheeks, making her look incredibly pitiful.
Seeing that things had gone far enough, Rory reached out and gently tugged on Aren’s sleeve.
Aren immediately turned his gaze toward her, his voice softening instantly. "What is it, my female master?"
Rory spoke to him gently, "Yilan only came to see you out of goodwill. Don’t be so harsh."
Turning back to Yilan, Rory offered a comforting smile. "Don’t be sad, Yilan. Aren is just still upset over what happened with the Succubus Clan before. He didn’t mean to treat you this way."
"But he snapped at me," Yilan complained, throwing a resentful glare at Aren. Damn you, Aren. How dare you snap at me.
Rory smiled and coaxed her, "He didn’t mean to. I’ll make sure to give him a proper scolding later to make it up to you."
Hearing Rory promise to discipline Aren, Yilan’s expression brightened a little. She turned to Rory and said, "Sister-in-law, even though Aren is my brother, he still needs a good lesson when he acts up. Don’t go easy on him at all."
Did Aren honestly think he could do whatever he wanted just because he had a female master now? Look at that—Rory didn’t think much of him either, casually talking about putting him in his place whenever she pleased. Yilan shot Aren a smug, triumphant look.
Aren simply kept his eyes on Rory, ignoring Yilan entirely.
By this point, Rory was feeling a bit tired. She knew she wasn’t going to fish out any useful information today anyway, and she was done playing along with Yilan and Bree. Checking the time on her optical computer, she smiled at the two of them.
"It’s getting late, and I need to check on the cubs, so I won’t see you out. Tomorrow, we’ll head to Starlight Prime Tech and go shopping together."
Bree was well aware of Aren’s terrible attitude. Staying any longer would only make things increasingly awkward. What if Yilan’s foolish, hot-headed brain kicked in and she started a physical fight with Aren?
"We should get going too," Bree said, stepping forward to take Yilan by the arm. She bid Rory goodbye, adding, "Yilan, let’s leave."
Yilan glared at Aren one last time before nodding to Bree.
As Bree led Yilan toward the exit, she turned around at the doorway and waved to Rory. "Rory, we’ll pick you up tomorrow morning."
"Sounds good, I’ll be waiting," Rory replied with a nod, watching them leave.
Once the two were gone, Aren looked at Rory, somewhat perplexed. "My female master, why were you so kind to them? Neither Yilan nor Bree can be trusted."
"I know they can’t be trusted," Rory said, pulling Aren back down onto the sofa and leaning comfortably into his chest. She explained, "I just want to find out what Bree’s motive is for bringing Yilan to see me and trying to get close."
So that was it. Aren nodded in understanding.
"If I had known that was your plan, I would have cooperated better. It’s my fault for almost ruining it."
Rory looked up at him and pinched his handsome face. "Don’t think I can’t tell what you’re really thinking. You say it’s your fault, but deep down, you’re probably wishing you had been even meaner. If you were allowed to lay a hand on females, you would have thrown Yilan and Bree out long ago, wouldn’t you?"
This guy had truly mastered the art of saying one thing while meaning another.
"You caught me, my female master," Aren chuckled, leaning down to give Rory a quick kiss. "Didn’t you say you were going to give me a proper scolding earlier?"
He took Rory’s hand in his, guiding her fingers to gently trace the line of his jaw and his Adam’s apple.
"Have you thought about how you’re going to punish me, my female master?"
Rory was left speechless. "You know perfectly well that I was just using that as an excuse to deal with Yilan." There was no way she would ever actually punish him for Yilan’s sake.
"But I want you to punish me," Aren murmured, tightly gripping her hand as she tried to pull it back. Leaning in, he whispered in her ear, "My female master, according to the schedule, tomorrow is my turn to accompany you."
"I know that!" Rory said with a nod.
Aren smiled and planted a kiss on her cheek. "So, you can spend today thinking about exactly how you want to punish me tomorrow."
Rory: "..."
Don’t tell me this guy has some kind of weird kink just like Xarion?
"What do you mean, ’punish’?" Rory shot him a look. "That’s called bedroom play, okay?"
Bedroom play?
Aren raised an eyebrow, thoroughly liking the sound of those words. "Then my female master should spend today thinking hard about how you want to play with me."
Realizing this conversation would spiral completely out of control if they kept going, Rory quickly changed the subject and asked, "What did you go out for earlier?"
Yuel, Vincent, and Vangar were all out working. Aren didn’t have a job to rush off to, so why had he gone out instead of resting at home right after getting back?
Aren smiled. "Aris left a bit of a mess behind, so I went to clean it up."
Rory nodded. Getting up from his lap, she rubbed her stomach. "I’m a little hungry. Let’s go grab some lunch."
She pulled out her optical computer and shot Xarion a message, telling him to come downstairs for lunch. The guy was still tied up with ropes on her bed; if she didn’t message him, he probably wouldn’t dare come down.
After messaging Xarion, Rory sent another text to Nix, asking if Terry was awake yet. If he was, she wanted Nix to bring him down as well.
Nix replied almost instantly.
Nix: Rory, Terry woke up for a little bit just now, but he’s already back asleep. Go ahead and eat lunch without us; I’ll come down a bit later. Just save some food for me.
With Yuel away, Terry had been left in Nix’s care. Although there was a guard detail stationed inside the castle, none of them knew the first thing about taking care of cubs. Neither Rory nor the others felt comfortable leaving the baby with them.
Rory: Alright, I’ll set some food aside and bring it up to you in a bit.
Just as Rory and Aren walked out of the drawing room, they ran into Yuel, who had just returned from outside.
"Yuel? Why are you back at lunchtime?" Rory asked, quite surprised to see him. Didn’t he say he was going to be incredibly busy today? Why was he back all of a sudden?
Yuel walked over and took her hand. "I brought back two males from the Crescent Vine Clan. They’ll be taking care of Terry from now on."
He had been swamped lately and wouldn’t be able to look after Terry himself for a while. But he couldn’t keep taking up the other family members’ time to babysit either; it was simply too disruptive for everyone.
Rory followed his gaze and saw two males who looked to be in their fifties. Seeing Rory look over, the two older gentlemen from the Crescent Vine Clan immediately gave her a polite, warm smile.
Yuel explained to her, "They’re practically family to me, so they are completely trustworthy. They’re also highly experienced with cubs. It’ll be perfectly safe to leave Terry in their hands."
Rory nodded. When it came to how Yuel handled things, she trusted him implicitly.
"Lunch is just about ready. Do you want to eat before you head back to work?" Rory asked him.
Yuel thought about it for a moment and nodded. "I’ll arrange for them to see Terry first, then I’ll come down to join you for lunch."
He was going to be overwhelmed with work over the next few days, and he likely wouldn’t have much time to share a meal with Rory, so he wanted to cherish this moment.