Once Erica heard that her daughters had returned, she quickly forgot all about the strange scene that had just transpired and stood up from her seat in shock.
"Bring them here, now!"
"Y-Yes, my queen."
The maid left quickly to go and retrieve the two princesses, and when she returned the faces of everyone in the dining room inadvertently lit up.
Only to darken once more when they saw who these alleged 'guests' were.
"Mother!"
"We're home!"
Claire and Jasmine ran full force into her mother and nearly knocked her over.
"Ah, my sweet girls... I guess I don't need to ask you where you have been this time."
The sisters smiled sheepishly as they looked back at the 'small' group pf guests they had brought with them.
Standing with his hands clasped behind his back was a large black demon with bloody red hair and intimidating mismatched eyes.
At his side were eight of the most beautiful women in this world or the next, prompting Erica and Jezebel to question their own beauty.
Standing in front of Abaddon were all four of his children, and even Nita.
They insisted on coming along just incase things with the queen didn't go well and the phoenix sisters needed to be consoled.
"That is you, isn't it Abaddon? You look a fair bit different from the last time I saw you..." She muttered with pink cheeks.
"Such is life."
"I suppose you're right... but are you not supposed to be in the midst of a war right now? How is it that you are here and with my-"
"I'm sorry Erica, but you'll have to give me a moment."
Abaddon suddenly stepped forward and walked towards the end of the table where he stared down at the elven king and queen.
"This is my first time in Renanin, so I'm trying to enjoy myself somewhat and not cause any unnecessary scenes, least of all in the domain of another ruler..."
He placed a single clawed finger on the countertop, and inadvertently left a mark in the wood from the sharpness.
"But if you continue to look at my wife like that, I'm likely to forget all of my manners and kill you both on the spot."
Ever since the elves had laid eyes on Eris, their faces showed palpable contempt.
It was well known that there was a very large stigma around dark elves, so such a thing was hardly rare, but it was not something that Abaddon would tolerate.
Besides, if he didn't do something, one of his other wives most certainly would.
"How dare you! Do you believe I'll stand by and allow you to speak to me in this manner?" Cypress asked angrily.
"You can stand, sit, lie down, it makes no difference to me."
Abaddon used the faintest bit of destruction magic on the table that his finger had been resting on haphazardly.
A sinister, ominous power left his claw and traveled along the length of the twenty foot dining table.
Before anyone could process what happened, the table and everything touching it suddenly broke down into a pile of strange black dust.
"W-What.. is this...?"
Cypress had never seen anything like this magic before.
It was so unnatural and... terrifying.
"A party trick." Abaddon answered with a predatory smile. "Are you entertained?"
Cypress and his wife gulped as they hesitantly backed away in their seats.
It seemed even the stories about this man... failed to encapsulate the fear that he created.
Meanwhile, Erica felt her face get hot as her own anger rose.
She didn't care about why he was with her daughters, but he must not have put her in his eyes if he was acting this way in her very own home!
But just before she could say something, Claire and Jasmine beat her to it.
"Father-in-law, can you put our table back?"
"It's an antique that we've had for a really long time."
Just like that, Abaddon's oppressive and frightening demeanor from before vanished like a trick of the light.
"Was it really? It didn't seem all that old."
"It has been in the family since my great grandmother ruled." Claire explained.
Abaddon was beginning to get a headache from thinking about just how old that table was, and he held out his hand and gestured for Valerie to assist him.
The muscular beauty squatted down and pressed her hand against the sandlike substance and closed her eyes.
A dull white light left her palm and was transferred to the black sand, and a moment later the table and everything on it was back like it never left.
Valerie admittedly felt a little woozy after using so much power, but she was able to play it off by clinging on to her husband's arm for support.
"There you go, girls."
""Thank you!""
Abaddon smiled warmly in return, and both Erica and Jezebel felt their hearts skip a beat before a realization dawned upon them.
Erica suddenly looked down at the girls in her arms with an expression of pure shock as she finally released them.
"Girls... what do you mean by calling that man your father-in-law?"
Claire and Jazmine looked at each other before taking a deep breath and grabbing each other's hands.
A gust of wind blew past them, and Thea and Apophis appeared at their sides.
"Queen Erica, my sister and I have fallen in love with your daughters and we wish to take them as our wives."
"We have spent a great deal of time with them in Luxuria, and they have become precious parts of us that we can no longer do without. We hope that you will give us your blessing."
"T-This..."
Erica didn't know what to say.
Her daughters had returned safe and sound, but they had also brought home fiances that wanted her approval!
""Wait a moment!""
Caelum and Cypress stood up from the table at the same time, both possessing grievances about two entirely different things.
"I'm sorry girls, but your mother has already betrothed you to my sons."
"I laid eyes on the princess first, so surely she should belong to me! Two women cannot hope to produce an heir!"
Nine distinctive cracking sounds could be heard as Abaddon and his wives clenched their fists hard enough to break their own bones
Claire and Jasmine looked at the two elven young men who had been seated at the table all of this time without saying a word and shook their heads in unison.
"I'm sorry, but no."
"I like women."
The two young men honestly looked a bit relieved that they were not going to be in the middle of this mess, and they continued to eat silently without saying a word.
"And you..."
With speed that was far beyond what a girl her age should have been capable of, Thea appeared in front of Caelum and lifted him by the neck.
"I thought I had already made it clear that I found you repulsive but it seems I need to be a bit more concise with my words."
Caelum's pride wounded, he swung at Thea with a sloppy punch that she caught with ease.
"You have no claim to me, so I suggest you find a much safer way to use your time. Because if you stand in the way of Jasmine and I again, I will forget that you are her blood and separate your head from your neck."
Seeing Thea like this was... rather odd for her parents.
She was usually so sweet and bubbly that none of them knew she had this secret possessive side to her.
"Is our daughter... always like this?" Audrina asked surprisingly.
"Yes~" Nita replied dreamily. "Isn't she lovely?"
"Ah... sure?" Bekka said with a shrug.
"I wonder where she gets this possessive nature from." Lisa wondered aloud.
"It is a mystery." Abaddon said honestly.
Out of the corner of their eyes, Gabbrielle and Mira looked at their parents like they were the most clueless beings in existence.
How could Thea have ended up any differently when her parents were the most possessive beings imaginable?
Their mothers would literally rather kill their father than watch him fall into the arms of any women they did not share a kinship with.
It didn't even matter that they would be dooming themselves to spend a lifetime alone, they just had to ensure that he couldn't be touched by anyone else.
Was any part of that normal?
Crack!
"GAAAAHHH!!!!"
Thea squeezed and broke Caelum's fist with practically no effort, before she dropped him onto the floor and reappeared back at Jasmine's side.
"I apologize for creating an unsightly scene. I simply do not take kindly to being seen as anyone's possession." She said respectfully.
"Ah... think nothing of it." Erica said as she stared at her son's crumpled body.
It was entirely her fault that he had turned out this way, and she couldn't help but be slightly embarrassed.
Renanin has a purely matriarchal society, so even though he was her son, he was never really destined to be anything more than a prince in name alone.
As a result, she tended to spoil him a lot to make up for the future that he was never fated to have.
"Erica, you cannot seriously be considering this? We have already finalized our union and prepared the dowries!" Cypress reminded.
Erica nodded slowly as she shook herself free of her own personal contradictions. "Right... I am sorry girls, but I cannot give you my bless-"
"Mother... we have already given our bodies to them." Jazmine revealed.
"Y-You did what..? The both of you!?"
Erica didn't know if she was more surprised by the fact that her little Jasmine had lain with another woman or that her innocent Claire had also climbed the ladder to adulthood.
When did her babies become such grown ups!?
She was going to cry if she didn't maintain control of herself!
"If you want a dowry, I can have one prepared for you as well." Abaddon suddenly said.
The dragon snapped his fingers and a swirling portal opened up in the ceiling.
Suddenly, a shower of gold coins streamed out endlessly and spilled onto the floor.
Erica thought that it would stop at some point, but the amount just kept building and building until there were three large piles each matching Abaddon in height.
"Is this enough? I'm afraid I've never given a dowry before so I don't really know what is common place."
"This... how much is this?" Erica asked shakily.
The dragon shrugged and turned to the most responsible of his wives, Lailah.
"How much did we stockpile for that parasite Mammon before I killed him, my love?"
"Four hundred and fifty million give or take?" Lailah cutely scratched her cheek like she was trying to be absolutely sure.
Erica, Cypress, Jezebel, and their sons all had to pick their jaws up off the floor.
Everyone here was rich, but to have over four hundred million in liquidated assets was... ludicrous.
"You would bankrupt yourself for a simple dowry?" Jezebel asked in disbelief.
"Hm?"
Abaddon looked at the elven queen like she was a bit slow in the head.
"Surely not. This is merely what we had lying around in our home."
They'd forgotten about the room where Mammon's tribute was being stored long ago, and by now it was just like a closet that they never used.
Their money was located in an egregiously large vault beneath the manor, one level lower than the dungeon.
For reference, you could fill over seventy Olympic sized swimming pools with all of the gold they had downstairs, and there would still be plenty of money left over.
But even with all that wealth, they were still a little bit behind Antares.
...For now at least.
"Ah... Cypress, Jezebel... I know we had an agreement but..."
*Sigh* "It's fine, Erica. We understand. I don't know that we would be able to refuse if we were in your position either."
Erica took both of her daughters by the hand and smiled at them warmly. "Then... you have my blessing. I hope the both of you will be very happy."
Claire and Jazmine looked to be on the verge of tears, and they firmly embraced their mother before throwing themselves into the arms of their official fiancés.
As Erica smiled warmly at the sight of their daughters in true bliss, when Abaddon approached her with one of his wives still on his arm.
"We've talked about the children, now we need to talk about us."
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om