My Taboo Harem!

Chapter 966: The Castellano Patriarch Rarity

Not everyone shared Phei’s celestial enthusiasm for car shopping.

That became painfully clear the moment the convoy began splitting its intentions between rest, responsibility and whatever deranged sparkle was currently dancing inside Phei’s eyes. The night had already been long enough to qualify as several political eras stacked in a trench coat. They had endured the shoot, the interview, the public dismantling of old powers, the sudden shift of global wealth rankings, the emotional crimes committed in limousines, the endless teasing, and now Phei, instead of wanting a bed like a civilized creature with a spine, wanted to go buy cars.

Cars.

After everything.

The Goddess was among the first to withdraw from the expedition, not because she lacked interest in his happiness, but because even divinity had practical limits and the night had spent hours demanding things from her beauty, patience and emotional restraint. Patricia was tired as well, though she carried fatigue with such elegant discipline that one might mistake exhaustion for another layer of authority.

Delilah had begun leaning against the seat with the soft-eyed heaviness like her body had finally filed an official complaint, and Elena too looked tired, though Elena’s mind, naturally, remained awake enough to be plotting six futures, three emotional traps and possibly a breakfast menu with political consequences.

Still, Elena did not leave without making the matter dangerous.

She stepped close to Phei before going, rose on her toes and kissed him with that soft, pretty boldness of hers, the sort that always made Maddie’s instincts twitch as if a tiny alarm bell had been installed somewhere in her soul specifically for Elena-related disasters.

"Do not look too disappointed," Elena whispered against his lips, smiling when she pulled away. "I have something prepared for you."

Phei’s brow lifted. "Something?"

"Several things, actually." Her smile sweetened. "So look forward to them."

Maddie, from somewhere nearby, narrowed her eyes with the grim awareness watching a small angel casually mention future warfare. Elena looked innocent, of course. Elena always looked innocent. That was the problem. Some girls weaponized beauty; Elena weaponized the face of a cherished daughter who had absolutely never hidden a knife in the nursery.

And Phei, who had now collected enough knowledge of Elena’s "somethings" to recognize the genre, filed the warning away with a flicker of wary delight. The Goddess had a long-prepared gift she would not name. The daughter had several she would not name either.

Between the two of them, the Ashford women were assembling some manner of future around him with the patience of architects, and Phei, who had spent a decade owning nothing, found he could not quite decide whether to feel cherished or quietly hunted. Both, probably — two generations of divine sin wrapped around him like velvet chains he had no intention of escaping.

Amber followed suit, though her reason for leaving was more grounded.

She had to meet her father.

Contrary to what she had expected, the Castellano Patriarch was genuinely worried about her and wanted to see her in person before the night ended.

Most of that worry came from her involvement with Phei, who was currently standing at the center of a very public war against the Heavenchilds and Maxtons; a sentence that would normally send any father with functioning instincts into a quiet spiritual collapse.

The Castellanos had once been friends with the Maxtons, yes, but they did not possess the same connection with the Angels, and if the Heavenchilds retaliated, Amber could easily become collateral damage. Rich families called it collateral when they did not want to say innocent people might be crushed under the furniture of their grudges.

’Talent for polite vocabulary is one of the uglier hobbies.’

Of course, much of the Castellano Patriarch’s worry had already been softened by the presence of the Goddess, by Melissa standing firmly as part of Phei’s side, and by Adriana’s relentless nagging, which had probably done more damage than diplomacy.

Still, he wanted to see his daughter. That mattered.

Unlike a certain bastard who had beaten his own daughters and once killed one of them, the Castellano Patriarch was a real father.

Strict, yes. Too strict, probably. Imposing enough that anyone watching from outside could easily mistake him for a bad parent at first glance.

’But he’s no Harold Maxton.’

He was not a monster wearing a father’s name like stolen clothing. He was more like Damien, Yuki’s and Jade’s father in that sense, not on the same level, perhaps, but standing somewhere within the rare category of legacy patriarchs who actually wanted their children to walk a straight path rather than simply become polished weapons for family ambition.

Of course, his son had deviated from that so-called straight path and then somehow gotten worse with the group of friends he kept, which was unfortunate but not exactly shocking.

Sons in powerful families often began as heirs and ended as cautionary tales with expensive watches. Amber, however, had remained fine in her father’s eyes, perhaps too fine, which was why the man sometimes believed extra attention, stricter rules and excessive pressure could mold her into the perfect daughter.

A foolish belief, perhaps, but at least it came from worry rather than cruelty.

’In this world, that’s already enough to deserve a small medal and perhaps a therapist.’

Phei was not a father.

He did not know the Castellano Patriarch well enough to pretend he understood the man completely, and he had certainly been biased against him at first because of his old friendship with Harold.

Still, the Young Dragon more or less understood the man’s worry.

If one ignored the minor issue that Phei had taken the man’s daughter right under his nose and was pretty much about to take Adriana too, his wife, a detail the universe had politely decided not to highlight too loudly, Phei found himself viewing Castellano in a light similar to Damien.

Not equal to Damien, no. Damien had earned a particular place through action, trust and the kind of steady fatherhood that did not require theatrical speeches to be real.

But Castellano had entered the short list of legacy patriarchs Phei could respect.

The man had flaws, naturally. Everyone did.

Who was Phei to judge unless the man did something to him, Amber or anyone under his protection? If Castellano remained sincere, Phei would make the effort to know his father-in-law.

’Soon-to-be father-in-law I am about to cuck, but still...’

The thought amused him more than it should have.

In light of that, Phei had asked the Goddess and Patricia for a favor, trying his best to look as cute and harmless as possible while requesting that they go with Amber to meet her father.

He failed spectacularly.

Phei’s version of innocent pleading looked less like a sweet young man asking for help and more like a beautiful criminal attempting to charm the sentencing judge after already buying the courthouse. Patricia stared at him for three seconds with serene amusement.

The Goddess smiled as if she could see every fraudulent sparkle he was trying to place in his eyes.

"You are terrible at looking helpless," Patricia told him.

"I am incredibly helpless," Phei said.

The Goddess looked him up and down. "You look like you are about to ask for a kingdom and call it emotional support."

"That is slander."

"That is observation," Patricia corrected.

Amber covered her mouth, laughing softly despite the tension waiting ahead. "He is trying."

"He is failing," Delilah said.

Phei sighed. "The cruelty in this group is organized."

"Your face is too pretty for pity," Maddie said. "It confuses the process."

Nevertheless, the Goddess and Patricia agreed.

It was not truly about looking after Amber as if she were fragile glass, but about ensuring the Castellano Patriarch understood his daughter was in safe hands. Not merely Phei’s hands, which admittedly were becoming a politically complicated location, but the hands of women whose presence carried weight, authority and the quiet promise that any retaliation from the two rival families against Amber would be met with consequences unpleasant enough to require historical footnotes.