Alice wasn't the only one who was thinking something similar, Aria of course recognized that expression, as she was the first "outsider" to join the family, and so she went through a small friend state, not that it took her too much time to develop feelings for Aster, something that up to this date she questions.
It's not like she just accepted becoming Aster's lover on a whim, it was a bit rushed if you think their relationship started not too long after they met, but before she decided to become his, she carefully evaluated her feelings.
During her whole life up to that point, Aria had many bitter experiences, once she bloomed as young lady, both boys and girls started to show interest on her, her family also tried to use her as a way to climb the ladder, the few "friends" she had revealed their true colors soon as well.
It was then when she ran away from the mansion, to the inn that the old Sebastian ran, she disguised herself and worked there, it was her way to escape from reality and her safe place, until that day when she met a strange young boy who acted way different than what his age would suggest.
Up to this day, she doesn't know why she decided to show him her real appearance, or act as a employee of the inn, maybe she simply wanted to find something with whom she could be herself, and for the first time in her life fate smiled at her.
At this point she has already forgotten about any doubts, a dragonkin is appealing for the members of the opposite sex, it's part of their nature to seek and have many lovers, and her constitution should make her irresistible for them.
But Aster has never been like that, the first thing he complimented her about wasn't her face, skin or her body figure which for a girl her age was an overkill honestly, but her unique hair color, the only thing about her that she liked back then, as her beauty only brought her negative experiences.
'It's because he is like that, that I fell in love~', she thought.
Besides some casual chatting, the girls of course made fun of Eris and Mylene, since it has become something like a tradition, to laugh at the ones that went on their date, of course the others also noticed the bracelets those two were proudly wearing and then lots of intense gazes fell on Aster, making him bitterly smile.
Luckily they let him off the hook when he explained it was a cultivation related treasure, they all knew Eris and Mylene's harsh situation, so at the end everyone was happy for them, though Kana still asked Aster to modify the pendant he bought to her back at Prasil, because the effect that Espi's scales combined with Rigel's flames was really good, but Aster told her she'll be getting it after she shows some improvement in controlling her lineage ability.
After enjoying their dinner, they all went to sleep to their respective rooms, Helena and Dahlia were still here, the weekend was free for them and they could go to their garden if they wanted to since a portal that led directly to there was stablished in the castle, besides they enjoyed the high quality of the spirit energy in the valley.
Aster asked Helena to find him some things and then they parted ways to their respective rooms, seeing that Eris and Mylene stole some gazes at Aster after he said goodnight to them, Alice chuckled before saying.
"Feel free to join us, when you are ready for it of course~", she said with a challenging voice, as she entered the room following Aster, leaving a blushed Eris and Mylene behind.
They started at each other and then stayed together in Eris's room, to talk about how much they enjoyed today's date, until late into the night.
…
The night went on uneventful, until early morning when Aster felt someone hugging him a bit too hard.
'It seems I made sis wait too long', he thought as he kissed Rya's pretty sleeping face, before leaving the mind space.
As he expected, in the outside world while Lilia was laying on top of him, Alice and Aria were clinging to his arms.
"I expected Alice to be like this, but even my cute Aria is feeling jealous?", mumbled Aster, making Aria's pretty face blush and hide her face on his sides.
'Ah, she is damn cute', thought Aster.
He carefully lifted Lilia by her waist with the intention of placing her next to them, so he could get up, but of course Lilia demanded a few kisses from him.
Aster softly laughed and pressed his lips against Lilia's, once he finished bribing his mother, he kissed the foreheads of Sarina and Kana and jumped out of the bed followed by Alice and Aria.
Both of them were slightly surprised since normally, the dates begin after having breakfast together, Alice was happily humming thinking her beloved brother wanted to spend more time with her, so he bent the rules for her sake.
That was, until they arrived to their destination, the training room, which gave Alice a bad premonition, that became reality after she heard Aster saying.
"For our date, I prepared a little game called "Punishments & Rewards", I'll give you a few things to accomplish and if you show an improvement you get a reward, if you don't then… well I guess you know what will happen", he said with a perverse smiling expression.
The two girls stared at each other, the idea of a date they has was definitely different than this, of course Aster knew it, but if his plans worked and he was sure that would be the case, then they will never have to be worried about being separated from him again, when he came back and saw that those two even lost some weight due to him being gone for more time than expected, his heart clenched.
Aster smiled and then wrapped his arms around their thin waists, before he gently pecked their cheeks.
"We'll spend half of the day here, then I will take you two to the city and we will have lunch together, you'll decide what to do after that, so be good okay?".
"Mn~", both of them were successfully sweettalked by Aster… something they will probably regret later.
Aster nodded happy that they accepted, he then first pointed at Alice.
"First you sis, earlier when you all joined hands to take me down, I noticed a few things that need to be corrected, your physical combat skills are top notch, so I don't have anything to comment on that, have you decided which intent are you going to pursue?", he asked.
Alice looked away, until she couldn't resist her brother's gaze piercing her and then she pouted.
"I haven't… unlike you and mom sword isn't my thing, but I just don't seem to be comfortable with weapons in general, when I fought against you, those movements with my tail simply appeared in my head, it was quite fun".
Lilia gave her children a base to outstand among cultivators, after that which path they will follow was up to them, while it might seem like a waste of time, to have made Alice master the first level of sword intent when she seems to not have interest in the sword path, learning to wield a sword is helpful in many aspects.
Coordination, accuracy, strengthening of the waist, legs and arms, wielding a sword correctly requires all of the previous and other things, depending on the style one learns, from the vey beginning Lilia knew her daughter wasn't fond of the sword, as a proof it took her nearly two years to master the first level of intent, when she only needed one year.
Lilia might not say it out loud, but she has never considered Alice inferior to her in any aspect, so it was obvious that wasn't the path she wanted to walk through, now that she has finally taken the first step, it was time for her to find her own path, just like how her evolution was different to her mother's.
"If you ask me what weapon you are better with, I would say this", said Aster as he pointed at Alice's body.
"Mm?", Alice put on a slightly confused expression, so Aster elaborated.
"The star that you get is the one that better fits you, don't forget that the paragon body is a power I got thanks to you sis, in other words your best weapon is your body itself".
Alice's eyes sparkled, she has seen her brother's new ability, just like how the Rigel's flames Aster control are different than Aria's, Alice can't make the golden armor expand like him, from the very beginning the first time she was able to use the armor it was already compacted to fit her, unlike when Aster was able to manifest it for the first time.
Aster then smirked; he picked Alice's interest, which was the most important thing, for his idea.
"That is the first of my observations, the second is that you need to prepare yourself to defend against soul cultivators, you have the red eyes trait, so originally your talent should lie in the energy path, but you aren't limited in that sense like the Drage, so you should take advantage of that, think on a way to combine your good points to make up for your weaknesses".
"And while you are at it, I want you to try and develop "Dragon Aura", you can manifest your tail to help you, don't resist or there will be punishment, good luck".
Alice saw her brother's smile and she had a bad premonition, her vision then blurred and she got dizzy.
Aria who was watching from the sides saw Alice suddenly stumbling and she approached Aster before saying.
"What happened to the dragon princess, I felt a huge amount of soul energy being released along with a warm pleasant sensation?".
Aster chuckled and then pointed at him.
"It's something like an illusion, created using my soul energy and my yang energy, you'll see the results in a second".
As soon as Aster finished speaking, Alice's breath was erratic and her face was noticeably blushed, suddenly fell to the ground and then started rolling around, at some point her tail appeared at the end of her lower back and started wiggling and bending in the shape of a heart.
"Kyaah, do you really want to have a baby right now, I think it's too soon, but if that's what you want go ahead~".
"…"
Listening to all the embarrassing things Alice was mumbling while hugging herself and rolling on the ground, Aria who normally would laugh at her couldn't help but feel sorry for Alice.
Aster on the other hand did laugh, he doesn't know how to do illusions, nor he has a technique for that as his manual is oriented to dragonkin who shouldn't be prompt to the soul path, so what he did was pour a huge amount of his soul energy and his yang into Alice, the result was similar to an illusion, in simple words she was now seeing what she wanted to see, her mind was clouded, it was similar principle to what murderous intent is, but instead of negative feelings, it was loaded with desire and similar sensations.
Obviously this only worked because it was Aster's soul energy and yang which Alice received, she would have broke the neck of any other guy who dared to aim such things at her, besides her beloved brother.
"I didn't know you could do that, it's similar to my Bewitching Ice Fairy…", mumbled Aria, to which Aster nodded.
"I got the idea from that, you got me good with that after all, so of course I analyzed how it worked, soul energy and yin are the base, of course the fact that my Aria is too cute also played a big role", said Aster, how could he miss the chance to flirt with Aria after all.
Aria blushed, she hugged Aster and hid her face on his chest as she mumbled.
"You bully~".
Aster smiled, he used three fourths of his soul energy in "charming" Alice, so she'll be like that for a while, which meant it was time to focus in the other participant of this date.
Aria suddenly felt a shiver running down her spine, she slowly raised her head just to see Aster's "dangerous" smile.
"Well, that should give sis the push she needed, now it's time to help my cute Aria exploit her potential", said Aster, he then grabbed Aria by her waist and flew away to put some distance, between them and Alice who was absolutely destroying the nearby area with her tail.
Aster then descended from the sky at one of the most used areas of the training room, it was the physical improvement area, in simple words it was were the equipment for physical training were, weights, bars and a big variety of devices that honestly looked like things brough from the inquisitions back at the black age of earth.
Aria's eyes got teary, she gave Aster puppy eyes, in a try to save herself from this destiny.
Truth to be told, Aster's heart waved, how could he not, when Aria had that pitiful (though obviously feigned), expression on her pretty face, it was enough to make even the vilest person want to protect her.
"Don't look at me like that, let me tell you my opinion regarding what you need to improve, it's not like I'm going to torture you, how could I do such a thing to my lovely Aria", said Aster as he rubbed his face against hers.
'That being said, mom did make me practice with all these stuff back then', he thought.
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