Grand Ancestral Bloodlines
chapter-1926

Eska cupped Ryu's face in her hands. The care and concern in her eyes was clear, almost to the point it nearly made Ryu a bit uncomfortable. He had never seen those eyes from anyone but his mother and grandmothers, and that was about enough of an explanation for why he wouldn't want to see them from his wife.

But he quickly realized that it was even deeper than that. He didn't want to see such pity and guilt in the eyes of his women. Originally, he didn't even want to speak about these things at all. If it wasn't for the fact he could see that it would make Eska sad if he didn't, he wouldn't have said anything at all.

But now that he had, whether he wanted to originally or not, there was some of his burden being placed onto her shoulders.

Eska was simply a different woman from Ailsa, and they both had their own places in his life. Honestly, if Eska was the one to see him back then and she tried to comfort him the same way, maybe he would have never snapped out of it. It had taken Ailsa's brand of "encouragement" to make him see any sort of light.

Still, those hints of discomfort in his eyes when he looked into Eska's eyes didn't just vanish. It wasn't the type of person he was, and it was hard for him to accept such a thing.

Eska looked into his eyes deeply, her tears still streaming. Her gaze bounced between his irises as though trying to see something, and in the end, she smiled a bit bitterly.

She could see through some of Ryu's thoughts. Some people just didn't like to be coddled and told that everything would be alright. And some people didn't want to be constantly yelled at and told to get it together.

When Eska thought about it, she wasn't sure she wanted a man that wanted to be coddled either… which was ironic considering she felt that she wanted to do the coddling. But when she thought about how she would feel if Ryu constantly came to her for such things… she found that she would return to her state as an Ancestor, where the entire burden was on her… and maybe that was the real reason she cried. Not because she was afraid of holding some of the burden for Ryu, but rather because she knew exactly the kind of pressure Ryu was holding up and it broke her heart.

Seeing the hints of discomfort in her eyes, she felt even more guilt because she actually… sighed a breath of relief. At the same time, her attraction toward Ryu seemed to grow to another level. Not only had he been vulnerable with her, but he didn't want her pity. He had only spoken because she wanted him to, and nothing else mattered to him. Not even his own pain and anguish.

"I'm sorry…" Eska embraced Ryu, taking him off guard a bit. He could tell that she wasn't apologizing for leaving him to carry all their burdens, she was apologizing because she wanted him to continue to do so.

However, that only made Ryu smile. He stroked her hair gently. Why had Ailsa's words infuriated him so much? It wasn't just because she was looking down on him with her apology, or that she didn't really mean it, it was because she treated him like a person she would have to fake such an apology to in the first place, like he was some child she had to care and caress lest he break apart.

It had been a long time since he was so thoroughly enraged. If not for the slivers of emotion that remained in his heart, let alone threatening divorce, he would have done it right then and there. Maybe only one of his wives could get away with such a thing without facing his immediate wrath.

Eska's thoughts and emotions, rather than making him feel that life was too unfair, instead put him at ease. If his women couldn't rely on him, then who could they rely on? Anything they wanted, anything they needed, they should have the confidence to rely on him to get it for them. That was all he wanted, and that was all he could ever want.

Maybe the reason he loved arrogant, prideful women so much was because this was precisely the kind of woman that could give him the most satisfaction upon reaching this point. It was probably selfish of him, probably a bit childish, most definitely a great deal chauvinistic and all the best sort of buzz words, but he simply didn't care. He was Ryu Tatsuya and this was how he preferred to live his life.

Eska could practically feel Ryu's heart ease. She pressed her ear to his chest until the rapid, erratic heartbeat became a calm, soothing baritone that echoed only once every several seconds.

"Can you do something for me?" Eska suddenly asked.

"Anything." Ryu said with a calm smile, gently stroking her hair.

Eska pointed toward Wobbling Fairy and blushed a bit. She opened her mouth to speak but couldn't quite get her words out. After a while, her blush overwhelmed her and she made a decision. She suddenly vanished… or, rather, she morphed into Isemeine. Her breasts shrunk and her ass became far tighter. At the same time, her skin bronzed.

Ryu raised an eyebrow, but he didn't retreat. After all, Isemeine was his wife as well.

"What? Is she tagging you in?"

Isemeine rolled her eyes. "She wants you to fuck her brains out, but she's too much of a prissy princess to say that out loud."

"Hm? Why's that?" Ryu asked, a bit confused. He knew that Eska wasn't just going soft on him. She wasn't a kind-hearted person by the normal metrics.

Eska would certainly not bat an eye even if he were to kill Wobbling Fairy right now… so why?

Isemeine scoffed. "It's fucking embarrassing, that's why."