The following morning.
Casmir sleepily opened his eyes to an intense white light, his eyes gradually refocused allowing him to discern the origin of this light. The morning sun was shining ever so brightly today and as it shined onto his the painted white walls of his room, the subsequent scattering of light illuminated his room in an intense brightness.
Casmir wanted to roll over, cover his eyes and re-enter his slumber, but he soon realised that would be a poor decision.
Laying peacefully on-top of him, her face softly pressing on his shoulder, her eyes shaded by her hair was Rose.
Casmir immediately realised that he couldn't move, or risk disturbing this fierce beast. For the moment he could only acquiesce to this sleeping lioness and pass the time in quiet thought.
He took full advantage of Rose's warmth by gently wrapping his arms around the soft delicate parts of her body, silently revelling in his spoils.
A short time later Rose's hand twitched, then she let out a soft grumble as her eyes fluttered open.
Her face was lying against Casmir's shoulder looking out away from him but in her sluggish state, she didn't realise his position underneath her.
Rose slowly stretched out her hand trying to find Casmir, only for her hand to recoil in discomfort as she felt a cold sensation from touching the empty bedsheet.
However before the chilling sensation in Rose's hand could traverse her body, a warm hand grasped hers enveloping it and bringing it into the warmth of Casmir's chest.
"Good morning Ava..." Casmir softly said to her in greeting.
Rose looked up to him for a moment with languid, watery eyes before she shyly buried her face into Casmir's chest trying to melt into his warmth.
"Hey! Hey!.. Careful there you cheeky girl.." Casmir quietly cried out as Rose brushed against his sensitive area.
Having covered her head with the duvet in an attempt to hide from Casmir, Rose teased him.
"Cheeky girl? Whatever do you mean Casmir.. I thought you enjoyed it when I played with your little brother here..?" She said rather mischievously.
Casmir shook his head, then he reached into the bedcovers grasping two large mounds before suddenly, yet gently, squeezing Rose's sensitive nipples.
Rose let out a short yet pleasant sounding squeal as she felt this sharp sensation.
Her squeal seemed to sound off a march to battle as the couple began round after round of 'attacks' against one another, repeatedly changing positions and producing sounds of 'battle'. However a spectator would only describe the sound of this 'battle' as 'youthful' and 'energetic'.
The battle lasted for over an hour before the satisfied couple finally separated to rest.
Thankfully after their rest Rose and Casmir simply chose to talk, their lust having been fully satiated.
They both had something they wanted to speak to the other about, but Casmir brought up his desire for Rose to cultivate first.
He wanted her to become stronger, to live a better life and to experience things she never could without cultivation. However more importantly and perhaps selfishly, Casmir wanted Rose to be able to protect herself and live a longer life.
One benefit to cultivation beyond the obvious was longevity, depending on the cultivators race/cultivation system, a cultivators lifespans would be increased based on their cultivation level.
Qi Grade's 1 and 2, offered no such benefits to humans, but Qi Grade 3-6 increased a human's lifespan by 50 years while Qi Grade's above 6 increased one's lifespan by at least 100 years each.
While the desire for increased longevity was little to the current Rose and Casmir, Casmir had recently been thinking heavily about his future and he didn't neglect the importance of such a benefit.
Rose listened to Casmir's explanation attentively but there was still an almost reluctant expression on her face.
"Rose.. what's wrong?" Casmir asked as he saw her expression.
Rose hesitated for a second concerned about Casmir's reaction, but she eventually reassured herself that Casmir wouldn't hold anything against her.
"Casmir... do you know how expensive it is to become a cultivator?" She asked him.
Casmir was confused "Expensive..? Well I know that cultivation resource's can be expensive.."
Rose smiled as if she had expected Casmir's response before she interrupted him.
"It's not just that.. you've probably never realised this because your cultivation comes from the educational establishments, where basic resources are provided by the government or various organisations... but everything about cultivation is shockingly expensive." Rose explained.
"When I was younger and I heard about cultivation, I was amazed and intrigued. Who wouldn't want the strength to fight 10 men or create fantastic scenes with a wave or their hands, unfortunately it's not that simple."
"Think about it, just activating your Qi energy requires a high Grade Qi resource that's valuable even in a nation's eyes. After that it takes months of cultivation for hours each day just to reach the boundary of Qi Grade 2, to cross it you need to consume an expensive Qi Catalyst and that's just the beginning of cultivation."
"To someone in my position.. that was just a fairy tale.." Rose said looking quite dispirited.
Casmir understood the point that Rose was trying to make but being someone from a well off family, he still didn't understand how expensive it would be.
"Do you know how much it is..? To activate your Qi energy?" He asked.
Rose sighed with an awkward chuckle, "About 10,000 gold.. for a Grade 6 resource anyway. The Grade of resource you used at the academy was likely higher, leading to a higher chance of activation."
Casmir was shocked.
"10,000?!... but it's not like it gets used up.. all your doing is standing next to it!" Casmir said as if this was unjust.
Rose agreed with Casmir but she also pointed out the reasoning for it.
"It's a law. The governments can't allow the population of cultivators to grow too much otherwise the demand for cultivation resources would sky rocket, fuelling greed and hoarding amongst powerful organisations eventually leading to disorder."
"I can't say that I like this law, but without it, the history books give a grim picture of the events that would follow." Rose explained.
She recommended Casmir read a few books about historical nations that tried to overturn this law, they eventually always collapsed or chose to reform the law.
Rose then went on to explain a few other reasons why she hadn't become a cultivator, one which stood out most to Casmir was 'Why did I need to become a cultivator?'.
Indeed, to the average citizen cultivation was a luxury and not an essential part of their lives. Cultivators might control the power in the country but they still gave citizens the right to vote for their representatives, the right to free speech and many other fundamental rights.
Although cultivators that looked down on people existed, most of the cultivators came from the general population through the educational system. Children with good education could attend universities and gain the chance to cultivate just like Casmir, or families could save up money to give their children a chance to activate their Qi energy.
It wasn't like ordinary people didn't have a choice, it was just better for them to live a more ordinary life and enjoy themselves in their own way.
Casmir felt quite dejected as he heard her explanations, he didn't realise how much he had been squandering his opportunities.
He swore to himself not to waste his cultivation, to put it to use for those people who would never realistically have a chance to cultivate.
However after hearing Rose's explanation, Casmir was also worried that Rose didn't want to cultivate at all, even given the chance.
"Rose I.. I understand that you might not want to cultivate but I can help you, 10,000 gold is a lot, but my family can afford it." Casmir sincerely suggested.
Rose turned her head away, unwilling to look at Casmir as if she had let him down.
"Casmir.. It's not that I don't want to cultivate but I can't just take advantage of you like this.. I have some money saved up that !..." Rose tried to say with a lowered head.
"No, no, no.. That money's for the baby. I'll pay for everything trust me..." Casmir interrupted her, he wouldn't let her use up the money she had saved for their child for something he wanted.
Rose reluctantly looked into Casmir's eyes, she saw that he was unwilling to back down and she also realised that this wasn't a bad thing for her.
Rose's thoughts span around in circles before she realised something, she was isolating herself just like she had done before. She knew that Casmir was trustworthy, that was evident from how much attention and thought he had given her, he didn't try to throw money at her or restrict her but he treated her like a wife and gave her opportunities she perhaps didn't deserve.
Yet now, as he asked her to trust her, she was still reluctant.
Rose realised that if she wanted to trust someone, Casmir was someone worthy of that trust.
A small smile appeared on her face as she suddenly completely relaxed, she looked up at Casmir and said.
"Ok.. but on one condition.."
Casmir nodded happily saying "Anything!"
Rose placed both her hands on Casmir's cheeks as she spoke sincerely with a slightly nervous voice.
"L-Let's get married.."