"Ugggghhhhhaaa…. I'm so full…" Groaning lightly, Alex gently rubbed his bloated stomach while resting his head atop the lady's marshmallow mounds.
"I imagine so," she laughed melodiously, still gently rubbing her fingers through Alex's hair. "You ate enough there," she giggled cheerfully, "to kill a dozen rank eight golden warriors. Of course, even you would be bloated from that."
"Kill golden ranked? Even me?" Forcing himself to tilt his head so he could stare directly at the flawless face of the goddess beside him, Alex couldn't hide the doubts on his face. "Do you truly know what's wrong with me?"
He'd been seeking answers for so long, the truth was Alex couldn't bring himself to actually take that final step and give in to hope. The library offered a possible solution to his issues, but he ran from it and chased wealth he truly didn't care about instead. Both the women he'd met in the Golden Pavilion seemed to know something about his unique physiology, and yet he was both hesitant to ask them about it, or to trust anything they told him.
The fear of failure weighed heavier on Alex's heart than the hope of success. It took all his effort to get out those words — *what's wrong with me*. What was he going to do if she told him there wasn't any hope for him? That he was always go…
"I don't have a clue," the lady laughed lightly, her melodious giggles interrupting Alex's train of thought. "Is there something wrong with you? You seem quite perfect to me already," she assured him.
"I… I can't cultivate," Alex admitted grimly. "I'm completely broken. Not even pure Silvergrass Extract will affect me." Unnoticed, tears were beginning to trickle down the edges of his eyes. "I'm a failure as a man. I can't…."
"Teehee he hehe hehehehe!" The lady's sudden bout of uncontrollable giggles instantly cut off Alex's words. "Tee he he! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Patting him repeatedly across his head and shoulders, loud raucous laughter flowed uninterrupted from her delicate little mouth for several long minutes.
"Tee… Heee… Hee…" Struggling to catch her breath, the lady slowly wiped tears from the corner of her eyes, before tugging Alex up into her arms to squeeze him tightly. "Dar…ling," she stressed the word seductively. "If you're a failure as a man, there's never been a success since the beginning of your species!!" Smirking wildly, the lady's eyes twinkled with endless mirth and amusement.
"What? Not a failure? My species? I don't understand," Alex moaned pitifully. "Why can't I cultivate like others?"
"Because you're not weak like others," the lady assured him, tittering lightly. "BUT… If you want to continue this conversation," she stressed, "shouldn't you at least introduce yourself first? After all," she pouted, lightly pooching out her lower lip in disappointment. "You've slept in my bed. Laid naked and bare beside me. Ravished my breasts and drank my nectar. And yet, I still haven't heard your name!"
"Umm…. Alex. Alexander Skyblade," Alex blushed heavily, finally remembering his manners. "My… My apologies to the.. the beautiful lady," he stammered, embarrassedly. "Might.. Might I be given the honor of your name?"
Giggling lightly, the lady smiled benevolently down at Alex and gently nodded her head. Pursing her lips slightly, the sound that came out of them sounded first like a gentle breeze in the forest, followed by the cackling blaze of a large bonfire, before being swallowed up by what could only be described as the sudden sharp sound of two lighting bolts crashing together, and then ending with a few seconds of low frequency silence that was felt rather than heard. "And that's my name," she giggled lightly, "though I understand it's a little difficult to pronounce in your language."
"Yeah…. Just a little," Alex admitted, feeling utterly lost and bewildered.
"Then why don't you just call me Lily," the lady suggested gently. "I've been called Lilith before," she shrugged indifferently, "but Lily just sounds much more intimate for us, don't you think?"
"Sure… Lily is fine," Alex agreed, just going along with the moment. "Just what *are* you?" Lost in his own bewilderment at how surreal the whole situation seemed, Alex couldn't help blurting out his question before thinking about it.
Laughing merrily, if Lily was bothered at all by the audacity of his question, she didn't show the slightest sign of it. "Would you believe me," she teased lightly, "if I told you I was an angel, sent down from the heavens? Would you worship me and become mine?" Whispering so softly as to barely be heard, she gently stroked Alex's cheeks seductively.
"I… I could probably believe that," Alex told her, forcing himself to pull gently away from her mesmerizing touch. "I just don't think I could be yours," he told her regretfully. "I'm already promised to another," he admitted, drawing strength from his own circumstances for the first time in a long time.
"A… pity." Sighing deeply, Lily stretched like a cat before rolling up out of the bed and going over to poor herself a drink of a thick white wine into a pure crystal goblet. "It would've been fun to fight with you for dominance," she chuckled regretfully, before turning the goblet up and drinking it down in a single gulp.
"Now," she laughed lightly, sitting the goblet back atop the marble dresser, "let's get down to business, shall we? What brings such a fine a powerful lord of the Skyblade clan to my humble bedroom today?"