Elizabeth's POV:
I woke up.
As I opened my eyes, I felt an intense sensation of having lost something extremely important to me. It was a strange feeling, as the emptiness in my chest hurt more than any emotion I could experience.
I sat up in bed and closed my eyes, trying to assimilate that feeling of emptiness.
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Pov Elena:
Well, my plans for the "Helping the Ice Phoenix Sect" operation are almost complete.
Now, I just need to explain to the little dragon how she should behave once we get there.
According to my research, the Ice Phoenix Sect is in decline because, unlike my mother's sect (the Fire Phoenix Sect), it is very difficult for women carrying the Ice Phoenix bloodline to have children. This is because their powers contain a Yin aura that makes their bodies almost infertile.
Adding to the fact that almost 99% of the members of that sect are women, the situation is quite serious as the Ice Phoenix bloodline could become extinct.
Of course, not all the disciples of that sect possess that bloodline, only the most talented are granted access to increase their affinity with Yin and thus be able to use the Qi of the Ice Phoenix, which provides them with a great improvement in their power.
Although I possess the Ice Phoenix bloodline, thanks to Illios' sponsorship, I also possess the Stellar Demon body, albeit degraded. This efficiently stabilizes the Yin and Ice Phoenix Qi so that those types of things do not affect me. Additionally, I also possess the Absolute Dragon bloodline, which allows incompatible bloodlines like fire and ice to coexist in the same body without any inconvenience.
"I must admit that this combination is excellent," I was impressed that Illios had thought so far ahead as to implement a complete synergy between his body and bloodlines. In this way, he could control his abilities completely naturally, as if he were that creature.
Let's get back to the topic of the sect. The only reason why the sect has not been attacked to steal their treasures is that one of my ancestors, one of the previous emperors, gave a generational edict in which all future emperors would support the sect when it was attacked.
Apparently, a few generations ago, the Ice Phoenix Sect produced a super genius who was very close with my grandfather. According to the records I accessed when I was at the imperial palace, this person is probably one of my grandmothers.
This is great because it could give me an excuse for why I possess the Ice Phoenix bloodline, and it would also help that Illios is able to inherit this blood to his descendants, as he already did with Elizabeth.
"Now I just have to come up with an excuse to present Elizabeth as evidence that this alliance is a good idea."
I can't just go up to the sect master and say, "Hey you, give me your best disciples so that Illios can impregnate them." I need to convince them and for that, I need to have a common goal.
"Fortunately, my mother did a good job of disowning us," I thought.
Although unofficial, both Phoenix Sects have a silent dispute. I don't know what could have caused this, but it plays in my favor as I could tell them that both Illios and I hold a grudge for being abandoned and that we want revenge.
"Illios also has a fortune in rare stones and herbs, so maybe I can bribe the greediest elders." I also thought of that possibility, as there is always a greedy person in the sect willing to offer themselves or their relatives to gain benefits.
If everything goes well, I will have at least 5 women willing to give birth for Illios and to have the Heavenly Dao validate my contribution to the development of people with the potential of the Sovereign of Existence. I need to become the fairy godmother of these girls. Unlike the little dragon, whom I can leave unattended at times, these girls have no ties to me, so I must be something like the loving aunt of the family.
"Haaaaaaa.... I need to practice my smile and ask Illios for resources to bribe... no, donate to the Ice Phoenix Sect."
Although it's a bit exhausting, I prefer this to risking my life like all the other participants in the universal system in other worlds. Sometimes I think it's almost unreal that I was lucky enough for Illios to accidentally share his powers with me at birth.
I mean, if it weren't for him, I might still be at the imperial palace trying to seduce some prince with good chances of becoming the next emperor. Brothers? No problem.
When you become a cultivator, your goal is to transform your body and soul in order to gain immortality. That includes eliminating all defects in your body, so incest, although a bit frowned upon, can be practiced as the genes that could cause deformities and other negative things in the next generation are discarded when you start cultivating.
In addition, there are already many examples of dynasties marrying their own siblings or cousins with the excuse of maintaining a strong bloodline.
"Let's first convince the little dragoness," I thought as I headed to Elizabeth's room.
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As I entered Elizabeth's room, I saw her sitting on her bed, staring at the wall. Although dragons boast about having good senses, this little dragon didn't notice my presence.
"Hey, little dragon, we need to talk about what I told you earlier," I said. At that moment, the dragon turned her head and looked at me.
When I saw her eyes, a feeling that something was wrong rushed through me. Although I didn't know exactly what it was, I could sense it was something like a maternal instinct.
As if my doubts had been resolved, her large, childish golden eyes began to tear up, and I honestly thought of calling Alyssa immediately to take care of what was happening to this dragon.
I mean, you don't start crying out of nowhere when you see someone, right? But I thought of what Illios told me the other day: "Maybe that ugly monster traumatized her a little."
Although I must admit that monster was very ugly, I don't think it was terrifying, or at least not to the point of scaring a dragon's existence. In fact, I think it was more disgusting than scary. Really, when I saw it, I held back the urge to vomit everything I had in my stomach.
But maybe dragons are like elephants that get scared of mice in my past life, and although it's ridiculous, it might be feasible. Now what I have to do is take advantage of the situation... no, be a good mother and hug my cute daughter who might help me in my future plans.
With that in mind, I approached Elizabeth, who only looked at me with tears in her eyes.
"It must be a very big trauma to leave a proud dragon in that state," I thought as I sat on the girl's bed.
Putting on the most maternal smile I could have in my arsenal of faces for any situation, I said, "What's wrong, my little dragon? Does something hurt?" Honestly, no more words came out of me than that. Don't blame me, I'm new to this whole motherhood thing.
It seems my words didn't help much as she started sobbing louder. I panicked, and the first thing that came to mind was to call the doll Alyssa while hugging Elizabeth.
Fortunately, she didn't reject my hug. In fact, she snuggled in as if asking for comfort. Good thing she didn't reject me because if that were the case, I would be the one crying out of embarrassment.
When Alyssa arrived, I asked her, "Hey Alyssa, I think this girl has something." Obviously she had something, since normal people don't cry out of nowhere, but those were the only words that came out of my mouth.
When she heard that, the doll's eyes began to glow, and like a scanner, a faint light began to scan Elizabeth's body. When she finished, she told me, "Teacher, the young teacher is physically fine. Perhaps she's just very upset from having a nightmare."
When she said that, I made a strange face, but then I remembered that proud dragon Elizabeth was only 5 years old and thought, "It's normal for kids that age to have nightmares, especially in this world where monsters could come to your house and not just ask for sugar."
In addition, Elizabeth's case is special since she saw Illios and me massacring monsters that would make any earthling shit their pants from fear. And if we add the ugly monster from the end, we have enough material for nightmares worthy of the horror movie of the century.
With that in mind and searching my memories, I came to a conclusion and said, "If you're so scared, I, your mother, will sleep with you and protect you at night." Those were the words my mother on Earth once told me when I had nightmares.
During my childhood, I wasn't very happy because the bastard who called himself my father was a top-notch abuser and left us several times.
My mother always forgave him because we didn't have many resources to live on. As a result, it was common for me to have nightmares in which I remembered those terrible days. Therefore, my mother always accompanied me to sleep and said comforting things to me.
"I never really imagined that my mother's teachings would accompany me to the afterlife," I thought with an ironic smile as I watched the doll prepare Elizabeth for the day.
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Elizabeth's POV:
How did this happen?, that's what I wondered when I saw this situation.
"Don't worry, little one, everything will be fine, so go to sleep now," said my mother.
Yes, my mother Elena was in my bed with her sleeping attire, right by my side and hugging me.