"Wait, when were you what?" Alex asked in a disbelieving tone.
Suddenly, he felt like an idiot. He had been thinking that Lilia was having "fun" during her fight, only to learn right now that she nearly lost her life.
However, the anger he felt towards himself was nothing compared to the dreadful thought that he had nearly lost his wife.
'Why would I have said to the girls if this happened?' Alex pondered, feeling a little lightheaded.
Suddenly he was feeling that he shouldn't have saved Niya; she had nearly taken his wife from him, yet he stupidly saved her from death's clutch.
'No, it's good that I saved her, now I can tortur-'
"Ohh, don't be so dramatic," Lilia said in a serious tone, "you know that there is always the risk of death in a fight."
"Believe me, if I had the slightest doubt that you might lose your life, then I would have never allowed you to go fight alone," Alex replied with an expression as serious as Lilia's.
"Then thank the gods that you overestimated me; it seems that beating you up had served me in the end," Lilia giggled.
"More seriously though, it's good that you didn't come early and interrupt the fight; otherwise, there are chances that I wouldn't have been able to control Zid. It was this near-death experience that helped me realize what was lacking in my comprehension of Zid," Lilia said with a beaming smile on her face.
"Is that so?" Alex raised a brow.
"Yes, paradoxically, nearly dying helped me realize that Zid is all about life!" Lilia exclaimed, her smile widening.
"Life?"
"Yes, life! Zid is the life force, it's the energy that sustains life, and being able to control it was just incredible!" Lilia shouted happily.
And then Lilia went on and on about how Zid was the energy that drives everyone and how, from her point of view, it was better than even mana. Without her realizing it, she had become a little bit fanatical about Zid, much like the author of the book that introduced Zid to her.
"I... understand," Alex nodded, though truthfully he wasn't grasping a single thing. Nonetheless, he continued to listen as his wife went on and on about Zid.
'I have never seen her like this,' Alex smiled fondly.
Even after spending years with her, Alex had never seen Lilia this excited about anything. The only time that came close to her current excitement was their wedding day, but even then, she wasn't chirping as much as she was right now.
Currently, she looked like a kid who had just discovered a treasure, a stark contrast to her usually mature demeanor.
Seeing her like this, Alex seemed to fall in love with her once again.
Wrapping his arms around her waist, Alex pulled her closer and pressed his lips against hers, something that surprised Lilia.
She was in the middle of talking about Zid when suddenly she was being kissed, though it's not like she didn't like it.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
Before long, their tongues were engaged in a battle for dominance, coiling around each other as husband and wife shared a sloppy kiss, causing slurping sounds to fill the carriage.
After a while, Alex finally pulled his face away from hers, though his arms still firmly encircled her waist.
"What was that for?" Lilia wondered.
"You just looked so cute, I couldn't resist," Alex said honestly.
Hearing his words, Lilia's cheeks flushed pink, and she smiled sweetly.
She looked so cute that Alex couldn't help but kiss her again. Simultaneously, he felt his penis hardening.
Anh~
Lilia let out a soft moan as Alex's hard cock brushed against her pussy, sending shivers down her spine.
Breaking the kiss, Alex grinned at Lilia and said, "Hey, how about we have another one?"
"Another one? Wha-" Lilia's eyes slightly widened as she grasped his meaning.
"Where did that come from?" She wondered, her expression baffled. They had just been talking about Zid, and now he was suggesting they have another child?
"Well, I was thinking that maybe we could expand our family," Alex said, a smile tugging at his lips. "The girls are all grown up now, and I've been longing for another little one or several others to fill the house."
'Now that I think about it, I miss the twins,' Alex sighed internally.
The twins were actually his youngest daughters that he had with Iris.
"You already have so many children, why would you want others?" Lilia inquired curiously.
"We can never have too much child," Alex grinned, 'though, she is right, I already have eight daughters, that's quite a lot,' Alex added internally.
'Now that I think about it, should I spill the beans about Iris and my other daughters?' Alex pondered.
He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little afraid of her reaction when he dropped the bombshell about his four other daughters with another woman. Lilia had given the green light for him to have other women, but the Iris situation was a whole different ball game, considering their relationship spanned even before Lilia "approval" of him being with others women.
Lilia was someone understanding, but still, hearing that your husband cheated on you would make even an understanding woman feel a mix of hurt, betrayal, and doubt.
'Tsk, it's all because of that previous fool why I'm in this situation,' he thought, as if this "fool" didn't represent a significant part of his current self.
Summoning his courage, Alex locked eyes with Lilia and said, "Now that we're on the topic of kids, there's something I need to get off my chest."
"What is it?" Lilia asked, a strange smile tugging at her lips.
"I actually have four other daughters with another woman," Alex revealed as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"Oh, who's the mother?" Lilia inquired, the smile on her face still intact.
"Iris," Alex muttered, his voice betraying a hint of nervousness as he swallowed hard.
"The wife of your friend?!" Lilia exclaimed in shock, "wait, you only met her after we got married, which means..." Lilia's words trailed off as realization dawned upon her.
Suddenly, Lilia's gaze turned icy, and a suffocating pressure rolled off of her like a tidal wave.
"So you cheated on me," she stated in a cold, unforgiving tone.
Alex stiffly nodded his head, and the next instant, he yelped in pain as an intense sensation erupted from his abdomen.
He boasted a high defense stat, yet despite that, he felt a sharp pain coursing through him after Lilia's punch.
"Ouch, what was-"
"'What was that for?' Is that what you were about to say?" Lilia questioned in a cold tone.
"You, my dear husband, cheated on me with another woman, the wife of your friend to be precise, and had four children with her, which means that you actually had a lot of sexual encounters with her. And you have the gall to ask me why I'm punching you? You should actually be glad that I'm currently feeling weak, otherwise I would be beating the living crap out of you, you bastard!" Lilia said with a pissed expression.
Alex gulped hard, his eyes widening in shock as he beheld the enraged expression on Lilia's face. Truth be told, he had never seen her this angry before. She usually kept her emotions under control, but now, her fury was unmistakable, and it sent a shiver down his spine.
Alex began sweating profusely as the situation wasn't going the way he thought it would. He had expected Lilia to be angry, but not this angry!
As Alex's mind raced to find something to say to appease his wife, anything at all, Lilia suddenly burst into laughter, the pressure emanating from her dissipating as if it were mere air.
Alex blinked, feeling extremely confused.
"That's how you thought I would react, huh?" Lilia grinned at him after a long while of laughing alone like a maniac.
Seeing the expression on Alex's face that practically screamed 'what the hell is going on here?!', Lilia chuckled, placed her hands on his shoulders, and dropped a bomb.
"Dear, I already know about your relationship with Iris and that you are the actual father of her daughters."
At that instant, Alex's brain short-circuited.
"Hey, stay with me," Lilia playfully smacked his hand to awaken him, a funny expression on her face.
A long while passed before Alex's gaze finally focused once again, but then his eyes opened wide. "H-How?" was all he managed to utter.
"Heh, it's cute that you actually thought I had no idea about your sexual escapades," Lilia chuckled.
"Your relationship with Iris, your affairs with Seris, your flings with Rosalind, and your liaisons with Verda, I knew about every. Single. One. Of. Them."