Roch made more arrangements for his subordinates as he listened to the reports about the events and people he asked them to pay special attention, only stopping when it was already past midnight.
He said a few more words to Martin before leaving the secret place. No one in the city knew that the small furniture shop had a meeting that involved many people.
Zemirah had only fallen asleep for a few hours when she suddenly felt another person's presence in the room. Just as she was about to activate the formation she arranged before taking a rest, she sensed that familiar feeling on the incoming person.
She paused in her place, her breathing still calm as if deeply asleep. While she waited for that person's next move in silence, she heard the rubbing of clothes and guessed the man's movements.
He took off his outer robe, and his shoes then opened the quilt before entering it to lay beside her. The man's hot body temperature and cold mint scent entered her senses, making her body unconsciously relax.
Then a pair of hands wrapped around her waist, his head buried in her hair, she heard him taking her scent with a sniff.
Zemirah can't pretend to be sleeping anymore as she groaned at his action, "Hmm."
The man chuckled lowly before whispering, "You sleep so sweetly without me, hmm?"
She heard his teasing and answered in a hoarse voice, "Who told you to go back so late."
"Well, I was wrong." The man admitted his mistake with ease before tightening his embrace. Zemirah snuggled with the man's chest behind her, his hand settling on her belly. This familiar posture from her lover finally lets Zemirah sleep without worries.
Roch kissed her hair and felt the soft figure in his arms, his tense state outside finally relaxed. The killing and conspiracies were nothing to him when he was with her. For Roch, Zemirah was already his home and comfort that should not be disturbed by outside schemes.
"After all these, I'll take you home and introduce you to my family." He whispered in his heart while looking at the woman's sleeping face.
The next day, Roch left without waiting for Zemirah to wake up. What reminded Zemirah that he was once here was the small traces he left.
The crumpled side of the bed, the warm breakfast waiting for her, the small bouquet of flowers on the table, and a sweet letter in his handwriting. This scene erased the faint grievance she had to Roch where he was so busy she couldn't even see his figure.
The days where they spent time with only each other ended as they started dealing with their business.
Zemirah didn't forget to put another gift for him in the space of the Yin Yang Star Bracelet, with the system's notification bringing her to an even better mood.
[Ding! Congratulations to the Host for triggering 249,999 fold-back and rewarded with a Celestial-Quality Late-Stage Grade 2 artifact, [Azure Dragon Calligraphy Brush]
The [Wooden Dragons Calligraphy Brush] was gifted to Roch and in return, she got the [Azure Dragon Calligraphy Brush] that is one grade higher and its quality reached Celestial.
Her collection grew faster after she had Roch who she gifted with random artifacts and spiritual things every day. With him here, she did not need to find a reason for giving gifts and did not worry that he would dislike her low-grade and low-quality gifts.
If he dared to be dissatisfied with her sincerity, Zemirah snorted at the thought. Anyway, her gifts are her feelings for him aside from wanting to have a reward from the system.
But deep down, Zemirah knew that Roch loved all the things she gave him. Be it a mortal thing or an immortal treasure.
She put aside the brush artifact she received from the system in her Void Ring, thinking of when to give it to Roch since she knew he was finding higher-grade and quality artifacts for the divine arts.
Together with the Snow Moon Jade Flute, she got before, she already collected two artifacts related to the Four Divine Arts.
After tidying herself in the room, Zemirah left the courtyard in the morning and did not linger on the Azure Oak City. According to her past habit, she would buy some trinkets to bring back after arriving in a new place to gift to the people close to her.
Zemirah asked the locals for directions and went to the busiest street of Azure Oak City, Blue Oak Street. The street has many shops selling a variety of things, from cultivation resources to some trivial items, the buildings had at least two floors, which showed the background of the shops.
She went to buy some Grade 1 pills she and her disciple could use for cultivation, then spent some spiritual stones to buy a lot of spiritual fruits she could gift in daily life. Finally, she bought some unique artifacts, most of them were mortal-grade and a few Grade 1 artifacts. As for Grade 2 artifacts, they are sold for a high price and the good ones can only be seen in auctions
Zemirah was not willing to wait for an auction and she noted those Grade 2 artifacts, the ones in her hand were already a lot and their quality was also a lot better than the ones sold outside.
"Let's buy some snacks before leaving," Zemirah decided after spending dozens of low-grade spiritual stones.
She entered a fancy-looking shop with three floors that had many customers. The fragrance of the various pastries and snacks entered her nose, making her spend 10 spiritual stones to buy five boxes of pastries.
[Nine Nuts Regal Biscuit Series], [Tea Sense Cake Series], [Oak Leaf Jelly Series], [Heaven Fire Pie Series], and [Cream Fruit Tart Series].
The names of the pastries dazzled her so that she bought a box for the five signature pastry series of the shop.
Zemirah did not dare stay anymore in case she was bewitched to buy more since the spiritual stones in her hand were less than half before she set off to Teal River Town.