After time flowed by in silence, Alvin kept holding her hand without letting go. When the atmosphere grew increasingly ambiguous, he slowly leaned forward and kissed Artoria's soft red lips.
Artoria's stiff, delicate body gradually relaxed, her gaze toward Alvin growing gentler, her cheeks burning hot.
After a long while, when Alvin finally released those full lips, he saw that peerlessly beautiful face with relaxed brows. The cold, aloof air of the King of Knights she usually carried was already gone, replaced only by shyness and expectation.
'Mm, looks like she's probably not angry anymore,' Alvin understood at once and, out of habit, lifted Artoria up in his arms.
The tall Knight King now had her golden hair cascading down like a waterfall, carrying a hint of lazy disarray.
Her cloak and crown had been set aside on a chair, and after that, the hard, icy armor on her body.
Soon, in the dim light, a beautifully proportioned figure could be seen. Artoria was not frail like those noble ladies, yet once her body relaxed, every inch of her skin seemed delicate enough to break at a breath.
Alvin held the Knight King's soft body in his arms and asked in a low voice, "Is it okay, Lily?"
Artoria nodded with a soft "Mm," then added in an extremely quiet voice, "Your magical energy… seems more delicious than before."
Because of the unique authority of "Innate Charm," Alvin's magical energy was already different from that of ordinary people, though in the past it was at most on the same level as the Red Dragon.
But after accepting Tiamat's magical energy, the White Dragon's core had completed another evolution.
Just from that simple kiss, Artoria already felt the Red Dragon core suddenly grow restless, as if from body to soul it was anticipating something, greedily craving to continue immersing itself in that exquisite pleasure.
Lowering his head to look at Artoria's breathtakingly beautiful face, Alvin could not help but reveal a faint smile.
'Who would have thought that Lily could show an expression like this too?'
'Truly worthy of Tia-mama. Just a spiritual body is already like this. If it was her true form…', Alvin could not help but sigh inwardly.
"Alvin…"
At this moment, Artoria opened her eyes and looked at him hazily, exuding an indescribable allure.
"Do you still want to have Big Sis as well?"
'Why did Morgan suddenly come up out of nowhere?'
Before Alvin could react, he heard Artoria speak softly in a slightly seductive voice, "What I mean is…"
"Do you only want me and Big Sis to reconcile?"
"Of course—"
Before he could finish, Artoria reached out and pulled the boy forcefully into her embrace.
After much effort, Alvin finally lifted his head from her chest, just in time to hear the woman's pleasant, melodious voice.
"You still want me and Big Sis... to accompany you in bed together, right?"
Alvin's expression froze, "Lily…"
"You don't think I can't tell the difference, do you?"
Artoria's voice gradually turned cold, "There's indeed no trace of Big Sis's scent on you, but the magic of the White Dragon core has already sold you out."
"I even thought I should be gentler when you came back this time, but now that I think about it, maybe I was too gentle before."
She raised her fingertip and lightly tapped the bedframe.
Rumble!
The moment he heard the sound, Alvin's heart skipped. He instinctively turned his head, only to see the bookshelf in the corner by the head of the bed sliding slowly with a roar, revealing a heavy iron door behind it.
With a snap of her fingers, the barrier of the basement quietly activated.
Bottomless steps, along with candlelight burning in the darkness, came silently into view.
Vaguely, one could even see all sorts of strange devices down in the basement.
'A basement?'
The White Dragon's powerful perception was sounding alarms like crazy. Alvin had a very bad feeling.
"This is a secret chamber I had people secretly build in the past, but I've never brought anyone inside."
Artoria held Alvin's arm, brought her enticing lips close to his ear, and whispered softly in a voice full of ambiguity and temptation, "Want to go in and play, Alvin~"
At this point, even regret was already too late.
If it were the Lily of the past, Alvin felt he could probably have fooled her easily.
But now, she was Artoria who had already been "deceived" once.
To put it plainly, Artoria's ability to catch someone cheating was now MAX.
"Why would someone build a basement inside their own sleeping quarters?"
The moment he stepped into the basement and saw the seductive large bed placed inside, Alvin's eyelid twitched slightly. He sighed and said, "Lily, you weren't this kind of person before…"
Artoria turned her head to look at the boy behind her, a rather playful smile on her face, "I didn't build this basement. It was left behind by the former king. I just had it remodeled. Don't you like it?"
She reached out and gently placed her hand on Alvin's chest, carefully feeling his heartbeat, then said with a smile in her eyes, "Why do I feel like you're quite excited?"
'It is excitement. Excitement to the point of losing all will to live,' Alvin stopped himself from speaking.
"What did you talk about with Big Sis tonight?", Artoria asked casually, sitting down on the soft bed and looking up at the boy in front of her.
She sat upright, a charming smile hanging on her icy, exquisitely beautiful face.
"If Big Sis's magic ended up in the White Dragon core, that means you weren't just casually chatting with her tonight, right?"
Alvin's expression stiffened. Inside his mind, it felt like ten thousand horses were galloping past, filled with the urge to complain.
If he had actually done something tonight, that would be one thing, but he really hadn't done anything. At most just some hugging with Morgan.
Feeling Artoria's increasingly dangerous gaze, Alvin finally let out a sigh.
"What we talked about tonight, I've actually already told you."
"Morgan's feelings toward you are indeed complicated. I didn't lie about that. Aside from that, it was about King Marco."
A hint of doubt flashed through Artoria's eyes. She hesitated and said, "Why bring him up out of nowhere?"
She quickly connected the dots and muttered, "If it were just King Marco, it probably wouldn't make Big Sis take it so seriously. Could it be related to the two gods you brought back?"
Alvin nodded lightly and immediately gave a rough explanation of Morgan's earlier warning.
"Tiamat is a transmigrator, but Ishtar is a summoned god, and she's suppressing her own personality?", Artoria murmured softly, "Is Big Sis suspecting that she might have other motives?"
Alvin nodded, "Leave this to me. After this, I'll find a way to contact Ishtar again and see if she shows any abnormal reaction."
After saying that, he stood up, "Forget it. The situation is urgent. I should go check on her first—"
Before he could finish, Artoria's calm, pleasant voice sounded by his ear, "I'll have people keep an eye on Ishtar in secret. There's no need to rush right now."
"Alvin, are you afraid of me?"
The woman's clear, azure eyes carried a heart-stirring smile, full of charm in the dim basement, "Don't be afraid. You finally came back. I won't do anything to you~"
As she spoke, she stood up and walked behind Alvin. That enchanting, captivating figure had at some point gently pressed against his back.
The soft warmth, the alluring gaze, and the unique fragrance of a woman.
The corner of Artoria's lips curved into a cold arc as she said, "Thinking about it now, I really was too weak back then. That's why things were allowed to develop to this point."
"Lily…"
Alvin hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping himself.
"In these past few years, I've reflected on myself, and the conclusion I came to is… no matter what you do, you should be decisive, and follow your heart."
Artoria revealed a charming smile and held the boy tightly in her arms.
"Just right now, not many people know you're back. Even if we stay here for a few days, there's no need to worry about strange rumors spreading in the palace."
Feeling the soft, fragrant body pressed against him, Alvin slowly let out a breath, doing his best to keep his breathing steady as his mind raced.
'Anyway, stay calm for now. I'm just in the basement. Lily doesn't seem that angry. There has to be a turning point—"
[You have unlocked a brand-new CG: The Secret of the King of Knights' Basement]
Alvin's expression instantly froze.
'Could you at least wait until I struggle a bit before popping this up?'
BOOM!
Under Alvin's blank expression, the basement door slowly closed.
.
.
.
[Two Days Later]
Deep within Camelot Palace, inside a luxurious room, the blue-haired, red-eyed Tiamat was listlessly gnawing on a huge chicken leg.
Even while eating good food, her heart was thinking about her child.
Recently, Tiamat hadn't been sleeping well.
As a banished creator mother goddess, she often had nightmares back when she was in the Imaginary World, but in fact, the frequency of nightmares had dropped quite a bit in the days before.
Especially when Alvin took her to King Marco's manor, those were the happiest two days Tiamat had experienced.
However, lately, Tiamat had become a bit gloomy again.
She hadn't seen Alvin for a long time.
Although they hadn't known each other for very long, that child was good-looking, spoke nicely, and was even willing to take her out to play. All in all, he was a very good child, so it was only natural that Tiamat cared about him.
Although, because of the contract between her and Alvin, she could sense that nothing had happened to him. Then why, after returning to the palace, had she not seen Alvin at all?
Maybe she should take the initiative to look for him?
While enjoying her food, Tiamat thought about such trivial matters.
At that moment, someone slowly pushed open the door from outside. The afternoon sunlight streamed in through the window, illuminating the rather handsome face of the boy.
"Aaa?"
Tiamat suddenly raised her head. When she saw Alvin, her beautiful eyes instantly lit up.
[Why does your complexion look so pale?]
She quickly wrote in her notebook.
Alvin's gaze was unfocused. He waved his hand lightly and sighed, "Don't ask. It's nothing serious. I just acted as a Holy Grail once."
High EQ: acted as a Holy Grail.
Low EQ: endured too much in the basement.
"Aaaa."
Tiamat nodded thoughtfully, as if she understood something.
She was holding a cup of tea in her hands, with half a piece of white bread still there. Crumbs rolled down onto her chest. Her gorgeous red eyes were bright and clear, giving off a dazed, cute feeling.
Alvin glanced a few times without drawing attention and felt like his whole body perked up a lot.
'Have to say, Tia-mama really is huge. This is the biggest I've ever seen.'
At this moment, Tiamat looked up at him, thought for a bit, and handed him the remaining half of the white bread.
"I'm not hungry. Have you seen Ishtar?", Alvin went straight to the point.
He hadn't been doing nothing these past two days. Aside from doing proper work and being forced to do proper work, he'd also been constantly thinking about Ishtar.
Tiamat gently shook her head, [After the first day, I haven't seen her again.]
Alvin's brain ran at full speed as he thought about whether there had been anything unusual during his contact with Ishtar that day, 'If Morgan's guess is correct, that means Ishtar is a god who descended with the tacit approval of the 'Gaia' side. If this assumption holds, then Ishtar's purpose becomes worth pondering.'
'Also, after following us back to the palace, she disappeared. Did she go back to King Marco's place, or is she still in the palace now, just hiding?'
[Do you want me to help look for her?], Tiamat lightly patted Alvin's arm.
Alvin snapped back to his senses, shook his head, and smiled, "No need. I have my own way."
As the creator mother goddess, Tiamat's perception was naturally not worth mentioning. But at the moment she was only a spiritual body, and she was using Alvin's magical energy. If he really let her search for Ishtar's location, Alvin felt that even the White Dragon core wouldn't be enough for Tia-mama to burn through.
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