Lara glared at her."I said I would think about it. If you continue to pester me about it then you can forget about it completely."
After this warning, Keira hurriedly shut her mouth.
The gala continued with them talking amongst themselves. Sometimes someone would come over to greet them, but neither of them was very motivated to socialize.
One thing that really astonished Ivan was the food served. While all of it was delicious, the food only available for mages was on an entirely different level. Not only was the taste unbelievable good but it also gave some slight temporary buffs.
But besides the food, there wasn"t really anything about the gala that was able to interest him. Sure, it was nice to meet other people but to be honest, he found most of them only annoying. As such he was happy when the gala ended and they got ready to leave.
Keira and Teddy didn"t drive back with them but instead called a taxi. So only Lara and Ivan were in the car.
"So how did you find it?", Lara asked.
"It was nice to meet your siblings.", Ivan answered diplomatically.
Hearing his answer, Lara couldn"t help but giggle. "Don"t worry about it. I don"t really like these parties either, so we won"t be going to them that often."
Ivan let out a breath of relief.
"So what do you think about Keira"s proposal?", Lara then dropped the next bomb.
Ivan didn"t directly answer, but instead looked at her carefully, trying to find out her thoughts about it. But he was unable to find out anything.
"I don"t know. To be honest, I have the feeling that there are already enough women around me, so I don"t really want to increase the number even more."
"So you aren"t even a little bit tempted?", Lara asked in a teasing voice.
"I would be lying if I said that I"m not tempted. After all, she is a beautiful woman. But I"m not sure the trouble would be worth it. Not to mention the relationship I have with all. Or to be correct the absence of any relationship with most of the women who are officially married to me.
So even though I"m tempted, I would prefer to work on our relationship first."
When he said the last sentence a smile appeared on her face.
"I think the same but at the same time, I don"t just want to ignore Keira. After all, she is my friend."
"Then how about we just reject her for now, but tell her that maybe later we will agree?"
"Wouldn"t that be a bit cruel?"
"How so? It isn"t like we have to help her."
"But it isn"t like we would lose anything by helping her.", Lara protested. Seemingly having changed her mind. It now seemed to Ivan as if she was in favor of the proposal.
"Don"t we? But even so, how do you even want to fulfill her wish? It"s not like we had s.e.x except that one time. And now you want to have a threesome?"
"I know that it may seem weird, but I think that would even make it easier.
You know that after what had happened back then in the cave, I developed a mental blockage concerning men. I really don"t like to come into contact with any, except a few special ones, like you and the members of my family."
Ivan nodded. Of course, he knew about it. After all, it had been his past selfs fault. And when he had first met Lara it had clearly shown and they had talked about it as well.
Seeing him nod, Lara then continued, "As such, even though I have slowly gotten used to being near you, having s.e.x is still a big step. And I think that having someone else there could really help me overcome my barriers."
"I don"t know...", Ivan wasn"t sure if he would agree to her reasoning. But in the end, it was she who had the problem and not him. So maybe she was right?
He once again sighted. "Ok, it is your decision. If you want to do it, then we will do it. If not then we won"t. But for now, focus on your adventure first. After you are back, we can then make the final decision. Alright?"
"Alright. Thank you for being understanding like this."
"Of course I would be. After all, we are husband and wife.", he smiles at her.
When they got back home, everyone else was already asleep. As such the two of them silently walked upstairs. After checking on their daughter, they then went into their bedroom to retire for the night.
The next morning all of them sat on the breakfast table when Lucia initiated the questioning.
"So how was your date yesterday? Did anything happen after you came back?", she shot out these questions while having an expression of extreme curiosity.
Lara shot down her questions just as fast, without even the slightest change of expression, "Nothing happened."
Sadly Lucia didn"t give up this easy. "I don"t believe you. Come on, tell us everything that happened yesterday."
"Yes, Mom. Come on, tell us.", Jane too chirped in.
Seeing her daughter"s curious eyes, she could only relent and recount the events of the evening. Of course, she skipped a few parts, such as the talk with Keira.
When the others heard that really, nothing had happened, they looked disappointed, but soon the topic went to Lara"s upcoming adventure.
"So how long will you be gone?", Celine asked.
"I don"t know yet. But I"m sure it will be at least two weeks."
"Then Jane will you be fine, not seeing your mother for such a long time?"
"Of course.", Jane looked proudly in the round, "After all, I"m not a little girl anymore.", before then reducing the impact by directly following it up with, "Besides, Daddy is here as well."
"And me!", Lucia reminded her hurriedly. During the short time they had known each other they had become good friends.
"Of course. You and Celine are here too. So I won"t be lonely.", she then turned towards Lara, "So you can go without a worry."
Lara smiled warmly at her daughter and pinched her cheeks. "But what if mom is missing you?"
"Hmm", Jane looked at her, "If you miss me, then just call. Besides don"t you have aunty?"
"Hmpf, how can your aunty compare to you?"
"Alright enough playing around. I"m sure it will be fine.", Ivan hurriedly intervened, before they could continue their play.
"So you won"t miss me?", Lara asked him accusingly.
"Of course I will. But that is the way life is. It"s not like we can stay together all the time."
Lara sighed. It was true that she didn"t want to leave them, even for only a short time, but still, she had already decided to go. So if she chickened out now, it would only make it much harder, if they had to split up the next time.
"I know. It is just the first time that I will be away from home so long, ever since Jane was born."
Seeing her slightly sad, Ivan unconsciously moved his arm and gently patted her head. The same way he always did with Jane.
His hand had just touched her soft hair when he snapped back to reality. At first, he wanted to pull back his hand but then decided against it.
Lara too didn"t react to his action, besides slightly blushing. While the others at the table smiled at the sight.
"And you still say nothing happened between the two of you.", Lucia once again tried to make fun of them.
Ivan hurriedly pulled back his hand and Lara glared at Lucia, "I already told you nothing happened."
"Ho, so you say. But you didn"t say anything about what happened in the car."
Lara humphed once again but kept silent. There was no way she could win against Lucia.
They happily chatted at the table.
Ivan felt that this type of life was great. He had a warm family and nothing that worried him. Here at home, he could relax and not worry about anything. This was the best feeling he had ever felt. Before meeting the pair of mother and daughter, his life was really dull.
Now that he had experienced it, he was of the same opinion as to these scientists, that had written, that it was necessary to relax and have a warm environment, in order to get truly strong. Only this way would one have the motivation to train as well as take a step back, to consolidate one"s strength. Only through the warmth of other humans would one stay human and not degenerate to a single-minded fool, that disregarded anything but his desires.