Chaos' Heir

Chapter 1334: Warmth

Liiza woke up immersed in warmth she had already sensed while she was asleep. She felt far better after that nap, albeit still a bit weak. Yet her thoughts hardly lingered on those fields.

The warmth had two sources. One lay between Liiza’s arms, sleeping while wrapped in white towels. Little Yeza had cried some more while her father was away, but she seemed to enjoy sleep like her mother and decided to indulge in it a bit longer now.

Meanwhile, the other far hotter source of warmth had his left arm wrapped around the sleeping Yeza, helping Liiza support her. The right arm was around Liiza’s head, keeping her close to his chest.

Liiza looked up, following the absence of the expected blue light. Her handsome, caring, and stupid husband was awake but kept his eyes closed, and she knew why.

"[She has to get used to your eyes]," Liiza whispered, "[And you won’t wake her up with this little]."

The familiar blue light slowly expanded on Liiza’s face as Khan opened his eyes. He carefully glanced at their sleeping daughter, smiling when spotting her peaceful face, before refocusing on Liiza, who wore a similar but deeper expression.

"[I can’t believe how much I love you]," Khan whispered, leaning his head down to rub his forehead on Liiza’s.

"[Give me a few days]," Liiza muttered, "[And I’ll show you how much I love you, too]."

Khan and Liiza couldn’t help but exchange a long, meaningful look before their glowing eyes fell on the small figure between their arms. They didn’t dare to move too much out of fear of waking their daughter up, so they refrained from kissing, too.

Nevertheless, Liiza slowly scooted closer, adjusting herself so that she could nestle her head on Khan’s shoulder. That put her at the same level as his face, from where they could both look at their daughter together.

"[She is way too beautiful]," Khan commented, keeping his voice down. "[Are you sure you didn’t put anything strange in those drinks]?"

"[Are you trying to praise me or yourself]?" Liiza wondered.

"[Hey, I’ve already married you]," Khan faked a scoff. "[Don’t be greedy now]."

"[They did say it’s all downhill after the first child]," Liiza sighed. "[The romance is already gone]."

Liiza tried her best to keep a straight face when the blue light snapped on her. Yet, she couldn’t refrain from glancing to her left, and seeing Khan with his mouth open in astonishment almost made her explode into a laugh.

"[Did you just copy me]?" Khan asked. "[I can’t believe you had it in you all this time]."

"[Your stupidity rubbed off on me]," Liiza declared, pouting. "[I also had a second part about having an affair, but you ruined it]."

"[I promise I won’t ruin them anymore]," Khan reassured, using a dramatically serious tone. "[For the sake of our marriage, I must let you complete jokes about you cheating on me]."

Liiza couldn’t refrain from chuckling now, but promptly sealed her mouth to avoid making too much noise. Luckily, Yeza kept sleeping, seemingly too cozy in that double embrace to consider waking up.

That prompted Liiza to lean toward Khan’s face, leaving a quick kiss on his lips before nestling on his shoulder again. She didn’t exactly know how much she had slept, but something told her it was time to address the main issue.

"[How did it go]?" Liiza questioned. She had fallen asleep while Khan was away, so she had yet to hear the outcome of the meeting with the Niqols.

"[Doku is here]," Khan revealed, "[As well as your great-grandmother and Snow. Snow is how they tracked us so easily]."

"[An Elder actually left Nitis]," Liiza sighed. "[As for Snow, he must have agreed to come. He must have missed his riders]."

"[He definitely was feisty]," Khan half-confirmed, recalling how Snow had greeted him. "[He grew bigger than I expected]."

"[He is no fledgling anymore]," Liiza stated. "[He is a respectable Aduns]."

Khan reviewed the reunion with Snow again and found very little respectability in its behavior. Still, that probably had to do with how it acted with Liiza, which he mentally promised to tease it about afterward.

"[Am I exiled]?" Liiza asked.

"[They have agreed to a ceasefire]," Khan responded. "[Well, they have to discuss it first, but your great-grandmother believed my offer was promising enough to host a feast for our daughter]."

Liiza pointed her scolding, inquisitive gaze at Khan, adding a question that her face already made obvious. "[Did you threaten to burn anyone]?"

"[Just a bit]," Khan admitted, "[And not the Niqols. Only anyone who might use the war for personal benefits]."

Liiza wanted to pretend to be angry a bit longer, but a deep sigh ended up escaping her mouth. She would have been fine with just Khan and Yeza all her life, but couldn’t help but care about the Niqols, and that resolution was better than what she had ever dared to hope for.

"[You didn’t compromise yourself]," Liiza said, nestling deeper in Khan’s neck, "[Did you]?"

"[I only promised to give the footage of our battle]," Khan explained. "[And I might have added an interview with Zaza in the deal, which is still just a temporary ceasefire]."

Liiza softly giggled at the thought of involving Zalpa with politics, but her attention remained on the topic. "[So, the Niqols will fight with us]."

"[Are you sure]?" Khan asked.

"[They can’t ignore such a threat to the mana]," Liiza declared. "[Our new old ways have proven themselves useful against this enemy, too. They won’t miss this opportunity]."

Scenes from the battle played in Khan’s vision. Liiza had held her own against the two alien scouts, but she was a special case. Khan didn’t know how many Niqols shared her strength and skills, so their worth in the imminent war was unclear.

"[We must find a way to equip our side of the universe properly]," Khan considered. "[If all the Scarlet Eyes’ warriors can use that True Chaos, we’ll simply lack the numbers to put up any fight]."

"[We]," Liiza said, highlighting that word, "[Must meet the Nak before making conjectures. They might know more about this enemy and how to defeat it]."

Khan couldn’t argue with that. The chances of the Nak knowing something were high. After all, their whole mission revolved around reaching them and inheriting the mana.

"[In the meantime]," Liiza continued, "[Or right after that, we must evolve]."