Chapter 269: A Big Surprise

"...Huh?"

Mark stayed completely still, buried under four women who showed no sign whatsoever of wanting to let go of him.

"Listen to me carefully, Master," Aria said against his neck, not loosening her hold. "I don’t know what kind of people your parents were, but they were wrong... they were wrong about everything."

"Aria—"

"We’re your family now," she continued, her voice trembling. "And we would never see you as a disappointment... never."

"It’s true, you’re everything to us, my lord," Alice said from behind him, with a warmth that rarely came out of her. "And we’re not going anywhere."

"You can try kicking us out if you want," Ely added with a watery laugh. "But that won’t change even a little bit what we feel for you."

"Each one of us loves you in her own way, Master," Rose said calmly, still holding his hands between hers. "And that love is unconditional... we love you for who you are, period."

Mark looked at them, one by one.

And although he wasn’t a man easily moved, something tightened a little in his chest.

"...Thank you, I love all of you too," he said finally, a half smile on his face. "Even when you make it difficult sometimes."

"And what about us?" said a voice coming from the door.

Everyone turned at the sound of it.

Emilia was walking into the room, already put together and with her regal bearing back in place, followed closely by Cali and Zilu.

Zilu had one eyebrow raised and a slightly offended smile on her lips.

"We just got here and the first thing we hear is you handing out declarations of love without including us," she said, crossing her arms. "How rude."

Mark let out a short laugh.

"You arrived just in time," he said, turning to look at them. "And just to be clear, yes, I love all of you equally."

"You’d better," Zilu said, peeking out from between Emilia and Cali with an enormous smile.

"Wait a minute!" Aria cut in, turning toward Emilia with feigned indignation, wiping away the tears still on her face. "How dare you even doubt the Master’s love? What a lack of faith!"

"I agree!" Alice seconded, joining the theatrics. "Questioning our lord’s feelings! You should be ashamed!"

Emilia rolled her eyes, though a moment later the corners of her lips ended up curving into a small smile.

Then Mark decided it was a good moment to step in before this turned into another hour-long argument.

"Alright, alright, that’s enough," he said, raising a hand. "Save the drama for later and please, everyone take a seat. There’s something I want to announce."

The women exchanged curious glances, but obeyed and one by one settled around the table.

Aria, Alice, Ely, and Rose on one side, Emilia, Cali, and Zilu took the remaining seats, leaving only one empty chair, the one that belonged to Yuki.

And once everyone was seated, Mark got to his feet and took a moment, sweeping his gaze over each of them.

"Before anything else, I want to say something," he began. "And I want you to hear me out until the end before you start interrupting, because I know you."

A few of them laughed quietly.

"When I arrived in this world, I had absolutely nothing," Mark continued. "No home, no place to belong, no one waiting for me anywhere."

He made a gesture taking in the whole room.

"But now I have a place I can call home, and even more important... I have you."

He paused for a moment.

"And while I know perfectly well that you didn’t always get along," he said with a sly smile, "at first, actually, you were a disaster. You practically fought over everything... and by ’fought’ I don’t mean argued."

His gaze landed deliberately on Rose and Alice.

"Some of you even came to blows, didn’t you?"

Rose brought a hand to her face, and Alice looked off to the side.

"That was a long time ago..." Alice murmured, visibly embarrassed.

"We got past that," Rose added quickly. "We’re on excellent terms now."

"Yeah, sure," Aria cut in with a little smirk. "Those two were always the troublemakers of the group. Quite the pair of brawlers."

"Careful, Aria," Mark said, still smiling. "Because if we’re going to talk about constant arguments, you and Ely have a pretty impressive track record of your own. Or did you already forget that whole stretch where you couldn’t talk to each other without screaming?"

Now it was Aria’s turn to choke, and Ely’s turn to cough awkwardly.

"That was her fault!" both protested at the same time, pointing at each other.

"Ha!" Rose let out, savoring her revenge. "Look who’s talking about troublemakers now."

"The conflictive ones of the group!" Alice added, delighted to return the favor.

From their side of the table, Zilu and Cali burst out laughing watching the four of them accuse each other.

And in a somewhat desperate attempt to get the spotlight off herself, Aria decided to drag someone else into it.

"Wait a minute! If we’re making a list of troublemakers, you can’t leave out Yuki," she said, raising her hands. "I’m sure she had her moments too! After all, we’ve all got some dirty laundry, right?"

"Bad example, Aria," Mark replied, shaking his head. "In all the time we’ve been together, I don’t recall a single time she’s caused a conflict."

"...He’s right," Ely admitted after thinking it over for a moment. "And Yuki and I were the first two to join you, Master."

She shrugged.

"And other than the time we first met, when we got off on the wrong foot, we’ve never argued since," Ely admitted. "It’s surprisingly easy to get along with her, honestly."

"That’s because Yuki is the one who talks the least and does the most," Rose added gently.

The others looked at her.

"Just think about it... out of all of us, Yuki carries the most work," she continued. "Not to mention she’s alone in the beastman kingdom right now, handling something none of the rest of us can do."

Her gaze slid, with clear intent, toward Aria.

"She simply gets it done, quietly, and moves forward... I think a certain someone could learn a thing or two from her."

"Hey!" Aria protested with obvious indignation. "Why are you looking specifically at me when you say that?!"

"I didn’t say any names..." Rose replied with an innocent smile.

"You didn’t need to! Your look said it all!"

Ely burst out laughing while Aria sputtered indignantly, and Zilu and Cali laughed again from their side of the table.

Mark let them laugh for a moment, enjoying the atmosphere. Then he cleared his throat, and his tone grew a little more serious.

"The point is, despite the fights, arguments, and blows, at the end of the day you became a family," he said, recapturing everyone’s attention. "And that’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about."

Mark turned toward Alice, Rose, Ely, and Aria in particular.

"I know your relationship with Emilia didn’t start off on the right foot," he said calmly. "But I want to ask you to leave all of that in the past... because there’s something you need to know about her."

The four exchanged glances, somewhat confused by their Master’s words.

Then Mark motioned for Emilia to come closer.

The queen, who up until that moment had kept her composure, suddenly looked noticeably more nervous.

However, she got up and walked over to stand beside him. Then he made the same gesture toward Cali.

"...Me too?" the succubus asked, pointing at herself.

"Yeah," Mark confirmed.

Cali also got up, somewhat thrown off, and positioned herself on his other side.

Mark put an arm around each of them, drawing them slightly toward him, with Emilia on his right and Cali on his left.

The two women, so different from one another, stood flanking him while the rest watched, not fully understanding what was happening.

Mark swept his gaze over everyone present, and once he confirmed he had the attention of each of them, he finally spoke.

"Emilia and Cali are pregnant."

For an instant, time seemed to stop.

Nobody said a single word.

The words simply hung in the air while everyone’s eyes went wide, processing what they had just heard.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"WHAAAAT?!"

The collective shout made the glasses on the table tremble.

Aria and Alice shot to their feet, knocking their chairs back. Ely stared at her Master with an expression of shock. Rose froze, staring at Emilia.

And Zilu, who had been drinking water, spat it out completely across the table.

"BOTH OF THEM?!" Aria finally managed to exclaim.

"AT THE SAME TIME?!" Alice added.

"SINCE WHEN?!" Ely said.

Cali, her cheeks burning, partially hid behind her Master’s arm, while Emilia simply looked away, though the flush on her ears gave her away completely.

Mark could only let out a sigh and flash a resigned smile at seeing the reactions of the rest of his wives.

’Well, that went more or less as expected,’ he thought with amusement.