[My Dear Nikolai, your resolve is a wonderful display of your affection for those girls.]

The gentle voice of Elizabeth echoed through his mind, a soothing warmth spreading through the painful organs, reducing the pain in Nikolai’s body.

[But…]

A sudden pause, his mother’s voice low, and without her usual confidence.

[Do you think you can handle it?]

‘W-What do you mean, Mother?’

He never doubted his mother’s reasons or meaning because she mentioned this. Nikolai knew for sure that she didn’t say these things just to second guess him, or to make him doubt.

[It might have been fine in the past, until you slept with her. But your body is being torn apart resisting that natural desire right now.]

[Can you endure it, my lovely child?]

Elizabeth’s affection and love, something he would never doubt. Now he understood her meaning, and the burning sensation spreading through his abdomen, the dull ache in his muscles each time he turns away from her.

She wasn’t lying to him.

But he didn’t want to give up on this, since he survived as a hybrid… to recover his memories and power and meet the women who supported him.

‘I can—no, I will!’

Nikolai watched the beautiful women worrying about him. Risa and Selene helped him sit on the sofa, while Kumiko dabbed his forehead with a cold cloth to soothe the sudden fever.

Nikita watched quietly,

His face constantly frowning, he did not want to worry the girls any more than they already were.

After all, they were no longer alone, and neither was he.

Nikolai sat up right after experiencing a brief pain across his abdomen, and he couldn’t let the girls worry about him even more.

“Do you feel better, is there anywhere that hurts?”

“I’m fine, Nikita, what about the gifts?”

As if sensing his emotions, Nikita did not dwell on it and instead nodded. She then presented three beautifully wrapped presents with a name tag on each.

“These are for you!”

“Hm?”

A small box with a tag came first, with Selene and Nikita’s name written in a fancy font. Nikolai picked up the little gift from Nikita and carefully pulled on the ribbons that tied it together.

“Carter?”

The Carter brand was known for luxury watches, but this one had a bit of a unique design, a classic analogue watch with a leather strap, but it glows at the right angle.

He touched the cold silver, noticing the diamonds, and found the red hands quite charming.

Nikolai gave the girls an odd look, but Selene winked. “This is expensive, but, beautiful.”

“Ah~ I will help you wear it.” Selene took the watch from him, and gently looped it around his wrist and closed the band. The small watch came with a comfortable weight, but he really liked the sensation.

‘Reminds me of watching my dad go to work in the past.’

“Thank you! How much did these cost? I’ll pay you back—”

“No way! That’s our gift to you; please don’t say such rude things.”

Selene puffed out her cheeks as she leaned back. Nikita also nodded, agreeing with her statement. However, Selene seemed to smile rather than showing displeasure, and Nikolai felt flustered by her actions.

‘I’ll have to keep this safe!’

“Then what are these two, from you?”

“Hmm, open it and see!”

Kumiko smiled at Nikolai. His eyes turned towards Risa and Kumiko, both with slightly red cheeks. Though their main gifts seemed to be something else, he noticed that the one Kumiko gave him was a small rectangular box.

“Oh?”

As he opened the present, he saw a delicate, and elegant silk cloth, no it was a tie, with his initials written in a beautiful silver font on the tail end.

“This looks like pure silk… thank you!”

He put it on his neck—the tie was cool against his skin. It draped on top of his shirt smoothly; normally he wore white or black shirts.

The moment he wrapped it around, Kumiko leaned forward, her sudden movement causing his insides to convulse, the intense desire to grab her almost overwhelming him.

But he resisted, calming down just as the blonde took hold of the collar, making sure that it looked good and matching.

She pressed her hands on the fabric, patting down any wrinkles before moving away.

“You’re so handsome, fufu. I want to keep you to myself.”

‘…’

Enchanted, Nikolai’s heart pounded, his eyes pumping with blood as they alternated between a purple, red and blue hue. Despite that, Kumiko did not seem affected, still keeping her bright smile and loving gaze on his form.

‘So many emotions right now.’

No, it influenced her more than he first thought. Her hot, heavy breaths lingered in his ears, Kumiko desperate to them hold back as her hand trembled, brushing against his skin purposely.

‘Dangerous.’

“Thank you, I will treasure it.”

Touched by her thoughtful gift, he then opened another present from Risa, and as he flipped it over, he was greeted with a small pair of azure cuff links, the gemstones, genuine sapphires, from the card in the box.

“Risa… did you really buy these?”

Nikolai bit down to ignore the ache from the desire to throw Kumiko down, and instead stared at Risa. The woman gave him an innocent yet slightly guilty look. In response, she moved closer and hugged his shoulder.

“I had some savings lying around. They reminded me of your eyes, and you always wear suits, so I bought them.”

Risa gazed up, a shy strip of pink across her face as she curled her lips gingerly, forming a smile. Her scent travelled straight to his senses, the smell of rain and mist along with vanilla.

His mother’s warning rang inside his mind, but thanks to Risa the intense desire faded, his focus changed to Risa. He found comfort in her emerald eyes and relaxing voice, soft like the gentle breeze.

“I can only thank you. I feel so grateful to you all.” Nikolai sighed happily as his hand went up and stroked his cheek, his nails lightly scratching against her soft cheek. “However, didn’t you buy yourselves something? I wanted to make you happy.”

“We did,” Kumiko said as she held out a necklace with a golden gemstone. A pretty stone and a silver chain to hold it in place. “We matched them, look.”

“Here’s mine~ hehe” Nikita’s gemstone, a slightly duller gold, but still pretty.

“Mine’s pretty too!” Risa’s emerald necklace took the shape of a tear.

Selene showed her ruby red necklace, with the same design, like the sister, but it also made him wonder about rings, if they were to become his wives.

He achieved his goal of making all of them his Luna and Vampire Brides. Nikolai gazed at their necklaces while considering what ring to buy them.

“Now that you mention it…”

They spent quite some time shopping for things unrelated to themselves. Nikolai let the topic slide, enjoying the fact that they bought such wonderful gifts. Perhaps with the money he gave them before, he couldn’t complain.

In reality, he felt over the moon because of the gifts he received.

“Nikolai, did you enjoy our gifts?” Selene leaned against his shoulder, tapping his cheek. A wide grin tugging at the corner of his lips while he gazed at the watch and cuff links.

“Of course, I’ll use this every day! Haha.”

“Aww, that makes me happy!”

With a light chuckle, he nodded and met their eyes, his gaze meeting Risa’s last, and noticed her winking, which made him doubt her. He knew she hid something. But his gut told him to move past it and wait for her to reveal it.

Subsequently, he spent quite a lot of time chatting with the girls. But soon the time arrived close to midnight, and Leona and several maids came to collect the girls.

Once alone in his room, Nikolai gazed out the window, while stroking the silk tie around his neck, while slowly unfastening his shirt, feeling tired but happy after spending time with the girls, his family.

He raised his new watch, admiring its elegance and simple beauty.

His cuff links clinked together while he moved his arm. Then he slowly removed them, placing the watch in its box, cleaning the surface with the special cloth and the same with his cuff links, before he finished the door sounded.

Knock Knock!

“Hm?” He raised his head. The familiar aura came from Risa outside the door, Kumiko seemed to be with her too.

He walked forward and twisted the metal doorknob, and Risa pushed through.

“What?”

“Ah!?”

The moment she flew into the room, falling into his chest as he stepped back to catch her, Nikolai noticed the clothes she wore, and couldn’t help but cover his mouth, hiding his smile.

At the door, Kumiko peeked inside, stepping closer while trying to hide herself with both hands, and a bright red flushed face.

“Wow… you two, was this the other gift you mentioned?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep