Chapter 264: Learning Mysterious Things with Tera

Briar, still nestled securely in Titania’s arms with her head resting against the queen’s shoulder, glanced sideways at Tera for a brief moment.

Her crystal blue eyes shifted with silent curiosity while her fingers clutched lightly at Titania’s clothing.

“M… Mother…” Her voice came out even smaller than usual, barely above a whisper as she spoke softly against Titania’s shoulder, “For my s-sake, can you pardon the dark-eyed one and let her off a little easier than planned?”

Tesa’s expression grew noticeably more sullen upon hearing that, her shoulders slumping dramatically forward as she realized she had been left out of the request entirely.

Meanwhile Tera’s face suddenly shifted into a smug little smirk that tugged at the corners of her mouth, her eyes lighting up with satisfaction.

Briar continued speaking softly, her words hesitant but sincere as she peeked out from the hug.

“B-Before you arrived here… she was keeping me company the whole time, and w-was actually quite interesting to be around with her stories and presence. I like her.”

Awwnn!

So there had been some kind of bonding happening between them when I wasn’t around?

My opinion of Tera shot straight up sky high in that moment, warming considerably as I watched the interaction.

In contrast, Titania made an unbelieving face at the now smug-looking Tera, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studied her with a tilted head and pursed lips.

Then she asked in a careful, probing tone while still holding Briar close.

“Just to be sure, since Tera is a stubborn fly,” she asked Briar directly, bending her head further to catch the girl’s eyes with her own violet ones, “what exactly were you two doing together before I got here?”

Briar blushed from the memory, her cheeks burning with a deep, vivid crimson that spread warmly across her face.

Or maybe her blush was because Titania leaned in so close that their faces were only a single breath apart from each other.

Her wide blue eyes darted frantically from one spot to another, unable to settle anywhere for more than the briefest moment.

Anywhere at all except meeting the intense violet gaze that was fixed so directly upon her.

Hmmm. I’m sensing Yuri signals there; or were daughters so enamoured with their mothers?

Karen and her younger sister fought with Mrs. Steven a lot, though.

“Tera taught me many mysterious things that I had absolutely no knowledge of before,” Briar started speaking in her soft, innocent voice, the words flowing out with pure and genuine wonder, “especially when you consider that my birth happened only mere moments ago.”

As she kept talking on without any awareness of the tension building around her, Tera, who was kneeling some steps behind Titania, was doing something weird.

She was frantically waving her hands in sharp, urgent gestures—drawing one finger quickly across her throat, shaking her head from side to side with strong emphasis.

And then mouthing the words “shut up” over and over again in a desperate attempt to make the young girl stop speaking right away.

“Mysterious things like what, exactly?” Titania asked slowly, her violet eyes narrowing into thin, focused slits as she continued to study Briar’s face with a mixture of suspicion and deep curiosity.

“M… mysterious things such as…” Briar began hesitantly, her voice dropping down into a near-whisper while her fingers fidgeted nervously with the hem of her simple makeshift clothing (fantasy-style bathrobe).

She continued; “Well, she used her tongue to lick across my lips and then inside my mouth in this very specific and gentle manner. After she finished doing that, she told me that the action was called a ’kiss.’

“Subsequently, she showed me the place between her legs and explained that it was where I was supposed to come out from, when I was born… but she also said that I was u… unique and completely different from everyone else in that regard.”

Ahhhh, so Briar really was that type of child?

The kind who could so easily be deceived and led away by strange men if they simply offered her a few flattering words…

“Vaelora?” Titania clicked her tongue sharply in disapproval, the sharp sound slicing through the air like a small whip cracking once.

“I understand completely,” Vaelora replied in a low, irritated tone.

Her face was twisted with obvious annoyance that was directed straight at Tera, as she stepped forward without saying anything more.

With practiced and efficient movements, she pulled out a sturdy cord and began wrapping it tightly around Tera’s wrists, binding them securely together behind her back.

“Ah, Benjamin, please help me out here!” Tera begged desperately, her voice slightly rising into a frantic whine as Vaelora started dragging her firmly toward the exit. “I only did it for educational purposes, I swear to you! It was all meant to be purely instructive and nothing more!”

But I simply turned my head away sharply to the side, refusing to meet her pleading eyes even for a second, and ignored her completely as though she were not even present in the room at all.

Yeah, yeah. Go serve your time in prison for a while.

Actually, what was Vaelora going to do to her.

From the corner of my vision, I could see Tesa shrinking back against the nearest wall, trying her very best to make herself as small and invisible as possible.

Probably, so that she would not get pulled into any additional trouble beyond what she had already found herself in.

“Listen here, all of you children,” I began in a firm and lecturing voice as I turned my body to face the entire group of titans before me, “if you ever meet any strange person who suddenly starts complimenting your chest or your body structure, while they are wearing a weird and unsettling grin across their face, you must not follow them anywhere they ask, you hear? They are bad people, do you understand? You must stay very far away from anyone like that.”

“Yes, Mama!” all six of them chorused together in perfect unison, their young voices ringing out brightly and obediently through the space.

“It’s Papa, damnit!” I corrected them immediately, letting out a small sigh filled with exasperation as I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers.

To think Silver Moss and Oak would join in… Didn’t they call me “father?”

Teasing your old man, I see.

“But Ma… I mean, Papa,” Grey asked with genuine confusion showing as she tilted her head slightly to one side, “you told us before that we are not supposed to eat people at all, under any circumstances.”

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