When Nea says she wants Lucien's wives to prove his power through their strengths, they feel conflicting emotions. While all of them, including Daisy, want to do that and help him, they also fear failing and disappointing him.
Even though his draconic aura and Pride's influence make them even more confident of the power he gave them, except for Helena and Daisy, his other wives are still in the Earth Realm, and it wouldn't be easy for them to beat Immortal Realm Mermaids nearby from the sea.
And as the girls think about it, Lucien questions Nea. "So you want my wives to fight? How many of them? Against whom?"
Nea can see excitement and confidence in the eyes of Lucien's wives, even those in the Earth Realm, which makes her wonder if they are as incredible as Claire or just stupidly arrogant people.
She definitely doesn't want to make it easy for demons to deceive her people, so Nea thinks of a pretty tough situation for Lucien's wives.
"As my people have been doing very well since we gained our sacred tree, and you are now telling us that your ability is so amazing, I think your intention should be to prove that you can do better than our Power Fruits, right?" She asks him.
Nea's polite and calm words clearly hide some trick, and Lucien notices it. But he has to play her game and win it if he wants to become the future, first and only Mermaid King Ever.
"That's the plan." He answers.
She smiles. "So it's totally fair that your wives fight the people who had the most influence from the Power Fruits of our sacred tree..."
Everyone understands Nea's intentions, but she still hugs Saria with one arm while holding Kaisa with her other hand and speaks in a proud tone. "We, the current and the future Mermaid Queen."
Lucien can only sigh as he knows how impossible that sounds. For most of his wives, beating any usual Immortal Realm Mermaid in single combat would be tough enough, and he personally felt the incredible power of Saria, let alone his girls face her and Nea together.ReadNovelFull.com
"This is absurd!!!" Wrath can't help but complain. She doesn't mind bullying Lucien herself, but she doesn't like other people doing that to him or any member of their family.
"Completely inconceivable..." l.u.s.t comments.
"And shameful." Envy completely.
"d.a.m.n." Pride shakes her head at Nea. "I have to agree with Envy; if you think you're going to prove anything by beating simple Earth Realm women, it's that you definitely don't deserve everything Lucien could give you."
Lucien can't help but smile at Pride's words. Though very implied, that was a huge compliment coming out of her mouth loudly and in public, something that pleases him more than he wants to admit.
But Nea smiles as if she's won the argument. "If his special ability can't do something amazing like that, it just proves my people will be better off the way we are. Our Power Fruits won't steal our souls or demand any kind of loyalty, you know."
Nea seems determined to drive Lucien and the Sins away from her people, but his wives don't like to feel so ignored, and Angela speaks to him mentally on behalf of her sisters.
'There's really no chance of us winning, hubby?' She asks. 'Not even Helena, Kamala, or Mira could do it?'
'I'm not sure; they are so powerful.' He's grateful that his wives want to help him so badly, but he has to be realistic that their odds aren't good.
When no one can get past Nea's stubborn barrier, Sloth feels compelled to speak, naturally in her usual calm, slow, and tired tone.
"Alright, Nea, I understand you don't trust demons, you want to keep your people safe from any danger, and you don't want to be naive…" She pauses before continuing. "And well, you've been pretty smart and reasonable so far."
Sloth levitates in the air above them as she continues to speak slowly. "The problem here isn't even the fact that you want to beat people with power levels lower than yours but rather use your incredibly powerful royal bloodline against people from humble beginnings; that doesn't seem fair, you know."
Nea sighs and stops gazing at Lucien's weaker wives, giving the group hope. But the provoking glow in her eyes doesn't fade, and she quickly responds.
"Forget about humans then..." She turns to the mother-daughter Naga pair. "But what about Mira and Kamala?? Are they not Lucien's wives too, as well as having powerful royal bloodlines?"
Everyone in the Blue Star has probably heard how the Naga Queen had her powers stolen by Tyrion. And although Kamala was born with the same potential as Saria, while the first one was grown by her father only to have her power stolen someday, the Mermaid Princess had access to many Power Fruits as well as all other types of treasures throughout her whole life.
So, by putting a weakened woman and a spoiled girl to face a Mermaid Queen in her peak and an incredibly talented Mermaid Princess who also have the benefits of Greed's demonic energy is clearly very unfair.
Mira feels very bad for being unable to help Lucien. She really wanted the power he'd given her to be enough for her to beat Nea, but she's familiar with the incredible power of the Mermaid Queen, who's probably second only to Tyrion in strength.
Kamala, on the other hand, is frustrated and angry. Lucien notes that and he doesn't want to let Nea humiliate his beloved wives, so he tries to say something. "Look-"
"We can do it!" But surprising everyone, Kamala interrupts him as she speaks to Nea in a confident, determined tone. "If you want it so bad, my mom will smash your arrogant face! And I'll draw my name on your daughter's tail with my teeth!!"
The Sins can't help but smile, especially Pride. Though she doesn't think the Nagas have any chances, she supports that confident and proud att.i.tude, mainly because they're doing it for Lucien.
But Mira sighs, not as confident as her daughter. And Nea smiles as she looks at Lucien. She can't help but think that getting rid of him and the Sins is going to be easier than she thought, but for that, she needs him to agree with that.
"..." The atmosphere gets tense as everyone waits for Lucien's answer, but that's not easy.
Denying would be the same as humiliating Kamala and her mother, also showing weakness. But accepting would be equivalent to throwing the mother-daughter pair off for a likely humiliating beating, also ruining Lucien's plans to have an army of Mermaids.
If only he had met Mira and Kamala a month earlier, maybe with a lot of training, he could have made them powerful enough to face Nea and Saria. But of course, the Mermaid Queen and her daughter are too powerful for his girls right now.
As he ponders what to say, Lucien's eyes meet Kamala's. Her expression demonstrates complete confidence in him and the expectation to demonstrate her potential.
He smiles as he wonders about her character. Since he meets her on the island of the Black Sea Riders, Lucien hasn't seen any other quality in her other than an exotic beauty, an average talent, and a lot of loyalty, which to him perfect attributes, in the most.
But there's something else about Kamala, an instinctive belief in him, which is why she's risked her life to save him and accepted being his wife so quickly.
Lucien can feel that confidence in all his other wives, and even the Sins seem to trust him more than they want to admit. That feeling is directly linked to his ego, and he doesn't want to lose that ever and not even let that flame diminish a little bit.
And to do that, to continue on this path, there is no going back; there is no backdown, just forward and up. Without weakness, he has to help his women become stronger to overcome any challenge.
Then he smiles. "Kamala has said everything; if you want to be beaten, then your wish will be granted, Nea."
"Yeah!!" Kamala laughs and jumps into Lucien's arms, hugging and kissing him pa.s.sionately. "We will not lose!"
Mira gets more confident and smiles too, but Nea puts on a thoughtful expression while not sure if that's good or bad.
Saria definitely doesn't look happy, but that has nothing to do with their future compet.i.tion and rather the painful jealousy she's feeling of Kamala right now.
Kamala even feels the Mermaid Princess's piercing gaze and looks at her with a provoking expression while feeling especially good for being so envied, and of course, for choosing to stand by Lucien's side.
Although the odds still seem impossible for Mira and Kamala, the tense atmosphere is quickly replaced by the excitement of the Naga Princess. So Nea has nothing to complain about. "It looks like we have a deal..."
Lucien is about to agree, but some things still don't feel right. First, he feels that his other wives are a little upset. They certainly want everything to go right as he expects, but they can't help but feel bad that he needs his new wives to do something the women that have been with him longest are unable to do right now.
That affects their pride, affecting his too. So he talks to them mentally. 'Sorry, my loves; I will ensure your strength continues to rise so that no woman can step on your pride again. But now...'
The will to fight and help him is incredibly strong in the hearts of his wives, especially women like Astrid, Olivia, Scarlett, and Ca.s.sidy. So he feels like he has to do something about that.
'I don't doubt your strength, but here, in this world made of water, fighting such powerful sea creatures…' He pauses and smiles at Angela. 'How about if three of you took part in this compet.i.tion to represent the group? Would that satisfy you?'
Girls are smart and know about their advantages and disadvantages. They understand that Mira and Kamala have a better chance against Saria and Nea, but they are women who have recently joined the group, and except for Oya and Helena, they don't have any bonds with the rest of the family yet.
But Angela and her daughters are the opposite. They could actually represent the women who have been with Lucien the longest as they already consider themselves sisters.
'That sounds great!' Ca.s.sidy is the first to support that plan. 'If Angela wants, of course.'
'Obviously, she wants to; just look at her excited expression.' Olivia laugh.
'Well…' Angela smiles. 'Yep, I can't deny that I would like to prove to these arrogant women how strong we are thanks to hubby's love.'
'We are counting on you, sister.' Aria comments.
'You can do it.' Scarlett also demonstrates her support.
'Yeah,' Astrid makes a fist sign to Angela. 'Show them that no water woman can beat our majestic Ice Queen!'
Lucien is glad his wives are so excited. So he also can't help but smile confidently at Nae. "There's something else..."
The Mermaid Queen is even more confused as she feels all those positive emotions flowing from the women towards Lucien. He seems like a sun that radiates confidence to all his wives.
"What is that?" As stupid as it sounds, she gets a little concerned about what comes next.
"A group fight." Lucien answers. "Just you and Saria against Mira and Kamala wouldn't really prove how beneficial my ability is. You are people with powerful royal bloodlines, so three more of my wives will partic.i.p.ate in the compet.i.tion against three other Mermaids."
Nea just wanted to get rid of Lucien and the Sins so she wouldn't worry about the future of her people. But now she's getting really excited about that compet.i.tion.
"I have nothing against it." She looks at Angela with a curious expression. "I already know which Mermaids will be alongside Saria and me... they are powerful Generals. What about your girls?"
Lucien smiles at Angela. "My beloved blue-haired ladies... Angela is going to let Marie and Lena know about the good news. How about you give us some time to get ready? You know, they need to get to know Mira and Kamala better before they can fight alongside well as a team."
"Naturally..." Nea nods. "How about a week? Is that enough time for your girls to get ready?"
"For sure." He agrees. A week in the normal world is more than a month in the purple world, and that will be enough time for him to strengthen his girls a lot more and even help them open some gates inside their souls.
"So we have a deal." Nea smiles and extends her hand to Lucien.
He steps forward and shakes her hand. "Yeah, we do."