Interstellar Age

178  A Woman's Intuition

The moment Erich returned home, he was greeted by his loved ones, as if he had simply been deployed for a whole year. He did not dare reveal to them the truth of what he had done. His relationship with Lunaria was a secret that only the two of them could ever know, and he planned to take that secret to his grave.

As for Erika, she was holding a little baby boy in her arms. The child was only a few months old, but he already had a full head of golden blonde hair and dazzling azure eyes. There was a wide smile on the pink-haired beauty's face as she introduced the boy to his father.

"Kurt... Say hello to your daddy, who has just returned from defending the Empire!"

Erich felt a little bit guilty when he heard these words, because he was not in fact defending the Empire over this last year, instead he had spent his time in the loving arms of another woman. But he would never admit to this, and instead embraced the baby boy that he and Erika had made together. While also kissing the mother of his child.

As much as Erich may love Lunaria now, after spending an entire year alone with her. His broken heart was mended in a way that allowed him to finally embrace Erika as his wife for the first time since they had been married. Thus, there was a gentle smile on Erich's face as he hugged and kissed the woman.

"It's good to be back home, Erika. Where is Ayumi at?"

Ayumi quickly entered the doorway to see that Erich was home. There was also a pleasant smile on her beautiful face as she grabbed hold of Erich and hugged him tightly. She had been a lot less anxious during Erich's recent "deployment, ", and yet she did not know why.

Perhaps it was because he was not in any actual danger, unlike before, and Ayumi had instinctively sensed this. Whatever the reason, she was a lot less distraught when she welcomed Erich home this time around.

"It's good to see that you are back. Aunt Yumi was growing dreadfully worried about you. But for the first time in a long time, I felt like everything would be okay. I'm not entirely sure why."

Erich once more felt guilty after hearing this, and decided to conceal this feeling by kissing the Oni beauty on the lips, and speaking about how much he missed the two women.

"I missed you both, more than you can imagine. Come, let us get me settled. I don't know how long it will be before I am deployed again, but I want to spend every waking minute with the two of you."

Erika and Ayumi were both shocked to see that Erich had suddenly changed since his last deployment. There was no longer the haunted look in his silver eyes, nor the weary expression on his face. He seemed to genuinely enjoy being around them, instead of simply using their bodies for stress relief.

This caused Erika and Ayumi to become concerned. They had no idea what their man had been through over this last year, but he had emerged from whatever had happened with a more healthy mindset. While this was a good thing for the both of them, it made the two women deeply suspicious.

But Erich did not seem to mind their suspicions and instead entered his home, so he could enjoy the company of his wife, and fiancee. As well as his new son, Kurt.

---

On Germania, Emrys was sitting in the middle of his office. He had just been alerted that Erich had returned to the Empire. It had been a year since the Alfheim Empress sent a royal summons to his desk, demanding that Erich return to Alfheim. At first he thought the woman had decided to rescind her pardon, and had planned to execute Erich. Yet for a year, he did not receive news from the Alfheim Dominion about Erich's status.

Interestingly enough, his spies suddenly went silent. And because of this, he had been considering training a replacement for Erich. Yet, the man was finally back, and thus, Emrys had no choice but to call Lunaria, who had been refusing to communicate with him for over a year. In a desperate attempt to find out just what had happened.

Currently, Emrys gazed upon the smug expression of the Alfheim Empress, or at least her holographic expression, ashes demanded an answer from the woman.

"What the hell has happened? Erich has been gone for a year! With no communications! I thought he was dead, and yet now he has returned to the Empire perfectly fine. Just what did you do with him?"

Lunaria's smug expression suddenly turned grim, as she accosted Emrys for his attitude, something she had never done before since they first began communicating with one another.

"Mind your tone, boy! It seems I have allowed you to be too friendly with this empress, to the point where you now treat me with disrespect! My reasons for summoning Erich are my own. And are none of your business!

However, I am actually appalled at how you treat your men. Erich was so broken when I found him that I was forced to glue the pieces back together. You should be on your knees thanking me for restoring some sense of hope within Erich. I think you will find that he is now a far more suitable candidate to be your successor after the year he has spent on Alfheim!"

Emrys was stunned after hearing the words that Lunaria had said. She had glued the pieces back together. Just what did she do to Erich, and how has his mindset been affected by it? As curious as Emrys was, Lunaria, for whatever reason, seemed oddly cold to him.

Before, the two of them had a good rapport, but now it appeared as if she saw him as nothing more than a stranger. He could not imagine that the only reason that she had ever been so friendly with him and his predecessors was because she was enamored with the Germanic race.

But now that Lunaria had taken Erich as her lover, she only had eyes for him. And because of this, she was cold to Emrys, who she saw as a man who was unjustly sitting on a throne which rightfully belonged to her man. Thus, she concluded the call with a rather stern tone in her voice.

"If that is all, then I have more important business to attend to. Do be sure to take better care of Erich. You can't simply send the man off to die repeatedly, or else you will damage his mind. And that is one of his most important assets as your successor."

With this said, Lunaria hung up on Emrys, leaving the man in a state of bewilderment. The awkward silence was only broken when Mirage's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"You think they are fucking? I think they are fucking...."

Emrys gazed at his most valued agent with a look on his face that suggested Mirage was an idiot, before outright asking what kind of stupid question was that.

"What in god's name has led you to such a ridiculous conclusion? She is the Alfheim Empress. As much as she may favor our species, there is no way that she would do something so scandalous. It would be the end of her dynasty!"

Mirage was currently snacking on a bag of chips while sitting across from Emrys's desk. She had been privy to the whole conversation, and could tell by the look in Lunaria's eyes that she was drunk on love.

After all, she had experienced how utterly intoxicating Erich could be herself. To this day, Mirage could only get off either with him or by thinking of him. Something which kept driving her to the brink of insanity. But she would never admit this to her boss, and thus she simply shrugged her shoulders while biting into another chip, before giving Emrys an answer he found to be wholly unsatisfactory.

"Eh... A woman's intuition, I guess?"

Emrys scoffed when he heard this expression before voicing how utterly foolish it sounded to him.

"What a croc of shit...."

Despite Emrys' words, Mirage was one hundred percent certain that Erich and Lunaria were in some kind of sexual relationship. And thus she instantly became bitter at the thought of the man she was pining after, spending a year away from the Empire, fucking a woman more beautiful than herself. With this in mind, Mirage's expression grew sour as she murmured in a voice so low that even Emrys could not hear her.

"I will make him pay for this...."