Reincarnated in the Astral World

As soon as Margaret notices that Arthur is back, she joins him and Nyx in the bath, which lasts a full hour.

Both he and the girls would have liked it to last longer, but the sun has already risen over Lakeview and the remaining nobles at Josephine's house are almost ready to leave.

"Ah..." Arthur steps out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, letting out a relieved sigh. There's still hunger in his gaze, but he feels much lighter after releasing his lust on Margaret and especially on Nyx.

"Darling?" Aria is in front of the bathroom, looking at him with a curious expression, her eyes quickly drawn to his bare, wet chest. "Aren't you ready yet?"

"I just need a minute," he smiles as he moves toward the door of his bedroom, gazing at her with those hungry eyes.

Aria can't maintain eye contact and looks away. "Don't take too long; Josephine is preparing breakfast for her guests to see us before they leave."

"Fine," he senses the tension between them and decides giving Aria some space is best, so he heads directly to his bedroom to put on clean clothes.

After a few seconds, Margaret exits the bathroom, also wrapped in a towel. Her steps are unsteady due to her weak legs, and her cheeks are flushed, but her expression is one of pure satisfaction.

"Ah! Master?" She is surprised to see Aria near the door and blushes even more.

Aria rolls her eyes, trying to hide a glint of jealousy deep in them. "Don't worry, dear, just get dressed to stand by Arthur during breakfast to assist Josephine and her family."

"Of course," Margaret knows that what Arthur and Aria are doing for Josephine and her family is because of her, so she is immensely grateful for it.

Margaret enters the bedroom with Arthur, and Aria can hear a cute moan followed by laughter before they come out dressed after two minutes.

"Ready?" Aria asks with her tone clearly a bit bitter.

"Yeah," Arthur smiles and extends a hand to her while holding Margaret's hand as well.

"Huh…" Aria lets out a low sigh as she accepts Arthur's hand. Instinctively, her body reacts, and she intertwines her arm with his just as Margaret does. "Let's go."

Arthur's smile broadens even more with Aria on one side and Margaret on the other. He can't help but think about Nyx and speaks to her mentally. 'You are with me, too, honey,'

'Closer than anyone,' she comments proudly.

"So let's go," Arthur leads the way down the hallway with Aria and Margaret at his sides and Nyx inside his Nexus. "What about little Eve?"

"She's sleeping," Aria quickly responds. "It's good for us to finish this quickly; I also want to sleep. Last night was too long…"

"I can't say I'm sleepy, but…" Arthur glances at Margaret, and she blushes. "I also want to go to bed soon."

Aria rolls her eyes again, and the trio continues to the patio, where they find dozens of nobles, some sleeping on the tables and others still drinking wine and beer.

Josephine's servants are cleaning the place and arranging a large table in the center for breakfast.

As soon as Arthur and Aria appear, they immediately become the center of attention again. But Arthur's initial impression as a violent devil is rooted in the minds of those nobles, and they dare not look directly at Aria and Margaret.

"Arthur!" Oliver, on the other hand, only has friendly looks for Arthur and his family. He waves to the trio and pulls chairs for them at the center of the large table. "Come on, let's have breakfast together!"

"Sure," Arthur smiles amiably. He's still not sure how to act around his first friend, the first man he hasn't despised after his father.

He sits near the young Drummonds with Margaret and Aria on each side. Oliver quickly offers some of the food that the servants are bringing over. "Do you like coffee? Maybe juice? Ask for anything, and our cooks will prepare it immediately!"

"Coffee is fine," Arthur accepts a cup of coffee and Oliver also serves the same to Aria and Margaret.

The other nobles can't help but mutter about Arthur while trying not to look directly at him, but Oliver and his cousins already consider him a dear friend of their family.

While most of the Drummonds merely smile and nod at Arthur, Jovie remains bold. "Who needs four hours to take a bath?"

Jovie's cousins shake their heads in disapproval at her, but Oliver starts to laugh. "Hahaha! Do you really think he was just taking a bath?"

Arthur tenses for a second, unsure what Oliver will say next, but the man is also smart and quickly makes a subtle gesture toward Margaret for Jovie. "He was with his beautiful wife, you know…"

"Oh," Jovie sees the blush on Margaret's cheeks and a happy gleam in her eyes, leaving the poor girl quite envious. "I see…" Jovie lowers her tone and makes a sorry expression. "My apologies, I didn't mean to meddle."

"It's no big deal," Arthur smiles at Jovie. He doesn't mind killing, but lying makes his proud side less proud, so it's good that Oliver gave him an out without lying since he really did do naughty things with Margaret in the bathroom.

"A true gentleman! Hahahaa!" Oliver gives Arthur a thumbs-up while laughing. The other Drummonds also laugh, creating a quite pleasant atmosphere.

Arthur doesn't hate such an atmosphere, but he doesn't enjoy it much either, not as much as he enjoyed killing the Viscount's family and spending time with his loved ones. Yet, he manages to pretend he is having a great time with friendly smiles and casual talk with Oliver and his cousins.

Of course, having Margaret and Aria at his side helps him a lot to endure such boring moments.

After a few minutes, Josephine appears with some of her servants, bringing more delicacies for breakfast.

"Oh, you seem to be having fun," she smiles at Oliver and Arthur; like him, she manages to pretend that everything is normal, even knowing that the lives of the people in Lakeview are about to be turned upside down due to an unprecedented event.

"Yeah," Oliver exclaims cheerfully. "How could we not be happy after the great victory that Arthur helped us achieve?"

"Of course," Josephine sits on the other side of the table next to her son and smiles at Arthur and Aria. "All glory to our honorable guests."

Arthur and Aria nod at the cunning old lady, and the breakfast proceeds cheerfully. All the nobles still awake join them; after all, even without knowing everything that happened the previous night, most of them are already considering aligning with the Drummonds rather than the Viscount's family.

Even knowing what happened, Margaret enjoys the friendly atmosphere, but Aria and Arthur exchange glances several times, both thinking about how these people see them as part of their group, educated and elegant nobles, but in reality, they are violent predators and assassins.

Like Arthur, Aria doesn't really enjoy pretending among these nobles even though Josephine's family is genuinely friendly with them.

'This does not compare to what we did before…' She recalls how thrilling it was to hunt with Arthur, watching him brutally eliminate their foes. 'Why am I already craving the next night? I bet he'll want to take out the Viscount's allied families too…'

Aria and Arthur exchange anticipatory glances until a servant rushes into the courtyard alongside a soldier, who approaches Josephine. "My Lady, my Lady!"

The soldier, clad in the armor of the Lakeview guard, hastily hands a letter to Josephine. His expression, desperate and even terrified, leaves all the surrounding nobles uneasy, and Josephine feigns the same reaction.

"Easy, boy. What's going on?" She takes the letter and begins to open it with a curious expression.

"My Lady… this… you must… captain sent me…" The guard struggles to speak.

"What could it be…" Josephine masterfully pretends to be confused as she reads the letter, her expression also turning to one of terror.

The surrounding nobles, including the Drummonds, are puzzled and concerned. A leader from another influential noble family in Lakeview, unable to contain his curiosity, questions her. "Lady Drummond? What is it about? Has something bad happened?"

"A tragedy…" She sighs. "The Viscount's family has been attacked."

"An attack?"

"Who would dare?"

"How are they?"

"Any injured???"

"Why did you say tragedy???"

A stir rapidly grows among the nobles, shock and confusion etched on every face except for Arthur and Aria, whose expressions remain icy and calm.

"Some guards entered the house and found the Viscount and his family..." Josephine covers her mouth as if about to vomit from the content of the letter. "It was a massacre... no survivors..."

"No survivors?!?"

"How is that possible??"

"Goddess, have mercy..."

The other nobles are genuinely shocked, but while no one truly mourns the Viscount, they fear for their own safety, and especially, they all share the same doubt.

"What will happen now?"

When someone asks that question aloud, all eyes turn to Josephine.

She feigns an attempt to compose herself and maintains a thoughtful expression. "The head of the guard is summoning the major families for a public assembly to restore order..."

She pauses and looks at the nobles. "But since no member of the Whittlee family in Lakeview is alive, it's natural that the command of the city should pass to the head of the Wymane family until Count Whittlee appoints a successor for his son."

"Lord Wymane?"

"That makes sense; they were the main allies of the Viscount..."

The nobles begin to discuss the future of Lakeview and their own safety.

While Josephine also pretends concern over the matter, Arthur leans close to Aria and whispers in her ear. "It seems we have our next target for tonight."

"Oh my~ you can hardly wait, can you?" She asks in an animated tone.

Arthur brings his lips even closer to Aria's ear. "I didn't know hunting could be so delightful when accompanied by the right person..."

"Fufufu~" She giggles.