Being the vessel for Ephialtes caused Lisa's outer appearance to appear gloomy and unfeeling to others-regardless whether the other party was an ordinary mortal, a metaphysical practitioner or even a ghost. In fact, people who were able to clearly discern Lisa's aura would become even more wary and fearful of him. On the other hand, ordinary mortals, who were not able to see his aura, were the least affected by him.
Even so, Lisa still disliked going to crowded places. Irene was aware of this too. Therefore, she would try to choose locations with little human traffic for their dates, or she would choose to shop for only a short while, and return home afterwards. For example, if Lisa accompanied her to a shopping mall, she would not request to go to other places after her shopping. At most, the both of them would look for a restaurant with private booths for a meal, and afterwards they would return home.
Irene also intended to do the same today. At the mall, she had just chosen another set of pyjamas for Lisa to alternate with his current one, and was about to pay for it when she noticed the shop assistant naturally approached Lisa with the bill in hand.
"Sir, the total bill is 1,865 yuan."
Lisa chuckled and pointed at Irene, "She's the one who is paying."
The shop assistant was surprised for a moment before a knowing look appeared on her face. "Sir, did you pass your wife your salary card already?"
After that, the shop assistant approached Irene and showed her the bill and payment QR code. With a teasing tone, she said, "Your husband said that you are the one managing the household finances now. The bill is 1,865 yuan."
Irene paid the bill while Lisa took the shopping bags. After that, both of them exited the store.
"Where are we going next?" Lisa asked casually.
Irene pondered for a moment before answering, "The commercial earlier showed that there is a gourmet food fair at basement one. It mentioned that there was a large variety of snacks being sold there. Shall we go and have a look?"
"Okay." Lisa agreed. The couple then took the escalator and headed towards basement one.
As today was a weekend, there was a huge crowd in the mall. There was even a humongous kids playground set up in the central hall of the first floor. Many parents had brought their children over to play in it. There were many children holding balloons as they ran around the escalator's vicinity. The entire place was bustling with noise and excitement.
Bang! A force suddenly struck Lisa's leg. It was not very strong, just very sudden. Lisa lowered his head in bewilderment to discover a small robust boy about 4 to 5 years old, looking absolutely dazed as he sat on the ground.
Lisa stared at the little boy for a while, not knowing how to react in this situation. It was clearly obvious that he had accidentally knocked the child over so it would be bad if he just left without helping him up. Just as he was hesitating on what to do, Irene quickly squatted down and helped the little boy, who had fallen on his buttocks, up.
"Little boy, are you alright?" She asked.
"I'm fine." The boy shook his head. He then lifted his head up to look at Lisa.
Lisa was also looking down so their eyes-a pair of big eyes and small eyes respectively-met but both of them remained silent. Just when Irene wanted to ask the little child where his parents were. The child suddenly bowed slightly towards Lisa and apologized politely, "Big brother, I'm sorry. It's Huanhuan's fault. Huanhuan shouldn't have run around with so many people here and end up bumping into big brother."
Irene was taken aback.
Lisa too was surprised. He suddenly felt that children might not be so annoying after all. "It's alright."
As usual, Lisa's voice felt unfeeling, however, the tone he used this time was unexpectedly gentle. At this moment, the boy's parents noticed that the boy seemed to have gotten himself into trouble. His parents quickly came over to check what had happened. After being informed of the entire incident, they also apologized to Lisa before bringing their child away.
"Let's go." This small incident did not affect Lisa's mood at all. He tugged on Irene's hand and led her to the escalator that was heading downwards. Finally, they arrived at basement one.
Because of the gourmet food fair in basement one, there were even more people over here compared to the first floor. Lisa furrowed his brows as he was unaccustomed to the highly dense crowd. However, he still held Irene's hand tightly as if he was afraid of the crowd separating them. They then began to walk to each stall leisurely.
"My dearest husband, this nougat tastes great. I want to buy some more to bring back to the dorm and share with Jennie and the rest of the girls."
"Alright." Lisa took a bag and passed them to the store owner to pack the bag to the brim. He then paid for the confections on his own volition.
"My dearest husband, this cake tastes delicious too."
"Okay." The cake was then packed and money was paid.
"My dearest husband, this dried fish treat is so delicious. I finally understand how that spiritually-inclined cat became so fat."
Lisa laughed. He then weighed the dried fish treats and paid for them.
This cycle repeated again and again.
The both of them walked from one end of the fair to the other end. When they finally came back from the other end, bringing along a ton of shopping bags with them back to the car, night had already fallen.
"Let's detour to the supermarket on our way back. We can cook our own dinner tonight." When they were going from one food stall to the other earlier on, Irene had already tried many different snacks to the point where she felt a bit sick of the food. Lisa had noticed this and thus decided to not go ahead with the plan of eating dinner outside. Instead, he decided to go back home to make a few light dishes instead.
"Okay! Okay!" Irene naturally did not disagree. She too, did not want to eat those greasy and salty food from restaurants outside at this moment.
"You ate too much earlier on so let's eat our dinner at a later time."
"Okay."
Lisa smiled in response and started the car, slowly making their trip back home. During the journey, Lisa was focused on driving while Irene was earnestly staring right at him. She did not browse the Internet on her phone, nor did she chat with her classmates along the way. All she did was to lay in a slanted position on the passenger seat while sending a burning gaze towards Lisa.
Lisa was not able to bear being stared at for such a long time. He smiled and sent her a side-glance, "Do you have something you want to tell me?"
Actually, since they reached the shopping mall, he had already found that she was acting oddly. When she was shopping, she would secretly send him a glance from time to time. They were not any innocent glimpses. It seemed more like she was observing him. However, at that time, the frequency of those looks were not very high, furthermore there were a lot of people around them and so he did not ask any questions.
"Nope." She shook her head.
Lisa did not believe her. "If you have nothing to say, why are you staring at me?"
"Because... I found out my dearest husband is becoming more and more handsome. This is very worrying." She feigned a worried look on her face.
Lisa smiled and asked, "What are you worried about?"
"Previously, I was the only one that knew that my dearest husband is very dashing. Now it seems like everyone knows it too. Would there be anyone who would come and snatch you away in the future?" Irene voiced the worries deep in her heart.
Lisa did not know whether to laugh or cry at her words. "Don't worry. In this entire world, besides you, no one will want to get near me, not to mention snatching me away."
In this entire planet, she was probably the only one that would treasure him.
"My dearest husband, could it be that you did not notice?" Irene suddenly said.
"What?"
"Do you still remember the little boy that bumped into your leg earlier today?"
"Hm." Lisa nodded, still not understanding what Irene was trying to put across.
"In the past, it was unlikely that any child would have dared to come close to you. However, today, that boy not only bumped into you directly, he even apologized to you." To apologize after bumping into someone was a trait that a well-mannered child who was brought upright would have. However, the situation was very different if the person that the child bumped into was Lisa. The power of Ephialtes enshrouding Lisa's body would have made any adult human fear him subconsciously, not to mention a 4 to 5 years old kid. The child's first natural reaction when his eyes and Lisa's locked together should be bursting into tears in fear, instead of politely apologizing to Lisa earlier on.
"Also, even though we walked around the fair-which had the densest crowd in the mall-for a few hours and met so many people, not a single person revealed any expression of fear and horror after seeing you. On the contrary, numerous pretty ladies kept turning their heads to look at you." This was also why Irene said that someone else would snatch Lisa away from her. Earlier on at the food fair, she even had to secretly glare at several pretty ladies, who wanted to come over to hit on her dearest husband, to chase them away.
The most outrageous incident was when Lisa walked away to make payment.
During then, a girl suddenly came to her and remarked, "Hey, your brother looks so handsome."
Irene was so furious that she yelled, "He already has a wife.".
Hearing her response, disappointment was written all over the lady's face. "I envy your sister-in-law so much."
Irene was so infuriated by the reply that her stomach hurt. The sight amused the uncle-owner of the dried fish treats stall-so much.
"Is... is it? I didn't notice." Lisa's grip on the steering wheel became tighter as he tried his best to maintain his composure.
"My dearest husband, it seems like you can finally control your dispersion of Ephialtes' power." Irene did not notice the oddness in Lisa's reaction and continued.
"Really? But the power enshrouding my body is still around."
"Although it still exists, it feels gentler than before. Even though your body is still covered by Ephialtes' power, this energy is much more reserved nowadays. Its effect on the surrounding people lessened too. Thus, ordinary people could no longer feel the oppressive and gloomy aura on you. Naturally, they would not fear you." Irene continued, "If you were to walk on the streets now, the police would definitely not stop you to check your identity again."
"Maybe it is because my mood was good today. That's why Ephialtes' power seems gentler." Lisa answered calmly.
"In that case, I wish my dearest husband's mood will always be so good." Irene immediately responded.
Lisa knew that he had somehow got over this discussion safely. Just as he secretly breathed a sigh of relief, he started to joke without changing his original tone, "Didn't you say that you are worried about someone coming over to snatch me away? Why don't I continue to put on a hostile attitude against strangers just like before?"
"I would like to see who dares to do so!" Irene shouted in rage as she put her hands on her waist.
Lisa chuckled and placated her. Afterwards, she did not ask further about the changes in Ephialtes' power in his body, and thus he managed to escape the subject.
It was not that Lisa did not trust Irene. He was just unwilling to let her know about the changes in his body. Just like how she was concerned about Ghost Gentleman evolving into a ghost general, she would be even more fretful of him losing control of Ephialtes' power. However, he was unable to change the established reality-his power had indeed turned stronger. He was one step closer to losing control-something that the metaphysical practitioners had been fearing all along. However, before that day truly arrived, he hoped that Irene could live with him worry-free just like now.
Even though Irene indeed was feeling uneasy deep inside, he did not wish for her worry to grow stronger. It was better to let her think that the changes in his body were due to his jovial mood. He, too, hoped that he could continue to stay happy just like today. In order to achieve this, he would use any and all methods to keep his powers under control.
Soon, the car arrived at the supermarket. The couple went in to purchase the ingredients for dinner tonight. Irene even wanted to buy a bottle of wine. However, Lisa placed the bottle back onto the shelf after seeing it, explaining that there were better wines back at home.
When they returned home, Lisa went to the kitchen to start cooking while Irene eagerly prepared the dinner table. When Lisa brought out the dishes he made, he was taken aback by the scented candles decorating the entire apartment.
"When did you buy all these?" Lisa asked in puzzlement.
"The pedestrian street just outside my school." She had spent a long time planning for tonight. "Do you like it?"
What else could Lisa say in this situation? He could only nod his head to express his liking. She was a girl after all. Girls usually liked this kind of romantic-looking stuff. Though, as the entire room was decorated with many scented candles, the smell was slightly overpowering.
"Bring over the 2 remaining dishes. I will go get the wine." Lisa remembered that Irene wanted to drink some wine, so he turned around to head to the wine rack to pick up a bottle of red wine along with 2 wine glasses.
Food and wine were lined up on the table. The lights were off, leaving behind the flickering lights of the candles. This was the first time Lisa felt slightly unfamiliar with his own home. If one were to add some fresh flowers and balloons to this scene, it would be a great spot to propose to one's partner.
They already had some food when they were out shopping in the afternoon. Therefore, both of them did not eat much during this dinner. Though, they did drink quite a fair amount of wine. Lisa's condition was still alright-after all, he used to drink some wine every night to aid him in falling asleep. As such, gradually his alcohol tolerance grew stronger. On the contrary, Irene's cheeks turned red after she drank 2 mouthfuls.
Noticing her condition, he initially did not want to let her continue drinking. However, he felt that she looked extremely cute with her reddish cheeks and bright eyes. Since they were drinking at home anyway, it was alright if she drunk herself into a stupor so he did not stop her ultimately.
"I-...I'm going to take a shower." Out of a sudden, Irene stood up from her seat and loudly declared.
Lisa knew that she had already become somewhat drunk by this point. Thinking that she probably wanted to first take a shower before bed, he did not stop her. He just said, "I'll help you get your pyjamas."
"No, no need. I'll get it myself." She suddenly became agitated and ran into her room before Lisa could step in. Soon, she came out with her pyjamas in her arms.
Lisa saw her nimble movements and concluded that she was probably just slightly intoxicated but still sober enough. Reassured by this thought, he prompted her, "Don't take a long shower after drinking wine. Don't wash your hair too. Finish your shower quickly."
"Okay. I'll be quick." She nodded her head obediently.
"So obedient." He smiled as he rubbed her head. He then turned around to start cleaning up the dining table.
As expected, she indeed listened to him and finished her shower quickly. After he tidied up the kitchen, she had already showered and was cleaning up the candles in the living room.
"Why aren't you heading to bed?" He asked.
"You go take a shower first. We'll go to sleep after you're done." Her words seemed to have a double meaning behind them.
However, Lisa did not notice anything amiss. Instead, he said in a worried tone, "Leave the candles there. I'll clean them up after my shower. Head to bed first."
"Go take a shower. I'll clean these up." She insisted stubbornly.
"Okay, then extinguish the fires first. Be careful, don't get burned." Lisa reminded her before heading back to his room. He grabbed his pyjamas and went into the bathroom. Soon, the sound of running water could be heard coming from there.
The moment the sound of water could be heard, Irene suddenly recovered from her intoxicated look and became energized. She carried the candles she had gathered and ran towards Lisa's room. She then placed them around the balcony, the table, and the corners of the wall. After finishing, she swiftly ran back to her room and moved the fresh flowers and balloons that she had prepared earlier on when Lisa was making dinner over to his room-this was the reason why she anxiously stopped him from entering her room just now.
The balloons were settled easily by throwing them onto the floor. As for the rose petals, she initially wanted to form a heart shape with them. However, just as she was halfway done, the sounds of running water from the bathroom ceased. She became frantic and threw all the petals onto the bed instead. After that, she hastily turned off the lights and hid behind the room door. In her rush, she did not even manage to take a look at the final results of her work.
Over at Lisa's end, he came out of the bathroom after his shower to discover that Irene was no longer in the living room. He noticed that the second bedroom's door was closed and naturally came to the conclusion that she had gone to bed after cleaning up the candles. Letting out a light chuckle, he rubbed his hair with a towel and walked over to the light switch of the living room to switch off the lights. He then pushed open his room door to return back to his room.
When he opened the door, he saw the dark space within was gently illuminated by candles. He immediately froze at the sight.
Why did Irene place all the candles in his room? Just when he was about to lift up his hand to switch on his room's lights, a sudden force rushed towards him from behind, forcing him to take several steps to the front. At the same time, he felt himself stepping on something which let out a lot of popping sounds. The towel, which he was using to dry his hair, was also dropped somewhere.
"Irene?" Lisa had guessed the culprit the moment she had glomped him.
"My dearest husband." Irene giggled as she let go of him.
At this point, Lisa's current position was just by his bed. He turned around to face her while he looked around the surroundings in confusion. He then spotted 7 to 8 balloons on the floor. As the colours of the balloons were pretty dark and there were not many of them, he did not notice them when he came into the room earlier on in this dimly lit environment.
"What are you...."
Before he could finish his question, she suddenly shoved him with 2 hands. As he was entirely unprepared, he was pushed down onto the bed, resulting in a shower of petals being thrown into the air from the impact.
Just as Lisa managed to identify the things on his body were actually rose petals, Irene had pounced on him like a hungry beast. At the same time, she giggled lecherously like a pervert.
He had already sort of guessed what was going on when he stepped onto the balloons. The rose petals scattered across the bed further cemented his guess. Right at this time, she had pounced directly on him. His entire body immediately tensed up when he felt a soft sensation on him.
"Irene, what are you trying to do?" Lisa asked, his eyes darkened.
"Your pyjamas, I bought it." She tugged on his pyjamas' collar and announced loudly.
He did not understand why she suddenly talked about his pyjamas at this time, so he remained silent and did not respond.
"Do you know why I bought pyjamas for you?" She asked.
"Why?" He went along with her question and asked.
"Because, I can remove whatever clothing I had bought." Finishing her statement, she did not wait for his reaction and instead she exerted some force with her hands and tugged open the lapels of the pyjamas, which were not fastened tightly in the first place. As a result, some of his skin was revealed.
Lisa was an astute person. He instantly understood the reason behind all the odd behaviours that Irene had demonstrated during the past 2 weeks. For example, he finally knew why she was so insistent on buying clothes for him, why her reaction was so extreme when she first discovered that she did not buy pyjamas for him, why she was determined to send Winter to the villa even though she used to be so proud of its growth, and why she must light candles for tonight's dinner.
This little girl had long been plotting this.
"I was actually tricked by you." Lisa couldn't help but burst into laughter. He had thought that she only wanted to do some romantic things with him, such as wearing couple-pyjamas. He did not foresee that she was actually planning this all along.
"Pants." Taking advantage of Lisa's loss of focus for a moment, Irene had finished taking off his top and started to pull at his pants.
Lisa subconsciously tried to stop her when he felt his sensitive parts being touched. However, his hands were pressed down by her with a huge force. "I bought this pair of pants too."
Lisa was stunned by her words for an instant. He then stopped his struggles. After all, it was purely instinctual when he tried to stop her earlier, and not because he really intended to do so.
Irene then managed to pull off his pants with much effort.
After that, the only remaining clothing left was a pair of black underwear.
Subsequently, Irene was immediately thrown into a stunned state at the sight of them as some thoughts exploded in her mind. Why? Why is there still clothes on him? Damn, even when she had been very careful, ultimately she still made mistakes and failed. She actually did not buy underwear for him.
Lisa was extremely humoured by Irene's stupefied expression. "So what are you going to do? This was not bought by you."
She had already reached this stage, and already reached this point. Why was there another obstacle obstructing her?
Irene felt so aggrieved that her eyes reddened. "You said before that you would only wear the clothes that I've bought for you. You lied to me."
Yes, she was very upset. Her dearest husband had promised her before that he would only wear the clothes she bought for him. Why did he not remind her to buy him underwear too? She had tried so hard to trick her dearest husband to get onto the bed with her. If she let him off today, this method would no longer work again next time. In that case, when would her second dream be fulfilled?
"You're right." Lisa sat up suddenly. Before Irene could react, he took the lead and reversed their positions instead-pressing Irene into the bed. With darkened eyes, he said in a husky voice, "I can only wear the clothes you bought for me. Therefore, I should not be wearing this piece of clothing."
Her eyes instantly lit up. "Then you should hurry up and take it off. After that, use this."
She raised a small rectangular box up and brought it near to Lisa.
Despite the dim lighting in the bedroom, Lisa was still able to recognize what was that box as it was just a short distance away.
"You even... prepared this." He felt that a certain body part of his was ready to explode.
"Yes." After all, she had long been plotting this tonight.
"In that case, I'll grant your wish." If Lisa was still able to hold back at this point, he could not call himself a real man.
That night, in the flickering candle lights, and the dancing petals, Irene fulfilled her second dream while drowning in untold pleasure and fatigue. During this night, she also discovered a flaw in her plan-she did not prepare enough of a certain birth control item. It was fortunate that her dearest husband's bedside drawer had some spares.