‘Shit!’
The moment Sol uttered those words, he immediately regretted them. While Tiamat was without a doubt a beautiful woman and Sol did not really see her as his grandmother, there was the simple fact that Tiamat wasn’t just any woman.
She was one of the oldest beings in the world and even to this day, she had chosen no mates.
"Ohoh? Who were you thinking about when you said this?"
Tiamat could see that those words hadn't been really addressed to her at the given moment. Sol hesitated a little before explaining the situation and the facts about Lilith.
“Heh, so you thought about your aunt when you said this.”
Tiamat wasn’t offended by Sol's words.
Dragons and divine beasts in general had a very skewed view about incest. After all, most of the children of divine beasts weren’t ‘born’ in the conventional way.
Most divine beasts gave birth by separating a part of their energy to create totally new beings with the same energy wavelength as them. It was similar to how spirits were born from concentrated mana in a special environment.
As such, in the proper sense of the term, Tiamat wasn’t the mother of the dragon race but its creator.
Thanks to this, any problem that might arise from inbreeding was nonexistent and incest wasn’t frowned upon either.
In fact, many dragons had courted her throughout history, such as Nabu's father. But even to this day, she was still alone without a mate.
“Yes, I am sorry if I offended you.”
Tiamat gave a mischievous smile as she shook her head and stood up from her throne.
“Well, it isn’t impossible. But…”
Sol was utterly floored by the words coming from Tiamat.
*Step*
Tiamat took one step and stood in front of him.
In terms of height, even though Tiamat was a tall woman, Sol was still somewhat taller than her.
Even though it was Tiamat looking up at him, Sol immediately felt suffocated. As if he was standing in front of an insurmountable wall.
“*Ugh*”
He felt as if the walls of his mind were being shattered.
In one instant, an overwhelming feeling of kneeling down and worshiping Tiamat filled his heart.
His ears rang, his heart stirred, his mind screamed.
“Kuh…”
“You are really special.”
The moment Tiamat said this, like a lie, the feeling disappeared and she was back to her throne.
The only thing that had changed was the way she was looking at Sol.
“I am impressed.”
Sol shook his head as he tried to get back his bearings.
“What was…No.”
Sol was about to ask what happened when a flash of inspiration struck him. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened to him after all.
“You used Pride?”
Sol worded, a little confused.
“Oh? You know about this?”
“I looked at Luxuria's face.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
An awkward silence fell as Tiamat looked at him as if she was looking at a crazy bastard causing Sol to cough awkwardly.
“You are…”
Tiamat tried to speak but in the end she simply pinched the bridge of her nose and released an exasperated sigh.
“What I just used on you was indeed the concept of Pride. But more exactly, I didn’t use it. I simply stopped restraining it. That was my most natural state. Do you understand now?”
Sol nodded in understanding. Even though he somehow managed to fight back, it was mainly because Tiamat once again restrained herself.
How could Tiamat have a mate when that mate couldn’t stop himself from kneeling and worshiping her?
Furthermore.
“Of course, that isn’t all. You may have a breathtaking talent. But you are simply too weak now. You wouldn’t even be able to impregnate me since your seed would be crushed by the mana in my body. In the first place, you wouldn’t even be able to perform the deed since lust would be the furthest thing from your mind.”
“Haha…”
Sol gave an awkward laugh. Somehow his slip of tongue was pushing the conversation in a truly weird direction.
Sol wasn’t stupid enough to miss the hidden meaning behind Tiamat's words.
He wasn’t worthy of being her mate…Yet.
It was clear that she would be willing to give him a chance if he reached a certain level.
This made Sol not quite know how to feel.
“Well, that is for the future. Now we need to think about the present.”
Tiamat's smile vanished as she began to speak about more important matters than simply mating.
“You should go rest. I will deal with the problem of your black phoenix. Five days later, it will be time for you to inherit my knowledge.”
Tiamat would have wished to take more of her time and prepare him more, but she could feel the pull of destiny calling Sol.
The future was becoming more blurred as if something was interfering with her. She hoped that with the help of the Norn sisters who were coming, she would be able to access a wider range of futures and prepare in case something happened.
—---
After discussing the measures with Tiamat, Sol went back and explained the situation to a relieved Isis and Sheherazade.
For Sheherazade, it was like a mighty weight had been lifted away from her shoulders. She had always felt threatened because of the target on her back and always tried to not show her anxiety because she didn’t want to worry Isis.
Now though, at least nothing could happen to her in Tiamat’s territory.
After that, the three of them decided to spend some time together to sightsee.
Once Sol became prince of dragons officially, he wanted to form a Lust-type contract with Isis. In order to do so, it was imperative for the two of them to cultivate the feelings they had for each other.
Sol was sure that Isis was interested and had some slight feelings for him, but he also knew that it was far from enough. In a way, his relationship with Nent was stronger than the one he had with Isis.
All of this stemmed from the fact that Sol and Isis had few things to share together until now.
Aside from their great adventure in the desert that ended with him fighting Rio and White, he didn’t have much time to talk with her.
This resulted in them having settled in a comfortable relationship that was more about friendship than love. Which was of course something that couldn’t be accepted.
Thus he had an idea of a date to become closer to her.
The different floating islands had different facilities. After getting permission from Kiyohime, the three of them visited what could be likened to a theme park on an island in Hydra’s territory.
It was hard to imagine how a dragon famed for his powerful and sinister poison was the owner of a chain of parks for lovers and adventurers but that was the truth.
This time, the little date didn’t have any unexpected accident.
He had been a little worried because until now all his dates ended with him either having a mysterious encounter or simply ending badly, but this time, everything went perfectly well.
Sheherazade fused with Isis' body and completely stayed silent in order to allow Sol and Isis to have a great time together.
The park had many interesting ideas that were all about reinforcing the relationship between two or more individuals. After all, dragons were mainly polygamous.
For Isis, this was the first time she had so much fun. With Sol, she had a total blast as they went through the different events proposed that were as embarrassing as they were interesting.
This day allowed both Sol and Isis to witness a different side of each other.
Isis had always seen Sol as a battle maniac and a sex-driven maniac. Of course, she also knew that he was a kind man who accepted her for who she was, but those two previous impressions were the strongest.
Isis was not against harem in general.
She just didn’t want to be nothing more than a +1 in Sol’s harem. She didn’t want to end with someone who only wanted her for her power and nothing more.
She wanted to be loved the same way her father loved her mother. She wanted to be with someone who would be able to face all adversities for her the same way her father didn’t hesitate to kidnap her mother despite Gabriel's potential fury.
For Isis, Anubis represented the ideal man and thankfully, Sol didn’t disappoint her personality-wise. The way he thought and acted were very similar to her father. Albeit, way less jaded.
But was it really enough?
Could she really give her future away to Sol?
After all, becoming the first contract of Sol was not something to take lightly. It was a choice that would affect her for the rest of her life whatever the outcome.
All those worries had always plagued her mind.
But after the recent events, those worries were slightly abated.
While Sol did doubt Sheherazade, and reasonably so, he did his best in helping them despite the situation and did not hesitate to ask for help from Tiamat.
No matter how appreciated Sol was, asking for too many favors would make this favor deflate over time.
Even so, he did not hesitate.
This helped her understand once more that Sol was someone special.
He was without a doubt a battle-crazed maniac.
He was also without a doubt a lustful bastard.
But, in the same way, he was someone she could believe without a doubt. His warm sun-like soul brought peace to her heart and his actions brought peace to her mind.
Was she in love with him?
She didn’t know. She had no experience and couldn’t really explain his position in her heart.
Even so, the thought staying with him didn’t seem so bad.
