"Are they okay?" Anara asked, noticing the worried expression on Orion's face slowly easing.
Orion nodded, saying, "Yes, they are okay. They simply fainted."
Anara nodded, casting a curious gaze at Celeste and the others before saying, "Alright, I will handle this and ensure they are comfortable until they wake up." After finishing her sentence, she commanded her vines to erupt from the ground, gently securing them in a bed-like structure and moving them towards one of her large huts.
Observing this, Orion nodded tiredly, redirecting his attention to the women before him.
They stared at him like statues, their eyes reflecting various fluctuating emotions.
Aunt Greta, especially, who was supposed to come out to check on the pulse of the other women, now stood trembling violently with tightly clenched fists.
With just a glance, it was evident to Orion that, like the others, she had been deeply impacted by the news, rendering her unable to move or speak.
Meanwhile, Aunt Greta couldn't help but bite her lips to suppress the trembling of her body. 'Why are you behaving like this when you already knew the truth?' she thought.
Unlike the others, she and Ayla had been the ones to help Anara deliver her baby, as the tree nymphs had no idea how to deliver a baby, especially one of their own kind.
So, she had already concluded that the father of the baby Anara delivered belonged to Orion.
Still.. doubts lingered. Considering her position, she pondered whether Anara might have used some secret techniques or healing practices passed down by the previous Tree Nymphs' Overseer. After all, what were the odds of Orion's semen being so potent that it completely altered a tree nymph's body structure, causing a womb to emerge where it wasn't supposed to be?
Aunt Greta felt her cheeks grow wet as she looked down on her tulga top, witnessing tears rolling down and staining the piece of cloth tied around her breasts.
Of course, she was happy that Orion had fathered his first child, but the pain of not being given the chance to compete and give her partner his first child tore her apart.
In truth, had she been unaware of this beforehand, she would have fainted, just like Celeste and the others.
"Huh!"
Suddenly, Aunt Greta felt a warm, familiar, strong pair of arms envelop her body. She looked forward and saw that it was Orion, staring at her with a warm expression.
Just as Orion was about to speak, Aunt Greta quickly said, "You don't need to say anything. The truth is that I'd already known beforehand and guessed that it would be something like this when you said you would introduce us to someone and bring us here. So you don't need to worry about me. I think you should check on the rest," Aunt Greta added, turning her head to look at the others who seemed on the verge of collapse, "...go."
"Alright, I will be back," Orion said, planting a quick kiss on Aunt Greta's nose, a gesture she readily accepted.
He swiftly moved on to the others to assess their current states of mind. Aware that having and caring for multiple women, all deeply in love with him, required financial and emotional capabilities, Orion pushed himself to check on each of them. Calmly assessing their emotional and mental states, he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw they had all gradually regained their bearings.
Finally, he arrived before his younger sister, who seemed lost in her thoughts.
"Don't tell me that you also want to go unconscious suddenly?" Orion asked, raising a brow as he stared at Gina.
Gina quickly snapped out of her daze, looking at Orion curiously.
"Tell me the truth, brother, and don't lie. Is she really your child?" she asked, her curiosity growing stronger by the minute.
Though she had become even more anxious and worried that her brother had gotten involved with a tree nymph, not just any ordinary one, the Tree Nymphs' Overseer, a position almost equal to the Village Chief, a key figure in the Village, and had even achieved the impossible by impregnating her.
It was already common knowledge that tree nymphs don't get pregnant and cannot give birth, proving her right that her brother could only be partners with her.
However, that wasn't what occupied her brother's mind at the moment. Instead, it was the fact that her brother now had a child, which meant she now had a niece.
A niece!
Orion nodded in response with a warm smile.
"Yes. And don't make me repeat myself again," he replied, stretching his hand and softly holding Gina's nose.
However, Gina swiftly swatted away his hands, snorting loudly, "Humph!" before immediately running toward Anara and stopping in front of her.
"Can I carry her?" Gina asked, her gaze fixed on Anara before moving downwards to stare at Grace, who was now also looking at her with a broad, cautious gaze.
Anara first looked at Orion and watched as he nodded in approval before she nodded in response to Gina's words.
"Okay, but be gentle," she replied before handing Grace to Gina.
Gina nodded seriously as she took the baby from Anara's hands, not even responding to Anara's words.
She stared at Grace curiously, who was still looking at her with a cautious gaze, before she raised her other hand to graze Grace's cheeks, which she immediately caught with her two small hands.
Gina's eyes suddenly shined brightly as she squealed, "Pah! She's cute!! Too cute!!"
Grace stared wide-eyed at Gina before she began to squeal, her laughter filling the air and ringing beautifully in everyone's ears.
Suddenly, she tried to bite Gina's finger, to which Gina snorted at her attempt, feeling her toothless gums rubbing against it.
Gina slowly withdrew her fingers before she began to play with Grace's hands and cheeks, saying, "Welcome to the family, Grace. You are my niece from now on, and I'll do my best to take care of you, okay."
However, the response she got was Grace continuously giggling in delight.
