It had already been nearly two weeks since Arthur had successfully bonded with Selena, and the results had exceeded his expectations.

During her stay on the northern border, all Arthur heard were the constant chimes of the system as notifications of mana he received from her filled his core.

Typically, mages and knights possessed two cores.

The storage core—which was located in the abdomen. Mages also had an additional core in their brain for casting, while knights possessed one within their heart for augmenting.

These were sensitive locations, so unawakened individuals were not allowed to undergo the process. Because of this, Arthur was confident his mana wouldn't leak out.

However, he had a different issue to deal with.

After completing the scenario with Selena, he hadn't cleared any new ones. Not because the system wasn't offering them, but because of the absurd nature of the task.

"Young Master, are you alright?"

Arthur flinched at Isabella's voice. "Oh, yeah. I'm alright."

His gaze lingered on Isabella. Without thinking, he yanked a towel from her hand and walked out of the training area.

'Get your head out of the gutter, you virgin bastard!' he cursed internally.

The mission the system had given him for the third scenario was an 18+ objective involving Isabella—and since refusing a scenario meant death.

Arthur had been postponing it for days, which made things more awkward with Isabella, his personal maid.

Still, he was confident he had made significant progress over the past week.

He had adapted to Arthur Arcain's body, and although he hadn't left the castle, he'd still managed to accomplish a lot thanks to his mother and sister.

He shared with them the most optimal routes enemies would take and how they might attack.

He'd even managed to get a few weapons from the family's mundane armory.

The library for awakened individuals had mostly been opened to him, and since he had no skills or abilities to train, all he could do was read obsessively about the world, the clans, and politics.

The awakening ceremony was an annual event held in six different regions.

The great clans in each of the cardinal—South, East, West, and North. Then there were the Central Lions, and finally, the Awakened Association.

This year, the Arcain Family was chosen to host the ceremony for the northern region. Which meant other clans and races besides the demonic dragons would be attending.

Humanity's Northern Nobles, The Northern Elves, Northern Dwarves, Ice Dragons, Abyssal Demons, and even the intelligent mana beasts, all of them would be present at the ceremony hosted by the Arcains.

Arthur closed the book he was reading in the spacious library and stared at the ceiling.

'I really thought I'd wake up from this dream the next day...' he sighed. 'Oh well, at least I've got a family and hot baddies.'

He shook his head, cheeks slightly red. 'No matter how much of a waifu Isabella is, I can't listen to the system.'

He leaned his head against his palm. 'But… if something does happens, it's the system's fault, right?'

"Big bro!!"

Arthur turned his head toward the door as a girl with black hair and green eyes entered the room.

"Oh, hey, Sarah."

Sarah wasn't Arthur's direct sister, but her mother was a high-ranking member of the Arcain Clan's parliament, which meant she was closely connected to the direct bloodline.

Sarah covered her mouth bashfully as she stepped inside.

She was stunning—though, in Arthur's eyes, everyone in the clan was beautiful, so he wasn't the best judge.

Still, her most distracting feature was her massive chest. It was so prominent that Arthur often wondered how she even managed to walk around comfortably.

Arthur gave her an awkward smile as she sat beside him. As soon as the librarian looked away, Sarah wrapped her arms around his.

This was another thing Arthur had come to understand.

Maybe it was because this was an all-female clan.

But the girls had zero concept of personal space. Most of the time—

Scratch that. All the time—they clung to him excessively.

While he didn't mind being clung to, they could at least give him the privacy to deal with the consequences when they riled him up. But no—his maids were around him 24/7.

Sarah was also a participant in the upcoming awakening ceremony, and from what Arthur had gathered, there were twenty-four children from their clan participating.

When combined with the other clans, the number exceeded a hundred.

"Hey... want to grab a snack?"

Sarah nodded, a smile tugging at her lips. "I thought you'd never ask… I'm starving."

Arthur scoffed. "Aren't you always hungry?"

There were less than three days until the awakening ceremony, and Arthur didn't think there was much left for him to do... except absorbing the elixir he'd received from his mother.

But how exactly was he supposed to tell Isabella?

Arthur sighed. 'Let's put something in my stomach first.'

─── ✦ End of Chapter ───