Okay, now out of the seggs chapters and now into the action chapters.

I slept, surprisingly, with neither Paimon nor Nahida interrupting my dream. All of them were somewhere else, I guessed. But I woke up next to two naked, pregnant ladies, Beidou and Ningguang, resting against me. Ningguang, despite her prim and proper attitude, was snoring as she slept, and Beidou, the tough one, looked like all her features had relaxed as she slept. She was breathing through her mouth as well, but it was softer. Both looked at peace, more than I had seen from either of them.

I smiled before looking at their stomachs, contemplating the thirteen children inside their wombs.

'I guess I'd have an army of kids…' I laughed inside my head, thinking about it. 'I should visit everyone else… they're probably still resting.'

Quietly, I left the groaning girls as they slept. I suppressed my laugh as I tiptoed outside, with my clothes now on.

As I opened the door, though, I met with Yelan looking at me seriously.

"Aether. You need to come with me." She said with not a shred of blush or even joy.

"What? What happened?" I looked at her and quietly whispered to her.

"I found who might have been the cause for the attack on Liyue. I'll explain when we talk next. I need some of the most capable fighters to come alongside me to fight them, and you are one of the only people I can trust with that. Bring two others, and I'll meet you in Mingyun village." She stepped back immediately and floated down the Jade Chamber.

With her leaving me with that information, I felt like my breath had escaped me as I held my hand against my forehead.

'Come on… you've still got to protect this place. There's more to do.' I walked to Keqing's room to see her writing on her desk, her hair unkempt, the papers on her desk stacked on her right side, with her finishing up.

"Ah, Aether." She was no longer in a baby doll, but instead in her bathrobe, with her bloated stomach adjusting well to it. "I've been working for a bit. If you can wait for a moment, we can have sex-"

"Keqing, I need you for something."

She turned around and noticed my intentions weren't for sex. She finished her papers and turned her chair over to me.

"I… need your help. Yelan has found who led the attack on Liyue. So I need your help."

Her expression also turned serious.

"Yelan will meet you in the Mingyun Village. I also need to get someone else to come along with us, okay?"

"Alright, can you help me get on my new clothes?" She pointed to the clothes on the side of her bed, which were in the same color scheme as her old ones. "While I wanted to shop, it was quite impossible in my state, so my friends helped me pick clothes." I picked them up and turned around to look between her and the clothes. "Many of my friends had come to deliver clothes to me, they didn't know you were the father, but they were willing to do it for me, thankfully, without many questions." She looked thankful as she stood up

"Now, please cloth me as your wife." She said rather seriously, but I could tell she was slightly embarrassed as she shrugged her bathrobe off and stood naked.

"As you wish." I took out her bra, wrapping it around her now E-cup breasts, her bust growing considerably thanks to her pregnancy. Then, I slipped her panties on her soft legs and thighs as she hummed in appreciation. I stepped back a bit to see her in her underwear, and she put her hands on her stomach, just above her womb tattoo.

"You look beautiful," I said breathlessly, seeing her purple underwear matching her hair and how happy she was. I instinctually hugged her, and I joyfully cried as I embraced her. She hugged me back. She rubbed my head, saying, "There, there." I chuckled as she did as I stepped back to clothe her. I checked her clothes, with the same design as her old ones, just made more for her maternity.

"Lucky you have good friends that can get clothes for you like this on such short notice." I slipped her top on with pale lavender fabric and her skirt. It fit her well, her breasts and bigger stomach not inhibited by her clothes. Her bigger waist wasn't constrained either, with her skirt around her waist.

"Well, I'd like to have chosen this myself, shopping is quite fun." She smirked as I looked down at her while I put her overcoat around her. "But for now, I had to compromise."

I said nothing as I finished clothing her, her leggings and shoes last. I stepped back to admire it all. Her hair flowed down her shoulders, but she didn't mind it. I loved seeing it, even if I didn't notice it fully last night.

"You should keep your hair down more often, love," I said instinctively. She blushed at that, but she still looked at me.

"Only for you, my husband." Her blush, replaced by a smile, disappeared. "You and your other wives."

"By the way-"

"Aether, you don't have to ask me what I think about your harem." She interrupted me before I could speak. "I love you. I have a camaraderie with many of your wives, and I can develop one if I do not. I wouldn't mind having you have others in your heart because you are the only man for me."

"Why… do you love me?" That slipped out, and I almost covered my mouth. She immediately responded.

"You don't know why I love you?" She chuckled as she held her hand on her head. "It's because you don't believe whatever the god says. You make up your own mind. You ask the questions everyone else is too cowardly to ask, and when you don't get an answer, you keep looking until you find one. Oh, don't worry — your way is definitely the right way." I remembered those words from a while ago, as she spoke almost those same lines but with a completely different context.

"You are your own person. Even if that means having a harem of several women, that's not dictated by what the gods feel is right. That is what you and the rest of your wives desire."

I was speechless by what she spoke before coughing into my hand. "Sorry," I said meekly.

"Ha! Don't apologize." She held her hands on her waist, almost like Beidou did. "But that is why I love you. Don't forget that now." She smiled mischievously as she walked out. "You said you needed me to go to Mingyun Village? No problem, I'll go there and await you." She ran off, leaving me alone, motivated to act.

"Okay… I'll come soon. Let me go to Wuwang Hill; she's probably there." I teleported to Qingce Village and went up the hill to find Hu Tao and Zhongli. Past everything, I felt uneasy as I walked up to the top of the hill and it wasn't unfounded. Hu Tao was standing up in pain as she was surrounded by spirits. Zhongli merely frowned as he observed everything away from her.

"Hey!" I yelled as the spirits surrounded her, but she didn't hear me. I just heard the spirits saying "You didn't do what I wished," as she simply stood there, hearing their pleas and anger. She didn't speak up, and I looked at Zhongli, sitting by the sidelines as Hu Tao was assaulted by words from the rest of the spirits.

"The director wishes them to express their regrets to her, it seems." He held a hand under his chin. "They weren't heard for what they wanted for the end of their life, so she wishes to hear them out in their death." He crossed his arms with that same disappointed expression.

I looked at her, and surely enough, the spirits started to be released.

"How long has she been doing that?"

"Almost since you left her. She was in a terrible mood, as she came here."

I realized her smile, and as I thought back to it… how artificial it looked as she waved away at me. 'Was she hiding how she felt?'

"Oh, looks like the spirits have almost disappeared." I looked up to see the last of the spirits around her disappearing, and when she did, she collapsed on her knees and just cried.

"I'm sorry…" She didn't restrain herself, as her tears fell to the floor, and she screamed agonizingly. She didn't make an excuse for herself or try to say she had no choice. She just said, "I'm sorry," to those who weren't there anymore.

Slowly, I walked up to her, crouching down to give her a shoulder to cry on. She rested her head on my shoulder as she cried and screamed, and I patted her head hair, feeling how messy it was.

"It's not your fault… You did what you had to do." She didn't cry any softer, but I understood that. Despite my worries, I sat with her, waiting for her, patting her head till her sobs became sniffles, and she pulled away from my shoulder.

She looked at me, expectantly.

"What did you find? Did you find something?"

I nodded. "Yelan… she found the cause of this."

She gradually stood up with a new fire in her eyes. She looked angry, an expression I'd never expect from her, and clutched her hands.

"I'll make sure whoever was responsible for this will pay." I could hear her teeth grinding.

I wordlessly gripped her hand in support, looking at her grimly. Zhongli coughed, which got our attention.

"I know Hu Tao is expecting, so make sure you take care of her as the father of her child." He said simply.

I didn't even question how he knew. But I nodded as I held Hu Tao's hand and looked at her bright scarlet eyes.

"I'll be here," I said as we teleported to the Mingyu village. At the bottom of the village, there was an empty chasm that replaced the pond. Yelan and Keqing waited there and looked as Hu Tao floated down to them with me.

"You've been here before?" Yelan spoke to me, to which I nodded.

"I… put a family to rest here. They were ghosts."

Hu Tao, still holding my hand, looked at me but didn't ask anything.

"I see. Well, we need to descend here. You've got everything ready?"

I nodded, as one by one, we all dove down into the chasm, awaiting who, or what was waiting there.

That's the end of the chapter. Sorry, it's a bit later, but this is going to delve into some good stuff.