BXBX NOVEL Chapter 312 A Year Later
Chapter 312 A Year Later
Her hair had grown out and was tied into cute little twintails by her mother a few months ago. Her now golden eyes were bright and full of mischief as well as cunning, and even while watching the cartoon, her eyes darted around playfully.
Dante noticed this and suddenly tickled her with his free hand. "Look at you, you begged me to watch cartoons and now you're distracted."
Antonia shifted and giggled trying to swat Dante's hands away. "Ah, Daddy! Stop tickling me!"
Dante was amused by her futile resistance but decided not to worry her too much. He had mostly taken a calm and lax disposition to raising his daughter, mostly mimicking his own father.
Suddenly, Beatrice entered the room wearing her usual conservative casual wear. When she saw father and daughter being so close and affectionate, she smiled helplessly.
"The two of you are inseparable. You, Antonia, are you trying to take mummy's husband away from her?" Beatrice joked as she came and sat on Dante's lap.
Antonia crawled into Beatrice's arms and lay her little head on Beatrice's huge breasts that were the little one's favorite soft pillow.
"Hehe, but he's also my daddy too, mummy. How can I steal him from you?"
"Look at you acting cute, trying to avoid the blame. It's working though." Beatrice teased Antonia with a gentle smile.
Dante casually supported the two on his lap and hugged them closer, allowing the small family to share a moment of warmth and peace. Antonia especially enjoyed this feeling, as she had largely been brought up in love and safety.
"Hm? Oh right, it's time for your etiquette lessons from Grandma Aileen. Time to go." Dante was reminded by his A1 chip and made a move to take them away.
Antonia frowned slightly but could only obey. Dante saw this and rubbed her head, understanding deeply how she felt. His mother had also been very strict with him during his youth and instilled the goals-oriented lifestyle into him from a young age, which was mostly why he grew to be ambitious and relatively capable.
However, Aileen was even more serious about this thing with Antonia, claiming that she was counterbalancing the lax raising method that Dante and Beatrice dished out due to their personalities and experiences.
Dante and Beatrice had long discussed this and agreed. It was not always the best to raise a child in an open manner; some level ofguidance and discipline was needed or they would go haywire. Likewise, too much strictness would lead to the opposite effect and make them closed up or rebellious.
The best was to find a median point for this, and Aileen as well as Augeus had taken on these tasks themselves. Aileen handled Antonia's etiquette training, not to make her act like a princess but to establish a sense of self-esteem and social understanding in her.
Meanwhile, Augeus handled her education personally, not bothering to send her to any school. Beatrice also did not attend any school before the Eternal Academy, and the Eternal Academy was even only to get the qualification to become an admiral.
Dante used quantum entanglement to take the three back to the Eternal Universe, into his personal residential area on Planet Etonia. Once there, he sent a ping to his mother that Antonia was here, which caused both her and his dad to come over.
Aileen still looked the same as ever. Since her genes had been upgraded to the Eternal Universe standard, she had regressed into her youth and looked barely older than Beatrice or Dante themselves.
The same went for David, who was as robust as he was in his youth and still slightly taller than Dante. Both parties met and greeted each other, with David gently patting Antonia's head and asking her if she had been good.
Upon receiving her affirmative answer, he seemed satisfied and checked in with Dante as well as Beatrice. Used to his father's style, they smiled with amusement and responded positively, and that was it for David.
Aileen also did the same, but in a much more intuitive and tactful manner that left people feeling cared for and appreciated. This was exactly the kind of skill she had mostly imparted to Dante and was currently imparting to Antonia.
It could even be said that Antonia's sly behavior and ability to evade trouble with words and actions were learned from Aileen, and it would only get worse from here.
"Alright, mom, I leave her in your care." Dante said casually as he waved at Aileen, teleporting back to the First Gate with Beatrice.
"Sure, leave her to me." Aileen smiled as she lifted Antonia into her arms and brought her to the living room where she usually held her lessons.
When the husband and wife returned to the First Gate area, they naturally shared a look, and the room seemed to heat up a little. However, Beatrice had a hint of disdain in her eyes.
"Get your main body here; this clone cannot handle my strength."
Dante raised an eyebrow. "Your strength, huh? Good, good, it seems like I have to send you into a coma again to remind you who wears the pants here."
Beatrice's neck as well as her face flushed, and she clamped her legs tightly, greatly looking forward to what came next. The quantum clone then left the room, allowing Dante's main body to arrive from the depths of the First Gate.
In the matter of a few hours, Beatrice was rendered in the exact state she expected to be in when she made those bold claims, while Dante simply cleaned her up with the help of the android maids as well.
After doing so, his quantum clone came back to stay with the sleeping Beatrice while his main body returned to the front lines. He appeared within an established bare area full of mechanized androids and the slightly older and more mature Ricky.
When Ricky saw Dante appear, he knelt down subserviently and placed a hand on his chest.
"Greetings, Lord Dante!"
Dante casually waved a hand. "Rise."
That's right, at some point during their time together, he had turned Ricky into a hellfire demon, specifically into one of the Seven Deadly Sins!
Surprisingly, Ricky had adapted into the form of Sloth!
It was as ironic as Humphrey becoming Gluttony because Ricky only ever seemed like a determined and hardworking youth, but that was only a front he put forth. He was actually clumsy, forgetful, and extremely lazy when not under pressure to do anything.
His demonic form was that of a relatively smallish red-skinned demon like the others, but his was more decayed. The skin was lifeless, and the body was slightly withered, and just looking at him made one feel like their energy was being scattered to the wind.
"Where are the others?" Dante asked as he sat in the main set of the command center of this base.
Ricky had an android help him serve Dante some refreshments respectfully. "Lust is currently still in the Radiant Swamp area, having successfully seduced and controlled the leader of the Union Universe's vanguard. She can erupt at any time and take over around 3 to 4 of their territories at once."
"Envy has also infiltrated the territory of the Blazing Universe and caused intense civil unrest by igniting the covetous emotions of all their upper echelon. The entire universe, both within the First Gate and without, is embroiled in an intense and calamitous civil war. If you want, he can abandon the plot and spare the universe the final outcome, though the current damage is irreversible."
"Gluttony has teamed up with the Gorgon to assist Madam Portia in her battles on the other side. Many upper universes have tried to assassinate her in recent months, and even Gluttony and the Gorgon are feeling great pressure. I... guess they could be recalled for other purposes, but it would also leave Madam Portia slightly more vulnerable since they have specifically sent those with soul powers and esoteric/rule-based powers to take her down."
"Finally, Pride. Well, you know how he is; he arrogantly declared that he would do the work of all of us combined and set off to mimic you in claiming only unclaimed territories by passing the test. Due to his special power, he is probably the only one who can kill his own doppelganger among us and had claimed many tenitories at the Master Rank of difficulty."
Ricky then scratched his head. "Well, as for me, I've been here trying to coordinate our three brigades, the Superpowereds, the Demons, and lastly, the Martial Artists."