Your father was so angry he nearly burst.

"Ruby, you bad guy, why did it take you so long to come back!"

The pink-haired girl crashed straight into Ruby's arms, beating heavily against his chest. He hadn't returned since taking the students out for their practical training, and after hearing from Prune that he had stayed behind alone to hold the line, Eve had been out of her wits and frantic with worry at the mere thought that something might have happened to him. If not for Caelan's reliable sources, she would have cried herself to death.

"I'm sorry, I had some things to take care of recently."

Ruby patted the small head pressed against his chest, remembering why things had turned out this way.

This morning, after handing over the task of looking after Tynasha to Mayoune, he had left the palace to buy some daily necessities. But halfway there, a carriage suddenly stopped beside him. Two peddlers hawking goods on the roadside instantly lunged forward, shoved him forcefully into the carriage, and after being guarded by two men in black, he was brought to this ultra-luxurious villa.

Though somewhat surprised to have been kidnapped, Ruby saw no malice in these people. On the contrary, they had quite amiably offered him some coffee, though he declined. Only now did he understand that these people were the pink-haired girl's bodyguards.

"So that's what happened... Her Imperial Highness..."

Holding her cup adorned with pink rabbits, Eve muttered to herself. After listening to Ruby's story, she could sense the peril of the situation. Looking down, she saw her own eyes reflected in the liquid inside the cup. If she were to lose such starry eyes, she would surely be in unspeakable agony.

"Yeah, so I'm trying to figure something out right now. I haven't even had the time to drop by the academy to let them know."

"It's alright. With you there, it will definitely be cured."

Sensing the pressure in Ruby's tone, Eve reached out to comfort him by resting her hand on the back of his hand.

"Darling, I heard you're back. Did you miss your daddy?"

The living room door was pushed open, and a round, chubby man walked in smiling cheerfully. The moment their eyes met, Ruby saw stars in the man's eyes, exactly identical to Eve's.

"It's you, the monkey who seduced my daughter!"

As Ruby looked at him, the man naturally looked back. The smile on Bard Edel Starlit's face gradually faded as he pointed at Ruby and roared. Charging forward like a sphere, he intended to unleash the legendary physical attack: Mount Tai Press.

"Dad, what are you trying to do?!"

Naturally, Eve wouldn't watch her father hurt Ruby. Making a slight gripping motion with both hands, a black fly composed of mana materialized in her palm and instantly whipped across Bard's face. His body was sent flying like a bouncy ball, crashing into the wall and ricocheting twice.

"I'm just trying to protect you."

Ruby had no idea what this fat man's body was made of; despite taking such a heavy blow, he remained completely unharmed and spoke to his daughter with a fully steady breath.

"Mr. Bard, this is our first time meeting, isn't it?"

Ruby asked somewhat perplexedly. As a sensible businessman, Bard shouldn't have concluded that he was seducing her simply because they had been alone in the same room.

"Second time. The first time was in His Majesty the Emperor's grand hall."

"I don't know what kind of misunderstanding you have about me, but Eve and I share strictly a teacher-student relationship."

"Bullshit! Look at these and dare say that again!"

Hearing Ruby's explanation, Bard blew his beard and glared in fury. He wasn't blind; he could clearly see other feelings hidden within his daughter's starry eyes. And even if he couldn't, the recording crystal in his hand exposed everything.

"Where did this... come from?"

Ruby frowned as he looked at the images recorded by the crystal. They all showed Eve hugging his arm and laughing merrily, with the most scandalous one being the time he had pinned Eve beneath him after she fell victim to the aphrodisiac mushroom's hormones. The person who filmed it had captured everything as clearly as the best paparazzi on Earth.

"I filmed it. Originally, I planned to use it to blackmail you into marrying Eve after it succeeded, but I never expected you to give up such a great opportunity."

A person suddenly appeared in the living room, a beauty with deep blue hair who smiled coyly at Ruby. Tasked with the heavy responsibility of protecting Eve, she naturally formed part of the young girl's social circle, and at the time, she had very honestly told Bard everything about Ruby.

"You... Miss Caelan, please have some self-respect."

Ruby truly had a headache dealing with this long-lived old hag. Her tastes seemed uniquely eccentric; as long as the younger generation remained uninjured, she loved stirring up trouble for fun.

"The evidence is right here, what else is there to say! Granny, finish him off!"

"Do I look like the unreasonable villain type? Your daughter is going to get married sooner or later. You can't possibly kill every man in the world."

Caelan patted Bard's head to calm him down. With Mayoune protecting Ruby, she didn't dare do anything to him anyway, so she preferred to sit back and watch a good show.

"That may be, but fine. Let's be reasonable. Our family has been merchants for generations. I have some materials here; if you can turn them into goods that will endure for all eternity, I'll acknowledge that you're qualified."

Bard's expression flickered uncertainly. He wasn't a executioner, after all, but a businessman. Thus, he had to find an excuse, and since such things were simple enough, he pulled a pile of trash from his spatial storage, threw it onto the table, and pointed at it while speaking to Ruby.

"No, like I said, we really aren't in that kind of relationship."

"That's right, not yet. He hasn't confessed his feelings to me yet."

Eve nodded matter-of-factly on the side, her expression clearly conveying that she would throw herself into his arms the moment Ruby spoke up. Seeing this, Bard grew so furious that the mana within his body exploded uncontrollably once more, though fortunately, it caused no damage.

"Shut up, stop making things worse!"

Ruby pinched Eve's cheek, causing the young girl to cry out in pain. Seeing his beloved daughter being abused, Bard exploded in anger yet again.

"Judging by this, you probably don't intend to let me go anyway. I'll make the item for you; once it's done, let me leave. I still have matters to attend to."

Ruby let go of Eve and instead picked up the trash on the table to inspect it: a piece of wood with its bark mostly rotten, a few white cloth scraps, two sponges that looked passable, and a piece of steel wire.

"Hmph, what kind of thing could possibly be made out of those?"

Even Bard himself had no idea when this garbage had ended up in his possession. Perhaps when spatial storage became large enough, cleaning it out simply became troublesome; if he hadn't searched intentionally, he truly wouldn't have found this trash.

Ruby said nothing, instead transforming Dragon into a moderately sized dagger. He shaved away the bark of the half-man-tall round log, and under his command, Dragon shifted into various carving knives. Before long, the piece of wood was transformed into a curvaceous female torso, spanning roughly from below the neck to the upper thighs. Because the wood was too short, the two thighs only extended outward by a symbolic distance.

"This is certainly sleek and smooth."

Bard stroked his chin, evaluating it through the eyes of a male customer. Ruby's technique in carving the chest was just right; the two hemispheres were exceptionally upright, making even the dark brown wood tempting enough to touch. Eve also grabbed her own meagerly-fleshed chest, her mood appearing somewhat deflated.

"This wood carving cannot endure for all eternity."

Bard shook his head regretfully. As a businessman, his eye was naturally sharp. If it were a full-body statue, perhaps some noble would buy it back to toy with, but he wasn't looking for a one-off transaction, which essentially meant Ruby's failure.

"This is merely a clothes hanger."

Ruby briefly explained the purpose of the wood, then transitioned into a tailor, combining the cloth scraps, sponges, and steel wire from the table in a peculiar fashion. When the finished product appeared, the other three people in the living room all brightened with realization.

They were two semi-circular sponge pads attached to a pair of shoulder straps, with a thick band extending from the sides around the back. The shape somewhat resembled a vest, but calling it a vest used far too little fabric—not until Ruby slipped them onto the wooden mannequin did the others fully grasp the utility of this creation.