Chapter 167: Strings of Fate
The next day, Shui woke up completely refreshed. All of his worries were gone and everything seemed right with the world. However, that peace was destroyed once he realized where he was. He caught a glimpse of Lily's sleeping face behind her bulging chest so it was clear that he had fallen asleep on her lap and she ended up sleeping in this position as well. Though still slightly embarrassed, he couldn't deny that he enjoyed it so he was also grateful. However, getting caught by her in this position would still be awkward so he slowly rolled out of her lap and dropped to the floor in push-up position.
"Whew."
He stood up and headed to the door, but then he looked at Lily once more. Shui didn't think she would get a cold or any sort of illness, but still felt a little bad leaving her sleeping in that position. He wasn't sure how deep her sleep was, so he carefully used martial intent to lift her up and laid her down on the bed before spreading a bed sheet over her. Once his task was complete, Shui breathed a sigh of relief and then placed a hand on her forehead to check her condition.
"Hmm?"
There was nothing weird about her, but Shui was surprised by how well he could see her current state. Even without using the power of his eyes or spiritual sense, he could detect everything from her temperature to her hydration level. Although Shui wasn't completely aware of everything his new body could do yet, this was the first time this had happened after touching someone.
"This is strange. I wonder if I can..."
Intrigued by this phenomenon, Shui removed his hand and then focused on his eyes. Thanks to the Omniscient Eyes art, he could slowly increase the power of his eyes so that he didn't overwork them while looking for something. As he continued to stare at Lily, he noticed a thick string that connected them. This string didn't belong to the physical world, but it was golden purple and seemed to represent profundities superior to the rune within him. When Shui concentrated on the string to investigate, more strings of varying thicknesses and colours became visible. There were four strings of blue, two strings of red and one string of purple. As he tried to dive even further, more strings of other colours began to appear, but then a sharp pain in his head forced him to close his eyes.
It was obvious that he had pushed his sight too far, so instead of opening his eyes he pondered on what he saw.
'I wonder, could those have been strings of fate?!'
According to an ancient tome, to those who could visualize the ties of karma, bonds could be seen as various colours with the strength of those bonds shown by thickness or brightness. Purple represented loyalty, blue represented friendship, red represented family, pink represented romantic love and gold signified the heavens. With this information, Shui was able to deduce that the golden purple string between him and Lily was because of the oath she swore. The blue strings were likely connected to the other siblings while the red strings would be connected to Lilia and Matthew. He believed the other purple string would lead to Cin, but that would have to be verified another time.
When Shui opened his eyes again, he looked for the golden purple string, but didn't go any further. He guessed that this string was responsible for him being able to detect Lily's condition so clearly, but before he could study it further, Lily began to awake.
"Mmm."
First, she showed a bit of confusion, but that quickly changed into a smile as she sat up and faced him.
"Good morning Master. Did you sleep well?"
"Better than you at least. Why didn't you just take me off your lap and leave?"
"I was going to do that, but it seemed that I was a bit too tired as well."
"Right, you were on hunting duty yesterday."
Lily nodded, but then Shui became silent as he stared at her with concern.
"Master?"
"...It's nothing. You can stay in bed if you want."
"Thank you, but I should be making breakfast this morning."
"I'll do it. Let's just say it's in return for, the lap pillow."
"Oh? If you liked it that much then I could always-"
"Just stay in bed! I'm leaving now."
Worried that he would be teased by her, Shui quickly escaped the room. He found it hard to handle her sometimes, but last night reminded him of how reliable she could be.
'It must be her experience as a big sister. Still, there's no way I'm getting myself in that position again.'
It was early in the morning, so Shui was the first one downstairs. By the time he finished making breakfast, Lilia came down with Matthew in her arms and Lily behind her, while the other siblings were awakened by the smell. Lilia had spotted Lily coming out of Shui's room and although Lily tried to cover it up by saying that Shui sent her there for something, the suspicion remained. Shui noticed that there was an awkward air between Lilia and Lily, but before he could address it, Sia asked a very important question.
"Big Sis, where were you last night?"
"I was home. Why?"
"Then why weren't you in our room?"
It was at this moment that Shui finally remembered that he had forgotten something. He quickly came up with a few excuses, but he when saw the suspicion in Lilia's eyes increase, he knew that she had likely caught on. Fortunately, Lily was also a quick thinker.
"Oh, I was working on something for Master so I wasn't able to go to bed. Right?"
"Yes, thanks for that Lily."
Truly grateful, I sent my appreciation to Lily through my eyes and she nodded with a smile. Sia accepted her excuse without any more questions and while Lilia didn't look completely convinced, she didn't say anything either. My cooking was also top-notch so even if she did want to bring it up, I hoped that the food would wash away such thoughts.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone