Ch.BONUSEpilogue: Daughters – 2

After Flora’s shocking confession, Sharon, Daniella, and even the slightly sulky Adelina all boldly confessed their desire to marry me as well.

So it was only natural that Olivia, followed by Serena, Christine, and Charlotte, were all shocked in turn. After all, these weren’t declarations of a father-daughter love, but romantic love between a man and a woman.

What’s more, they claimed it had been this way for 40 years, so it wasn’t even a temporary phenomenon.

Though they appeared to be around 10 years old, all four were nearly 100 years old, meaning they had spent almost half their lives seeing me as a romantic interest.

My wives tried desperately to change the minds of these audacious daughters, but they were sunk by Flora’s single statement that they couldn’t refute.

“Mom, would you rather I marry some worthless man instead of someone as good as Dad? Or do you think there’s another man in the world as wonderful as Dad?”

Considering the personalities of Serena, Charlotte, Christine, and Olivia, it was flawless logic. Those four would never claim, even in jest, that there was a man superior to me.

The tremendous shock ruined not just breakfast but the entire day. After putting all the children to bed, we found ourselves awake long past our usual bedtime.

“……”

“……”

“……”

“……”

“……”

The atmosphere was far from pleasant. No one was quick to speak.

Serena sat with her eyes closed in meditation, Christine clasped her hands in prayer, Charlotte rested her chin on one hand while tapping the table with the other. Olivia appeared quite shocked.

“For once, I confess I know not what to do. If anyone has another solution, pray tell.”

After some time had passed, Charlotte sighed deeply and made a declaration that bordered on surrender. The eyes of the other three flickered slightly.

‘The’ proud Charlotte had declared she could find no solution. It was impossible not to be surprised.

“Really?”

“Is this not the proper course? Tell me, can any of you claim there exists a man as excellent as our husband?”

“……”

No one answered. Charlotte snorted.

“Thus, there is no way to prevent our daughters from insisting on marrying the finest man.”

Everyone in the room had known this was the answer even before the meeting began.

These children look exactly like their mothers, without a trace of my genes visible. Just as my wives would never give me up, it was easy enough to guess that my daughters would never give up on me either.

It was a guess I desperately didn’t want to believe, but there it was.

‘…At least there’s one good thing.’

Perhaps because they’d lost much of their former intensity, all four wives didn’t seem to view their daughters as rivals at all. Their expressions weren’t those of women facing competitors, but mothers looking at their daughters.

If these were my wives from the past, who fought bloodily over me as if they would kill each other, they might have seen even their own daughters as romantic rivals. Especially Olivia, who once tried to exterminate all humans except me.

In the end, we had to face the morning without finding a good solution, and as the sun rose over the horizon, we returned to our bedroom with nothing to show for our efforts.

“…Flora? Sharon? Daniella? Adelina too…?”

And there we discovered our daughters, now physically grown to appear about twenty years old, sitting on the bed waiting for us. Or more precisely, waiting for me.

All five of us were speechless. Just six hours ago, they had been cute children with baby fat still on their cheeks, but in that short time, they had grown into adults. It was more than enough to shock us all.

Olivia, Serena, Christine, and Charlotte were all frozen in place. Truly, all I could say was that they were the spitting images of their mothers.

While my current wives had developed a more mature and mellow aura as time passed and they had children, my daughters exuded the exact atmosphere from that time when they had fought to the death over me.

Even I would have trouble distinguishing between the current Sharon, Daniella, Adelina, and Flora and the Serena, Christine, Charlotte, and Olivia of that era.

Facing our stunned silence, my daughters each spoke in turn.

“We are no longer children, Mother. We’re nearly 100 years old. We’re old enough to understand everything.”

“Indeed, my mother. My feelings for Father God have been confirmed, so there is no longer any reason to conceal my physical form.”

“If you thought we would remain obedient children for a full thousand years, you have gravely misunderstood us, my mother.”

“Mom and Dad, you both said we’re human, right? Then shouldn’t we grow like humans do? What human stays a child for a hundred years and takes a thousand years to fully mature?”

Finally, Flora smiled brightly as she delivered the killing blow.

“So, my father.”

Adelina, picking up where Flora left off, smiled slightly—arrogant yet cold. It was the very smile Charlotte often displayed.

“Are you ready to give your answer?”

My answer had been decided long ago.

Rejection. Not because they’re my daughters, but because even though they’re objectively stunning beauties, it’s unthinkable for a father to harbor lustful feelings for his daughters.

“I rej—”

“You dare cross the line, Adelina de Gargantua.”

“……”

Before I could finish my rejection, Charlotte stepped forward, looking extremely displeased. The silver hair that seemed to be melted moonlight was rippling with her anger.

“I hereby promise, in the name of Charlotte de Gargantua, that I will find a suitable match for you, Adelina. So speak no more. Otherwise…”

“Otherwise what, my mother? Do you intend to scold me? How fortunate. It seems the time has come to show how well your daughter has grown.”

The atmosphere became explosive. As if to support Charlotte, Serena, Christine, and Olivia also stepped forward.

“That’s enough, Sharon Elizabeth. If you stop now, I’ll consider it youthful impetuosity and let you off with a light reprimand.”

“Please stop here, Daniella Hildegard. If you do, our God will surely forgive you.”

“That’s enough, Flora Eleonora. If you continue, Mom might have to get angry. Do you want to see Mom angry?”

I was about to add my own words, but Serena and Christine gently took my hands from either side. Understanding their intent, I swallowed my words. They apparently wanted to handle this themselves.

But regardless of what their mothers said, the daughters repeated the same argument like parrots: where could they find a man as excellent as their father?

It was an unbeatable argument, at least when directed at my wives.

Even Charlotte, when trying to calm Adelina, had promised to find her a suitable match, not a man as excellent as me.

But somehow, as the bickering continued, the atmosphere gradually shifted toward praising “how excellent a man I am.”

“……”

I don’t understand why I should feel embarrassed when these eight women are fighting over me. I sighed and stepped between the women as the atmosphere threatened to overheat.

My intervention brought a surprisingly anticlimactic end to what could have escalated beyond a mother-daughter quarrel.

My wives immediately became docile at my words, as if they had never been arguing with their daughters, and I used this to subtly provoke my daughters.

My plan worked perfectly.

“……”

“……”

“……”

“……”

Flora, Sharon, Daniella, and Adelina all sat on the bed with somewhat sullen expressions.

“My princesses.”

And now I could attempt a calm conversation with them.

“Surely you don’t intend to turn me into a bad father who has that kind of relationship with his daughters?”

“…How could Father God ever be wrong? Even if it were to happen, I would atone with my body—”

Thwack! I gave Daniella a small flick on the forehead. She pouted and clutched the spot where I’d hit her.

“Where did you learn such bad words?”

“I overheard Mother’s atonement prayers.”

“……”

The “atonement prayers” mentioned here are just sex. Christine still considers it a grave sin to mix bodies with me, a god in human form, which is why she uses the expression “atonement.”

As for Christine’s way of thinking, well, she’s been that way since long ago, so I gave up pointing it out long ago.

“Anyway, absolutely not. Understand, princesses?”

Though they had grown too much to be called princesses anymore, they all seemed to accept it.

Accept it, that is.