Squatting down while tenderly rubbing the little girl's head, reaffirming that she was safe when I retracted my hand, she suddenly grabbed it, prompting me to stop as I gave her a curious look.

"Alexander." Said the little girl as she looked at Alexander, causing him to furrow his brows, confused how the girl learned his name.

"Yes, my name is Alexander, but how did you know that? Actually, never mind, this is all a dream; of course, it would make sense for you to know my name." Asked Alexander before he chuckled to himself while shaking his head as he glanced at the little girl's emotionless expression.

"Alexander." Said the little girl, this time a little louder while also slightly shaking his arm, prompting him to tilt his head in confusion.

"Yes? Is there something you need?" Questioned Alexander, though no matter what he said, he'd always get the same response of her calling his name.

I had no idea what my brain was currently doing for me to experience such a weird lucid dream, but this back-and-forth continued for some time before I suddenly felt the air get noticeably colder, prompting me to pick up the little girl and embrace her so she also wouldn't be cold.

"W-Why, i-is it s-so cold a-all of a s-sudden?" Asked Alexander to himself while shivering as he carried the little girl, who was practically yelling his name in his arms.

It didn't stop there; no, it continued to get colder, eventually to the point where it became hard to move for some reason, filling me with confusion at such drastic changes. However, I wasn't able to think about it much when all of a sudden, the little girl I was holding slapped me in my face, and despite her tiny frame, not only did it hurt, but she actually managed to knock me out as darkness quickly consumed my mind.

___

___

Snapping my eyes open, I looked around, only to spot my room being illuminated by sunlight, causing me to sigh in relief, knowing I'd finally returned to reality; however, my relief was short-lived as I felt the cold return, and this time, the sensation was much more apparent.

Looking down at my body, I noticed I was covered in a thick layer of clear ice, which was odd, but I also found that I was frozen to the wall.

"Haa, finally, you're awake." Remarked Lavender with a frown, wearing her nightgown still as she approached Alexander, who was hanging from his bedroom wall.

"Umm, I don't know what occurred when I was sleeping, Master, but for you to immobilize me like this, I'm assuming I was acting rather aggressively?" Asked Alexander, thinking back to when he turned the drunkard's head into a pile of much while looking at Lavender, who nodded, causing him to be filled with dread as he intently looked at Lavender for any signs of injuries.

"Calm down, Alexander; you didn't hurt me nor Talis, who somehow managed to sleep through everything." Replied Lavender softly, feeling bliss at his instinctual worry for her as she placed her hand atop the frozen Alexander, causing the ice to melt swiftly, and in a matter of a few seconds, he was free.

Landing on the ground, the first thing I did was summon a large flame and practically hug it so it could heat my freezing body; while I was doing that, I looked at Master, who instantly understood my intentions.

"I don't know what came over you, but while we were sleeping, you suddenly stood up, approached the mannequin I gave you so you could place your armor on, and started beating the hell out of it." Stated Lavender as she briefly described the events that led to the current situation while pointing toward the corner of the room, which had a pile of armor pieces sprawled on the ground.

Following Master's finger, I looked over, and just like she said, I destroyed that mannequin; the armor was mostly fine, and the piece that had sustained any damage was the helmet, displaying only a few minor dents that could easily be fixed.

"Well, that is unfortunate, but at least I didn't hurt you or Talis." Replied Alexander with a sigh as he glanced at the mannequin before shaking his head, forgetting about its existence as he looked at the sleeping Talis and Lavender standing before him.

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"That's one thing you don't need to worry about; the reason I froze you to the wall wasn't because you were getting aggressive with me. Let me rephrase that: You weren't intending to harm me; that's a better way to put it." Said Lavender with a thoughtful expression as she looked at Alexander, who gave her a confused stare.

"After you destroyed that mannequin, you approached me and embraced me in a hug that continued to tighten, and if I didn't do anything, I was worried you might split me in half." Added Lavender lightly as she chuckled at her own situation, finding it somewhat amusing.

Nodding my head at her words, I put two and two together and eventually deduced that the little girl I was embracing in my dream was Master, though that got me wondering about the slap.

"Hmm, so were you the one who slapped me then?" Asked Alexander as he squinted his eyes and looked at Lavender, who gave a teasing smirk.

"Hehe, maybe?" Said Lavender with a smirk as she hid her hand behind her body, which was red from how hard she smacked Alexander's face.

Shaking my head, I didn't bother pursuing the matter, considering I was the one mainly at fault, and now that I finally had time to process what had happened, I felt stronger. Not physically stronger, but mentally stronger; I don't know how to describe the feeling properly, but it felt like I wasn't being weighed down anymore. The trauma that I've lived with for the past sixteen years, I've finally managed to overcome and come to terms with it.

"Haa, this feels nice." Muttered Alexander with a slight smile as he closed his, basking in the sensation of being mentally free.

"Hmm, what did you say, Alexander?" Asked Lavender as she glanced at Alexander with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing, I was just muttering to myself." Replied Alexander with a shake of his head as he opened his eyes and snuffed out the large flame that had been heating him up.

"So anyways, do you know why you suddenly started punching your mannequin in your sleep?" Asked Lavender, though before Alexander could respond, a little birdie awoke from her slumber.

"Ahh, that was a wonderful sleep; morning, Miss Lavender and Alex. Is breakfast ready yet?" Stated Talis with a yawn as she stretched her wings and looked at Alexander and Lavender, completely ignoring the destroyed mannequin in the corner.

"Heh, I'll tell you over breakfast; how about that, Master?" Said Alexander with a smile, prompting Lavender to nod as she exited the room, followed by Alexander and Talis.

___

___

Just like that, after my birthday, confessing my love to Master, and overcoming my trauma, the days returned to normal, at least relatively normal. The days were pretty much the same, except for the fact that Master and I were much more affectionate with each other; nothing much changed, and even though we were now lovers, she didn't go easy on me whenever we sparred.

I continued to train like usual, improving my swordsmanship and deepening my mastery of the newly acquired lightning mana, which, for the record, wasn't easy, neither was, as a matter of fact. I still hadn't managed to say Trina's elder sister's name, but I stopped worrying about it after so long; I'll say her name one day; until then, she will just have to quietly watch me.

However, while our days didn't change, the same couldn't be said for our nights; almost every single night, Lavender and I would engage in a several-hour-long intense love-making session. As the nights continued, In a few months, I improved my ability to pleasure Lavender to the point where she found it difficult to last the entire night, and sometimes I'd be forced to stop earlier as I'd literally cause her to pass out from such pleasure.

Though I wasn't the only one who had improved, Lavender had also gotten much better at pleasing me, causing me to orgasm in just mere minutes; in all honesty, if it weren't for my skill [Rebirth], there is no way I'd be able to last for more than thirty minutes. Sometimes, I even wondered if Lavender was a Dryad and not a Succubus in disguise.

Anyway, enough about our love life; today was an important day, an incredibly important day; after all, today was the sixth. Do you know what it means?

'Master's birthday is today.' Mused Alexander with a smile of pure excitement as he looked down at Lavender's sleeping face, who was lying in his embrace after they finished a long round of lovemaking.

It was still very early in the morning, but I wanted to make sure my surprise for her was ready, so reluctantly, I slowly left the bed, making sure not to wake her up; though even if I were purposely being loud, I doubted I'd wake her up, not after how exhausted she was from the intense lovemaking.

Putting my clothes on, I didn't even open the door and used [Blink] to appear in the hallway outside her bedroom door. Turning around, I quietly walked down the hall, and only when I arrived at the kitchen did I stop being so quiet.

"Talis, did you finish what I asked you to do?" Asked Alexander as he looked at Talis lying on the table, also looking somewhat exhausted.

"Yes, I finished them, but it took almost the whole night, so leave me alone for now, Alex; only wake me up when Miss Lavender is awake." Replied Talis softly as she glanced at Alexander while dismissively waving her wing before closing her eyes.