Queen Wisteria latched onto Axel’s right arm, with Ria clinging to his left, almost as if the two were competing over something. Nina followed the three from a few steps behind, her expression slightly doubtful.

He was led by the three witches toward a certain lavish room—one he was familiar with. A room he’d visited once, and only once, before. Not that long ago at that, either.

Queen Wisteria’s bedroom.

It was the same as he remembered.

The entire room was lit by a faint orange-pink glow from magical lamps. It felt wide for a bedroom, with a small office table on the far end, stacked with documents awaiting her attention.

In the middle, a large bed—one that could fit ten people without effort—sat quietly. Four tall pillars rose from each corner, reaching the high ceiling. Semi-transparent drape cloth hung along the edges, partly veiling the bed from sight.

Even without lingering, Axel could feel the atmosphere in the room leaning a little "naughty."

The moment the party was inside, Nina closed the door and locked it behind them. Queen Wisteria hadn’t even needed to tell her what to do. She already knew.

"Now that we’re here, shall we begin?" The Queen whispered into Axel’s ear, her grin stretching wider. "First, we need you to strip down."

"...Huh?"

Axel paused, certain he’d heard her wrong.

"Weren’t we going to do the Soul Dive thing to help me check my soul space...?" He asked, trying to reconcile what he knew with what was apparently happening.

"That’s right."

Wisteria nodded, completely unbothered by the look he was giving her.

"Soul Dive is a physical technique. The more skin contact between the caster and the target, the higher the efficacy. Thus, to facilitate a better success rate, please strip down, Duke Axel."

Axel turned to Nina and Ria, hoping one of them would object. But neither said a word. Queen Wisteria’s explanation, apparently, was legitimate.

Left without much of a choice, Axel did as he was told—quickly stowing his clothes into his inventory, stripping down to the last piece.

"...I can keep my boxer pants, at least, right?"

It was less of a question and more of a declaration—his final stand.

Queen Wisteria placed a hand to her chin, letting her gaze travel over Axel’s toned body from head to toe. The look she gave him felt strange. It wasn’t just the evaluating eye of a mother-in-law sizing up her son-in-law. It was something else.

After a moment, she nodded and smiled.

"It’d be more effective without them too, but I suppose you’d be too shy to go that far."

Axel exhaled in quiet relief.

If she’d actually told him to lose the boxers, he would’ve bolted on the spot—trusting his gut that Envy was already gone and calling it a day. At least this way, his dignity before his mother-in-law remained more or less intact.

"Then, girls, you should start preparing too."

As she said it, Queen Wisteria gave Axel a casual push, sending him sitting onto the edge of the bed. It was light enough that dodging felt rude, so he went with it.

He thought that’d be the extent of it.

"Huh?!"

He was wrong.

Ria and Nina, using the System, sent their clothes straight to inventory—same as Axel had done. Their battle gear vanished in an instant, leaving behind only underwear.

Ria’s set followed a purple and black theme, lace trimming along every edge. The fabric was slightly transparent, her skin visible in patches beneath the purple. Despite her small frame, the pair of fruits straining against their cups were practically overflowing—and in Axel’s eyes, the overall effect was extremely erotic.

Nina wasn’t as generously sized as Ria, but she was far from flat. Her set ran red and black instead of purple, similar in style but worn differently on her taller frame. Where Ria was all softness and overflow, Nina carried a more balanced look—alluring and erotic, with a trace of grace underneath.

"Oh? What a cute pair you have, my daughters."

Queen Wisteria, who’d been peeling off her own layers of clothes one at a time, glanced over at the two of them with a smile. She was stripping down to her underwear as well, of course.

What none of them were prepared for, however—

"...!"

"M-Mother?!"

"Wow... Nothing?"

—was what was revealed beneath her several layers of royal, regal clothing.

Just a single pair of panties. Her twin peaks, slightly fuller than Ria’s, hung beautifully like ripe fruit ready for the picking.

Axel averted his gaze the next instant—but the brief, unintentional moment he’d already spent looking was more than enough.

The image engraved itself cleanly into his mind.

The perky shape. The peaks, one shade darker than the rest of her skin. The star-shaped mole on the inner side of her right breast. Everything.

"Oh. Seems like I forgot to wear it."

Queen Wisteria remarked offhandedly, as if noticing for the first time.

"I’m in my fertile cycle, so my chest hurts when I wear a bra—especially the nips. I must’ve absentmindedly decided to skip it while getting dressed earlier."

She made no move to hide herself, nor did she go hysterical over Axel having seen her.

If anything, she seemed to be pushing them up slightly—almost emphasizing them—while facing the direction of Axel’s averted gaze, a teasing smile fixed on her face.

"Mother! At least wear one now!" Nina stepped in, positioning herself like a human shield. "Here—I just bought one in your size, so please put it on!"

"Oh! You can use the Interdimensional Shop too now?" The Queen smiled, taking the package from Nina’s hands. "Though I don’t particularly mind going without... well, I suppose it won’t hurt to humor my cute daughter’s request."

With a light shrug, she took out the underwear set and began putting it on. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The bottoms required swapping out the pair she currently had on—which she did without so much as glancing toward a changing room.

Axel didn’t see any of it.

Ria had already made sure of that, grabbing his face and burying it deep into her valley before Wisteria’s impromptu strip show had even fully begun.

He was grateful to his little wife for the intervention, but—as a man—he felt a quiet, somewhat shameful pang at having missed the view.

"Hmm."

Once dressed, Wisteria bounced her twin peaks lightly, testing the feel.

"The bra feels... tight?" She tilted her head.

"..."

Nina stared at her mother’s chest, running the numbers in her head. She wouldn’t have gotten her own mother’s size wrong. It hadn’t even been that long since she’d last been around.

’It grew a size larger in that short a time?!’

She grabbed her own chest. Looked at her mother. Looked back down.

Something hot prickled at the corners of her eyes.

"...Unfair."