Early the next morning, when Lu Xiao came downstairs, she saw Ares had already set a plate on the table.
Just as Lu Xiao thought Ares had silently made breakfast while she was asleep, he placed a heated tube of nutrient solution onto the plate.
'Wait, does drinking nutrient solution require this much ceremony now?'
If she hadn't just had some last night, she would have suspected it was just something that looked like nutrient solution.
"Good morning, Mistress."
Just as Lu Xiao was having an existential crisis over the nutrient solution, Ares saw her coming down and silently knelt again.
Lu Xiao snapped back to her senses and instinctively grabbed his arm. "Don't kneel. You don't have to. Get up!"
Ares, still in a kneeling position, was a bit stunned when Lu Xiao tried to pull him up like that.
"Hurry and stand up, I can't lift you." The moment Lu Xiao said this, she lost her balance and stumbled into Ares's arms, knocking him over in the process. The two of them fell onto the carpet together.
Ares instinctively cushioned her head.
Lu Xiao's head hit Ares's chest, leaving her a bit dazed. She hadn't expected that for someone who looked so lean, his body would be this hard.
She unconsciously reached out and grabbed his chest. "What are you made of? You're so hard!"
Ares's heart skipped a beat when she grabbed him. "I'm sorry, Mistress. It was my fault. You can punish me!"
After helping Lu Xiao up, Ares silently knelt down again.
Lu Xiao: "..."
'This is never going to end!'
'Are we sure this isn't the age of slavery?'
Ares kept his head down. From her perspective, the man looked incredibly docile, even a little pitiful.
But then she remembered that a rampage of Ares's Spirit Sea was what killed the original owner of this body. Plus, he'd become an Imperial Major General at such a young age. He was definitely no simple man.
"Ares, get up. I don't want to see you kneel again. From now on, no matter what happens in this house, you are not allowed to kneel without my permission. Do you understand?"
Ares looked up, his dark eyes filled with confusion. "Why?"
His comrades-in-arms, regardless of their rank in the military or how many merits they had earned, all had to kneel at home whenever their Mistresses required it.
Because females disliked their height—being too tall gave females a sense of unease—many of them preferred to have males speak to them while kneeling.
Some females would even break a male's legs just to prevent them from standing up.
But now, Lu Xiao was demanding that he not kneel.
"There's no why. I just don't like it. Get up." To show she was serious, Lu Xiao dropped the subject and walked over to the dining table. "Don't you have anything else to do today?"
Ares, who had just stood up, replied, "No, the military gave me three days of marriage leave."
As he said this, Ares subconsciously glanced at Lu Xiao's expression. Seeing no reaction, he couldn't quite figure out what she was thinking.
"Then let's go to the supermarket later. I want to buy some ingredients. I don't want to eat nutrient solution anymore." Lu Xiao put down the half-finished tube of nutrient solution with a look of disgust. "If you're free, can we go to the supermarket now?"
Ares looked at the aggrieved expression in the little female's eyes, and his heart tightened slightly. Even though he knew it was all an act on Lu Xiao's part, he had to admit that the fair-skinned, beautiful female before him was very alluring.
"Alright, I'll go get the car."
He had just finished speaking when the doorbell rang. Ares turned to answer it, and a voice came from outside: "We're from the Female Protection Association. Please open the door."
Hearing the words "Female Protection Association" so suddenly, Ares thought to himself, 'I knew it.'
'All her kindness was just a lead-up to this moment. And I almost believed it.'
He gave a somewhat mocking smile, pressed the button to open the door, and silently stepped aside.
His spine straightened involuntarily. No matter what happened next, he would not bend. This was his final act of defiance.
Lu Xiao, who had been happy about the impending supermarket trip, saw Ares revert to his defiant state after answering the door and asked, "Who is it?"
'Coming here first thing in the morning, how annoying.'
Soon, a group of females in uniform appeared at the door. The moment they entered, their gazes, filled with scrutiny, fell on Ares. "Is he the one who harmed you, Ma'am?"
Lu Xiao really disliked the way they were looking at Ares. It made her feel as though he wasn't a person, but a piece of trash that could be disposed of at any moment.
She walked over and used her body to block their line of sight. Lu Xiao even realized she was half a head taller than the female in charge.
This discovery made her a little happy. After all, her previous height was 172 cm, taller than some guys.
With that thought, Lu Xiao instinctively puffed out her chest. "Who are you people?"
"Don't be afraid, Ma'am. We're from the Female Protection Association. Yesterday, we received a danger assessment from your terminal indicating that you may have been harmed. That's why we rushed over first thing this morning. How are you feeling now? We've brought a doctor. As for the male who harmed you, we will deal with him on your behalf."
After speaking in a cold and aloof tone, the leading female immediately lifted her chin to give a signal. Two females holding electric batons emerged from behind her and walked toward Ares.
"Stop!" Lu Xiao took a step back, shielding Ares. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not injured, and Ares didn't hurt me. Pack up your things and leave my house right now, or I'll call the police!"
"Ma'am, don't be deceived by a male. They..."
"Please get out. Don't make me say it again. Ares, show them the door!" Lu Xiao thought these people were completely out of their minds. 'Barging into my house, spouting nonsense regardless of whether I need their help or not... Do they think they're saviors of the world?'
"Ma'am, you're indulging him by doing this! You'll regret today's decision!"
After the door was closed, Lu Xiao looked at Ares, who was watching her silently. "What do you want to say?"
"You didn't have to do that. Yesterday, I did hurt..."
"But was it intentional?" Lu Xiao cut him off.
Ares paused for a moment, then shook his head. "I lost control of myself at that moment. It was my fault, so I should accept the punishment."
As he spoke, Ares knelt down.
Lu Xiao's brow furrowed. She walked over to Ares. "And why did you lose control? It was because of what I did to you... Isn't it normal that you lost control? It was just an accident, not your fault. If we have to assign blame, then I'm the one who went too far. I should apologize to you. It won't happen again."
Lu Xiao couldn't bring herself to say what the original owner had done to Ares, but she thought it was a good opportunity to clear the air.
Ignoring the surprise that Ares couldn't hide in his eyes, Lu Xiao looked down at him. "But you just did something that made me very unhappy."
"I'm sorry, I..." Ares apologized instinctively, his mind still reeling from what Lu Xiao had just said.
'The little female in front of me actually apologized to me.'
"Then why aren't you getting up?!" Lu Xiao took a step back. "Go get the car. I want to go to the supermarket!"
Ares finally realized what he had done to make Lu Xiao unhappy. He had knelt again.