Late autumn nights were often exceptionally beautiful. The cold wind blowing down from the north swept away all the clouds, leaving behind a pure, intoxicating night sky. Especially tonight—since it was the beginning of the month, there was no moon in the heavens, only a mesmerizing canopy of stars.
A night like this was best spent with a bottle of fine wine and good friends, sitting out in the open by a campfire and chatting nonsense. Or, better yet, with your girlfriend—it could be quite romantic too. Of course, only if you did not have sex, or you might freeze stiff. After all, it was late autumn, and the nighttime temperature was truly not high.
Solam, however, was not so lucky. Forget about girlfriends—ever since the Cloud Giants had arrived, Loris and Scarlett had become unusually reserved. Scarlett in particular had barely given Solam any chances to get close to her. The Cloud Giants did not much like the scent of the evil god on her.
Maria had secretly come over to "seduce" Solam, but whenever Solam fooled around with her now, he always felt a little strange inside. It had been fine before. Although Solam had never harbored any improper intentions toward Maria, he had still taken whatever advantage he could. But now, even taking advantage of her gave him a psychological barrier.
No matter what, Maria was his future mother-in-law. If they kept fooling around, Solam felt rather awkward. (Forget about mother-and-daughter threesomes.)
Maria was extremely displeased by this, feeling that Solam was no longer as fun as before. So she decisively turned around and went to play with her daughter instead. Loris was much more fun now, especially whenever Maria asked about the details of her time with Solam—Loris's face would become hot enough to boil soup.