The Demon Emperor was Saint Emperor

Chapter 183: Working Hard to Balance Favor

The arrival of Natasha made Lynn less bored; aside from pets, he finally had a proper companion.

However, her mind was mostly on things not quite harmonious; after being brought in by Lynn, all she seemed to know was cuddling and snuggling, looking not much different from those two pets.

Oh, there’s a difference actually, a big one. Because both Gooji and Little Flower have been neutered, they only please their master and don’t go into heat, whereas Natasha is purely in heat, completely not pleasing the... uh, boyfriend.

"If you’re free, go and practice with Vivian. You’re a human form of the Dragon Race, adept at fine-tuning and micro-manipulations of strength, you’re perfectly suited to be her sparring partner."

After being stuck with Natasha for a while, Lynn couldn’t bear it anymore and hurriedly gave her something to do. In the past reality, he never accepted those who threw themselves at him partly because of this reason.

"Eh... Lynn, how can you let the little wife be the sparring partner for the big wife? Won’t the big wife bully the little wife all out, and the little wife won’t dare to fight back? If she accidentally bruises or bumps the big wife, that would be a big crime."

Being sent by Lynn to be Vivian’s sparring partner, Natasha was unwilling from the bottom of her heart. This wasn’t because she had a bad relationship with Vivian, but purely because she didn’t want to let go of the opportunity where everyone is busy, leaving just her and Lynn alone.

"What big wife, little wife, you’re really treating yourself as a dowry?"

Lynn said while teasing Natasha’s nose, telling her not to learn bad things, all this tea-talk, blaming Sifrin for turning Natasha bad despite not being here.

"I just want to be the little wife, little wives are the most cherished, big wives except for bearing legitimate sons aren’t as favored as the little ones."

Natasha leaned her head on Lynn’s shoulder, holding onto his arm, murmuring sweetly, which indeed was her true feeling. She clearly understood she and Lynn weren’t of the same race, making it almost impossible to be the big wife.

So she wasn’t fighting for the title, just seeking something practical, anyway, she hadn’t seen any Emperor loving the Empress most; often the most favored was the concubine, some aren’t even concubines at all.

So you see, titles are just loud, actual substance is what’s real.

"Then you underestimate me. My skill in balancing might not be very proficient, but the intent to balance is always there. Although during actual operations, I’m quite unfamiliar and occasionally there’s some skewing, I’ll never rank my women from high to low. There is an order because there naturally is first and last, but there’s no ranking. I’m trying hard to treat everyone equally, um, doubling the effort..."

Just as Lynn said himself, he was doubling his efforts, and effort means he hasn’t achieved it yet.

After all, Vivian and Xiya were those he actively pursued, Helena and Natasha gave themselves freely, Catherine was his ’wife’ for a long time. To say there’s no distinction in these women in his heart is certainly impossible.

But truly creating a hierarchy would be unfair to Helena and Natasha; though given freely, they were wanted too, how could they be pushed to the second tier.

Every woman he accepted is important, if the balance isn’t achieved, the effort must be made, rather than letting the scales tilt. Numerous harems in animes and novels have shown Lynn that favoritism ends badly.

"Hehe, I don’t care about those, anyway, just watch tonight."

Natasha’s mischievous grins indeed proved her nonchalance, as long as she could catch onto Lynn’s high-status, she was satisfied. If he treated her well, it would be great happiness; everything else wasn’t much worth her worry.

"Before it gets dark, go and spar with Vivian."

Lynn gave Natasha a gentle push to get her to do something proper, avoid being mindlessly flirtatious, even if this was genuinely Dragon Race nature; they couldn’t be faulted.

"Alright, alright, I’m going, I’m going..."

Under Lynn’s repeated urging, Natasha reckoned not listening would only displease Lynn, so she agreed, albeit reluctantly.

Sparing with Vivian didn’t come with much technical difficulty, given how weak she was, Natasha felt like she could handle Vivian with two legs and one hand. Just for Lynn’s sake.

...

Moments later, in the courtyard of Little Yuna’s old residence next door, Vivian blinked her beautiful big eyes, standing lazily opposite Natasha.

When Lynn came over, he told her to treat Natasha like a moving sandbag, to use all her skills fully, no need to worry about Natasha; she was resistant and might even be tough enough not to even get hit.

"Vivian, practical experience is just as important. Natasha indeed is suitable for your sparring partner, her control over power is delicate, and she’s an unbreakable Giant Dragon. Unleash all the strength you’ve trained these days on her, don’t hold back, even if you exhaust yourself, there are people here to take care of you."

Catherine on the side acted as a field guide. Vivian severely lacked practical experience; while this isn’t critical at the initial stage, it’s inevitable.

Judging by control over powers, none present could match Lynn, but he cherished Vivian too much; wouldn’t let her get bumped even a bit. Such overly cautious sparring didn’t add any practical experience, if he were to spar, even Little Flower would be better; at least Little Flower would scratch if cornered.

"I’ll first test your level a bit, after roughly assessing, I’ll raise the intensity slightly. Vivian, you need to focus."

Natasha, though playful when fooling around or snuggling; was very earnest once she began proper tasks.

Vivian’s foundation was very weak, famously a top-notch rookie. Her Level had been improved significantly now, but it was largely due to Lynn’s special means forcing it up; her true skill hadn’t progressed with her Level.

"Okay, okay, I’ll give my all, Natasha, you go ahead and test."

Vivian nodded obediently; since she had the determination to become stronger, efforts must be made, it couldn’t remain just words.

"Alright! I’ll stand right here, you come at me head-on!"

Natasha controlled her power to be merely 3-5 Levels higher than Vivian’s and took a stance, prepared solemnly.

Shortly after, she noticed a crucial point.

Vivian actually wasn’t extremely weak, she actually had some skills.