Right after Azul said that, Roxanna felt all her worries melt away.

Even though she would be happy if Azul found his family, a small part of her was still afraid... afraid that he might leave her because of it.

[I know that promises spoken by lips can be broken, but...] Roxanna thought. [I’m sure that he will keep his promise.]

"If you don’t believe me—"

"I believe you," Roxanna cut him off right away, her lips curling into a gentle smile. "I believe you, Azul."

There were times when men’s words couldn’t be trusted, but for some reason, Roxanna believed that Azul was different.

She knew it sounded foolish. After everything she had been through—after being betrayed before by a man—anyone would think she was strange for still choosing to trust someone again.

But for someone who had survived that kind of pain, being able to hope again was something very precious. It wasn’t easy. It was something many people couldn’t even bring themselves to do anymore.

At this moment, she hoped that Azul wouldn’t break his promise, even though they didn’t use any special way to bind it.

"Then I won’t disappoint you," Azul said, his eyes firm and sincere. "I will never break my promise to you."

He pulled her closer and kissed her softly. As he did, he let more of his magic flow into her, helping her breathe longer underwater.

Or maybe... he just wanted her to stay with him a little longer in his world.

[Azul’s heart rate increased (3/3)]

Roxanna smiled faintly. Somehow, it was surprisingly easy to make Azul’s heart race like that.

"Come, let’s gather more stones and bring them up," Azul said through their shared thoughts as he slowly pulled away.

Roxanna nodded. Even though her mission was to make his heart race three times, her own heart was beating just as fast as him.

Azul then guided her deeper into the river, holding her hand tightly so the current wouldn’t carry her away.

They continued moving forward until Azul stopped near a cluster of glowing stones. He crouched slightly and began picking them up one by one, placing them into a small pouch tied at his waist.

Roxanna followed his lead, carefully reaching for one of the stones.

When they felt they had gathered enough stones, Azul gently led Roxanna back to the shore.

He helped her out of the water and guided her up the riverbank. Her hair clung to her skin, and her clothes were still dripping wet, but somehow... it made her feel closer to Azul’s world, the world he belonged to.

"Here," Azul said softly, picking up a rough stone. "We can try polishing the rose quartz with this."

Roxanna crouched beside him, still catching her breath from the cold water. She watched closely as Azul placed one of the stones in his palm and rubbed it gently with the rough rock.

At first, nothing seemed to change.

But little by little, the surface of the rose quartz began to smooth out, its soft pink color becoming clearer under the sunlight.

Roxanna’s eyes lit up. "It’s getting prettier..."

Azul smiled at her reaction. "It just needs a bit of patience."

He handed the rough stone to her. "Do you want to try?"

Roxanna nodded. "Maybe we can also try other colors."

She picked up another piece of blue quartz and started rubbing it the same way Azul had shown her.

Her movements were slow and a bit unsure at first, but she kept going.

The sound of stone against stone was soft, almost calming.

After a while, she paused and looked at the piece in her hand. It wasn’t perfect, but it was smoother than before, and the gentle glow of the crystal was starting to show.

"You did a great job!" Azul said, his voice full of praise.

Roxanna smiled brightly, feeling a small sense of pride. She became even more excited and kept polishing the stones. Even though the system only asked her to finish four, she ended up polishing six—each one in the color of her husbands’ eyes.

[Ding! Ding!]

[Congratulations, Host! Side Mission Complete: A Simple Date by the River!]

[Reward: The Gift of Cupid — Whenever you give a gift to your husbands or others, they will immediately be smitten with you.]

[Azul’s affection points increased by 15%]

[Reward: +28,000 Spirit Points (SP)]

[Remaining Spirit Points (SP): 297,550]

With the extra 15%, Azul’s affection points had now reached 83%.

Basically... it was already very close to one hundred percent.

She blinked a few times, clearly not expecting it to rise that fast.

[Isn’t that... a bit too easy?]

Her gaze shifted toward Azul, who was still focused on polishing another stone, completely unaware of what had just happened. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Roxanna couldn’t help but smile softly.

Maybe it wasn’t that it was easy, maybe it was just because Azul’s feelings had always been this pure.

She lowered her eyes to the stones in her hands. The soft pink glow of the rose quartz looked even more beautiful now that it had been polished for such a long time.

"The polished stone looks beautiful," Azul said from beside her. Then, without even pausing, he added, "But your eyes are even more beautiful."

Roxanna lightly pushed his shoulder, her face warming up because he had been saying things like that over and over while she was polishing the stones.

"Stop it," she said, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Why? I’m just telling the truth," Azul replied so easily.

Roxanna let out a small breath. If they stayed here any longer, she was sure they would end up making out again.

It wasn’t like he was a bad partner sex, but they were outside right now, and the sun hadn’t even fully set yet!

Because of that, Roxanna stood up from her spot and brushed her hands lightly.

"Let’s go home together," she said. "The others will start to worry if we stay out too long."

Azul looked up at her, still holding the small polished stone in his hand.

"Alright," he said after a short pause, though there was a faint hint of reluctance in his voice.

Roxanna noticed it right away. She tilted her head slightly. "Do you want to stay a bit longer?"

Azul hesitated, then shook his head. "No... if they get worried, it won’t be good."

Even so, his gaze drifted back to the river for a brief moment, as if he wasn’t quite ready to leave.

Roxanna’s expression softened. "Then next time," she said gently. "We can swim together again."

Azul blinked, then looked at her again. "Next time?"

Roxanna nodded. "Mm. We’ll do it again."

A small smile slowly formed on his lips, warmer than before. "Okay."

He stood up and brushed the dirt off his clothes before reaching out his hand to her.

Roxanna glanced at it for a second, then placed her hand in his without hesitation.

As they started walking away from the river, the soft sound of water faded behind them, replaced by the quiet rustling of leaves.

"Hey, I was just about to look for you!" Luan said a bit loudly when he spotted Azul and Roxanna walking toward the Vixeria Tribe. "But why are you so wet like this?!"

Luan quickly rushed over to Roxanna and asked, "Did this fish drag you into the river or what?!"

[Azul really did drag me into the water like some kind of siren,] Roxanna thought, but of course, she didn’t dare say that out loud to Luan.

"We were just playing in the water," Roxanna said.

Before Luan was able to say something, she smiled as brightly as the sun and held out a polished green quartz to him. "Here, another stone for you."

Luan frowned slightly because she had given him a stone from the river before. He didn’t really understand the purpose of these stones, but when he remembered that the one who gave it to him was Roxanna, he immediately thought that it must be something very valuable.

Without thinking, he carefully took it from her.

[Luan’s affection increased by 5%]

Oh... it seemed the passive skill—The Gift of Cupid—was working really well because her husband was instantly charmed by such a small gift!

But she had no idea that the penguins’ way of giving beautiful stones to their mates would become something she did as well.

And because of that small gift, Luan no longer felt like getting angry. He let out a soft sigh, then said, "Alright, let’s go home and get you dried."

Roxanna nodded eagerly. "Okay!"

When they arrived at their hut, Roxanna also gave quartz to her other husbands: Zeir got a red quartz, Calen got a light brown quartz, and Cyrus got a reddish-brown quartz.

"Now we each have our own stone!" Roxanna said brightly. She asked them to place the quartz on their palms, then gently brought their hands closer together. "Maybe we can even turn them into hanging decorations!"

She was about to say more, but then—

"Hachoo!"

She suddenly sneezed, her body jerking slightly from the force. Her husbands froze for a moment. They were worried, but at the same time, her sneeze was just too cute.