The morning of my awakening dawned with an air of barely controlled chaos that had nothing to do with the ceremony itself.
By the time I made it downstairs for breakfast, the pile of marriage proposals had grown to an obscene mountain of parchment and enchanted letters that took up half the dining room table.
Anna looked like she hadn't slept, her usually perfect appearance frayed around the edges as she sorted through what had to be the most aggressive courtship campaign in noble history. Her fitted black maid's dress with white apron emphasized her curves in ways I'd never noticed before - the way the fabric pulled across her chest, how the corset-style bodice accentuated her waist and pushed up her breasts.
"Seventy-three," she announced as I entered, her voice slightly breathless. "Seventy-three formal proposals, Master Marcus. And that's just since midnight."
"Seventy-three?" I repeated, staring at the ridiculous display while trying not to focus on how Anna's breathing made her chest rise and fall in a rhythm that was suddenly very distracting. "That's... that's not normal, right?"
"Definitely not normal," Cassandra agreed, though her voice carried a husky undertone I'd never heard before.
She wore her usual elegant morning gown - deep emerald silk that complemented her flame-red hair and clung to her generous figure in ways that made my mouth go dry. The neckline was modest by normal standards, but somehow, I could now see the subtle curve of her cleavage, the way the fabric outlined her full breasts.
"Even Prince Adrian von Goldmane of House Goldmane had only thirty over his entire first month."
"House Goldmane's Pure Metal Magic Dominion makes them the wealthiest ducal house in the empire - second only to us in power," my mother explained, adjusting her characteristic silver and blue duchess robes. The flowing fabric should have been conservative, but my enhanced perception picked up how it draped over her mature curves, hinting at the body beneath.
"When their heir awakened his metal manipulation abilities, noble houses from across all six empires sent proposals."
"The international delegations are the most concerning," she continued, and I found myself noticing how her lips moved when she spoke, how her tongue occasionally darted out to wet them. "Three from Valeria, two from Draconia, and one from the High Elves of Sylvana. That level of foreign interest usually takes months to develop."
Lyanna looked up from her analytical sorting of the proposals, her ice-blue dress matching her eyes and hugging her tall, elegant frame. I'd always thought of her as coldly beautiful, but now I could see the subtle swell of her breasts beneath the fabric, the way her dress outlined her lean but distinctly feminine figure.
"The language is also... unusually intense. Listen to this one from Duchess Ravenna of the Eastern Marches: 'I find myself inexplicably drawn to seek audience with the young lord, as if called by forces beyond my understanding.'"
As she read the words aloud, I felt that now-familiar pulse of energy ripple outward from me. Every woman in the room inhaled sharply, their attention focusing on me with sudden, laser-like intensity. And for the first time, I found myself really seeing them - not just as family members, but as women. The way their dresses clung to their curves, the rise and fall of their chests as their breathing quickened, the flush that colored their skin.
"Marcus," my mother said carefully, her voice husky in a way that sent heat straight through me, "you need to be very careful today. Whatever's happening to you is getting stronger."
She was right. The temporal distortions were more pronounced this morning – conversations felt like they were happening underwater, with every word carrying weight and significance. The golden morning light seemed to have an ethereal quality, and I could swear I heard faint music playing from somewhere I couldn't identify.
But more than that, my perception of women seemed... enhanced. Sharper. More detailed in ways that felt almost primal. I could see things I'd never noticed before - the subtle movements of fabric against skin, the way breathing affected the shape of bodies, details that should have been impossible to perceive but were now crystal clear.
"Perhaps we should begin the preparations," Cassandra suggested, though she was staring at me with an expression that made heat pool in my stomach. "The awakening materials need time to properly configure."
Before we could move, the air in the hall began to shimmer with the familiar signs of a teleportation arrival.
"Not again," my mother muttered as the portal stabilized and Magister Celestine stepped through.
The immortal envoy's appearance hit me like a physical blow. Her robes were made of deep purple fabric that seemed woven from liquid night itself, flowing and shifting with its own ethereal luminescence. The material moved like water around her magnificent frame, clinging to curves that belonged in sculptures dedicated to goddesses.
But it was what I could now perceive beneath those robes that stole my breath entirely. The way the silk-like fabric draped over her body revealed everything while concealing it - the perfect swell of her generous breasts, the indent of her narrow waist, the flare of her hips.
Most shocking of all, I could tell with absolute certainty that she wore nothing beneath those flowing robes. No undergarments of any kind. Her breasts moved naturally with each step, unrestrained and free, creating subtle shifts in the fabric that my enhanced vision tracked with laser focus.
Her nipples formed small, distinct impressions in the material, peaks that became more pronounced each time she breathed.
The magical fabric seemed almost alive, caressing her skin as she walked, outlining every curve of her tall, statuesque frame. Her silver hair cascaded freely over bare shoulders, bound only with crystallized starlight ornaments that caught and refracted light with every movement.
When she turned, I could see the elegant line of her back through the semi-translucent material, the way it curved down to her waist before flaring out over her hips.
Her twilight-colored eyes seemed to burn with inner fire as they fixed on me, and I found myself wondering what her skin would feel like under my hands, what that starlight-bound hair would feel like if I tangled my fingers in it.
"Duchess Ravencrest," Magister Celestine said, her melodious voice resonating through my entire body like a caress. "I've come to oversee the awakening preparations personally."
__
Hey guys, sap?