Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1719: Maiuri Vale And… Sasha Vale

After spending half the night bantering with a fucking AI that had somehow managed to blackmail him and shut him up in ways nobody else ever had, Young Aether finally collapsed onto the couch. The exhaustion from everything that had happened, the running, the near-death experiences, and the endless nonsense finally caught up to him.

Aether ended up sleeping far more deeply than expected.

Until somebody disturbed him.

“Achoo!”

Slowly opening his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of a gorgeous young woman standing only a few steps away.

She wore a black crop top and a short skirt that showed off her long legs. In one hand, she held a feather rod usually used for teasing cats, while her other hand lazily twirled a strand of her hair. A pink bubble gum moved between her lips as she chewed without hurry.

Most importantly, she was staring directly at him.

Not with simple curiosity.

Her eyes carried the kind of focus a predator reserved for something that had suddenly captured its interest.

Neither of them spoke.

Several seconds passed.

Then several more.

The silence gradually became awkward.

At least for Aether.

The young woman appeared perfectly comfortable continuing the staring contest while studying him from head to toe.

It wasn’t that Aether was shy.

The problem was that he had just woken up inside his friend’s apartment and discovered an unfamiliar young woman casually standing over him.

His first assumption was simple.

Jonny’s daughter?

Sure, she could have been a secretary, a maid, a distant relative, or even a step-sister.

But until proven otherwise, Aether decided caution was the wiser option.

Meanwhile, the woman’s gaze continued travelling over him in a way that felt strangely invasive.

[+1000 AP]

‘That’s… a lot for a first meeting.’

Aether’s expression became slightly wry.

Ignoring the notification, he sat up and stretched before speaking.

“Hmm… and who might you be?”

The young woman simply blew her bubble gum larger and larger until it covered nearly half her face.

POP!

The bubble burst.

She continued staring.

She still didn’t answer.

Aether scratched his head.

This was somehow becoming weirder than dealing with the AI.

“Did Jonny come back yet?”

The woman suddenly burst into laughter.

“Jonny? Seriously?”

She bent forward slightly while laughing.

“Hahaha… that’s awful. Absolutely awful. Nobody calls him Jonny.”

Eventually, she managed to calm herself enough to wipe away an imaginary tear.

Aether released a small sigh before raising his hand politely.

“My name is Aether. What should I call you?”

The young woman’s gaze immediately dropped toward his extended hand.

Then she smiled.

A smile that looked far too amused.

“Sasha.”

Instead of giving a quick handshake, she deliberately stepped closer before taking his hand.

“Nice to meet you, Aether.”

[+1000 AP]

Aether immediately noticed the notification.

Again!

‘Seriously?’

Meanwhile, Sasha showed absolutely no intention of releasing his hand.

Instead, she continued holding it while maintaining direct eye contact.

Aether suddenly understood why the system kept rewarding him.

The woman wasn’t even trying to hide it.

The corner of Sasha’s lips lifted slightly as she watched him.

“You know, for someone who just woke up, you’re surprisingly handsome.”

Aether maintained a perfectly professional smile.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

She still didn’t let go.

Several seconds passed.

Then several more.

Finally, Aether gently pulled his hand free from her grip.

To his surprise, Sasha allowed it.

Well… Mostly.

Her fingers dragged lightly across his palm before separating.

“Hahah… nice grip.”

Sasha smirked.

Aether wasn’t entirely convinced she was talking about the handshake anymore.

Deciding to ignore whatever game she was playing, he returned to the original topic.

“So… where’s Jonny?”

“Are you not interested in talking with me, Aether?” Sasha asked while studying Young Aether’s awkward posture with obvious amusement.

For some reason, she found his cautious behaviour unexpectedly adorable. Most handsome men she met either tried too hard to impress her or became overly confident, yet Aether seemed genuinely uncertain about how to approach her.

“Haha… of course I’m interested in talking with you. It’s just that I have absolutely no idea who you are,” Young Aether replied with a small but polite smile.

Sasha smirked before blowing another pink bubble.

“Then how about taking a guess? What do you think my relationship with your Jonny is?”

Young Aether carefully looked her over again.

Her appearance, her casual attitude inside the apartment, and the way she behaved around Jonathan all suggested she was close to him. However, the more he looked at her, the more confused he became.

‘Looking at her age, she could definitely be his daughter, but I don’t see even the slightest resemblance between them. Maybe she’s his younger sister? A stepdaughter? An adopted daughter? Why is this suddenly becoming so complicated?’

After thinking about it for several seconds, he eventually gave up.

“I honestly don’t know. Maybe you’re his younger sister… or perhaps his daughter?”

The moment those words left his mouth, Sasha’s eyes widened slightly before she burst into laughter.

“Hahaha!!”

Young Aether blinked in confusion.

“So you’re not?”

Sasha waved her hand while trying to suppress her laughter.

“N-No, Haha… it’s not that. It’s just…” She struggled to keep a straight face before nodding. “Yup! That’s right. I’m his daughte—”

Before she could continue her performance, another hand suddenly appeared and flicked her forehead.

“Ow!”

Jonathan stood behind her with a completely deadpan expression.

“Please stop teasing my friend, Sasha.”

Sasha immediately rubbed her forehead and pouted.

“You’re no fun at all.”

Only then did Young Aether release a relieved sigh.

His attention shifted toward Jonathan, who was carrying a sleek silver tray.

Freshly baked cookies rested neatly upon the tray while a pair of elegant teacups released gentle streams of steam into the air.

Jonathan calmly walked over and placed everything on the table before sitting down on the couch.

“Jonny, I wanted to ask…”

Before Young Aether could finish speaking, another person entered the room.

A beautiful mature woman walked in with graceful and confident steps. She wore a long elegant gown that perfectly complemented her figure, while her carefully styled hair framed a gentle and welcoming face. A thin transparent interface briefly flickered near her temple before disappearing, revealing that she had likely just dismissed some form of personal augmented display.

Without hesitation, she walked directly toward Jonathan and sat beside him.

Young Aether’s eyes moved between Jonathan, Sasha, and the elegant woman.

The image they created together was almost absurdly perfect.

‘A perfect family.’

The thought appeared naturally in his mind.

At the same time, a strange feeling surfaced within his chest.

His friend had somehow managed to build a peaceful family with a beautiful wife and a beautiful daughter, while his own life seemed determined to remain a chaotic disaster no matter how many miracles happened around him.

‘Sometimes I genuinely wonder if fate enjoys making me watch other people’s happiness while throwing random nonsense into my life.’

Shaking away those thoughts, he smiled warmly.

“I honestly didn’t expect you to already have a wife and daughter.”

The elegant woman immediately covered her mouth as soft laughter escaped her lips.

Meanwhile, Sasha completely lost control.

“Hahaha! I told you! I told you this would happen again! Every single time somebody new meets us, they immediately assume the exact same thing! Hahaha”

She laughed so hard that she ended up leaning against Jonathan’s shoulder.

Jonathan simply sighed as though this situation had happened far too many times already.

Then, without warning, he wrapped an arm around Sasha’s waist and casually kissed her on the lips.

Young Aether stared at the scene.

His smile slowly disappeared.

His brain desperately attempted to process what he had just witnessed, yet every conclusion it produced only made the situation worse.

For several long seconds, complete silence filled the room as he repeatedly replayed the image in his mind.

Then reality finally caught up to him.

“MOTHERFUCKER! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO YOUR DAUGHTER?!”

Young Aether shot to his feet so quickly that the table nearly tipped over.

In the next instant, he grabbed Jonathan’s collar with both hands.

“The hell is wrong with you?! Since when did you become this kind of person?!”

His face was filled with genuine horror.

After all, from his perspective, Jonathan had just casually kissed the daughter he had introduced moments earlier.

Yet instead of looking guilty, Jonathan merely stared back at him with a disappointed expression, as though Young Aether was somehow the unreasonable one in this situation.

The veins on Young Aether’s forehead visibly bulged as he struggled to contain himself. If Jonathan didn’t explain himself within the next few seconds, there was a very real possibility that an old-fashioned fistfight was about to begin.

“She is my wife too, damn it!” Jonny exclaimed as he forcefully pulled Young Aether’s hands away from his collar before the situation escalated any further.

“…Pardon?” Young Aether replied, sounding even more horrified than before as his gaze slowly shifted toward Sasha.

The more he looked at her, the less his brain was willing to accept Jonathan’s explanation.

By his estimate, she looked barely fifteen or sixteen years old. If he were being completely honest, his first impression had placed her even younger than that.

Since only fourteen years had passed after he died, he had naturally assumed Jonathan’s daughter would be around that age by now.

12 or 13 or something…

Although Sasha looked slightly older than his original estimate, Young Aether simply attributed the discrepancy to the advanced genetic engineering technologies he had already witnessed throughout Beta City.

After all, artificially enhanced pregnancies, optimised growth treatments, and designer babies seemed common enough in this era.

Sasha chuckled as she noticed the disbelief written all over his face before flashing him a playful smile.

“Yep~ I’m Mr. Jonathan’s wife too~”

Young Aether slowly turned back toward Jonathan and found absolutely no trace of embarrassment on his friend’s face. If anything, Jonathan looked oddly proud of the situation.

“Bro…” Young Aether began while staring at him with visible disgust.

“That looks like a child.”

“I’m not a child!” Sasha immediately protested while puffing her cheeks and crossing her arms in annoyance.

Jonathan rubbed the bridge of his nose before releasing a weary sigh.

“It’s fine. You disappeared before the world completely changed, so I can’t really blame you for reacting like this. You have no idea how much society transformed during those fourteen years, or how many things people were forced to adapt to just to survive.”

Jonathan paused briefly before continuing in a calmer tone.

“Regardless of all that, I’m not doing anything morally or legally wrong. Sasha is an adult; she reached the legal age required for marriage years ago, and every decision she made was entirely her own. Whether you find it strange or not, our relationship is completely legitimate.”

Young Aether remained unconvinced, but arguing further would accomplish nothing.

Eventually, he released a reluctant sigh before sitting back down on the couch while trying to reorganise the increasingly confusing information inside his head.

Not wanting his friend to draw any more bizarre conclusions, Jonathan decided it would be better to introduce everyone properly.

“Let me start over and do this correctly.”

Jonathan gestured toward the elegant woman sitting beside him.

“This is Maiuri Vale, my first wife.”

Maiuri offered a graceful nod before greeting him with a warm smile.

“It’s nice to finally meet one of Jonathan’s old friends. I’ve heard quite a few stories about you over the years.”

Jonathan then turned toward Sasha.

“And this is Sasha Vale, my second wife.”

Sasha immediately leaned forward with a playful grin.

“Hello~”

[+1000 AP]

Young Aether nearly spilled his tea before he had even touched the cup.

The previous notifications had only felt awkward and confusing, but the current situation somehow managed to make them feel significantly worse.

Like, he’s just become a shit dog!

Forcing a smile onto his face, he nodded awkwardly before speaking.

“T-Two wives… I see. Honestly, I never expected you to end up with two wives. You’ve actually managed to build your own little harem… Haha”

Considering the futuristic society surrounding him, he wouldn’t have been particularly shocked if multiple marriages had become legal decades ago.

Jonathan immediately shook his head.

“Don’t call it a harem.”

His expression softened noticeably as he wrapped an arm around both women.

“It’s our home, our family, and the place we’ve built together.”

Maiuri’s cheeks turned slightly pink while Sasha’s teasing smile softened into something more genuine.

The affection between them was obvious enough that even Young Aether couldn’t mistake it for anything artificial.

Unfortunately, that realisation didn’t make the situation any less strange from his perspective.

While Young Aether was still processing everything, Sasha quietly shot him another playful wink from behind Jonathan’s shoulder.

!!

The action immediately sent a chill down his spine.

After allowing the conversation to settle, Jonathan finally leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees. The relaxed atmosphere that had filled the room gradually disappeared as his expression became noticeably more serious.

“Now that we’ve cleared up the misunderstandings, tell me what happened to you.”

Maiuri and Sasha also became noticeably more attentive as both women focused their attention entirely on Young Aether.

Young Aether remained silent for several moments while looking at the three people sitting across from him.

Despite all the strange changes surrounding him, Jonathan was still Jonathan, and the concern visible on their faces felt completely genuine.

After gathering his thoughts, Young Aether finally reached for the cup of tea resting on the table. He gently blew across the steaming surface before taking a small sip and allowing the warmth to spread through his body.

“Hmm… deciding where to start might actually be the hardest part of this story.”

A faint smile appeared on his face as countless memories flashed through his mind.

“If I had to choose a beginning, then everything started when I got a job as a security guard…”

As Young Aether slowly recounted the details of what had happened to him, he began with his death and eventual rebirth into another world. However, when the story reached certain sensitive parts, he briefly paused and glanced toward Jonathan’s two wives.

He trusted Jonathan.

The others?

Not so much.

More importantly, he had absolutely no interest in exposing every miserable detail of his life to complete strangers. Some memories were better left buried, and there were plenty of humiliating moments that would remain his secrets forever.

So, he carefully simplified the story.

“I was reborn in an orphanage and grew up alone,” Young Aether said while staring into his teacup.

“Life wasn’t exactly kind there. Every day felt like a struggle just to survive. I spent most of my time figuring out how to make enough money to eat, learning how to defend myself, and trying not to end up dead.”

His voice remained calm, but a hint of nostalgia appeared in his eyes.

Not pleasant nostalgia.

The kind that came from remembering difficult years that had shaped a person, whether they wanted them to or not.

“Somehow, I managed to survive all of that. Eventually, I found work in a bakery alongside a friend of mine, and things finally started looking better. For the first time in a long while, I thought my life was becoming normal.”

Aether let out a quiet laugh.

“Of course, the universe apparently hated that idea.”

Jonathan weakly sighed… as if this was daily news to him whenever he listened to Aether.

“One day, while I was walking home from work, a portal suddenly opened beneath me. Before I could even react, I fell through it and ended up somewhere completely different.”

His expression became complicated.

“The place was filled with monsters. Not normal monsters either. The kind that makes you question whether running away is even worth trying.”

Jonathan immediately understood what he meant.

“Hell’s Gate.”

“Yeah, that place.”

Aether nodded.

“I spent who knows how long running around that nightmare while trying not to become monster food. Every direction looked the same, every sound made me think something was about to kill me, and every day felt worse than the previous one.”

He laughed again, although there was very little humour behind it.

“Then, while I was running away from another strange monster, I somehow fell into a portal again.”

Sasha blinked.

“Again?”

“Again.”

Young Aether spread his hands helplessly.

“At that point, I wasn’t even surprised anymore. I was mostly annoyed.”

Even Jonathan couldn’t help smiling slightly.

“When I woke up, I realised I had somehow ended up here.”

From there, Young Aether continued explaining his experiences inside Beta City.

Naturally, he left out everything related to the destruction, the dangers, and the incidents he preferred nobody to know about.

Instead, he focused on the safer parts of the story.

He spoke about arriving in an unfamiliar city, wandering through futuristic streets filled with technology he couldn’t understand, and struggling to adapt to a world that had advanced far beyond anything he remembered.

Eventually, his story reached the old man.

“There was this old guy who helped me.”

A small smile appeared on Young Aether’s face.

“He didn’t know me. Didn’t owe me anything. Yet he still helped me get settled, arranged an identification card, explained how things worked, and even helped organise my transfer to Delta City.”

Jonathan quietly listened without interrupting.

“Honestly, I still don’t understand why he bothered helping me so much.”

Young Aether lowered his gaze toward the tea in his hands.

“Most people would’ve ignored a random stranger.”

For some reason, a family photograph suddenly flashed through his mind.

The image appeared so suddenly that it caught him off guard.

A family gathered together.

Warmth.

Happiness.

The image vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared.

“…Such a nice guy.”

The words escaped his mouth almost unconsciously.

For reasons he couldn’t quite explain, an uncomfortable feeling suddenly settled inside his chest.

It wasn’t sadness.

It wasn’t fear.

It simply felt as though something important was waiting for the consequence of his actions.

_____

[A/N: NO! There is no NTR or Cheating. 👎

Please do not worry about these actions… Aether is not going to NTR his friends’ wives; they have a reason in the future chapters. So don’t conclude!🫷🫷

And those who are hoping for NTR… Please don’t!!😭😭]