The Broken Halo

Chapter 1075 - 1074: Oh Fuck (Magic Castle Bonus - )

[A/N: Bonus Chapter is thanks to Kollum. Thank you so much. You’re the best!]

———

Morning light crept through the tall window and spread across the bed.

It touched the tangled sheets first. Then a spill of silver hair.

Then another.

Seraya lay on Simon’s right arm, curled against his side. Her head rested in the hollow of his shoulder, and one hand lay flat on his chest, fingers loosely spread over his heart. Her breathing was slow and even. Even in sleep, she looked composed, as though she had decided exactly how she wanted to lie and refused to move from it.

Neris was another matter entirely.

She had claimed his left arm sometime during the night and sprawled across it as if it belonged to her. Her face was buried against his neck, one leg thrown over his, and the sheet had slipped down to her waist. The blue butterfly ornament had come loose from her hair and lay crooked on the pillow beside her.

Every so often, she mumbled something unintelligible and pressed closer.

Between them, Simon slept.

Then his brows drew together, and his eyes opened.

For a moment, he stared at the ceiling, his mind slow and heavy in a way it rarely was. The room was quiet and warm. Something soft was draped across his chest.

Two somethings.

He turned his head to the right and found Seraya’s peaceful face inches from his own.

He turned to the left and got a mouthful of silver hair.

Simon blinked.

Then the night came back to him all at once.

It had not ended quickly.

It had gone on for hours, long after the lamps burned low, and somewhere in the middle of it Simon had realised that two Daegrin women were far more than he had bargained for. He had never done anything like it in either of his lives. Whenever he gave his attention to one sister, the other made certain he didn’t forget her for long.

Even in bed, they had competed.

Seraya, the woman who commanded armed guards without raising her voice, had abandoned every trace of that composure the moment he touched her. She had been loud. Demanding. She gave him orders between breaths and then forgot them entirely, and more than once Simon had wondered whether the Varn residence had thick walls.

He hoped it did.

Neris had been the bigger surprise.

The girl who couldn’t stop blushing at his horns had turned out bolder than either of them. She answered every touch with one of her own, whispered things in his ear that nearly made him laugh in disbelief, and refused to be outdone by her sister in anything.

Simon had needed every ounce of his stamina to keep up.

Near dawn, the sisters had simply given out. Neris fell asleep mid-sentence. Seraya lasted a little longer, murmuring something about breakfast before her eyes closed.

And Simon had followed them into the deepest sleep he’d had in years.

He exhaled slowly.

”...That was a good night.”

He meant it.

There had been no half-sleep, no corner of his mind still watching for danger. Just rest.

It also made him realise how much he had been holding back. Decades of restraint, with every evolution adding fuel to a fire he kept smothered, and last night it had finally been allowed to burn. His body felt lighter. His mind felt clear.

Perhaps there was such a thing as too much self-control.

Simon glanced at the two sleeping women and let his Seed of Pride stir.

Seraya’s head lifted a few centimetres from his shoulder. Neris’s rose from the crook of his neck, and her leg slid away from his. Neither of them woke. Simon eased his arms free, pulled two pillows into place, and lowered the sisters gently onto them.

Neris immediately hugged hers and mumbled something that sounded like his name.

Simon’s lips curved.

He sat on the edge of the bed, stretched until his back cracked, and looked out the window.

He hadn’t planned any of this.

If someone had told him yesterday that he would end the night in bed with both Varn sisters, he would have laughed. Things had moved fast. Too fast. On another day, he would have turned Seraya away at the door.

But this wasn’t Earth.

On Earth, people slept together on a first meeting too, but not that often. In the demon realm, desire was simply desire. Demons and demonesses gave in to it without needing affection, promises, or a long courtship first. Nobody would think less of the sisters for walking into his room, or of him for letting them stay.

There were benefits, too.

Lilith had told him to build a relationship with the Daegrins. Growing close to the First Merchant’s daughters was hardly the worst way to do it.

Then there was the last reason.

The Seed of Lust.

Of all the Seeds, it was the one Simon expected to struggle with most. He wasn’t a lustful man. Given the choice between a beautiful woman and an hour of cultivation, he would usually choose the cultivation. He liked women well enough, but he had never felt the need to chase every one who caught his eye.

That was exactly the problem.

Unless he found another way, to birth the Seed of Lust, he might need to indulge whenever the opportunity appeared. And he doubted even that would be enough.

If birthing it only required bedding as many partners as possible, it would be the easiest Seed in existence.

It wasn’t. He was certain of that.

But he did know where it had to begin.

No one could birth the Seed of Lust while strangling lust itself.

So when the opportunity came knocking, quite literally, he had taken it.

’Still,’ he thought. ’I’m a long way from forming it.’

[Did you have fun last night?]

Simon went rigid.

The voice came from inside his chest. From inside his heart.

Lilith.

He hadn’t sensed her return at all. He had been so absorbed in last night that her presence had slipped right past him.

Simon raised a brow and glanced at the sleeping sisters.

[...Were you watching?]

A soft chuckle answered him.

Then she stepped out of his chest and stood before the window with her arms folded while wearing a calm and entirely harmless smile.

Simon did not trust that smile.

”I did not watch you bed two demonesses,” Lilith said. ”I came back a few hours ago, found the three of you asleep, and went into your heart. That’s all.”

”Oh.”

That was all he could think to say.

Silence stretched between them. It was not a comfortable silence.

The air felt tight, like the moment before a storm, and Simon couldn’t for the life of him work out why. He hadn’t done anything wrong.

He lifted a finger. Wind gathered and folded into a thin, invisible barrier a few inches around them both.

Lilith’s voice would never reach the sisters anyway. In her soul form, no ordinary eye could see her and no ordinary ear could hear her.

His voice was another matter.

And he had a feeling this was about to get loud.

Lilith’s foot began tapping against the floor.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

She raised a brow.

”You have nothing else to say?”

Simon raised one back.

”What else am I supposed to say?”

Lilith laughed.

It was a pleasant laugh, light and soft, but it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

She pointed past him toward the bed.

”The one time I’m not around. The one time I leave you alone for a few hours, and you decide to sleep with not one bitch, but two?”

Simon frowned.

”Calling them bitches is a bit much, isn’t it?”

Lilith’s smile vanished.

Her eyes narrowed. Her arms tightened across her chest, fingers digging into her sleeves, and her head tilted slowly to one side.

”Oh? So now you’re defending them?”

Simon stared at her.

’What is going on?’

”I don’t see the problem,” he said slowly. ”Why are you reacting like this? You’re the one who told me to build a relationship with the Daegrins. This is a relationship, and not a bad one.”

Something in Lilith’s face snapped.

The Chaos Blade tore out of Simon’s chest in a streak of darkness and landed in her waiting hand.

Simon looked at the blade, then at her.

”...What are you planning to do with that?”

Lilith chuckled with a low and dangerous tone.

”I told you to make the Daegrins your subordinates or your allies.” The blade rose. ”Not to fuck, date, marry, or bed their bitch-ass princesses!”

She swung.

Simon threw himself sideways. The blade hissed through the air where his head had been.

”Are you crazy?!”

The wind swallowed the shout before it could travel.

”You’re the crazy one!” Lilith snapped, already turning after him. ”You waited for me to leave before crawling into bed with two bitches!”

She slashed again. Simon ducked beneath it.

”I didn’t plan it! It just happened!”

”Liar!”

”You’re insane!”

”And you’re shameless!”

The blade came down. Simon twisted out of its path, his heel skidding across the floor, then he found his back against the wardrobe.

His temper flared.

”Why are you even angry?! We’re not in any kind of relationship!”

Lilith stopped.

For a heartbeat, she simply looked at him. Then a thin smile touched her lips.

”And so?”

Simon opened his mouth and cursed her internally.

’This old ancient bitch!’

Just as he had this thought, Lilith struck.

The Chaos Blade dropped toward his head.

His Seed of Pride flared, and the blade halted a hand’s width above his skull, trembling against the invisible force.

Simon stared up at it.

”Oh, fuck me sideways.”

Lilith’s expression turned ugly.

”What did you just say?” Her grip tightened on the hilt. ”Those two weren’t enough for you? Now you want to fuck me too?”

Simon’s mind went blank.

”How the fuck did you get that from what I said?!”

”I don’t know.”

Her voice had gone completely cold.

”What I do know is that I’ll have to cut your dick off. That way, you won’t go astray and forget your goals.”

Simon looked into her eyes.

There was no humour in them. None at all.

A chill crawled down his spine.

Behind him, Neris sighed in her sleep and hugged her pillow tighter, utterly unaware.

Simon swallowed.

’First time sleeping with two women in my two lives...’

The Chaos Blade pressed harder against his Seed of Pride.

’...and now I’m going to lose my dick for it?!’