Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1220: That was all I saw before everything... was covered in darkness

Nyx Shadowfall’s POV

”Who will be my husband?”

I asked calmly, without the slightest hesitation.

My voice didn’t waver, my eyes didn’t flinch. I wanted the answer, and I wanted it now.

There was a long pause.

”... Pardon?” The Mother blinked, clearly taken aback. Her voice cracked slightly, a hint of disbelief slipping through. ”Did I... hear that right? You are asking... about your husband?”

Looks like she didn’t even expect me to ask that. The way her expression faltered showed she hadn’t prepared for such a direct question.

Hmm... did that mean she wasn’t as all-powerful as she seemed?

Was she rattled by me?

I shook my head slowly, firmly. ”Who will be my husband? I need to have a baby! Is that possible or not?”

The Mother seemed lost in thought for a few seconds. Finally, she answered in a quiet but decisive tone, ”Yes. Your husband is... Aether.”

Aether?

Who--- Wait!!

I... I was shocked beyond words. My breath caught in my throat. It’s not like I didn’t know the name... everyone in the academy knew this name!

”You mean... that servant is my husband?” I stammered, the words spilling out awkwardly. I... I didn’t even know how to react to that.

Not that I cared for the servant title or anything. Titles never mattered to me. Rather... I was simply surprised.... So surprised to see that it was someone I had rarely even interacted with, someone I hardly ever talked to.

How in the world was he supposed to become my husband?

So many questions burned inside me, clawing for answers, but... that was something I needed to uncover myself.

After talking with Kai, I more or less understood Aether’s situation. He seemed like an Eternal Slave... someone bound, someone who couldn’t defy.

Which, of course, was a good course for me. If he truly was chained in that way, he wouldn’t be able to run away from me. I could control him if he got out of hand. He would never escape me.

With that in mind, I traded one of the bad souls to Kai and took Aether instead... Honestly, I felt like I didn’t lose anything at all.

If anything, I gained more than I gave up.

Hehe~

I thought everything would be fine and all. Once I had the baby, everything would be settled, and... honestly, he could leave for all I cared.

I only needed the baby, not him!

So that was my plan... Once we had the baby, I would release him. I would set him free and that would be the end of it.

That’s what I thought. But... the baby-making process was harder than I expected, stranger than I imagined, and also...

”W-What is this... feeling?”

I muttered under my breath, clutching at my chest, feeling a sense of... of something more than happiness... Something deeper.... Something terrifyingly warm.

This feeling struck me when I saw him... dragging the souls, bleeding, staggering, doing everything in his power... in order to save me?

Why?

Why did he want to save me?!

I bought him! I owned him!

I watched him suffer with my own eyes, and yet... he never complained. He just did what I didn’t even ask for. He didn’t even question it, he just did it, like it was the only thing he knew how to do.

He... He... is so weird!!

From that very moment, my heart started to tremble. It beat faster, harder, stranger... it was something that had never happened to me before.

My heart had never felt like this.

What the heck!!

Just leave me alone!!

D-Don’t follow me!!

W-Why the heck are you smiling at me like I am your treasure soul? Huh?

W-What’s with you?!

Look at him, gawking at my body... Was it good?

I have so many things inside me, so many questions, yet... I couldn’t ask them. The words tangled up in my throat. I... I worried?

Worried?

Why?

I... I didn’t get it. But for some reason, I didn’t want him to look at me... to look at my true form.

Yet, I was cursed, right? Bound by this fate. The truth would always reveal itself sooner or later... and he saw it.

He saw my ugly, cursed side.

I was scared...

So scared. I don’t even know why, but this was my first true fear... fear of... losing something.

So much fear that I even thought of using the Eternal Chains to control him, to bind him close so he would never turn away.

Yet... Y-yet... this man. This man... smiled and... his gentle and sturdy arms wrapped around me?

H-Hugged me?

What the... Was he serious?

After seeing my true form? After seeing the monster, I am?

W-What’s wrong with him?

I-Is he... alright?

He must have hurt his mind... or something, right?

When my own people rejected in fear... Yet... Yet...

Yet, I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t stop the grin that crept to my lips. Seeing him face my actual side, my accursed body, and not flinch—not recoil—did something to me.

He just smiled like usual, warm and unwavering. He just said... he loved me, like usual, as if nothing had changed.

I... I really... don’t get him at all.

Yet... I do get it. Somewhere deep down, I think... I think, M-Maybe he could be... one of my family?

Just that single thought made me blush, heat rising to my cheeks in a way I hated and loved at the same time!!

Yet... sigh... I should have known this. I should have expected it. Sigh... it was the same woman again... the same woman who took the Empress from me... also trying to take Aether from me.

Fuck you bitch!!!

The way he smiled at her.

WHY ARE YOU SMILING AT HER?!!

The way he grinned at her.

WHY ARE YOU GRINNING AT HER?!!

The way... he... hugged her.

H-Hug?

The way... he... he... kissed her?

KISS?!!!

H-He never did that to me...?

....

Maybe... maybe I was the cursed one after all.

With a pain that cut even deeper than when I lost the Empress, with a hurt that felt sharper than any souls I lost, I... I left the scene.

I couldn’t bear to see more.

If that’s what he wanted... if she was what he wanted... then I would leave him. After all... that’s what family does, right?

They let go, even when it tears them apart.

I still have... Nightfire. I could use her soul to solve my issue. I could endure with her strength.

Only to see... Aether and Nightfire... making babies?

”...”

I... I... What do I want now?

My soul was reaching its limit... I wasn’t even sure if I could be alive by the next day. The thought gnawed at me, clawing at my chest, so I asked them directly... if they love.

If they didn’t, I mean... he did with Morgana, right?

So I still had my possibility.

To my surprise... they said they love?

I thought Nightfire was just doing her job... just following instinct, just being what she was born to be. But... I... I guess, even a succubus could fall in love?

Was that possible?

Then... what about me?

Now... I was so utterly confused. So tangled in emotions I couldn’t untie. The method I was using might harm Nightfire too... and if that happened, she might die.

The stakes were so very high...

’If only you had said you didn’t love her...’

That was all I thought to myself... when he leaned in and kissed my lips.

Honestly, I didn’t understand why... why I asked him to make love to me... the same way he did with Nightfire.

Maybe it was guilt... Guilt of using him... Guilt of never really talking to him.

Or maybe... just maybe... it was because I wanted to feel him.

To feel that he was real, here, with me.

Well, I guess, I.. I really was cursed... haha... ha... ah... h—

For the first time, I felt like the love we made... was more real, more alive than just the baby-making process.

I was worried for a second he would see my bones and scared of it... But my body was still fine... thank goodness.

This time, it made me feel so many things about my body. Honestly, I was surprised when I felt like my body would break apart and show its true nature... thank goodness it didn’t.

Aether... seemed to be enjoying it... enjoying making me suffer.

B-bastard!

Look at him... licking at my filthy place as if tasting honey.

OH MY GOODNESS... Why did it feel so good~

Even though I knew it was wrong... yet... I felt so good!!

It felt so good, so overwhelming, that I wanted him more and more... even if it meant killing him with me!!

But I shook those thoughts away. That’s not good... family should not hurt each other!

I wouldn’t become like my parents, or anyone else!

After everything... I smiled... not sure why, but I smiled with... satisfaction.

And... and... I... I couldn’t move my body when the Blooddawn appeared.

Sigh... It seems... my time has come.

I looked at Aether’s sleeping face. His chest rose and fell gently, his expression peaceful, unguarded.

I smiled... warmly, ”You look like a baby,” I muttered, the words slipping out with a small, bittersweet laugh. I leaned down and kissed his forehead before slowly standing up and walking away from the room.

... I reached my personal realm. Without me saying a word, without me telling them, they already knew what was happening to me.

”Why are you not using that woman’s soul?” Starla shouted furiously, her voice echoing like thunder across the space.

All I could say was...

”My husband... loves her.”

Starla looked at me with a dumbfounded expression. Haha... the look on her face was so funny that I couldn’t help but laugh softly, even in this moment.

I leaned back against the cold surface of the casket, feeling its chill seep into my skin.

”Today... I... I felt like I had lived the happiest day, Starla,” I muttered, my voice breaking as a single tear slipped down my cheek. ”I leave this place to you... Stay together, my family.”

I turned my eyes, one by one, to every single member of my family. I let their faces burn themselves into my memory, whispering their names under my breath. They all kneeled before me, their eyes heavy with pain, unable to hide the sorrow pressing against their hearts.

Oh... come on, don’t look at me like that!

We already knew this was the end, right?

We all knew this day would come sooner or later.

So why are your eyes trembling like this is some cruel surprise?

With that thought lingering inside me, I laid myself down in the casket.

The wood pressed hard against my back, and the silence inside it was suffocating. But before I closed it, I turned to Starla,

”Starla, do not allow anyone to get close to me... and do not betray me like last time.”

I didn’t even know why I said it, but the words forced themselves out. Somewhere deep in my heart, I felt it—this dreadful certainty.

I felt that Aether would do something reckless.

Even though we hadn’t been together for a long time, I had seen enough of him to know his nature—his stubbornness, his carelessness, the way he always threw himself into danger without hesitation.

He was the kind of man who would sacrifice himself without thinking twice, just to protect someone else.

I knew it... I knew he would try something to protect me. Whatever he decided to do...

I didn’t want him to do anything.

He cannot play with death.

I know that better than anyone... and for that reason, I needed him to stay away from me.

Far away!

Just as my eyes slowly grew weak and tired, his face flickered in my mind.

That smile... That strange warmth.

’... Aether?’

... And that was all I saw before everything... was covered in darkness—

Forev—