Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1429: Maybe... he did not want to exploit her feelings?

”Sera, are you absolutely certain you did not place a Death Spell on him?” Sandra asked, her voice tight as her brows drew together. ”Think carefully before you answer, because you are the next one who met him after me.”

Sera shook her head slowly, ”I did not place any spell on him,” she said, ”I was there to observe him, nothing more. I wanted to understand what kind of man he truly was, not interfere with him. That was my only intention.”

Sandra’s frown deepened, ”Not even during the engagement period?”

Sera shook her head again, more decisively this time, strands of hair swaying with the motion.

Dora folded her arms, ”Then explain this,” she said to Sandra, ”When I placed my spell on him, I felt another one already embedded deep inside. Did you really not sense it when you first met him? You were the first woman he encountered, weren’t you?”

Sandra sighed and shook her head, ”Back then, I wasn’t close to him like I am now,” she admitted quietly. ”I was curious. Nothing about him urged me to probe deeper, and nothing made me interested enough to place a spell.” Her expression turned thoughtful, ”Unless... Mortimer placed it on him.”

Dora nodded slowly, though doubt still lingered in her gaze. ”But considering the fact that the old man stole his future,” she said, ”I do not believe he would have left Aether alive if he truly understood what he was capable of.”

Sandra hummed softly... Indeed, if Mortimer had known the depth of Aether’s ability, he would have killed him on the spot without hesitation. He would not have cared even if Kai had been caught in the aftermath.

That left only one question... Who put the spell on him?

”Could it be Xara?” Dora asked.

Sandra shook her head, ”I thought it too,” she said, ”but after seeing Xara’s reaction today, I strongly believe she had no idea who he truly was.”

”Hmm...” Dora murmured.

Meanwhile, Sera glanced between them.

What the heck was going on here?

”You two are hiding something from me, aren’t you?” Sera asked.

Instead of answering, Sandra and Dora raised their fingers to their lips in unison, silencing her with a soft but firm hush.

Sera’s lips twitched. ”Fine, suit yourselves,” she snapped, folding her arms across her chest. ”It is not like only you two have secrets. Just so you know, I have one about him too, and it is not something you would expect.”

Dora and Sandra blinked at her words before exchanging brief glances and shaking their heads. They assumed Sera was referring to personal matters, the kind of private emotions and hot attachments that everyone carried.

In the end, Sera did not seem intent on digging further, and that alone was a relief.

The three women soon stepped out of the room. Outside, they were met by a gathered crowd, the air thick with perfume and tension as flocks of fragrant women stood waiting, faces twisted with worry and fury.

They all wanted to see what was happening to Aether, but these women were being blocked, treated as if they had no right to approach him.

”Mom... I... WE have to see him.” Aqualina said with glowing eyes.

Sandra glanced toward Xara, whose face looked awkward and strained.

Sandra sighed and opened her mouth to speak, but before a single word could leave her lips, Dora cut in sharply.

”Sure,” Dora said coldly, ”Go ahead and disturb them. Go inside and make him suffer even more with your crying and worrying. Make him question Delphine, make him drown in concern again, and force him to remember every piece of horror he went through.”

Her eyes hardened as her words continued without mercy.

”Make him relive that filthy place he was trapped in, how desperately he struggled to escape, how broken and exhausted he became, how long he starved, and how much pain his body endured. Drag every single memory back into his mind right after he barely managed to survive it.”

As Dora spoke, she motioned for Sandra and Sera to step aside, leaving space as if daring the others to proceed.

Everyone froze mid-step. Their movements halted as guilt washed over their faces, worry twisting their expressions into something heavy and conflicted. They looked at one another in silence before one by one they turned away, growling softly under their breaths.

Sandra, Sera, Maelona, and Xara, along with every mature and older woman present, stared at Dora with expressions caught between shock and disbelief.

Dora smirked faintly, ”I am very good at manipulating love,” she said casually, as if stating an ordinary fact rather than exposing a dangerous talent.

The older women’s lips twitched almost in unison.

This woman was dangerous, not through brute force or overwhelming power, but through something far more unsettling.

Dora shook her head with an amused expression, ”Anyway,” she continued, ”what are we going to do about this? We have been so focused on Aether that we forgot we still have an Empire to take care of.”

She lifted her hand and pointed toward the sky.

Above them, strange golden letters hovered, shifting and rearranging themselves rapidly,

Everyone’s eyes widened in shock.

”B But it was way lower before,” Maelona muttered in disbelief. She had been recording those readings ever since they first appeared, and within just a few days, the Void Empire’s numbers had risen at an alarming rate.

Sandra’s expression hardened, ”At this rate, whatever is happening there,” she said slowly, ”we will not be able to keep up.”

She turned to others.

”Aether is down,” Sandra continued, ”Considering his body’s condition, it will take time for him to regain his strength, and even waking up might take weeks. By then, I do not think whatever this scoreboard represents will wait for us. Void is going to win if this continues, and before that happens, we have to do something.”

Emberlyn shook her head sharply, ”What are we supposed to do? We do not even know how this works or what is really going on. How are we supposed to increase those numbers, and what do those damn points even mean?”

Xara raised her eyebrows with mild surprise as she looked at Emberlyn, her lips curving slightly. ”So you can talk after all,” she said.

Emberlyn flushed instantly, embarrassment creeping up her neck and into her cheeks.

Sera exhaled slowly before speaking, ”Anyway, the truth is we barely know anything,” she said, ”All we do know is that they have been transporting materials to another Empire, and even that information feels incomplete.”

Sandra nodded in agreement, ”Thanks to Nightfire’s brave work,” she said carefully, ”though I am still wondering how she managed to defeat Morgana, but that is my personal doubt for another time.” She paused before continuing.

”Nightfire brought us the details. The Void Empire is involved in some kind of large-scale transporting. What exactly they are transporting, we do not know. We only know it includes metals and raw materials. Who they are transporting with is still unclear, though Terra Empire seems the most likely.” Her expression darkened.

”And as for why she is isolating her Empire or what she hopes to achieve through this, we remain completely in the dark.”

The group nodded silently.

”Then what should we do now?” Maelona asked. ”Should we approach her diplomatically and attempt to strike a deal? At the very least, it might help us understand what is really happening over there.”

Sera shook her head almost immediately, ”If diplomacy were an option, Aether would have tried it long ago,” she replied. ”That woman clearly has some deep-rooted issue with him. I do not believe she would even consider negotiating with us, especially after everything that happened.” She scoffed softly.

”And let us not forget, he was ruling four Empires at once.”

”Exactly,” Sandra muttered, ”The ruler of four out of five Empires. Even I would not dare allow someone like that into my territory. Who knows when he take over mine?”

Xara hesitated before stepping forward, ”What if we talk to her instead?” she suggested.

Every woman present frowned.

”I mean it,” Xara continued, confusion seeping into her tone. ”Her problem is with Aether, not us, right? It is not like she is angry with.... most of us, right?”

Dora, Sandra, and Sera exchanged glances before subtly averting their eyes, their silence speaking far louder than any words could.

Xara blinked, ”Are you freaking serious right now?” she asked.

Sandra rolled her eyes, ”What about you then?”

”Cough” Xara coughed visibly, averting her eyes.

Sandra smirked, ”It is not like we have no issues with her. Well, we do, but you know how she is. She is a problem all on her own, right?”

Xara sighed deeply and rubbed her forehead.

”What about Lia?”

”Huh?”

They turned toward Sera.

Sera met their gazes with a serious expression. ”I heard from Helena that Lia is different. She is normal, or at least far more rational than her mother.”

Everyone blinked before slowly nodding in unison.

Xara’s expression turned thoughtful as the idea settled in. ”Yes, Lia would be the perfect choice,” she said quietly. ”Unlike her mother, Lia thinks rationally. There were many times she even stopped her mother from doing reckless or outright strange things.”

If Lia was the answer, then why had Aether never gone to her first?

”Come to think of it,” Sandra muttered, ”I heard from my daughter that Lia is very... into Aether.”

Everyone blinked at once, eyes widening as the implication settled heavily over the group.

Now the question grew louder in their minds. If Lia felt that strongly about Aether, then why had he never approached her?

What had stopped him?

That single thought spiraled into a far more serious question. Fingers pressed against cheeks, brows furrowed, eyes drifting downward as each tried to reach the same answer from different angles.

”Maybe,” Emberlyn said hesitantly, tilting her head as she voiced her thought, ”he did not want to exploit her feelings?”

For a brief moment, silence followed.

Then it shattered.

”Fuck no!” Sandra snapped loudly.

”Impossible,” Sera said immediately, shaking her head faster than anyone else.

”Are we even talking about the same man?” Dora asked, blinking with genuine confusion, as if the suggestion itself offended logic.

”Who?” Maelona added with mild annoyance, ”Aether?”

”Haha... seriously?” Xara laughed outright, as if she had just heard the most ridiculous joke of her life.

Emberlyn blinked, completely flabbergasted as she looked from one woman to the next, stunned by how unified their reactions were.

Every single one of them had rejected her idea without even a second of hesitation.

What was going on here?

Why were they laughing, yet clearly irritated at the same time?

Was her Emperor, the man she respected, the man she considered a son-in-law, truly done that?

For the first time, her image of Aether cracked.

A Huge Red Mark!!