Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1856: Do you understand? You were never less… Aethy. Never.

Young Aether’s gaze shifted toward the woman sitting on the cracked stone floor.

She devoured the emergency ration pack without a trace of dignity, swallowing every bite as though someone might take it away from her before she could finish. Her fingers trembled around the bottle as she desperately washed the food down with water.

RIN quietly watched the woman and said,

^Man… she looks unbelievably pitiful… Nova Kestrel. PhD—^

“PhD in Cosmetic Science. Master’s in Genetic Engineering. Former Chief Genome Researcher of the Beta Research Division. One of the greatest scientific minds of her generation. And… she is the one who created the wheat that could be edible. Saving millions…. Is that right?”

That rabbit Avatar blinked at him as RIN AI asked, ^How did you all know that?^

“You are the one who told me?” Young Aether said in a blunt tone.

^I did? When did I ever tell her? The heck, I am seeing her for the first time!^

RIN seemed even more confused by Young Aether’s words and, more importantly, by how he knew all of this.

Sure… Cosmetic Science and Genetic Engineering, maybe he knew from the past. But… Researcher in the Beta Division… and even the wheat… How did he know all this?

For a moment, RIN’s ears drooped before her expression suddenly changed.

^Mystery…. Tell me which bitch AI you are cheating with behind my back?^

RIN suddenly seemed to be threatening him, and even a tiny knife appeared in her bunny hands.

Young Aether merely chuckled. His voice was still weak, carrying a strange emptiness, as though something deep inside him had died and never returned.

He glanced to his side and saw the child with ice-blue eyes silently staring at Nova.

Young Aether’s eyes drifted back toward Nova.

She had finally slowed down, taking smaller bites now that the overwhelming hunger had eased.

Noticing his quiet stare, Nova paused in the middle of eating. A faint blush spread across her tired face as she lowered the ration pack slightly.

“Just wait a bit,” she said awkwardly before looking back at the ration pack.

Young Aether waved his hand as if telling her to carry on.

Meanwhile, his thoughts wandered somewhere far away. He continued staring at her, but his eyes seemed to look through her rather than at her.

Once she finished eating, Nova let out a satisfied breath before slowly rising to her feet.

She wore an advanced black suit, raised both arms above her head and stretched deeply… following her shoulders and everything.

“Lying motionless for nearly a week…” she sighed, rotating her neck until another satisfying pop echoed through the chamber.

“I was starting to think my body had fossilised.”

She did exactly what she had done in the previous timeline… but this time, Young Aether didn’t react.

He simply stood there, lost somewhere inside his own thoughts.

She slowly walked toward him.

“Thank you for the food,” she said with a polite bow.

Then her eyes wandered across the devastated laboratory.

“Hmm…” she murmured thoughtfully. “It looks like quite a battle happened here.”

She turned back toward him.

“Could you explain what happened? And… where exactly are we?”

However, there was no response from the other party.

Nova frowned slightly.

“Hello?”

Young Aether quietly stared at her face.

For a few seconds, he said nothing. His eyes lingered on hers, and something painful seemed to tighten behind them. He finally exhaled, lowered his gaze for a moment, and then nodded his head.

“I… I kidnapped you.”

!!

Nova was taken aback. Kidnapped her? Just then, her eyes widened in realisation.

“I am… the monster that almost killed you,” he said as his helmet shifted and fell back, revealing his face right before her eyes.

!!!!!!

Nova’s eyes widened in utter shock, as if her mind had suddenly refused to accept what was standing before her. The colour slowly drained from her face as she stared at him, her lips parting without a sound.

“A… Aether?” Nova mumbled, her voice trembling as her eyes reflected the face of a boy she had never expected to see again.

Deep black hair and deep blue eyes… and those familiar features.

They were younger now, but she could never mistake that face.

Young Aether didn’t smile or even look happy. He simply nodded.

“Yes… Aethy it is, Nunu.”

Nova’s eyes widened again.

Aethy? Nunu?

Those names were known only between her and him.

Her vision blurred for a second, and even her breath seemed to stop.

Her legs immediately went weak, and she collapsed as though someone had suddenly cut the strings holding up a toy. She stared at him blankly, unable to tear her eyes away as tears slowly gathered in them.

“A… A… Aethy?” she mumbled.

Young Aether nodded with the same blunt expression.

In the next second, Nova stumbled forward and immediately wrapped her arms around him.

“Aethy! ~Chu~ Aethy! ~Chu~ Aethy!” she chanted his name like a prayer, crying in his embrace as she rained kisses across his face.

Her arms tightened around him as though she were afraid that if she loosened them even slightly, he would disappear again.

“I thought…” Her voice broke between her tears. “I thought I would never see you again…”

Young Aether barely reacted to her.

He simply sat there and waited for her to calm down.

There was no anger in his expression.

No happiness either.

A few minutes later, Nova weakly smiled as she sat before him. She shook her head while wiping the tears from her cheeks, though they continued to gather in the corners of her eyes.

“S-Sorry for my unsightly…” she murmured with a small, embarrassed look on her face before looking at Young Aether.

“…”

Nova stared at Young Aether… made her genuinely smile. As she looked at him up and down… but then she noticed Young Aether’s lifeless eyes.

She had expected anger.

Perhaps hatred.

Perhaps even some accusation.

But there was nothing.

“Hmm?”

“Nothing… just looking at you. You look so young,” Nova muttered curiously, her voice softer now.

“How have you been, dear?”

“I was reborn in another world… so yeah, I look young,” he said calmly without offering any further explanation.

Nova nodded, though she felt a small sting in her chest.

Seeing him act so nonchalant hurt more than she expected. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to complain about it.

How could she?

She knew exactly what stood between them.

After all… she had never appeared in his life again after her daughter broke up with him.

His indifference was valid.

Perhaps she had no right to ask for anything warmer.

And she wasn’t going to be bitchy about it.

Instead, she smiled gently. There was a motherly warmth in her expression as she reached out and ruffled his hair.

“You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you, Aethy?” she said gently.

“…”

Young Aether stared at her warm face.

The softness in her voice felt strangely familiar.

Did she forget about the part where he had said he kidnapped her and called himself the monster who almost killed her?

Young Aether finally asked, “Where… is she?”

!!

Nova flinched.

Her hand froze midway through ruffling his hair.

The smile disappeared from her face, and her eyes lowered as though those few words had struck somewhere deep inside her.

“I… She… She… is somewhere alive… I hope,” she mumbled, as if she didn’t have a perfect answer to his question.

Young Aether stared at her blankly.

Nova felt as though he was doubting her, so she hurriedly said, “B-But, she really loved you. Aethy… she really did.”

Her eyes turned teary.

Young Aether, still completely nonchalant, said, “I know.”

For some reason, those two words hurt her more than she expected.

Nova bit her lips.

“A-Aethy, please believe me… she really loved you… sniff…”

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“She did everything… S-She…”

Her lips trembled as she bit them harder, desperately trying to hold herself together.

“She cried for you. She kept believing that someday… somehow… you would understand why everything happened.”

Her voice became increasingly fragile.

“She wasn’t heartless, Aethy. She was just… scared. We were all scared.”

Nova lowered her head as another tear slipped from her chin.

“She did things she thought were necessary… and maybe some of them were unforgivable. But if you ask me whether she ever stopped loving you…”

Her voice finally broke.

“No… s-she never did.”

Young Aether remained silent.

Nova looked at him through tear-filled eyes, desperately searching his face for even the smallest sign that her words had reached him.

“She did everything… S-She…”

Her breath hitched, and her shoulders trembled as the words refused to come.

For a moment, she could only cry.

“…” Young Aether blankly stared at her.

“If she loved me… then why did she leave me?”

Nova parted her lips, but no words came out.

“Tell me, Nova—”

“Nunu.”

Nova said it through her tears, her lips trembling violently. Even calling her by that name suddenly felt distant and cold.

“…”

Young Aether stared at her for a few seconds before quietly saying, “Tell me, Nova… even though you said she loved me… she left me.”

Nova’s eyes trembled as she shook her head. Tears rolled freely down her cheeks, but no words came out.

Young Aether continued,

“I… I never really hated her. I understood. I was impotent, after all… wasn’t I?

Maybe she wanted a man who could give her everything I couldn’t.”

“N-No… no… no… no…”

Her voice trembled, each repetition becoming weaker than the last.

Young Aether watched her quietly.

“I told myself that for years,” he said.

Nova slowly raised her eyes toward him.

“That maybe she simply wanted a normal life. A husband who could give her children. Someone who could make her feel like a woman without having to explain why her husband couldn’t.”

His voice remained calm, almost disturbingly so.

“So I accepted it.”

He lowered his gaze.

“What else was I supposed to do?”

Nova’s lips quivered.

Young Aether continued, “But… why didn’t you come meet me, Nunu?”

His voice softened.

“All those years… I lived with your family. I ate at your table. I rode home with you. I listened to you complain about your work, your research, your sleepless nights…”

A faint breath escaped him.

“I thought… I was family.”

Nova’s shoulders trembled.

“Even if she left… even if she… took another path… I believed you would still be there.”

He looked directly into her eyes.

“And yet… I never saw you again.”

His voice became quieter.

“Not even once.”

Nova’s tears kept pouring down as she continued shaking her head, but there were no words left for her to give him.

Young Aether let out a weak chuckle.

“I never bragged or mentioned the things I did for my close ones just to make them notice me. I always felt that was wrong… to keep reminding someone of what I had done for them.”

His fingers slowly curled against his palm.

“After all, it was my choice to do those things. It wasn’t their obligation to notice.”

He paused for a moment.

“But…”

His eyes slowly lifted and met her yellow eyes.

“Did none of those things mean that I mattered to you?”

Nova’s body trembled.

Young Aether maintained the same blunt expression as he continued, “I rode you back home every late night from the office… no matter how long it took, I was there to get you.”

“I was happy when you received your PhD and celebrated with you.

I was there when you got into that accident… I was there when you needed someone to take care of you…”

He swallowed quietly.

“I was there… even if it was only for a small part of your life. I was there, wasn’t I?”

“Haha…”Maybe I wasn’t important enough to stay in your life… but I mattered at least a little, didn’t I?”

Nova covered her face, crying as the memories came rushing back.

Every late-night ride.

Every conversation.

Every stupid little argument.

Every meal they had shared.

Every time he had waited for her outside the laboratory without complaining about how long she had kept him waiting.

“At least she had the courage to say it to my face.”

Young Aether shook his head slowly.

“But you…”

His eyes dropped.

“You didn’t call.”

Nova’s breathing became uneven.

“Not even a message?”

His voice carried no accusation.

That somehow made it hurt more.

“You could have sent me one message, Nova. Just one.”

Nova bit her lip as she looked at him through her tears.

“You could have said, ‘I can’t be there anymore.ʼ”

His lips curved into the faintest, most exhausted smile.

“I would have understood.”

That sentence shattered something inside her.

“N-No, Aethy… I… I…”

Her voice broke.

“I-I just hoped everything would be alright if I wasn’t there… I… I really didn’t mean to…”

Young Aether scoffed softly.

“Hoped?”

His expression remained almost painfully calm.

“If you hated me for not being a man worthy of your daughter… you could have said it to my face.”

He lowered his eyes for a moment.

“I would have cried. Maybe I would have hated you for a while.”

A faint breath escaped him.

“But at least I would have known why.”

He looked back at her.

“Instead, you disappeared.”

Nova’s face crumpled.

“You left me wondering whether I had done something wrong.”

His voice became quieter.

“I spent years thinking about what I could have done differently.”

He gave a small, broken smile.

“And eventually, I stopped asking.”

A long silence followed.

“And… it’s not like I wanted to be impotent, right?”

He glanced away.

“As a genetic engineer… you, of all people, knew that. You knew it wasn’t something within my control. I didn’t choose it. I didn’t choose to be this way and yet…” as he gave her a broken smile.

“NOOOOOO!!!”

Nova suddenly screamed as she threw her arms around him, hugging him tighter… that broken smile shattered her heart.

She didn’t care if the hard surface of his suit hurt her arms or pressed painfully against her body. She simply held him as tightly as she could, as though she could somehow make up for every year she had been absent by refusing to let him go now.

“No, no, no… It’s not that… I swear! Aethy! Believe me!”

Her voice cracked as she buried her face against him.

“I swear… on this pathetic, ugly life of mine! I swear, Aethy! Please believe me! I would never ever treat you like that…”

Her fingers tightened against his suit.

“Please… Aethy…”

She continued crying, her words dissolving into broken breaths.

“I would never think you were less of a man… aww… never. Not because of that… never because of something you couldn’t control… aww”

She shook her head violently.

“You were never less to me!”

Her voice broke again.

“Do you understand? You were never less… Aethy. Never.”

Her voice trembled as she held him tighter.

“Please believe me… I placed you in my heart above anyone… above everyone. You were family to me… You were someone I cherished more than I ever knew how to say.”

As she cried out, Young Aether remained completely still, his face devoid of any expression,

His gaze eventually drifted to the side.

The child with ice-blue eyes was watching Nova.

The child’s expression was quiet, almost thoughtful.

For a moment, her gaze shifted toward Young Aether.

Then…

The child smiled at him.

“…!”

“…” Young Aether’s eyes trembled slightly… A faint warmth flickered within them.

Still subtle!