Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1859: He Lost the Very Reality He Had Ever Loved: Part 1

Allen’s car steadily drove away from the house.

Young Aether rested his head against the passenger-side window, feeling the faint vibration of the glass against his temple as he quietly watched the city outside.

The streets were unusually dim beneath the heavy clouds that covered the sky.

For some reason, those clouds felt familiar.

Not to his eyes.

To his heart.

Allen glanced toward him several times, his fingers tightening slightly around the steering wheel each time he looked back at the road. Eventually, he exhaled and gathered the courage to speak.

“Bro… are you alright? You haven’t been yourself since Hell’s Gate.”

Young Aether remained silent, his eyes never leaving the scenery outside.

Allen sighed quietly. While keeping one hand on the wheel, he briefly reached over and touched his friend’s shoulder.

“Come on, bro. You can talk to me… I’m your best friend, remember?”

Those last words made Young Aether’s eyes grow even emptier.

“Best friend… you say?”

Allen glanced at him and nodded with a small smile.

“Of course. What else would I be?”

A weak smile appeared on Young Aether’s face, but there was no warmth behind it. After a brief silence, he asked quietly, “Then… do you love your family? Your children?”

Allen blinked, clearly caught off guard by the sudden question.

What was there to ask?

Of course he loved his family. Of course he loved his children.

Allen took a slow breath and nodded.

“Of course I do. They’re my family. I’d do anything to protect them.”

Young Aether turned his head and looked at his friend.

This time, he looked at him more carefully.

He studied Allen’s face, his eyes, the slight movement of his lips, even the way his fingers rested against the steering wheel. Yet, despite searching for it, he couldn’t see any deception or falseness in his expression.

There was only sincerity.

Genuine affection.

“Is that so…” Young Aether murmured.

He lowered his gaze toward the child with ice-blue eyes sitting on his lap. The child quietly stared at Allen.

“Were Lily and Noah… your children?”

This time, Allen blinked in genuine confusion before letting out an awkward chuckle.

“I know they take after my wife… but yes. They’re my children.”

Young Aether stared at him for a moment before quietly humming.

“…Hmm.”

He fell silent again.

Allen glanced at him before returning his attention to the road. His expression gradually became more troubled.

“I… I really don’t understand what’s going on with you. If something happened, you can tell me. What were all those questions back there? And why did you tell Jonathan—”

“How did my mother die?”

The question came so suddenly that Allen’s words died in his throat.

!!

For a moment, his hands tightened around the steering wheel, and his entire body seemed to freeze. His eyes remained fixed on the road ahead as the car continued forward.

After a few seconds, his expression slowly returned to normal.

“I… I don’t know.”

Young Aether lowered his gaze to his hands. His fingers moved restlessly against one another, rubbing and pinching them as though he were trying to keep himself composed.

“Then how did you know she died?”

Allen’s foot pressed slightly harder against the accelerator.

“W-Well… Jonathan told me.”

Young Aether slowly raised his eyebrows.

“Oh?”

His voice remained calm, almost unnervingly so.

“Then… you never asked how she died? Not even a single time?”

Allen said nothing.

The silence inside the car seemed to grow heavier with every passing second.

Finally, Allen swallowed and spoke in a strained voice.

“Aether… I… I…”

His face twitched slightly. He tried to keep his eyes on the road, but the tension in his jaw betrayed him.

It was then that Young Aether noticed it.

Another emotion had surfaced in Allen’s eyes.

Guilt.

Maybe.

But there was something else beneath it.

Fear!

It was faint, but unmistakable.

Allen looked like a man who suddenly wanted nothing more than to pull the car over, let Young Aether out, and drive away before another question could be asked.

Young Aether quietly watched him.

Allen gulped inwardly.

“I… I didn’t want to tell you this, but…”

His voice became hesitant, each word seeming to weigh heavier than the last.

For the first time since the conversation began, a faint light returned to Young Aether’s eyes.

Hope?

Perhaps he was finally going to hear the truth.

Allen released a slow breath and lowered his gaze for a moment before looking back at the road.

“Your mother suicided,” he said quietly, shaking his head.

“…” Young Aether’s eyes dulled instantly, becoming even emptier than before.

Allen bit his lip, his grip tightening around the steering wheel. “I didn’t want to break this to you… I know how much you loved your mother, and hearing that she killed herself… it might break your heart. Some wounds don’t become easier just because time passes. So I didn’t—!!”

“Lies… after lies…” Young Aether said coldly.

His voice was quiet, but there was something beneath it that made Allen’s smile disappear.

Allen blinked in confusion. “Aether? What do you mean—”

Before he could finish his sentence, Young Aether grabbed Allen by the hair and slammed his head against the steering wheel.

THUD!

BEEP!

The horn echoed through the car as Young Aether continued slamming Allen’s head against the steering wheel without hesitation.

THUD!

BEEP!

THUCK!

BEEP!

Allen’s nose flattened beneath the repeated impacts, blood splashing across the steering wheel and coating its dark surface in crimson.

THUCKKK!

BEEP!

SPLASH!!!

BEEP!

His head was reduced to a bloody ruin, pieces of flesh falling from the steering wheel one by one. An eyeball, still attached to thin strands of nerves, slipped onto the dashboard and seemed to stare directly at Young Aether.

“Ha… ha… ha…” Young Aether panted heavily as he stared at the bloody mess before him.

His chest rose and fell violently. His fingers trembled, yet his expression remained frighteningly empty.

He could feel his heartbeat pounding inside his chest, each beat becoming louder and faster until it drowned out everything else.

His breathing grew harsher.

His vision began to blur.

And somewhere beneath the rage, beneath the hatred, beneath all the questions he had buried for so long, there was something else.

Pain?

The kind of pain that didn’t scream.

His vision blurred in pai—

“Aether?!!”

The familiar voice snapped Young Aether out of his nightmare.

He blinked several times and looked toward Allen, who was staring at him with a deeply concerned expression.

Young Aether’s gaze slowly moved toward the steering wheel.

It was clean.

No blood.

No flesh.

No broken bones.

Then he looked at Allen.

Alive.

Then his own hands.

They were trembling faintly in his lap.

He swallowed hard.

‘This…’

His fingers slowly curled into his palms.

‘This is how Angry Aether would have reacted, right?’

The thought disturbed him more than the nightmare itself.

Because for one brief moment… he had felt no regret!

Allen sighed, his voice softening.

“I know it’s hard to take your mother’s suicide, but… it’s in the past. Please don’t dwell on it, bro.”

He gave him a small smile and gently patted Young Aether’s shoulder.

“You can’t bring her back by hurting yourself over what happened. Whatever she went through, whatever made her choose that path… none of it changes the fact that she was your mother.”

Allen paused for a moment.

“And sometimes, bro… loving someone means accepting that there are things about their pain you’ll never be able to understand.”

“…”

Young Aether stared at Allen.

Those words should have comforted him.

Instead, they hurt.

Because Allen didn’t know.

He didn’t know what Young Aether knew.

He didn’t know how many questions had been left unanswered.

“…”

Young Aether stared at Allen with completely dead eyes.

Then he lowered his head.

He never said another word.

The child with ice-blue eyes stared at Allen with a pained expression. Tears slowly rolled down his cheeks as his small fingers tightened around Young Aether’s clothes, clinging to him as though he could somehow feel the sadness buried inside him.

“…”

Young Aether remained silent for the entire ride.

At one point, Allen parted his lips as though he wanted to say something about his ex, but after a moment, he quietly shut his mouth again.

Even Allen felt that something was wrong, but he didn’t push him. He assumed that hearing about his mother’s death had wounded him more deeply than he realised.

Perhaps Young Aether simply needed time.

Perhaps silence was the only thing he could bear at that moment.

Bringing up Penelope now would only reopen another wound from his past.

Allen kept driving without asking anything further.

Neither of them spoke.

Outside, the dark clouds continued to follow them across the city.

And Young Aether kept staring through the window, wondering how many lies a person’s heart could endure before it finally stopped believing in the truth.

SSsssnnnnggg!

The car finally came to a halt as they reached their destination.

Young Aether stepped out of the car and looked at the small wooden house standing quietly before him.

Allen stepped out of the car as well and let out a small chuckle.

“Haha… I thought you were going to mistake that other enormous building for the one you were going to stay in. Haha… It would have been hilarious to see the look on your face.”

“…”

Young Aether didn’t respond. He simply raised his hand toward Allen, silently asking for the keys.

Allen let out a wry smile as he understood immediately.

“Well, I’ll give you some space for now.”

He placed the set of keys into Young Aether’s hand.

Allen had already climbed back into his car.

He started the engine, made a quick U-turn, and stopped beside Young Aether once more. He lowered the window and looked at him for a moment.

“I don’t know what you’re going through… And maybe you’re not ready to tell me. That’s fine.” Allen said, his earlier smile fading into something more genuine.

“But I know you, Aether. Whatever knocks you down, you always find your way back. So whatever this is… come back from it too.”

He paused, his eyes softening.

“That’s the friend I know.”

“…”

Young Aether stared bluntly at him.

For a moment, something shifted faintly within his eyes, but it disappeared almost immediately. He simply nodded his head.

Allen returned the nod.

“Take care of yourself, bro.”

SSNNNNGGG!!!!

The car immediately shot forward, leaving behind a trail of noise that quickly faded into the distance.

Young Aether stood there, silently watching the vehicle disappear down the street until it was completely out of sight.

Only then did he turn toward the house.

After a moment, Young Aether walked toward the entrance and reached for the rusty metal gate.

The instant his fingers touched it, the weakened hinge gave way.

CLANG!

The entire gate detached from its hinges and collapsed onto the ground with a heavy metallic crash.

Young Aether stared at it for a moment, then he simply stepped over the fallen metal gate and entered the property.

After reaching the wooden house, he inserted the key into the lock and slowly turned it.

Click.

The door opened.

Young Aether stepped inside.

Thud!

The door closed behind him.

***

Meanwhile, back at Allen’s house.

A square box sat in the middle of the dining table. The dishes had been pushed aside like a waste, as though they no longer mattered. The small device emitted a faint mechanical hum before projecting a hologram into the air above it.

A straight line floated against the black, translucent background.

Surrounding it were Maiuri, Sasha, Emily, and Jonathan.

None of them dared to speak.

The silence continued for a long moment.

Then, a cold and authoritative voice finally echoed from within the small square box.

“It seems he may have contacted someone inside Hell’s Gate. But who?”

The holographic line fluctuated faintly, rising and falling like a lifeline.

“There was no one else with him besides his two best friends. Jonathan.”

Jonathan flinched.

He immediately shook his head.

“I would never betray you, President. I swear. I don’t know what happened inside. He was attacked by those monstrous worms, and Allen was with me the entire time.”

The holographic line flickered.

“Then tell me, Jonathan. Who was it?”

Jonathan lowered his head, his expression becoming increasingly tense.

“I… I have no idea, President.”

For several seconds, no one spoke.

The voice finally returned, colder than before.

“Investigate the gift I gave him.”

Jonathan immediately nodded with a serious expression.

“Yes, President.”

Without wasting another second, he stood and walked out of the room.