It took so ti for Helena to calm down... to return to the world after experiencing sothing so unbearably good.
"~ha~ha~"
She breathed heavily, her chest rising and falling in soft, unsteady waves as her blurry, misty eyes looked toward Aether—who was staring back with a quiet, gentle smile that made her cheeks burn.
Blushing deeply, she raised her hand and gave his shoulder a soft little punch, not enough to hurt—just enough to express sothing between bashful anger and flustered affection.
"I-I told you to stop, right?!" she pouted, puffing her cheeks like a sulking kitten trying to act tough.
Aether chuckled quietly, leaning forward to press a light kiss to her damp forehead. His fingers reached down, and he gently, slowly pulled his softened cock from her soaked, fluttering pussy.
"Hmm~" Helena moaned faintly, her hips twitching as the thick, warm mix of their cum slowly trickled out of her, sliding down her thighs with an intimate wet heat.
Without a word, he pulled her into his arms, laying her softly across his chest. She settled into him instinctively, her body still warm and weak, her legs tangled with his. Her eyes were already starting to close, her lids fluttering, her breath slowing. Aether could feel it—she was drifting off, exhausted and satisfied, lost in the glow of everything she just felt.
Helena snuggled her cheek against his bare chest, a faint smile on her lips. Her body was completely relaxed, limp in the sweetest way, her fingers resting over his heart.
Just as her eyes closed—
"W-Wait!" she mumbled suddenly, her voice groggy but serious. "What did you an... I’m not your target?"
Her tone sharpened a little. Of course... she couldn’t forget sothing like that, not after everything they just shared.
Aether let out a soft sigh, brushing aside a few damp strands of hair from her cheek with a gentle touch. He looked thoughtful for a mont, ’That’s the only lie I tell to all...’ he thought.
He looked down at her with a quiet, tender expression. "I’m sorry, Helena... but you’re not the target."
Her eyes widened a little. "B-But you—"
"The truth is..." he whispered, "Sera was my target. I knew... if I said you weren’t, but she was, she might’ve felt hurt... maybe even abandoned. I thought it would be easier... softer... if I told you both the sa thing."
Helena tilted her head and stared at him, eyes searching, lips parted slightly. Her brows furrowed. "But then... why didn’t you tell the truth when we were alone? You had the chance."
Aether smiled weakly. "I thought about it... but even if, by so strange twist, you were my target after all—"
"But I’m not, right!" she interrupted, frowning again. Her pout returned, full force. Her cheeks puffed adorably, and her nose scrunched up in irritation. "I was seriously so worried about this! You bastard!"
Aether gave another small, helpless laugh. "I know... I know. You’re not. But maybe... I just wanted Sera to accept you. If she thought you were part of this too, maybe it would be easier for her to welco you. I didn’t want you to feel alone among others."
Helena nodded slowly, trying to make sense of it, even if part of her still wanted to bite his shoulder in frustration. "That’s still... ugh. You could’ve told the truth. Just . Privately."
"I wanted you to accept ... for who I am," he said softly, almost under his breath. "A guy who seduces his targets... who lies sotis... but who’s trying not to ss it all up."
Helena blinked, her gaze lingering on his eyes. His words made sense. They hurt a little, but they were honest in their own way.
She sighed and gently reached up, pinching his lips with two fingers, scolding him like a frustrated lover. "You’re sooo... idiot," she muttered, still pouting.
Aether chuckled weakly, lips smooshed in her fingers. "Hah... yeah. I’m sorry again."
She stared at him a few more seconds, then slowly let go of his lips. Her hand slid down to rest on his chest again.
"Honestly... I... am gl...ad..." she mumbled sleepily, her voice slurring gently at the edges before trailing into soft, peaceful snores.
Aether looked down at her with a smile that was part relieved, part stunned.
Today had been... sothing else.
He didn’t expect things to go this far. He hadn’t planned for any of it. And for a while, he truly feared Helena might have pulled away, shut him out completely.
But instead... she accepted him. In her own clumsy, blushing, trembling way... she accepted everything.
He would never forget that.
He brushed a soft kiss to her forehead, whispering quietly into the night.
"Thank you... snowflake."
"Hisss~" ca a sleepy hiss from under the table.
As the night drifted slowly onward, the air around them softened. The room felt warr, fuller. Aether closed his eyes, holding Helena tightly in his arms as she slept peacefully on his chest—still filled with his warmth.
Outside, the starry sky hung silently above the quiet world.
Except... in the Zephyra Empire,
Inside the currently under-construction Academy,
"You need to handle the artificial stones with care and place them in Section 24, on the third floor, near the new laboratory," Delphine instructed firmly. Her sharp gaze swept over the tired workers, who looked like they were ready to head ho.
Delphine had been engrossed in work ever since that day. She threw herself into it completely, using the endless tasks as a way to drown out unwanted thoughts and feelings.
She had a goal—first, finish the academy. Her responsibilities ca first, always.
But that kind of dedication didn’t apply to the workers, did it?
They had been working since early morning until now... the least she could do was let them rest properly.
Just then—
"Delphine, co on already... It’s getting late. Everyone else has gone ho. Let’s grab so dinner," the Principal, Dora, called out as she approached from the hallway, hands in her pockets and a lazy smile on her face.
At the sight of their expected saviour, the exhausted workers let out collective sighs of relief.
Delphine frowned and exhaled heavily. "But there are only a few boxes left—"
"Forget the boxes. It’s ti. At least let them get so sleep if you’re planning to keep working all night again," Dora said bluntly, placing a hand on her hip.
Delphine paused, caught off guard for a mont, then looked down awkwardly. Before she could argue further, Dora casually reached out and began dragging her along—just like she’d done countless tis before.
Over the past few weeks, Dora and Delphine had spent more and more ti together. Their frequent interactions had sparked quiet murmurs among the staff. So had even begun to wonder—was Delphine going to be the next Vice Principal? Even though there were other senior staff who were more experienced and better known in the academy.
"Principal... if you keep treating like this, the other professors might start resenting ," Delphine mumbled under her breath.
Dora grinned. "So what? Since when did you start caring about that? You’ve never let other people’s opinions bother you before, have you?" she said, staring at Delphine with an amused expression.
Delphine let out a deep sigh. "I’m telling you, I’m okay. I’m not so little girl nursing a broken heart. I’m mature enough to deal with my own emotions."
Dora blinked. "...What the hell? I’m just dragging you to dinner because I didn’t want to eat alone, woman!"
Delphine blinked as well, then frowned with a confused look. "But haven’t you always eaten alone anyway?"
Dora gave her a flat, unimpressed stare. "Sigh... I had Alaric before, rember? That annoying man would never leave alone in the first place," she muttered, rubbing her forehead like she was trying to push away an old headache. "Now, are you coming or not?"
"Well..."
"You ntioned wanting an appraisal the other day, didn’t you?"
"I’m coming with you," Delphine answered quickly, her voice suddenly serious.
Dora raised an eyebrow, then chuckled softly and shook her head. Without another word, she took Delphine to dinner.
The workers, now free from her relentless supervision, exhaled in relief. One by one, they began heading ho, dragging their feet as the long day ca to a close.
"That damn woman... she’s seriously working us to the bone," one of them muttered, rubbing his lower back with a grimace.
"Oi, watch your mouth. That’s a Representative Professor you’re talking about. You never know—she might end up as the next Vice Principal with how close she is to the Principal."
"Yeah, better to stay on her good side. If she rembers us, we might get called back for better work in the future."
"Exactly..."
As they walked and talked, their tired voices fading into the night, sothing shifted nearby.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap!!
Tuck
"...The hell was that?"
"Oh shit!"
"W-What’s going on?"
"I just felt sothing run across my foot—"
"Tsk, probably just a stray cat or so rat sneaking around..."
"N-No, it didn’t feel like that. I swear, it felt like... fingers or sothing."
"Tch, you’ve been working too long. You’re just imagining stuff now. Co on, let’s go before your mind starts playing more tricks."
Reluctantly, they picked up their pace and walked off into the night.
And with that, silence once again settled over the Academy...
Except—
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
In the faint glow of the unfinished structure, sothing moved among the debris.
A severed arm—its skin pale and stitched crudely at the forearm—crawled slowly like a grotesque zombie limb. The fingers twitched and tapped over broken bricks and dust, as if feeling their way through the rubble, searching for sothing.
Searching for a way out.
Thud.
It hit a wall.
The fingers paused, then tapped rapidly again, irritated. The arm turned slightly Left... then Right... feeling its way in another direction. It began to scuttle along the floor again, slowly but persistently. And then—
Tuck.
It hit sothing again.
But this ti, it wasn’t a wall.
It was a boot.
A black boot, heavy and firm, planted in its path. The arm froze.
A voice echoed softly above it, smooth but cold.
"Found you, Final... One Piece."
A tall figure cloaked in a deep purplish-black hoodie bent down and picked up the twitching arm without hesitation.... And in the blink of an eye—they vanished into the shadows.
______________
[Author’s Note: Due to so errors with the naming of the new novel, I changed to a new one... give it a try, guys and tell what you think of it!
Fate To Fake: Loved By The Fallen; Fated To Kill The Divine - Abilion - WebNovel]
User Comments
0 comments from readers