The story eventually reached its end, leaving a strange silence behind, one filled with unspoken emotion.
Delphine’s voice grew slightly wet, her words trembling despite her effort to stay composed. "Principal... I expected that," she admitted softly. "But Empress Sandra is helping , too? I... I didn’t know what to say at that mont." She swallowed, her eyes glistening. "Not just them. Everyone... every single one of them helped and took care of , like... I was their sister."
She let out a weak, breathy laugh as she continued. "Even when they annoyed or got angry at because of you... They still stayed. They still cared." Her lips curved into a fragile smile.
"They were... unique. Haha..."
Aether smiled gently at her words, though a faint trace of worry slowly crept into his expression. "What about... Xara?" he asked carefully, watching her face closely.
At the sound of that na, Delphine blinked, then sighed deeply.
"I don’t know how to react to that," she confessed. "I was honestly shocked when I found out my bastard father and she had a contract." She shook her head slowly with heavy disappointnt,
"Xara finally told everything last week."
She paused, "I wasn’t angry... just disappointed."
Her expression shifted again, this ti tinged with sothing closer to pity. "As much as I hate my brother, it’s still painful to know he was used by everyone," she said quietly.
She had grown up with Velc. She knew exactly what kind of person he was.
Did she love him? Absolutely not!
Things between them had started to fall apart the mont she began outperforming him in everything, a crack that ford early in their childhood and never healed.
He was an idiot and an opportunist, that much was true. Yet, beneath all that, all he had ever wanted was acknowledgent and respect from their father, who treated him like a pathetic son.
Hearing the truth now, that her brother had been nothing more than a pawn in everyone’s ga, manipulated by the woman he married and the man who called himself his father, left a bitter weight in her chest.
She hated him, yet she could not stop herself from feeling a small, unwanted sense of pity.
Aether remained silent throughout her words. After a long pause,
"Pfff—"
He was trying his best to hide his laughter, his shoulders trembling ever so slightly. Delphine noticed imdiately and fixed him with a flat, deadpan stare that carried no rcy at all.
Aether coughed and shook his head, forcing himself to calm down. "Ahem... Whatever... I’m talking about Xara, not him," he said, attempting to sound serious again.
Delphine let out a slow sigh, her fingers curling slightly against the quilt. "I... I don’t know," she admitted quietly. "A lot of things happened." Her voice lowered as she continued, "Selene and Kai were her creations." As the words left her mouth, her fist clenched instinctively.
Aether raised his eyebrows in surprise. He had not expected Xara to reveal sothing like that so openly. From the looks of it, she truly wanted to co clean with Delphine, no matter how uncomfortable the truth might be.
’That’s good for her too,’ he thought inwardly, his expression softening as he nodded to himself.
Delphine shook her head slowly, "But anyway, that’s between us," she said with a tired calm. "Selene didn’t seem to mind it either." Her gaze drifted away as she muttered, "If a mother and her children don’t mind... who am I to make a fuss over it?" Her expression carried quiet defeat rather than anger.
Aether stayed silent. He understood that this was sothing Delphine and Xara needed to talk through on their own. It was part of their past, sothing deeply personal, and not a place where he had the right to interfere.
Whatever decision ca from it had to be theirs alone.
"Anyway..." Delphine suddenly spoke again, and the shift in her tone made Aether tense. Her expression darkened slightly as she turned to him.
"So... that’s all the won, right?"
Aether blinked, his face instantly innocent. "What do you an?" he asked, as if he truly had no idea.
Delphine clicked her tongue softly, "You know," she replied flatly. "I know. We all know what I an, right?"
Aether chuckled and pulled her into a hug, resting his chin lightly against her head as he nodded. "Yes, everyone," he admitted calmly.
"But no, not Emberlyn. She’s just my mother-in-law."
Delphine humd thoughtfully before lifting her head. "Wait... just Emberlyn?" she asked. "What about Maelona? Wasn’t she Aria’s mother?"
Aether coughed, his expression turning awkward almost instantly. "Well... she’s kind of special, you know," he muttered weakly, trying his best to look innocent, though the attempt only made it worse.
"...Motherfucker!"
*****
While Delphine and Aether were engaged in a quiet, heart-to-heart conversation, an entirely different kind of disaster unfolded on the other side of the palace.
"Arrh..." Selene groaned, clutching her stomach as if sothing inside her was twisting violently. Her face had gone pale, her lips drained of colour, eyes half-lidded and lifeless as she glanced toward the others sprawled across the bed, all of them holding their stomachs with the sa tortured expressions.
"M-Mom... I can’t take it anymore... arrh," Thalia cried out, her fingers digging into her abdon as she curled slightly inward. The pain still burned deep inside her, even after everything her body had already been forced to release.
Emberlyn looked the worst among them. She was barely alive, her chest rising shallowly as if each breath required effort. Speaking was impossible for her now, and moving even a single inch from the bed she had collapsed onto seed far beyond her remaining strength.
Nyx lay beside her, eyes unfocused and distant, as though she had stared death in the face more than once within a single night. Her lips hung slightly parted, thin wisps of purple smoke slipping from her mouth, drifting upward as if her soul itself was preparing to abandon her body.
Raven stared blankly at the ceiling, pupils unfocused, her expression eerily calm as if she were gazing at twinkling stars only she could see.
"Where... am I?"
Selene swallowed hard before speaking, her voice trembling as another wave of pain rippled through her body. "I-I cannot believe Aunt made that," she said, groaning heavily as she pressed her palm harder against her stomach.
"That thing shouldn’t exist. That thing is a cri."
Thalia nodded furiously, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes as frustration mixed with agony.
"W-What’s worse... we only took a small bite," she said, her voice rising in disbelief. "Do you know what a small bite is? A freaking tiny piece. Barely a mouthful. And even that almost killed us. Oh my god... fuck! That woman is insane."
She clenched her teeth, shuddering as another cramp tore through her. "What would have happened if we actually ate everything? Would we have died? or worse...?"
A shudder of pure terror ran down everyone’s spine, the thought alone enough to make their stomachs twist even further in horror.
None of them could even bring themselves to imagine it.
Just what kind of nightmare was that food?
What in the actual fuck had Delphine added to it to cause this level of chaos?
This wasn’t cooking. This was... sothing else entirely!
If they had known this beforehand... they would have fucking left the palace without looking back.
Suddenly, Thalia’s eyes widened as a terrifying realisation struck her.
"Wait... W-What if Aether ate it too?"
The mont the words left her mouth, horror slamd into the room like a physical force. Everyone’s eyes widened in sheer panic.
Nyx’s drifting purple smoke snapped back into her body as she jolted slightly. Raven’s imaginary stars vanished as her gaze sharpened in alarm. Emberlyn flinched weakly, a soft, frightened sound escaping her throat.
"W-We need to stop her," Nyx said, forcing herself upright despite the pain tearing through her body.
"Y-Yeah," Thalia agreed desperately, gripping the bed for balance. "If he eats that... he’s done for."
"Fuck... H-Husband," Raven muttered.
"L-Let’s go, everyone," Selene said, teeth clenched as she pushed herself to her feet. "We need to save him before he eats it. I don’t care if I collapse halfway there."
The others followed her, moving slowly and awkwardly, faces twisted in pain, bodies protesting every step they took.
And then—
GRRRRLLLL!!!!
"""""SHIT!!!!!"""""
The shout echoed through the room as all of them froze in horror, hands instinctively returning to their stomachs.
*****
***
While unspeakable horrors continued to unfold on one side of the palace, back toward Aether and Delphine.
Honestly, Delphine found herself utterly perplexed by the fact that both Sandra and Aqualina were with Aether.
No matter how she tried to rationalise it, there was only one word that kept resurfacing in her mind, over and over again... disgusting.
Still, the entire world seed to accept it without question, and so she had more or less forced herself to accept it as well. Knowing Sandra had always been strange to begin with, it helped dull the shock, even if it never truly settled her thoughts.
Even so, a stubborn part of her mind kept circling the sa question relentlessly.
How in the hell did both a mother and her daughter fall for the sa bastard?
That alone already felt like reality mocking her sanity.
But hearing it directly from his mouth, that it went even further than that... that it involved Aria’s mother as well?
Bro... what the fuck was wrong with you?
That single thought echoed loudly in her mind as Delphine blinked, staring blankly at Aether for several seconds before finally forcing herself to speak.
"Was she too... on your seduction list?" she asked, her tone sharp with disbelief, secretly hoping he would say he was forced into it sohow.
Because no sane man would do sothing like that... Right?
RIGHT?
User Comments
0 comments from readers