Chapter 343: A Luminous Arrival
"...Evelyn, are you okay? Feeling any better now? Do you need anything? Want something?" I ask Evelyn, holding her hand. She takes a deep breath, panting with soft little groans of discomfort — it’s nearly time for the birth.
"I-I’m fine, I don’t need anything... I’m just a bit distracted... M-My other body just used my powers to turn every angel in an entire city into marionettes while they’re still alive... It’s the first time I’ve been able to use my powers so easily... but on such a massive scale," she murmurs, shifting uncomfortably in the bed.
"That’s good, Evelyn. It’s wonderful to see you improving at it," I say lovingly, stroking her hand as I glance at her wings. They’re a tiny bit bigger — not by much, but just like her breasts grew, her wings, tail, and horns have grown a little too.
"Y-You’re not going to let me go even to give birth? These chains are uncomfortable, and I don’t need any more discomfort — I already have a baby inside me doing that job," she questions as I look at the chain around her ankle and the collar on her neck.
"No, there’s no need to remove them... Besides, you should move your body in the castle and your body on the angelic continent to a safe place. They’ll probably feel the pain of your childbirth, and even with your high pain reduction, it would still be bad, right?" I offer her advice.
"..."
"Are you serious? You think I’ll run away during childbirth? You really think that before, during, and after something this serious, I’ll have the strength to run away?!" she says, squeezing my hand hard.
"I don’t. Even for a marionette like you, the Hikishin cost of giving birth will leave you utterly drained and exhausted. But it really doesn’t matter — will being chained stop you from giving birth?" Just as being chained or not won’t result in Evelyn trying to escape, being chained or not also won’t stop her from giving birth.
"...No..." She just denies it, biting her lips, because I’m completely right about this. There’s no need to unchain her from this room.
"Exactly. It won’t stop you from giving birth, just like you being chained or not won’t make you run away. It’s the exact same answer, so there’s no need for me to let you go."
"Besides, I already loosened the chain so you can go to the bathroom by yourself, so your concerns about that are null."
"...You’re so mean... the stress—"
"Stress won’t harm you. You’re a marionette — don’t try to tell me that getting stressed will change anything in your life other than making you frustrated."
"Mean! Mean! Mean!! You’re the most wicked being in existence!!" She throws a childish tantrum with an irritated expression as her tail squeezes the edge of the bed, gripping it tightly.
Although I know this happens more because she’s pregnant, just like when she’s drunk and acts all strange.
"Just stop the tantrum, Evelyn. You know it won’t make a difference," I tell her, releasing her hand as I walk to the door. The time is very close, so now it’s up to Saluvia.
"...Y-You’re not staying?" she questions in a nearly vulnerable way. And as much as I’d love to stay here and give her all the support she needs, in this case, it won’t be possible, unfortunately.
"...No. It would be dangerous for you... and for our little Kali Persephone Ashcroft." I know my limits well, and I won’t deny it would be hard to watch the birth without letting my instincts as a Ghoul become too "active" or letting my rage and disgust toward the baby surface at the wrong moment.
"You didn’t have to say her whole name like saying her name is some proof of love you don’t want to give... But fine..." Evelyn’s tone is a little sad, as if I should feel something other than disgust for this baby.
Evelyn just accepts it as I see Saluvia already at the door. I give her a nod to enter as I make my way through the corridors of this beautiful place I built to keep Evelyn with me forever.
"DON’T FORGET YOU’RE THE ONE WHO PUT THIS BABY IN ME!! YOU ATE, SO NOW PAY THE BILL!!!" Evelyn shouts from the room at me while I simply ignore that nonsense. Obviously, I’m going to take care of this daughter my own way...
I enter a secret passage that leads directly to my office in this place, where I see the information I have. As soon as Evelyn arrived and actively controlled her other body on the demonic continent, an entire city turned into marionettes.
"Evelyn got stronger... and it seems that marionette of hers worked out." Evelyn still hasn’t spoken much about her new marionette, but if she hasn’t said anything negative, it’s because it worked.
’I’ll have to get informed later about Evelyn’s so-called supreme marionette... I can’t let risks slip by... especially because Evelyn doesn’t control this marionette...’
I set that aside to think about what matters, which is the ability to now transform an entire still-living city into marionettes. Before, she only turned corpses. Now, not only can she transform the living, but she does it without mercy. It seems Evelyn’s mercy has cooled considerably while her reach has grown substantially.
’Domain...’ A kind of external domain. Evelyn uses the powers of her domain without needing to deploy it. Apparently, she learned it from that Nerina. I wonder if I can do that too or if it’s something exclusive to nymphs.
"Haaa..." I sigh, sitting down in a chair as I look out the window. Evelyn just came back, and I already have to deal with an unwanted child, with how strong Evelyn has been getting, and above all, with my own powers and bad instincts.
Ever since I’ve been training with Saluvia, my powers have grown immensely, but along with that, a great dependence on my power has emerged, where I now keep this power active 100% of the time without rest or pauses.
"It’s fine... I’ll be able to handle this without problems... They’re all things that can be fixed with time, and time is something I have now." I could have restricted Evelyn more, but out of respect and because I want to see her happy, I didn’t limit her other bodies — only the one that’s here. I did the best I could.
"Things seem to have gotten worse... but with enough focus and care, everything will be as I want in the end." I open the nearby drawer, grabbing a small vial of Evelyn’s blood to drink.
My instincts have been increasing, my obsession with Evelyn as well. And despite all the time I spent without the real Evelyn here, my mind has become more rational when it comes to ways to keep Evelyn as mine forever...
I’ve created better methods to deal with the hunger, but I still can’t handle well the insane love I feel for Evelyn. Seeing her so distant from me gives me an unpleasant vertigo, like a deep itch that even tearing the flesh with my nails wouldn’t end.
Not knowing what Evelyn went through in that other world, who she talked to, what she did — all of it gives me an unpleasant feeling that I’m outside her life. Even though I could just order her to tell me what she did, it wouldn’t be the same thing.
’I don’t think I could let Evelyn leave again, even if it were useful for her or for me...’ I can’t bear the thought of being away from her. It hurts so much just imagining a future where she isn’t here by my side, where I can protect her from everything.
I wasn’t there, and not being there is already enough to cause me pain — especially because she lied. She spent more than the one-year interval. So much time that, so she could experience childbirth and meet her daughter from the very first moment, I preserved the state of her body with magic after months of hard work.
I did the best I could for her, but this ungrateful woman is only frustrated because some silly chains bind her to the bed, when I could have done far worse. I could have dismembered her and sealed the parts with spatial magic so she wouldn’t be able to reconstruct herself, for example! I was so gentle with her!! So good and loving.
’At least that doesn’t matter. If this pace continues, we’ll be able to escalate the fight against the angels soon.’ We’ll soon reach their main city, and it’s from there that the war will begin to take a more intense turn, and it will be necessary to attack with all our strength.
Since the matter with Ragnar, who currently leads the beastmen, was resolved in a strangely peaceful way, I also managed to sign agreements with him so we can trade things.
So soon, shipments of that floating ore will arrive and may also be of some use in the wars. When the war ends, there will be nothing left to steal my wife’s focus.
Without a war, Evelyn will have to concentrate 100% on me — which unfortunately leaves our baby, who I’ve already discovered is a girl and told Evelyn about. This damn child will steal part of her attention, unfortunately.
However, I’m open to this experience. It’s not like I’ll have 100% of the free time, so this little brat can have that time when I won’t be with Evelyn.
"Everything will be fine..." I tap my finger repeatedly against the table, listening to the dry click as I think it shouldn’t be that bad, right? Evelyn will still give me all her love even with this intruder in our lives.