Succubus World - Start with Incubus System

The wind blew a few strands of golden hair down across her face. Meira tucked them behind her ear and looked up at Erik. A very thin layer of water had already appeared in her green eyes.

"Then I met you."

She bit her lip lightly. Her voice slowed.

"You knew I once had a Contract with someone else. You knew I was no longer a young woman who had never belonged to anyone. You also knew my past held a great many things."

Meira looked straight into his eyes.

"But you still said you didn’t care who was first. You only cared who my heart belonged to now."

The corner of Erik’s mouth curved up slightly.

He still remembered that line.

Meira remembered it very clearly too.

She drew in a deep breath, but when she continued her voice still shook a little.

"I had never been that happy."

A small drop finally spilled from the corner of her eye. Meira wiped it away at once, as if she had prepared for tonight for a long time and did not want to cry too early.

"I know you don’t like being watched by too many people, and you like it even less when everything turns into a performance. So I didn’t choose the city center. I didn’t invite guests. I didn’t station people around to witness it."

Meira tipped her head slightly toward the villa behind them.

"I bought this place a very long time ago, but I almost never came."

At that, her cheeks flushed a little more.

"I used to think... if there ever came a day when I could truly live with the person I loved, a place like this might be very good."

Only then did Erik slowly look around.

A wooden house on a hill, far enough from the city that the sound of cars barely reached it. No high-rises. No Council. No crowd always staring at them.

Only lamplight, wind, and moonlight over the slopes of grass.

It really did look like a home.

Erik was still taking it in when Meira reached into her storage ring. A small box appeared in her palm.

This time Erik saw her hand trembling clearly.

He raised a brow slightly.

Meira opened the box.

Five-colored light spilled from the crack at once and washed across both their faces.

Inside was not a ring but a crystal only a little larger than a fingernail. Five colors of light kept flowing through it, interwoven like miniature elemental currents that were actually alive.

The moment the stone appeared, Erik could even feel the surrounding elements tremble, very faintly.

Just looking at it was enough to know this thing was not ordinary.

"Five-Colored Prime Crystal," Meira said softly.

Erik looked at the crystal a few more seconds.

"Very precious?"

Meira laughed at how practical the question was.

"There may not be a second one left now."

Erik went quiet at once.

Meira looked back at the crystal in her hand. Her gaze slowly softened.

"I had it from before I fused with Succubus blood, when I still lived among the Elves. This is one of the most precious things I have ever owned."

Her fingertip brushed lightly along the edge of the box.

"I kept it for a very long time. At first even I didn’t know why I was keeping it. I only thought that if one day I truly loved someone..."

Meira looked up.

"I would give it to that person."

This time she did not tease. She did not act spoiled on purpose.

The seriousness in her eyes made the smile at the corner of Erik’s mouth slowly fade as well.

Meira took one more step. The space between them almost vanished. Her other hand settled slowly on Erik’s chest.

"I can give you a great many things. Money. Property. Power. What I have now and what I will have later."

Her fingertips curled slightly against his shirt.

"Even myself. I can give you that too."

Erik looked at her and still said nothing.

Meira swallowed. Her eyes had begun to turn red.

"But what I want most is not only to become your woman."

Her voice shook softly.

"I want a family with you."

The hand on Erik’s chest tightened.

"I want to wake in the morning and see you. I want you to eat what I cook. I want to be able to burrow into your arms when I’m tired. When I come back after a very long day... I want to know that the place I’m returning to is truly home."

The tears came down at last.

Meira did not wipe them this time.

She cried and smiled at the same time, holding the box with the Five-Colored Prime Crystal out toward Erik.

"So... Erik."

She looked at him.

"Will you give me a family?"

Erik was silent.

One second.

Two seconds.

The smile on Meira’s lips began to stiffen. The fingers holding the box clenched tighter. She had clearly started to tense at his silence.

"Erik?"

He exhaled, then reached into his storage ring.

Meira froze.

A smaller black box appeared in Erik’s hand.

He opened it.

Inside was a ring.

Not gaudy, but the workmanship alone showed it had been prepared with real care.

Meira went completely still.

Her green eyes opened wide. Her lips parted slightly. She looked at the ring, then up at Erik, her expression so blank that he could not help laughing.

"I already told you."

Erik lifted the box.

"What a coincidence."

Meira’s gaze fell to the ring again.

"You..."

"I was going to ask you anyway."

The tears that had just stopped spilled harder at once.

"Really?"

"Mm."

Meira still looked at him as if she needed confirmation.

"Not because I asked first?"

"I brought this ring here before I knew what you were preparing."

Meira was silent for exactly two seconds.

Then she could not take it anymore.

"Erik!"

She lunged straight at him and locked both arms around his neck. Her soft body hit his chest hard enough that Erik had to take half a step back to stay on his feet.

Meira laughed and cried, kissing his cheek, the corner of his mouth, then his throat, as if she did not know what would be enough to let out the joy overflowing in her chest.

"I love you."

"Mm."

"Very much."

"I know."

Meira immediately looked up, her eyes still full of water.

"You have to say it back."

Erik looked at that face and laughed.

"I love you too."

She hugged him even tighter.

Erik even began to suspect that if his body had been a little weaker, this Elemental Lord who was far too happy might actually have cracked a few of his bones.

A long while later, he finally managed to pull Meira back.

"Give me your hand."

Meira obediently held out her left hand at once.

Erik took the ring from the box, held her fingers, and prepared to slide it onto her ring finger.

Right then, Meira suddenly looked at the ring.

Then she looked at the Five-Colored Prime Crystal still sitting in the box beside them.

Her green eyes blinked.

That small expression alone was enough to give Erik a bad feeling immediately.

"Meira?"

"Hm?"

"What are you thinking?"

"Nothing."

The corner of her mouth curved up.

Erik was far too familiar with that smile.

"Meira."

"Wait a moment."

As she spoke, she raised her hand.

Elemental mana spread at once.

The ring in Erik’s hand rose gently. The Five-Colored Prime Crystal left the box at the same time.

"Hold—"

Erik had not finished speaking before the two objects touched.

Five-colored light burst across the balcony.

It still was not over.

Meira kept pulling things from her storage ring: a block of black-silver metal, a shard of Star Gold, and several other energy crystals. Erik did not recognize all of them, but the energy fluctuation alone told him their value was anything but low.

The materials rose one after another.

Erik folded his arms and watched her.

"What are you doing?"

Meira licked her lips lightly.

"An engagement gift."

"Where’s my ring?"

"It’s in there."

Erik looked at the metal and crystals floating in the air.

"I don’t see it looking like it’s about to become a ring."

"Master, just wait."

Erik: "..."

Mana quickly wrapped every material.

The metal block began to melt. The Five-Colored Prime Crystal sank into the center of the glowing mass. The ring Erik had prepared slowly dissolved into a stream of bright silver metal as well.

Under Meira’s control, all of it stretched, then grew finer.

A while later, the light finally eased.

Erik looked at the thing floating in front of him and went completely silent.

A chain had appeared.

It was very fine, only a little heavier than an ordinary necklace, but Erik could feel that its durability far exceeded its appearance.

One end of the chain connected to a slender metal collar worked with extreme care. Five-colored light lines flowed slowly across the black-silver surface. At the center sat a small fragment split from the Five-Colored Prime Crystal.

If you looked only at the collar, it was a piece of lavish jewelry.

Beautiful. Precious. It even gave off the elemental fluctuation of a high-grade item.

The problem was the other end of the chain, which was clearly designed for someone else to hold.

Meira caught it, then looked at Erik, the corner of her mouth slowly curving up.

"Is it beautiful?"

Erik looked at the collar.

Then at the length of chain.

"Beautiful."

"Good."

Meira immediately lifted her golden hair off her neck and turned her back to him.

"Put it on me."

Erik stood still.

"Meira."

"Hm?"

"This doesn’t really look like an engagement ring anymore."

"That’s fine."

She turned her head to look at him. Her cheeks were still red from crying, but her eyes were full of anticipation.

"I like this better."

Erik looked at her a few more seconds, then finally took the collar.

He stood behind Meira, passed it around her fair throat, and locked it.

Click.

It fit exactly.

It was slender enough not to ruin the elegance of the white dress. The five-colored lines on its surface even made Meira’s neck stand out more.

She raised a hand and touched the small crystal at the center.

Her gaze slowly softened.

Inside this piece were the ring Erik had prepared for her, the Five-Colored Prime Crystal she had kept since her days as an Elf, and the materials she had chosen herself.

The two engagement gifts had finally become one.

Meira smiled.

Then she took the other end of the chain and placed it in Erik’s palm.

He looked at what was in his hand, then looked at her.

Meira slowly stepped back two paces.

The chain went taut between them.

The white dress, the golden hair, and the five-colored collar still made the scene beautiful. Only, with the other end of the chain lying in Erik’s hand, the romance that had filled the balcony suddenly began to slide in a very strange direction.

Erik looked at her.

Then at the chain.

Then at her again.

The longer he looked, the more the scene in front of him felt like he was walking a dog.

What was worth noting was that Meira seemed to be thinking exactly the same thing.

She licked her lips lightly, slowly put both hands behind her back, and leaned forward a little, drawing the chain between them tighter.

Her green eyes curved up, full of delight.

"Master."

Erik said nothing.

The smile on Meira’s lips grew even sweeter.

"Master’s little dog is here."

Erik looked at the chain in his hand, then at the woman who, a few minutes ago, had been crying while asking him for a family with one of the most precious crystals in the world.

He was silent for a very long time.

In the end, Erik discovered that he truly did not know what to say.