Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1417: I... never deserved you

Step!

”...I... I... M-My love is terrified of me leaving him with his baby... instead of just telling me the truth.”

Delphine halted her steps. Her breath shuddered.

She stared at the man before her—Messy hair, old and tattered clothes, dry skin, an exhausted body trembling from the long walk and long pain...But his eyes...Those same eyes that held her whole world inside them.

”A-Aether?” Delphine mumbled with pain as she saw Aether before her—broken yet alive.

”D-Delphine?” Aether mumbled with longing as he saw Delphine before him—broken and lost yet... bright, stubborn, beautiful even in ruin.

”I... I love you,” Aether muttered as he stepped forward.

He passed through something invisible with a plop sound, like a water drop falling into still water.

Yet he didn’t care to listen.

He didn’t care about anything except her.

He only looked at his Delphine and... wrapped one hand around her while the other still clung to the chain... so tight!

So fucking tight that it forced Delphine’s lungs to push the air out, yet... her eyes trembled even more with tears as she nodded.

”I love y-you.”

Her voice shook like shattered glass, as if every syllable carried a lifetime of fear and an entire universe of love trying to break free.

Delphine’s lips quivered as she let go of the chain and just hugged him back, feeling his entire warmth... so tight.

Her arms wrapped around him like she feared he would vanish if she loosened even a finger.

So fucking tight that made Aether calm and happy... as tears rolled down from his eyes.

They hugged so tight... so painfully tight... yet it was nothing but love!

It was the kind of hug where two souls crash together after too much time apart, not caring if their bodies protested or bones creaked.

Nothing moved or made a sound... they just kept hugging as they smiled in each other’s embrace, feeling each other’s heartbeat and each other’s... warmth and smell.

Her scent—faint roses and something uniquely her—hit him like a memory he had been starving for.

His scent—earthy, warm, safe—returned to her like the breath she had been denied for too long.

They hugged each other so tightly that one could almost hear the cracking sound of their bodies, that much pressure they were putting on each other, but neither of them was ready to leave the other or... even care about those bones breaking.

Because all they wanted was to... see each other!!

To feel the body they feared was gone.

To hold the person they thought they lost forever.

To remind themselves they were still alive.

Aether slowly touched her cheeks as he stared into her broken glasses.

”D-Del... my love... are you alright?”

His voice cracked with worry, his thumb trembling as it brushed her skin. He looked at her like she was the most fragile treasure he dared not lose again.

Delphine’s heart trembled as she wanted to tell him how much she was freaking scared and how much she was lost in pain, kept dying again and again in this nightmare... in this wicked place.

She wanted to pour out everything... her terror, her loneliness, her suffering, her hope that he would come

Yet... in this moment... all the pain and suffering disappeared as if she never suffered before... as if just his appearance by her side made her fear go away and the pain disappear and... love just overcame everything.

And she didn’t want to make him worried, so she said with a trembling tone,

”Y-yeah... I-I am fine,”

Yet her eyes trembled with tears as she tried to hide her crying expression, her shoulders visibly shaking.

She lied because she didn’t want to burden him, because she didn’t want to add weight to his heart.

”Oh, love!”

Aether’s heart broke just seeing her like this... how vulnerable!

He leaned in and kissed her eyes and rained her face with kisses filled with love and longing!

Each kiss begged her to stop hiding the pain.

Each kiss told her she wasn’t alone anymore.

Each kiss trembled with gratitude that she was alive.

”Del~”

~chu~

”Del~”

~chu~

”My love~”

~chu~

....

..

Delphine’s lips curled up as she felt his warm and wet lips all over her face...the kisses that filled her with everything she had missed for a long time.

She closed her eyes as his lips moved across her skin, feeling love she thought she would never feel again.

Her fingers dragged across his back as she pulled him even closer, whispering in her heart,

”Don’t let go. Not now. Not ever.”

She couldn’t hold it anymore, she leaned and kissed his face forcibly as if she wanted him to remember her kiss and love.

Her lips pressed again and again, desperate and shaking, like she feared he might fade away if she stopped even for a heartbeat.

She kept kissing all over his face again and again as she muttered his name again and again.

”Aether~”

~Chu~

”Aether~”

~Chu~

”Aether~”

~Chu~

....

..

Both of them kissed each other’s face violently as if they wanted to know if this was real and the person they loved was standing before them was true.

Their lips touched skin, cheek, jaw, forehead—everywhere—over and over, as if memorising everything they lost.

”Aether~”

”Del~”

”Aether~”

”Del~”

After filling their faces with their wet lips, they finally kissed each other’s lips...feeling the love and fear mixing through their soft and simple kiss.

The moment their lips touched, something inside them broke... pain, fear, loneliness all melting into warmth and relief.

Their bodies finally eased down... as if that kiss was enough to pull them from the misery and pain.

Their breaths slowed, their hearts steadied, and the world around them quieted as if giving them permission to breathe again.

Their foreheads leaned together as Delphine’s tears rolled down, yet she kept staring into Aether’s eyes like they were the only thing keeping her alive.

Her trembling fingers gripped his cheeks, grounding herself in his warmth.

”I... I... was so scared,” Delphine muttered with a trembling tone as she rubbed the corner of his eyes.

Aether muttered, ”I... I am sorry, it’s all because of me, right? I might have done something there, and you got in here—”

His voice quivered with guilt, pain, and self-hate.

”Ssshh.”

Delphine kissed his lips with a teary expression as she hushed him.

”You didn’t do anything. Stop putting yourself into everything... just an accident caused by others, and now you are here. That’s all I need.”

Aether weakly smiled as he kissed her forehead before hugging her head into his chest.

”I... I really would not have forgiven myself if something had happened to you... I... I am glad... truly glad!”

His lips trembled violently, his voice overflowing with fear he kept hidden until now.

Delphine blinked as she felt warm drops falling on her head.

She understood he was crying, but he didn’t want her to see... so he hugged her to his chest.

His arm wrapped around her head tightly, hiding the shaking in his shoulders.

Delphine smiled as her tears too... the fear tears, the pain tears... every bit of emotion slowly poured out as she clenched his tattered clothes and cried.

Her voice trembled with heartbreak as she buried her face into his chest.

”I... It was so painful, A-Aether... so painful!”

Her words came out choked, shattered, filled with every horror she had faced alone in the dark while longing for him.

Aether’s lips trembled as he gulped his wet throat, feeling her breaking down too... he couldn’t help but kiss her hair and pat her back.

”T-Those things kept killing me again and again... I... I didn’t know what to do... I couldn’t even use my powers... I kept running and running... my legs hurt... my insides felt broken... M-My neck... I... my neck still feels like my head was torn off!

S-So scary... I was worried if something happen to you. What if you got lost in the darkness? W-What if you were swallowed by those chains? W-What if... so many fears...”

Her voice shook harder with each word, as if every memory stabbed her from the inside. Her fingers clawed at his back, trembling violently as if holding him was the only proof she wasn’t alone.

”Del...”

Aether’s heart trembled.

How could she worry about him even in this situation?

Even after dying again and again, after running until her body broke... her first fear was him.

Her love, her terror for him, hit him harder than any nightmare.

Why the fuck did he lie to this beautiful woman?

Why the hell did he hide his truth?

What the fuck was he thinking when he chose to protect her with lies instead of honesty?

If she walked away... he deserved that pain.

He should have been true to her rather than lied and faked everything!!

Aether muttered under his breath, ”I... never deserved you,” as he clenched his hand around her, holding her as if he didn’t want her to leave, even though he knew the painful truth.

Aether and Delphine stayed there silently in each other’s embrace, crying and longing and feeling relieved... every bit of emotion exploding into their chests.

Meanwhile, Grace, who was sitting on Aether’s shoulder... had a horrified expression as if... what the fuck did I just hear now?

Her wings stuck halfway open, frozen like she had been hit by lightning.

No—she wasn’t shocked now. She had been shocked way before anything else, long before all of these insane confessions started pouring out of them.

From the very moment of their wonderful secret.

From the very first filthy words that flew out of their mouths.

From those very words, her face turned utterly horrified as if she couldn’t believe what she just heard.

She didn’t blink... She simply stared in pure disbelief.

Love juice?

I-Inverted nipples?

P-Pussy?

A-Asshole?

C-C-Cock?

Were those the freaking secrets?

Were those really the things they chose to scream across the darkness as some sort of password of love?

What the fuck?!!

Her tiny soul left her tiny body for a moment as she processed the chaotic, emotional, erotic nonsense she had just witnessed.