Asmodeus System: Stealing My Bully's Mother

​Time seemed to stand still.

​The torturous nights in Granderer flashed rapidly through her mind. The blood of traitors. Alaric’s cold commands. Kurt’s increasingly shattered mental state. The silence of this fortress was slowly eating away at her sanity. She was sick of it. So sick of it that she felt like tearing down these stone walls with her own bare hands.

​However, behind that emptiness... there was something else.

​A dark promise pulsing softly on the left side of her neck. The rose-shaped Lust Brand reminding her of the absolute dominance of her true Master.

​Valera let out a long sigh. Her own reflection bounced off the blade of the sword.

​”He really came...” she whispered almost soundlessly.

​A faint smile—extremely faint—dawned on her lips. She grabbed the Zweihander, strapped it to her back, and stepped back out into the blizzard.

​The outer gates creaked open once more.

​Ethan was already waiting at the end of the stone bridge. As soon as Valera stepped out in full armor with her giant sword, the young man pivoted.

​There was no greeting. Valera automatically assumed a position beside Ethan. An absolute guard formation.

​They walked side by side, tracing the rocky path buried under the snow. From atop the watchtowers, dozens of pairs of eyes kept spying on their backs until the mist swallowed everything.

​There was only the howl of the north wind and the crunch of snow shattering beneath their boots.

​When the silhouette of the Granderer Fortress completely vanished, swallowed by the dense frozen pines, Valera finally broke the silence.

​”Hah... you’re completely insane,” Valera said, her breath billowing in the freezing air.

​Ethan glanced over from the corner of his dark brown eyes. ”Tch. Are you just realizing that now, Valera?”

​Valera snorted roughly. ”I’m serious, My Lord. Showing up alone. Insulting Duke Alaric in front of his army. Then demanding me like some spoils of war? This isn’t reckless. It’s suicide.”

​”I didn’t ask for you as an object.” Ethan’s voice was calm, yet the pressure of Sin Mana behind it made the hairs on her neck stand up. ”I asked for you... as mine.”

​Valera’s steps faltered.

​The rhythm of her gait wavered for a split second. The word mine struck her ears with a strange resonance. Not out of feeling degraded. But because no man had ever dared to claim her with such absolute possessiveness without causing her wolf instincts to rebel.

​Valera swallowed hard, forcing herself to turn her head and challenge Ethan’s gaze.

​”Then what if Alaric figures out your true intentions? What if he realizes you’re not here purely to hunt Serpent Tongue, but it’s just a cover to take me?”

​”He won’t figure it out,” Ethan cut her off coldly. ”And even if he realizes it in the end, he still won’t be able to stop me.”

​Valera frowned. She looked for a crack of doubt in the young man’s eyes, but found nothing but a bottomless abyss.

​”So, you think I no longer obey him? You think I’m no longer his?” Valera challenged.

​Ethan’s steps came to a sudden halt.

​The young man pivoted, fully facing Valera. His brown eyes sharpened, piercing right through the knight’s golden irises. The distance between them was drastically cut. An aura of dominance exploded from Ethan’s cloak, pressing down on the oxygen supply around them.

​”Drill this into your head,” Ethan hissed lethally, emphasizing every syllable heavily. ”You were never his, Valera.”

​Valera was silenced. Her jaw clamped shut tightly.

​She hastily averted her gaze toward the rows of pines. Amidst the extreme sub-zero temperature, somehow her cheeks felt hot.

​The two of them resumed their walk, penetrating the heart of the border forest. Frozen pines towered like giant pillars supporting the gray sky. The smell of dead moss and wet earth dominated the air.

​An hour passed. The landscape opened up to a small clearing.

​In the center perched the ruins of an ancient stone building, half-buried in snow. The remnants of a guard outpost from hundreds of years ago. Its roof had collapsed, but its walls were still sturdy enough to withstand the battering wind.

​”We’ll stop here,” Ethan decided, stepping into the ruins.

​Valera stopped at the ruined threshold. Her golden eyes scanned the surroundings with tactical instincts. ”Why here? We’re still too close to the fortress patrols.”

​”Because I want to talk privately.”