“Lucia! Lucia!”

I tightly hugged Lucia. She, too, wrapped her arms around me with all her might and gently quivered as she leaned on me. She placed her head lightly on my neck where my wound was and gently rubbed it. In a hoa.r.s.e voice she said, “Your Highness… I… I missed you so much… I missed you so much… Your Highness… you’re hurt… you’re hurt… I was so worried… I… I was so scared I wouldn’t see you again.”

“I’ll be fine, Lucia, I’ll be fine. I promised to always be your side, so I’ll be fine.” I tightly hugged her and then gently pushed her away to look at her eyes before kissing her lips. Lucia kissed me back and meekly leaned on my body. The two of us indulged in each other for a while. We licked each other’s insides, trying to fill each other up with each other’s scent.

‘I love Lucia. I always have. However, Lucia must stay in the elven land during her pregnancy, while I still have business in humanity’s lands; therefore, I won’t be able to return here anytime soon. Back before all these incidents happened, Lucia and I were always together. I felt that time was really slow at the time, but thinking back on it now, it was so nice and blissful to live in those moments full of sunlight. When did Lucia

and I begin to always be separated?’

‘Lucia and I fell in love through trials and tribulations, but our path afterwards is also filled with challenges. The number of times we get to see each other continue to become fewer and fewer, yet we love each other. Additionally, our love has not disappeared because of time, or the physical distance between us.’

Lucia looked a little tired. Lucia said that she felt sleepier and sleepier each pa.s.sing day. I carried her to the bed. I tightly held her hand and next to her ear, softly recounted my story in the desert. Lucia listened in closely to my story while looking at me. I held her small hand. I watched her eyes slowly shut and then gently covered her with her blanket.

Lucia wore a particularly rea.s.sured look this time. I was a little reluctant to let go of Lucia’s hand. I then walked out of the room and saw mom looking out the window.

“Mom?”

I called out to Vyvyan and she jolted. She then turned her head to look at me and wiped the corner of her eyes. She softly laughed and asked, “What’s wrong, Son?”

I walked up to her. I looked at her and asked with concern, “Mom, why are you crying?”

“I’m crying?” Mom touched her face. She then grabbed my hand and placed it gently on her chest. I could feel her

her strong and steady palpitations. She looked and me and explained, “Because mommy is jealous. Mommy is jealous at how blissful Lucia is… After mommy got married to Onii-sama, we were never that blissful. Mommy felt most blissful when mommy held you. Maybe Onii-sama never loved me.”

I looked at mom’s somewhat lonely gaze, but didn’t know what to say.

‘I don’t have any impressions of my father. The one who always spoke of my father was Elizabeth. Elizabeth truly loved Inard. I never heard Vyvyan talk about Inard, though.’

‘She addressed him with the highest level of formality, referring to him as “Onii-sama”. She had never, in a yearning tone, called him “my husband”. It sounds as though Inard never loved Vyvyan either.’

‘That means Vyvyan was just a tool to give birth to me from Inard’s perspective. Vyvyan must’ve loved him, however. Otherwise, it would’ve been impossible for her to accept such a abnormal request.’               

Vyvyan gently rested her head on my shoulder then softly elaborated, “So the only man Mommy truly loves is you… Son… Seeing Lucia so blissful makes Mommy feel… really jealous… Mommy feels very jealous of Lucia, who’s so blissful…”

“Mom…”

‘I didn’t know how to console Vyvyan. All I could do in these sorts of moments was give her a gentle hug. Vyvyan doesn’t have weird feelings for me, because of that, right?’

Vyvyan cuddled me similarly to cuddling a little

a little bird in my arms. She then looked at me. She s.h.i.+fted around on my chest and said, “Has mommy been a little strange lately…? It seems that Mommy is getting old… Mommy’s poor health makes Mommy feel Mommy is old now. I never thought that woman that’s always ordering people around would want to abdicate the throne… It’s been over a decade in the blink of an eye… Should Mommy abdicate the throne, too…?”

I shuddered.

‘Does Vyvyan have other children? She doesn’t. I’m her only child. If she wants to abdicate the throne…. Man, I can’t split myself! I’m only one man! I can’t manage two kingdoms at once, not to mention that it’s impossible to manage both elves and humans at the same time.’             

“Son…”

“Mom, let me help you replenish your mana…” I looked at Mom’s face and sincerely said, “Though I don’t know what’s wrong with you, if it’s mana you lack, just take mine. My mana serves no purpose in the first place anyway. If I can help you feel a little better, I’m fine with it.”

Vyvyan looked back at my face. Her mouth twitched as though she was going to smile, then she softly said, “It’s all your fault Lucia and I have become like this…”

I froze for a moment before asking, “What?”

“No, nothing. It’s just that I haven’t seen you in so long that my body does

my body does indeed feel a little unwell. Since you’ve made the offer, don’t blame Mommy…”

The corner of Mom’s mouth crept up into an eerie smile. She then leaned into my neck and licked it. I felt her tongue tease every inch of my skin. A numbing sensation crept in. I felt her sharp teeth gently sink into me, and then my body heated up. I started to feel a little light-headed.

Vyvyan raised her head to lick me higher up on my neck. She then looked up at me and asked, “Son, do you still want to continue? If Mommy continues, you may lose an excessive amount of blood… If you want to continue, Mommy will use a method you may not be able to accept…”

‘The dream I had seemed to appear again… as for what this method is, I think everyone already knows, right…? Sucking blood, saliva and one more that I can’t accept…’

“Can we… do it somewhere else?”

Ten minutes later, I gently ran my finger on my lips. I felt as if everything in my mouth had been sucked out. Mom wiped the corner of her mouth. I could see a couple of clear drops of liquid in the air. Vyvyan narrowed her eyes, then softly giggled, and said, “Thank you for the hospitality, Son… I have enough mana for sure now. I will be able to nurture an excellent…”