Aether's body travelled through the starry universe around him, "What the fuck is going on here?" he screamed as his body flowed like he was stuck in a river without any control.

He drifted helplessly as the silent water-like current carried him through the endless stretch of space.

!~Ding~!

[⚠️Warning: Forsaken Bloodline has been forcibly activated!]

"Fuck, I know that bitch!! Just tell me the way to stop this!" Aether shouted as he frantically moved his legs and hands to escape, but nothing responded. His body refused to follow a single command, trapped in the flow, unable to push back against the current, no matter how desperately he tried.

Not even he could use his powers… everything seemed to have stopped here!

What the heck did that old woman do to him?

Just then, his starry space surrounding suddenly flickered before an image of Delphine appeared around him… like fading memories of her drifting past him with fragile light.

"La~LaLa~La~~La~LLAAA~"

Their first encounter.

"Timmy and Ether, Right?"

"No, Madam. My name is Aether,"

Aether blinked when he heard the voice and… Delphine. Her face looked so pure and lovely… his eyes traced the happiness on her expression and… compared it to now.

Aether's eyes lowered as he looked at his past week self… that time he chose what he believed was right for him and only him… he didn't care about anyone else.

He just wanted to escape from hell, so he did everything he could to run from it. He couldn't even shout at his past self for the things he had done to Delphine.

Here, he didn't have a choice... maybe his poor move might be the fault, but... he really didn't have a choice here.

His body kept flowing in the river as another part of his memories appeared.

"Ah, yes, it is enough to hide a snake,"

Aether's face turned awkward as he watched his past self getting beaten for his poor choice of words… but he couldn't help but stare at Delphine, whose face was already red with embarrassment.

Her reaction now seemed so painfully lovely… so painfully honest.

"Come to think of it… she already knew that I would be her partner… that's why she reacted way too aggressively, didn't she?" He murmured with a small smile, shaking his head gently.

A faint, complicated warmth grew in him.

Even if he had a poor choice of words… she is the one who took it wrong with a double meaning! Not him!

The innocent Aether, no!

Aether looked at his hands… as the river slowly carried him toward another part of memories in the starry space, each fragment pulling a different ache from inside his chest.

"Do you miss your family?"

"…Hmm... No, I-I just want to be a good Dad,"

Aether stared at the image of him… the past version of himself wearing that same longing expression. He had truly wanted to be a good father… no, the best father.

That wasn't a lie he used to seduce her. That feeling came from pure, unfiltered longing buried deep inside him.

"Brat, you're not even grown down there. What the hell are you thinking about?"

"How do you know I'm not grown down there?"

Aether smiled gently as he watched Delphine's shocked expression all over again. She really did see him nakedly, right? He remembered it clearly now, the way her eyes widened, the way she tried not to look but still did.

He watched her face turn red and stammered, just like that time.

"L-Let me tell you--"

"Do you want to be the mother of my child?"

"..."

Aether's face softened. Back then, it had been nothing more than playful teasing… something he tossed out for fun, not thinking about the weight of the words. Nothing else mattered to him in that moment except teasing her, pulling reactions from her bright, flustered face.

But now… now all he wanted was her as the mother of his child.

Yet it didn't happen. His own poor choices, the mistakes he let slip from his mouth, the manipulations he used without thinking… they were what broke this once lovely girl who never deserved any of it.

Why did she deserve this?

She was just a free bird that was flying around without a restriction… yet when he came into her life, he just put her into the cage.

If only he had been truthful to her from the very beginning… if only…

The river slowly drifted as the new patch of memories appeared, shimmering like old film reels playing before his eyes.

"Let's elope!"

"W-What!! What are you talking about?!"

Aether saw Delphine's face turning beet red in embarrassment and… something else in her heart, something softer, hidden behind her fluster. It almost looked like she had expected him to say it… or maybe wanted him to.

As the memories drifted, they shifted into another one... Delphine's first time hugging Aether on her own. He still remembered the shock from that day, the warmth of her arms, the way he froze because he never thought she would reach for him first.

"I guess this is as far as I can help you... From now on, do your best."

"Delphine,"

"Oh my~ Are you going to miss me?"

She knew she would never be able to face anyone if things escalated further. She pretended to joke, but the tension around her eyes, even in the memory, showed the truth—she was afraid of how deeply involved she had already become.

As the memories shifted through the river… her appearance in the academy made him so happy that he was… indeed happy in his heart that she was here, not as support, but just that she was here that made him happy.

Her presence alone, even in the smallest way, had been enough to settle something inside him.

He had just been too stubborn to admit it back then.

How she avoided him and how he teased her… how he played with her… how she blushed under his words… everything between them felt natural, nothing forced, nothing pushed.

He didn't try to make her do anything she didn't want. He just… he just liked her the way she already existed, her own world shining without chains.

And when she asked him out of jealousy why he was avoiding her, she prepared herself so beautifully, almost as if she were getting ready for a marriage or some grand ceremony she alone understood in her heart…

"Hmmm... You look absolutely stunning, Delphine. I can't take my eyes off you."

"Y-You too... Aether, you look incredibly handsome."

Aether blankly stared at the image of her and him, both of them lost in each other's eyes, as if the world had melted into silence, leaving only the two of them standing in a moment too fragile to exist twice.

His eyes trembled… He really messed up… didn't he?

Not only her, but everyone around him.

He had been living in a dream, lying to himself, lying to others, yet somehow they accepted him.

It surprised him now how easily everyone embraced a lying bastard like him.

"I love you…"

Huh?

Those words… they felt hollow now.

Even though he loved them, even though love pulsed inside him in so many tangled ways, the weight behind those words felt empty.

Was he… deserving of her to begin with?

As the river of memories flowed faster and faster, everything began to blur together, passing before his eyes like a reel he couldn't pause or rewind.

"Well… I hope you come back safely… b-b-boy-boyfriend."

She whispered those words like a fragile secret meant for the world to cherish, the first time she ever dared to say it aloud.

And there were times he played his tricks on her…

"You know the answer, don't you? You've been avoiding me for over a month, Victor!"

"Well... I've been kind of busy—"

"Don't lie to me, Victor! You've been a-avoiding me every chance you get, and it's not just because you're 'busy.' You've spoken to Aria, you've spoken to the others, but me? Nothing. Not a word."

Her trembling voice, trying so hard to be strong, yet carrying cracks he never bothered to mend. And meanwhile, he wore a satisfied expression… how wicked could someone be to the very person they claimed to love?

How?

Aether felt disgusted with himself… Was her mother showing him all of this so he could finally realise what he had done to her daughter?

Was this punishment?

A mirror forced in front of his face?

If so… then it hurt.

It hurt far worse than anything else. Worse than the breakup, worse than the shouting, worse than the silence.

Because this time, the pain came from truth.

This break-up happened because of him… his actions… his mistakes.

He was the one who hurt her deeply.

And the river forced him to watch every moment he wished he could undo.

Heck, he would do the same if he were in her shoes.

"I-I know what it is... You're avoiding me because of my powers, right? You think I'm a burden—"

"I made you a promise... that I'd protect you... protect everything. And yet, I couldn't keep it. I failed... failed miserably... I couldn't even face you after that. I hated myself for seeing you after haughtily saying those words!"

"It's not your fault. You did everything you could. You saved so many lives. There's no reason to blame yourself for what happened."

Aether's eyes trembled as he watched her lovely expression, supporting him when he was lost… when he thought he was nothing… she was there for him.

"Haa..." Aether groaned. The more he saw this… the more pathetic and ugly he felt.

To see how he had hurt her… how his selfish nature pushed her to the brink. Every scene stabbed deeper, like each memory carried a blade carved from regret.

He nudged his eyes, trying to calm himself… he was a bastard indeed.

He knew that, but… to think he had been this low?

This blind?

This cruel without even intending to be?

"... Aether?"

Aether flinched as if she had really called him. He looked up and saw the image of Delphine's worried expression soften as she gently cupped his face with her hands. The vision felt painfully real, like he could almost feel the warmth of her fingers brushing his cheek.

"Please... don't be so hard on yourself. Even if you have failed... You tried, right?

That's all that matters.

I could never hate you for that. I..." She hesitated, her cheeks turning a soft shade of pink as she struggled with her words. Her lips trembled as if every syllable weighed heavily on her heart.

"I-I... I always... You know what I mean, right?"

Aether blankly stared at her… his throat tightening. Before, "Y-Yeah…" he nodded to himself, "Yes… I-I know," as a single tear flowed from his eyes.

It felt like his heart cracked open, because this was the kindness he threw away.

Suddenly, the river pulled him forcibly away from the image. Aether reached out, raising his hand as if he was trying to grasp her fingers again, but he couldn't… neither here nor in the real world.

"I want to see every side of you, Delphine."

"Huh?"

"Each and every side. The cold lady, the cool lady, the hot lady, the perverted lady... I want to see everything, Delphine. There's no need to hide from me. I want all of you." His voice in the memory sounded sincere, almost too honest, as if he had spoken straight from the heart before he even realised it himself.

Aether weakly smiled… he meant those words… not as a manipulator, not as a liar.

Just a man who wanted her entirely.

"We've become one... finally~" She whispered, her voice trembling with emotion. She leaned forward, kissing him softly, her tears dripping from her.

The scene felt warm and agonising at the same time, like a reminder of the happiness he had touched only to shatter with his own hands.

Aether blankly looked at the memories… for her, it was once in a lifetime… the one moment where her heart felt complete, where she became one with the person she loved and trusted more than anything.

And… yet… yet… this man shattered that fragile thread and broke the bond she cherished as something sacred.

Aether gulped through his wet, tightening throat, "I… I get it… let me out… I understand… her pain now," he muttered, though even he could hear how weak, small, and defeated those words sounded.

Just then, the memories of her hiding from him appeared… her trembling form, her pale face, her eyes filled with fear and confusion… but for what?

"N-No!! G-Get out!!"

"I don't want to see you again!!"

Her voice cracked like something breaking inside her chest, and Aether felt the echo of it slicing through him. There were moments she hid herself from him, desperately believing that if she vanished for a while, then maybe her future visions would not come true.

Utterly foolish girl, but she did it out of love, out of fear of hurting him… out of fear of becoming the reason he suffered—

Aether's eyes widened in a horrified expression as if a new thread of understanding snapped into place, connecting a dot that never registered in his mind before.

Why did her mother say that... Delphine had no choice?

His breath hitched.

"Don't tell me…"

Just then, a white light flickered at the end, blinding everything, and,

!~Ding~!

[Trinity: 20↑]

"Let's end this"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.