Chapter 364: A Means to an End

"...Gaahh..." Kali hugs a soft little doll made to look like Esther while I watch her with a smile. Ever since my army got close to the angel kingdom, it's been standing by, waiting.

We're at a stalemate. Any move will make my army attack or the angel army attack. We're waiting. Esther said not to attack yet to see how the angels would handle food and water, to force them into a more desperate situation.

"Daughter, you're almost one year old! You've been growing so well." I lift Kali into my arms. This doll she's playing with is one I made for myself, but since she liked it, I ended up giving it to her.

"You're already able to crawl. You're such a clever little girl." I hug her with a loving tone. She's already been pulling herself up on furniture to try to stand, though she can't stand on her own yet, but she can already crawl around the room, exploring.

Though she still tries to gnaw and bite anything she finds, so Esther had to remodel the room at my request to remove anything sharp, like the corners of the table that were dangerous for her.

"..." Kali looks at me and gives a silly smile, but soon Esther opens the door and enters. This makes Kali look at Esther and her expression turns slightly cold. Seeing Kali staring at her, Esther makes a disgusted face back at her.

"Esther!! Stop that!!" I say to Esther quickly. Because Esther always makes that cold, disgusted face at Kali, Kali ended up learning it, and now, whenever Esther appears, Kali makes a cold expression that closely resembles hers.

"This little pest is giving me a dirty look," Esther says, gesturing to Kali as if it's not her fault Kali makes that expression, even though Kali only makes that expression when she shows up.

"You taught her that!! If you looked at her with love, she would smile at you!" Kali looks at me and smiles, ignoring Esther and waving her little hands, wanting me to let her go. In the beginning, when she started crawling, Kali would even go near Esther.

But in less than a month, Esther's undisguised disdain pushed Kali away, and she never tried to get close to her again. Incredibly, Kali prefers to go near Saluvia than go near Esther.

"...Why does she have a doll of me?"

"...She liked it. At least she doesn't hate you, Esther! She's just copying your cold face! You should treat her better." Obviously, Kali probably doesn't understand hatred. She only makes that little cold face because she started copying Esther.

Since Kali's gaze has no disdain or hatred, it's really just the expression Esther makes. And although her cute little cold face is kind of funny, it's still not something she should be doing.

"Forget that. I came here because you have to start moving the armies. I got information from an informant, and that damn angel queen found a way to get food and water."

"Waiting now will only make our armies run out of food and water before the angels while nothing changes in their kingdom. Besides, her people aren't tense with all our soldiers out there."

"That bunch of feathered rats are so stupidly confident in the angel queen's leadership that they even had a party three days ago to celebrate that bitch's reign." Esther makes an irritated expression at this fact.

"Esther! Don't curse in front of our baby! If Kali's first words are swear words or something lewd, I'll make you pay dearly for it!! Don't even talk about war things with her here... just discuss this with my other body... you only came to talk to me to frustrate me." I hold Kali's little arms while she looks around.

"You're really going to just ignore everything, aren't you?" She sighs, asking me, and really, I'm not going to think about the war. I'm just going to obey Esther, so obviously I'll ignore all of this.

"Yes." This is one of the few benefits of this relationship dynamic. I don't have to do absolutely anything, just obey. If something goes wrong, it's Esther's fault for not knowing how to command me.

"...Just move your body on the angelic continent to warn the soldiers. We'll advance in 3 days... but for now, let's just let the soldiers fight. We'll hold back our greatest forces for the time being," she says in an icy tone.

"Alright, I'll do whatever you want. I hope everything goes well." Esther picks up the doll on the bed and stares at it. Seeing her doll has been captured, Kali starts to look at Esther as if she's about to cry.

"..." I see Esther's hand squeezing the doll and I give her a warning look not to destroy the toy just because she doesn't like it.

"Did you start to like dolls? I know you had dolls in the past, but you don't play with them even though you still keep them stored in your room."

"...They were always everything important I had, so yeah... I like dolls. So I made this one, but Kali liked it, so I gave it to her. Don't you like it? It looks a lot like you," I say, looking at the doll. It really does look a lot like Esther.

"Honestly, I don't see what's so special about taking care of a baby. You seem to like it," she says, changing the subject and looking at Kali.

"Yeah, I like taking care of Kali... but I only take care of her almost all the time because you won't let me take her to the castle." Esther doesn't want to take Kali to be with my body that's in the castle.

Although she hasn't told me the reason, I think it's simply to prevent Kali from trying to "save" me in the future. As long as Kali is trapped in this place with me, she won't know how to help me or have any support to get out.

Of course, I only think that's it. I have no way of knowing Esther's reason for preventing Kali from leaving this castle. And since we're very isolated, I think this "incredible" castle that is my prison is on an island rather than on the demonic continent.

"Do you plan to teach that girl magic?"

"Obviously. I know you won't even bother to educate our daughter, so I'm going to teach her magic. I'm going to teach her to read and write and everything else a child needs."

"You've been talking to Saluvia quite a lot lately. Haven't I improved?"

"Ah, you have improved, Esther." Despite the increase in our fights, this Esther is actually much more "peaceful" than the one from the past, who punished and hurt me for trivial things.

Currently, even though Esther is still absurdly jealous, she doesn't hurt me for just anything. Obviously, she hasn't stopped. She still "punishes" me, but with a very low frequency and only when something bothers her far beyond the limit.

"I don't know what medicines Saluvia gave you, but you've improved a lot!" Esther has also greatly reduced the number of times she devours my body, which has entered a more "healthy" rhythm for both of us.

"I've been increasing my conversations with Saluvia for more common reasons: my medicine, stress, fights, and my feelings. She's been helping me deal with all that and giving me more concrete opinions."

"..." Esther half-narrows her eyes for a moment as if suspicious of something.

"Of course... everything is better indeed, I guess..." Esther pushes the doll to the side of the bed while she grabs Kali, laying her aside and taking her away from me. Soon, she climbs onto my lap while Kali distractedly bites the chain on my ankle.

"H-Hhmmm..." She kisses me, pushing her tongue inside while holding my back. I hug her while my nails end up scratching her back since she's wearing an open-back dress.

"H-Here, not now, Kali will see." Esther rests her forehead against mine while licking her lips.

"It doesn't matter, does it? Do you really think that brat biting a chain will notice or even remember this?" Esther touches my belly gently before licking my cheek.

"I'm hungry. I want your time tonight."

"O-Ok..." She stays sitting on my legs while I look at my nails, dirty with blood. I lick them, tasting Esther's blood, while Esther gives a little smile.

"Before, you used to clean it off. Why did you start drinking it?"

"I-I don't want to waste anything that comes from you. B-But I can't just get my bed or Kali dirty with blood."

"Am I tasty?"

"No, it's kind of bitter and strange." She gives a little laugh.

"I imagine so. It's not like dragons are much for eating the meat or blood of other demons. But okay. I'd love to shower you with kisses... however, I have to go. I have to handle the troop logistics here in the kingdom, since we'll begin the battle in three days," she says, getting up from the bed.

"..." Esther gives one last look of disgust at Kali and leaves while I look at my nails. They're quite sharp, even though I trimmed them.

'...'

"Kali, let's try to make you walk today? I know you can do it." I turn my attention back to Kali, pulling her away from the chains she's drooled all over.

"I bet you'll learn to walk super fast!! And when you learn to talk, I can't wait to teach you to read and write." Writing will be great to distract Kali.