Chapter 398: The End

"..." I start to wake up feeling my body slightly sore, and as my eyes open and my tail drags softly across the bed sheets, I see Esther's face. She's lying on top of me completely naked, her soft breasts touching mine while she stares at me.

"...Feeling better? You were so tired before. The coronation must have been really exhausting since you slept like a rock."

'Lying...' It's almost comical watching her lie like this. She knows, I know, and still neither of us says a thing. I'm not overwhelmed just because of the coronation. All those emotions were indeed heavy on my mind.

But Esther alone weighs more than that. I look around, seeing a black goo dripping down the walls, the furniture, everything around us. It's Esther's love. It reminds me of tar.

An extremely viscous black goo that stains everything. The black hue darkens the entire room, making it hard for me to distinguish the true shape of things. I'd like to say Kali is better.

And to a certain point, she is. Kali has a beautiful golden emotion, but it's covered in a black mist, so she's really a mini obsessive, nothing over the top like Esther. It's just joy and jealousy together, but it's still frustrating.

'What a bitter taste...' I push Esther away a little, seeing the multitude of bite marks on my body.

"E-Esther, I'm a bit sore... c-can I take a bath?"

"Of course, love. I'll help you." She lifts me from the bed as I hug her, being carried.

Fortunately, emotions aren't something that affect the physical world. All this black sludge is something only I see and touch, so it's not really sticking to things. I think that helps at least a little, knowing nothing is truly changing.

"E-Esther... walking naked in the hallway is wrong... Kali might see..." I say to her while something curious I always notice is that the emotions don't cover the person in question. Esther doesn't have a single drop of that viscous stuff on her.

It's only around her. Kali too. That golden glow only stays around her. I wonder why.

"...Kali must be sleeping right now. Don't worry. Besides, if she sees, what's the problem? We're just without clothes." Despite what she says, it's not just that.

"Please..."

"...Okay, spoiled queen. But I know she's not nearby because of magic. Don't be so worried. Besides, I thought it best to use the bathroom outside your room, a bigger, more suitable bathroom." She speaks while carrying me, and I look down, seeing the viscous white drops dripping from my intimate parts.

"..." She opens the bathroom door, and I close it with my tail once we enter. She quickly carries me to the large bathtub fixed into the floor. The hot water releases steam, which already shows she had prepared this bath beforehand.

"What do you think of the water?" She asks, entering the water while slowly placing me into it. Her care is almost suffocating.

"..." I feel the soft, warm touch of the water on my skin. The temperature is perfect, although the sensation on my tail is strange since Esther ripped off all its scales.

"It's... perfect..." She submerges me completely in the water before lifting my head. She moves me to sit on her lap while she sits on the edge of the bathtub.

"..." I look around. The walls are stained with that black goo that is her emotions. Esther knows. I wonder why she always ignores the fact that her emotions are exhausting.

"Hmmm... hmmm... hmm." She starts to murmur while she grabs soap and runs it over my body, cleaning everything gently. I don't move, letting her do whatever she wants, however she wants.

Her touch lingers insistently on my intimate areas while I just keep looking around.

"What are you staring at so much?" She asks softly.

"...Your emotions."

"I see. Do you like them?"

"Yes." Despite it being this black, viscous, strange thing, I like it. It shows how much she loves me. It's perfect, I think.

"You seem pensive." She runs soap through my hair with meticulous care.

"Why do you pretend nothing is wrong?" I don't understand. As time went on, Esther seemed to put on a mask of normality more and more.

It started with her being the genocidal woman who didn't try to hide it from me. Back then, her cold attitude came with the certainty that she would kill anyone for her goals.

Then we got married, and things started changing until she went through the hunger she couldn't control. At that time, she became more aggressive and uncontrolled, with fits of rage abnormal for her previous attitude.

But the war passed, and she became someone fake. Exaggerated kindness, strange attitudes, and a way of taking care of me that is uncomfortable. All while hiding things she knows that I know, and that makes no sense for her to hide.

Like the fact that her emotions are heavier than the emotions of an entire crowd.

"I don't understand what you mean. Everything is normal, isn't it?"

"...You always seem to be wearing a mask..." It's the opposite, isn't it? Normally, obsessive people like her should and more traces of those bad emotions, not hide them even deeper, right?

Now that she has me and knows I would never abandon her, why do this? Why hide this side of her as if we had just started something and I didn't know she's terrible?

"..." She stays silent. I wonder what goes through her mind. Years living with her and I never know. Esther has always been strange, ever since the game.

"You... aren't going to commit genocide behind my back somehow, are you?"

"No, I'll fulfill our agreement, love. Don't worry. I don't go back on my word." She pours water over my hair. I look at her reflection in the water. I wonder if her eyes were always this frightening.

'In the past, I was afraid of them... but now... I feel like what I see is more frightening...'

"Do you want to eat something after this? I think I have a good idea. You'll like it."

"..." Despite the tone being a question, she doesn't even give me a real choice.

"Yeah... thank you."

"You're welcome, love." She finishes by submerging my body completely in the water to rinse off the rest of the soap while gently pulling me to another part of the bathtub, still keeping me on her lap.

"I'm a little hungry. Since we're in the bathroom, it's good that we're all cleaned up. Can I eat?"

"...Yes..." She smiles at me, spinning me around and pushing me against the floor outside the bathtub.

"..." I just wait calmly for her to finish whatever she wants to do with me.

...

...

...

"Mommy?" I look at Mommy Evelyn. She just left the room. She seems to have taken a bath because her hair is wet. She comes out with Esther, whose hair is also wet.

"...Kali..." She smiles at me as I get close, jumping into her arms with a big smile.

"Mommy!! You..." I smell a strange scent on Mommy, like blood, which makes me glare angrily at that woman who undoubtedly hurt Mommy again.

"Mommy, will you play with me?"

"Of course. Let's go to the gardens." She holds me, starting to carry me.

"Evelyn, about your question. I thought about it calmly... you don't know even half of what you think you really know about me. I'm not wearing a mask. In fact, I took it off. You just never noticed." Esther has a smile that gives me chills and makes me shrink in Mommy's arms.

"?" I get confused. Something in her smile scares me, and even Mommy seems uncomfortable.

"...C-Can I go play with Kali?"

"Of course. Take it easy. I'll prepare our meal in the meantime. I'll call you later." Esther leaves while I look at Mommy, who has a somber gaze.

"Mommy, are you okay?"

"...Yes, I am..." She starts carrying me while clearly being sad. I can feel it.

"Why accept this, Mommy? She hurts you!! You're clearly sad!!"

"...I love her, Kali. Please don't worry about it."

"...That woman is scary... how can you love her?"

"I don't know... maybe I'm just stupid..." Mommy bites her lips while I feel sad.

"N-No, you're not stupid... s-sorry for asking too much." What did Esther mean by that strange phrase about masks? I don't understand.

"...Kali, please... just... promise me you won't become another Esther... b-be my sweet golden honey forever, okay?"

"...I promise, Mommy!!" I hug her tight. I promise to protect her forever!! Even from that evil woman.

-END-

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Galaxy's Note: Hello, Readers!! This is the end of the main story. Well, I'll probably still release a few side story chapters to show a couple more things.

But overall, this is the end of the story!! From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who stayed with me until the very end and for all the support this story has received!!

I'd also like to share some of my motivations behind this work!! With this novel, I wanted to portray something very specific—not reincarnation, not a war-torn world, not a protagonist climbing to the top.

Instead, I wanted to focus solely and exclusively on [Obsession] and [Toxicity]. Those two themes have been at the heart of this story from beginning to end, and they've manifested through countless characters.

Even Qyraen and her obsession with [Transcendence], or Evelyn herself through her goals and her love for Esther—the point was to show where these feelings can lead in different aspects of a person's life.

Esther isn't just some crazy, explosive yandere. In fact, I tried to write her as the complete opposite!! Someone so unbelievably meticulous that even her obsession has to be controlled down to the smallest detail.

This ending is meant to reveal that. Esther doesn't need to say something like, "You're mine." Her obsessive behavior has become as natural as breathing. The way she takes care of Evelyn's body, the way she speaks to Evelyn, the way she accepts everything Evelyn says.

Everything passes through that filter. Anything outside of what she expects becomes nothing more than ignored noise. Obsession is an explosive and overwhelming emotion! But it also has another side—a much calmer one. Like a river that looks peaceful on the surface while hiding dangerous currents beneath.

When I first started writing this story, I had planned several more arcs! One of them would have introduced many new Nymphs and featured Arial much more often, but I realized that the driving force of this story had already reached its conclusion.

This novel was never meant to be a straightforward adventure with a steadily progressing plot centered on the world's history. It has always been about Esther and Evelyn, and only Esther and Evelyn.

Everything has always revolved around them to convey this message. Showing this "unique" side of their love has now reached its conclusion—not because there's nothing left to tell, but because we've already reached the peak of what this story set out to show.

A relationship so abusive, toxic, and unhealthy that it almost feels ordinary. Esther has twisted even something as simple as taking a bath.

Yet she does it all in an abstract, gentle way, almost as delicate as a flower. Everyone has the right to their own interpretation, and this story invites many different ones, especially during its final chapters.

As for Esther's "mask," something she says she is no longer wearing, that's a point that can be observed and analyzed throughout the entire story until you reach the real reason she says that.

Either way, I won't spoil anything. I won't force anyone to accept my interpretation or try to make you see what I imagined. I want everyone to have the chance to think carefully about what this story truly represents and what it was trying to convey in the end.

In the end, obsession doesn't have to be loud to remain destructive. It can become so deeply ingrained in everyday life that it feels completely normal to the person living it.

There are many important messages throughout this story, but they were intentionally presented in an abstract way so you could form your own personal theories. Once again, thank you all so much for your support.

And I hope you'll come to conclusions about Esther's obsession that satisfy you! And yes, there's far more to Esther than what appears on the surface. A great deal about her was revealed in secret throughout the story—things you most likely overlooked.

Things Evelyn overlooked. Things that reveal more about the [Truth of the World] that Esther despised so deeply. Things that Evelyn herself subtly hinted at without ever connecting the dots.

I know there are things that weren't shown, like what happened to Shizuka, Eve, and the others, and that's only natural. Maybe I'll cover those in the side stories! But this story has always been about Evelyn and Esther, and now that story has come to an end.

Until next time! And I hope Evelyn's story managed to touch your hearts! OwO