Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chirrppp… Chirrppp…

The morning light slowly filtered through the cracks of the sky as the birds stirred from their slumber, greeting the world with a gentle, melodic symphony of chirps.

“Yeah… That’s all… That’s the story of Aether,” Aether said quietly, his voice carrying a weight of exhaustion and strange relief as he finally finished recounting his entire story to her.

He hadn’t held back. Not even once. He told her everything—every detail, every truth.

From the shadows that had followed him to the miracles that had happened around him… and even the future, the terrifying, uncertain future that loomed over them.

He wasn’t sure why exactly, but… he felt something inside him lighten. Like a huge weight, chained to his chest for so long, had finally been lifted.

It was like a nail—rusted, painful, and deeply embedded—that had been slowly, silently piercing his heart for all this time… finally pulled out.

He… didn’t need to keep lying anymore. He didn’t need to fake emotions or live behind a veil of manipulation and deceit.

No more tricks.

No more pretending.

No more lies… no more hiding… It felt like, for once, he could breathe. Like something pure had touched his soul.

For the first time, maybe… he felt free… Truly free.

Delphine just stared at him. Her gaze was blank. Her lips slightly parted. Her eyes were wide with a mixture of disbelief and shock… just like all the others before her.

She couldn’t grasp what she had just heard.

It was too much.

She looked as if she was trying to ask herself, ‘Was that even real?’

Everything he said sounded insane. Unreal. Impossible. And yet… the more she tried to deny it, the more it all strangely made sense—especially considering everything he had done, all those impossible miracles she had witnessed with her own eyes.

Delphine didn’t say a word. Her expression was stormy, unreadable. Her mind was a tangled mess of thoughts and emotions. She turned around quietly, not even sparing him a glance, and began to leave the room. Not a single word escaped her lips…

Aether watched her bare back as she walked away from him. She was naked, vulnerable, beautiful… and yet, none of that mattered to him right now. He wasn’t looking at her body. He was feeling her soul, the storm raging inside her—hurt, confusion, betrayal, fear.

He instinctively raised his hand as if to stop her… but then slowly let it drop. He remembered what happened with Helena.

He had already hurt one woman by forcing his presence on her.

He wasn’t going to do that again. He wasn’t going to make Delphine back away from him like that.

That would only twist the knife in his own heart deeper.

Aether shook his head gently and spoke, his voice trembling, raw, fragile, “I… I loved you for who you are, Delphine… From the very beginning, from the very first moment… until now…

Everyone else… they were part of my plan. My targets. My strategy. But you… I fell for you simply because you were you. I didn’t want to. I didn’t plan to. But I did. I always lo—”

Thud!

She closed the door behind her with a sharp, louder-than-necessary bang, cutting him off before he could finish the confession that was cracking his soul open.

Aether blinked slowly, staring at the door in silence before softly murmuring, “I always loved you…” The words barely left his mouth, drenched in pain. His expression had broken, his lips trembling, his shoulders slightly shaking.

He stood still for a few moments, lost in a silence… Then, slowly, he began putting on his clothes.

He had made a choice. A heavy, honest, terrifying choice. To tell her the truth. To rip open his own secrets and lay them bare before her. He finally did it… he told her what had been eating at his mind, devouring him from within, haunting his nights.

Now it was her turn. Her decision. Her choice. Just like Helena had once been given. He wouldn’t interfere.

Why hadn’t he manipulated her?

Why didn’t he twist his words like he always did? Why didn’t he lie, act, or deceive like he was used to doing?

With Helena, maybe it made sense. But Delphine?

He could have tricked her. He could have easily led her emotions wherever he wanted. But he didn’t.

Why?

WHY?

Was Aether… turning into a good boy?

Hell NO.

Even if the whole damn world turned into ashes and Hell itself swallowed the heavens, Aether was definitely not a good boy~

Maybe a little good boy, but definitely not too good!!

But still… he had done this deliberately.

He had a reason. As he said before… Delphine could see the future.

He wasn’t sure if she already knew something about him. Maybe she had glimpsed fragments, warnings, nightmares. Maybe not. But he wasn’t going to gamble or delay things anymore. No more games.

That fear she had shown when he began talking—he saw it. Clear as daylight. And in that moment, he knew she knew. She had seen something, and he realized… if he played with his words now, like he did with Sandra, it would be unforgivable.

If she hadn’t reacted like that, if she hadn’t flinched… maybe he would have crafted his story carefully, disguised his intentions behind charming smiles and twisted logic.

He would have made it easier for himself.

But no… this was different. He couldn’t play games here.

And that’s the only reason why… he had come and told her directly. The unfiltered truth. No manipulation. No performance. Just the raw, ugly truth.

Now… everything was in her hands. Just like Helena.

It was up to them now… to decide what to do with him.

With those heavy thoughts swirling in his chest, Aether teleported from her room.

Meanwhile, Delphine leaned her back against the closed door. Her breath was shaky. She heard… she fucking heard everything.

Every word he muttered in that broken voice. Every raw emotion. Every bit of his pain and confession.

To be honest, she was furious.

Fucking furious.

So much so that her hands were trembling. Her lips were pressed into a thin line. She didn’t even want to scream or cry. She just wanted to avoid him. Completely. Entirely.

He betrayed her trust.

He betrayed her time.

He betrayed her love.

He betrayed HER.

Her power—her damn foresight—had warned her. Again and again. It had screamed at her through nightmares and flashes and trembling nerves. She had steeled her heart and prepared herself for the unavoidable future… but not like this.

Never—never—did she think everything had already been happening right under her nose. And that bastard?

He never breathed a word… Not even a passing hint.

What made it worse?

She was the last to know.

The last.

Was that how little she meant to him?

Was she really just a nobody in the background of his story, not worth even a sliver of honesty until the very end?

She had bared everything to him.

Her secrets, her vulnerability, her love.

And this… this was what she got in return?

Betrayal.

The nerve… The fucking nerve!

A thousand ugly thoughts stormed her mind, each more venomous than the last. Her vision blurred. Her eyes trembled. It felt like her tears were ready to fall any second—but she refused.

Slap!

She slapped both cheeks—hard.

“Get it together,” she muttered to herself, her voice cold and shaking.

She straightened up and walked stiffly to the bathroom, stripped off her clothes, and stepped into the water. She washed herself mechanically, scrubbing her skin as if trying to erase his touch, his presence, everything about him. When she stepped out and dried off, she dressed herself in her usual academy uniform—but this time, her expression…

Was hollow. Cold. Empty.

“Don’t you dare cry!” she reminded herself again as she adjusted her collar, forcing her face to remain still, unreadable.

She grabbed her bag, stepped outside, and headed straight for the Academy.

Arriving at the Academy grounds, Delphine walked with a sharp, rigid posture. Her expression was chillingly cold, her gaze narrowed and piercing. Her steps were heavy, and her presence exuded a quiet but terrifying pressure.

Even the staff walking beside her instinctively moved away. They felt it—the suffocating chill, the heavy atmosphere that seemed to wrap around her like an invisible blizzard.

She was shutting herself down.

Piece by piece, she was freezing her emotions.

“You need to move that equipment to that side… and that crate too,” the Principal, Dora, was instructing a few workers who were installing new supplies inside the new classroom.

Sensing a sudden shift in the air, Dora turned her head—and froze, “Oh? I thought I gave you two days off—” she began, but stopped the moment her eyes fell on Delphine’s face.

That face—so blank, so drained, so cold—sent a jolt through her chest.

Delphine’s eyes… held nothing.

No anger. No sadness. No hope. Just numbness.

Dora clicked her tongue internally. ‘That damn idiot,’ she thought, already guessing who was behind this. The same man who had shown up this morning at her office with a broken, defeated expression and asked—no, begged—her to look after Delphine.

Back then, Dora had wondered what the hell Aether had done.

Now… she understood.

Looking around, she noticed how even the workers were fidgeting, some flinching as if the very air had turned icy with Delphine’s arrival.

Dora sighed and handed the blueprints to one of her assistants. “Handle the rest. I’ll be back in a bit,” she said before walking toward the girl.

“Would you like to have breakfast with me?” she asked gently.

Delphine glanced at her with tired, empty eyes, just about to shake her head, but Dora didn’t wait. She grabbed her hand and dragged her away without a word.

…

Inside a quiet, private room of a fancy restaurant—one meant for noble guests—only the two of them sat across from each other.

“What would you like to eat?” Dora asked casually, her tone light.

Delphine shifted awkwardly. “P-Principal, I-I really don’t nee—”

“Yeah, yeah… just bring two of these,” Dora cut her off and told the waiter, who nodded, took the order, and left, shutting the door behind him.

Silence.

The kind that presses on the ears.

Dora leaned back in her seat, staring gently at Delphine.

“Honestly, I’m surprised. I can’t believe he told you this soon,” she said, tapping her finger on the table.

She was genuinely surprised. Aether? Confessing? That quickly?

Maybe it was because of what happened with Maelona… maybe that shook him into changing his method. Maybe he finally realised the damage silence could do.

Dora shook her head. ‘Honestly, that was a stupid move,’ she thought. He should’ve come to her. She could have given him advice. Some actual strategy on how to break it to Delphine slowly. Carefully.

But… she also wasn’t entirely against what he did.

The more he hid, the more he lied. The more he lied, the more guilt he built up.

In a twisted way… this might’ve been the only honest thing he could do.

Delphine blinked and looked up. Her voice was soft, trembling. “Y-You knew all this?”

Dora shrugged with a small sigh. “Not everything… but yeah, I knew about his relationship with multiple women.”

Delphine’s fists clenched under the table. Her teeth gritted together as she stared down at her lap.

‘Even the strangers knew him more than me…’

The thought burned her from inside, feeding her resentment.

Dora offered a helpless smile. “Come on now… You look like death warmed over. I know you’re angry—furious even. And you have every right to be. I’m not here to defend him. He’s a jerk. A reckless idiot who plays with women’s hearts like it’s a game.”

Delphine’s shone a bite and, “Doesn’t he?! That fucking jerk… that man of mine… how dare he betray me like that?!” she shouted, her voice rising, her face twisting into a mixture of rage and heartache. “Motherfucker!!” as her eyes slowly returned normal.

She spat the words out like venom, her chest heaving.

Dora smiled softly despite it, watching the emotions finally come to the surface.

She glanced to the side… through the glass.

Far, far away… high above the clouds…

A lone figure hovered in the sky. Watching them silently.

His soft eyes carried no pride. Just quiet longing.

His gentle smile held no peace.

“I guess, leaving it in her hands was the right choice.”