Disqualified Mother ♥ (1)
Exhausted from the battle outside the city, we were escorted back by the knight order who had come to investigate the commotion. I must have only dozed off briefly in the carriage on the way, but when I woke again, a luxurious bedroom ceiling greeted me.
Where... am I?
"Ah, you're awake."
The old man with a thick white beard adjusted the hearth fire as he greeted me. My ragged clothes from the intense fight had been neatly folded by the bedside, and I'd been changed into comfortable attire. As soon as I sat up, an intense thirst burned in my throat like fire, and I gulped down the water from the table without thinking.
With his wrinkled hands, he poured me more and said, "Drink slowly. You've been asleep for two days, so your throat must be parched."
"...Two days?"
No matter how fierce the fight had been, I hadn't expected to sleep that long.
"More importantly... Bella. Where's Bella?"
I asked about her safety first. The last I'd seen, she'd used up all her mana and collapsed with a face as pale as a corpse.
"Bella...? Ah, do you mean the lady who was with you?"
Before he could answer, the sound of heels clicking on stone grew closer. The door flew open with a bang!, and she rushed to my side.
"Is your body alright? Anywhere hurt?"
She must have been drained from using all her mana too, yet she prioritized my well-being over her own.
"I'm fine. But if it's not too rude, who might you be...?"
I calmed her as she pressed her hand to my forehead, eyes brimming with tears, fussing over any pain, and asked the old man who he was.
"My apologies, I've lost my manners—my introduction's late."
The old man with glossy, well-groomed white hair—not brittle at all—introduced himself as the Zarfurt Mage, direct mage to the lord of Zarfurt.
"Truly, your tear-jerking struggle set this old man's heart racing."
He'd witnessed our fight through magic from the moment explosions echoed from the city outskirts.
"I called the knights right away and prepared defenses... but to think you two defeated a monster impervious to both magic and sword!"
His face lit with emotion as he ranted on.
"Blocking that beast charging straight for the city by leaping from your carriage—it was an act of nobility beyond words."
His hospitality suddenly made sense. From his view, we were heroes who'd fought desperately for the city.
"We just did what needed doing. Got lucky, that's all."
"Haha, so humble too. Do you know how much damage other cities suffered from those monsters?"
With a kindly smile, he handed me a warm cup of honey tea.
"Other... cities?"
"Ah, you wouldn't know."
While I slept, he'd learned of the disasters striking every nation on the continent—one per country.
"What you fought is called the Dragon of Ruin by the people."
There had been seven such beasts identical to ours. Some cities were utterly devastated, he explained—countless citizens slain before heroes finally brought them down with great sacrifice.
"To risk your lives against such a horrific monster just to protect the city..."
He felt immense gratitude that the city he guarded had been spared, thanks to us. We'd stood against it mainly for our own survival, but it was a fine misunderstanding not worth correcting.
"You two are Zarfurt's heroes."
He praised us effusively, filling us in on the two days' events.
"Saint Cecilia delivered an oracle from Lumina Goddess."
"An oracle?"
"The Demon King has been resurrected."
"No... Leon...!"
Bella paled, gripping my hand tightly.
"And the Goddess prophesied that chosen heroes will slay that Demon King."
It sounded like a big deal. Seeing my interest, he elaborated.
"Heh, it concerns you too. The Goddess said the heroes who'll subjugate the Demon King are those who defeated the Dragons of Ruin."
At the old mage's words, Bella's face drained white, on the verge of fainting.
"Absolutely not."
"But, Mother."
"This time, really, no."
Back in our quarters from the castle reception hall, we faced off tensely. Belia watched us awkwardly.
It was a familiar, déjà vu scene. I was blocking Leon's reckless heroism again.
Just like before, when he'd stubbornly insisted on taking down that dark sorcerer alone.
"...Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely not..."
But deep down, I already knew. I wouldn't stop him in the end.
Leon had charged off on mere suspicion of a dark sorcerer before. This time, with the continent's fate possibly on his shoulders—not just family or territory—he wouldn't back down.
But I desperately wanted to stop him this time. His foe wasn't some mere dark sorcerer.
It was the Demon King—ruler of brutal, ruthless villains aiming for the continent's doom. Cruel, ruthless, savage, hateful. A terrifying demon draped in every horrific descriptor imaginable.
Leon, facing that being qualified to defy the entire continent alone...
If I lost him... Just thinking it blurred my vision with tears.
I couldn't go back to a life without Leon anymore.
...Plus, most of the chosen heroes were women, I'd heard. Not that it mattered, but if naive Leon fell for some wicked woman...
And not just any wicked woman—a strong one who'd felled a Dragon of Ruin.
"I'll give you anything you want, Leon... but not this!"
As I tearfully blocked him, Leon said,
"Come with me."
...Huh?
Did Leon just ask me to come along?
Begging me to join that dangerous, grueling quest to subjugate the Demon King?
Unlike before, he wasn't stubbornly going alone. This time, he was asking for my help.
"I need Mother's power."
When he looks at me like that, saying he truly needs me... how could I refuse?
How could I say no when he insists my help is essential? And if I'm by his side... I can keep him from falling for some vulgar woman.
"Will you come with me?"
"You really are a naughty boy... Leon..."
I nodded shamelessly through tears and threw myself into his arms. I hugged him tight until my breasts pressed so hard I could barely breathe.
Whether natural reaction or not, I felt Leon's body heat up against mine. Such an incorrigible boy... ♥
"Heh... Not just Mother's power, but something even more, is that what you want...?"
I gently pushed back the aroused Leon—who looked ready to pounce—and murmured softly.
"Wait just a moment, Leon... I'll prepare a really good reward... ♥"
Leaving Leon, I returned to my room and steeled myself to call my 'husband' via crystal orb.
He answered with a surly expression. The connection was near the capital...
...Probably meeting another young lover again.
I told him I'd follow Leon to subjugate the Demon King.
After a deep breath and my quiet declaration, he permitted it casually, like it was nothing.
That easily?
All my prepared arguments went to waste. It felt utterly hollow.
To him, our plunging into mortal peril seemed a fine thing. Leon wasn't even his firstborn, and a concubine's life meant little.
His crippled eldest son mattered more than Leon, his second by another woman—not out of hatred for the different mother, but because the Sodus heir was a dead ringer for his wastrel father.
"Well, if you're going with him, that's good, isn't it? That all?"
His attitude—eager to end the call and return to his lover—extinguished my lingering guilt like water on embers.
To him, our lives were optional. If we died heroically slaying the Demon King, we'd glorify the house.
The scales of conscience and desire, long balanced, tipped with that one grain of sand he tossed.
Why maintain devotion in a faithless marriage?
I wanted to return to the one who truly desired me.
"Yes, that's it. Goodbye... dear."
He might not realize, but as his wife, I'd declared our end.
"...Belia?"
I called to Belia waiting outside the door.
"Yes, Master."
"I... I think I can finally be honest with Leon."
My friend who understood my twisted feelings, to whom I could bare my heart... I nodded faintly to Belia and smiled brightly.
"Master, have you... finally decided?"
"Yeah, now... I know for sure."
"Master..."
Belia gazed at me with a sunlit smile.
I took her hand and made one more shameless request.
"Still, alone would be a bit scary and embarrassing... Can you help, Belia?"
She smiled joyfully, took my hand, and led me to the wardrobe.
"Does this... suit me?"
"Heh, anything suits you, Master."
"Really, Belia too..."
To become a mother seducing her child, I dressed with Belia in outfits to stoke Leon's desires. Debating which would tempt him most, I firmed my resolve.
Today, I'd cross the final line I'd drawn with Leon.
With Belia as witness, I'd cement our immoral, lewd, sinful bond.
As Bella Sodus—not Belia—I'd give myself to Leon... ♥