Malenia shuddered when the voice of her captor reached her ears.
Everything about this man repulsed her down to the very core of her being.
“Why have you kept me alive?” She asked, perfectly hiding her inner fear.
“Don’t you know?” Exedra kneeled down in front of the chained woman and tilted her chin upwards. “Why would a demon lord keep a woman like you alive?”
For the first time Malenia’s confident facade broke as her eyes went wide.
“B-but you said you had no interest in my body?”
“Hm? I never said that, I’m quite interested in your body.”
“More specifically…”
Exedra turned Malenia around and made it so that she was facing the wall, leaving her large and supple behind exposed to her hated enemy.
‘He’s.. he’s going to violate me..’ Malenia thought inwardly.
She had maintained her chastity throughout centuries of being alive despite the disgusting men who had tried to take it from her, but now it seemed she was about to lose that most sacred part of herself to this hybrid monster.
Weakly, she closed her eyes and resigned herself to her fate, while pledging not to make a sound.
She would not give this demon the pleasure of whimpering under him.
Suddenly she felt hands somewhere unexpected and opened her eyes to look behind her and see him playing with her wings.
“What I’m interested in is these…” Exedra examined everything about her wings from the feathers to their base in her tanned back.
He looked up to see a shocked Malenia staring at him and he could not help but smirk.
Leaning forward to whisper in her ear, he decided to tease her just a bit.
“Were you hoping my interest would be in something else?”
His words seemed to aggravate her, changing her look of shock to one of anger and shame. “Y-you were purposefully misleading me!!”
“I did no such thing.” Exedra denied.
“Y-you said you were interested in my b-body! What was I supposed to think?!”
“Let me be clear.” Exedra’s tone now contained a seriousness that made Malenia feel like a child in front of a parent.
“I have no interest in violating you. I could snap my fingers and all of the women in the world would fall at my feet, so why would I need to force myself on you? Are you naive enough to think your beauty is so great that it would cause me to lose myself in front of you? You are a joke.”
Those words stung like no other as Malenia once again faced the wall.
She could not deny the handsomeness of the man behind her, even though she had long been quelled of those sorts of urges, she knew that he was the epitome of attractiveness who could even make goddesses fall for him.
Malenia had no doubt he was not bluffing when he claimed he could have every woman in the world if he so desired them.
It was then she noticed another fact that left her slightly upset.
From the very beginning, this man never looked at her with lust in his eyes.
She was considered to be one of the three most beautiful women in all of the white city, and yet the man in front of her did not have the slightest interest in her appearance from the beginning.
Not as a wife, not as a breeding slave, not even a maid.
His only interest seemed to be in the wings on her back.𝑜𝑣𝔩xt.𝗇t
For some reason, that fact left her dissatisfied.
She silently let him prod at her wings while she analyzed these feelings that she did not understand.
“Tell me, how does a human become an angel?” Exedra suddenly asked.
Malenia flinched as she suddenly remembered this demon somehow knew of the human kingdom’s greatest kept secret.
“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Malenia said in a convincing tone.
Even if she was a captive, she would never divulge the secrets of her god.
Her resolve was unwavering and uncompromising, even if she was tortured horribly, she would not divulge those secrets to anyone.
“Is that so?..”
Truthfully, Exedra was not surprised she was being so tight lipped and he’d actually expected it.
“Ah well, it’s not important.” He merely shrugged it off.
“What?” Malenia could not help but voice out her shock.
Why was he just letting it go?
Wasn’t he supposed to start torturing her?
Why is this demon lord so weird?
“I’m more interested in something else.” Exedra said.
“I’m quite familiar with angels you see, but I wonder if everything I know about you from books and such is true.”
For some reason, his words made the holy being nervous.
Even though he had yet to harm her in any way, she couldn’t help but feel like he would soon begin.
“You are said to be pure beings devoid of any sort of dark desires or impulses.”
Malenia listened with bated breath, unsure of where exactly he was going with this.
“And yet, your nature as a former human directly contradicts this.” He allowed her to turn around and sit back on the ground with her back now facing the stone wall.
“I’m sure whoever changed you tried to scrub as much of those impulses as they could but I do wonder… did he truly succeed?”
She finally seemed to understand what exact he was implying and frowned, finding it incredibly insulting. “I assure you I have no such desires.”
“Oh? Let’s give you some then.”
Without waiting for another word from her, Exedra tapped the angel lightly on the forehead and injected a bit of energy into her.
Immediately, a heat began to spread throughout Malenia’s body that concentrated between her legs.
An itch that she was entirely unfamiliar with began begging to be scratched and she stared at the man responsible in rage and horror.
‘W-why do I suddenly want him.. so much?!’
“Y-you.. what did you do to me?!”
“I gave you some desire.” Exedra said without much thought.
“Take it back!!”
“Sure.” Exedra stood up and prepared to exit the cell.
“What are you doing?! I said take it back!!”
He gave her a final pitiful look as he closed the door to her cell. “If you can abstain for ten days, I’ll take it back.”
“Y-you monster!!”
Exedra ignored her and continued to exit the dungeon.
Truthfully, Exedra did not expect much to happen.
He just wanted to know if these self righteous champions of the human race were as immune to darker pleasures as they’d have the masses believe.
After that? He’d probably just kill her.
Much like his mother, he was not fond of leaving enemies alive.
–
Currently, Exedra was sitting in what had become his study.
Lying on top of his desk was the heart of the powerful enemy Audrina had killed.
He had yet to consume it because he’d been fairly busy over the last few days and lacked the time.
But since he had a moment free, there was no better time than this.
In the past he would’ve been more hesitant to consume the heart of an enemy he did not kill himself, however after losing his last battle so spectacularly, he now understood that when it came to gaining strength he had to seize every opportunity.
He would always be grateful for the vampire queen’s help but he would never treat her as some kind of crutch.
What kind of man leaves his fate in the hands of others when he is perfectly capable?
He raised the heart to his mouth and took a large bite and he felt power flowing into him followed by some surprise messages from the system.
[Due to the vast difference in power between the host and the heart’s owner, the heart will count as two instead of one.
[ + 10,000 all stats
[Because the victim’s soul was not present, host is unable to absorb his affinities or destroy his existence.
‘How could his soul be missing..?’ Exedra wondered.
He didn’t think Audrina had done anything to it, so why wasn’t it present?
An idea bubbled into his mind and he found himself hoping that he was correct.
“If you’re still alive… I’ll be sure to kill you myself next time.” His eyes began to glow vibrantly.
While he was grateful for Audrina’s help, he was still a dragon and a man so he naturally wanted to kill this enemy with his own two hands.
He humiliated him in front of his family after all and such an offense could not be allowed to stand.
‘Audrina…’ his thoughts suddenly drifted to the cheerful and seductive vampire who he’d already begun to treat as his own family.
‘How do I really feel about her?…’
One could not deny she was devoted to him, and he also appreciated how far she’d gone to win his affections, but there was another worry plaguing his mind.
He already had four wives, much more than he ever imagined he would have.
Could he take another bride and still maintain this happy and dreamlike life he’d built, or would he stretch himself too thin and leave some of his loved ones unsatisfied?
‘I don’t understand how other dragons can possibly have such enormous harems..’
He shook his head to free himself of those thoughts for the moment.
For now there was something he felt he desperately needed to check.
[Evolution Path: ???????????????????
(Unseen Horror of Realities)
[ First Stage Conditions
– Conquer five dungeons (5/5) Complete!
– Consume the hearts of ten worthy enemies (3/10)
– Gain a total of four affinities (6/4) Complete!
Unbeknownst to him, it looked like he’d altered his fate enough to veer from the path he was formerly on.
He wasn’t exactly sure what this new evolution entailed, but the description alone excited him to no end.
_________________________
Okay so I’m at a bit of a crossroads for the next arc so I just decided to get you guys opinions.
Do you want…
Valerie’s revenge arc
Or…
Reuniting the parents arc
Vote for which you want first!