Chapter 20: Run, Eksu, Run

【Eksu PoV】

“Eksu… Eksu… you were a bad boy.”

My heart nearly exploded out of my chest.

“What… wait… Elizabeth… calm down…”

She didn’t listen.

She pushed me onto the bed, pinning me down.

My mind was racing, desperately looking for an escape route.

I started thinking of several possible ways to escape.

Through the window…

That might be a good one.

I started looking for a nearby window, but it was locked.

Great.

Excellent…

…

Damn.

I only have 【Absolute Defense】, not 【Absolute Attack】.

So even if I try with all my might, even if I use an ultimate attack…

The most I’ll be able to do is scratch the window a little.

Very little, and that’s if I scratch it at all.

Damn.

If I could change my power right now, I’d choose 【Absolute Attack】.

Nothing…?!

No change?!

No divine help?!

“Eksu… my parents will take a while to get here… we have a lot… a lot of time alone…”

I need to think of something.

I don’t want to… I can’t lose my innocence like this.

Not like this out of the blue.

Damn it…

Someone help me.

“A…”

I tried to scream.

But Elizabeth came closer.

She put her hand over my mouth so I couldn’t scream.

“Calm down.. Eksu… even if you scream, no one will come…”

Wait…

She managed to “attack” me without me activating my ability…

What the hell is going on.

How?

Why?

“Eksu, by the look of astonishment on your face… you must be wondering why your ability didn’t activate… right…”

“…”

I thought desperately, my mind swirling with questions and doubts.

I felt the cold sweat trickling down my back as every possible escape plan vanished before my eyes.

For a moment, my thoughts turned to memories of past battles—each time, my 【Absolute Defense】 had saved me. But never like this. Never when my very soul felt trapped in a web of twisted fate.

A sudden pang of fear mixed with anger rose inside me.

“I… I trusted my power to always protect me.”

I whispered silently, clenching my fists in vain.

The room seemed to close in, and my heart pounded as if it were trying to break free from its cage.

After a long, heavy pause, I could barely hear my own breathing.

“…”

It’s not possible.

She found a flaw in my ability that I thought was invincible.

What the hell am I going to do.

How the hell am I going to defend myself from this crazy, obsessed woman?!

For a brief moment, I tried to focus on the memories of every lesson I’d ever learned about fighting and survival. But now, in this suffocating moment, all that mattered was my dread and the overwhelming pressure crushing my resolve.

“Eksu… Eksu… your mother revealed something very significant to me… your ability protects you from any attack that wants to hurt or kill you.”

I already knew that.

I’ve gotten away with a lot… with you.

A bitter laugh escaped me as I recalled the countless times my power had failed to save me from more personal wounds than physical blows.

“But… an intriguing thing happens when the attack isn’t meant to hurt you… I’ve been testing it in a few intimate moments… and what really occurs is that when the ‘attack’ is seen as a tender caress, it just doesn’t ignite.”

I felt my heart sink with the realization that my safeguard was not a shield against this warped kind of love.

I thought of all the times I had hoped for a chance to break free, to reclaim even a shred of my independence. Yet here I was, pinned down by someone whose affections were as dangerous as they were obsessive.

A cold shiver ran down my spine as I registered her next words.

A new thought pierced the haze of panic: Is this really love, or just a twisted hunger?

I tried to focus on my breathing, willing myself to think clearly despite the overwhelming pressure.

Between the beating of my heart, I heard a soft, almost tender murmur from her.

“Don’t you feel it, Eksu? The intensity… the passion behind every move I make?”

Her words cut through the chaos, as if trying to justify her actions.

I could only stare, caught between a desire to understand and the desperate urge to escape.

The room seemed to echo with the sound of my racing pulse and the silent thuds of my falling hopes.

I closed my eyes, willing myself to find an answer in the labyrinth of my thoughts, but all I found was fear—a fear that maybe I was destined to be trapped like this forever.

I opened my eyes, and in that moment of vulnerability, the pressure of her gaze felt like a physical weight on my soul.

“I didn’t attack you to hurt you, not even with the force necessary to do so…”

“But…”

Before I could form another thought, her tone shifted as if she was about to deliver another blow—not just physical, but emotional.

A new voice rang in my mind, one that reminded me of every betrayal and every moment of helplessness.

The pressure was mounting, and I could almost feel the gears of fate grinding against me.

“Eksu… you know what I want… I know you know what I want… your mother knows and supports it… your father too…”

Her words hit me like a tidal wave.

Damn, I’m being pressured.

There’s nothing I can do.

Without my 【Absolute Defense】 I can’t counterattack.

And unless she acts to physically harm me and not my innocence… my ability won’t activate.

I could feel despair creeping in, a heavy cloak that threatened to smother every last spark of hope.

Mother…

Father…

Siegfried…

Everyone betrayed me.

Everyone agreed for this moment to come.

Damn it.

There’s nothing I can do.

Only if…

I closed my eyes tightly and tried to summon even a scrap of courage. I remembered quiet moments in my childhood—times when the world was simple and my worries were few. But now, each memory was drowned out by the relentless storm of my current fate.

A single thought kept echoing in my mind: I must not give in, I must find a way.

But the more I fought internally, the more the reality of my helplessness became clear.

I glanced around the room, noticing every detail—the dull patterns on the walls, the muted light filtering through a small window, the steady tick of a clock I had never paid attention to before. Each detail reminded me that time was passing slowly, and that with every second, my situation was growing more desperate.

“Elizabeth… I mean… Liz-chan… think, this moment must be special… after the wedding.”

Yes.

If I convince her to wait, if I stop this hunger of hers, I can think about a lot of things during the time I’ll have.

I can postpone, then postpone until I see what I can do.

For a split second, a small voice inside me dared to hope that maybe, just maybe, there was another way out—a plan I hadn’t yet considered. I imagined a future where I could regain control, where I could finally break free from this cycle of relentless pressure and twisted affection.

But then reality crashed down on me like a hammer.

“Eksu… your mother told me, there’s no need to wait, she said, if you want something badly enough, go and get it before someone else does…”

The weight of those words sank into me.

What the hell did my mother do to this girl.

She not only corrupted her, but turned her into the biggest predator the world has ever seen.

The intensity in her eyes sharpened as she spoke, and I could feel the crushing certainty of her desire.

A new, sharper panic gripped me. I thought of all the times I had hoped for rescue, for a sign that someone cared enough to help me. But now, even that hope seemed to be slipping away like sand through my fingers.

Then, as if the final blow was coming, her voice rose to a shrill cry:

“Eksu, we’re going to the Academy, there will be a lot of girls there, and if one of them steals you from me, I can’t let it happen, you’re mine and only mine!!”

She pushed me onto the bed.

Hard enough to do so, but she made sure my ability wouldn’t activate.

Damn. It seems like everything was calculated by her.

There’s nothing I can do but give up.

I’m going to become someone like my father.

A doormat for my wife.

This may be the family’s destiny.

A destiny passed down from father to son, who knows for how many generations.

Before I could give up, I heard a loud voice.

“Elizabeth… I’m here…”

Judging by the voice, it was Elizabeth’s parents.

I’m saved.