Acheron averted her gaze and looked back at her own blurred reflection on the water's surface.
"Someone like me—a Self-Annihilator bound with the curse of Nihility—has no right to be loved," Acheron said expressionlessly, her voice lowered slightly, carrying a bone-deep detachment and a sense of self-abandonment. "Besides, I never have any expectation of it, nor do I need anyone's affection."
Her words swept through the warm pool like a cold gust of wind, bringing a brief silence in their wake.
In that instant, the smile on Serfina's face faded, replaced by a complicated expression.
However, while there was sympathy in her expression, there was also a trace of something difficult to notice... challenge?
Apparently, she did not fully believe in Acheron's apparent resolve.
Robin, on the other hand, looked at Acheron's lonely profile with concern.
Saber, too, forgot her shyness—her emerald eyes now filled with confusion at the heavy sense of loneliness that radiated from Acheron, along with a quiet hint of respect.
"So that's how it is…" Serfina let out a soft sigh and did not press the matter further. "Then... Miss Acheron, just do what feels comfortable for you. No matter what, this place will always welcome you."
Acheron gave a slight nod in response and then fell back into silence, as if that brief moment of confession had never happened at all.
Just like that, the water in the pool rippled gently, its surface reflecting four women, each one lost in her own thoughts.
Lucian, who had quietly listened to their conversation from the poolside, was not surprised by this outcome.
Flirting with a straight, beautiful woman?
Easy.
Flirting with a lesbian?
A little troublesome, but there was still a chance.
However, trying to flirt with a Self-Annihilator who lacked desires and emotions altogether?
It was extremely difficult.
Even though Acheron still possessed basic emotions, enough to allow her to communicate with others and even show a gentle side when she wished, if she were to go deeper into the Nihility, that small fragment of gentleness would probably be worn away as well.
'Really makes me wanna see what she was like back in her days as Raiden Bosenmori Mei... I bet she must've been a perfect waifu...'
===
As the night grew deeper, the neon lights of Penacony shone through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, casting colorful shadows along the corridors of Lucian's cozy house.
After exchanging goodnights, the four women returned to their respective bedrooms.
Serfina's bedroom was luxurious-looking, filled with a mature, alluring atmosphere.
Right after taking a scented bath, she sat at her vanity, wrapped in a silky robe, unhurriedly applying her expensive skincare products. Her captivating face was reflected in the mirror, though her gaze seemed slightly unfocused, as if lost in thought.
"Lucian..." Serfina muttered longingly. "After hearing all that by the pool today, tonight he'll definitely..."
A confident smile slowly curled at the corner of her lips as she paused, and then her fingers unconsciously traced along the smooth line of her neck, making her appear somewhat sensual.
"Just me and the little bird won't be enough to satisfy that... hungry wolf..."
Serfina muttered quietly, then recalled Saber's shocked and blushing expression, finding it quietly amusing.
"Still, Artoria's reaction was way too innocent..."
After a few moments of silence, Serfina glanced at the time and saw that it was still early.
"I'll wait until it's late, until Acheron and Artoria are asleep, then go for a nighttime ambush..."
Having made up her mind, Serfina, in a good mood, hummed softly as she brushed her long, silky silver hair in front of the mirror, patiently waiting for the right moment.
===
Meanwhile, beside Serfina's bedroom stood Robin's bedroom, but unlike Serfina's, Robin's was filled with a cute, girlish atmosphere.
At this moment, she wore a soft white nightdress, hugging a feather pillow as she tossed and turned restlessly on her bed.
'What Mother said by the pool today... Lucian definitely heard it...'
Remembering her mother's blunt 'too much to handle' and the word 'sex' directed at Saber, Robin's cheeks grew hot, and she hurriedly buried her face into the pillow.
"Mother, seriously... she'll say anything anywhere..."
Even though she complained about it, a faint sense of anticipation and longing quietly rose within Robin's heart.
Lucian's warm, strong embrace, his low, magnetic voice, those heart-pounding, body-melting intimate moments—just thinking about them made her body feel faintly heated, a subtle warmth spreading through her body, especially in her lower abdomen—it felt fluttery and somewhat damp.
"I really want to go find him..."
Robin murmured softly, wriggling like a shy kitten in her nest.
After wriggling for a while, she suddenly stood up, walked over to the wall, pressed her ear against it, and listened toward her mother's bedroom next door, hearing that there didn't seem to be any movement at all.
"Mother should be asleep, right?" Robin muttered, feeling hesitant. "If I wait a bit longer… when it's really late and quiet... should I sneak over... and give Lucian a surprise?"
As this sudden idea crossed her mind, her heart began to race, filling her with nervousness and a gentle sweetness at the same time.
In the end, she lay back on the bed, wrapped herself tightly in the blanket, forced her eyes shut, and began counting Charmony Doves, quietly waiting for the night to grow deeper.
===
At the same time, at the very end of the hallway, in a dimly lit corner, stood the door to Acheron's bedroom.
Unlike the bird mother and daughter pair, Acheron's bedroom was so simple that it was almost empty—there was only a bed with plain sheets, two nightstands with lamps, and a single meditation cushion.
Acheron, not yet asleep, was sitting cross-legged on the bed, eyes closed in meditation, attempting to grasp a trace of clarity within the Nihility.
During this meditation, she suddenly recalled Serfina's words by the pool earlier, Saber's innocent yet awkward reaction, and Robin's shy yet happy expression.
In that instant, those memories, like stones thrown into a deep abyss, stirred a faint, barely perceptible ripple within her usually hollow and unchanging heart.
'Join this family...?'
Suddenly, this somewhat absurd thought flashed through her mind, which Acheron immediately brushed aside like flicking away a speck of dust.
'No, this is already enough. Any deeper relationship would be meaningless and would only bring trouble.'
Yet immediately after thinking this, another, more distant thought quietly surfaced.
'If I weren't from Izumo... If I hadn't gone through all of that... Would I have fallen in love and had children like an ordinary woman?'
As this thought emerged, it caused a faint tremor in Acheron's heart, even for a Self-Annihilator like her.
In the next instant, she tried to refocus and return to meditation, but the thought refused to fade, stubbornly poking its head out from the darkness of the Nihility.
'Fall in love...?'
For Acheron, the term was as empty as a meaningless symbol.
'Have children?'
Her reason for existing was to stand guard on the path leading into the abyss of the Nihility, to watch over those unwilling to fall into the Nihility, and even to hope that one day she could sever the Nihility itself.
Such a path was destined never to give rise to new life.
A devoted wife and mother?
A stable home?
A place to belong?
For Acheron, all these ideas were so foreign and distant, like mirages from another universe.
Deep within the cold lake of her heart, there seemed to be a trace of warmth—one even she herself failed to notice—that tried to struggle and stir when it brushed against those mirages, only to be instantly swallowed by something far greater: coldness and emptiness.
'Huft...'
An almost inaudible sigh, filled with endless self-mockery and desolation, echoed in Acheron's heart before she slowly opened her eyes.
In the darkness, her violet pupils held no light at all, only the dead silence of the Nihility.
'What a pity...'
Acheron looked at her pale, cold hands, completely devoid of any warmth.
'A Self-Annihilator like me… is not worthy of happiness...'
With this thought in mind, Acheron closed her eyes again, forcefully pressing all stray thoughts—along with that absurd, lingering trace of warmth—deep into the boundless abyss of Nihility.
Only deathlike silence remained in the room, completely out of place when contrasted with the bustling nightscape of Penacony outside the window.
Only she herself knew that the words 'not worthy of happiness' were more like a cold, unyielding wall, sealing off a corner of her heart that she herself did not dare to touch.
===
In this still, long night, three bedrooms, three different states of mind, all waiting for time to pass.
Meanwhile, in the master bedroom that belonged to Lucian, everything remained quiet, as he, too, seemed lost in his own thoughts, mainly because the thing he had been waiting for had finally arrived.
[DING! Script cooldown complete. You can now activate the script again.]
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