Chapter 1221: The Monster’s Rage & Reason & Another Presence!

Young in body, ancient everywhere that mattered, sitting alert among her sisters and the women belonging to the boy who was now unmistakably her man. Sienna had accepted that truth with the quiet territorial certainty of an old divinity.

Oh~ how Lucienne enjoyed watching them tonight she had gotten horny herself!

Whatever oddities remained between the women around Phei, the Nether Goddess would let nothing reach them tonight with Sienna with them.

Lucienne had no concerns there.

Her attention drifted elsewhere.

Melissa.

That one made something inside Lucienne unexpectedly quiet.

Melissa was with the Ashfords and Patricia now, searching for the missing child, still forcing herself to function beneath another night that had decided mothers were excellent targets for cruelty.

Lucienne rarely respected people.

She could admire power, certainly. Intelligence amused her. Boldness entertained her and beauty occasionally earned a second glance, though creation had produced enough beautiful things over the ages that appearance alone had long since stopped impressing her.

Respect was different.

Melissa had earned it from Lucienne.

The little princess had spent years raising Phei under wounds nobody around her fully understood. She had protected the boy while carrying her own grief in silence, kept him alive until he finally awakened, Melissa had stood between Phei and families that would have happily carved him apart for what slept inside him, and somehow despite how her children behaved and how Maxtons raised them still had enough love to raise her other children without making them pay for what had been done to her.

Melissa had refused her own awakening to remain and raise them all instead of losing herself in power and cultivation that would’ve cut her off her children she needed to protect while her sister surpassed her in everything.

There was the truth about her dead child and Melissa had remained standing.

Lucienne had watched her.

That was perhaps the moment respect had become unavoidable.

There were countless beings who could survive torture because their cultivation made flesh meaningless. Gods who could rebuild bodies from ash. Immortals who could lose families and simply wait several centuries until grief dulled and build more families.

Melissa possessed no such luxury.

Her strength was painfully human.

And yet she remained.

That was another reason she had accepted Eira’s ridiculous little request.

She could lie to herself about wounded pride and ancient arrogance and tell herself she had merely been curious, and how entertaining this was but the thought of Danton succeeding...

Of that ancient serpent killing yet another one of Melissa’s children...

Lucienne’s expression changed and darkness around her seemed to deepen.

Far below, Yuzuki stiffened so violently that her breath stopped.

Lucienne did not notice.

Or perhaps she did and simply no longer cared.

Phei did not even know about the child growing inside Melissa that another tiny life belonging partly to him had already begun its journey into existence and yet Danton intended to end that life before the father ever knew it existed.

Before Melissa or Phei could hold it much less ever received a name.

For reasons Lucienne did not particularly enjoy examining, the thought filled her with fury.

Ancient, cold, magnificent rage actually.

Her fingers curled: "Fuck." The curse left her softly. "Did I let myself care too much?"

For several moments Lucienne simply floated there beneath the lightless heavens, expression genuinely displeased with herself.

But she laughed a warm, beautiful sound:

"Oh, who am I fooling?"

Care? Ridiculous!

She did not care... certainly not.

Lucienne placed one hand against her chest with exaggerated sincerity, as though swearing an oath before the most gullible tribunal creation had ever assembled: "I merely want to see the child born."

That was all.

Perfectly reasonable, her smile widened. "Imagine how much fun I could have with a little Dragon baby."

That thought brightened her mood considerably.

Phei and Melissa’s child.

The possibilities were wonderful!

Would the baby inherit those amethyst eyes? Would it bite? Would it recognize her? Would Phei become one of those overly protective fathers who nearly murdered anyone touching the child incorrectly? Lucienne could already picture herself teaching the little creature something completely inappropriate while Phei shouted in the background.

Yes. That was much better.

"That is all," she decided aloud. "Once I have had enough fun, Danton or whoever else can do whatever they please."

Lucienne considered the statement then nodded firmly.

"Yes." A pause. "Exactly."

The darkness offered no opinion so her lie remained officially unchallenged.

Melissa, meanwhile, was attempting to reach Hayashi, hoping his shadows might uncover some trace of Althea.

Lucienne shook her head: "Pointless... every search is pointless."

Althea had not merely been hidden physically. Fate itself had been folded around the child.

"Even fairy would fail."

The Eira could crawl backward through yesterday, peel apart old movements, chase impressions through history and use that irritating little trick of walking through the past until secrets became embarrassed enough to reveal themselves.

She would still find nothing.

Someone had ensured the young Ashford existed inside a blind place...Lucienne’s gaze drifted toward another side of Paradise to Infinity Chaos Hotel.

Phei’s other women remained there.

Resting, in theory but in practice, very few people connected to Phei ever rested properly anymore.

Scarlett Moon was there.

Lucienne’s smile softened into genuine interest.

Now that woman was terrifying.

Her presence carried a depth that made powers look like children hiding beneath blankets. She kept watch over the hotel with the cold patience and would turn night itself into a graveyard if anyone made the poor career choice of forcing her hand.

And close to her was the little child of darkness.

Selene.

Lucienne’s eyes gleamed.

The Eternal Shadow Bloodline remained fascinating enough already, but the Seed of Ending had changed the question entirely.

What would Selene become once she consumed it completely?

Lucienne had theories.

Several, actually, but she had no intention of spoiling the surprise.

Eira had impressed Lucienne there too.

Selene had returned furious but Eira had calmed her somehow.

Lucienne found that delightful. "I suppose love truly is disgusting."

Selene’s attachment to Phei had restrained something rage alone would never have restrained. Her love for him outweighed the desire to immediately drown the people responsible for what happened to her beneath Eternal Shadow.

That placed Selene high among the people Lucienne found worth watching.

Eira sat there too, naturally.

The brave little fairy had become increasingly entertaining.

Melissa occupied another place altogether that wasn’t curiosity or entertainment.

Something older and quieter inside Lucienne’s ancient soul.

Though she disliked admitting that, it sounded suspiciously close to affection.

Her gaze drifted over the city again.

"Oh, Little Dragon..." The words came with genuine anticipation. "What are you going to become tonight?"

Perhaps the better question was what his life would become.

He collected impossible people without understanding what he was doing. Goddesses. Monsters. Dragons. Shadows. Broken women. Ancient things. Proud women. Dangerous women. Women who should never have shared a room without continents filing evacuation plans.

And still the circle grew.

Lucienne chuckled.

She was not the only one watching either.

That bitch beyond would become involved tonight too... the thought brought a different smile to Lucienne’s face.

Knowing and almost competitive.

Lucienne tilted her head toward the black expanse of the Hell’s Paradise Lake, deep inside it:

"Not too soon." Her eyes narrowed pleasantly... she would not challenge that "bitch". "Not while we are still inside this little realm."

There would be time for that woman later.

For now, Earth remained small enough to keep the game intimate.

Beyond all the women surrounding Phei, there was another presence Lucienne had been quietly watching.

One who interested her precisely because she pretended not to be interested herself.

She had stepped into Phei’s life only once in any obvious manner, when he punished the three Legacy boys. She had made certain everything around him remained stable, ensured her little club and its protections could hold, and once she was satisfied the Young Dragon would be fine, she disappeared again.

Afterward, she behaved as though none of it mattered as though Phei had been nothing more than one unusual boy who briefly required attention.

Lucienne knew better.

People could lie with words and ancient beings usually learned to lie with silence but interest left fingerprints in fate.

Lucienne had seen hers.

"Another one," she murmured with amusement.

Phei truly had no idea what was gathering around him.

Wonderful.

Lucienne released a long sigh and finally returned her attention to the humiliating responsibility Eira had assigned her.

Babysitting.

Even thinking the word remained offensive.

She could have delegated everything to her little angel and gone somewhere more interesting things were happening tonight. Anahita was powerful enough to deal with almost any threat likely to reach the women tonight, and after everything Lucienne had done to the Fallen Angel’s soul and chains, loyalty was no longer the uncertainty Marcus imagined it to be.

Unfortunately, there was still the Void-Djinn.

One of Danton’s surviving creatures remained close to Anahita, hidden beyond ordinary perception, watching every significant movement she made and reporting back.

Lucienne could kill it effortlessly and erase the creature so completely that even the Void would forget which hollow had once belonged to it.

But then Danton and Marcus would know.

The moment the watcher vanished, both ancient idiots would understand that something had happened to their Fallen Angel, and Lucienne had absolutely no intention of informing them that Anahita was no longer truly theirs.

So her little angel remained where she was.

Observed and pretending.

And Lucienne, Monster of enough ancient nightmares to make the Ryujin Tiamats watch the sky whenever her name surfaced, remained floating above Hell’s Paradise Island under a lightless heaven, doing the one duty she had never imagined anyone would possess the courage to give her.

Watching over the Young Dragon’s women.

Else where what Eira and Maya had feared would happen was happening!