Chapter 146: Nightmare

Under the twins’ relentless, needy coercion, Bunny ultimately caved.

Neither of those temporary leg weights showed the slightest intention of releasing their grip anyway. Considering how shockingly docile and sweet they were acting, throwing a small bone to two obedient hounds wasn’t out of the question.

Besides, Astin was still recovering inside his medical pod, and Liam had been tossed into solitary confinement by Cyrus for instigating the brawl. With both of her primary "husbands" temporarily out of the picture, sneaking a night away from her own quarters shouldn’t trigger any immediate disasters... right?

By the time Bunny set foot inside the bathroom, Orion had already drawn a warm bath. He had even meticulously lined up the shampoo, hair conditioner, body wash, and lotion in a perfect, orderly row along the ledge.

Two squeaky yellow rubber ducks floated peacefully on the water’s surface.

Not bad—far more refined and attentive than that rough-around-the-edges brute Liam.

Truth be told, every bit of this had been painstakingly studied by Orion from the Advanced Guide to Being an Exemplary Sentinel Husband. Having no innate knowledge of how to properly pamper a Guide, he took to educating himself with dead-serious dedication.

Bunny dipped a leg over the porcelain edge, warm water swirling gently past her calves.

Sinking into the undulating ripples, the severe physical fatigue brought on by extreme mental overexertion hit her in heavy, overwhelming waves.

As her consciousness drifted into hazy twilight, a soft voice murmured her name.

"Bunny, time to wake up, you sleepyhead."

The gentle, delicate features of a woman flickered in her mind’s eye, yet no matter how hard Bunny strained, the woman’s face remained blurred beyond recognition.

She could only catch the soothing, fragrant wisps of dark hair brushing past her cheeks, alongside the supple, cool touch of a silk nightgown holding her close.

It was the unmistakable scent of a mother.

She was being carried downstairs in warm arms, her childhood gaze trailing along ivory-white handrails and the exquisite oil paintings adorning the hall.

The comforting warmth of hot milk slid down her throat, accompanied by the golden aroma of toasted corn cakes and warm pork buns.

The woman was pulling her hair back into a sleek, high ponytail—insisting on scraping every stray strand back to expose her bright, shining forehead.

Bunny held a lingering, lifelong suspicion that her receding hairline had been forged in those exact hands.

"My sweet baby, Mommy and Daddy have an official business trip. You’re going to stay at your aunt’s house for a little while."

Little Bunny shook her head frantically. "No, no, no! You guys are always leaving on business trips! Every single time, you’re gone forever! Last Children’s Day, neither of you came to watch my dance recital! Everyone at school made fun of me!"

The woman let out a helpless, affectionate sigh, tenderly patting her small head:

"How about this? When Mommy and Daddy return this time, we’ll bring you a rock from Terra as a souvenir, okay?"

The young girl’s eyes sparkled instantly. A real rock from Terra?

Wouldn’t that give her the ultimate bragging rights in front of her classmates? That was something none of the other kids could ever dream of having!

Even though her parents were astronauts—a profession that seemed grand and heroic to other children—the actual time they spent keeping her company was tragically minimal compared to normal families.

Bunny knew her parents loved her deeply, but a child was still a child; throwing small tantrums came with the territory.

"Okay!"

Bunny nodded obediently, flashing a sweet, dimpled smile.

How could her younger self have ever guessed that this single farewell would span an eternity?

Nor could she have known that her "aunt’s place" sat half a world away, or that sending her off meant shipping her across distant oceans.

Her parents had lied to her. They weren’t embarking on a routine Terrian landing mission for planetary surveying.

They were abandoning Earth entirely—setting off to execute a mission fraught with absolute, fatal peril.

"Bunny... survive..."

On the rain-slicked tarmac beneath chaotic jet engine wash, the vivid image of her aunt in a crisp white dress waving goodbye echoed sharply in her ears once more.

A violent sensation of suffocation seized her chest. Countless air bubbles burst from her nose as water flooded her respiratory tract.

"Mmm... nh..."

She had slipped into deep sleep, her limp body sliding under the bathwater.

Just as the cold terror of near-fatal drowning threatened to pull her under, a pair of broad, powerful hands surged beneath the surface, scooping her straight out of the tub.

—Splash!

Clad in nothing, the drenched woman was yanked securely against Orion’s heavy chest. She thrashed against him, gulping frantically for oxygen, her chest heaving violently in absolute panic.

Her porcelain skin flushed pink under the sudden strain. She seemed trapped in the lingering clutches of a horrific nightmare, trembling so hard it was impossible to tell whether the droplets trickling down her cheeks were bathwater or tears.

Orion wrapped his arms tighter around her, desperate to use his own body heat to anchor her frayed nerves and stem her shaking.

Illai scrambled over with a dry bath towel, hurriedly wrapping it around her to soak up the water dripping from her hair. Both twins had heard her muffled, agonizing whimpers under the water.

The dual terror from the waking dream and physical drowning left Bunny completely motionless, her face buried flat against Orion’s shoulder as she fought to calm her wildly thumping heart.

She was entirely beyond caring that she was stark naked, exposed to the unabashed gazes of two predatory snakes.

It wasn’t until they helped slip her into a soft nightgown and patiently began blow-drying her hair that Bunny’s dazed mind finally rebooted.

Ever since awakening from the cryogenic pod, her long-term memories had remained a fragmented blank.

That era of her life, sealed away during centuries of cold stasis, felt as though it had plummeted straight into the lightless abyss of a black hole.

Yet it seemed that only recently had those slumbering memory fragments begun to stir from their deep sleep.

Warm, steady fingers wove rhythmically through her roots. Bunny surveyed her surroundings; this was Illai’s bedroom.

In sharp contrast to his brother’s simple, minimalist palette, Illai harbored a distinct fondness for intense, striking tones. Crimson and stark black dominated the decor.

Aside from ash-gray bedding and deep space-blue wallpaper beneath matching pendant lights, the room was covered in posters of live-house rock performances—a celebrated band hailing from Central. A neat stack of digital music albums rested on the corner of the desk, while a deep-maroon electric guitar hung quietly on the main wall.

She had to admit, the dynamic between the twins was remarkably synchronized. Without uttering a single word, they intuitively anticipated each other’s every move.