Chapter 40 - Contractual Wife
"I lied to you," Ysvéra said quietly.
"I know." The answer came out more naturally than I expected.
I had already suspected as much, but that still left the more important question.
"What does that have to do with this situation?" I asked.
"Is this connected to the emotions I felt from you?"
That was the part I still could not get out of my head.
Ever since the bond had formed, I had been catching fragments of her emotions without meaning to.
Some were simple enough to understand.
A thirst so intense it bordered on hunger.
A strange affection that felt too deep to be ordinary.
A need for physical and mental closeness that was far more overwhelming than I wanted to think about.
And beneath all of that, something else I could not quite name, something distant and ethereal, like a feeling I had no vocabulary for.
Ysvéra’s cheeks turned faintly red as she looked away.
"I-I mean..." she muttered.
"My initial impression of you is good so if you beg properly, maybe I can accept you as my husband."
"..."
I stared at her.
For a second, my mind completely stopped working.
What the hell was that?
Why did the mood change so suddenly?
Why was she suddenly acting like some arrogant noble girl out of a ridiculous romance story?
And what exactly did she mean by beg properly?
"Is this a dream?" I asked, because that felt like the only possible explanation.
"NO! This is not a dream!" Ysvéra snapped immediately.
Then she took a slow breath and forced herself to calm down.
When she spoke again, her voice had turned much more serious.
"Evren, I know you can feel my emotions to a great degree now."
"Yes," I said, still trying to make sense of her reaction.
"Are you about to explain what is going on?"
She nodded once.
"Then listen carefully. I am not a human. I am a vampire, but that is only one part of what I am."
She hesitated for just a moment before continuing.
"I also carry the bloodline of a succubus, and the bloodline of a dream demon."
"..."
I blinked.
That explained absolutely nothing about this situation.
Ysvéra seemed to notice my expression and let out a frustrated sigh.
"Unlike humans, my race does not live the way yours does. We have instincts, needs and desires. Our existence is not built around denial and patience."
She lowered her gaze for a moment before continuing.
"One of the reasons I was sealed away against my will was because I was considered a threat. Now that I am unsealed, I will certainly seek revenge. That much has not changed."
Then she looked back at me and her expression turned genuinely annoyed.
"But because of you, some complications have appeared."
"Why is that my fault?" I frowned.
She glared at me.
"Because you defeated me in a battle of True Bond. That was not supposed to happen and you also somehow resisted Vampirification."
Her voice rose with every word, and for a moment she looked genuinely offended by the sheer unfairness of it all.
"So what?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
"You were the one who wanted to make me your slave in the first place."
"It was not a slave, okay?!"
’Should I just change the bond to master and slave?’ The thought crossed my mind briefly.
I did not say it aloud.
Ysvéra was irritated, but she was not showing any killing intent.
Not even a hint of bloodlust.
That alone made me willing to listen a little longer.
She had shown me a side of herself that did not feel fake, and I wanted to understand it before deciding what to do next.
If this conversation went badly, then I could always think about harsher options later.
However, I never got the chance to continue that thought, because what Ysvéra said next sent a shock through my being.
"Evren, I am your contractual wife." she said, her face turning red again.
"..."
I stared at her.
My hand actually moved before I could stop myself, and I grabbed her shoulders, looking at her seriously.
"I don’t remember marrying you, Ysvéra."
I was not even joking. I genuinely had no idea what she was talking about, nor I had any idea how to just react to that statement.
Her expression sharpened.
"That is because you did not understand what you agreed to."
"That doesn’t sound reassuring at all."
"The True Bond was only a simplified explanation," she said.
"What you entered was a contractual marriage bond, that is a ritual among vampire royalty. I will explain the details later, but for now you need to understand this much, the bond means something very different from what you think it does."
She took a breath and met my eyes directly.
"Now I need an answer."
The distance between our faces was so small that I could feel the warmth of her breath.
"Will you become my real husband, Evren?"
"You know this is a little–"
"You do not have much time to think."
Her voice had become quieter now, but also much more urgent.
"I have been suppressing my racial needs since the moment we formed the bond, but I do not think I can last past the next day. Human needs are one thing Evren, but my mine are not, and if my needs are not satisfied, I will not simply become frustrated or throw a tantrum."
She lowered her gaze for a second, then looked back at me with frightening seriousness.
"I will go berserk."
The words landed heavily.
"And because of the bond, it will not only affect me, it will affect you too."
"..."
I fell silent.
For a moment, all I could do was sit there and actually think.
I had harem dreams.
Ridiculous and completely unrealistic, but they were mine.
A marriage, however, was far too sudden.
Too direct.
Too real.
Then another thought surfaced.
’Am I not already married?’
That was the absurd part.
Ysvéra had already been bound to me without my consent, and yet somehow I was still the one being asked to make the choice.
I knew what fate had originally been waiting for her.
I knew her supposed place in the story, which was sad.
Then my mind drifted to Mira.
Would she accept this?
I knew she had some idea about the kind of future I wanted for myself.
At least, I thought she did.
But would she accept this?
Could I really make both of them happy? And if she could not accept it, then what was I supposed to do with Ysvéra if I agreed now?
Everyone always made these moments sound simple, like a dramatic answer would solve everything.
It was not simple.
Not at all.
Still, I took a slow breath and straightened my back.
I was Evren Sorin.
I did not have a System or cheat.
But I did have one thing.
My own resolve.
If I was going to build the life I wanted, then I could not run from the hard choices that came with it.
Harem or no harem, dream or no dream, I needed to stay true to myself.
So I nodded.
"Alright," I said.
"Let’s do it. The marriage, I mean." The words left my mouth, and immediately I felt a strange weight lift from my shoulders.
I also noticed the look of relief on Ysvéra’s face.
But I was not done yet.
I raised one finger and looked directly into Ysvéra’s violet eyes.
"There are some conditions though Ysvéra. You need to promise me a few things, and I want you to remember them clearly."
She blinked and I kept going.
"You will not do anything reckless without talking to me first. You will tell me everything about yourself, and I mean everything, no more lies or half-truths. And if we are going to do this, then I refuse to let it become some empty, soulless arrangement where hearts are not entangled."
I looked at her firmly.
"I find you likable Ysvéra, but if this is going to become a real relationship, then I want it to grow naturally and not because of a magical bond. I refuse to accept something hollow."
Ysvéra stared at me for a long moment.
’Is he delusional?’ Ysvéra thought, she had fully heard Evren’s inner voice.
And she knew, after her declaration, there was no turning back.
Ysvéra finally exhaled, her expression softening just a little.
"You are a troublesome human," she muttered.
"And you are a fake evil vampire." Evren said.
A faint smile appeared at the corner of her lips.
Then she slowly extended her hand toward Evren.
"Very well, let’s do the ritual." Ysvéra said but Evren froze again.
"What ritual now? Didn’t we already...?"
"No, we need to do this properly now," Ysvéra said as she looked at the moonlight once.
Then, large dark wings sprouted from her back, making the entire room dark.
Only her purple eyes shined and in the next moment.
BITE!
She bit Evren’s neck, covering him within her wings.