NOVEL NEXT Chapter 298: Family Above All [III]
No one argued when my aunt asked everyone to clear the area.
Turns out, when an [SS-ranked] ghostly woman with a reputation for turning people into empty husks asks you to do something, even a group as uncooperative as my companions starts cooperating.
They lowered their weapons, relaxed their stances… and immediately backed away with the kind of exaggerated casualness that very clearly said they wanted no part in this family talk at all.
No one even met our eyes.
…Except Michael.
Only he gave me a quick look that could've been interpreted as either, 'Shout if you need us, or, 'If anything happens to you, I'll steal your stuff.'
I decided he meant the former. Hopefully.
Finally, everyone cleared the area.
I breathed slowly, and only then realized how rigid my shoulders were as I let them drop.
Aunt Morgan was the first to move.
This time, when she reached out to caress my face, I couldn't pull away. Or perhaps I didn't want to.
Her touch felt like warm sunlight on my skin — definitely there, but so soft that it could've easily been chalked up to my imagination.
"Sam," she said, and when she spoke my name, her voice was heavy with worry and concern. "You… you were unaccounted for after what happened in the Night Sanctuary. As soon as the news reached us, I astral projected and came searching for you in the Noctveil Wilds."
She exhaled shakily, her fingers lingering against my cheek as if she needed to reassure herself that she hadn't arrived too late.
"I thought I wouldn't find you in time because of the time dilation. I didn't even know if you were still alive. And there are beasts here that can harm formless beings, so I had to maneuver around them. I also had to heavily suppress my soul because—" Her lips pressed into a thin line. She clearly wanted to say because of the Reflection Beast, but then probably remembered I wasn't supposed to know about it. "Anyway… I can't even begin to tell you how relieved I am to see you unharmed."
Right then, her gaze dropped to the three deep, claw-shaped gashes hacked into my chest. Although covered by my shirt, she still seemed to be able to see them somehow.
Her hand fell from my face as she winced. "Well… unharmed is a relative term. At least you're alive."
Then she blinked and glanced down at herself, followed by a hesitant shrug. "Well. Alive is also a relative term—"
"Oh my god," I groaned. "Stop talking, Aunt M! Stop talking!"
To the world, Morgan Kaizer Theosbane was this dangerously fierce, soul-rending queen of the damned — an SS-ranked horror story that parents told reckless kids to scare them into obedience.
I am one-hundred percent serious about this, by the way.
The whole world saw her as the very embodiment of fear.
And honestly… why wouldn't they?
The legends surrounding her were riddled with grim forewarnings.
Stories about how once she marked you as her prey, you could run to the ends of the world and beg whatever God you prayed to for protection… but at last, you would end up belonging to her.
You'd end up a mere puppet in her hands. An obedient slave, answering her every whim.
Because once she marked you, she'd tear your soul right out of you, leaving nothing but an empty vessel behind.
Your body would still move, breathe, and speak, sure.
But every spark of your will, every shred of your personality, would be hers to mold and hers to command.
That was how everyone else saw her.
Everyone who was not me.
Because to me, she wasn't any of that.
To me, she was just an aggressively wholesome woman with nerdy interests, an undying love for anything sweet, and an ADHD condition so pronounced that she never stopped babbling once she went off-topic — traits I probably inherited from her.
Oh, she was also into girls. And considering how… voluptuous some of her past girlfriends were, maybe taste in partners was another thing I got from her.
Anyway, growing up, she'd been the coolest aunt imaginable to me. It wouldn't be a lie to say she was, by far, my favorite person.
…Well. Until she wasn't. Because favorite is also a relative term.
So yeah, here she was now, kneeling slightly to meet my gaze, her golden eyes as soft as they were hesitant.
I sighed, rubbing my eyes with my thumb and forefinger. "Does Father know you're here?"
She nodded with a small smile. "Of course, Sam. Who do you think sent me?"
Wow.
I… hadn't expected that.
It wasn't anything shocking. I'd suspected as much the moment I saw her here. But it still caught me off guard.
Because part of me genuinely thought she'd acted on her own, without the Duke's approval.
You see, entering the Noctveil Wilds under any circumstance was strictly forbidden.
After all, the Reflection Beast that was sealed here was a creature capable of learning and adapting to anything, perfectly copying anyone.
That thing was barely contained as it was.
So my father had outlawed entry into this region altogether, no matter your rank or clearance level, lest we risk unleashing an entity we could never control.
But Aunt Morgan could use astral projection.
She could also suppress her Soul Rank naturally, making her one of the very few people in the world who could enter the Noctveil Wilds without waking the Reflection Beast.
Still, my father sent her to search for me…
I didn't know how to feel about that.
That tends to happen when a shitty parent suddenly does even the bare minimum.
Aunt Morgan waved a hand, as if pushing aside all the questions she knew I was holding onto.
"We'll talk about everything later, Sam. There are a few urgent matters I need to return to. You'll see," she said, lifting a hand toward me in invitation. "So hurry. Let's get out of here. We'll talk properly once we're home."
I gawked at her, frozen more from utter confusion than anything else. "W-What? Aunt—"
She cut me off, beating me to an explanation before I could even ask her to clarify. "I'll take your soul with me. You'll have to leave this body behind."
My jaw practically fell to the floor at that.
"But don't worry," she continued calmly, like she was discussing what to get for lunch not reaping my fucking soul. "We've already found you a new body with an almost perfect soul compatibility. It's waiting at the Golden Sanctuary. Once we get there, I'll place your soul into it and revive you."
She hesitated for half a second, then she smiled brightly. "I won't lie to you, dear. It'll be painful. Very, very painful. But you'll live!"